text:
on March 10, 2013 - 12:01 AM
, updated March 10, 2013 at 8:36 AM
At the Niagara Gun Range on the border of North Tonawanda, pistol permit classes are booked through May.
People coming for target practice have had to wait an hour and a half to shoot.
And the store can barely keep up with customers' demand for guns that hold 10-round magazines ahead of the April 15 ban date for detachable magazines that can hold more than seven rounds.
"Andy has been one of my best salesmen," said range owner Dennis Deasy.
Andy being Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. The governor is the one who championed the NY SAFE Act, a sweeping set of gun laws enacted in the wake of the December shootings of elementary school students and staff in Connecticut and volunteer firefighters near Rochester.
The new legislation, hailed by gun-control advocates as among the strictest in the nation and reviled by gun-rights advocates across the state and nation, was quickly passed and signed in January.
The Cuomo administration has argued that the governor invoked the emergency measure to avoid a run on guns ahead of its passage. But gun-rights advocates and people connected with the gun industry locally say the NY SAFE Act has only inspired people to buy guns as fast as they can.
"Look at what it's done," said Wilson Curry of Williston Auctions, who mainly deals in antique and collectible guns and is a vocal gun-rights advocate. "Look at what it's created. He created a stampede of people buying every firearm they can get a hold of."
It also may have created new gun owners and gun-rights advocates.
James Emmick, owner of Firearms Training of WNY, has been adding classes to keep up with demand.
"People are coming to the class and they say: 'I've never thought about owning a gun before in my life but they're trying to take away that right. So I want to own one,' " he said.
The SAFE Act does not put any new restrictions on who can own a gun.
But it does widen the definition of what an assault weapon is and it put an immediate ban on sales and purchases of such firearms. Those aspects of the act went into effect Jan. 15.
Other provisions are being rolled out over the next year and half.
Starting Friday, for instance, universal background checks for all firearm sales – including private sales – will be required.
And on April 15, detachable magazines that hold more than seven rounds no longer will be legal to buy or sell.
Gun-control advocates say such provisions are reasonable changes to existing gun laws.
Gun-rights advocates say they chip away at their Second Amendment rights, are difficult to enforce and are goading people into buying more guns.
A huge surge in sales
Local gun sales show there's been a huge surge over the last couple of months.
Take for instance the Erie County Clerk's office, which oversees the Pistol Permit Department. Any Erie County resident who wants to purchase a handgun is required to obtain a pistol permit first from this office. There is no limit on the number of guns that can be on that permit, but handgun owners who already have permits must get another one if they want to purchase more handguns, explained County Clerk Christopher Jacobs.
During January and February of this year, the number of Erie County residents who submitted applications for a new pistol permit – meaning they didn't have one before – was 852. That's nearly double the number of those who applied in January and February of 2012.
As for Erie County residents who already had a pistol permit on file and submitted a subsequent application, 1,715 applied to add more handguns to their collections this January and February.
The previous year, 962 applications for added handguns were submitted for the same two months.
"Pistols would normally receive 10 to 12 submitted applications per day," Deputy Clerk Michael J. Cecchini said in an email detailing the county permit figures. "Now the average is 25 to 30. The max day was on Jan. 18th, when we took in 45 applications."
Statewide figures point to a marked increase as well.
There were 76,001 background checks run for New York in January and February of 2013, according to the FBI's Criminal Justice Information Services Division, which handles the federally mandated background checks for purchases of firearms and explosives.
During those same months last year, 51,086 background checks were run for New York.
And back in 2008, the FBI ran 33,761 checks for the state.
The data does not reflect how many guns were involved in each purchase. It also does not indicate the number of background checks that led to denials of a purchase of firearms or explosives. However, the FBI said on its website that, of the 100 million background checks it has performed over the last decade, there were 700,000 denials.
Sales spurred by tragedy
Nationally, gun sales have soared since the Sandy Hook elementary school shootings Dec. 14 that took the lives of 20 young students, six teachers and staff members, and the shooter's mother.
Last year marked the highest number of federal background checks the FBI ever ran since starting the program – more than 19.5 million.
In December alone, more than 2.7 million background checks were done. In November, following the re-election of President Obama, another 2 million checks were run.
In New York State, the Cuomo administration countered that the recent spike in gun sales proved that they were right in pushing through its legislation without the three-day "aging" period for the law that is supposed to occur.
When Cuomo signed the act Jan. 15, it put an immediate ban on an assault weapon, which was redefined under the new law to be any semiautomatic firearm, whether a pistol or rifle, with a detachable magazine with one military-style feature.
"[Legislature] leaders asked for a message of necessity because they agreed with us that the SAFE Act immediate ban on assault weapons should be just that. What you described proves our point that there would have been a run on these dangerous weapons if we delayed action," said Richard Azzopardi, spokesman for Cuomo's office.
A run on big magazines
Local gun shop owners say the current boom in sales is being boosted by what happens on April 15. That's the start date for a provision in the NY SAFE Act that bans the sale or purchase of a detachable magazine that can hold more than seven rounds. The previous magazine limit was 10 rounds.
Under the new law, people who already own such a 10-round magazine are allowed to keep them, but may not have more than seven rounds in the magazine unless at an incorporated gun range or at certified competitions.
At the Niagara Gun Range, customers are buying up "any type of gun that has a 10-round magazine," said Michael Deasy, Dennis Deasy's son who co-owns the range. They're also buying up the magazines to have as back-ups.
The majority of the guns he sells are made to hold 10-round magazines, he said.
"It reduces my selection by about 90 percent," he said.
Gun owners are also buying up ammunition ahead of Jan. 15, 2014.
On that date, new regulations on ammunition kick in, requiring ammunition dealers to register with the State Police. Buyers would have to pass a state background check and the purchase, including the amount of ammunition, would be provided to the State Police. It also will ban direct Internet sales of ammunition.
"There's no ammunition for any firearms," said Emmick, the firearms trainer. He recalled a dip in inventory in certain types after the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began. Now, he said, even .22 caliber rounds are hard to come by.
Another part of law goes into effect this Friday, when universal background checks for the purchase of firearms – including private sales – will be required. But there hasn't been much grumbling about the provision among gun owners.
Dennis Deasy said he's happy to handle federal background checks for anyone who wants them done for private sales. He'll charge $10 per person.
But, he said, he's not counting on a lot of business from the extra background checks.
There's no real way to tell whether a private sale happened after the March 15 start date, Deasy pointed out.
"They'll say: 'I sold that a long time ago,' " he said. "It's a totally unenforceable law."
email: email@example.com


text:
LAKE TAHOE - The Raley's strike came to an end Tuesday after the grocery outlet and the two unions of the United Food and Commercial Workers in Northern and Central California came to a tentative agreement.
Leaders of UFCW 8-Golden State and UFCW Local 5 said they would submit the settlement to the unions' members for review and recommend ratification, according to a UFCW press release.
Jacques Loveall, president of UFCW 8-Golden State, and Ron Lind, president of UFCW Local 5, said in a statement that picket lines would immediately be withdrawn from all Raley's and Nob Hill stores. More than 7,000 UFCW members went on strike against the grocery chains early on Sunday, Nov. 4.
The strike settlement guarantees when workers return to their jobs there will be no reprisal for exercising their rights. They will maintain their positions, seniority and health care eligibility and all replacement workers will be immediately discharged, Loveall and Lind said in the statement.
Details of the settlement, which culminates 15 months of bargaining, have not yet been released.
Raley's has agreed to keep benefits for retirees over 65 years old, said union member Al Foxworthy.
Bundled in winter coats and heavy gloves, strikers at the Raley's near the "Y" in South Lake Tahoe cheered Tuesday morning when their union representative announced the end of the strike.
"We're ecstatic. We just couldn't be happier," Foxworthy said.
In a Tuesday statement, Mike Teel, president of Raley's of Family Fine Stores, said the new contract "provides us with the cost savings we need to fund our vision and the initiatives to make us more competitive in the 21st Century."
"It is important to remember that everyone including our employees, our customers, our company and the communities we serve have suffered in this labor dispute," Teel continued. "So, it gives me great pleasure to know that as of today our employees will be back to work serving our customers with the same attention and care as we have always served our customers at Raley's and Nob Hill."
West Sacramento-based Raley's employs 13,000 people at 115 stores in California and 13 in Nevada operating under the Raley's name, as well as Bel Air Markets, Nob Hill Foods, Food Source and Aisle 1 Fuel Stations.
Not all locations are a part of a union, according to previous reports, and different departments of the store are a part of varying unions.
The Incline Village store was the lone Nevada store impacted by the strike, as it's the only one that employs members of 8-Golden State. According to previous reports, 33 union employees were on strike at the 72-employee Incline Village store as of the middle of last week.
The strike was the first against Raley's in its 77-year-history.
- Bonanza Managing Editor Kevin MacMillan contributed to this report.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Some West Virginians are annoyed by the "reality television" show "Buckwild" because they say it provides a national audience for negative portrayals of Mountain State residents. Apparently that appeals to many television viewers; "Buckwild" has been renewed for a second season.
It turns out some of the off-camera life of a "Buckwild" star hits disturbingly close to home.
Nine young West Virginians living in the Sissonville-Charleston area are the stars of "Buckwild." Their antics, often fueled by alcohol, are the meat of the program.
But one of them, Salwa Amin, 24, was behind bars for real this week. Caught in a law enforcement raid on a home in Summersville, she was charged with two counts of possession with intent to deliver a controlled substance. The charges are felonies.
Police said they found oxycodone and heroin at the home, where two other people also were arrested.
Amin is innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, of course. But the real-life episode involving her is a microcosm of a problem occurring throughout West Virginia - and it is no laughing matter.
Our state has among the highest, if not the highest, drug overdose death rates in the nation. In some regions of West Virginia, it is difficult for businesses to find new employees capable of passing drug tests. Overcrowding in our prisons is due largely to drug-related crime.
So Amin's arrest was really nothing unusual for law enforcement authorities. Young people are taken into custody for drug offenses all the time.
MTV, the network that airs "Buckwild," had no immediate comment on Amin's arrest when an Associated Press reporter inquired. In view of the philosophy the show business world has about alcohol and drug abuse, the thought first occurring to network officials probably is how the situation will affect the show's ratings.
Given the attitude many television viewers have, it is a safe bet "Buckwild" ratings will soar.
Meanwhile, the drug abuse plague continues in West Virginia. More people will die, more people will be victims of drug-related crime and more people will find their lives ruined because of it.
And if drug abuse is glamorized or excused by the entertainment industry, more young West Virginians will fall prey to the plague.
So what will MTV do about "Buckwild?" Will the network rework the series for next season in an attempt to show the raw, vicious truth about drug abuse? Or will the show's producers simply continue to exploit Mountain State residents?
There is an opportunity to do good here, if MTV will take it. Stay tuned.


text:
Standardized exams will help assess improvements
February 27, 2013
Among the most important steps being taken toward public school accountability in West Virginia is one that won't have to wait until legislators approve an education reform package this year....
No Child Left Untested!
You don't make hogs fatter by weighing them more.
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
"You want to improve education? Turn off FOXNews and ask ANY tea"
MrScience, you went through all that meaningless babble to tell people to turn off Fox News? What a waste of energy.
0 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Now for the facts: A typical high school student will take literally dozens of standardized tests during his/her time in high school. To name a few: ACT and/or SAT (plus any one or more of 17 SAT subject-specific sub-tests), ACT Plan and/or PSAT/NMSQT, NAEP (given to "random" students only), WESTEST (4 sub-tests in each of grades 9, 10, and 11), STAR, HSPT, ASVAB (for those considering the military option), any one of up to 33 AP exams (depending on the courses offered at the school), etc. The complete list goes on and on. And for what? There are really only a few metrics (not tests) that should really be considered: (1) graduation rate (we can debate the quality of the education behind the diploma later); (2) the employment rate for recent high school graduates; (3A) do students who want to go on to college get in to the college of their choice? and (3B) are those students successful once they get to college? You want to improve education? Turn off FOXNews and ask ANY tea
1 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
"It doesn't take a genius to understand that better pay attracts better teachers." Well, then, let's see the positive correlation between teacher salaries and student performance. It doesn't take a genius. It takes a magician.
1 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
"Where are all my Darwin scientists in the house?"
The dirty little secret that the Darwin scientist will never divulge is the fact that the evolution of humans has reached it's upward "apogee". It's all downhill from here.
1 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
"Dumbing down standards dumbs down society. Look around folks."
Maj, great comment and DrGooo is a perfect example of someone who has been dumbed down.
1 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
"Where does it go?"
The data appears to show that WV is top heavy with administrators.
3 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Those of you with students in WV schools; after your child takes one of these standardized tests, ask your child if he/she knew or had ever seen the material on the test before. They will tell you that many times the questions were on material that they had never seen, that they had never been taught or that the teacher only had time to rush through. Teachers today do not have time to teach; they are kept busy with meetings about how to teach and deal with disrespectful and disruptive students, what someone in Charleston thinks they should be teaching (this year), testing and dealing with disrespectful and disruptive students in the classroom.
3 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
"WV teachers rank 48th in pay so why do you expect the results to be better than that?" Yes but we are among the top states in money spent. Where does it go?
4 Agrees | 0 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Standardized tests have many flaws. Experts report this across the nation over and over again. My child takes acuity tests, SPL assessments, Writing Assessments, WESTEST, etc. His teachers test and test and test. Testing is out of control. WV teachers rank 48th in pay so why do you expect the results to be better than that? It doesn't take a genius to understand that better pay attracts better teachers. Until we pay better and hold parents accountable, then we won't see better results. Truth is states with higher incomes and a stronger parent support network achieve higher test scores. Do your research. Test scores are a product of the community, the parents and the school/teachers. Teachers alone can't fix the students who come to school hungry, abused, poor, tired, etc.
3 Agrees | 1 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
DrGooo, my,little touchy are we? I only asked an honest question since you said WV students were tested to often.
1 Agrees | 2 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
DrGooo, how many tests are being given and how often? Do our students spend more time taking tests then students in other states?
1 Agrees | 3 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
"Do they really think we are that dumb?
Yes, If WV students are measured against others taking the same tests then the results speak for themselves. The only thing that could skew the results is if the testing criteria is drastically different then what is being taught.
2 Agrees | 2 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
What you say, Gooey, might make sense IF you had some evidence to support your contention. The fact is that ALL of the states whose students outperform WV students on standardized tests (and that is the majority of states) have a testing regimen that is the same or more frequesnt that West Virginia's. So, how do you explain their better performance now?
1 Agrees | 2 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
So what does the writer think the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exams are? You know the tests that have shown WV schools to rank 51st nationally. Do they really think we are that dumb?
2 Agrees | 1 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
This is funny. As if anyone has to await the results to know the outcome!
3 Agrees | 3 Disagrees | Report Abuse »
Showing 16 of 16 comments


text:
Pursuant to Section 50.40.4 of the Beaverton Development Code, public notice of the following development application is being provided:
LD2012-0015 (141st Avenue Subdivision)
The applicant is seeking approval of a Preliminary Subdivision application for the creation of six lots in the R2 zoning district. The subject site is located at 4875 SW 141st Avenue, which is currently developed with one single family home. This is a two-phased subdivision intended for single-family, detached units. Phase I would create three lots to be accessed from the existing private street extending from SW 141st Avenue. Phase I includes right-of-way dedication along 141st Avenue and installation of all utility and parking improvements. Also, the existing house will be retained through Phase I. Improvements associated with Phase II include removal of the existing house and creation of three new lots. One lot is to be accessed from SW 141st Avenue. The other two lots will be accessed from the private street. Sidewalk improvements along 141st Avenue will be constructed during Phase II.
To be addressed in the staff report, written comments on the above development proposal shall be submitted no later than 5:00 p.m. on Wednesday, February 13, 2013. Mailed written comments shall be sent to the Planning Division, PO Box 4755, Beaverton, OR 97076. Written comments submitted in person shall be delivered to the Planning Division, 2nd Floor, Beaverton City Hall, 4755 SW Griffith Drive.
The decision-making authority for the above application is the Director. Any decision on the above development application shall be based on the Approval Criteria contained in Sections 40.03 and 22.214.171.124.C of the Beaverton Development Code.
Pursuant to Section 50.40.10, the Director shall issue a written decision on the above development application on or around Wednesday, February 27, 2013. Copies of the staff report will be made on the City's website or may be purchased at the Planning Division Counter for a reasonable cost.
For more information contact the Planning Division at (503) 526-2420.
Dated this 17th day of January, 2013
Steven A. Sparks, AICP, Planning Division Manager,
City of Beaverton
Publish 01/24/2013. VT8616


text:
dennis garrett
Name: Dennis Garrett
Dennis Garrett is famed on campus for his vocal ability. As Westminster College's four-time reigning champion of the campus talent show, he is nicknamed the Beatbox Man. His achievements and abilities extend beyond vocals though. Dennis, a recent graduate, has managed to excel in all aspects of his life. His resume includes three internships, campus and community involvement, and entrepreneurial experience.
Originally, Dennis wanted to "move out of state [Utah] and develop himself." After touring the universities he was accepted into, he decided Westminster was the best choice. A small campus offers him a more personalized experience. He also gets the attention he deserves in and out of class.
In discussion-based courses, Dennis can develop a personal relationship with his professors. It was through the guidance of his personal finance professor that inspired him to pursue a career in finance.
"I now love finance and understand about money and how it plays an extremely important role in my life," he says. "I have realized how important it is to take control of your own life, and it starts with where you place each dollar you earn."
In order to gain finance-related experience, Dennis has seeked out various opportunities for involvement. He worked at a local Chase branch, and interned at Smith Barney, AAA Fair Credit Foundation and Goldman Sachs—who he secured a full-time position with since graduating.
While attending Westminster, Dennis was secretary of the Finance Club and also developed a community service program sharing financial tips. He taught students, specifically freshman, about staying out of credit card trouble. "Going into college I kind of had an idea, but now I understand how even wealthy people get into debt," he says.
College life has been busy, but Dennis continues to practice his beatboxing, a passion he has had for many years. Through beatboxing, Dennis has made many campus and local connections. He was featured in a story by the local news and received an invitation to demonstrate in a music fundamentals class on rhythm. "It was kind of spontaneous. I started with the basics and [showed] how I turn it into my own art form," he says.
Westminster has definitely been the right decision for Dennis. "I love the class sizes, the beautiful environment," he says. "[The fact] you can get anywhere you want in five minutes, plus—it's a private school. They're all good things."
Dennis advises potential students to live their college lives to the fullest, feel their surroundings and explore classes. "College is about self-development and getting to know more of who you are, especially with the transition of life under the rule of parents to inexperienced full responsibility."
Being in college has helped Dennis become more independent and grow as a person. He has a better idea of who he wants to be and the beliefs he holds himself to. "I think that's the biggest positive change I've experienced in college."


text:
Most Popular
Related Lists
For political, religious, or moral reasons, all these books included in this list were banned in some places of the world.
Reading some of these books is a great way to understand how censorship works, and evolved in our society.
List of banned books
... on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banned_books
... on Google: http://books.google.com/googlebooks/banned/


text:
There is arguably no more important elective office today than judge of the Court of Common Pleas.
Major civil and criminal cases are tried before these judges whose rulings will directly and indirectly shape our society for good or for ill.
We are fortunate in Blair County to have three capable candidates for this position.
However, Assistant District Attorney Wade Kagarise clearly stands out, with a wealth of professional and courtroom experience and a steadfast personal concern for our community.
I've come to know Kagarise well over the past few years, and I am convinced he is the best choice for this most important office. Kagarise has the temperament, experience, and expertise to be an outstanding judge.
He is solid in his support of the right to life and has a dedication to the appropriate application of the law to ensure liberty. He deserves our vote.
John D. McGinnis


text:
How can I use the databases?
- You must have a library card from the Cumberland County Library System.
- You can't owe $5 or more in fines and fees.
- You must have a compatible web browser (Internet Explore 7.0 or later, FireFox 8.0 or later, Safari 5.1 or later, Google Chrome 16 or later).
- Click on the title of the database you want to use.
- If you're using a library computer, you will be connected immediately to the database.
- If you're using a home, office or school computer, you will see a login screen.
- Type in your barcode number. (It is important that you type all 14 numbers carefully).
- Then, click the "Login" button.
- Each time you select a database, you will need to enter your library card number and click on the login button before you can use the database.


text: Explore The southern sierra Ingapirca and beyond Cuenca Around Cuenca Saraguro Loja and around Vilcabamba Share There's a less-used border crossing near ZUMBA over 145km due south of Vilcabamba, on a rough, slow road through remote and beautiful country, which is serviced by eight daily buses from Loja (6–7hr) via Vilcabamba (5–6hr). From Zumba, where there are a few simple hotels, catch a ranchera (Mon–Fri 8am & 2.30pm, Sat–Sun 8am, 10am & 2pm) or hire a private camioneta to La Balsa, about 1 hour 30 minutes away on a potholed road, which is prone to landslides and closures in the rainy season. The Ecuadorian immigration office, not far from the international bridge over the Río Canchis, is open 24hr, though you may have to search around for an official at quiet times. Once in Peru, busetas ferry you to Namballe (20min), from where there is transport to San Ignacio (around 2hr), a nice enough place to spend the night, then Jaén (3–4hr), a city of reasonable size with hotels, money-changing facilities and transport connections to major centres.


text:
That Damned Rent vs. Buy Question
|Email Print
I'm looking for a townhouse and prices are downright ridiculous. I've narrowed down what I'm looking for in a house to a 3 bedroom, 2+ bathroom townhouse in the $260k – $320k range in a relatively nice area south of Baltimore, MD. I can rent an apartment for approximately $1,000 (most likely less than that because of promotions and the like) and so after reading a whole bunch of gibberish online, I've resorted to using a couple freely available calculators to see what the best option for me is.
If you haven't heard of DinkyTown.net (it's one helluva name), then let me introduce you to the best collection of free financial calculators ever. Pop your head over to this link and you'll find the little app I used to make these calculations.
Here are the results:
The numbers used in the analysis are up for debate but I thought a ballpark figure was enough for me to get a good idea of what I'd be getting into. According to the figures I supplied, the breakeven point is 8.2 years. Over eight years until owning the house would have been better than renting! That doesn't sound like a long time but for someone in their twenties, it's about a third of their life so far… that puts owning a house in that gray area where I won't know my plans in 8.2 years.
So why are all these twenty-something's snatching up houses? The key is in the appreciation rate of the house. I put 3% in the analysis above but if I were to increase it to 6%, the breakeven point is 2.3 years. 2.3 years is a great time frame because I probably plan on living in that home at least five years. Is 6% reasonable? That depends on whether you think we're in a housing bubble.
I think a bubble exists in areas of Baltimore where homes that were around $10k-$50k two years ago now command north of $350k after being gutted and redone. A lot of those prices are based on buyers who believe the "area will get better," something I hope, for their sake, happens. If it doesn't, then you now own a very home in a very rough area… making it difficult to sell. Now, in the suburban areas south and west of the city, where I'm looking, we're talking about homes that commanded $200k last year now commanding around $300k. I would say a bubble also exists in the areas I'm looking but a significantly smaller bubble. I feel as though the risk is far less in these suburban areas because as a buyer I'm not buying into an area that's bad but will get better, I'm buying into an area that's already decent.
Regardless, a 6% appreciate rate seems somewhat reasonable for a home so I think a 2.3 years break-even point is something I can make a decision on. I played with a few of the other numbers, like term of the loan (going to 30 years hardly affects break-even point but drops the monthly payment by $700ish), and none of the other factors seemed to make a big difference. So, now I just need to find a townhouse that I like and I can afford.{ 31 comments, please add your thoughts now! }


text:
TERMS AND CONDITIONS ARE APPLIED TO GIFT CARDS. See Cardholder Agreement for further details.
Vanilla Visa Gift Cards are issued by The Bancorp Bank pursuant to a license from Visa U.S.A. Inc. The Bancorp Bank; Member FDIC. Cards are distributed and serviced by either ITC Financial Licenses, Inc. or IH Financial Licenses, Inc., depending on the state or territory in which the Card is purchased. ITC Financial Licenses, Inc. is a licensed money transmitter by the Banking Department of the State New York. The Cards are not redeemable for cash except where required by law. By accepting or using the Card, Cardholder agrees to be bound by the Cardholder Agreement. Cardholder agrees to notify the Issuer immediately if this Card is lost, stolen or used without permission. For customer service, balance information, to clear your PIN, or to request a replacement Card, logon to this website or call 1.800.571.1376. Expired Card will be replaced upon request. Card funds never expire.
*The Card may be used in the U.S. and District of Columbia wherever Visa debit cards or PULSE cards are accepted. The Card may not be used outside of the U.S. or the District of Columbia including Internet and mail or telephone order merchants outside of the U.S. or the District of Columbia.
Maryland customers: View information regarding filing complaints about the money transmission products or services offered by ITC Financial Licenses, Inc.


text:
Active within 272 Days
Name: Aqua Girl
Size/Category 5-Gallon Freshwater
Type: Glass
Shape: Standard
List of Fish:
1 - Angelfish3 - Glowlight Tetra
Lighting: led light
Filtration: water filter
Other Accessories: Air pump, heater, thermometer, artificial plants, castle, no fishing sign
See all awards »
I've had 1295 friends visit me.
I'm the 8,751st member on FishChannel.com.
30 friends have voted for me since I joined Fish eClub!
Come visit me, Jet & In Sweet Memorys.
Come visit me, poisadon :).
Come visit me, 75 Gallon Community Tank.
Come visit me, PectorAL.
Come visit me, grand scheme of things, luxury, life & turtle, turtle.
Come visit me, In loving memory of Azul & In loving memory of Sharpie, and Dorito.
Come visit me, Community Tank.
Come visit me, Betta Girl, Betta Lover & Aqua Girl.
Come visit me, GuppyGuy, PlatyLover, Angel Dreamer, TetraGuy, Shark Bait & BettaGuy.
Come visit me, Community Living & Guppy & Neon Land.
Come visit me, acuineg1 & acuineg2.
Tell a Friend |
Report inappropriate content on this page.
Hi, my tank is
Nature in a glass box.
Visit the photo gallery to cast your vote »
Your source for freshwater, reef, and saltwater aquarium keeping information, tips, and species profiles.
Sign up to get updates delivered straight to your inbox.
FishChannel takes your privacy seriously. To learn more, please read our privacy policy.


text:
Dramatic Scenes for Mezzo-SopranoFeatures excerpts from Saint-Saens' "Samson and Delilah" and Verdi's "Aida" sung by Marybeth Sederburg, Robert Frankenberry and Milutin Lazich.04/13/2014Time: 3:00 pmLocation: Campbell Memorial Chapel, Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PAwebsite
Chatham University ChoirSpring Concert.04/13/2014Time: 7:00 pmLocation: Campbell Memorial Chapel, Chatham University, Pittsburgh, PAwebsite
Simone DinnersteinPianist Simone Dinnerstein's latest Bach CD debuted at #1 on the Billboard classical chart. She is a searching and inventive artist whose originality, as described by NPR, "compels the listener to follow her in a journey ofdiscovery...the result of which is a wonderfully expressive interpretation." Dinnerstein will perform Bach's 2-part inventions, Schumann's Kinderszenen, and Beethoven's Sonata Opus 111.04/13/2014Time: 3:00 pmKresge Recital Hall, College of Fine Arts, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PAwebsite | map
Heinz Chapel ChoirJohn Goldsmith leads his farewell concert as Director of the Heinz Chapel Choir. Program TBA.04/13/2014Time: 3:00 pm website
En Pointe: An Evening in MadridPittsburgh Ballet Theatre presents "An Evening in Madrid" to celebrate its season finale in style at its annual En Pointe party. Spanish-infused fare will be provided by Seviche, and you can mingle with the cast and creative team as traditional flamenco dance group Alba Flamenca heats up the dance floor.04/13/2014Time: 4:30 pmLocation: Larrimor's, 249 Fifth Ave, Pittsburgh, PAwebsite
Jazz Guitar EnsembleMark Koch & Kenneth Karsh, directors04/14/2014Time: 7:30 pmLocation: Pappert Center, Duquesne University, Pittsburgh, PAwebsite
IonSound Project: New Music by Pitt Graduate StudentsDepartment of Music Ensemble in Residence IonSound Project premieres new works by Pitt Graduate Student Composers.04/14/2014Time: 8:00 pmLocation: Bellefield Hall, 315 S. Bellefield Av., Pittsburgh, PAwebsite
Jazz Chamber GroupsSean Jones, director.04/15/2014Time: 7:30 pmLocation: Pappert Center for Performance and Innovationwebsite
University of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra: Lyons & BrittenThe University of Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra presents Gilda Lyons' Cicadas and Benjamin Britten's Suite on English Folk Tunes.04/16/2014Time: 8:00 pmLocation: Bellefield Hall, 315 S. Bellefield Av., Pittsburgh, PAwebsite
CandidaCandida, a smash when it premiered in 1903 , is still a triumph of sophistication. In this sparkling comedy, Candida is caught in a romantic tug of war between husband John Morell, the practical parson, and Eugene Marchbanks, the passionate poet. They are surrounded by her uproarious provincial father and Morell's eccentric staff, but it is love and marriage that are the targets of Shaw's celebrated wit. Gretchen Egolf, the radiant Rosalind of As You Like It returns to dazzle audiences in the role of Candida. Ted Pappas directs.04/17/2014Time: 05/18/2014O'Reilly Theater, 621 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh, PAwebsite | map
Board of Directors
WQED Management
WQED History
Driving Directions
The Studio on Fifth
WQED MultimediaStrategic Plan 2013-2018
WQED FCC Public File
Privacy Policy
Accessibility Information
Diversity Statement
Local Content & Service Report
WQED: The Create Channel 13.2
WQED: The Showcase Channel 13.4
Pittsburgh 360°
Filmmaker's Corner
QED Cooks
Rick Sebak Documentaries
Contact Us
Facility Rentals
Email this page
Make a Donation
Special Gifts
Corporate Giving
WQED Presents Club
Other Ways to Give
Planned Giving
© 2016 WQED Multimedia | All rights reserved
Follow @WQED
Programs produced by WQED Multimedia for broadcast by others comply with the captioning quality standards embodied in Section
79.1(j)(2) of the rules of the Federal Communications Commission.
Mail filtering provided by www.mxguarddog.com


text:
on September 7, 2012 - 6:00 AM
, updated September 7, 2012 at 9:49 AM
Composer Michael Mayer was doubtless aware of the challenges involved in bringing a concept album to life on the stage when he approached members of Green Day about adapting the band's hard-driving 2004 record "American Idiot" for Broadway. But by many accounts, the resulting collaboration, which opened on Broadway in 2009 and played for a year with Green Day frontman Billie Joe Armstrong often appearing in the show, was a rousing success.
Since it closed on Broadway, the show has had a healthy touring life. In its first local appearance, it will play at 8 p.m. Saturday and 7:30 p.m. Sunday in the University at Buffalo's Center for the Arts, North Campus, Amherst. The show follows the story of three young men trying to cut it in post-9/11 America and, like the album that inspired it, weaves in strong critiques of U.S. foreign policy, the media and other subjects that continue to vex the youth of America today. The tour stars Alex Nee, Casey O'Farrell and Thomas Hettrick as the central trio. It's presented in one act.
Tickets are $25 to $67, with more information at 645-2787 or www.ubcfa.org.
- Colin Dabkowski


text:
Day 02 → Something you love about yourself.
Day 03 → Something you have to forgive yourself for.
Day 04 → Something you have to forgive someone for.
Day 05 → Something you hope to do in your life.
Day 06 → Something you hope you never have to do.
Day 07 → Someone who has made your life worth living for.
Day 08 → Someone who made your life hell, or treated you like shit.
Day 09 → Someone you didn't want to let go, but just drifted.
Day 10 → Someone you need to let go, or wish you didn't know.
Day 11 → Something people seem to compliment you the most on.
Day 12 → Something you never get compliments on.
Day 13 → A band or artist that has gotten you through some tough ass days. (write a letter.)
Day 14 → A hero that has let you down. (letter)
Day 15 → Something or someone you couldn't live without, because you've tried living without it.
Day 16 → Someone or something you definitely could live without.
Day 17 → A book you've read that changed your views on something.
Day 18 → Your views on gay marriage.
Day 19 → What do you think of religion? Or what do you think of politics?
Day 20 → Your views on drugs and alcohol.
Day 21 → (scenario) Your best friend is in a car accident and you two got into a fight an hour before. What do you do?
Day 22 → Something you wish you hadn't done in your life.
Day 23 → Something you wish you had done in your life.
Day 24 → Make a playlist to someone, and explain why you chose all the songs. (Just post the titles and artists and letter)
Day 25 → The reason you believe you're still alive today.
Day 26 → Have you ever thought about giving up on life? If so, when and why?
Day 27 → What's the best thing going for you right now?
Day 28 → What if you were pregnant or got someone pregnant, what would you do?
Day 29 → Something you hope to change about yourself. And why.
Day 30 → A letter to yourself, tell yourself EVERYTHING you love about yourself.
As I've mentioned, I have a hard time with forgive and forget. I don't let things go, anyone who knows me at all will tell you that. So when someone does something that hurts me I have a very hard time moving on, especially if it's someone that I really love.
No relationship is perfect and that definitely includes my relationship with Dustin. I try pretty hard to not talk about anything negative in our relationship because I feel like that's between just us. So without going into detail, there are a few things I know I need to forgive Dustin for. In fact, in my card to him on our anniversary I told him that this year I want to work at getting over the stuff in our past so that we can concentrate on our present and future.
For me, that feels like easier said than done. I want nothing more than to be able to forgive him and move on. I hate that certain things still plague me and I know it drives Dustin crazy. I'm the person who will bring past issues into whatever argument we're having. And I don't want to be that way. I know that in order for our marriage to work I need to get over these things. And I know that I am not perfect either and I've done things too. How can I expect him to forgive me when I can't do the same?
Today on my blog I want to say that I am going to try my very best to forgive Dustin for what's happened in the past. I will try my best to not bring the past into future arguments. I can't make promises because I am not perfect.
But I will try my hardest.
Tweet tweet! See what I have to say on Twitter.
Like After 'I Do' on Facebook.


text:
How to write a book using Linux and LibreOffice: The Librarian's Guide to Academic Research in the Cloud
How to write your book using Linux
I spent the past year writing The Librarian's Guide to Academic Research in the Cloud, a book which focuses on using and thinking about cloud services in an academic research context. I'm fortunate enough to belong to a union that negotiated research leave for new faculty, and that leave made the book possible.
The content of the book might be interesting to Linux users (here is an excerpt), but I wanted to talk about the process for writing the book, which was very Linux-intensive.
Before starting the book, I had heard a lot of horror stories about people forced to use crazy Word stylesheets and templates from publishers. I was very glad that my publisher didn't use anything like that, which might have forced me to spend more time in Windows. I decided to work with RTF files and used LibreOffice to write the whole thing.
Working with LibreOffice as much as I did was an interesting process. At work, I use Word for word processing and at home I use gedit until I absolutely need to format something. So I hadn't spent very much time with LibreOffice. It was fine, but there were some rough edges that made it feel a few iterations behind Word. For instance, I wasn't able to get a running word count going, even though there's supposed to be an extension to do that. Fonts seemed to change between opening and closing a file. And one file kept getting wiped because I had an HTML link at the start of the file. Nothing cataclysmic happened, but using LibreOffice was not as smooth as using Word. Word is crazy and convoluted, but for the most part, it's stable and stays out of your way. LibreOffice occasionally acted up and while nothing completely wrecked my project, I don't find myself suddenly writing in it now that I no longer need to.
Despite some of its limitations, one LibreOffice feature I love is the ability to generate a PDF of a document in one click. I had to deal with permissions, so I just created a permission template that let me easily turn permissions forms into PDFs, which I then emailed out. This was much easier in LibreOffice than it would have been in Word, where I would have needed to convert the files to PDFs using Save As, or that weird Adobe button that takes forever to export the PDF. The Gmail canned message option (available in Labs) was also very helpful when it came time to send out the permissions. The whole permissions process required very little typing, which is always nice.
I've recently heard good things about XMLmind, which is used, among other things, to generate DocBook. It's something I want to further explore for long-form writing. And I'm also curious to see if pandoc, recently mentioned by Bryan Behrenshausen, might be a good option for me.
In terms of images, I did as much as I could with GIMP and the default GNOME Screenshot tool, and that was super simple. I know some people hate GIMP, but once you get used to it (and it took me quite a while to get used to it), it's powerful and effective. I don't know if I'll ever find it easy to use, but it can be conquered.
I was terrified of losing work, so I used SpiderOak as my main backup tool, but then also manually uploaded files into Dropbox every time they were updated. One of the things I like about SpiderOak is that it can be configured to run on demand, only backing up files when I ask it to. That keeps my machine running pretty quickly, where I find the Dropbox client often slows things down. Uploading files into the web interface was painless, though.
I tried to focus the book on cross-platform tools as much as I could, but the reality is that there's an awful lot of stuff that doesn't run on Linux. For those situations, I had a virtual machine running XP (via VirtualBox) and it proved to be a life-saver in terms of testing Windows-only tools. It also turned out to be very helpful for installing software I knew I didn't want on my Linux install. Rather than installing and uninstalling and then cleaning up files, I used the XP image as my sandbox. Toward the end of my book, I had an RTF file (my index) LibreOffice couldn't open and WordPad on the XP partition saved my bacon, allowing me to open the document and copy-and-paste the text into something LibreOffice could edit. Even with the book completed, the XP partition has come in handy a few times. It's a nice little safety net for those very rare times there's something that can only be done in Windows (or when I want to quickly check something on a second machine).
My organizational system wasn't super cohesive, but it worked for me. I used a combination of SimpleNote and Google Docs/Drive. SimpleNote was used for general notes to myself about what needed to be changed, added, or removed from each chapter (the challenge of writing a print book about web tools is that everything is constantly shifting on you). Google Docs was used for tracking the book's glossary, plus a spreadsheet of what was going on in each chapter, in terms of the pronoun used (I alternated between he and she), the word count, and any notes that weren't in SimpleNote. I'm now pretty into Evernote (more on that in a future post), so any future projects will probably be tracked entirely in there, but this system worked very well for me. Having said that, I would love to see Evernote have some kind of native table feature in its web interface because I like seeing information in grids. Especially since I recently discovered Evernote's table-formatting button.
Once the book was typeset, proofing was handled via the annotation tools within Adobe Reader. I wound up having to install the Linux version of Reader (I had no idea such a thing even existed), and while it didn't render as well as it does on Windows, I was able to successfully input my changes without any drama. I did double-check the file on a Windows machine to make sure everything made it in, though.
Writing a more complex, long-form work using desktop Linux was remarkably simple. The tools all worked, plus I didn't have to deal with crashes or lags. One of the central points of my book is that web-based tools free us up in terms of the operating system we can work with. OpenSUSE 12.1 and GNOME 3 made for a fantastic work environment. Linux is great for checking email and Facebook, but it's also great for serious knowledge work, too. Anyone on the fence about a long-form project in Linux should give it a shot. I'd be shocked if they left disappointed.
The Librarian's Guide to Academic Research in the Cloud is available from Chandos Publishing. It is also available as an eBook on Chandos Publishing Online.
Originally posted on My Linux Rig. Reposted using Creative Commons.
20 Comments
Calligra office suite from KDE also has a very interesting app that is made especially for book witers - Calligra Author → http://userbase.kde.org/Calligra_Author
Glad to see this appear here! Great work.
It's even easier with the LyX/LaTeX combination - see http://www.bradlug.co.uk/stanbury-hill-project/
What version of LO were you using? A running word count in the status bar has been standard (without an extension) for a while now ...
Ah yeah, that'd be 3.5, which is pretty old. I think the status bar word count came in 3.6 or 4.0.
Keeping LO reasonably up to date is well worth it - now they're free of the dead hand of Oracle, they're adding useful stuff at a fantastic rate. (And they keep whatever the previous version is maintained for those who want stability.)
I found a Session Word Count Macro for LibreOffice Writer here: http://pastebin.com/eSHFfhNX
I just have to remember to record the word count before I close it.
I also use Linux for writing/publishing and I don't recall having all these struggles with either OOo or LO. I published an open source math book on pharmaceutical calculations back in early 2012. As it took me close to 2 years to write this 644 page book I started in OOo and finished in LO. I am very comfortable using GIMP and Inkscape for all my artwork and the Dmaths extension made it really easy to insert all my equations. I also wrote a common medications workbook at the beginning of this year and really found it easy to knock out in LO. I just published a new book intended for certification and used booktype on a Debian server to do that. I was able to create my epub straight from it and I pretty much just cut and paste it into LO (while using my own stylesheet) to create the print edition. I find it easy enough that I don't know why more publishers aren't using Linux.
Nor have I, which makes me wonder what this bloke was doing wrong. This article actually prompted a friend, who doesn't know better, to ask "Why, If LO is so broken, bother at all?"
If interested, there is my similar article about e-publishing with Linux:
I just finished authoring a 510 page book using LaTeX on Kubuntu and was quite pleased with the process. The automated layout, contents, index and bibliography layout was well worth the tradeoff of not using a word processing program.
I just briefly chime-in to say that I am a fan of LaTeX and that I used it to write my book (about DSP, if you are curious). LaTeX can be a bit steepy at the beginning, but if you are willing to invest some time in it, I think you will find more convenient than other WYSIWYG tools, especially if you write lots of math.
For my graphical needs I use inkscape which I consider a great tool (most of my figures are schemes, plots, ... that are very suited for vectorial format). If you are willing to learn some keyboard shortcut, you can go very fast... (Being an emacs user can help since you already will have part of your brain specialized in learning things like Ctl-Alt-Shift-S [save in a different format {you can use the menus too}] :-)
Great article. Personally, I use Docbook. My workflow begins in Emacs with nxml-mode for XML, and finishes up with xsltproc or xmlto, which can output the docbook sources to just about anything. I manage all of my source material with git.
I'm a statistician -- I use latex and Sweave for nearly everything . For those who aren't aware, Sweave is a formatter for a document that is a mix of latex and code in R or Splus (statistical computing environment) -- so you do your analysis, generate tables and figures for the document within the document itself. Its part of an outreach effort in reproducible research. It's really great!
LaTeX - "a system for making beautiful books"! (Donald Knuth)
Let me chime in with another vote for LyX/Latex, especially when using the Koma or Memoir book scripts. The PDF output these combinations create are beautiful.
The introduction of WYSIWYM(ean) instead of WYSIWYG(et) was a truly eye opening experience for me when I first ran across LyX about 10 years ago. It really does let you concentrate on the process of writing instead of constantly trying to tweak the format of a document. Instead, formatting is treated as a completely separate task (as it should be!).
Since I discovered Lyx, the application has only continued to improve. In fact, even though LaTeX originated back when paper was the only output available, LyX's export to xhtml has improved to the point that using it as a starting point for epub creation is now feasible. This makes it possible to use one source document for final output to paper, Web, and e-book. IMNSHO, LyX is well worth a look for any aspiring author.
This is definitely a topic that's close to me so Im happy that you wrote about it. I'm also happy that you did the subject some justice. Not only do you know a great deal about it,
Writing a book is very interesting thing. I would like to mention that with the help of this write up one will be able to write a book.
On demand printing
Install Texmaker or Texstudio which are probably available as standard packages in your repositories. These deal with LaTeX which has a book form which any publisher will accept. You can configure ad ons in the preamble that will automatically generate aspects such as: table of conetents, glossary, index, etc.
If you want a professional product, get away from word processors and into document layout programmes. There's a learning curve, but no more than there would be with GIMP.
Another option is AsciiDoc, which can be output to either DocBook or HTML or anything else if your willing to create a backend for it. I'm pretty sure a few O'Reilly books have been created using it.
Check out http://asciidoc.org and http://asciidoctor.org for more info.


text:
LEWISTOWN - Michael Whitehead is bringing a higher level of physical wellness to Lewistown at the Centre Somatic Massage Therapy and Wellness Center.
Clients can utilize a variety of massage therapies as well as infrared and red light therapy treatments at Whiteheads new practice, located at 100A Stine Drive in Lewistown.
"I moved my practice to Lewistown because I wanted to offer more services to a larger public," Whitehead said. "I want it to be a wellness center where people can access a number of healing treatments."
Article Photos
Sentinel photo by BUFFIE BOYER
Michael Whitehead, licensed massage therapist, has opened his own practice Centre Sometic Massage Therapy and Wellness Center in Lewistown.
Whitehead has been a certified massage therapist for 13 years, previously working as a mobile massage therapist in Centre County and then renting space at a chiropractic clinic in Belleville. After running out of room for his growing client base, he decided to open his own place in Lewistown.
"There are a lot of massage places in the area, but we all specialize in different things," Whitehead said. "While I do offer the regular stress-reducing massage, my specialty is in medical massage with a focus on healing after surgery or injury."
The massage process helps the body to heal by introducing fresh nutrients, blood and oxygen, to the affected area, Whitehead said. These health benefits are becoming more well known and doctors have even begun referring patients, he said.
"Each session is designed based on the clients needs," Whitehead said. "When someone comes in for the first time, they fill out a health history sheet and we discuss what theyre hoping to get from massage. If there has been a surgery or injury we discuss it."
Massages range in half hour increments, starting at $30 for 30 minutes and $50 for a full hour. Any session less than 30 minutes is charged $1 per minute.
Whitehead also offers infrared and red light therapy treatment, designed to trigger healing at the cellular level. The treatment, taking no more than 10 to 15 minutes, also provides a level of photorejuvenation, removing wrinkles from the specific area, he said.
"This therapy is relatively new and not offered at any other local practice," Whitehead said. "Appointments can be made through doctor referral or personal appointment, however, most insurance doesnt cover the treatment."
The cost for light therapy is determined based on the length of treatment, at $1-per-minute increments.
For more information about Centre Somatic Massage Therapy and Wellness Center or to make an appointment, contact Micheal Whitehead at 348-7170. Details are also available online at the Centre Somatic Facebook page.


text:
Most people who exercise regularly say that being active makes them feel healthier and more energetic. And that's not limited to joggers or tennis players. Many office workers are doing simple exercises at their desks, with surprisingly healthy benefits.
These activities give you a mental boost, fight stress and promote flexibility, health experts say.
The body dislikes staying still for long. The longer you're still, the more tension that accumulates from being in one position.
Yet, the average American sits for seven and a half hours a day! If you're stuck behind a desk for that long, you can do some simple exercises while sitting or standing. No special skills or equipment is needed. One of the simplest exercises, for instance, is to just lean back in your chair and stretch.
Mind you, the exercises won't develop your cardiovascular system, build strength or make you look better in your bathing suit. But they will reduce muscle tension and stress and help maintain the strength, flexibility and muscle tone you already have.
Remember to breathe normally while holding your body in one of the stretching positions. When you're done, finish with some slow, deep breathing.
If you work at a computer terminal—then this is for you! Stretch your wrist muscles occasionally and take short breaks, health experts say. The idea is to prevent carpal tunnel syndrome, a painful wrist malady caused by repetitive movement.
The experts recommend stretching every hour or so.
Stretch slowly and use the full range of motion. Sometimes joints won't move quickly through a full range of motion, so if you do an exercise too quickly, you won't get the full benefit. You also risk pulling a muscle if you stretch too quickly.
It's important to get up once an hour and walk around, even if it's just to a filing cabinet. Sitting for long periods puts stress on the lower back, and leads to muscle atrophy and a loss of flexibility.
A 10-minute walk is the best exercise for the office bound, experts say. When that's not possible, desk exercises are the next best thing. Here are a few stretching exercises:
Clasp hands behind head. Pull shoulder blades together and elbows back. Repeat two times.
Purpose: Stretches pectorals or chest area.
Sit in a chair, feet flat on the floor, knees about 12 inches apart, hands at sides. Bend over as far as comfortable, hands reaching toward or touching the floor. Hold for three to five seconds and then slowly pull your body back up into a sitting position while tightening your abdominal muscles. Relax, and repeat four to five times.
Purpose: Stretches low back and hamstrings.
Flexion—gently apply force with the left hand to stretch the right wrist toward the underside of the right forearm. Hold for three to five seconds, relax and repeat with other side. Repeat exercises five times each wrist.
Hyperextension—gently apply force with the left palm to bend the right hand backward. Hold for three to five seconds, relax and repeat five times each wrist.
Purpose: Stretches wrists.
Bring arms across chest, trying to touch as far around the back as possible. Hold for 10 seconds, relax and repeat with a different arm on top.
Purpose: Stretches back and shoulders.
Slowly bend head to the right as far as possible, then to the left, then forward (with chin against your throat) and to the back. Repeat two times in each direction.
Purpose: Loosens up, stimulates neck muscles.
Feet shoulder-width apart, raise up on toes, extend the arms overhead. Alternately, reach as high as possible with each hand for seven to 10 seconds. Relax, and repeat exercise four times.
Purpose: Reduces tension and activates all major muscle groups.
Online tools to help manage your daily life.
Learn More...
Quick Links
FIRSTCALL Employee Assistance Program 1-800-382-2377
Copyright ©2016 FIRSTCALL


text:
The 5 Most Badass Things Ever Done in Space
#2. Real-Life Action Movie Explosion
Cosmonauts are a rocket-propelled zen paradox. Surely anyone with cojones big enough to sit on an explosion into space has cojones too big to be lifted into space in the first place. But while mere gods might sit around wondering about things like that, cosmonauts get on with it. And have provably been to the heavens.
USSR government
In fact, there are very few things more provable than "firing a rocket engine."
In another anomaly of awesomeness, the only thing more dangerous than sitting on a detonating bomb is trying to get away from it because the escape system violates the second thing they teach you in cosmonaut school. Escaping the giant rocket directly under your ass is lighting more rockets directly above your head. Even the connections between these multiple rockets are made of explosive bolts, because every single part of a spacecraft is awesome. Spacecrafts are anti-action movies: a series of massive explosions going off for intelligent reasons and making the human race smarter.
A test of the Apollo escape system. Note the unusual "crew-broiling" configuration.
This system inflicts over 17 times Earth's gravity on the crew. Only Commander Vladimir Titov and Flight Engineer Gennady Strekalov have ever endured it. Behold:
Michael Bay would call that cutting things close, then cover the screen with a close-up of an insect-robot's crotch.
The only time this system was used was the Soyuz T-10-1 launch, where a single valve didn't work perfectly. Unfortunately, it was the "keep kerosene inside the rocket" valve. The pad and rocket ignited, then proved that even the fires on spaceships are smarter than normal by immediately burning through the cables for the launch escape system. Neither launch control nor the cosmonauts could trigger the escape system. The backup had to be triggered by two engineers in separate rooms in a building 30 kilometers away, because the security system was apparently designed by the same hack screenwriter who scripted the explosion. They made it with two seconds to spare.
#1. John Aaron Calls Zeus' Bluff
Apollo 12 was The Most Amazing Thing We Ever Did: The Sequel, and inside a minute it was going straight to hell. When you're carrying thousands of tons of rocket fuel and liquid oxygen, that description can become literally accurate. Especially the screaming in lakes of burning fire. Every screen in Mission Control was suddenly scrambled, and the astronaut alarm panel lit up like a self-destructing Christmas tree.
Listen to the astronaut error report at 1:21 in this video:
It would have been faster for the astronauts to list what was still working. "Well, the seats are still screwed into the capsule, and we're also screwed in the capsule." NASA isn't keen on flying bombs over civilian populations (because having a space program is the good parts of large government). If they couldn't fix it, they'd be forced to self-destruct the Apollo 12, and with it the future of the entire space program. Flight Controller John Aaron fixed it in 59 seconds. He saved space in less time than it takes to boil an egg.
History channel
You might wonder why his title doesn't say "genius and awesome person," then you realize that IT DOES.
Aaron instructed the crew, "Switch SCE to AUX," and if that sounds like gibberish, now you have something in common with the flight director, capsule communicator, and astronaut commander of Apollo 12. This was a minor subsystem in no way designed to do what Aaron was now telling it to, and so obscure that in a building full of rocket scientists, he was the only one who knew about it. Astronaut Commander Pete Conrad radioed back from the screaming capsule with the highly technical query of "What the hell is that?"
Luckily, astronaut Alan Bean knew exactly what the hell it was, because at that moment it was the difference between "Rocket GO" and "Rocket GO BOOM."
The rest was awesome history.
How you feel about this image is how the future will feel about you.
Later analysis revealed that the Saturn V SA 507 had been struck by lightning. Twice. That's how badass astronauts are -- they do things so extreme that they don't even notice being multiply electrocuted from the sky. For most people, "continuing after being struck by lightning" isn't a decision they get to make. The strikes arced down through the spaceship, conducted by the ionized column of fire from the boosters and grounding through the launch tower. The entire launch process had created an immense lightning conductor. The astronauts were riding a massive middle finger made of metal and plasma straight at the gods, and when Zeus himself tried to fight back, it wasn't enough.
"Missed, loser!"
All thanks to one of the support staff, the people who defeat the sky by studying at it. John Aaron became a legend, nicknamed the "Steely-Eyed Missile Man" back when that was a compliment and not an adult film alias. And when a building full of moon-landing rocket scientists calls you the missile man, that's when God starts gathering his stuff so you can take his seat as master of the heavens.
Luke ponders the future of video games in the Descent of DLC and reveals the truth behind Gears of War.
For more incredible space coolness, check out 6 Badass Spacecraft Landings Humanity Totally Nailed and 6 Mind-Blowing Things Nobody Taught You About Black Holes.


text:
This January, HILT and HarvardX will co-sponsor the first "January Academy for Technology-Enabled Teaching," a bootcamp for doctoral students from across the university on new technologies and their use in the classroom.
This project-based program will consist of a series of hands-on sessions and discussions with faculty, senior staff, and experienced graduate students. Participants will be supported to develop a technology-enabled teaching innovation for use in a classroom setting, preferably during the upcoming spring semester. Project types could include assignments or tools that use video, social media, online curation, technology-enabled feedback, and annotation software, among others. Intensive sessions focused on the design, development, implementation and assessment of projects will be interspersed with facilitated individual and group work. It is expected that projects will be substantially completed over the course of the January session. Participants will receive ongoing consultative support over the spring term for their projects, and will be expected to present them at an event late in the spring where they will be eligible for an additional cash prize. The syllabus will be customized depending upon applicant projects.
Eligibility: Doctoral students, Harvard University (limited to 20 participants)
Stipend: Stipend of $500 provided (75% end of January, 25% upon completion and presentation late spring)
Schedule: January 15-25, 2013 and follow-up presentation during the spring semester
For more information: email@example.com; firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Parsing the new colorful iPhone 5S June release rumor
77 Comments
1. RiseAgainst94 (Posts: 281; Member since: 03 Mar 2012)
Apple does this (multiple colors and 6 month releases) and you will see huge increases in iPhone sales. So I hope they don't lol.
8. speckledapple (Posts: 892; Member since: 29 Sep 2011)
actually you may not considering that most contracts last 2 years. you may see some movement but again it all depends on the product as well.
43. Mxyzptlk (Posts: 12979; Member since: 21 Apr 2012)
Resell previous model on Craigslist or eBay. Easily cover the cost to bringing it down to subsidized cost.
iPhones lose their value very very slowly.
44. sprockkets (Posts: 1611; Member since: 16 Jan 2012)
They'll lose it faster if they move to a six month cycle...
60. Nadr1212 (Posts: 741; Member since: 22 Sep 2012)
My friend's been waiting 4 the iPhone 5, but she's gonna get crushed I'd she heard this rumor!!!
30. ahmed_ali_yossef2010 (Posts: 164; Member since: 26 Jul 2012)
in my opinion all the colors in the picture are ugly except the red
33. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
As stated in the article, the picture is not official. It's just something pulled from AnoStyle
47. ahmed_ali_yossef2010 (Posts: 164; Member since: 26 Jul 2012)
ya I know of course not official I'm just expressing my opinion If they want to change colors there must be a change on shape too
61. MC1123 (Posts: 1255; Member since: 12 Nov 2012)
apple now realize that the black and white are getting boring! even HTC realize that!
they are nokia troll! they like nokia's colorful designs...
realisng the iPod touch 5 with colorful nature just prove that maybe the next iPhone will be colorful as well!
2. satydesh (Posts: 71; Member since: 22 Nov 2011)
one word lumias!!!
11. arsenaljimenez (Posts: 178; Member since: 03 May 2012)
they were taking notes haha
63. phil2n (Posts: 487; Member since: 30 Apr 2012)
they were going to patent that color and said its first on the market
3. rms.max (Posts: 95; Member since: 26 Sep 2012)
that looks ugly..
12. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
The image isn't official, that's just something I pulled from AnoStyle. I'll make a note of that.
14. Schuler2828 (Posts: 59; Member since: 04 Jul 2012)
Great article Michael! Very informative and well thought keep up the great work!
15. TROLL (banned) (Posts: 4851; Member since: 13 Apr 2012)
No it dosen't, the white and purple looks very distinct!
Yet again nice article Micheal. H!
How become you're doing Apple editorial?
Looks like, hope to see 60+ posts.....!
4. mctcm (Posts: 204; Member since: 19 Oct 2011)
If they start releasing versions at that interval, the following will be required:
1. decrease in phone price
2. completely redone interface
A bag of dogshit is still a bag of dogshit even if you can color in the bag.
19. blingblingthing (Posts: 529; Member since: 23 Oct 2012)
What a accurate reference with the dog poop. All that power to run a crappy OS. Better be something more processor intensive.
5. ryq24 (Posts: 722; Member since: 17 Oct 2011)
since everyone is going 5", apple 5s would be a 4.4" screen.
39. g2a5b0e (Posts: 3724; Member since: 08 Jun 2012)
No way. It took til the 6th iteration for them to increase the screen size. No chance it's gonna happen again in the 7th.
52. bigdawg23 (Posts: 448; Member since: 25 May 2011)
Agreed. The jump from 3.5 to 4 was a big take for Apple. I don't see a 4.5" or larger as many may think. As for the colors it doesn't really matter to me. I have a white iPhone 5 and Galaxy Note. Colors are mute because of some cases.
6. Peter27 (Posts: 233; Member since: 13 Jul 2012)
they basically realised that they are behind, so they need to release few iPhones to catch up. they need to get to at least iPhone 7 so that is why quick releases.
7. Peter27 (Posts: 233; Member since: 13 Jul 2012)
wow. colours. revolutionary, magical, this changes everything again.
17. TROLL (banned) (Posts: 4851; Member since: 13 Apr 2012)
Yea this changes colours, following xeroxing Nokia!
34. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
Yes, because no company ever released the same product in different colors before Nokia did it...
51. Peter27 (Posts: 233; Member since: 13 Jul 2012)
what about Ericsson ga 928 I think it was. one of the very first mobile phones. brick with antenna. you could have change the covers in different colors.
53. rex1213 (Posts: 77; Member since: 29 Jul 2011)
Nokia may not have been the only phone company releasing different colors for each model, yes we all know that.
But the thing is, Nokia IS the only company (at least, in recent times) that did release vibrantly colored phones while the crowd is releasing black/white/silver-colored phones.
55. jiezel91 (Posts: 67; Member since: 28 Jul 2011)
And to add to that, if Apple were Nokia and were the first to release vibrant color options for their iPhone and Nokia planned to release one, then I have all the reasons to believe that Apple will sue Nokia over that. After all, rounded rectangles are patentable, right?
69. rex1213 (Posts: 77; Member since: 29 Jul 2011)
Honestly, I don't think there is a need for Apple to release those uber-colorful iPhone options.
I've noticed that some buy the iPhone not just it being among the most sought-after device but because people that buy those, in some way, think of it as a fashion accessory that compliments their style. Of course, who's to say that a colorful phone cannot be called a fashion accessory? But certainly, most iPhone users that I know think of Nokia phones as toys largely because of those colorful chassis and love to flaunt how metallic and how much more "professional and serious-looking" their iPhone is.
Colorful phones worked for Nokia because Nokia users tend to change the back covers and/or casing of their Nokia phones all the way back in the days of the 3310. Nokia knew that its loyalists likes colorful chassis so they gave users different colorful options.
I don't know how things will work for the iPhone. Interesting space to watch.
9. LiveFromMN (Posts: 17; Member since: 05 Sep 2012)
Lets be real - & Im not that big of an Apple hater - but those colors are ugly.
10. hobble (Posts: 130; Member since: 11 Oct 2011)
Good lord, another reason for people to not want to buy a phone today..
13. TechDork (Posts: 292; Member since: 10 May 2010)
"Just when you thought it couldn't get better, it just got better. The iPhone 5S......Colorfied".
16. TechDork (Posts: 292; Member since: 10 May 2010)
I can see the iPhone 5S ad now. There will be about 6 iPhones 5S's (3 white, 3 black) and various "paints" of color would be thrown onto each one (considering they'll be the same colors as the iPod Touch so, Blue, Red & Yellow) and they'll be flying across the screen with splashes of paint trailing behind each one. Then, they'll all drop to the ground and they'll be splotches of each paint color surrounding the iPhone 5S's and the slogan will be "From Black & White, To Colored & Bright. The Apple iPhone 5S. Just When You Thought It Couldn't Get Better, It Just Got Better".
I'll happily await my paycheck now.
18. jphillips63 (Posts: 221; Member since: 04 Jan 2012)
Being an Android user I was at my local BB over the weekend and played around with the IP5 and it was very smooth and fluid but damn that 4" screen is tiny compared to my RAZR Maxx HD the phone just felt like a toy in my hand honestly it being so tiny and all If Apple would add what ever is needed to get voice and data working together on Verizon and at least go to a 4.5" screen I just might consider one just to say I've been there.
Side Note while there I am guessing there were at least 10 people in line to return there IP5 for either the DNA or the Note 2
20. TROLL (banned) (Posts: 4851; Member since: 13 Apr 2012)
Where are all the Apple defenders gone.....?
29. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
All the haters drove them away. Now all that's left are people who tell us we're biased towards Apple because we still cover their news
37. AppleConspiracy (Posts: 637; Member since: 18 Oct 2011)
It's because the agglomerate of people who were Apple defenders is now actually the same agglomerate of those who are now Apple haters. It's trendy now to hate Apple, and people do what is "told" them to do. Remember your article about following the Apple, in which you state that there are actually those who don't follow Apple blindly? Try to apply this theory now - it's completely reverse.
49. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
It's no more trendy to hate Apple now than it's ever been. There were plenty of Apple haters back in the days of Windows vs Mac. Now it's just more visible because Apple actually holds a solid chunk of the market. It was always easier to ignore Mac haters because it always felt like they were beating a dead horse.
54. AppleConspiracy (Posts: 637; Member since: 18 Oct 2011)
I think the situation from the Win vs. Mac era was something completely different - it was not the question of religion, it was more like question of football club. The somewhat hybrid situation was in iPod vs. all MP3 players wars era, but only after iPhone vs. all smartphones era it gets massive, on a global scale that reflects in mobile/IT world.
The fact is that two years ago I was trying to prove to everybody all the illusions Apple is projecting on us, and now I have to do almost the opposite - that now Android fans are agressive as Apple fans before, which have, by the way, almost completely dissapeared form the face of the Internet. Now all you can see in virtual communities are Apple haters, except bloggers and IT professionals. This cultural, wave-like phenomenon has to be taken into account.
56. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
For many people, football is religion.
62. AppleConspiracy (Posts: 637; Member since: 18 Oct 2011)
You are talking about fanatics, but fanatism is not religion in its essence. Religion is a wide sociological phenomenon, defined by institutions, cults and rituals, projected on artifacts as an allegory of transcendent life, but the most important thing is that religion is not agresively explicit to its being. It's more like "taking God for granted", the way of life, the system of values, the referential ground for not merely understanding life, but way of seeing things.
Apple is a religion not becase there are some fanatics (like there are in football and traditional religions), but because it's a way of understanding technology. Well, at least the initiator of this understanding, the current mobile/It paradigm surrounded by rituals (projected on cult artifacts, like iPhone etc.) and taking things for granted, the way we see technology and its role, the way of our life that is now utterly connected with ourselves.
65. TROLL (banned) (Posts: 4851; Member since: 13 Apr 2012)
Very wise and wisdom words, very well said+1 from me!
77. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
The trouble with anything - religion, sports, or tech preference - is fanaticism. Whether or not Apple is a religion is an unnecessary debate, because at the end of the day there are still Apple zealots and Android zealots ready to go to war in comment threads because they are all too myopic to be able to take another person's opinion to heart.
You believe what you want, and I'll believe what I want, and we'll both be happy. The trouble comes from trying to push your belief on another person. And, of course, as I said just now in comment #76, this is all made far worse because the anonymity of the Internet leads people to be far less understanding of each other because they don't have to attach their beliefs and treatment of others to who they are.
68. weinerslav (Posts: 126; Member since: 31 Jul 2012)
That's an interesting point of view, I wonder if it is really possible that it's only a trend that the same people is following... I don't think I agree, but on the other hand, I never though about that before.
71. AppleConspiracy (Posts: 637; Member since: 18 Oct 2011)
It's not so much about same people as it is same agglomerate of people, which is very different. The trends are reflected in community mediasphere, on places like comment sections, forums, blogs, social networks etc.
I watched this phenomenon very carefully for the last three years. In that time, it was normal for, say, IT magazine to pronounce iPhone as the best phone with explicit argument that it's just "best phone", "just works", "it's Apple" etc., without much people complaining about bias.
It was so normal to buy an iPhone, there wasn't any awareness of credible alternative - for business people to kids in school.
In my country there was a publicitly exposed case of bullying kids in schools if they didn't have iPhone.
The things have changed now - now they are bullying you if you like Apple or say anything positive about Apple, and this is the case in Internet communities - bullys are now Apple haters, who are trolling everywhere the same "arguments" like "Apple has no innovation", "go Sammy go", "same shape boring iPhone", "Apple sheeps" etc.
Meanwhile, "Apple sheeps" have almost completely dissapeared. Where are they if just one or two years ago they were the most irritating people on the net?
Well, I guess they are actually the same people. To be precise, they are not neccessarily the same persons, but they are the same PROFILE of people, the mass.
Because the Android fan crowd is resonating in the same way as Apple fan crowd was two years ago - with weak and uneducated arguments, agression etc. Those are not "new" people, there was no substantial increase in population on Internet in that time.
72. TritonForceX (Posts: 60; Member since: 27 Sep 2012)
Concerning the Mac vs. Windows era, two important differences that would have made that era just like the current Android vs. iPhone rivalry: tech is cool and popular, and the advent of blogs, comment sections, and IT websites.
In the 80's, there was only a small group of people concerned with technology, let alone the quality of operating system used. Today, everyone has an opinion of the cell phone they're using because they're so widespread. More egos are going to have an opinion on why they made the right purchase.
Secondly, the 80's didn't have PhoneArena.com, engadget.com, cnet, etc. There wasn't a forum for people to meet at while they should be working (present self included) to rant and rave about Macs and Windows PCs.
This would've been going on then as well as today if we had these technologies then.
76. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
Exactly, the fight is no different from then and now, it's just much more visible because of the Internet.
All the more reason that I hate the stupid masks of anonymity on the Internet. There are a few very limited uses for anonymity (like starting a real revolution, where your life could be in danger), but for the most part, if you have something to say, you shouldn't be afraid to have your name and face attached.
All anonymity has done is create a generation of trolls with no fear of being complete assholes because they don't have to compromise their own s**tty identity to do it.
73. TritonForceX (Posts: 60; Member since: 27 Sep 2012)
And I'd just like to add that personally, I don't like Apple for the fact that they are/were being compared to everything as if they had some sort of special privilege. When Android first came out, of course those comparisons would occur, but they were made in a bashing kind of way. Here's Google, creating their vision of a cell phone operating system, that I'll admit was inspired by iOS, but NOT a copy of iOS. But all the media articles focused on how Android will never be able to compete with Apple, they're just that good. I remember reading those articles thinking, it's just Google's first couple of versions. Give it time.
It's that kind of arrogance that ticks me off about anything. Of course that only inspires manufacturers to make their devices even better and experiment with things Apple hasn't even touched. What's the result? We now have a source of phones that have large, Internet browser-friendly and movie watching-friendly screens, fully customizable OR simple interfaces, whatever the OWNER OF THE PHONE wants, an environment where developers are encouraged to come up with new ideas that may even outshine Google's offering, multiple devices with multiple hardware features that allow anyone to pick the right combination for their needs, and continued experimenting with new technologies.
What's ironic is it's the Apple crowd that now tries to turn those pluses into negatives to make their choice still seem superior.
I think the majority of, if not the entire Fandroid base that is against Apple is because of this arrogant attitude. Apple fans cannot admit that they're not untouchable anymore, even the company itself. Hence the lawsuits.
Looking at this article only shows how much more Apple is following than leading, but everyone in Apple's camp will stand up on a soapbox and proclaim how innovative Apple continues to be. Hey, Nokia and HTC are changing the colors of their phones, maybe we'll sell more phones if we change colors.
DO SOMETHING ORIGINAL! If you can't find something original right now, IMPROVE ON WHAT'S OUT THERE! Don't just add colors because someone else colored their phones. Think to yourself, what would be cooler than colored phones? Maybe metallic colors! Maybe darker versions of the colors to give a more professional look, rather than a toy look. You're still coloring the phone, but you're doing it different!
That's in part of how Android got to where it is today. That's in part of how Samsung got to where it is today. Yeah, it looked at the iOS interface and iPhone for inspiration, maybe some inspiration that came from other OS and hardware ideas as well, and said, you know what, I like this, but we can make it better! So they added widgets, home screens, added functionality to lock screens, added newer hardware (processors with competing architectures, more RAM, video RAM, the dreaded NFC, etc.). (continued...)
75. TritonForceX (Posts: 60; Member since: 27 Sep 2012)
But somehow all of these improvements are seen as a copy of the iPhone, or worthless because Apple hasn't incorporated these ideas.
iOS is a fine operating system in it's own right. It has strengths and weaknesses like all the other phones in the fight. I even pitched one to my Dad when he bought his first smartphone last month, because I knew it had a bit smaller learning curve for someone not proficient in technology, but I'm happy to say he chose the RAZR M, and is doing great with it.
My point to all of this is just don't keep treating something like it's the best ever just because the marketers tell you to.
Sorry, that's been building for a long time, and seemed like the perfect place to unload it.
41. Mxyzptlk (Posts: 12979; Member since: 21 Apr 2012)
So you're admitting to being an Apple hater yet here you are on an Apple article.
45. TROLL (banned) (Posts: 4851; Member since: 13 Apr 2012)
Smaaaaaart boy, it's nothing new, can't you see all the posts on this article is negative....!
46. Mxyzptlk (Posts: 12979; Member since: 21 Apr 2012)
Your name was a dead giveaway
74. g2a5b0e (Posts: 3724; Member since: 08 Jun 2012)
Right...because you never make appearances on Motorola or Google articles.
22. N6600 (Posts: 18; Member since: 17 May 2012)
Colours, NFC and possible wireless charging. What a flattery to Nokia :)
36. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
See comment #34
58. freebee269 (Posts: 539; Member since: 10 Aug 2012)
who cares if nokia wasnt the first to do it. in this day when most phones are either black or white and some metallic, colors are definitely different. you dont have to be the first to do something to be different. if these colors are true, apple has seen the popularity of the lumia line and decided to jump on board. this would fall in line with what apple does because they're not innovative anymore. they introduce something to their product that someone else is currently doing and try to make it seem like a big deal. they are playing catch up. and if they keep bringing iphones out that are an upgrade to their previous iphone but not an upgrade or close to competition to whats on the market, then they will continue to fall behind.
23. foxmental_x (Posts: 1; Member since: 10 Dec 2012)
So the iFail 5 will be a Nokia Lumia 920 without wireless charging? Just so i'm sure? That way i'm know i'm not going crazy when the verge and BGR call it magical and revolutionary.
35. MichaelHeller (Posts: 2703; Member since: 26 May 2011)
The big difference will be that the iPhone 5S will have an ecosystem full of apps
24. babyk (Posts: 308; Member since: 03 Nov 2011)
trust me iphones gonna sell like hot cakes
25. darkkjedii (Posts: 21218; Member since: 05 Feb 2011)
C'mon apple lets shake it up a little. Android wp8 do it, so can u


text:
on December 16, 2012 - 10:57 PM
If you want a glimpse into the future of medicine, look at Mary Sullivan.
The 63-year-old retiree from Corning lives anxiously with lung cancer, a disease that causes more deaths each year than breast, prostate and colon cancer combined.
Progress in treatment has been slow, but there are encouraging signs.
Her doctors at Roswell Park Cancer Institute compared her tumor cells with her healthy cells in search of a gene mutation that is found in about 15 percent of patients in the United States and that can cause uncontrolled cell growth. Knowing that she carried the mutation, doctors put her on the drug Tarceva, which targets the mutation with fewer side effects than standard systemwide chemotherapy.
"The drug is working. I'm still here and am content with that," said Sullivan, who was diagnosed with advanced disease in the fall of 2010.
The importance of Sullivan's story is that it's now believed that cancers develop from mutations in our genes. Some mutations are inherited from parents, but most are acquired from other factors, including such environmental exposures as cigarette smoking.
The thinking goes that if we can decipher patients' genes, better tests and treatments can be targeted to their genetic abnormalities, such as in Sullivan's case. It's called personalized medicine, and scientists in Buffalo and elsewhere around the world are betting on it in a big way – for cancer, as well as for other diseases.
"Personalized medicine will change how we view medicine and oncology. You are going to see cancers classified by their mutations instead of the organ where they originated," said Dr. Candace Johnson, deputy director of Roswell Park.
The Western New York Regional Economic Development Council, one of 10 regional councils appointed last year by Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo to spur economic development, awarded one of its largest grants – $5.1 million – for a new Center for Personalized Medicine at Roswell Park, and it is now getting under way. The cancer center invested $16 million, much of it for a highly secure supercomputer and machines called sequencers to analyze patients' genes.
Like a small-market sports team that must find a strategy to compete against bigger and better-funded rivals, researchers here are investing initially in three initiatives that build on existing medical strengths:
• Breast cancer: Recent studies have identified different subtypes of breast cancer, meaning that many patients receive the same chemotherapy even though their tumors are different and may not respond well to a treatment that also comes with serious side effects. One project will search for a way to determine which of two main types of standard chemotherapy works best.
• Bio-banking: With the aid of a mobile unit, an effort will soon begin to obtain blood samples, and demographic and health information from hundreds of individuals representing the ethnic, racial, socioeconomic and geographic diversity of the region. The idea is to start creating a genetic profile of the community that can identify health care priorities and help design trials of new tests and treatments.
• Bladder cancer: In collaboration with Western New York Urology Associates, a large specialty group, another project will focus on developing a test based on genetic variations for earlier detection of superficial bladder cancer, the ninth most common cancer and among the most expensive cancers to treat per patient.
Roswell Park also is working closely with Computer Task Group, the Buffalo-based company that specializes in the installation of electronic medical record systems in hospitals. The organizations intend to market a service that combines the institute's ability to analyze the genetic differences in cancer patients with CTG's expertise in medical records.
Complex links
If the collaboration works as planned, physicians would send patient tumors to Buffalo for genetic analysis, and the information would be incorporated into the patient's electronic medical record in a way that helps physicians make treatment decisions.
"Too often in cancer, time and money are wasted using the incorrect drug," said Michael Colson, senior vice president of information technology solutions at CTG. "If we can make this information available, then doctors can target the best drug at the right time and at the right dose."
Personalized medicine remains more promise than reality. It's still very expensive to decipher an individual's genetic profile, and the technology to do so is still limited to research centers.
Scientists also are finding that the links between gene mutations and disease are complex and don't necessarily predict how things will turn out. Many conditions develop in the cells for a combination of reasons.
In addition, personalized medicine is provoking difficult questions.
Will insurance companies pay for widespread genetic testing of patients when it's not yet entirely clear how or whether it improves health outcomes?
Can sensitive genetic information be stored and managed in a way that safeguards patient privacy?
Will companies rush to commercialize tests for genetic risks without clear standards for accuracy and advertising?
How do we ensure that the benefits don't go to only those who can afford it?
"The science is moving fast, as is our ability to collect genetic information and process it," said Dr. Arthur Caplan, head of the division of medical ethics at New York University's Langone Medical Center. "What isn't moving so fast is the legal and regulatory environment over the way genetic information is collected, stored, used and sold."
All of this seemed like science fiction a few years ago because of the complexity of our genetic blueprint.
A twisted ladder
Every cell in our body contains DNA, the genetic instructions passed down from one generation to the next needed to make and maintain an organism. DNA looks like a long twisted ladder, with the steps composed of pairs of four building-block chemicals. There are about 3 billion of those steps all arranged in a certain order.
The DNA of every person in the world is more than 99 percent identical. It's that remaining part that makes us different from each other, including our risk of disease. Cancer can occur when mistakes or changes occur in the DNA sequence.
A gene is a section of DNA that tells cells to produce proteins that are responsible for just about all of the work our cells do, determining everything from what we look like to how well we respond to an infection. Humans have 20,000 to 25,000 genes, and every person has two copies of each gene. The complete set of those genes is called a genome.
One of the key reasons why there is so much excitement about personalized medicine is that the time and cost of figuring out the exact order of an individual's genome – a process known as gene sequencing – is declining to levels where it could become a routine part of medical care.
Gene sequencing
The first human genome was sequenced in 2003 after more than 13 years of work at a cost of nearly $3 billion.
Today, technical advances allow gene sequencing machines to decipher an individual's complete genome in a matter of days for about $10,000, and experts expect the price to continue dropping.
It's conceivable that patients in the future will have their genomes sequenced to find out what diseases they are at risk for and work with physicians on prevention strategies. But, with the astronomical cost of health care, it's also conceivable that questions will arise over which patients truly need gene sequencing and, if so, when.
In cancer, another goal is to take DNA from a patient's normal cells and compare it to the DNA in a tumor cell, looking for differences that identify a mutation in a gene and then tailoring the treatment to that particular gene mutation.
"Every cancer is probably 20 different subtypes, depending on the irregularities in genes. Gene sequencing could be transformative," said Dr. Carl Morrison, executive director of Roswell Park's Center for Personalized Medicine.
Managing data
Roswell Park officials are talking about soon making gene sequencing standard for patients with lung, skin and colorectal cancers, with plans for adding other cancers as the science advances.
Aside from costs, managing the amount of data from gene sequencing poses a challenge.
There are millions of potential genetic differences in a human genome and, like needles in a haystack, only some play a role in a particular disease.
On the horizon
Sullivan's gene-targeting therapy for offers a preview of what's on the horizon.
An analysis of her tumor identified a mutation in a gene known as EGFR. The mutated gene produces a protein called epidermal growth factor receptor, and the drug Sullivan takes blocks the protein's action.
The drug treatment is far from a cure. But it appears to markedly improve survival for thousands of patients.
And for someone who was initially given no more than six months to live, each day of life is like a gift.
"You fret about what might be," Sullivan said. "But you have to have faith in the doctors and the treatment."
email: firstname.lastname@example.com