text:
Lifefactory Flip Cap$9.99
The perfect on the go water bottle!
These Lifefactory Glass Beverage Bottles come with an innovative straw cap for easy on-the-go drinking. With the convenience of a wide mouth access, this Lifefactory Glass Beverage Bottle offers the perfect capacity to quench your thirst. The 16 oz is an ideal everyday companion that fits into bags, backpacks and car cupholders.
Why you'll love Lifefactory Glass Beverage Bottles:
- Straw Cap bottle with silicone sleeve for easy gripping and to prevent breakage.
- Wide mouth access is ice-cube friendly and makes for easy cleaning.
- Flip Top handle pivots upright for carrying and out of the way while drinking.
- BPA, phthalate, PVC and polycarbonate free.
- Cap made of polypropylene (pp#5); silicone straw.
- Dishwasher safe with sleeve on bottle; Straw Cap top rack dishwasher safe.
- All materials are FDA approved.
- With glass there is no chemical leaching and no metallic taste.
- Glass bottle made in France; All other components are made in the U.S.
Lifefactory Straw spout must be in full, open position for water to flow. This is designed to prevent leaking. Perfect for on the go drinking at the gym, on a bike or at school.
BPA free. Dishwasher safe
Made in the USA & Europe.
Size: 16oz. (450ml)


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Winner Update: This giveaway is now closed. While we wish all of our readers could be the winners of this fabulous bake set but we just had to pick a random winner. Well, without further adieu….The winner is…Commenter # 2410, Annette, who said, "I LOVE dark chocolate, the Milky Way Midnight sounds most tempting!!! Pumpkin is another fav of mine, I think cupcakes, breads, muffins, and pies infused with yummy spices and pumpkin will eventually all be whipped up this season between myself, my mom and my sisters kitchens!"
I am sooo excited to share this new SURPRISE GIVEAWAY with you today and hope it makes a lucky someone's fall entertaining adventures extra SWEET! This generous Baking & Serving Set has a value of over $300 and comes courtesy of Milky Way, which has been one of my favorite candy bars since as far as I can remember (I'm a full-fledged sucker for all things CARAMEL!).
It was a blast rounding up all kinds of fun, creative products for people to use in their cake-baking adventures here… from mixing bowls, a cake pop maker, and a double-boiler (for melting chocolate) to trendy "push cake" essentials like circle cutters, push pop containers, and a specialty acrylic display stand! Use these for whipping up some Milky Way Cupcakes or your own favorite cake recipe. Read on for a complete list of what's included + details on how to enter…
– 5-Piece Nonstick Bakeware Set by Rachael Ray
– Set of 2 Nonstick Jelly Roll Pans by Calphalon
– 12-Cup Nonstick Muffin/Cupcake Pan by Rachael Ray
– Ceramic Mixing Bowls
– Orange Spatulas by Rachael Ray
– Double Boiler by RSVP International
– 24 Clear Push Pop Containers
– Transparent Push Pop Display
– Martha Steward Whiteware Large Square Cakestand 10″
– Baby Cakes Cake Pop Maker
– 11 Piece Round Pastry Cutter Set by CIA
– Milky Way® Bars & {New!} Milky Way® Brand Simply Caramel
Post a comment here answering one of the following questions (or both if you'd like!):
1. Which Milky Way candy bar flavor is YOUR favorite or sounds most tempting to you: traditional Milky Way, Milky Way Simply Caramel, or Milky Way Midnight?
2. What cake recipe are you planning to whip up this fall?
Giveaway ends Wednesday, September 28th at midnight PST. Winner will be chosen randomly and announced on Thursday, September 29th. Good luck!
Comments 2521
- posted in:
- In the Spotlight
1Terrah SAYS:
The Milky Way Simply Caramel sounds very yummy. My families favorite cake recipe I make is a mint chocolate chip cake with mint butter cream frosting! So yummy!!!
Melissa McAteer SAYS:
The traditional Milky Way, is our favorite, my husband has to has one each night.
I'm thinking about making some holiday cupcakes, Halloween and Thanksgiving themes for my grandson's school.
Denise SAYS:
I have always loved tradional Milky Way bars, especially cold.
Rachael SAYS:
Milky Way Midnight sounds amazing! I am planning on making Pumpkin Spice, Caramel Apple and Midnight Magic Milky Way cupcakes for Halloween!
kathy ussery SAYS:
traditional Milky way yummy and the cake i whipping up will be an apple spice cake
Tracie SAYS:
I'll take any of them right out of the freezer!
Wendy Wright SAYS:
Anything Dark chocolate wins!!!
I make a chocolate cake with swirls of cream cheese, nuts and chocolate!! mmmmm:) so good!
Louise MacAlister SAYS:
Original Milky Way… especially cold from the fridge!
Kim P. SAYS:
Original all the way!
Recipegirl.com has a great white wedding cake recipe. Needless to say that I don't need a wedding as an excuse to make cake!
Gia Watts SAYS:
My favorite is the original milky way…I especially love it cold right from the fridge..
Andrea I SAYS:
I love the milkway midnight.
I plan to bake a hummingbird cake this fall!
Leona Denesha SAYS:
I like the original best, but my husband LOVES the Milky Way Midnight. I have a fabulous cake recipe that really works well with all of the Milky Ways. Bake a chocolate cake in round pans, make buttercream icing and mix in a caramel topping (save some caramel for decorating, and assemble. Chocolate layer, caramel buttercream icing, sliced milky ways, chocolate layer, spread the remaining icing over cake and drizzle the remaining caramel over top. Make sure to slice a few more Milky Ways and put on top for a garnish. Don't worry, there won't be any leftovers!
katie SAYS:
Milky Way Midnight sounds delightful! This fall I plan to make a peanut butter and chocolate pumpkin cake…. and maybe brakup some mily way bars inside :)
Judy SAYS:
I have loved Milky Way for too many years but the new Caramel is a very close second, trying to surpass the original.
margie SAYS:
Mmmmm…the Milky Way Midnight sounds fabulous!
Karen Cashen SAYS:
Original Milky Way is great but the others are good too. Chocolate cake with small candy bar pieces dropped into the frosting.
Colleen SAYS:
I love the original Milky Way!
Just finished making a 4 tier red velvet wedding cake and and 36 jumbo cupcakes w/flower tops. Whew! (Thank goodness for bleach)!
CBuck SAYS:
I like Milky Way Caramel the best!
Isabelle Carter SAYS:
I am a fan of the classic ones, but I like the mini midnights. I haven't tried the simply caramel.
I just made my own chocolate cupcakes the other day. I've been working on a rose flavored cupcake.
Sharon SAYS:
Frozen milky ways are my fav!
Rebecca SAYS:
MIDNIGHT! YUM. I am planning on trying out a pumpkin spice cake.
Sarah SAYS:
I like the Milky Way Midnight – dark chocolate is good for the heart, right? I have a list of new cake ball recipes to whip up for fall, including pumpkin spice and yummy s'mores!
Crystal Burns SAYS:
Ohhh i sooo love the Simply Caramel…mmmm!!!
I recently found an online recipe for cinnamon pumpkin spice cake…Definitely want to try it out.
Thanks for having the contest! Good luck everyone!!
Tera SAYS:
I looove Simply Caramel!!! Planning to make spice cake with cinnamon buttercream. Also pumpkin trifle is a must this time of year!
Sarah P SAYS:
I LOVE FALL! My favorite Milky Way flavor is Milky Way Midnight. I cannot wait to try a new recipe I recently found for an apple cake with cinnamon frosting!!
Brandi SAYS:
I plan on making a pumpkin pecan cake with brown sugar buttercream
sam SAYS:
milky way miidnight is a new fave! I've recently found a chocolate cake with mint buttercream (called a grasshopper) and also a salted carmel one!!
Katie SAYS:
The original milky way is my favorite candy bar of all time. Ask anyone who knows me….I had a milky way on my wedding day!
Dawn SAYS:
Milky Way Midnight is my favorite! I plan on making some kind of pumkin cake with a chocolate frosting.
Amanda SAYS:
My favorite is the midnight milky way :)
My family loves a good pumpkin roll, and I love apple dumplins so that is our holiday plan!!!! :)
Jen Jaworowski SAYS:
Traditional Milky Way………..THE BEST!!!!! The first thing I look for in my daughter's trick or treat bag.
Tanya Johnston SAYS:
Definitely Milky Way Midnight… Dark chocolate and caramel, and even a suggestion on the best time to eat it…midnight of course!
denby SAYS:
i plan on baking anything and everything with pumpkin!!!
Lila Hager SAYS:
I absolutely love milky way midnight!! mmm!
Christina SAYS:
I love the MIlky Way Midnight! YUM!!
Eva SAYS:
1. Milky Way Midnight!
2. I want to whip up as many things as I can with pumpkin — pumpkin whoopie pies, pumpkin cornbread, pumpkin-cream cheese swirl cake
Shana SAYS:
I would have to say that the Original Milkway is my favorite. It's hard to beat a classic.
Brittany SAYS:
The original Milky Way…LOVE IT!
Farrag SAYS:
The original is my fav! I am thinking of whipping up something special for my girlfriends baby shower.
Ashley Moffatt SAYS:
Did someone say chocolate?!?!?! I LOVE CHOCOLATE! I love both the original milky way and the dark chocolate milky way. Milky way has always been my favorite candy bar!
Deborah SAYS:
I LOVE THE MILKY WAY CARAMEL!!! I put into the fridge and eat it cold…and I love that they make the mini ones. This fall I will be making a delicious Pumpkin Pecan cake with a light Pumpkin Cream Cheese frosting
Michelle Villanueva SAYS:
I'd rock the nougat in the milky way and make it a cupcake filling.
2virginia strickland SAYS:
I enjoy the original milky way flavor.
This fall, I plan on whhipping up a salted caramel cupcake.
Denyse Hill SAYS:
I love the traditional Milky Way, but butter pecan cake with caramel filing is my fall go to cake. Plenty of cobblers and pies too.
3Carrie W. SAYS:
Original Milkyway- love the classic.
4Erin SAYS:
I have an obsession with dark chocolate, so the Milky Way Midnight sounds amazing… and healthy (isn't that what the doctors say? :) )
5Erica K SAYS:
Original Milky Way is the way to go!!
My family has passed down a "secret" german chocolate cake recipe that I make in the fall!
6Jessica B. SAYS:
Good old original! Although I can convince myself that the dark chocolate "isn't bad for me!"
7Carol Flavelle SAYS:
I LOVE the traditional Milky Way…Frozen….Yum Yum!
8Kay SAYS:
Milky Way Caramel – I love caramel in candy!
9Carrie Regan SAYS:
Simply Caramel <3
10Mary SAYS:
Simply caramel! Mmmmm :)
11Theresa SAYS:
I love the traditional Milky Way frozen.
This fall I'm making a pound cake, caramel apple cupcakes and something with candy. Haven't figured that out yet.
12Vanessa SAYS:
Milky Way caramel! I think I'd like to make cupcakes with them this fall.
13Brandy at Simply Creative Insanity SAYS:
I am planning to whip up a little pumpkin carmal pecan cake! YUM!
14Carrie Regan SAYS:
Apple Crumb Cake will be baking soon!!
Brenda SAYS:
The Milky Way Midnight sounds very chocolatey & I love chocolate! I make a chocolate chip corn muffin cake that is a favorite!
15Vanessa Reviea SAYS:
LOOOOVVVVVEEEEE Simply Caramel!
Sue Miller SAYS:
Milky Way original frozen!!
16Elissa SAYS:
Traditional Milky Way is my fav! :)
17derya w SAYS:
I'd like to try the Milky Way Simply Caramel! thanks for the great giveaway!
18Jennifer SAYS:
LOVE all Milky Way candy bar flavors!!! This fall i want to try making a pumpkin cheesecake!
19Buccinator SAYS:
I love the traditional Milky Way!
Every Halloween I make a super scary and gross dirt cake!
Its hard to choose just one…but if I had too, Id have to say the original, its simply yummy!

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Coping with Change in the Workplace
Coping with Change in the Workplace
Change is a normal part of life, but it may have a way of making you feel adrift and uncertain. This is especially true with change in the workplace. Changes at work—even good ones, such as getting the new job you wanted—can make you feel anxious. Other changes may make you frustrated or angry. Although you can't always control change, you can learn to control the way it affects you.Your response to change has a lot to do with whether you sink or swim. If you cling to your old ways, the force of change may sink your ship. But if you learn to adapt, change usually brings new opportunities. So why not let go of the familiar and reach for the new? Mourn the loss of the old ways, then move on.
Use Change to Your Advantage
By accepting change, you can deal with it in a productive way. First, map out your goals, both work-related and personal ones. How can the changes taking place help you get where you want to go? By forcing you to rethink old ideas, work-related changes may help you make a few good changes of your own.
What Matters to You?
If you know what's important to you, responding to change is easier. Think about the questions at right, and be honest with your answers. The only correct answer is the one that's right for you. Your answers can help you stay on course despite the uncertainties of change. Once you know where you want to go, you can make choices (and changes) that will help you reach your destination.


text:
I got my Ohio driver's license today so I'm official. I had to take a forty-question traffic laws exam and I missed five! They were about points and DUI fines and I kind of just guessed. I was panicking at first until I saw across the screen that it's only a fail if you miss 11. Phew. I got the important stuff like signs and speed limits right anyway. The BMV people here are even nice. Everyone keeps saying Welcome to Ohio.
Within minutes of having my new license in hand, I had a library card. I signed Ivy up for an art class, too. The rest of the day kind of got away from me, though.. I read a little, did some work, knitted half-heartedly. I'm just kind of restless. Ivy wanted a pair of slippers so she can "skate" to Cole Porter Pandora on our hard floors and I got bored after making one. It's super easy but I don't like the big needles. I also wanted to simmer up a pot of tomato basil soup tonight if I ever find a recipe I like to go along with grown up grilled cheeses but in the end we're having chicken bites and mini tater tots.
It still feels like vacation here in the sense that we are the only people we know, pretty much and sometimes that's nice and sometimes it's really boring. And Jeff's at work a lot and it's just me and the kids allofthetime and I really want to leave but I don't even know where I'd go. So I just mill around here doing this and that. Waiting for something to happen but I don't know what.


text:
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INFINITY ❤s PERL
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ROCKFORD — The University of Iowa announced the names of fall 2013 graduates from the Rockford area. Students who received degrees include Jacob Jeffrey Wilson, Cherry Valley, Master of Business Administration; Ashlyn Nayonis, Loves Park, Bachelor of Science; Sean Duy Duong, Maschesney Park, Master of Science; Monica Mary Hedeen, Rockford, Bachelor of Arts; Jacklyn Kay Norasingh, Bachelor of Science; and Emily Joyce Warner, Winnebago, Bachelor of Science in Engineering. The university awarded 1,500 degrees at the end of the fall semester. For information: uiowa.edu.
Location, ST | website.com


text:
on November 8, 2012 - 12:07 AM
, updated November 8, 2012 at 11:28 AM
By John Vogl
As NHL labor talks are finally starting in earnest, play has halted for a key member of the Buffalo Sabres' organization.
Cody Hodgson, who is scheduled to center one of the Sabres' top two lines should the lockout end, has a broken bone in his right hand, according to the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle. Rochester Americans coach Ron Rolston said Hodgson will be out a "couple weeks."
Hodgson told the newspaper he received a two-handed slash from Adirondack Phantoms defenseman Brandon Manning on Oct. 27. Hodgson played with the injury Friday against Hamilton but skipped Saturday's rematch and had a splint on his hand, according to the Democrat and Chronicle.
Though the NHL and NHL Players' Association met Wednesday in New York for the second straight day and will meet again today, a new collective bargaining agreement likely isn't imminent. With Hodgson's injury, that's good for the Sabres.
Buffalo was already thin at center, and it would be in big trouble without Hodgson if hockey had a quick startup. The only middle men on the Sabres' roster would be Tyler Ennis, Matt Ellis and Cody McCormick. Wingers Ville Leino and Steve Ott could shift to center, and junior star Mikhail Grigorenko is eligible for a nine-game tryout.
Hodgson had started well in Rochester, recording nine assists and 10 points in his opening nine games. Rolston has moved left wing Luke Adam to center in Hodgson's absence.
Meanwhile, in New York, the NHL and the players' union again conducted lengthy and reportedly meaningful talks. The sides met in a secret location for nearly six hours after talking for seven Tuesday.
Neither side provided insights upon conclusion of the negotiations.
Revenue sharing among teams was reportedly a main topic of discussion. The union's previous proposals have urged the NHL to boost cash flow from money-making teams to struggling organizations. Though the league's most recent offer increased revenue sharing to $200 million annually, the total was still well short of the players' goal.
According to the New York Post, the NHL has shown a willingness to back off its proposed five-year limit on contracts. The newspaper also reported the sides discussed amnesty buyouts. Following the 2004-05 lockout, teams were given six days to terminate and buy out player contracts.
The sides also reportedly discussed the NHL's "make whole" concept, which would repay players' salaries at a later date in the event they are trimmed in the early years of a new CBA. There has been disagreement over how the program would be funded.
The Sabres have retired the numbers of six players. The four who are alive are joining to promote the team's community work.
Gilbert Perreault, Rene Robert, Danny Gare and Pat LaFontaine are members of the new "Rafters Club," the team has announced. The Sabres' legends will work with the team's alumni association and appear in public to draw attention to the community initiatives the group is involved with throughout the year.
"Our organization has always placed great emphasis on history and tradition," Sabres President Ted Black said in a statement. "In bringing these players back to serve as our team ambassadors, we're hoping to further strengthen our connection to the team's past while also finding ways to better our community. These guys carry enormous significance in this city, and we know they're going to do a lot of good."
The first event for the Rafters Club will be the ninth annual Sabres Alumni Wine Festival on Wednesday in First Niagara Center. Proceeds from the event, which will run from 6 to 9:30 p.m., will benefit the Breast Cancer Prevention and Education Bus.
The other retired numbers were Richard Martin's and Tim Horton's.
email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Is there such a thing as Republican food or Democratic food? One can't be sure, but at an Association of Food Journalists conference held last autumn in Washington, D.C., a panel of chefs and restaurateurs suggested that Republicans — in our nation's capital, anyway — tend to be meat-and-potatoes types, while Democrats are more adventurous eaters.
If that indeed is the case, you'd never know it from the menu at Cafe 43, the restaurant at the new George W. Bush Presidential Center at Southern Methodist University. Sure, there's a burger on the menu, along with a seared beef tenderloin, but the light-filled, high-ceilinged dining room, which is open only for lunch and brunch, skews much more toward big salads and fish dishes that play up fresh produce than it does toward plates of the beefy kind.
No doubt they're designed to appeal to ladies who lunch. Certainly there were shorts-clad tourists on hand when I stopped in around noon on a recent Tuesday, but they were far outnumbered by ladies wearing smart suits or dresses (including former first lady Laura Bush, dining at an inconspicuous table in back).
It's hard to resist cool gazpacho in the summertime, and chef John Maas sends his out garnished with a scooplet of avocado sorbet. It's a swell idea, but the thin, cold soup doesn't have enough flavor (or body — it's watery) to balance the sorbet's sugar. A roasted carrot soup, served hot and topped with crème fraîche and fried basil, has good flavor and a velvety texture, but after a few spoonfuls, the bowl starts to feel as endless as the Great Recession.
A prettily presented starter of house-made ricotta is somewhat more compelling, and easy to share. Spread some onto a crouton, add a touch of the dusky tapenade or sweet tomato marmalade that share the plate, and enjoy the interplay of flavors. Thin slices of house-smoked salmon — also very shareable — come with croutons, too, along with fried capers and an illiberal dab of crème fraîche.
The dining room, with its floor-to-ceiling wood-framed windows, oversized hanging globe lamps and bare tables, has an appealingly expansive feel, though it looks a bit like the decorators haven't finished. On one ecru wall there's a colorful canvas by the late Donald Vogel; on another there's a large, odd painting that mixes abstract swaths of grays and tans with an assortment of colorful birds. The bird theme continues with a couple of odd wall-mounted sculptures by Kathy Boortz. Wonderful impulse to spotlight local artists, but the look is not quite pulled together.
Neither is the smoked-turkey Cobb salad. Tossed in ranch dressing, the generous mound of greens mingled with cubes of ripe avocado, halved cherry tomatoes and bits of hard-boiled egg is topped with a handful of julienned turkey breast that tastes like it could have come from a supermarket, and a couple of slices of fried green tomato, heavily flour-battered and bland.
A turkey pastrami sandwich was even less successful than the Cobb. Nothing pastrami-like about the filling, which merely tasted like salty turkey. It was piled onto pallid, underbaked ciabatta spread with so much whole-grain mustard you could barely taste the turkey and melted cheese. The sandwich came with potatoes that seemed to have been fried during the Eisenhower administration.
Hot entrees were mostly better, particularly a fillet of wild salmon set atop a corn and sweet-pea succotash. Forgive the fish for being a wee bit overcooked — the summery succotash, boosted with cherry tomatoes and sliced andouille sausage, had lovely flavor. At brunch on a recent Sunday, a special — grouper — was well-seasoned, carefully cooked and paired with a refreshing zucchini-fennel salad.
A perfectly cooked, grilled chicken breast came sliced and served with a perky quinoa salad and nicely sautéed summer vegetables — tiny pattypan squashes, asparagus, carrots, marble potatoes. The dish would have been an all-out success, had it not been complicated by a chunky, sweet sauce that was rich with dried figs.
Mission almost accomplished with the sautéed halibut. It looked attractive, but the meaty trumpet mushrooms tucked underneath with beech mushrooms, wilted spinach and diced tomatoes were undercooked, the whole dish was woefully underseasoned and the marinated orange supremes made little flavor sense with the rest.
On weekends, there's a small brunch menu offered in addition to the lunch menu. If you're looking for something rich and don't mind your barbecue sweet, consider the Southern Benedict — a couple of buttermilk biscuits topped with tender, Kansas City-style pulled pork and poached eggs and smothered in andouille-studded gravy.
You can wash it down with a Bloody Mary or mimosa; instead, we went for a bottle of Texas wine — a Brennan Vineyards Viognier, oakier and sweeter than expected. There are eight wines offered by the glass as well, including three from Texas.
There's one terrific dessert at Cafe 43 — a silky, nicely bittersweet chocolate torte served with stripes of salted caramel sauce, bitter orange sauce and some crushed pine-nut brittle and pistachios. Otherwise, the pastry chef has a very heavy hand with the sugar spoon.
The service at Cafe 43 was as inconsistent as the cooking. On one visit, we were left sitting in front of our finished plates for eons; when a server finally showed up to clear, he picked up a morsel of food from the table with his fingers and dropped it unceremoniously on the floor, then brushed some crumbs to the floor with his hand. Service was much more professional when I returned.
Unless a Laura Bush sighting is on your bucket list, Cafe 43 isn't necessarily worth a visit on its own merits. But if your day includes an excursion to the presidential library and museum, it's a pleasant way to refuel.
Follow Leslie Brenner on Twitter at @lesbren.
Cafe 43 (2 stars)
Price: $$-$$$ (lunch appetizers and soups $7 to $9, salads $10 to $16, sandwiches and main courses $10 to $22; brunch dishes $6 to $13; desserts $6 to $7)
Service: Ranges from neglectful and amateurish to professional and attentive.
Ambience: A very attractive, high-ceilinged, open and airy dining room with attached patios, and a smattering of curious art
Noise level: Quiet
Location: George W. Bush Presidential Center, 2943 SMU Blvd., Dallas; 214-200-4302; bushcenter.org/plan-your-visit/dining. There's parking for $7 in a lot across the way, and the management is looking into adding a valet.
Hours: Lunch Monday-Friday 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., brunch Saturday-Sunday 10:30 to 3 p.m.
Reservations: Accepted
Credit cards: All major
Wheelchair accessible: Yes
Alcohol: Wine and beer, with a small selection of spirits available on request


text:
Top Definition
1. excellent metal band founded in late 70's by former Deep Purple member David Coverdale.
2. penis
1. "Crank up the Whitesnake, bubba!"
2. "Sit on my whitesnake, sweetcheeks!"
2. "Sit on my whitesnake, sweetcheeks!"
av Joe Bone 17. mars 2005
Trending Now
Can you define these popular missing words?
To be cut off durning a sentence by a good friend; ie. Changing the subject quickly
Russell was telling us how much in love he was with Holly when Keith speaks out loudly "How about some of that Whitesnake". Damn, Russell just got "Whitesnaked"
av Russell Pridgen 26. september 2007
Here i go again is fucking amazing
av Anonymous 23. oktober 2003
The greatest love-rock, cock-rock band on the planet. The songs are so pumping and rocking, yet so soulful and melodic. Whatever mood your in, there will be a Whitesnake song that suits your situation. Plus David Coverdale is the best singer, songwriter and frontman in the world!!
"Whitesnake songs come straight from, and go straight through, the heart. Coverdale rules"
av Mike20070 30. mai 2005
I'm guilty of love...
...in the first degree.
av Fagbot and jessor 27. desember 2003
When a woman snorts a line of cocaine off a mans erect penis.
Jeff: Dude, last night was so crazy, Maria did a white snake.
Jim: O man, I have been trying to get linda to do one of those for a long time.
Jim: O man, I have been trying to get linda to do one of those for a long time.
av Mitchell Obama 20. januar 2008
a late 80's and early 90's hard rock band.
Whitesnake is the best band in the entire universe.
av Sorceror72 27. februar 2005


text:
Saturday, December 14, 2013
Jamez Rogers scored 11 of his game-high 22 points in the third quarter to push the Wando Warriors past the Northwood Academy Chargers Friday in Mount Pleasant.
Wando (6-0) turned a one-point deficit into a 10-point advantage with an 11-2 run through the middle of the third quarter. Rogers paced the Warriors throughout the third and dropped in four points in the final minute to open a 12-point lead heading into the fourth.
"I think (Rogers) saw a need to take over the game and went after it," Wando head coach David Eaton said. "They were really getting into us but he's a great ball handler and a great finisher and I thought he did a good job."
Northwood (4-2) pulled within eight of Wando in the opening minutes of the fourth but couldn't slow the Warriors offense long enough to sustain any legitimate comeback attempt. Five different Warriors scored at least two points in the final frame, including four each from Rogers, Matt Pegram and Andrew Glover.
"The way we were playing, we felt fortunate to be tied at halftime," Eaton said. "We wanted to start the game over mentally in the second half, come out and be the aggressors and I think that's really what did it for us."
The undersized Chargers took advantage of the Warriors' mistakes early in the game, capitalizing on open lanes to the basket and second-shot opportunities. Daquan Acrum scored 12 points in the first half for Northwood to lead all scorers. The Chargers made several attempts to take control early in the game and took the lead three different times in the second quarter. Each time, Glover rained in a three to either retake the lead or tie the game for Wando. Glover led the Warriors with nine first-half points and finished with 15 on the night.
"We knew they were athletic and had some really good players but I thought we just came out sluggish tonight," Eaton said. "(Glover) showed his senior leadership when we needed him to take over. He's a really great player, who can do that, and he did a good job tonight."
The win marks the sixth straight for the Warriors this season. Saturday, they'll travel to Daniel Island to face longtime rival Bishop England (3-2) at 7:30 p.m.
"Tonight was a great tune-up for tomorrow because we didn't play that great and I think it was a little bit of a reality check for us," Eaton said. "It's always good to get a win but we can't play like that against Bishop England. So we'll go home, think about it tonight and hopefully start the game more mentally prepared tomorrow."
Lady Warriors fall
The Wando Lady Warriors suffered an 80-38 loss to Northwood in Friday night's opener.
Northwood guard Amber Campbell matched Wando (0-5) herself, scoring a game-high 38 points in the lopsided win. The Wake Forest signee broke the game open early with a 16-point first quarter. Northwood (6-1) established control early with a 17-1 run to start the game. Campbell turned in 13 more in the second quarter to send Northwood into halftime with an 18-point lead.
Dynasty Heyward scored nine and Clare McTighe added eight to lead Wando.
Saturday, the Lady Warriors face the tall order of the undefeated Bishop England Lady Bishops at 5:30 p.m. Bishop England (4-0) has yet to win a game by less than 40 points this season.
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The 50 Creepiest Pieces of Romance Advice Ever Published
Gregory J.P. Godek is the author of 1,001 Ways to be Romantic and 1,001 More Ways to be Romantic. If you're a longtime Cracked reader, you know that most of his tips involve a pun or a pizza, and the rest are Top 40 love songs he remembers. He's made a career out of being stupid and lazy, and if you still aren't on board with him being the biggest piece of shit in the world, the only book he's ever written that wasn't a list of corny, vagina-drying romance tips was a shameless attempt to make money off 9/11 with a completely random list of "American" things. Godek is what abortion doctors picture to make their jobs easier.
Godek's idea of clever is writing "Forget-me-not" on a forget-me-not. I always wondered what kind of person they were picturing when they decided to add instructions to a bar of soap.
Is this to convince her that I'm gay or that I forgot which day was her birthday? It actually doesn't matter. She's going to accuse me of both.
Ladies, let me save you some time. No one in their right mind would ever do this, but if you do buy every card in the store and give them to your man, you'll hear one of three things:
1: "Is this because I hate you? Because you weren't supposed to find out about that."
2: "You idiot slut, can I assume the rest of these envelopes are also birthday cards so we can just put this event behind us?"
3: "Hello, Batman? I work at the Hallmark store and I'm pretty sure you're about to start finding birthday-themed murders all over the place."
You can try this one, but I'm pretty sure women are trained from a very young age to not put their mouth on anyone who hands them a Garfield balloon.
Godek, you fucking dumbass. Only you could walk into a card shop and shout, "Hold on, I just thought of something! You could give these things to people! Sir, what are they called again? C-aaahh-errds?"
What Godek is saying is that most women are happy to ignore your lack of wit if you give them expensive things. Godek had to buy his wife a car to get his first blowjob. And the entire time she was doing it, he handed her blow-pops and screamed, "Get it? Get it!?"
This is the romance guru equivalent of tech support asking you if your computer is plugged in. "Sir? I'm sorry to hear about your marriage. Have you tried buying an instruction manual on sex and fucking your wife? Okay, try that and call me back."
I imagine a normal day for Godek's wife is tearing the fruity puns off all her household products in a desperate attempt to find one poisonous enough to kill her.
That's lucky, Godek because after reading one of your romance books, the thought of an erection makes a penis sick.
Even after all these years, whenever Godek leaves a present for his wife, her first thought is, "I'm being stalked by an eight-year-old rapist."
Yeah, I remember this hot tip from earlier in this same book, you useless hack. I know when you sat down to type every little goddamn thing that popped into your subnormal brain you figured no one would ever hold it up to any scrutiny. These are just books for bored old people to pass around when they've run out of gift ideas. Well fuck you, Godek. I read them. And you're worse at your job than the doctor who accidentally punched you for thirty minutes instead of giving you a circumcision. You write the same way you pee: out of a stupid vagina. These garbage books you make are inhumane attempts at population control.
Thirty percent of this book's advice is to buy greeting cards and now the idiot who wrote it is concerned about us wasting money and being predictable? I think Godek is probably just pissed off at roses because he couldn't think of a pun for them. He sat at his keyboard for a week thinking, "What could a stupid fuck write on a rose... I get a ROSE out of you! No... Rose rose rose your boat... not quite... ARGH! Fine! I guess roses aren't romantic. That Snoopy balloon, on the other hand, is making me rock hard."
He was right about a dozen roses being common, expected, and expensive. Luckily, naming your boat after your wife is none of those things. Following Godek's logic is like watching a kid play baseball. If he simply picked one direction and ran that way, you probably wouldn't even notice that he's retarded.
"And what's the deal with men's fashion? Why should us fellas have to wear t-shirts when nursing bras fit so much better?? And don't even get me started on grocery stores that sell the maxi pads alongside products for women. Men bleed out of the holes in their genitals too, ladies!"
Go ahead, but I think it might backfire the next time you get in an argument. "Honey, you can't watch the game. You're taking us to my sister's brunch today. And before this turns into a battle of wills, let's try to remember which one of us is a giant pussy. Oh, look! A check for one million kisses, signed by you! How about you go get changed and meet me in the car, tough guy."
That makes sense. Do I get in the elevator with her too? I don't want her endorphins to reach lethal levels from all this romance. She kind of looked like she was going into toxic shock when I handed her the stuffed tiger that said "Grrrrrrr!" on it.


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Madame Alexander
Mouseketeer Wendy 8" Doll
- Color:
- multi
- 1
- 2
Description: M-I-C…is how the Mouseketeers™ would open each show and Mouseketeer Wendy is ready to spell her way into your heart. She, a fully articulated Wendy with green eyes and short, curly black hair that's pulled back in the front, wears a headband that features a pair of the iconic 'mouse ears'. The headband is made from double-faced black flock and held onto the head with black elastic. A red satin ribbon and a small, round, Mickey Mouse Club™ logo are nestled in between her mouse ears. With her mouse ears, Mouseketeer Wendy wears a white, cotton knit jersey top that has puffed sleeves and the name Wendy, in black, printed on the front. Her blue cotton, pleated, A-line skirt looks perfect with the top and is worn over lace-trimmed, white cotton bloomers. White socks and black patent Mary Jane's and Mouseketeer Wendy is complete. And because she likes being in a club she'll bring her black/red/yellow and white resin Mickey, as well as her red/white/black/blue and yellow resin Minnie when Mouseketeer Wendy comes to your house.
- Doll measures: 8" in height
- For ages 14 and up
Material: Plastic, cloth
Brand: Madame Alexander
Origin: Imported


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A 49-year-old Kahului man who impersonated an FBI agent and used the ruse to gain access to an online account of a female minor and to steal and cash a check for $1,000 was sentenced Tuesday in federal court to 3 years in prison by U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright.
Eric Wayne Fernandez was charged with impersonating a law enforcement officer and with being a felon in possession of a firearm. He was sentenced to three years on the impersonation charge and 3 years on the firearms charge, to be served concurrently at the Federal Detention Center on Oahu, said Michael Song, assistant U.S. attorney.
Song called the sentence fair but also expressed concern in an interview Wednesday afternoon that Fernandez "really sets back law enforcement."
"His actions not only affected those close to him but also other, real law enforcement officers because the community began to question law enforcement and if they really were who they really said they were," Song said at the sentencing.
He noted that a victim of Fernandez's ruse said that she will be asking for two badges and a phone number of a supervisor when dealing with law enforcement in the future.
As the prosecutor in the case, Song said that he even had to work through the victim's mistrust of law enforcement after being burned by Fernandez.
"I think it affected her peace of mind," he said.
According to court documents, Fernandez's wife, who believed that her husband was with the FBI, mentioned to him that a teenage daughter of one of their friends had sent a nude picture of herself to a teenage boy over the Internet.
On April 5, Fernandez, wearing an FBI-labeled shirt and an FBI badge and carrying a gun, went to the home of the teenage girl and told the family that he was there to address the sending of the inappropriate picture over the Internet and how that was a federal offense, court documents said.
He told the girl's parents that he would not open a case, which would keep their daughter out of trouble. The parents gave Fernandez a computer user name and password and allowed him to speak with their daughter alone without their supervision, according to court records.
Later, Fernandez was allowed into the victim's home unsupervised under the guise that it was part of his investigation. It was discovered that two checks written for $1,000 were made out to Fernandez and that one had been cashed. Fernandez was identified on surveillance video as the person cashing the check, court records said.
Maui police received consent to search Fernandez's home and found a pistol, ammunition, FBI logo polo shirts, an FBI raid jacket, two FBI badges and FBI business cards with Fernandez's name on them.
He was arrested. During an interview with law enforcement, Fernandez admitted to the impersonation and interviewing the teenager unsupervised and to wearing an airsoft pistol, not capable of firing real bullets, court records said.
He also said that he was a convicted felon, who served 13 months in Folsom Prison in California for burglary.
"In a nutshell, Mr. Fernandez is a burglar," Song told the court. "It seems like he has been living a fantasy life. He has been conning his family, friends and even his wife. And you really wouldn't expect this from a grown man."
"The lies upon lies that he would tell everyone about his job just really shows that there is a mental issue that Mr. Fernandez needs to address, and it seems that the motivating factor for this facade was simply greed," Song continued, while also noting the defendant's cooperation with law enforcement and show of remorse.
* Lee Imada can be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com.


text:
In a career spanning more than four decades documenting music as it evolved
in and around his hometown of New York City, pioneering rock 'n' roll
photographer Bob Gruen
has pretty much seen it all.
Among the icons he's photographed are John Lennon and Yoko Ono; The Ramones;
Tina Turner; Alice Cooper; the New York Dolls; and The Clash. More recently,
Gruen covered Green Day during their 2010 world tour.
He's learned from the artists he covered along the way. Gruen says Joe
Strummer, for instance, "...encouraged me to always see something unique and
beautiful in everything I look at."
You toured with Green Day last year. What was that like?
Oh yeah, I really have a lot of fun with those guys, they are among the
funniest people I know. They're constantly cracking each other up. They're
great. They're one of the best band's I've hung out with, and I really enjoy
their music and I really enjoy them. They're punks, they've got a real great
attitude. You know that Walmart is one of the biggest sellers [of CDs] -- I
think Walmart sells about half the CDs and albums in the U.S., and they're very
strict about the language on CDs. Some bands will change the lyrics so that
Walmart will carry their record. When their last record came out, Green Day
refused to change their lyrics, and Walmart wouldn't carry the album. When they
asked Billie Joe how he felt about that, he said, "Well if they think it's
dangerous why don't they just move it out of the record department and sell it
over by the guns and knives and the other dangerous things they sell." That's
the reason I like Green Day. They just have common sense and a good sense of
Full article at Sound Spike: HERE


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Brady Sallee Named Head Women's Basketball Coach
Brady Sallee, who has served as the head women's basketball coach at Eastern Illinois for the past eight seasons, has been named the 11th head women's basketball coach in Ball State history, according to Ball State athletics director Bill Scholl.
"We are extremely excited to welcome Brady and his family to the Ball State family and Muncie community," Scholl says. "The search process was thorough and there were a number of outstanding candidates. Coach Sallee is the best fit for our program at this time and we are ready for him to get started as the coach of the Cardinals."
Ball State will hold a press conference Friday, at 10 a.m. to formally introduce Coach Sallee and his family. The press conference will be held at the Worthen Arena Lounge, which is located through the doors of Gate 1. Parking is available in the Worthen Arena Parking Lot. The press conference will air live on www.ballstatesports.com
Sallee replaces Kelly Packard, who announced her resignation from Ball State in March. He has posted a 136-109 career coaching record.
During his tenure at Eastern Illinois, Sallee led the Panthers to the institution's first ever Ohio Valley Conference title during the 2009-10 campaign. In 2011-12, Eastern Illinois was 22-9 overall, posted a 13-3 OVC mark and competed in the Women's National Invitation Tournament.
Over the last five seasons he has guided the Panthers to 106 victories, which is the most in the school's history by an EIU women's basketball team over a five-year span.
Sallee guided Eastern Illinois to back-to-back 20 win seasons in 2008-09 and 2009-10. His team won 24 games in 2008-09, which marked the first time a women's basketball team from EIU had accomplished that feat since 1987-88. He also coached the Panthers to three Women's National Invitational Tournament appearances from 2010-12.
Throughout his eight seasons at Eastern Illinois, he has coached 17 all-conference selections which included three OVC Freshman of the Year honorees, along with the two-time OVC Defensive Player of the Year in 2010 and 2012.
His work on the court has not gone unnoticed in the record books for the Panthers. Under his tutelage the women's basketball program set a school record for free throws made in a season (595, 2009-10) and made three pointers (180, 2008-09) while also scoring 2,736 points as a team in 2009-10 which was the third most in school history.
Academically his student-athletes excel in the classroom, as they have earned four consecutive OVC Academic Achievement Awards along with posting the highest percentage of players on the Commissioner's Honor Roll from 2007-10. His teams have ranked nationally among women's basketball programs with high grade-point averages earning the seventh-best team GPA in 2007-08 with a 3.475. The Panthers also ranked ninth in 2008-09 and tenth in 2006-07.
Before his tenure at Eastern Illinois he was the top assistant at East Carolina in 2002-03. From 1996-2002 he helped Kent State, a fellow member of the Mid-American Conference, to five regular-season MAC Championships and three tournament titles. The Golden Flashes participated in the NCAA Tournament four of his seven years while posting a combined record of 155-56. He also was an assistant coach at Idaho State in 1994-95.
A native of Lexington, Ky., Sallee played collegiate baseball at Thomas More College from 1990-93. While at Thomas More, he served as a student assistant with the women's basketball team. Sallee earned his bachelor's degree in business administration in 1993.
Sallee and his wife Mandy have three children; Avery, Taryn and Drew.


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|By PR Newswire
Article Rating:
|January 31, 2014 10:00 AM EST
MONTREAL, Jan. 31, 2014 /CNW Telbec/ - We are pleased to invite you to the 6th edition of Art Souterrain, this contemporary art festival based in Montreal, which will be back from March 1st to 16th. Nearly 100 artworks by international artists , will be on display throughout the 7-kilometer underground network, linking 14 buildings. The artists will expose their projects exploring this year's theme: Foundations. For information, please visit www.artsouterrain.com or contact [email protected]
SOURCE Art Souterrain
In his general session at 18th Cloud Expo, Lee Atchison, Principal Cloud Architect and Advocate at New Relic, discussed cloud as a 'better data center' and how it adds new capacity (faster) and improves application availability (redundancy). The cloud is a 'Dynamic Tool for Dynamic Apps' and resource allocation is an integral part of your application architecture, so use only the resources you need and allocate /de-allocate resources on the fly.
Sep. 30, 2016 12:45 AM EDT Reads: 2,967
IoT is fundamentally transforming the auto industry, turning the vehicle into a hub for connected services, including safety, infotainment and usage-based insurance. Auto manufacturers – and businesses across all verticals – have built an entire ecosystem around the Connected Car, creating new customer touch points and revenue streams. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Macario Namie, Head of IoT Strategy at Cisco Jasper, will share real-world examples of how IoT transforms the car from a static p...
Sep. 30, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 1,669
Fifty billion connected devices and still no winning protocols standards. HTTP, WebSockets, MQTT, and CoAP seem to be leading in the IoT protocol race at the moment but many more protocols are getting introduced on a regular basis. Each protocol has its pros and cons depending on the nature of the communications. Does there really need to be only one protocol to rule them all? Of course not. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Chris Matthieu, co-founder and CTO of Octoblu, walk you through how Oct...
Sep. 30, 2016 12:00 AM EDT Reads: 2,370
Web Real-Time Communication APIs have quickly revolutionized what browsers are capable of. In addition to video and audio streams, we can now bi-directionally send arbitrary data over WebRTC's PeerConnection Data Channels. With the advent of Progressive Web Apps and new hardware APIs such as WebBluetooh and WebUSB, we can finally enable users to stitch together the Internet of Things directly from their browsers while communicating privately and securely in a decentralized way.
Sep. 29, 2016 11:30 PM EDT Reads: 1,207
"My role is working with customers, helping them go through this digital transformation. I spend a lot of time talking to banks, big industries, manufacturers working through how they are integrating and transforming their IT platforms and moving them forward," explained William Morrish, General Manager Product Sales at Interoute, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at 18th Cloud Expo, held June 7-9, 2016, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY.
Sep. 29, 2016 10:30 PM EDT Reads: 4,042
More and more companies are looking to microservices as an architectural pattern for breaking apart applications into more manageable pieces so that agile teams can deliver new features quicker and more effectively. What this pattern has done more than anything to date is spark organizational transformations, setting the foundation for future application development. In practice, however, there are a number of considerations to make that go beyond simply "build, ship, and run," which changes ho...
Sep. 29, 2016 10:15 PM EDT Reads: 2,791
The Internet of Things can drive efficiency for airlines and airports. In their session at @ThingsExpo, Shyam Varan Nath, Principal Architect with GE, and Sudip Majumder, senior director of development at Oracle, will discuss the technical details of the connected airline baggage and related social media solutions. These IoT applications will enhance travelers' journey experience and drive efficiency for the airlines and the airports. The session will include a working demo and a technical d...
Sep. 29, 2016 10:00 PM EDT Reads: 1,809
Kubernetes is a new and revolutionary open-sourced system for managing containers across multiple hosts in a cluster. Ansible is a simple IT automation tool for just about any requirement for reproducible environments. In his session at @DevOpsSummit at 18th Cloud Expo, Patrick Galbraith, a principal engineer at HPE, discussed how to build a fully functional Kubernetes cluster on a number of virtual machines or bare-metal hosts. Also included will be a brief demonstration of running a Galera M...
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Developing software for the Internet of Things (IoT) comes with its own set of challenges. Security, privacy, and unified standards are a few key issues. In addition, each IoT product is comprised of (at least) three separate application components: the software embedded in the device, the back-end service, and the mobile application for the end user's controls. Each component is developed by a different team, using different technologies and practices, and deployed to a different stack/target –...
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Why do your mobile transformations need to happen today? Mobile is the strategy that enterprise transformation centers on to drive customer engagement. In his general session at @ThingsExpo, Roger Woods, Director, Mobile Product & Strategy – Adobe Marketing Cloud, covered key IoT and mobile trends that are forcing mobile transformation, key components of a solid mobile strategy and explored how brands are effectively driving mobile change throughout the enterprise.
Sep. 29, 2016 08:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,219
Identity is in everything and customers are looking to their providers to ensure the security of their identities, transactions and data. With the increased reliance on cloud-based services, service providers must build security and trust into their offerings, adding value to customers and improving the user experience. Making identity, security and privacy easy for customers provides a unique advantage over the competition.
Sep. 29, 2016 06:15 PM EDT Reads: 3,702
All clouds are not equal. To succeed in a DevOps context, organizations should plan to develop/deploy apps across a choice of on-premise and public clouds simultaneously depending on the business needs. This is where the concept of the Lean Cloud comes in - resting on the idea that you often need to relocate your app modules over their life cycles for both innovation and operational efficiency in the cloud. In his session at @DevOpsSummit at19th Cloud Expo, Valentin (Val) Bercovici, CTO of So...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that eCube Systems, a leading provider of middleware modernization, integration, and management solutions, will exhibit at @DevOpsSummit at 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. eCube Systems offers a family of middleware evolution products and services that maximize return on technology investment by leveraging existing technical equity to meet evolving business needs. ...
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SYS-CON Events announced today that Commvault, a global leader in enterprise data protection and information management, has been named "Bronze Sponsor" of SYS-CON's 19th International Cloud Expo, which will take place on November 1–3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA. Commvault is a leading provider of data protection and information management solutions, helping companies worldwide activate their data to drive more value and business insight and to transform moder...
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Personalization has long been the holy grail of marketing. Simply stated, communicate the most relevant offer to the right person and you will increase sales. To achieve this, you must understand the individual. Consequently, digital marketers developed many ways to gather and leverage customer information to deliver targeted experiences. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Lou Casal, Founder and Principal Consultant at Practicala, discussed how the Internet of Things (IoT) has accelerated our abil...
Sep. 29, 2016 04:45 PM EDT Reads: 2,803


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|Structure Illuminates Mechanism of Fungal Polyketide Cyclization
Polyketide natural products produced by bacteria and fungi are often characterized by the presence of multiple aromatic rings that are responsible for the activity of polyketides as both beneficial antibiotic and anticancer agents and as dangerous toxic compounds, such as the highly carcinogenic aflatoxins that are produced by fungal species from the Aspergillus family of molds. Polyketide ring formation by fungal enzymes called polyketide synthases (PKSs) is mediated by the enzyme's product template (PT) domain. However, the mechanism for aromatic ring formation from a linear intermediate with high fidelity has remained unclear. To reveal the cyclization mechanism, researchers at the University of California, Irvine, and The Johns Hopkins University solved the structure of the isolated PT domain of the PKS involved in aflatoxin production (PksA) to 1.8 Å using data from ALS Beamline 8.2.2 and SSRL Beamline 9-1. The crystal structure, along with biochemical studies, provides a paradigm for polyketide cyclization by fungal PKSs, an event that is necessary for imparting biological activity to this large class of clinically relevant natural products.
A megasynthase containing six enzyme domains covalently linked together, PksA catalyzes iterative reactions that produce a 20-carbon linear intermediate. At this point, if left unprotected, the highly reactive polyketide chain would undergo random cyclization to produce dead-end products. Instead, the linear intermediate enters PT, where it is stabilized and transformed into a specific bicyclic intermediate with a highly specific cyclization pattern exclusive to fungi, an amazing feat of origami. In contrast, bacteria fold the linear chain into a completely different pattern, as promoted by an enzyme called aromatase/cyclase (ARO/CYC) that shares no amino acid sequence similarity (homology) with PT. Therefore, although starting with the same linear chain, fungi and bacteria would fold the chain differently and end up producing completely different natural products.
The crystal structure of the isolated PT domain solved by the UC Irvine/Johns Hopkins team contains a dimer of double hot-dog folds reminiscent of ARO/CYC. Each monomer has an interior pocket, and the finite PT pocket length limits the possible substrate chain length while also orienting the linear polyketide, such that PT can selectively catalyze the cyclization of the linear chain. Two cocrystal structures were solved. In the first structure, a palmitic acid (a common fatty acid) molecule (fortuitously bound during E. coli purification) established the long, hydrophobic pocket and suggested that the 20-carbon intermediate enters the narrow PT pocket in a linear conformation anchored at the end of the pocket. The second structure, soaked with an analog of the bicyclic intermediate, showed that the chamber can accommodate two aromatic rings in a region in the middle of the chamber near the catalytic diad. Together with biochemical data, these structures confirmed the ability of PT to catalyze first- and second-ring cyclization/aromatization and established a general mechanism for fungal polyketide cyclization that has important implications for inhibitor design and controlled engineering of novel polyketides with altered cyclization patterns and possibly new bioactivities.
More generally, the fungal PT crystal structure, together with the ARO/CYC structure published by a UC Irivine group in 2008, has renewed the way we visualize polyketide cyclization. Although researchers had known for half a century that polyketides adopt special folds, the "streptomyces fold" for bacterial-generated polyketides and or "fungal fold" for fungal polyketides, no information has been available about how Nature folds and cyclizes a linear polyketide chain in such a highly specific manner. The ARO/CYC and PT structures revealed that regardless of bacterial or fungal PKS and despite low sequence homology, both ARO/CYC and PT have similar topology, and both have an interior pocket, whose size and shape directs the distinct ring patterns observed in bacterial and fungi.
Research conducted by J.M. Crawford, J.W. Labonte. A.L. Vagstad, E.A. Hill, and C.A. Townsend (Johns Hopkins University); and T.P. Korman, O. Kamari-Bidkorpeh, and S.-C. Tsai (University of California, Irvine).
Research funding: U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation. Operation of the ALS and SSRL are supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Basic Energy Sciences.
Publication about this research: J.M. Crawford, T.P. Korman, J.W. Labonte, A.L. Vagstad, E.A. Hill, O. Kamari-Bidkorpeh, S.-C. Tsai, C.A. Townsend, "Structural basis for biosynthetic programming of fungal aromatic polyketide cyclization," Nature 461, 1139 (2009).


text:
Siege at Nairobi Mall Ends After Four Days
Parts of Building Collapse as Security Forces Defeat Militants; Kenyan President Raises Questions on Attackers' Nationalities
Security forces in Nairobi prevailed on Tuesday against Islamic insurgents in a four-day gunbattle that devastated a popular shopping mall, shook a nation and pointed to a new front line in Africa's fight against terrorism.
In an address to the nation on Tuesday night, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta said five militants had been killed in an operation that culminated with massive explosions that brought down three floors of the upscale Westgate mall.
Efforts to retrieve bodies and identify the assailants were expected to begin at daylight Wednesday, soldiers involved in the operation said.
Mr. Kenyatta also said 11 suspects were in police custody. He said an investigation was also under way to determine whether any of the attackers had come from the U.S. or Britain, as unconfirmed intelligence reports had suggested. It wasn't immediately clear whether hostages had also died after the floors collapsed.
The assault on Westgate mall marked the deadliest single attack in the capital since the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing, in which more than 200 people died. The assailants who seized the Nairobi shopping mall killed 61 civilians and six security forces, Mr. Kenyatta said. The death toll could rise as bodies are pulled out of a portion of the building that collapsed on Tuesday.
Mr. Kenyatta, in his address, declared three days of national mourning. "We have been badly hurt and feel great pain and loss," he said. "In resolutely looking forward and never turning back, we have defeated our enemies."
More Coverage
- Smoke Billows from Westgate Mall
- Kenya Says Mall Siege is Over, and More
- President Takes On New Role—As Uniter
- Obama Vows Aid, Assails Terror Group
- Victims of Nairobi Mall Siege Mourned
- Africa Insurgents Employ Deadlier Tactics
- African Militants Turn More to Social Media
- Attack Shows Sophistication of Terrorists
- President Obama Calls Kenyan President
- Poet Killed in Nairobi Attack | A Final Poem
But the grisly attack—on a target that pulled in Nairobi's cosmopolitan elite—showed how easily Islamic insurgents can pierce a country's defenses. Neither the Kenyans nor any of their international partners have said they had any indication an attack of this scale was imminent. Some experts said the response also showed how the government of Mr. Kenyatta, who was elected this year, is still finding its feet on counterterrorism issues.
"The president is really brand new at this and just doesn't have a lot of experience in big time governance at any level," said Henry Crumpton, a former top counterterrorism official at the State Department and the Central Intelligence Agency who worked in Kenya.
That inexperience may have prolonged the attack, said Daniel Benjamin, a former top State Department counterterrorism official. "Part of the reason the attack was so devastating is the Kenyans' lack of experience with a situation like this."
Similar mass attacks on civilians have played out in other pockets of the African continent, including Nigeria and Somalia, home to two of the continent's most ruthless militancies, Boko Haram and al-Shabaab. The governments of these countries, as well as Kenya, have sought from the U.S. and other governments more counterterrorism assistance.
As the siege on the mall unfolded, the Somali militant group al-Shabaab claimed responsibility. On Tuesday, it posted a Swahili praise song online to honor its slain militants. The group said it had targeted Kenya partly because of Kenyan peacekeepers fighting al-Shabaab in Somalia.
"You could have avoided all this and lived your lives with relative safety," a message from a Twitter account purported to be al-Shabaab's said on Tuesday. "Remove your forces from our country and peace will come."
The assault started shortly before 12:30 p.m., after a grenade exploded on the rooftop parking lot where a children's cooking competition was being taped for television. The presenter, a prominent Kenyan radio personality, was killed along with many others.
At almost the same time, assailants armed with assault rifles and grenades stormed the mall's main ground-floor entrance and its basement parking garage, firing as they came. People dove for cover in restaurants and ran for stairwells. More grenades went off.
Some people rushed for the doors only to run into gunfire. Others streamed out of fire exits and, later, crawled out of air-conditioning ducts.
At a second-floor restaurant, Uche Kaigwa-Okoye spent the next five hours packed in a bathroom stall with three other people, trying to stay quiet as they heard guns firing on the other side of the door.
"They must have been shooting right next to us," Mr. Kaigwa-Okoye said. "When we were rescued, I saw the glass and the shells outside the door."
Police arrived, first believing they were responding to a brazen armed robbery. As they pushed into the mall, the nature of the attack became clear. As the military arrived, people trapped inside the mall by gunfire made frantic calls to friends, trying to find out if it was safe to run. Insurgents went store-to-store and restaurant-to-restaurant, often shooting people on sight; sometimes they first asked people to prove that they were Muslim.
"They were questioning people, and they said, 'If you are Muslim you are on the safer side, but if you are Hindu or Christian you will be killed,'" said 26-year-old Edwin Omoding, who works in the stockroom of the mall's supermarket.
Those who were still in hiding sent text messages to each other with Islamic phrases to recite if questioned. At least 39 people were confirmed killed by the end of the day.
Sporadic gunfire and explosions continued through Sunday and Monday and the flow of escapees slowed. Even as the Kenyan government expressed confidence about gaining control of the building, the shooting continued. By Monday afternoon, a large fire engulfed one side of the building.
Still, the Kenyan government said its operation had successfully rescued more than 1,000 people. From the early hours Tuesday, officials tweeted that they believed all the hostages had been freed and appeared ready to declare victory.
Then before dawn on Tuesday, Kenyan police tweeted: "We have triumphed."
But victory over the militants eluded the security forces. By Tuesday morning, gunfire had erupted again. It continued sporadically throughout the day and the siege appeared set to drag through another long night. A military official said the militants were using the remaining hostages as human shields. The Kenyan military requested 100 body bags to be brought to the site.
In a fierce final exchange as night fell Tuesday, Kenyan soldiers fired rocket-propelled grenades at insurgents, triggering the explosives that the militants had rigged inside the building, said a group of soldiers outside the mall.
The massive blasts caused three of the mall's floors to collapse upon each other. Although the structure of the building remained, the collapsed floors made survival for anyone inside unlikely, a lieutenant in the Kenyan Defense Forces said. The lieutenant said he hadn't seen any hostages during the final stages of the operation.
"As far as we're concerned, the operation is complete," he said. "We don't expect there's anyone alive in there."
The lieutenant said it wasn't possible to see inside the building because power systems had been destroyed. Search and recovery of bodies could only begin at daylight, he said.
In his address, Mr. Kenyatta didn't answer a question that has loomed over the siege: Who were the militants? He mentioned unconfirmed intelligence reports that two or three Americans were involved as well as a British woman, but said an investigation into the nationalities of the attackers was continuing.
U.S. officials are trying to cut through the muddled picture. They are still working to confirm whether Americans were among the attackers. Part of the difficulty in determining whether Americans were among the assailants is matching the names provided by the Kenyans with known individuals, a senior Obama administration official said.
Officials have sought to match identifies with data in U.S. databases, such as passport information, but so far they haven't been able to confirm claims Americans were involved. Part of the challenge is simply discerning proper spellings of names.
The continuing nature of the attack has also delayed confirmation, the senior administration official said, adding, "How would you confirm it before you have bodies?"
Americans have joined jihadist groups over the last several years, and in 2007 through 2009, there was a surge of Somali-Americans joining up with al-Shabaab. Lately, more Americans have been drawn to other terror hot spots like Yemen and Syria.
Also adding to the confusion, the senior administration official said, is the major role social media, like Twitter, has played in circulating unformed reports and rumors. "The rumors you hear just get amplified," the official said.
Analysts have said that the resources involved in mounting this size of an attack in Kenya would be difficult for al-Shabaab—suggesting the al Qaeda affiliate might be working more closely with the world-wide terror organization to receive help with recruits, funding and logistics.
"They can't just walk into Westgate from rural Somalia," said Cedric Barnes, the Horn of Africa director for International Crisis Group.
After the operation, columns of wearily-looking Kenyan troops strolled out of the gates of the luxury Nairobi shopping mall. No more gunfire; no more deafening explosions; no more hovering helicopters. In the quiet night, the troops simply strolled down the dark streets.
"We are always in the line of fire," said an army sergeant pointing into the direction of the mall. "To get out of this safely is a miracle."
—Peter Wonacott in Nairobi and Devlin Barrett in Washington contributed to this article.
Write to Peter Wonacott at firstname.lastname@example.com and Heidi Vogt at firstname.lastname@example.com


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PSN Outage Spurs PlayStation 3 Returns in UK
Tiffany Kaiser
May 13, 2011 6:25 AM
comment(s) - last by
May 16
Recipient E-mail
Sender E-mail
(Source: flickr.com)
More customers are trading their PS3's for Xbox 360's
A little over a month ago, Sony was
sitting in a good position
with over 50 million PlayStation 3 units sold worldwide. But after the recent security breach, customers are getting fed up and even began trading their PS3's for Xbox 360's.
The PlayStation 3 is Sony's third home video game console in the PlayStation series, and was released in 2006. One of its most notable features is its online gaming service called the PlayStation Network (PSN), which offers online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery. But on April 20 of this year, the network went down after millions of users' personal information and even credit card numbers were stolen in a
massive security breach
. Sony didn't announce what had happened until April 26.
Now, retail numbers are beginning to show the customer's frustrations. According to different video game retailers around the world, gamers have been trading their PS3's for Xbox 360's at an increasing rate, and have even switched pre-orders of certain game titles from PS3 to Xbox 360.
"In the first week of downtime we did not really see any major change in sales or trades," said an anonymous UK retailer. "However, from the second week onwards we have seen an increase of over 200 percent on PS3 consoles being traded in, split almost 50/50 between those trading for cash and those taking a 360 instead."
According to UK retailers, the week ending March 16 showed that 49 percent of users bought
"Call of Duty: Black Ops"
for Xbox 360 while only 37 percent bought the PS3 version. At the end of the following week, 52 percent of bought the PS3 version while only 40 percent bought the Xbox 360 version.
But after April 20, these numbers began changing. In the week ending April 30, 59 percent of "Black Ops" sales went to the Xbox 360 while 30 percent went to the PS3. Last week, 66 percent of users bought the Xbox 360 title while 24 percent bought the PS3 title.
In addition to "Call of Duty: Black Ops," another popular game, "FIFA 11," saw a decline in PS3 versions. In the week ending April 16, Xbox 360 had 49 percent of the sales while PS3 had 37 percent, and the week after, Xbox 360 stayed at the top with 46 percent and PS# at 34 percent. The numbers became more obvious in the week ending April 30 with Xbox 360 at 52 percent and PS# at 26 percent, and last week with Xbox 360 at 49 percent and PS3 at 21 percent.
"At the end of each month, people come to sell their consoles," said Tom Mestdagh, from Belgian indie Gameswap. "People that need money [to pay bills]. What's different this time around is that they are bringing in PS3's together with all their games and they don't want money, they want an Xbox 360. In every case it is because of 'Black Ops' and/or 'Modern Warfare 2.' We're just ten days into the month and already we have an increase of 200 percent in PS3's coming into the store compared to all of March. Normally we sell them really fast, but not this time. We've only sold 30 to 40 percent of our inventory right now."
Reports also noted that PSN customers are upset with how Sony has handled this issue, and they've even stopped complaining about the charges for Xbox Live. Customer satisfaction is undoubtedly at a low, and Sony's problems
only seem to be getting worse
remember me
This article is over a month old, voting and posting comments is disabled
(1 Hidden)
RE: Fair-weather gamers
Your posts in this thread burst, pop, sing and glow "I'm a sony fanboy" to a degree that is deafening.
I don't own any console right now -- not for the last 3 months...don't really plan on buying one within the next 6 months either.
But c'mon man....sony didn't just fail once...but several times...and it didn't just impact 1000 users....their tally is now 100 million users compromised.
Now to be fair -- in this day and age these things can happen to any company. I also fully believe there is no encryption that is unbreakable and no AV software that can save you from all infections.
BUT the key then....is how pro-active companies take security -- are they really do everything that can be done to reduce the chance of a breach or infection (whatever the case may be). Then if they are breached or infected...all eyes are on how the company responds.
Many think Sony didn't do as much as they could have on the "pro-active" side of things....and its quite obvious to the majority of people they failed miserably on their response afterwards.
How you make excuses and/or defend a company under the guise of "it can happen to anyone" is one thing that I can probably understand.....but how you do for how badly a company responses....that just blows my mind.
(1 Hidden)
RE: Fair-weather gamers
Hahaha while I find it hard to fault Sony's tech team (or
, while I'm checking out that response someone above left about Sony not keeping their servers up-to-date*), there's no way I'm defending Sony's PR tactics on this one. In this age of almost-instantaneous communication, taking four days (generously giving them the two days to realize/communicate that there was a problem and shut everything down) to release an official statement to the press is beyond terrible. I'm torn between informing the public and not causing a panic, but "better safe than sorry" should always win out and they should have at least released a statement with the service shutdown along the lines of "We think a breach of our servers may have happened, so keep an eye on your credit and debit activity. More details to come."
*I've found a few articles that the servers were not protected and up-to-date, but I'm finding a few more recent ones that backtrack on that accusation.
RE: Fair-weather gamers
Further on the "it could happen to anyone" point.
That that is something of a truism, and that any large company could be attacked and breached like this, only makes their response even worse.
A fire could happen in any office, and that's why any responsible office manager will have procedures in place, safe routes and assembly points worked out and clearly marked, drills run, alarms and responses testes, ways of recovering and coping with the aftermath worked out etc.
So even ignoring the whole security laps and "doors left open" issue. Large companies like Sony must know that an attack like this not only could happen, but are likely, and that they could lose a lot of personal information. So they really should have done risk assessments and been prepared with how to react to an attack when it happened. How to find out what has happened, or at least identify what has been stolen/copied quickly, and then have some response ready to reassure customers as well as a clear plan on how they could recover from the attack and get their services up and running again swiftly.
From what I have seen (including messages from Sony as I am a PSN customer) it seems that Sony have done pretty much everything wrong since the attack happened.
I wasn't able to log into the PSN for a couple off days before the attack was announced and I thought that there was a problem with my router or PlayStastion. Then the reports/Press releases started to emerge about what was going on and had happened, and it just made Sony look like they were always reacting to events, rather than taking a lead on what was going on, and that they had been trying to cover something up, or at the very least, had been less than honest with their customers about why they couldn't get on-line. Then they didn't even seem to know what had be stolen/copied and there was the Anonymous "text file" left behind that I can only hope (for Sony's sake) is actually true, as them making that up would be so far beyond ridiculous.
Now I'm left with the news that I might get to go back on the PSN by the start of next month, but I only know this because of sites like this. I've had just 1 e-mail from Sony about the attack, and what they are doing about it, days after I was affected and they knew that something was happening. That's it! No news official news from Sony themselves on when I might get the service back up, just rumours in the internet.
So is it really any surprise that people who have no great loyalty to Sony have taken all that and traded their effectively useless PlayStations and games in for an xBox and a copy of the game that they love to play on-line, that they can actually play today?
Most off these CoD players who are trading in don't come on sites like this, they just want to play the games that they've bought on-line, as promised that they could by Sony. So they have even less information about when the service might be back up again. Sure, they could go on the net and search, but they really shouldn't have to be doing that.
I've stuck up for Sony a little on other articles here, but that was a while ago. This is taking too long for Sony to sort out and more importantly, they are just not communicating with their customers and reassuring them effectively. They seem to have had no plans in place with how to deal with this attack, which as you point out, could happen to anyone, so they should have known that it was coming.
"When an individual makes a copy of a song for himself, I suppose we can say he stole a song." -- Sony BMG attorney Jennifer Pariser
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Trekking in Otter Space
One of the world's most exclusive hikes, this 4½-day journey along South Africa's coast isn't for the fainthearted
"MADAM, YOU DO know this is a survivalist trail?" the mildly irritated, yet polite, voice on the telephone asks. Well, of course I do, but the word on Hiker Street is that a bit of sweet-talking can persuade the park ranger to deliver chocolate, beer and barbecue meat to a weary hiker on the last evening of the Otter Trail. Chastised—after 17 years in England, I don't want to be seen as "soft" in my native Africa—I hang up, perplexed as to whether the takeout service exists.
Along with five friends from the U.K., ranging in age from 38 to 47, I am hiking one of the most scenic and exclusive trails in the world. The Otter Trail, which snakes along the east coast of South Africa, is named after the shy—and, in our case, unencountered—Cape clawless otter. The only hint of otter we see is the yellow-painted paw prints that act as way-markers.
The 4½-day trek across 26 miles starts near the mouth of the mighty Storms River and hugs the Indian Ocean westward through the Tsitsikamma National Park until it ends on the yellow sands of the laid-back holiday settlement of Nature's Valley. An alluring combination of majestic sea views, dense forest and open headland with colorful fynbos (shrub land unique to this stretch of South African coastline) makes this conservation area a front-runner in the most-beautiful-scenery category. The trail's 12-person daily limit, restricted by the number of people the overnight cabins can accommodate, gives it added cachet—and a 14-month waiting list.
After a short, strenuous walk navigating loose rocks on day one of our trip last November, I introduce myself to the other six walkers joining our group on the hike: two English, two Australians and two South Africans. Val, one of the South Africans, greets me with: "I just squeaked in. I'm 65 [the maximum age allowed on the trail] and I had a knee replacement two years ago." We walk in awe of Val for the rest of the trip.
On paper, the hike, along a stretch of coast known as the Garden Route, appears easy: The longest day demands 8.6 miles of walking; all other stretches are under 6 miles. But don't be fooled. The Otter Trail isn't for the fainthearted or the unfit. You have to carry everything you need on your back. This includes a sleeping bag, five days' worth of food, pots and pans and cutlery, flashlights and candles, clothes, first-aid kit and, if you are determined, alcoholic beverages. Liquids are heavy, and on our hike we nominate the youngest in our group to carry a second half-bottle of wine on behalf of the oldest; the rest of us pack our own.
The terrain is also tricky. Boulder-hopping with a heavy backpack takes time and is tiresome. The path is narrow and uneven in most places. Sometimes I get the feeling that this linear route was designed with a single purpose: to give the happy hiker a near-continuous view of the rocky African coast.
Where large boulders, vertiginous cliff faces and impenetrable gorges force the path to divert, it follows the shortest route around the obstacle back to the next breathtaking vista. But that means a never-ending series of ups and downs. Day two of our hike, the most undulating stretch, is met with exasperated curses echoing across several gorges as sweaty walkers reach the end of a long, steep climb only to be faced immediately with an equally challenging downhill stretch. I remember Val and her replaced knee, and decide to complain less.
If the otter is the symbol of the trail, the sound of the sea is its soundtrack. Even when you can't see it, you can hear its thunderous roar day and night. At times, it is as if a primordial battle is raging between sea and land. The Indian Ocean furiously hurls itself against the jagged coast and the air shudders with the power of its large explosions.
'Day two of our hike, the most undulating stretch, is met with exasperated curses echoing across several gorges.'
The animals we encounter take it all in their stride. On day three, a troop of baboons go about their daily grooming and tick-picking tasks with nonchalance, ignoring both the camera-toting hikers and the dollops of yellow foam blowing off the angry sea. Barely two hours later, a pod of bottlenose dolphins surf the ferocious waves to within inches of the rocks, emerging in the quieter backwater seconds later. Only the Cape genet (a spotted, cat-like mammal native to southern Africa) attempts any level of interaction with us on the first night, skulking just outside the light circle of the campfire in anticipation of some leftovers, having become accustomed to the free handouts at the overnight stopping points.
At key points along the trail are sets of log cabins, each housing six, which we arrive at every evening, just before dusk. The cabins are situated at sea level in a sheltered space, usually each with its own bay and, the one nod to luxury, flushing thronelike toilets—all with a view out to sea. The outdoor showers, too, wow us and even the lack of hot water isn't off-putting after a hard day's walk. This becomes an issue, however, for those hiking in the winter (June to early September) when the air temperature drops sharply after sunset.
Several rivers cross the trail as they empty into the sea, and getting across them dry often means waiting for low tide. The Bloukrans River is the most notorious, and our band of walkers discovers on the fourth day why it has earned the Otter its reputation as a survivalist trail.
The Lowdown: South Africa's Otter Trail
Getting There: The nearest airport, Port Elizabeth, is about a two-hour flight from Johannesburg on South African Airways or British Airways. Rent a car from the airport and drive 115 miles to the trail at Tsitsikamma National Park. The hike is linear, so park your car and use a transfer service, such as Gecko Transport and Tours ( geckotours.co.za ). Gecko will also collect you from the airport if you don't want to hire a car.
When to go: Any time of the year, though it can be very hot in the height of summer (January to March). Winter has sunny days and chilly nights, and you'll find a bit of rainfall but pleasant temperatures from August to November.
The hike: For more information on booking, visit the South African National Parks website ( sanparks.org ). Be prepared to accept a booking in the less-popular winter months (June-August), and don't rely on this site alone for information on what to take. Online forums are good for this purpose. Note: You have to be between 12 and 65 years of age.
The cost: About 800 rand ($90) per person upon booking, plus a local conservation fee of about 300 rand ($34) per person.
What to bring: Take at least one waterproof bag, large enough for one backpack, for the Bloukrans River crossing. Research the tide timetables and plan this crossing accordingly
The stormy sea, combined with a particularly high low tide, mean that our wait for the water to go down is in vain. Even after three hours, the Bloukrans isn't only impassable on foot, it is positively aggressive, choppy and dangerous. Our collective lack of thorough research and trail planning becomes glaringly obvious: Between 12 hikers, there is only one waterproof bag with which to ferry 12 backpacks across the swirling water. (In my head, I compose a letter to South African National Parks, which manages the trail, asking them to give more specific instructions on the need for a flotation device.)
The fear factor is high. It is 5 p.m., darkness will set in at 7:30 p.m. and there is still a steep 2½-mile stretch to finish before the end of the walking day. It takes 20 minutes to get one pack safely to the other side of the river. Doing the math means only four of us will make the crossing. The other troopers retreat, braving the near-vertical climb back out of the Bloukrans Canyon, from where they follow an escape route to mobile-phone reception and get a lift in the park ranger's pickup truck to the hut.
The pain, angst and exertion is all worth it in the end. Both groups arrive at Andre Huts, the last stopover on the trail, just as the large, red-burning sun is about to sink heavily into the sea, and before it does, we quickly get the fire going.
The ranger who delivers our party to the hut also comes bearing a box of delectables. It contains several barbecue packs, each consisting of two lamb chops, a chicken leg and an arm's length of sausage for the princely sum of 45 rand (about $5). And chocolate and ice-cold beer. Our happiness is complete.
Walk on the Wildlife Side: Other Animal-Sighting Treks Around the Globe
Overland Track, Australia
One of the best-known wilderness bush walks in the world, this 40-mile, six-day trek in Tasmania challenges and rewards in equal measures. A well-maintained path snakes from Cradle Mountain to Lake St. Clair (Australia's deepest fresh-water lake) and runs against mountains and beech and eucalyptus forests. Hikers might spot a Tasmanian devil, as well as native pademelons (smaller cousins of the kangaroo) and wombats.
Skyline Trail, Canada
The 27-mile trek in Alberta's Jasper National Park has been described as one of the most beautiful in North America. With a good deal of terrain located above the treeline, the trail offers spectacular views of the Rockies. It can be completed over three days and hikers can look out for woodland caribou, grizzly bears, wolves and cougars. Be warned: The mountain weather can be treacherous.
W Circuit, Chile
Brave the Patagonian winds on this four- to five-day trek in the Torres del Paine National Park—or if you're feeling hardy, you can go for the nine-day O Circuit. Hikers will be rewarded with breathtaking views of glacial lakes and ancient forests. If you camp or stay in basic refugios, you are guaranteed to see plenty of guanacos (relative of the llama) as well as an Andean condor, a majestic bird. A good local guide should also be able to help you track an elusive puma.
Cities of the Holy Roman Empire Walk, Germany
This romantic five-day hike in the Franconian region of Bavaria wends through former Roman cities as well as monasteries, forests, rivers, farmland and picturesque villages. It starts in the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber and ends in Nördlingen, via the Ries plateau, a 15-million-year-old meteorite crater. Trekkers might see tusked wild boars alongside an abundance of birdlife.
Ladakh, India
The snow leopard is not only on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's red list of endangered species; the population is believed to have declined by at least 20% over the past two generations. It is also extraordinarily shy and adept at avoiding contact with humans. Give yourself the best chance of spotting one of these magnificent cats by trekking in India's Ladakh region.


text:
"I've loved her for 17 years … I made mistakes … I admitted them, told her the truth and she turned her back on me when I needed her ... the most … I love you all," Gracin, 33, reportedly wrote in a post that has since been taken down, according to TMZ. "You have given me the greatest gift. You allowed me to touch your hearts with what I loved to do the most … Please remember me as someone who gave his all in his music … Pray for my family as they carry on in this world without me. Goodbye."
TMZ reports that police rushed to Gracin's residence in Spring Hill, Tennessee, where they found his wife, but the singer was not at home. Police were later able to get ahold of the former Marine on the phone, and he supposedly told his wife he was coming home.
Law-enforcement officials apparently stopped Gracin on his way home, and he was reportedly placed under a 5150 psychiatric hold.
On Thursday night his manager, Amy Macintosh, posted messages on Gracin's Twitter account and Facebook page to say he was safe and with his family.
Gracin, who has been married to wife Ann Marie since 2001 and has four kids, released new music last year but hasn't had a hit song since 2007.
Post by Josh Gracin.


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schmoozin is what you do to butter up a girl, i.e. it's trying to get a girl to like you
Jacques needs to start schmoozing up some American girls if his french ass wants to live in the United States much longer!
av Mebaiah 14 december 2004
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smoking a blunt, bowl, bong. anything refering to pot, our very best friend.. Mary Juanna
damn son, i was schmoozin last night with the crew
av joanna 25 juli 2004


text:
If President Barack Obama loses his bid to place another anti-coal zealot in a relatively high position in government, he will have one more reason to dislike U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va.
Manchin, an outspoken critic of Obama on issues such as energy, revealed recently he will vote against Senate confirmation of presidential nominee Ronald Binz. That may scuttle the nomination of Binz to head the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Binz has made no secret of his desire to shut down coal-fired power plants. While on Colorado's public utilities commission, he was able to pressure some power companies into doing that.
Manchin's decision to vote "no" could be decisive because Binz's nomination has to be forwarded to the full Senate from the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, of which the Mountain State lawmaker is a member. The panel includes 12 Democrats and 10 Republicans. Assuming all 10 GOP members vote against Binz - which is likely - Manchin's "no" vote would deadlock the committee.
Blocking the Binz confirmation would be a victory for friends of reasonably priced electricity, but only a small one. In all probability, Obama would find someone else, perhaps less committed publicly to shutting down coal-fired power plants but still an ally in the White House campaign to that end.
Manchin is to be commended for being a steadfast ally of the coal industry, and thus the tens of millions of Americans who depend on it for reasonably priced electricity.
But the senator and his relatively few allies on Capitol Hill need to make more of their peers understand what Obama's opposition to coal means. It means much higher electric bills for many homeowners and businesses.
Until more senators stop supporting their political party's president blindly and act in the best interests of their constituents, small victories like that Manchin may be about to win will be no more than irritants in the Oval Office.