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text:
Sid Punk Rock Monkey by Patons
Welcome! You are browsing as a guestWould you like to see 35 projects made from this pattern and much more? create a free account What am I missing?
© Patons
© mom2x2
by Aholaknitting Flickr
Sid Punk Rock Monkey
Errata available: yarnspirations.com
Skill Level: Intermediate
Look out, here comes Sid! He may be a hardcore rocker but he has a soft spot too.
Size 3.75mm (U.S. 5) knitting needles.
Size Approx 18 in tall
Patons Classic Wool (100g)
#77250 Dark Beige Marl (2 balls)
plus 1 ball each:
#00226 Black
#00202 Aran
#00230 Bright Red
#77134 That's Blue
5 colors, 6 balls total
For more information, see: http://www.patonsyarns.com/patternbook.php?PBS=500875

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Let's TalkZapaday, Verrijn Stuartlaan 7, Rijswijk, Netherlands.
Email: email@example.com
Art Karlsruhe is an international art show for modern and contemporary art originating in Karlsruhe.
Four exhibition halls display art works in multiple categories including paintings, sculptures and photography.
The art fair also features the presentation of the €5000 Hans-Platschek award for Art and Writing; courtesy of the Hans-Platschek Foundation.
There is also €15 000 art Karlsruhe Prize of Baden-Württemberg up for grabs made possible by the city of Karlsruhe.
Visit the Official Website


text:
Jordonwrote a review of Moment Deathwish Ski on November 7, 2013
Making love to the mountain
Familiarity: I've put it through the wringer
I've already written a review for this ski last year, but sense the DW came back unchanged this year why not write another. I originally skied the deathwish last year at a ski demo and after skiing them i went out and bought myself a pair. this ski makes the entire mountain a playground. There are harder charging skis and more playful park skis but sense im not a park rat nor a GS racer i wanted a ski that blended the best of both worlds and the deathwish doesn't disappoint. I'm 6'3 205-210 and this ski isn't a stiff charger but wont hesitate to get up to speed and rail. I love to slash this ski excels at that. jumps no problem. This is truly a one ski quiver.


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AN OUTSPOKEN environmentalist who wants to see sheep removed from Cumbria's fells has agreed to face the county's farmers.
George Monbiot will be grilled on his views at the Federation of Cumbria Commoners' (FCC) annual general meeting next month.
The Guardian columnist has angered the county's upland farmers with his comments about the role of livestock on the fells, which he claims have become 'sheep-wrecked'.
In his latest book advocating re-wilding the planet, Mr Monbiot describes sheep farming as 'a slow-burning ecological disaster' which he claims 'has done more damage to the living systems of this country than either climate change or industrial pollution'.
He will address the FCC meeting at Newton Rigg College, Penrith, on March 7 after which there will be a question and answer session.


text:
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (
Reliable source to sink communication is the most important factor for an efficient routing protocol especially in domains of military, healthcare and disaster recovery applications. We present weighted energy aware multipath reliable routing (WEAMR), a novel energy aware multipath routing protocol which utilizes hotline-assisted routing to meet such requirements for mission critical applications. The protocol reduces the number of average hops from source to destination and provides unmatched reliability as compared to well known reactive
Recent advances in the field of microelectronics and communications have brought the domain of Wireless Sensor Networks (WSNs) under the spotlight. WSNs can be formed by distributing inexpensive sensor devices on a large scale, typically, in a harsh environment. These sensor devices possess strict limitations in terms of memory, processing, battery and communication capabilities. However, WSNs hold the potential to be used in a wide array of crucial applications like industrial automation, chemical pollution monitoring, habitat monitoring, military, and healthcare, security and weather reporting [
Sensor nodes are involved in collecting readings or measurement of interest from the environment. The collected measurements are then required to be transmitted over to some external node, usually named as the sink node. In order to get the timely and correct analysis of the measurement the source to sink communication link has to be reliable. Typically, the source to sink communication is multi-hop and unreliable.
A typical sensor node has to receive/sense data, process it or forward it to next hop in the sensor network. Reducing the amount of communication for path discovery to destination node and load balancing on multiple paths to reach the destination is very important to extend the life time of a sensor network. All of these unique characteristics of a WSN make it different from the traditional
A new category of on-demand routing protocols (e.g., AODV [
The earlier work in the domain of on demand routing considered only single path for route discovery and transmission. Since the same path is used over and over for future data transmissions, use of such a protocol in WSNs results in faster depletion of the energy of nodes that are in the route path. Thus such type of strategy can easily cripple a segment of a network and possibly make it inaccessible. To overcome this problem and to increase the reliability and lifetime of the network various multipath routing protocols have been developed. An on-demand multipath protocol discovers multiple paths in a single route discovery request and later can utilize each one of these if the best link fails. As a result next route discovery is only needed when all of the previous discovered routes fail. This helps in increasing the lifetime and reliability of the network with fewer interruptions. Moreover, end-to-end latency is reduced at the cost of minimal memory overhead at each routing node in the routing path.
In this paper, we have developed a new on-demand multipath routing protocol called WEAMR using a hotline-based architecture. WEAMR is based on a well-known and well accepted protocol AODV. WEAMR extends the concept of AODV to use multiple paths between source and destination nodes. The multiple path discoveries ensure loop free and disjoint routing paths. In this architecture, the gateway nodes are connected with highly reliable hotline links. The use of hotlines reduces the number of average hops between a source and a destination and provides better reliability as compared to traditional WSN routing [
The rest of the paper is organized as follows: Section 2 reviews the AODV protocol and hotline-based topology. In Section 3 we discuss related work. In Section 4 we introduce the WEAMR routing protocol. In Section 5 we compare the performance of our protocol with AODV using ns-3 simulations. Section 6 concludes this paper with our future work.
AODV is a loop free single path reactive routing protocol for ad hoc networks. It is based on concepts of on-demand route discovery and destination sequence number from DSR [
In reactive routing protocols, sending node is responsible for doing a route discovery process before it can send data to an undiscovered destination node. If the route path is already known the route discovery process is not required. The route discovery is an energy intensive operation as it depends on flooding of RREQ (Route – Request) packets. The sender, after sending the RREQ packets, waits for an expected RREP (Route – Reply) message which contains the hop by hop path towards the destination node. On receiving a RREQ packet, a reverse path by the node to the source node is set up using previous hop information in RREQ packet. This information is used for sending data backwards from the destination to the sender such as (acks, requests,
AODV keeps the routing paths loop free by using sequence numbers. Every destination has a monotonically increasing sequence number which is known as destination sequence number. Intermediate nodes with higher sequence number have more recent route information to the destination node and are given preference in case of multiple RREP messages. The AODV protocol prevents routing loops by maintaining an invariant that destination sequence numbers along any valid route [
Recent research in WSNs to increase their reliability and life time, has given birth to many new and efficient ideas, and one such idea is the hotline-based reliable routing mechanism. It is well suited for real-time applications such as intrusion detection and battlefield surveillance applications,
Since wireless sensor networks and traditional wireless networks have different characteristics, a number of routing protocols have been proposed to address the challenges of sensor networks. Flat routing protocols are designed for networks with homogenous nodes,
All the protocols mentioned above try to solve the single path and energy constraints issues but according to our knowledge none of the protocols try to reduce number of hops and end to end latency using hotline based approach in wireless sensor networks, which provides higher throughout and reliable communication that is a key factor for mission critical WSN applications.
Generally a large number of nodes deployed in WSN are located in close proximity therefore interference and various other issues exist. The issues can be reduced by deploying gateways intelligently as proposed in [
The main barrier in deployment of WSNs is the limited energy at nodes and to overcome this various backbone approaches have been proposed in [
Various studies [
WEAMR is an AODV-based reactive routing protocol designed to run in a cluster-based WSN. The protocol utilizes the additional benefits of hotline-enabled gateway nodes to increase the reliability and lifetime of the overall network. WEAMR is well suited for time critical applications in the WSN domain whereas a typical WSN topology with various nodes arranged to communicate in a hop by hop fashion cannot guarantee high reliability.
In a typical WSN, routing from source node to destination node is based on multiple hops. Several intermediate nodes working as relaying nodes forward the packet until reaches the destination. WSNs have inherently high link error rates. With multi-hop routing, the cumulative probability of error increases exponentially with the increasing number of hops [
We assume a two-tiered heterogeneous network. At first level, we have typical sensor nodes with constraints of energy and low power transmission. All the nodes are randomly distributed in a two dimensional grid. At second level, sensor gateways are present. These gateway nodes act as a cluster head. Moreover, the gateway nodes control the traffic flow and manage sensor motes deployed in different geographical locations. Gateway nodes are not energy constrained devices and are connected with each other in a bus topology. In traditional networks the gateways are connected with long haul wireless links but for this protocol the gateways are connected with high speed reliable links such as Ethernet or point-to-point wireless. We now introduce the important components of a hotline-based reliable WSN topology. Different mechanisms, like dividing the network into clusters, gateway association/dissociation and node-node, node-gateway and gateway-gateway communication will be described in detail in the following sub-sections. In traditional WSNs routing the expected path of end-to-end communication would include multiple hops. Packet delivery is dependent on several intermediate relaying sensor nodes. These sensor nodes forward the packets until they reach their destination. WSNs have inherently high link error rates. With multi-hop routing, the cumulative probability of error increases exponentially with the increasing number of hops. Thus the chances of failure are likely to increase with every additional hop. Reliability is therefore a main concern for mission-critical WSN deployments. This topology addresses the reliability issue by using the concept of hotlines between gateways. Hotlines reduce the number of average hops between a source and destination and provide better reliability as compared to traditional WSN routing. Our network topology is static for both sensor and gateway nodes.
We describe the topology and WEAMR in the following sections.
Due to the availability of gateways, we can efficiently organize and manage the sensor nodes in a network. Each node would have to associate to a particular gateway making it the default gateway. All the nodes associated to one gateway form one cluster. Please note that gateway and cluster head are the same name used interchangeably. One of the important benefits of the clustering approach is to facilitate efficient and reliable communication using gateway hotlines. For example, one set of nodes is sensing the environment to get the data and then that data is being sent to another set of nodes or a sink for further computation. The default gateways can provide a fast and reliable routing mechanism to communicate this data. Nodes become the part of a cluster depending upon their hop count from the gateway. The nodes would get associated to any gateway by using the information in the Router Advertisement (RA) message. The routers would send router advertisement (RA) messages to help the nodes to associate to a particular gateway. When a sender node receives RA messages from several routers, it would differentiate the messages with help of current time to live (Cur TTL) field.
We have divided the network into different clusters and each cluster is associated with a default gateway, then routing of packets and route discovery is done within the cluster using RREQs. Our approach of intra-cluster routing is closer to the approach suggested in [
The gateways are connected using high-speed Ethernet cables. Gateways are supposed to exchange certain information that would be required for routing and monitoring the state of the links. Our sensor network has been divided into clusters but the overall network can be considered as one autonomous system (AS). We therefore require a protocol configured in gateways that can handle cluster to cluster (Intra-AS) communication. We propose to employ the widely-used Open Shortest Path First (OSPF) protocol for inter-gateway communication. We choose OSPF because of two main reasons: (1) In distance vector routing protocols, each router does not possess information about the complete network topology and consequently there is a slow convergence problem (2) OSPF works over IP and has a richer set of extensions and added features as compared to other link state and distance vector routing protocols. Each gateway has information saved about nodes of the complete network in form of a gateway network table.
Every time a node is added or removed from a particular cluster, an update is sent to the default gateway. The default gateway accordingly updates the gateway network table. An update message is eventually sent to all the gateways of the network connected via the hotline. This completes one cycle of the update mechanism. This process is already supported in OSPF by the database synchronization mechanism. The synchronization process begins as soon as the gateway attempts to bring up the adjacency. The database is described by each gateway by sending a series of Database Description packets to its neighbors. As gateways are connected in a bus network, via hotline, all the gateways will synchronize their databases. Gateways are also deployed with a monitoring mechanism. Specifically, gateways are aware of the health of neighboring gateways and the corresponding links. This monitoring mechanism helps to ensure the connectivity of the gateways and eventually ensuring the availability of the hotline. This mechanism is supported by the OSPF Hello protocol. The neighbor relationship is maintained with the help of the Hello Protocol. It is also responsible of ensuring the bidirectional communication between neighbors. Hello packets are sent periodically on all router interfaces. In summary, gateways are configured with dual functionality. They are deployed with two different protocols. One protocol (WEAMR) is used for intra-cluster or cluster-node communication, the other protocol (OSPF) is used for inter-gateway communication.
The multipath discovery process of WEAMR is based on AODV's route discovery process [
We have slightly modified the route discovery process. The format of the proposed RREQ message is shown in
RREQ messages carry the path's energy information as well. Once the destination, in this case the sender associated gateway node, will receive the RREQ messages it will calculate the cost of each path and will decide to choose two best paths depending upon the minimum cost. The cost is calculated based on three factors: hop count, energy level and latency. The latency value is calculated based upon the mechanism suggested in [
Please note that only the destination node and the gateway nodes do not discard the duplicate RREQ messages. Once the destination receives the RREQ message, it waits for at least one more RREQ message to be received from the neighboring nodes. It then analyzes the RREQ messages and calculates and compares the cost. It then chooses two paths with minimum costs and unicasts the RREP message on the selected minimum cost paths. The proposed RREP message format is shown in
The RREP message also contains the calculated cost. The source upon receiving the first RREP makes an entry in its routing table and for the second RREP message it makes another in its routing table along with the associated cost. The route with the minimum cost is used as the primary path whereas the other path is used as the backup path. Similarly, if the intermediate nodes receive two RREP messages it makes entries in to their routing tables. With this mechanism, the source has established two reliable paths with the destination. The process is shown in
Once the primary and secondary routes are established, the sender node would select the primary route and send its data. In order to balance the energy cost for the path the sender will switch between the discovered paths using a random approach. Although the idea proposed by [
As we are using fixed topology the hop count and latency would remain reasonably constant, the only changing variable in the equation is energy. This local update mechanism for cost at the sender node incurs much less processing overhead and no additional control packets are required for updating the cost of the path. The intermediate nodes in the path might be involved in sending/forwarding data to the sink nodes which will make our locally calculated
Since WEAMR is based on AOMDV so the path discovery method DiscoverPaths(m.Destination_id) takes equal amount of time as taken by AOMDV, The methods such as SelectBestPath(m), DecrementLocalEnergy(m) and ForwardData(m) complete their execution in linear time O(n). In case of delays or error the send timeout of 30 seconds ensures the execution is not delayed indefinitely for a process.
The methods DecrementLocalEnergy(m), SendUpdateRREPToSender(
In this section we discuss the simulations and their results.
In hotline-assisted simulation scenarios the nodes are deployed in clusters as explained in Section 4.1. The cluster head act as a gateway and all the communication to and from the cluster takes place through the gateway. All the gateways are connected via Ethernet cable. Multiple sources send data to a sink to emulate bursty traffic. The protocols we have compared are AODV and AOMDV which do not handle hotline based routing natively. The factors that are used to measure the reliability of a WSN are: (1) Packet Success Ratio and (2) end-to-end Delay.
If the packets are being dropped frequently, that network will be considered unreliable. In some mission critical applications like military and healthcare immediate communication is required, therefore end-to-end Delay is also considered to be one of the important criterions for measuring the reliability [
In this scenario we increased number of active connections in the network for data transfer. The number of nodes participating in this scenario was fixed to 10 nodes with varying number of connections per node. Each sending node was fixed with a total load of 30 MB of data and the transfer rate was initially set to 200 kb/s to produce congestion in the network. Each node started with one connection and once the data was transferred it increased the number of active connection by 1. The data load was divided in chunks according to the number of active connections on the sender node. This shows advantages of hotline-assisted routing in crowded networks. Moreover, each route discovery resulted in more expensive operation because of the smaller amount of traffic over each connection. The results shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In this case we calculated the average route discovery frequency of the three protocols per second. This is the number of times a protocol has to discover paths to the destination. The results shown here are intra-cluster-based discovery and does not include hotline assisted gateways,
WEAMR resolves this issue by limiting the discoverable multipath value to two paths maximum. As discussed in [
In this scenario we have studied the effect of offered load and data rate on relative performance of the three protocols. The connections were kept constant at 5 connections. The packet generation data rate was increased from 0.25 to 1.50 packets/s to study the effect.
As shown in
As shown in
In this case we calculated average route discovery frequency of the three protocols per second. This is the number of times a protocol has to discover route paths to the destination. The results shown here are intra-cluster-based discovery and does not include hotline assisted gateways.
In this scenario we have studied the effect of variable nodes density on relative performance of the three protocols. The active connections were kept constant at five connections. The packet generation data rate was also kept constant at 1.50 packets/s to study the effect. We started the simulation with a sparse network and then noticed the difference in reliability parameters with an increasing node density.
As shown in
As shown in
Therefore it will be fair to conclude that communication between the source and the sink is independent of the density of the network in the case of hotline assisted routing, so WEAMR also has lower routing overhead and routing path discovery requests when the node density is changing.
This paper proposes a new energy aware multipath routing protocol based on AODV and AOMDV in WSNs, which we have named as WEAMR. WEAMR makes use of a hotline-assisted routing approach which we verify can play an important role to improve the reliability of source to sink communications. WEAMR makes use of multipath transmission to utilize the network energy efficiently and keeps energy-aware related packet dissemination to a minimum, which results in longer lifetime of the network and also works as a load sharing feature. We showed through our simulation comparisons that WEAMR performs better than the AODV and AOMDV protocols in terms of inter-cluster end to end delay, has less packet loss in inter-cluster communication and has less route discovery overhead in case of intra-cluster path failure scenarios. The proposed topology provides reliability which is independent of the number of nodes in a given cluster or area. In the proposed protocol we have improved intra-cluster reliability and the lifetime of the network. Such features are very important for high density WSN deployments and these features make our routing protocol an ideal fit for all mission-critical applications.
This research was supported by the MKE (The Ministry of Knowledge Economy), Korea, under the Convergence-ITRC (Convergence Information Technology Research Center) support program (NIPA-2013-H0401-13-1004) supervised by the NIPA.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.
WSN with sink node.
WSN with Hotlines Architecture.
Proposed RREQ message format.
Proposed RREP message format.
Overview of the multipath discovery process
Algorithm to send data packet.
Overall procedure for the sender node to send data packet.
Algorithm to receive data packet.
Overall procedure for intermediate node to receive data packet.
Average end to end delay with increasing number of connections.
Average packet loss in end to end with increasing number of connections.
Average Route Discovery frequency with increasing number of connections.
Average Routing overhead with increasing number of connections.
Average end to end delay with increasing number of packets.
Average packet loss in end to end communication with increasing number of packets.
Average Route Discovery frequency with increasing number of packets.
Average Routing overhead with increasing number of packets.
Average end to end delay with increasing number of nodes.
Average packet loss in end to end communication with increasing number of nodes.
Simulation setup.
|Simulation Environment
|Routing Protocol
|Inter-Gateway Routing
|Intra-Cluster Communication
|Wireless (802.15.4)
|Number of Nodes
|Node mobility
|0 m/sec
|Total Terrain Area
|1,000 m × 1000 m
|Simulation Time
|1,000 s
|Packet Loss nodes to node
|Packet Loss gateway to gateway
|Total Runs


text:
A Justice Site
Mirror Sites: CSUDH - Habermas - UWP
Lectures - Notes - Texts
Post to Discussion Group, transform-dom
California State University, Dominguez Hills
University of Wisconsin, Parkside
Created: September 26, 2005
Latest Update: September 26, 2005
Introduction The primary agenda of those in power is to stay in power. To that end they network with one another and create social and business contacts to administer carefully the process of doing business. To that end there is political patronage such as we saw with Michael Brown of FEMA during the Katrina catastrophe. Such patronage is being reported now: "According to Senate filings, AshBritt paid about $40,000 in the first half of 2005 to Barbour Griffith & Rogers, the Washington lobbying firm co-founded by Governor Barbour of Mississippi, who is also a former chairman of the Republican National Committee." (Paragraph 33 of the backup of article)
These little enclaves of power elites and their subordinates lap up many business opportunities before such opportunities are even known to "ordinary folks" without such connections. That is why investigators and accountants are trying to prevent such "inside" dealing. This is one of the reasons we incorporated the affirmative action programs during the Civil Rights period of trying to offer equal opportunities across the whole spectrum of businesses. Not an easy concept to enforce.
- no bid contract - contract which is given out on the basis of the contracting party's beliefs that this is the best contractor, best price, highest quality work to be had, or because there is a networking connection between the contracting party and the contractor.
- military-industrial price gouging - scandalous and unethical behavior in which large military contractors charged exorbitant fees for products and services, and padded the costs with products and services either not provided or bestowed on other parties not entitled to such benefits'
Example: "Topping the federal government's list of costs related to Hurricane Katrina is the $568 million in contracts for debris removal landed by a Florida company with ties to Mississippi's Republican governor. Near the bottom is an $89.95 bill for a pair of brown steel-toe shoes bought by an Environmental Protection Agency worker in Baton Rouge, La." [Emphasis added by jeanne.] (Paragraph 1 of the backup of article.) The $568 million bill raises concerns about "cronyism," while the $89.95 bill raises concerns about the tiny ripoff in which funds are diverted to those who can get their hands on them. Maybe $89.95 isn't much to take without authority and redounds to the benefit of the person who took the steel-toe shoes. If he/she was working on clearing debris, he/she maybe needed them. But I need steel-toe boots for welding, and I buy my own. Sounds like that should have been a part of his/her readiness for work. And these expenses add up quickly. These aren't paper clips, folks.
cronyism - "partiality to cronies especially as evidenced in the appointment of political hangers-on to office without regard to their qualifications" from Miriam-Webster onl;ine dictionary
Example: $568 million in contracts for debris removal landed by a Florida company with ties to Mississippi's Republican governor. (Paragraph 1 of the backup of article.)
Discussion Questions
- Since we had to move quickly, what's wrong with giving the contracts to someone you know?
Consider: $568 million in contracts for debris removal landed by a Florida company with ties to Mississippi's Republican governor.. (Paragraph 1 of the backup of article.) "concerns among auditors and government officials about the potential for favoritism or abuse." (Paragraph 3 of the backup of article.) "Bills have come in for deals that apparently were clinched with a handshake, with no documentation to back them up. . . " (Paragraph 6 of the backup of article.)
Consider that you can't close a deal with a handshake unless you know the person.
- What kind of accountability has been attached to these no bid contracts?
Consider Paragraph 11 of the backup of article: "The investigators are asking how much money AshBritt will collect and, in turn, what it will pay subcontractors performing the work. . ." and Paragraph 12 of the backup of article: "The contracts also show considerable price disparities . . . " And Paragraph 16 of the backup of article:"There is just more of the good-old-boy system, taking care of its political allies," . . . "FEMA and the others have put out these contracts in such a haphazard manner, I don't know how they can come up with anything that is accountable to the taxpayers."


text:
With our Kit #2 we use a series motor that can acheive speeds of up to 55 mph at 72 Volts DC in ideal conditions. 45 to 50 mph would be your normal top average driving speeds with this kit. The motor is manufactured by D&D motor systems and is rated at 40 HP peak. It measures 6.7" dia. x 12.28" long and weighs 62 lbs. The cost for this complete kit is $2995 + shipping.
Electric cars are driven by large electric motors usually rated between 3.5 and 28 horsepower. For those accustomed to gas engines, this may not seem like much power, but the rating systems used for gas engines and electric motors are so different that the numbering system is almost meaningless. Gas engines are rated at their peak hp, electric motors are rated at their continuous hp. The peak hp of an electric motor is usually 8 to 10 times its continuous rating. A 30 hp electric motor will generally perform like a 50-75 hp gasoline engine in a same weight vehicle.
Series motors are known for having very high torque at start up, or zero RPM. This make the series motor excellent for acceleration and also makes it possable to have a vehicle without a clutch. Our Kit #2, as our other kits, has no clutch so it can simply be driven just like an automatic transmission. This motor is reversable and can run clock-wise or counter clock-wise.
We offer our Kit #2 standard with an ALLTRAX 7245 PWM(pulse width modulation) controller. This controller is rated at 24-72 volts DC and 450 amps. The Alltrax Controller is programmable via a computer and an adaptor cable (RS-232 TO USB). For higher performance see Kit #3.
The complete components for Kit #2 are as follows:
* Adapter Plate for vehicle
*Substitues will be made for parts if unavailable.


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Jennifer Lawrence Does GQ
Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone, X-Men: First Class) appears in the latest issue of GQ, and despite the fact she's in a bikini under ideal lighting conditions, she looked way hotter at the Oscars. Which is actually a compliment for Jennifer, not so much GQ who was kind enough to send a hi-res shot over so now I feel awkward. Um… your magazine smells nice? It has neat words? — I'm off the mailing list, aren't I? Sonofashit.
Photos: GQ, Splash News


text:
This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/).
Composite chitosan-nano-hydroxyapatite microspheres and scaffolds prepared using a co-precipitation method have shown potential for use in bone regeneration. The goal of this research was to improve the functional properties of the composite scaffolds by modifying the fabrication parameters. The effects of degree of deacetylation (DDA), drying method, hydroxyapatite content and an acid wash on scaffold properties were investigated. Freeze-dried 61% DDA scaffolds degraded faster (3.5 ± 0.5% mass loss) than air-dried 61% DDA scaffolds and 80% DDA scaffolds, but had a lower compressive modulus of 0.12 ± 0.01 MPa. Air-dried 80% DDA scaffolds displayed the highest compressive modulus (3.79 ± 0.51 MPa) and these scaffolds were chosen as the best candidate for use in bone regeneration. Increasing the amount of hydroxyapatite in the air-dried 80% DDA scaffolds did not further increase the compressive modulus of the scaffolds. An acid wash procedure at pH 6.1 was found to increase the degradation of air-dried 80% DDA scaffolds from 1.3 ± 0.1% to 4.4 ± 0.4%. All of the formulations tested supported the proliferation of SAOS-2 cells.
Approximately five to ten percent of bone fractures will result in delayed healing or non-union [
Our laboratory group has previously developed chitosan-nano-hydroxyapatite scaffolds for use in bone regeneration [
An important parameter of chitosan is degree of deacetylation (DDA), which is defined as the ratio of deacetylated glucosamine units to the total number of monomers [
Our laboratory group has also demonstrated that increased surface area can be obtained by freeze-drying (lyophilization) [
Although the main goal of this research is to improve the degradation profile of the scaffolds to allow more extensive bone ingrowth, the other characteristics required of bone scaffolds should still be met. The scaffolds need sufficient mechanical properties to provide space maintenance at the fracture site and to prevent collapse of the scaffold pores [
In Phase I of this research, the effects of DDA and drying method were evaluated. Air-dried (A/D) and freeze-dried (F/D) 61% and 80% DDA scaffolds were prepared (
Experimental design used for scaffold characterization. Degradation of air-dried and freeze-dried 61% and 80% Degree of Deacetylation (DDA) microspheres was also determined. All groups underwent SEM analysis. A/D: air-dried; F/D: freeze-dried; CS: chitosan; HA: hydroxyapatite.
Composite chitosan-nano-hydroxyapatite microspheres were prepared using a co-precipitation method as previously described [
Chitosan solutions used to make composite beads. Note: Dissolved in 200 mL of 2 vol.% acetic acid. CS: Chitosan, HA: Hydroxyapatite.
|Microsphere Type
|Chitosan (g)
|CaCl2●2H20 (g)
|NaH2PO4●H20 (g)
A precipitation solution (pH = 13) containing 20 weight percent (wt.%) NaOH, 30 wt.% methanol and 50 wt.% water was prepared. Using a syringe pump, the chitosan solution was added dropwise through 16G needles into the precipitation solution and microspheres immediately formed. The microspheres were stirred in the precipitation solution for 24 hours to allow crystalline hydroxyapatite to form. The microspheres were then washed in deionized (DI) water until a neutral pH (<7.5) was achieved.
Microspheres were either air-dried (A/D) or freeze-dried (F/D). Air-drying was performed by placing neutralized beads in plastic weigh boats and drying them in a chemical fume hood at room temperature. Freeze-drying was performed by placing neutralized (still hydrated) beads in plastic weigh boats and pre-freezing at −20 °C in a laboratory freezer for two hours. The beads were then freeze-dried in a 2.5 L Labconco lyophilizer for 48 hours.
Porous scaffolds were prepared by fusing dried microspheres together. The microspheres were rinsed in 1wt.% acetic acid for approximately ten seconds in a ceramic sieve. Excess acid was removed using a vacuum. This very brief acid wash gently dissolves the outer layer of the beads and makes them adherent. Using a laboratory spatula, the microspheres were then placed in 12 mm diameter polystyrene tubes to form cylindrical scaffolds. Only very slight pressure was applied to the microspheres with the spatula as they were placed in the polystyrene tubes. After approximately one minute, the scaffolds were removed from the molds and allowed to air-dry. Following rehydration, the scaffolds can be cut into any height as desired.
Based on the data obtained in Phase I, air-dried 80% DDA scaffolds were determined to be good candidates for bone regeneration. In Phase II, the following groups of air-dried 80% DDA beads/scaffolds were prepared to determine the effect of hydroxyapatite content and a mild acid wash: 3.0% CS, No HA; 3.0%, 1× HA; 2.5% CS, 2× HA; and 3.0% CS, 1× HA, acid wash. As seen in
Chitosan solutions used to make air-dried 80% DDA beads. Note: Dissolved in 200 mL of 2 vol. % acetic acid. CS: Chitosan, HA: Hydroxyapatite. *Also prepared using 2-(N-morphilino)ethanesulfonic (MES) acid wash.
|Microsphere Type
|Chitosan (g)
|CaCl2●2H20 (g)
|NaH2PO4●H20 (g)
|3.0% CS, No HA
In Phase II, all of the microspheres were air-dried. Scaffolds were prepared by the method previously described in
Some of the 3.0% CS, 1x HA beads underwent a mild acid wash before being air-dried (
Scanning electron micrograph (SEM) images of composite microspheres and scaffolds were obtained using a Philips XL30 environmental microscope. Samples were coated with 30 nm of Au/Pd before imaging to make them conductive. Microsphere size and surface topography were evaluated using SEM images.
Immediately prior to starting the degradation study, microsphere samples were placed in a convection oven at 50 °C to mitigate the effects of ambient humidity. After one hour, the microspheres were removed from the convection oven and weighed. An amount of 4mL of degradation solution containing 100 μg/mL lysozyme (MP Biomedicals, Cat. No. 100834) + antibiotics/antimycotic (1 unit/mL penicillin, 1 μg/mL streptomycin and 0.25 μg/mL amphotercin B) in DI water was added to each sample. Lysoyzme is the main enzyme responsible for chitosan degradation
Scaffold degradation was performed in the same manner as microsphere degradation. Scaffolds were completely submerged in 6 mL of 100 μg/mL lysozyme + antibiotics/antimycotic. After one month, the percent weight change was measured.
The compressive moduli of scaffolds were determined using an Instron load frame (Model # 33R 4465). Since the scaffolds will become hydrated after implantation, they were rehydrated in DI water. 61% DDA scaffolds were rehydrated for four hours. The interior beads of 80% DDA scaffolds were not completely hydrated after four hours, so these scaffolds were rehydrated for eight hours. The diameter of the scaffolds varied depending on the microsphere type and the rehydrated scaffolds were sectioned so that the height:diameter ratio was maintained at approximately 1.5. The scaffolds were then compressed at a strain rate of 0.1 min−1 until 50% strain was achieved. The compressive modulus was determined using the initial linear portion of the stress-strain curve.
The swelling ratio of scaffolds was determined. Pre-weighed scaffolds were placed in 10 mL of deionized water and put in an incubator at 37 °C. After 24 hours, the scaffolds were removed and pat-dried to remove any excess moisture on the surface. The scaffolds were re-weighed and the swelling ratio was determined using the following equation:
The biocompatibility of each microsphere type was evaluated using osteoblast-like SAOS-2 cells. Cells in McCoy's 5A media supplemented with 15% fetal bovine serum and antibiotics/antimycotic were seeded at a density of 2.2 × 105 cells/sample onto microspheres in Transwell inserts in 24-well plates. The cells were incubated at 37 °C with 5% CO2. After allowing cells to attach for three hours, the inserts were transferred to empty wells and cell attachment was evaluated using the CellTiter-Glo assay (Promega). A standard curve relating luminescence output from the assay to cell number was constructed by seeding cells at a known concentration. The remaining samples were returned to the incubator after media refreshment. Cell numbers were determined on Day 2 and Day 5.
Mean ± standard deviations are presented. One-factor ANOVA with Bonferroni post-test was performed to determine statistical differences, with p < 0.05 considered significant. Two-factor ANOVA with Bonferroni post-test was used to analyze the biocompatibility data.
Processing parameters were found to have an effect on microsphere properties (
SEM micrographs of air-dried (A/D) and freeze-dried (F/D) 61% and 80% DDA microspheres and scaffolds.
SEM micrographs of air-dried 80% DDA microspheres and scaffolds.
As seen in
Degradation of 61% DDA and 80% DDA microspheres. 61% DDA microspheres are 3.5% CS, 1× HA. 80% DDA microspheres are 3.0% CS, 1× HA. Statistical differences existed between all groups except 80% DDA air-dried and 80% DDA freeze-dried beads; # represents no statistical difference; N = 3.
Overall, the degradation rate of scaffolds was much lower than that of microspheres (
Degradation, compression testing and swelling ratio of composite scaffolds.
|Scaffold Type
|Degradation (% wt. change) (N = 4)
|Compressive Modulus (MPa) (N = 3)
|Swelling Ratio (%) (N = 4)
|1.4 ± 0.5
|0.67 ± 0.06
|148.3 ± 11.7 b
|3.5 ± 0.5 a
|0.12 ± 0.01
|267.1 ± 15.3 b
|1.3 ± 0.1
|3.79 ± 0.51 a
|88.5 ± 1.9 b
|0.8 ± 0.3
|0.81 ± 0.14
|116.5 ± 6.9 b
a: Statistically different from all other groups; b: Statistically different from all other groups.
Scaffolds composed of air-dried 80% DDA microspheres had the largest compressive modulus (
Both air-dried and freeze-dried 61% and 80% DDA microspheres were found to be biocompatible (
Biocompatibility of composite microspheres using SAOS-2 cells. *represents statistical significance; N = 4.
Since all of the scaffold groups displayed similar biocompatibility and degradation characteristics in Phase I, compression testing was used to select a candidate for additional studies. Due to their considerably higher compressive modulus of 3.79 ± 0.51 MPa (
Scaffolds composed of 3.0% CS, 1× HA were found to still have the highest compressive modulus of all groups tested (
Scaffolds undergoing the acid wash were found to have a degradation of 4.4 ± 0.4% after one month (
Compressive moduli of air-dried 80% DDA scaffolds. Scaffolds were compressed at a strain rate of 0.1 min-1 until 50% strain was achieved. None of the scaffolds fractured during testing. The compressive moduli were calculated from the initial linear portion of the stress-strain curve. *represents statistical significance. # represents no statistical difference. N = 3.
Scaffolds undergoing the acid wash were found to have a degradation of 4.4 ± 0.4% after one month (
Degradation and swelling ratio of 80% DDA scaffolds.
|Scaffold Type
|Degradation (% wt. change) (N = 4)
|Swelling Ratio (%)
|−0.3 ± 0.4 a
|159.1 ± 1.9 b
|1.3 ± 0.1
|88.5 ± 1.9 b
|1.7 ± 0.2
|66.1 ± 0.9 b
|4.4 ± 0.4 a
|180.4 ± 3.3 b
a: statistically different from all other groups; b: statistically different from all other groups.
All of the 80% DDA microsphere variations were found to be biocompatible (
Biocompatibility of 80% DDA microsphere formulations using SAOS-2 cells. * represents statistical significance; # represents no statistical difference; N = 4.
Composite chitosan-nano-hydroxyapatite microspheres were successfully prepared using a co-precipitation method. SEM analysis revealed that fabrication parameters had an effect on bead characteristics including size, shape and surface roughness. In addition, porous composite scaffolds composed of fused microspheres were successfully fabricated. The degradation, mechanical, biocompatibility and swelling ratio properties of the modified microspheres and scaffolds were evaluated to determine the best formulation for bone regeneration.
Interestingly, the concentration of chitosan that can be used to fabricate beads successfully is within a narrow range. When the chitosan solution is dripped into the precipitating solution, the chitosan solution cannot be too thick or too thin. If the chitosan solution is too thick, long strands or very teardrop-shaped beads instead of spherical microparticles will precipitate. In contrast, if the chitosan solution is too thin, small fragments of chitosan will precipitate instead of microspheres. In these studies, 61% DDA beads could only be prepared using a 3.5% chitosan solution due to the reasons discussed above. When 80% DDA beads were prepared, a 3.5% chitosan solution produced very elongated particles. However, spherical 80% DDA beads could be fabricated when 3.0% and 2.5% chitosan solutions were used.
The increased degradation of 61% DDA microspheres compared to 80% DDA microspheres was expected. Chitosan films, beads and sponges have been shown to degrade faster when prepared with lower DDA [
Since freeze-drying was previously shown to increase the surface area of microspheres by more than 200× [
Mechanical properties are an important consideration for bone regeneration constructs, with air-dried 80% DDA scaffolds being found to have the highest compressive modulus. This is most likely due to their higher crystallinity and lower swelling ratio. It should be noted that even though the 61% DDA scaffolds were rehydrated for only four hours, they had lower compressive moduli than the 80% DDA scaffolds which had been rehydrated for eight hours. Other researchers have also observed increased compressive strength and modulus when using higher DDAs [
Other researchers have also observed that the addition of nano-hydroxyapatite decreases the swelling ratio [
In this study, plain 80% DDA microspheres without hydroxyapatite promoted increased proliferation of SAOS-2 cells when compared with composite microspheres with hydroxyapatite. This result was unexpected, since we previously observed greater cell proliferation on composite scaffolds compared to plain scaffolds [
The MES acid wash was found to increase degradation of air-dried 80% DDA beads to 4.4 ± 0.4%. During the acid wash, the beads appeared to shrink slightly and felt slightly "sticky"-suggesting mild dissolution. The degradation rate of acid-washed beads could potentially be increased even further by using a lower pH or increasing the wash time. When compared to freeze-dried 61% DDA scaffolds, the 80% DDA acid-washed scaffolds had both higher degradation and compressive modulus.
Depending on the intended application, the properties of the chitosan-nano-hydroxyapatite microspheres can be altered by changing the fabrication parameters as demonstrated in this research. For application in bone tissue engineering, using a combination of bead types to prepare scaffolds may be a promising approach. A combination of fast-degrading 61% DDA freeze-dried beads or acid-washed beads could be used in conjunction with slower-degrading but mechanically stronger 80% air-dried beads. The fast-degrading beads could deliver a growth factor such as BMP-2 and then degrade, increasing the available space for tissue ingrowth. The slower-degrading beads would provide mechanical stability at the fracture site until new bone had developed and then be resorbed more slowly. The ratio of beads types could be altered to give an optimized scaffold for an intended musculoskeletal application.
Microspheres with 61% DDA exhibited more than 10% degradation after one month compared with less than 2% for 80% DDA microspheres. Freeze-drying minimally increased the degradation of 61% DDA microspheres. Scaffold degradation was found to be lower than microsphere degradation. The 3.8 ± 0.5 MPa compressive modulus of air-dried 80% DDA scaffolds made them good potential candidates for bone regeneration. Increases in hydroxyapatite content did not increase the compressive modulus of the 80% air-dried scaffolds. A brief acid wash in an MES solution increased the degradation of air-dried 80% DDA scaffolds. All of the composite microspheres tested demonstrated good biocompatibility with SAOS-2 osteoblast-like cells. This study demonstrated the ability to modify the functional properties of composite chitosan-nano-hydroxyapatite scaffolds by altering the DDA, drying method, hydroxyapatite content and using an MES wash.
The authors declare no conflict of interest.


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Barbara Stanwyck
(No. 41 in a series of 50 from Player's Navy Cut cigarettes)
Barbara Stanwyck, who was born in Brooklyn, New York, July 16th, 1907, and christened Ruby Stevens, began to earn her living as a telephone operator. Then she appeared in cabaret as a dancer, and later on the musical comedy stage. She was with the famous Ziegfeld Follies before taking up film work. Broadway Nights was her first film, but it was her role in The Locked Door that brought her popularity. Her latest films are Ever in My Heart and Gambling Lady. She is married to Frank Fay, who is well-known in American musical comedy and vaudeville; they have an adopted son, Dion.


text:
QUIZ: Do You Have a Terminal Case of Bieberitis?
How much do you belieb in Bieber? Can you name every single one of his tattoos? Do you know his GF du jour? There's only one way to prove whether you are a true Justin Bieber fan or a downright dis-Belieber. That's taking this true or false quiz.


text:
Sisters reunited after 33 years
By Gabor Degre, BDN Staff
Four sisters were reunited after one of them was missing for 33 years. Virginia Allen (from left), 72, of Winter Harbor, Mary Inman 75, of Glenburn, Laura Riegelman, 78, of Glenburn, and Betty Lukich, 69, of Phoenix, Ariz sit together. Lukich left "to get away from it all," and didn't contact her family until early 2013. The sisters are four of 13 siblings.
Posted July 28, 2013, at 6:09 p.m.


text:
Technical Information
|Product Description
All blocks, as every Garhauer part, come with Garhauer's 10 year unconditional guarantee.
Black Anodized Aluminum Blocks have a black aluminum load plate surface. This construction adds a handsome appearance to your boat and offers superior durability due the extra load plate reinforcement.
Safe working load is 2800 lbs. Comes with 50 ft. of 7/16" line.
Part Number: 40UAB 4-1


text:
The IDS Service is open:
Monday through Friday
6:30 am to 3:00 pm.
IDS Coordinator:
Melissa Reale
Phone: 315.464.4205
Fax: 315.464.4313
After-hours, holidays and weekends:
Chris Miller
Phone: 315.464.4214
Cancer Center Pharmacy Phone: 315.464.8339
Main (UH) Pharmacy
Phone: 315.464.4210
Inventory Control
- Completion of the investigational drug accountability record to document all dispensings.
- Storage of study drugs separately from general stock in appropriate temperature conditions
(i.e. refrigerator, freezer, room temperature).
- Maintenance of adequate levels of study drugs to keep up with enrollment and return study visits.


text:
I'm a thirty-something teacher. I stumbles into HP when some of my students mentioned it, and I've been hooked ever since.
I'm starting to get antsy for book 7, and I'm using fan-fic to keep me sane while I wait.
Nice one!!
You have a real knack for teen angst!! Reading your stories, I can remember the feelings vividly, and I'm amazed that you can get them down "on paper" so well.
Keep it up!
I've discovered that I'm a true-blue H/G shipper!
"Her smile could light a room for him, and, in turn, her tears were enough to shroud the sun." - That's a phrase that ducks neatly past being a cliche to end up exquisite!! Thanks yet again!
At the risk of repeating the prevailing view, WOW!
This is literally the first fan fic I've stopped to read, and I suspect I hit the jackpot.
Like many others, I felt the same sense of anticipation reading your chapters that I do when reading the books.....and the same sense of disappointment when I reached the end. Not disappointment in your resolution (which I thought was brilliant!) but in having no "Next" button to click!
Excellent characterization....I can hear each character's voice, (except perhaps for Sirius).
Phenomenal plotting, while drawing in many of the best theories in fandom.
You've convinced me that I WANT Harry to be a horcrux, just to see how JKR resolves it!
Thanks, and keep writing!
I already submitted a review, but in reading these I realized two significant items I skipped.
1 - I wouldn't expect a fan fic to be good enough to get me choked up at work! (I couldn't stop reading!)
and..2 - Thanks
Author's Response: Oh, thanks so much! I\'m thrilled to hear how much you\'ve enjoyed this. It\'s so nice to see a whole new group of fans enjoying this story. Thanks!


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The Science of Comfort™
Comfort enables better sleep. To be truly comfortable the body and mind must be completely at ease; free from pain or constraint. A more comfortable body is a healthier body.
True comfort requires the perfect blend of pressure relief, support and temperature regulation. This is the Science of Comfort™.
Mammoth have gone further than any other brand in developing cutting edge technologies and materials in the pursuit of comfort and sleep quality.
Mammoth's Magic Ingredient: Medical Grade™ Foam
Mammoth's invention, Medical Grade™ Foam is an innovation derived from their healthcare origins, where its predecessor 'High-Specification Foam' was successfully used as a pressure relieving and supportive component in medical beds and seating within the NHS and private healthcare.
Medical Grade™ Foam is an incredibly effective material for achieving comfort. By responding immediately to both the weight and shape of the human body, Medical Grade™ Foam helps a sleeper maintain a neutral position, which ensures good spinal alignment. Basically, instant support.
Unlike Memory Foam, which requires body heat to soften the sleep surface, Medical Grade™ Foam is not temperature sensitive and provides a cool, dry and comfortable sleeping surface which promotes an optimum sleeping micro-climate.
Partnerships with Healthcare
Mammoth's commitment to innovation, testing and product development has led to partnerships with leading UK health organisations.
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Be the best you can be
Mammoth mattresses are slept on by everyone from children to the elderly, and RAF rescue teams to elite athletes. Many of the UK's leading sports associations choose to work with Mammoth to help their members achieve the very best health benefits sleep can offer.
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text:
Burke, VA (PRWEB) March 13, 2014
According to the latest market reports compiled from data from residential real estate transactions throughout the region, the Northern Virginia real estate market experienced some positive trends in January compared to the same month last year, despite the chill of the polar vortex. Median sale prices were up in most areas of the region and days on market remain low. The Northern Virginia market includes the city of Alexandria, and Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William counties.
The Northern Virginia region experienced increased median sale prices in many places compared to the same month in 2013. Prince William County saw the biggest increase at 12 percent, while Arlington and Loudoun counties followed closely behind at 11 percent each. Fairfax County experienced a 3 percent increase in median sale price. Alexandria City saw a 2 percent decrease.
Homes continue to sell rapidly throughout Northern Virginia, according to January data. In Arlington County, the average days on market (DOM) was 38 days, while Loudoun County saw a DOM of 44 days. Both Alexandria City and Prince William County saw a DOM of 45 days, and Fairfax County's DOM average was 47 days.
The number of units sold decreased by 2 percent to 25 percent throughout the area. Inventory in Northern Virginia is up by 5 percent in Prince William County, 6 percent in Fairfax County and 7 percent in Loudoun County. Arlington County and Alexandria City saw larger increases in inventory of 25 percent and 27 percent, respectively.
Pasquali Realty Group is an incorporated business that is a subsidiary under NBI Realty, and is currently licensed in both Virginia, and Washington, DC. They are a member of the National Board of Realtors (NAR), Virginia Board of Realtors (VAR), and Northern Virginia Board of Realtors (NVAR).


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Click on the links below to check out video highlights from all the games across the NFL.
Cowboys - Bills: Tony Romo threw three touchdown passes as Dallas dominated Buffalo 44-7.
Redskins - Dolphins: Reggie Bush ran for two touchdowns as Miami earned their second win of the season 20-9.
Cardinals - Eagles: Quarterback John Skelton replaced the injured-Kevin Kolb and led Arizona to a 21-17 victory over Philadelphia.
Steelers - Bengals: Rashard Mendenhall rushed for a pair of touchdowns on Sunday as Pittsburgh held off Cincinnati 24-17.
Panthers - Titans: Chris Johnson was the difference on Sunday, rushing for 130 yards and a touchdown as Tennessee defeated Carolina 30-3.
Colts - Jaguars: Maurice Jones-Drew rushed for 25 times for 114 yards and the game-sealing touchdown in Jacksonville's 17-3 win.
Texans - Buccaneers: Matt Schaub threw for two touchdowns while Arian Foster, Ben Tate and Derrick Ward each ran for scores in Houston's 37-9 win.
Chiefs - Broncos: Tim Tebow ran for a touchdown and threw for another as Denver defeated Kansas City 17-10.
Rams - Browns: Phil Dawson's missed 22-yard field goal with just over two minutes remaining proved to be the difference as Cleveland fell 13-12 to St. Louis.
Falcons - Saints: John Kasay's 26-yard field goal in overtime proved to be the difference as New Orleans defeated Atlanta 26-23.
49ers - Giants: San Francisco's come-from-behind 27-20 win over New York provides a five-game lead in the NFC West division.
Seahawks - Ravens: Seattle kicker Steven Hauschka tied a franchise record with five field goals as the Seahawks stunned the Ravens 22-17.
Bears - Lions: Defense - in particular from Charles Tillman and Major Wright who each returned interceptions for touchdowns - keyed the 37-13 Chicago win.
Patriots - Jets: Tom Brady was 26-of-39 for 329 yards with three touchdowns and no interceptions in New England's dominant 37-16 win.
Nate Davis is a reporter, blogger and editor who's been at USA TODAY since 2000. He has covered the NFL since 2005. No, he did not play quarterback for Ball State. Davis' succession of our esteemed colleague Sean Leahy at The Huddle is considered a Brady-for-Bledsoe swap by most "insiders."More about Nate


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Craze for mixed martial arts (MMA) gloves hit the market after UFC made a big splash in "The ultimate Fighter Season 1". Once people started entering mixed martial arts schools in droves and programs started cropping up all over, every martial arts supplier or manufacturer started their own version of mixed martial arts (MMA) sparring gear. MMA gloves that you find in stores are of very poor quality so buy from an online store like proboxinggear.com
MMA gloves are not as padded as boxing gloves. Make sure your glove has plenty of padding but not that bulky you can't perform your follow up grappling techniques. One way to find out whether your MMA gloves is well designed is that padding is incorporated on the sides of the glove so you can work the ground and pound hammer fist strikes.
Design style
Based on your fighting goal you can select from a number of MMA glove styles. The main two styles are open palm fighting style or training gloves that usually incorporate a thumb guard.
Grade and Material
If you're planning to compete you have to find out the regulations from the organizers. But open palm style gloves that are fingerless will be the likely style. Some may also ask for a grade or weight which is usually 4 oz to 6 oz.
There are two types of MMA gloves:
MMA training/Sparring gloves (more padding over the knuckles)
Proboxinggear.com sells wide range of MMA training gloves that can benefit students. While buying a MMA training glove, make sure it is well padded. Many people think that Boxing gloves and MMA training gloves are one and the same. But in reality, both are different. The main difference being MMA training gloves are fingerless and open palm. MMA training gloves are a must have for sparring, pad work and bag work. MMA sparring gloves have a bit more padding than fight gloves, to allow for sustained sparring with as little injury as possible.
MMA Fight gloves (lighter and thinner)
These gloves are meant for MMA fighters, but one thing is that they have less padding than sparring gloves. Fight gloves are designed for real competition. MMA fight gloves are designed to protect the user first and their opponent second.
Choosing MMA gloves:
While choosing a MMA glove, check whether it is man-made or synthetic or simulated cowhide materials, skip them. These types of materials will leave nasty scrapes and cuts, even during light sparring. Unlike leather, synthetic materials will harden over time and increase the risk of injury. So always buy gloves that are made up of 100% soft cowhide or calfskin leather. It's durable and tends to soften over time.
Wrist straps:
Find out whether the wrist straps cover any Velcro on the glove. The strap should wrap completely over the Velcro and secure snugly while covering the Velcro material.
Tip: Look for gloves that have the soft side of the Velcro on the wrist and the abrasive side on the strap.


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The Infamous McDonald's Hot Coffee Lawsuit: What You Don't Know
Do you remember the McDonald's hot coffee lawsuit from the 90s. You know the one about the old lady putting a hot cup of coffee between her legs, drives off and it spills all over her, then she sues McDonald's for over $2M. We have all joked about the absurdity of that lawsuit. Did you know, that really isn't the true story of what happened.


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Back edge of top hits legs on underside of cover on open
1 Attachment(s)
I have an intermittant problem when I open the top. Occasionally the back edge of the top snags on what I guess are support legs on the underside of the storage compartment lid. It seems like the hydrallic system looses a little pressure causing the lid to shift slightly forward right as the back edge reaches the support legs. The were foot extensions on the bottom of the legs that I removed to get additional clearance but still can get a snag. I now only open the top up with the key so that I can manually hold the lid back in case in sags downward. Any thoughts on what maybe be causing this. One Indy BMW repair shop thought that I would have to replace the hydrallic pump.
Pic Attached. The camera angle in this shot makes it look like the edge will hit the leg. But this time the lid did not droop and there was adequate clearance.
I too experience the same problem occasionally but not as bad... It'll hit the rubber stoppers and then the deck lid will adjust and it'll close...
I'm unsure on the cause of the problem as it only happens occasionally...
Did the BMW indy check to make sure you had the proper amount of hydraulic fluid in the unit?
It was a while back so I don't remember that it was specifically checked. But checking the fluid level is a good recommendation. I just downloaded info on how to do that today and will take a look at it tomorrow.
I decided to check the fluid level today. Looks OK. At $1,000 for a new hydraulic pump, I can continue to stand outside, use the key and make sure the lid stays high enough for the edge to clear. Funny though that the top has never hung up when I am closing it.
You might want to lube all the pivot points on the roof and cover to see if that helps the operation.
I would be standing outside and assisting as well for $1000.
If indeed it is your pump, check ebay for used parts. Here is a link....
I purchased from this vendor. All went well... Make him a cash offer.... Lots of self help for install on the net. Make sure your vert functions as you expect it should....
If you can manually open lid completely, and it clears the roof, it sounds like your hydraulic cylinders that power the lid are getting weak and not fully opening the lid. Given your vehicle is 10 years old, the seals on the hydraulic cylinders could be wearing out. If this is the case, they need to be replaced or remanufactured. See http://www.tophydraulicsinc.com/index.html I've just sent two of mine to Klaus for repair under recommendation from another Forum contributor. Always replace in pairs....
Here's another resource for diagnostics.
Hope this helps.....
I got a used pump from Bavarian Auto Recycling on the web at www.bmrparts.com The total with shipping was $400. If your pump continues to weaken, you will eventually be using your own hands to do most of the work required to put the top up-or-down. My mechanic charged $45 to replace the pump.
Hey Op,
did you ever get a resolution to this problem? I have the same issue with my top and would like to see if it was low hydraulic fluid level or if it was the pump?
Anybody have insight into this issue? The roof of my vert has recently started to touch the lid as noted. Any solutions out there?
It is really easy to check you pump fluid level. Start there.
On my car the fluid level checked out OK. The fluid level needs to checked with the top down and fully stowed. Resivor is located in the trunk, driver's side. Need to open up the lining to get at it. What I ended up doing is removing the feet on the top supports to give more clearance. When I open the top I use the key in the driver's side and manually prop up the lid with my right hand to insure that the lid stays up and does not snag the top edge as it lowers into the boot. A patch I know, but never did find out the source of the underlying problem.
Your post is over a year old, with no forum readers affirmation of cause. Sure would be nice to have validation of cause, and a proven solution. One more time around the block...... Anybody out there offering an experienced satisfactory repair?
convertible storage compartment lid adjustment.
Hi Guys.. You can adjust how "far" or "high" the storage compartment lid opens by the following... Open the trunk and pull the left side rear lining back - in the area where the antenna comes thru the body. Look in that area and you will see a bracket holding a hydraulic cylinder. That bracket is adjustable... moves front to rear. Loosen the 3 (2?) bolts and slide the bracket I believe to the rear a 1/4" or so.. tighten and try the top. It's been a few months since I adjusted mine so it might be move to the front... anyway by adjusting that bracket front to rear adjusts how far up or back the storage compartment lid opens.
^^^^. Thanks! You're the best! I'll give it a go.
alright, let me know how it works out for you. I came across this adjustment by accident a while back...I completely dropped that bracket to have room to remove and replace the antenna base ( I replaced the antenna base and installed a short sport antenna) After it was all back together the top would hang up the those 2 lid foot pad things. I went back and realize that bracket wasn't in the same place ( front to rear). I think there is a hall sensor attached to that bracket that moves with the bracket that senses the hydraulic cylinder shaft position or something.
I have the same problem that is described above. My problem only occurs once in about every 20 times I lower the roof, but its a problem that I want to address so it doesnt break anything. The PDF that has the link above is a great reference for the roof, and I used this extensively for my research, as well as much playing with the roof.
Below are my conclusions on why the problem occurs, and a possible solution. But first some background information on how the system works.
The storage cover is opened and closed by hydraulics. If you look at the hydraulic diagrams below, you will see that whenever the pump is pumping, hydraulic fluid is ported to the lowering side of the storage cover cylinders. This occurs at all times the pump is on, and when power is not applied to the storage cover solenoid.
When power is applied to the solenoid, fluid is ported to open the storage cover. Note that fluid is still ported to the side of the piston to close the cover, but due to the difference in area on each side of the piston, the overall force is to open the cover. For this reason, there isnt loads of force to open the cover, just the difference in force due to the difference in piston area. This force remains to keep trying to open the cover until the solenoid has the power removed, and then the flow is reversed to close the cover.
Additionally, there is a Hall sensor that detects when the storage cover is open. For those who are unaware, a Hall sensor is one that detects a change in magnetic field, and they are used all over the car (engine, transmission everywhere). In this case, the sensor is attached to the left hydraulic cylinder, and detects when the cylinder is near full extension, and sends a signal to the convertible control module to say the storage cover is open. Its important to understand that this doesnt turn of the hydraulic fluid that is still being ported to the opening side of the cylinder. Even when the Hall sensor detects the storage cover is open, fluid is still being ported to the cylinder to push it open as hard as it can. The Hall sensor is there just to indicate when the cover is open so that other roof components can now start to move.
Now lets look at the opening sequence. After the storage cover has opened (tension bow has already raised), and the Hall sensor has sent its signal to say the cover is open, the convertible module now activates a tension bow solenoid to lower the tension bow. At this time, the hydraulic power is still being ported to the cover cylinders to keep the cover open. Simply, the pump is trying to hold the cover up as well as lower the tension bow at the same time.
Ive noticed when the problem occurs on my car, the cover initially opens to the correct position, but when the tension bow initially starts to move down, the cover closes a small amount, creating the confliction. My hypothesis is that due to the extra load on the system when the tension bow is lowered, the pressure is not enough to hold the cover fully open, and it sags down a bit.
Why? I dont know exactly. There could be loads of reasons, and without extensive testing, you wouldnt really know. Some reasons could be internal piston seals leaking slightly, the pump motor not turning as fast as it used to, the pump not being as efficient as it once was, low voltage going to the pump, or the pressure regulating valve in pump not keeping the correct pressure. Who knows?
So why does it sag back? If you look under the storage cover, you will see the arms that raise the cover rest on a rubber stop. This stop is a progressive stop, not a solid one. It acts like a spring that is trying to close the cover a bit when its fully open. When the cover is open the hydraulics are constantly pushing against this stop. The more hydraulic force, the more the cover opens (albeit slightly). If there is less hydraulic pressure, the cover will not open as much.
I believe that reducing the pressure applied by this stop is key to ensuring the cover stays completely open. My solution, I removed each stop and cut out the wedge middle piece with a sharp chisel to allow the stop to compress more. If the stop is still applying too much pressure, I can gradually remove more and more of it so that it stays in the correct position.
With regard to the comments above about moving the bracket that holds the cylinders, I initially tried this a while back and it didnt make any difference. Moving the brackets will only make a difference if the maximum movement of the cylinder piston isnt enough to get the cover fully open. Unless the bracket has actually moved, or something has been bent, the maximum movement of the piston is ample to get the cover all the way open.
Well i moved the bracket towards the rear. It made the problem way worse. So i moved it towards the front as far as i could. I was only able to move the bracket back to the original position. Same problem.
So when im opening the top, i stop it right before the top hits the rubber feet. If i then start to close the top, i see the tonneau cover raise up about half an inch. Then i start to open the top and there is no contact
I have already cut the rubber feet that are above the arms for the tonneau cover. Last year that helped, but this year i have a problem. So now i have trimmed of some rubber from the rubber feet on the end of the legs. The rubber feet just pop out. I wonder if they can just be removed all together, but they probably rest on the soft top when its in the storage compartment.
So now, no contact.
Probably my pump is going out.
Anyone ever figure this out after all this time?
Well like i said. If i let go of the open button for a second and then hold it down, the tonneau cover will go up just a bit more. Enought that the top clears it. I think 5his is a sign of the pump wearing out. I think it loses hydraulic pressure during the opening sequence. And letting the button go for a second and then pushing it again, it gets full pressure again and then it probably loses it again, but by that time the top is folding into the storage compartment
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Maria Menounos in a Bikini
Posted by Photo Boy
Welcome to the first-ever Photo Boy (nickname not endorsed by me) solo post. In light of the serious, yet celebratory news of Osama Bin Laden's death, I chose to start things off with the above photos of Maria Menounos featuring not one, but TWO different bikini sets. Maybe its because I know how to win hearts and minds, or maybe its because after I selected the first set, I found another one featuring her drinking out of a Bucket 'O' Booze. Either way you benefit with double titty goodness. Look forward to phrases like that and a stark absence of Star Wars referenced penis jokes. It might be a long week.
Photo: INFdaily, Splash News
The Superficial is in Vacation Mode this week. Normal posting resumes Monday, May 9.


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Media Watch – Feb 10
Top Birmingham City Council Stories
Deputy Leader signs Times letter criticising spending cuts (Times, BBC WM) Cllr Paul Tilsley one of over 80 prominent Liberal Democrat councillors, including the leaders of 17 local authorities, who have criticised the scale and pace of government cuts.
Free gym scheme to continue (Birmingham Mail) A popular free gym scheme aimed at beating the bulge in Birmingham is to continue – after health chiefs said they will pour £2 million in to keep it going.
Filling new library such a moving story (Birmingham Mail) Article looking at preparations for the move from Birmingham Central Library to the Library of Birmingham.
Brum blood race: The pressure's on (Birmingham Mail) Brummies are getting pumped up with excitement to help the city become a world record breaker. Lord Mayor Cllr Len Gregory wants the city to go down in history as the place where most people got their blood pressure checked in one day.
Lib Dem warned over comments (Birmingham Mail) An outspoken Liberal Democrat (Cllr Martin Mullaney) has been warned by embarrassed party bosses following comments labelling a rival councillor (Cllr Salma Yaqoob) as an Islamic Extremist.
Victoria back to her regal best after repair (BBC Online, Birmingham Post, Birmingham Mail) Birmingham's famous statue of Queen Victoria has been returned to its former glory with her missing sceptre returned fully intact.
First step to save Hawthorn House (Birmingham Mail) Residents campaigning to save their library in Birmingham have taken the first step in trying to secure its future.
Hemming: Axe has not fallen on citizens' advice (Birmingham Post) Citizens' Advice Bureaux threatened with the axe in Birmingham could still be saved when a crunch meeting to discuss funding takes place on Monday, an MP has claimed.
Lunar Society accused of bias following row over council cuts (Birmingham Post) A furious row over the closure of Birmingham's Citizen's Advice Bureau offices has led a senior councillor (Cllr Paul Tilsley) to claim one of the city's most respected societies (The Lunar Society) is guilty of political bias and could be heading for an internal coup.
Whitby in Middle East for investment drive (Birmingham Post) Birmingham is making a concerted effort to build relationships in the Middle East in a push to increase inward investment in the city.
Aston Hall stars as backdrop in Indian pop video (BBC Online, theasiantoday.com) An historic Birmingham museum has gained international stardom as the backdrop to a hit music video. Indian pop superstar Sarbjit Cheema filmed his latest video at Aston Hall just before Christmas.
Regional Headlines
Olympics merchandise unveiled in Birmingham
Lord Coe has visited Birmingham to unveil some of the official London 2012 Olympics merchandise.
BBC cuts 47 jobs in Birmingham and Bristol
Forty seven posts in the BBC's factual programme department in Bristol and Birmingham are to be cut, the corporation has announced.
Guard shot in robbery at Santander bank in Birmingham
A security guard was hit on the head with a crowbar and shot in the arm in a robbery at a bank in Birmingham.
National Headlines
Lib Dem council leaders attack spending cuts
More than 80 prominent Liberal Democrat councillors, including the leaders of 17 local authorities, have criticised the scale and pace of government cuts.
West Ham beat Tottenham to win Olympic stadium backing
West Ham have won the backing of Olympic bosses in the battle for the 2012 stadium, BBC London has learned. Olympic Park Legacy Company executives have decided the offer from the club – which would retain the athletics track – is better than Tottenham's rival bid.
MPs to debate plans to give prisoners the vote
MPs are expected to register their disapproval later over moves to give prisoners rights to vote in elections.


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A loose expression for European and American music of the more serious kind, as opposed to popular or folk music.
True to her later pattern of falling for cultured men, she was drawn to his "intellect" and his "love of classical music."
For Kirke it was being paid to pretend to play the oboe that heightened her affair with classical music.
So she was an aficionado of classical music, for soundtracks or otherwise?
Since filming the show, however, her relationship with classical music has obviously changed.
Incongruously, the sound system in the restaurant serenades diners with classical music.
But Frieda, listening to classical music, could not respond.
The unfading charm of classical music is that you never tire of it.
Like the subject of servants, it is as provocative of conversation as classical music.
In the playing of classical music, Mr. Gottschalk has to contend against his own individuality.
Trg devoted himself by special preference to classical music.


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Dreaming of Anna, the 2006 champion juvenile filly who struggled earlier this year, appears to be back on her game with a return to the turf. The Frank Calabrese homebred went gate to wire to win the $210,000 Virginia Oaks at Colonial Downs by a half-length Saturday.
After edging away from Christmas Kid in the stretch to open a two-length lead, Dreaming of Anna, ridden for the first time by E.T. Baird, dug in tenaciously in the final strides to defeat 25-1 shot New Edition. Dreaming of Anna was under left-handed urging inside the sixteenth pole and drifted out late while holding on in a solid time of 1:47 1/5 for the 1 1/8-mile test. The race was contested on firm going on the outer turf course in spite of rain earlier in the day.
Dreaming Anna was sent off as the 3-1 third choice in the field of 12. Ashland (gr. I) winner Christmas Kid, the second choice at 5-2, finished third, while 2-1 elect Bit of Whimsy finished fourth.
Dreaming of Anna set fractions of :24, :48 and 1:11 3/5.
Wayne Catalano trains Dreaming of Anna, a 3-year-old chestnut filly by Rahy--Justenuffheart (Broad Brush) who won last year's Breeders' Cup Juvenile Fillies en route to year-ending honors. Her 2007 season started slowly. She lost her first three starts including a sixth-place finish in the Kentucky Oaks (gr. I) this spring. Dreaming of Anna returned a month later to win the Double Delta on a yielding Arlington turf course tuning up for Saturday's triumph. Dreaming of Anna won twice on the turf as a juvenile, including the Summer Stakes (Can-III) at Woodbine.
Dreaming of Anna has six wins in nine lifetime starts with one second and a third. She earned $120,000 Saturday and has banked $1,446,572 in her career. Anna paid $8.40, $5.80 and $5.
The stalking New Edition ($16.20, $8), ridden by Gabriel Saez, made it interesting but wasn't quite good enough. She was two lengths clear of Christmas Kid ($3.40), who was outfought in the final furlong.
Bit of Whimsy, favored off her dead-heat win in the Sands Point (gr. IIIT) at Belmont Park June 2, was a length back in fourth. She was followed by Snow Cone, Lemonlime, Ardnavagh, Swingit, Ciao, Cabbage Key, Super Slash and Silence Dogood. Bees scratched.
(Chart, Equibase)
Dreaming of Anna Digs In, Wins Virginia Oaks
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Hey there,
i started experementing with backtrack a few months ago all via live cd on my laptop(Asus K75VM).
I tried to install Backtrack so i could dual boot to it so i would have a noisy cd in my laptop but here's the problem:
the installation works perfectly no errors or whatsoever, but when i reboot my pc it just boots to my Windows 7...
when i go into my boot menu i can't seem to find backtrack either
so again, the laptop i use is an Asus K75VM
i have windows 7 on it, i had ubuntu for a while but i read that it's better to install backtrack first if you want to tripple boot so i deleted it a weeg ago to be sure.
anyone who can help me solving this problem?
i'm really intrested in using this for a school project and live cd isn't a good option for that because it's slow and ****ing loud :P
i ain't completely noob to pc's but i am kinda new with backtrack so...


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Katharine McPhee and Orlando Jones Play Peek-a-Boo
What could be going on here?
American Idol season five runner-up Katharine McPhee, who must have been wearing contacts, was snapped playing hide and seek with comedian Orlando Jones after working out in West Hollywood Thursday.
Last anyone checked, 24-year-old McPhee had married 43-year-old Nick Cokas earlier this year. So why's she getting all sweaty and sneaky with the "7-Up Yours" guy in broad daylight?
Aren't all Idols supposed to sign a contract saying they promise to be classy for a few years after the show ends?
Actually, scratch that…all the looniness just rolls down from the top for these crazy kids!


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by Staff Writers
Moscow (Sputnik) Dec 16, 2014
Russia's space agency Roscosmos is currently looking at plans to create a national space station that may be included in the new Federal Space Program, Roscosmos head Oleg Ostapenko said Monday. "I confirm that we are looking at this variant as a likely direction," Ostapenko said.
Ostapenko added that the high-altitude station is also being considered as a base for Russia's lunar program. "There is also this variant, we are currently considering it," he said.
In September, Roscosmos said it was planning to launch a full-scale moon exploration program in 2016-2025. According to the reports, the new orbital station will also be used to test manned spacecraft for the lunar mission. Spacecraft will first be delivered to the station, and then continue to the Moon.
In May, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia was considering dropping out of the ISS program, and re-direct its funding into more promising space projects.
A Russian space engineering source close to matter told Russian media in November that the country was looking to build its own orbital station, with the project set to begin in 2017. The station will use modules constructed for the International Space Station (ISS), the source added.
Roscosmos Will Decide on New Super-Heavy Rocket Design in January 2015
"We have already received blueprints from three leading space rocket enterprises. A panel of experts has already started considering them, and we will select the winner <...> in January," he told reporters.
Roscosmos is looking to develop a super-heavy carrier rocket to be used in Russia's lunar program. Andrei Mazurin, who heads one of the space agency's departments, told RIA Novosti in October the launch vehicle would be able to lift up to 80 tons of cargo into space. In the long term, a rocket capable of carrying 130 to 160 tons could be developed, he added.
Russia's largest existing rocket, the Proton, can launch payloads of up to 20 tons. The modular Angara rocket is also under development and comes in several versions, the largest of which is planned to send up to 35 tons into orbit.
Russian Space Agency's 2015 Budget Unchanged Despite Economic Downturn
"Roscosmos budget will not be cut, despite all financial difficulties. But I'm not going to make the sum public until it gets approval," he said.
Ostapenko added that Roscosmos will implement all programs planned for 2015.
The 2014 budget for Roscosmos stands at 165.8 billion rubles ($2.8 billion). In comparison, US space agency NASA's budget for 2014 totals $17.6 billion, according to NASA's website.
The Russian economy has been showing signs of a slowdown following a steady decline in global oil prices. Exports of crude make up a large portion of the Russian budget's revenues.
In addition, Russia has been subject to several waves of economic sanctions imposed by the West against the country's energy, defense and banking sectors over Moscow's alleged involvement in the Ukrainian conflict. Top Russian officials have repeatedly denied the accusations, calling actions of the western powers illegitimate.
Vostochny Space Center to Be Ready in Time Despite Current Delays
The project, initially estimated to cost 400 billion rubles ($7.4 billion at the current exchange rate), is scheduled for completion in July 2015.
"In some areas, [the construction] has been seriously behind schedule. But I'm sure that the deadlines set by the president and the government will eventually be met," Oleg Ostapenko told reporters.
The project has been plagued by missed deadlines and a corruption scandal involving the former head of one of the project's main contractors, who was arrested earlier this year on charges of embezzling 1.8 billion rubles ($35 million at the current exchange rate).
Earlier in December, Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev replaced the project's most senior manager.
The Vostochny space center is located in the Russian far eastern Amur region. The facility is expected to reduce Russia's dependency on the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan which in on lease from the Kazakh government to Russia until 2050.
The Russian government also hopes that the Vostochny will benefit the economy of Russia's Far East, and will enable the country to conduct more launches.
The construction of the space center began in 2012. The first launch of a carrier rocket from the Vostochny is scheduled to take place in 2015, while the first piloted spacecraft is set to take off from the facility in 2018.
Source: Sputnik News
Related Links
Station and More at Roscosmos
S.P. Korolev RSC Energia
Russian Space News
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So, I'm upgrading to EMGs from the stock ESP pickups.
Are the EMG H4/H4A really that bad? Every demo of them I've heard they sound great, granted not EMG-81 great, but just about damn near the same, although there's that 50/50 split of people who love the H4's and say "yeah get em!" and the other half who are like "blah blah blah get active pickups."
Although the batteries last for ever in pickups, I really just don't wanna deal with 'em, stupid I know but yeah.
My tuning's are simply Standard E, Drop D, and Drop C. So to keep my rig set up simple I figured on just getting 3 sets of the same pickups to just yeah.. keep it simple and not have to have a different set up to get the same tone out of 3 different guitars.
I'm sorry if this seems like "f-ing n00b!" ish but yeah I just wanted an opinion.
I'm a broke bitch so basically 120$-ish for a set of pickups sounds better to me then $200 for a set.
Thoughts? Opinions? Hateful comments? lol!
I love EMG's. And personally, I think the HZ's are alright. I used to have a Schecter Damien FR that had the H4/H4A combo, and they were good. I don't have that guitar anymore. Traded it to help my brother get a guitar he really wanted. All in all, the HZ's are alright pickups. Of course the actives are better, but they're still good pickups. But if you're gonna go passive, go with DiMarzio. Hope this helps.


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I once attended a gathering where a gentle sheik was speaking. A women raised her hand and asked, "In North America there are not many Muslims, should we move back to our home country to raise our children?" The Sheik paused for a moment and replied in a soft, kind voice, "You are not alone here, sister. Look outside; do you see the trees, plants, flowers, and all the nature? They are all souls of Allah SWT. In fact, you are the majority in this land, not the minority." To this day, his words sti … [Read more...]
Deep Roots
September 23, 2009 by Leave a Comment


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It has been a while since amazon.co.jp offered same day delivery of goods in their warehouse where we could order by 11 am and receive the items at 17:00 the same day. To realize this, they have built their own warehouse network throughout Japan, and hold Sagawa and Japan Post to contracts that guarantee delivery times.
Image from NHK broadcast on 19 February 2013
Stationery specialists Askul is thus named because the goods come "kuru" tomorrow "asu." Askul's consumer services site (Askul is for businesses) LOHACO, a jointly operated business with Yahoo Japan, has commenced same day delivery as well, and now enjoys three peaks in the course of the day for transactions - once during the traditional online retailer peak of late evening; once between 7 am and 10 am - deadline for same day delivery; and early evening when commuters shop on trains via smartphones. 55% of their customer base is women, many who work full or part time. This is unusual as most "general store" type malls have a higher ratio of male clientele. They now enjoy a turnover of 1 billion yen a month (just under USD 10 million).
Yodobashi Camera (who actually sells a lot more than cameras these days) offers free delivery, but if one is willing to pay a premium, delivery as fast as three hours from time of order is possible so if your PC or phone or TV happens to break down, you won't be without them for long. Some people have ordered suit cases because they needed it for a trip the following day. The three-hour service is realized through the hiring of a chartered truck, but their ordinary deliveries are controlled by in-house specialists who monitor the weather and traffic conditions and plan to ensure peak performance at peak times.
Online fashion mall, ZOZO TOWN, who does not charge for delivery, is aiming to offer same day delivery for 40% to 50% of their goods by end of 2014.
They found that 80% of their customers choose the earliest delivery slot when given a choice, so it was a logically derived conclusion that most customers want same day delivery - free of charge, of course.
Size of selection and price are still powerful drivers that bring traffic to e-commerce sites, but such elements are becoming less and less effective to realize differentiation.
Unlike some other markets, where faster delivery can fetch a premium or additional fees from consumers, in Japan, where convenience is a powerful currency, same day delivery is becoming a cost of doing business in the big league.


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Headporter Plus is the high-end clothing counterpart to Headporter's range of accessories. Each garment is crafted in Japan from premium fabrics and features the designer's often off-kilter yet classic designs. The Blue Border Stripe shirt features a horizontal stripe pattern and is constructed from 100% cotton. The subtle motif and year-round fabric make this a casual, versatile option to plain wardrobe staples.
Fits true to size.
Model's height: 6'2"/188cm, chest 36"/91cm, waist 31"/78.7cm, hips 34"/86cm, leg length 44.5"/113cm.
He's wearing a medium.
For more information about returns please click here.