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Forging a musical connection
Page Tools
"You play it strong, so it can sound light" ... Pekka Kuusisto rehearses with the Australian Chamber Orchestra. Photo: Steven Siewert
For violinist Pekka Kuusisto, it's all about intimacy, writes Sharon Verghis.
Midway through a rehearsal of Bartok's Rumanian Dances, Pekka Kuusisto discards his bow and starts casually strumming his 1754 Guadagnini violin like a banjo. Eyes closed, fingers working blindly and expertly over the strings, he starts another hunt for the pitch and tempo that has been eluding him, and the Australian Chamber Orchestra, for most of the morning.
Lead cellist Emma-Jane Murphy and the other ACO players watch silently as the blond, spiky-haired figure in the tracksuit sways in his seat, thinking. He leans forwards, frowning. "I think we need to take something out," he says, then sits back. There is a sudden, quick grin as the internal harmony unspooling in his head is dissected, and the problem spotted. He picks up the bow and lifts his priceless instrument to the chin.
"Perhaps let us make the longer notes here a little more like ..." - the Guadagnini emits a long, mournful sound - "bagpipes. And also, could we have the tempo be a little more faster?"
The orchestra take his instructions to heart. At the end of the next run-through, the strings on Kuusisto's 100-year-old French bow are fraying and flying off under the intense pace. Later, when they break for lunch, he examines the cloud of fine tassles drooping limply from the bow, joking to onlookers that his own cornsilk hair might serve as a source of new strings. The violin, thankfully, looks to have survived the Bartok session unscathed. It's a fragile piece, temperamental as a thoroughbred, as demonstrated when the fingerboard gave way under the stresses of abrupt climate change last March when Kuusisto arrived in a balmy Sydney direct from a 20-degree Finnish spring.
Luckily, a local violin expert, Michael McMahon, was on hand to perform the emergency repair work. This time it seems to be bearing up well, courtesy of the mild Sydney winter. Another reason to love the harbour city, says the 27-year-old violinist with a wide toothy grin.
It is fascinating watching Kuusisto with his instrument, which he calls his "fiddle". He handles it with equal measures of nonchalance and tenderness. Critics have noted the intimacy with which he "cuddles" the Guadagnini in performance, and watching him with it now, you are struck by the gentleness of his hands as they trace the rebuilt fingerboard. He picks up the bow, and looks at it with equal fondness. He has a theory about bows, that they have personalities and quirks of their own, and need to be carefully matched to violins.
"The bow is more than just a wooden stick," he says as he gently closes the lid of the violin case. "I'm lucky because both my bows are good friends with the fiddle."
Kuusisto, here as the guest director of the ACO's Serenade for Strings program, shot to fame as the first Finn to win the international Sibelius Violin Competition in 1995, aged just 19. The triumph kick-started an international career that has seen him hailed as one of the most dazzlingly fresh interpreters of the world's most regularly recorded music.
He has recorded the complete Bach violin concertos with his brother Jaako, a talented violinist and budding conductor, co-founded the Helsinki Festival Orchestra and forged an interesting parallel career performing his other passions - folk, jazz and electronic music.
In 2000, he was brought in by the acclaimed Vladimir Ashkenazy as a last-minute replacement for Argentinian pianist Martha Argerich during the London Philharmonic's season at the Sydney Festival. Ashkenazy had assured nervous promoters that Kuusisto's special talent as a "real artist" made him a more than acceptable replacement.
His love of the warmly intimate approach is evident when he talks about the ACO program, which opens at the City Recital Hall in Sydney tomorrow. Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings is "to me, ballet music and like ballet dancers it has to be strong and powerful, but also have an impression of lightness and elegance. You play it strong, so it can sound light." Although his love for classical music remains paramount, Kuusisto is increasingly forging a reputation in Europe for his explorations of folk and electronic music. He is interested in doing more work with the ACO because of the orchestra's embrace of unorthodox collaborations. " I want to find a place in my musical life where I can make collaborations and connections between different musical styles, and without people calling it crossover," he says.
"There are a lot of people who say you shouldn't [mess] with the classical music tradition, but my belief is that you should not make a museum out of classical music. The world is changing, and we are moving on. There's such a thing as holding on to tradition a little too much."


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Adelaide Industrial Estate
BT12 6RD Belfast, Great Britain
Hertz Leasing is a private company categorized underTruck Renting and Leasing and located in Belfast, United Kingdom. Companies like Hertz Leasing usually offer:
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*This class is cancelled due to low enrollment*
Mathematical Statistics for Nursing
Provides an introduction to the statistical quantitative analysis of problems in the life and health sciences. Basic concepts include exploratory data analysis with graphs to visualize center, variation and distribution; scatter plots and correlation; measuring center and spread; percentiles and detecting outliers; basic probability concepts; normal distribution; sampling designs and designing experiments; Central Limit Theorem; cinfidence intervals; hypothesis testing of a claim about mean or proportion; chi-square test for goodness of fit; linear regression; matched pairs; bootstrap method for small sample estimation of a parameter using the Monte Carlo method for re-sampling.
Enrollment restricted to Pre-Nursing students who have completed the Elementary-Level Mathematics (ELM) requirement.
Note: Matriculated students MUST register using their MyCsusm portal.
Non-matriculated students: This class has 1 or more pre requisites. In order to add this class you will need to bring documentation ( ex: unofficial/official transcript) showing you have completed the course pre-requisites or the equivalent to Extended Learning for review. If it is determined you meet the requirements to enroll in this class you will be given a pre-requisite waiver form and permission number.
For detailed information about student fees, adding or dropping a course and refund information please visit: http://www.csusm.edu/el/creditcourses/summer/refunds.html
California State University San Marcos333 S.Twin Oaks Valley Rd.San Marcos, CA 92096-0001Phone: (760) 750-4000
© Copyright 2010, All Rights Reserved


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The Ladies' Lunch gang apologizes for the lack of reports. Timing just hasn't been on anyone's side. But today, the gang was back in action and I jumped at the chance to join in for new ilume resident, Beyond the Box. Glad to say, it was a good decision for this cold day.
I made my way over there earlier this week and had some pretty fantastic and way spicy tortilla soup. Although it was more puree than chunky, the flavors worked nicely. Being that it was piping hot only made it better for the dropping temps. This time, the three of us took stabs at the sandwich options. But I couldn't resist another soup serving. But before I get to mine, here's LL regular Chris' take on lunch.


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tucker: aussie fast food
TUCKER is an Australian fast food and casual dining concept, serving meat pies, sausage rolls and vernacular desserts. The challenge for this project was to simultaneously introduce a new food type to the American customer while firmly establishing a unique identity for the restaurant in the competitive fast food market. Concepts explore distinctive designs that speak to traditional and contemporary Australian forms and materials.
Thank You!


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Checkerboard Background
(like the one used on this page)
I claim the copyright to this tutorial. You are free to do whatever you please with what you make, but please do not take my tutorial. Do not send the tutorial through email. Only share my link.
This tutorial is intended for a beginner to learn about filling selections. If you have any questions, please feel free to email me.
To do this tutorial you will also need Photoshop. I used Photoshop CS, but I'm sure you could do this in Photoshop 7 with a few modifications. You may download a free trial at Adobe.
Remember to save as a .psd file often!
1. On the tool menu, choose 2 colors, one to be your foreground, one to be the background. I chose blue and white. If you click on the square (which is blue in the picture below), you get a color window where you can pick what color you want to use. The blue square below is the foreground color and the white square is the background color.
2. Open a new image, by clicking File > New. The box below comes up. I gave mine a name (but that is optional). Choose your size. Set the width and height to 200 pixels., Resolution = 72 pixels/inch, Color mode, RGB Color, 8 or 16 bit, Background Contents= transparent.
3. In the top menu, click Edit > Fill
4. In the fill box, set the use drop-down to background color. Click Ok. The square should be filled with your background color choice.
5. Now we need to setup our rulers. We will be using pixels so let's set our preferences. In the top menu, click Edit > Preferences > Units & Rulers
6. The preference box below comes up. Set the Rulers to pixels. Click OK
7. Now you need to turn on your Ruler. In the top menu, Click View > Rulers. That will place a check next to rulers. Now you should have a ruler across the top of your image and the left side of the image.
8. Ok, Now we need to choose the selection tool from the tool menu. In the tool menu at the top, make sure it is set to rectangle. To do this, right-click on the selection tool and choose Rectangle On the right side you should see the Info tab. Place your cursor at x=100, y=100. I have circled where you will see this in the information tab. This should be the exact center of our image.
9. At 100, 100, left click on the mouse, hold the left button down, and drag out a selection rectangle by dragging up and left (past the top left corner). This has made a square that is in the top fourth of our image
10. Now, in the top menu, click Edit > Fill. Set this to Foreground Color. The top left fourth should now be filled with your foreground color. The selection ants are still there.
11. Left click and hold somewhere in the center of that selection, and then drag down to the lower right corner (see pic below). Notice only the selection ants are moving. When you are sure you have the selection placed in the bottom right corner, release the mouse button.
12. Now, in the top menu, click Edit > Fill. Set this to Foreground Color. The top left fourth should now be filled with your foreground color. The selection ants are still there.
13. In top menu, click Select > Deselect. This removes the selection ants from the image.
14. Now save this as a .psd image. You can always use this image again to make another checkerboard by only changing the colors this time. Some notes on how to do this will follow the tutorial at the bottom. File > Save As. Give a name to your file, and make sure the Save As menu is set to save as .psd or .pdd.
15. Now if you are satisfied with your tile being a size 200 x 200. You can save this as a jpeg file. File > Save As. Give a name to your file, and make sure the Save As menu is set to save as .jpg or .jpeg
16. I f you want your checkerboard to be smaller, then you must resize. In top menu, click Image > Resize.
17. The Image Size box comes up. Change to pixels and set width and height to same number, I used 120, but you could go smaller if you like. Click Ok
18. Now save this as a jpeg file to be used as a background for a webpage or other graphic tutorial.
How to change the colors of your checkerboard tile without redoing it:
1. Open your .psd checkerboard file that you saved in Step #14
2. In top menu, click Image > Duplicate. This duplicates your image. Close the original. Hint: never work off an original. That way you don't mess up your original.
3. Choose the magic wand tool from the tool menu. In the top tool options bar, set the tolerance = 0.
4. Hold the Shift key down, and click on the two blue squares. Holding the Shift Key, lets you select two areas at once.
5. Set your foreground and background colors to the new colors that you want to use for your checkerboard.
6. In the top menu, click Edit > Fill. In the Fill box, choose foreground. Now your blue has changed to the new foreground color.
7. Repeat Step 4, and click on the two WHITE squares.
8. Repeat Step 6, choosing Background. Now your white has changed to the new background color.
9. In the top menu, Click Selection > Deselect
10. Resize (optional) and save this as a jpeg to be used as a background for webpage or another graphic.
Please do not remove this tutorial from my site. Share my url.


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While wearing the TapouT Mouthguard, the Temporomandibular Joint, (TMJ) fills with fluid as a natural lubricant and shock absorber. The TapouT Mouthguard properly positions your TMJ during stress related activities, so the combination of natural fluids and our Concussion Defense System gives you Anti-Concussion protection. Each TapouT Mouthguard comes with a $30,000 dental warranty = one of the best warranties in the business! The TapouT Mouthguard warranty is twice as much as any other mouthguard on the market. Giving every coach, parent and athlete an extra sense of security and piece of mind that they are using excellent protection. The Tapout Mouth Guard features: - Advanced Gel Technology assures extreme comfort and fit. - Air flow channels create maximum breath-ability for superior endurance and performance. - Top and bottom jaw stabilization technology. - Includes 2 mouthguards.
Boxing and Martial Arts are contact sports. Users of this equipment are subject to personal injury. These products have a degree of protection but are not warranted to protect the user from injury.
Striking an object improperly may cause injury. Do not strike any object without proper training and instruction. Wearing a mouth guard is always recommended when participating in any athletic activity.
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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/).
We characterized the oxidative stress (OS) status by the levels of reduced/oxidized glutathione (GSH/GSSG), malondialdehyde (MDA) and the mutagenic base 8-oxo-7′8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) in human gastric carcinoma (HGC) samples and compared the results with normal tissue from the same patients. We also analyzed 8-oxo-dG in peripheral mononuclear cells (PMNC) and urine from healthy control subjects and in affected patients in the basal state and one, three, six, nine and twelve months after tumor resection. The levels of DNA repair enzyme mRNA expression (hOGG1, RAD51, MUYTH and MTH1) were determined in tumor specimens and compared with normal mucosa. Tumor specimens exhibited increased levels of MDA and 8-oxo-dG compared with normal gastric tissue. GSH levels were also increased, while GSSG levels remained stable. DNA repair enzyme mRNA expression was induced in the tumor tissues. Levels of 8-oxo-dG were significantly elevated in both urine and PMNC of gastric cancer patients compared with healthy controls. After gastrectomy, the levels of the damaged base in urine and PMNC decreased progressively to values close to those found in the healthy population. The high levels of 8-oxo-dG in urine may be related to the increased induction of DNA repair activity in tumor tissue, and the changes observed after tumor resection support its potential use as a tumor marker.
Living cells generate reactive oxygen species (ROS) under physiological conditions as a result of their aerobic metabolism. Monovalent reduction of oxygen is responsible for the production of intermediates, such as hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) and superoxide radicals (O2−), which give rise to hydroxyl radicals (*OH) through Haber–Weiss or Fenton-type reactions. Due to their paramagnetic configuration, O2− and *OH are highly reactive and have strong cytotoxic properties. However, a number of regulatory functions are also attributed to ROS molecules [
The damaging effects induced by ROS and by other free radicals include a number of oxidative modifications and/or alterations of critical molecules in a complex reactive scheme, which is defined as oxidative stress (OS) [
Oxidative DNA damage is a result of attack by ROS, and a number of damage DNA bases can be measured by various methods in total DNA and in urine after its repair by specific enzyme mechanisms [
Human gastric cancer is a common disease and one of the leading causes of cancer mortality worldwide. Gastric adenocarcinoma accounts for more than 95% of gastric tumors [
Clarifying the mechanisms of the genesis, metabolism and physiological properties of OS by-products may be important to identify new biomarkers. The study of endogenous mechanisms of carcinogenesis by measuring oxidative markers has advanced greatly over the past two decades, paralleling similar achievements in exogenous carcinogenesis through the analysis of DNA adducts [
We characterized OS status by measuring the most representative indicators, such as glutathione levels, MDA and 8-oxo-dG, in tumor samples from affected patients and compared them with the corresponding non-affected mucosa. As shown in
Furthermore, 8-oxo-dG was significantly increased in the urine and PMNC of gastric carcinoma patients compared with the established values for healthy subjects. The 8-oxo-dG levels in the urine of affected patients were increased by about tenfold. Significant increases were also observed in intracellular MDA levels, while GSH levels were decreased in these cells in comparison with the control group. The concentration of GSSG was not significantly affected, resulting in a significant increase in the GSSG/GSH ratio (
The DNA repair enzymes exhibited increased mRNA expression levels in the tumor specimens in comparison with the basal expression levels of normal tissue samples (
In patients undergoing surgical intervention, but without feasible tumor resection due to expansion, the levels of 8-oxo-dG did not change throughout the survival time, which was no longer than three months in the majority of cases.
Representative markers of OS were analyzed to characterize the oxidation status in tumor samples. Malondialdehyde and 8-oxo-dG levels were significantly increased in gastric tumors in comparison with normal mucosa. Reduced glutathione levels were also increased in cancer tissues, consistent with previous research demonstrating that tripeptide levels were significantly elevated in tumor specimens [
Additionally, the significant increases in MDA and 8-oxo-dG observed in gastric tumors reflect the high OS status of these tissues. Hydroxyl radicals have a strong affinity toward the guanine bases of DNA. Tumor cells are known to exhibit peculiar metabolic characteristics in terms of oxygen consumption and oxidative metabolism. The increased susceptibility of tumor tissues to oxidative stress compared to the surrounding normal cells is supported by the increase in lipid peroxidation and DNA damage and by the decrease in antioxidant enzyme activity [
Oxidative DNA damage has been implicated in DNA instability and the accumulation of genetic mutations affecting oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes [
The PMNCs of gastric cancer patients are known to have greater OS as indicated by their by-products, one of which is the damaged base 8-oxo-dG (
It is necessary to clarify the characteristics of the oxidized base 8-oxo-dG in gastric tumors. DNA repair mechanisms are known to be involved in the removal of 8-oxo-dG, which is then concentrated in urine. Thus, 8-oxo-dG has characteristics that make it an excellent indicator of OS
The most important repair enzyme in mammalian cells relevant to the damaged base 8-oxo-dG is hOGG1 glycosylase [
Repair of oxidatively damaged DNA is a crucial point in the maintenance of genome integrity, and it is therefore important in the prevention of a wide range of pathological processes, including age-related diseases, such as atherosclerosis and cancer. The availability of non-invasive methods for the assay of 8-oxo-dG makes it feasible to investigate the role of DNA repair efficiency and its pathological implications. To clarify the extent to which DNA lesions are involved in diseases, validation of appropriate analysis methods is essential. A number of experimental approaches have been developed to evaluate oxidative damage to DNA, including gas chromatography with mass spectrometry (GC/MS), high-performance liquid chromatography with electrochemical detection (HPLC-EC), HPLC with single or tandem mass spectrometry, 32P-postlabeling, immunoassay, alkaline elution and Comet assay and the nicking of DNA at oxidized bases by repair enzymes [
8-Oxo-dG is the most-studied urinary biomarker of DNA oxidation, principally because of its mutagenic potential and its probable roles in degenerative diseases, including cancer [
Some years later, a multicenter research study was carried out to validate the assay and value ranges of 8-oxo-dG in urine [
Controversial results regarding whether urinary 8-oxo-dG represents the OS status of the body have been reported [
Identification of novel biomarkers for various cancers and their potential for use in early detection are the most important factors determining the survival of affected patients. The use of tumor markers still has limitations, highlighting the need for the identification of new biomarkers and their validation for cancer prevention. Research has demonstrated that the combined use of different tumor markers in gastrointestinal tumors significantly improves diagnostic accuracy compared to their individual use [
Twenty-eight gastric adenocarcinoma samples and their corresponding normal mucosa were obtained by surgical resection from patients diagnosed and treated in the Department of General and Digestive Surgery at the General University Hospital of Valencia between October 2009 and January 2012. Histopathological examination was carried out by two independent pathologists on hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained preparations. The histological type and the clinical stage of tumor specimens were classified according to the WHO system [
Peripheral mononuclear cells were isolated from 10 mL of heparinized blood by centrifugation over a Lymphoprep (Nycomed) layer at a density of 1.077 g/mL. The cells were then washed twice with RPMI 1640 medium (Gibco BRL) and stored at −80 °C until analysis [
Urine and blood samples were obtained from healthy volunteers and from patients at different time points, as indicated in the corresponding figures and tables. All participants received information about the study and provided written informed consent prior to enrolment in the present study, which was performed in accordance with the ethical standards of Spanish law.
GSH cell content was determined using the previously described assay [
DNA from tissues or cells was isolated following the Gupta method [
The DNA hydrolysates were dissolved in HPLC grade water and filtered through a 0.2-μm syringe filter before applying the samples to a Waters ODS HPLC column (4.6 mm × 250 mm) 5 μm particle size). A Waters 515 HPLC pump model was used to separate 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine. This separation was carried out using a 5-μm Spherisorb ODS2 column (4.6 mm × 250 mm) with a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The running buffer for 8-oxo-dG from nuclear and mitochondrial DNA was 50 mmol/L potassium phosphate (pH 5.1) in 5% acetonitrile, and the retention time was 7.5 min. Electrochemical detection of the urine samples was performed using an ESA Coulochem II detector equipped with a 5011 high-sensitivity analytical cell (sensitivity of 1 μA), which had coulometric (electrode 1) and amperometric (electrode 2) electrodes linked in series. For the purpose of this assay, the potentials for the two electrodes were set at 0.2 V and 0.4 V, respectively. The amounts of 8-oxo-dG and deoxyguanine (dG) in the DNA digest were measured using electrochemical and UV absorbance detection, respectively, under the elution conditions described previously [
The first urine in the morning was collected in polyethylene bottles. The volume of the sample was measured, and after agitation, aliquots (2 × 1 mL) of the homogenized urine were kept at −80 °C until further analysis.
The detection of 8-oxo-dG was based on the method described by Brown
A Waters 515 HPLC pump model was used to separate 8-oxo-7,8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine. This separation was carried out using a 5-μm Spherisorb ODS2 column (4.6 mm × 250 mm) with a flow rate of 1 mL/min. The buffer used was 50 mmol/L potassium phosphate (pH 5.1) in 5% acetonitrile, and the retention time was 7.5 min. Electrochemical detection of the urine samples was performed using an ESA Coulochem II detector equipped with a 5011 high-sensitivity analytical cell (sensitivity of 1 μA), which had coulometric (electrode 1) and amperometric (electrode 2) electrodes linked in series. The potentials set for the two electrodes were those of nuclear 8-oxo-dG.
To assess the optimization and accuracy of the HPLC-EC assay for the isolation and detection of 8-oxo-dG, appropriate chromatograms of both samples and standards were recorded at the beginning of each working day. The 8-oxo-dG values were expressed as the ratio to creatinine urine concentration given in mmol/mL [
Total RNA was isolated from frozen tumors, as well as non-tumorous counterparts, using the NucleoSpin RNA/Protein Isolation kit (Macherey-Nagel; Cat. nº 740933.50), which included a DNase incubation step to eliminate contaminating DNA from the isolated RNA, in accordance with the manufacturer's instructions.
Data were analyzed with SPSS Statistics 19.0 for Windows (SPSS Inc.) and expressed as means ± SD. Mean values of quantitative variables were compared with Student's
Gastric carcinoma exhibits high OS levels, where lipid peroxidation and DNA damage are significantly increased compared with normal mucosa. Tumor tissues release significant amounts of 8-oxo-dG, because of its high production and the induction of DNA repair enzymes. The damaged base is concentrated in the urine of affected patients. After gastrectomy, the high levels 8-oxo-dG in urine and PMNC DNA decrease progressively to values close to those found in healthy subjects. This effect is only observed in those patients undergoing efficient surgical resection. Based on our findings, 8-oxo-dG appears to have properties that make it a promising potential tumor marker for use in patients with gastric carcinoma.
This study was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Health Instituto de Salud Carlos III. FIS PI10/0082, RD06/0045, CIBER de Obesidad y Nutrición is an initiative of the Instituto de Salud Carlos III CB12/03/30016 and GVA COMP 2012-238. SEQC: Spanish Society of Clinical Analysis and Molecular Pathology.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Oxidative stress by-products in gastric carcinoma
mRNA expression of DNA repair enzymes in tumor tissue and normal mucosa. The figure presents relative mRNA expression levels for the indicated enzymes and their significance. Glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) expression was analyzed to normalize gene expression for sample-to-sample differences in RNA input, RNA quality and reverse transcriptase efficiency. Each sample was analyzed in triplicate. Results are expressed as means ± SD of ten different tumors and mucosa from the same patient. **
Time course effect of tumor resection on the levels of 8-oxo-dG in (
Schematic representation of the roles played by oxidative stress and oxygen free radicals in the induction of genetic instability during tumor progression. Increased oxidative stress and the production of hydroxyl radicals in tumor tissue interact and oxidize DNA, inducing the mutagenic base 8-oxo-dG, leading to increased gene instability in the tumor tissue. Different genetic alterations affecting oncogenes and tumor suppression genes take place during tumor growth and progression, contributing to the pathogenicity of the disease [
Urinary 8-oxo-7′8-dihydro-2′-deoxyguanosine (8-oxo-dG) and oxidative stress by-products in peripheral mononuclear cells of gastric carcinoma patients
|Gastric Cancer
|8-oxo-dG/106 dG
|4.16 ± 0.73
|8.43 ± 1.3
|8-oxo-dG (nmol/mmol creatinine)
|2.49 ± 1.07
|22.29 ± 4.79
|MDA (nmol/mg protein)
|0.17 ± 0.06
|0.52 ± 0.13
|GSH (nmol/mg protein)
|22.42 ± 3.85
|14.00 ± 3.04
|GSSG (nmol/mg protein)
|4.18 ± 2.02
|4.62 ± 1.55
Results are expressed as means ± SD of 23 different determinations.
PMNC values;
Urinary 8-oxo-dG levels;
Levels of 8-oxo-dG in the urine and peripheral mononuclear cells of patients undergoing surgery without tumor resection.
|Basal values
|3 Months after Surgery
|8-oxo-dG/106 dG
|8.91 ± 1.02
|9.37 ± 0.90
|8-oxo-dG (nmol/mmol creatinine)
|18.61 ± 2.54
|19.98 ± 3.08
|MDA (nmol/mg protein)
|0.52 ± 0.09
|0.54 ± 0.04
|GSH (nmol/mg protein)
|11.54 ± 1.57
|15.77 ± 3.97
|GSSG (nmol/mg protein)
|4.43 ± 0.51
|4.66 ± 0.45
Notes: Results are expressed as means ± SD of three different cases.
PMNC values;
Urinary 8-oxo-dG levels.
Clinical characteristics of the study population.
|Clinical Characteristics
|Mean Values of Patients and Control Population (m–M)
|Cancer Patients
|Control Subjects
|Reference Values
|Mean age
|70 (48–90)
|60 (36–90)
|♀: 10.8 (9.2–12.5)
|♀: 13.26 (11.6–16.7)
|♀: 11.5–16 g/dL
|♂: 11.44 (8.4–15.2)
|♂: 14 (13.6–17)
|♂: 13.5–18 g/dL
|♀: 32.3 (27.1–36.9)
|♀: 40.1 (35.1–50.6)
|♀: 35%–50%
|♂: 34.93 (25.9–56.7)
|♂: 42.4 (41.2–51.5)
|♂: 40%–54%
|10.33 (3.3–24.1)
|5.7 (3.5–11)
|5.5 (0.19–19.12)
|0.02 (0.01–0.03)
|0.00–0.05 mg/dL
|2.61 (0.5–14.4)
|0.0–3.0 ng/mL
|9.28 (0.8–27.5)
|0.0–35 UI/mL
The results are expressed as means with range in parenthesis. Hb: Hemoglobin; Hto: Hematocrit; CRP: C reactive protein; CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen; CA19-9: Carbohydrate antigen.
Percentages of tumor grade distribution in gastric cancer patients.
|Tumor Grade
Tumors were graded according to the TNM classification.


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LA Singles Society
Single Boomers are an underserved group in Los Angeles and the
surrounding areas. Most event services and organizers primarily
cater to a younger crowd.
Los Angeles Singles Society serves as an online magazine and events service that potently addresses the unique needs and desires of this massive and vibrant community.
If you are a Boomer looking for ways to make your life more rewarding, we cordially welcome you to our society and encourage you to explore our vast offerings.
The Entitled
Posted: 2012-10-06 04:30:39
One of the themes of the upcoming election has to do with what a citizen of this country should expect from their government. Perhaps, it is not coincidental that there is a similar theme that many of us deal with in our dating lives ..what should any one of us expect from a potential partner?!
When you isolate any one action of a government, or of an individual, you can often mistake what you are dealing with. Some events rarely get repeated. Some actions are momentarily influenced by very current conditions that can disappear or dissolve. However, over time, if you are conscious, a bit perceptible, and honest with yourself, you can readily discern patterns or trends. Many are unmistakable!
Here are a few trends for you:
Over the last 47 years welfare, as a percentage of GDP (The gross domestic product (GDP) is one the primary indicators used to gauge the health of a country's economy. It represents the total dollar value of all goods and services produced over a specific time period - you can think of it as the size of the economy.), has increased 300%.
After adjusting for inflation, welfare spending is 13 times higher today than in 1965, when the War on Poverty started.
The out-of-wedlock birthrate is 40 percent, and the AfricanAmerican out-of-wedlock birthrate is 72 percent. When the War on Poverty began, the out-of-wedlock birthrate was 7 percent.
More than 40 million people are on food stamps. Four decades ago, only 4.3 million people were on the rolls.
The percentage of people who do not pay federal income taxes, and who are not claimed as dependents by someone who does pay them, jumped from 14.8 percent in 1984 to 49.5 percent in 2009.
It does not take much study or debate to conclude that programs developed over the last 50 years to lesson poverty, irrespective of who was in power, have been colossal failures. This article is not attempting to place blame. It is... Read more


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Matt at Midweek! A salute to Carters!
Salute to Carters as Chris Carter belted 2 more home runs last night in the Astros' big win over Minnesota..
Jerk Cris Carter..
Actress Marlana Carter...(no idea what's she been in)
President Jimmy Carter...
Lynda Carter...
RIP Gary Carter..
Ralph Carter played Michael Evans on Good Times..
Did you know Beyoncé's legal last name is Carter?
Vince has moved on to Memphis!


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|leveymg (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore
|Fri Mar-09-07 12:56 PM
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|Larger CIA and DoD Privatization Scandal Emerging from Walter Reed Story and US Attorney Firing
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Top GOP Figures Profited from Privatization of VA Hospital, CIA Contracting
A large global hedge fund, Cerberus Capital Management (dba, Cerberus-Gabriel), is at the center of an emerging Pentagon and CIA contracting scandal that has the attention of three Congressional Committees.
This scandal involves the mismanagement of VA hospital facilities privatized during the Bush-Cheney Administration, as well as intelligence abuses by private CIA contractors with financial ties to major GOP leaders and institutions..
In each case, the companies under investigation have links to prominent GOP figures, including Vice President Dick Cheney, former Vice President Dan Quayle, former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, and several Republican Congressmen indicted for corruption involving kickbacks from defense contractors. The Republican Congressional Campaign Commitee (RCC) has also received substantial contributions from conservative fund managers running Cerberus, a virually unregulated $30 billion hedge fund, which owns the second largest bank in Israel.
The Cerberus scandal involves its holding, International American Products (IAP) Worldwide Services, awarded a $120 million contract to manage facilities at Walter Reed, is only the latest in a long line. IAPs President, Alfred V. Neffgen, was formerly Chief Operating Officer for KBR's government operations group, which was forced to repay tens of millions of dollars to the Defense Department for food and fuel overcharges in Iraq. IAP has other contracting connections with Dick Cheneys Halliburton/KBR. Most recently, IAP bid on part of the Iraq oil reconstruction project as a partner with Halliburton KBR. The Army Times reports about Halliburton tie-in: http://www.armytimes.com/news/2007/03/Weightmansubpoena /
Walter Reed also awarded a five-year, $120-million contract to IAP Worldwide Services, which is run by Al Neffgen, a former senior Halliburton official.
They also found that more than 300 federal employees providing facilities management services at Walter Reed had drooped to fewer than 60 by Feb. 3, 2007, the day before IAP took over facilities management. IAP replaced the remaining 60 employees with only 50 private workers.
The conditions that have been described at Walter Reed are disgraceful, the letter states. Part of our mission on the Oversight Committee is to investigate what led to the breakdown in services. It would be reprehensible if the deplorable conditions were caused or aggravated by an ideological commitment to privatize government services regardless of the costs to taxpayers and the consequences for wounded soldiers.
The letter said the Defense Department systemically tried to replace federal workers at Walter Reed with private companies for facilities management, patient care and guard duty a process that began in 2000.
IAP Connected With Halliburton
Cerberus owns, or had a major interest in, a string of now-bankrupt companies that had contracts with U.S. defense and intelligence agencies that were found to have a common pattern of large-scale fraud, security problems, and financial scandals involving GOP lawmakers and lobbyists.
IAP also has a corporate tie-in with Halliburton-KBR on multi-billion dollar Iraq contracts. Halliburton is a major defense contractor once headed by Vice President Cheney, that has had its own history of problems with fraud and overcharges related to its management of sole-source projects in Iraq, particularly the multi-billion dollar LOGCAP contract to repair and maintain Iraqs oil fields and pipelines. Just months before the invasion, DoD designated Halliburton/KBR as the sole potential bidder for potential large-scale pipeline repair contracts. Four years after the initial invasion and occupation of those fields, Iraq is still not producing at its prewar levels, a threshold that would require termination of the LOGCAP contract.
IAP Worldwide Services President Dave Swindle, as Democratic Underground (DU) contributor CorpGovtActivist points out, is a former Halliburton/KBR employee. http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Just before the mid-term elections, bids were due for LOGCAP IV, with multiple awards anticipated (see the synopsis): http://www.fbo.gov/servlet/Solicitation/R/USA/USAMC/DAA ...
On October 16, 2006, IAP Worldwide Services issued this press release: "IAP Worldwide Services, Inc. Team Submits Bid For LOGCAP IV Contract," which included this quote from former Halliburton/KBR executive Dave Swindle:
The LOGCAP IV contract is a major challenge, said Dave Swindle, IAP President. Supporting the warfighter and the Army is a responsibility that allows no compromise. IAP and its team members understand the magnitude of this program and the issues associated with its complexity. We place a high priority on using our proven Business Operating System (BOS) to provide effective oversight and tracking to responsibly meet the customers needs from Day One. Through BOS we will act as one team through a management and business system that is completely transparent to the customer.
http://www.iapws.com/Newsroom/Newsroom_details.aspx?id= ...
I worked for Dave Swindle at Halliburton/KBR's offices in Arlington, Virginia. As I said in posts here this past fall, "if there's a Swindle involved, there's a swindle involved."
http://www.google.com/search?as_q=swindle+corpgovactivi ...
Today's hearing at Walter Reed focused on IAP's shoddy work as the privatized contractor there: http://oversight.house.gov/story.asp?ID=1195 (see, in particular, the letter to General Weightman about IAP)
On February 16, 2007, the US Army Sustainment Command published the first Award Notice for LOGCAP IV: http://www.fbo.gov/spg/USA/USAMC/DAAA09/Awards/W52P1J-0 ...
Cerberus a Major Stockholder in Bankrupt MCI, which had mismanaged an $8.8 DoD Project to Create Secure telecom systems for the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps
By Matt Kelley
USA TODAY The fundraiser, which took place July 7, 2003, and the subsequent vote illustrate the kind of relationship between congressman and contributor that's under increased scrutiny in the nation's capital.
Both Lewis and the investment company, Cerberus Capital Management, benefited from the relationship. Eighteen months after the fundraiser and the House vote, Lewis won the chairmanship of the Appropriations Committee. He acknowledges that the fundraising efforts of Cerberus played a very significant role in winning the post. The ties between Cerberus and Lewis, a 14-term congressman from Redlands, Calif., have not been publicly examined before.
Created in 1992, Cerberus is a hedge fund, a type of private investment group that's not regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. ...
In 2003, Cerberus owned more than $140 million in stock and bonds of the bankrupt telecommunications giant WorldCom, financial records show. Its stake in the company, which had filed for bankruptcy protection the previous year, was large enough that a Cerberus executive joined the board of directors of MCI, the company's post-bankruptcy name. ... MCI has been a major subcontractor since 2000 on an $8.8 billion project to build a secure computer network for the Navy and Marines. ...The committee report noted the program's cost overruns, schedule delays and management foul-ups in its report accompanying the 2003 defense spending bill, also sponsored by Lewis. That report called for more and better testing of the program before more computers were added to the network.
Lewis himself had criticized the Navy-Marine computer project in October 2002, telling The Washington Post he was not satisfied with its progress. He also said he was concerned about MCI's involvement. When you have a big piece of the pie in trouble, it just gums up a process that already has great difficulty, he said. ... Other members of Congress were pushing the federal government to ban MCI from any future contracts because of the $11 billion accounting scandal, which eventually landed former WorldCom CEO Bernie Ebbers a 25-year prison term. MCI now has about $2 billion in annual revenue from government contracts, and the Navy project remains one of its biggest.
On May 16, 2003, the House Armed Services Committee voted to cut 10% of the Navy project's $1.6 billion budget for the upcoming year. Federal lobbying records show that two months earlier, Cerberus hired its first lobbyist, the powerhouse firm Patton Boggs. ... The firm's lobbyists for Cerberus included Laurence Harris, a former FCC staffer who would join MCI's board of directors that August; retired Marine colonel John Garrett; and Marcus Dunn, a former aide to two members of the House Armed Services Committee. ...Cerberus paid Patton Boggs $1.1 million for lobbying from 2003 to the middle of 2005, the last date that records are available. Separately, Cerberus hired former senator Jake Garn, a Utah Republican, as a lobbyist for $410,000 over the same period, lobbying records show.
http://cache.zoominfo.com/cachedpage/?archive_id=0&page ...
Cerberis donated $100,000 at a single fundraiser to Rep. Jerry Lewis, fmr. Chair of the House Appropriations Comm., who served as intermediary to distribute money to fellow GOP lawmakers favored by Cerberus
Lewis' Future Leaders PAC gave $407,000 to 69 House candidates in the 2004 election. The Cerberus-related money was equal to nearly a third of that amount. In 2003, the PAC collected $522,725 a quarter of it connected to Cerberus.
Boustany's 2004 campaign got $15,000 in contributions from Lewis' Future Leaders PAC in three separate $5,000 contributions, according to Federal Election Commission records. Lewis also kicked in another $2,000 from his own campaign in two separate contributions to Boustany's 2004 campaign. Boustany picked up another $5,000 from Future Leaders PAC in the current election cycle.
But, Boustany also benefited from the Lewis/Cerberus relationship in another way:
Lewis also got Cerberus to help with his fundraising for the National Republican Congressional Committee, the arm of the GOP that gives money to House candidates. Lewis said he invited Cerberus executives to an April 2004 NRCC fundraiser he chaired that included a speech by President Bush.
The NRCC got $70,000 in Cerberus-related donations during the first two weeks of April 2004, including $25,000 from Cerberus founder Stephen Feinberg, records show. "I had been doing this for over a dozen years, helping to raise money for our members," Lewis said. "Others (candidates for Appropriations chairman) began to be helpful with fundraising, but that had been a recent and newfound interest of theirs."
Federal Election Commission records show that the National Republican Congressional Committee spent $72,620 in coordinated spending on Boustany's 2004 campaign and another $96,593 on independent expenditures on behalf of Boustany's campaign. Now, of course, the national parties raised millions of dollars for congressional races, so Boustany's share of that Cerberus/Lewis effort might well have been small through this particular channel. In any event, it was no where near as large as Cerberus's impact on Future Leaders PAC dollars.
Wilkes employed a lobbyist named Bill Lowery who is unusually close with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. Jerry Lewis. Copley News Service conducted a three month investigation of their relationship:
From powerful positions on the House Appropriations Committee, California Rep. Jerry Lewis has greenlighted hundreds of millions of dollars in federal projects for clients of one of his closest friends, lobbyist and former state Congressman Bill Lowery.
Meanwhile, Lowery, the partners at his firm and their clients have donated 37 percent of the $1.3 million that Lewis political action committee received in the past six years The Lewis-Lowery relationship, however, is remarkable for the closeness and mutual dependence Theyve even exchanged two key staff members, making their offices so intermingled that they seem to be extensions of each other.
Serberus founder Stephen Feinberg is reported to have made particularly substantial donor to Republican organizations, with a 2004 contribution of $25,000 to the RCCC. Feinberg also contributed $2000 to the Senate campaign that year of Connecticut Senator Joseph Liberman. http://220.127.116.11/search?q=cache:mH1tG596Ln8J:www.f...
In a plea agreement with prosecutors, Cunningham named four people who had conspired with him to commit the crimes. Although the plea agreement does not refer to the co-conspirators by name, they are widely believed to be Mitchell Wade, the former president of defense intelligence firm MZM Inc., Brent Wilkes, president of defense contractor ADCS Inc., Tom Kontogiannis, a New York real-estate developer, and an unnamed family member of Kontogiannis.
Wade and Wilkes gave heavily to congressional Republicans in recent years, and now lawmakers must decide whether to keep the campaign largesse.
Wade, Wilkes, Kontogiannis and others remain under investigation, according to a statement made by the lead federal prosecutor in the case, U.S. Attorney Carol Lam.
Congressional ethics experts predict that one or more of the co-conspirators would be charged, especially because Cunningham has agreed to continue to cooperate with the investigation.
Given that they were both described as co-conspirators in the plea agreement and that the agreement calls for former Rep. Cunningham to cooperate in the investigation, its very likely that both Mitchell Wade and Brent Wilkes will be indicted, said Brett Kappel, an ethics lawyer at Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP.
Sen. Jim Talent (R-Mo.) has returned money from lobbyist Jack Abramoff, the center of another congressional ethics scandal, while Republican Reps. Jeb Bradley (N.H.), Kenny Hulshof (Mo.), Heather Wilson (N.M.) and Steve LaTourette (Ohio) gave back contributions from DeLay after he was indicted in September.
Republican Reps. Tom DeLay (Texas), John Doolittle (Calif.) and Jerry Lewis (Calif.) all received at least $30,000 in donations either through their campaign committee or their leadership PACs from Wade, Wilkes, their family members and their companies PACs over the past four years. These totals do not include individual contributions from employees of these firms. Early this year, Lewis became the chairman of the powerful House Appropriations Committee. Before that, he headed the defense appropriations subcommittee. Because of these high-profile roles, Lewis often receives more donations than most House members. Doolittle also sits on the Appropriations Committee.
But Cunningham, who was simply a member of the defense appropriations subcommittee, received the most at least $66,000 during the same period.
Rep. Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, received just over $28,000, as did Rep. Virgil Goode (R-Va.). Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.) was the recipient of $20,000.
Wilkes is a prominent Bush fundraiser, earning a designation as a Bush pioneer in 2004 for raising more than $100,000. If Wilkes is indicted, he will be the third Bush pioneer, after Abramoff and Ohio fundraiser Tom Noe, to be indicted this year.
Wade resigned from MZM earlier this year. The company was sold to a private equity firm in August.
Senate Judiciary Committee Goes Into Closed Hearings to Discuss Firing of U.S. Attorney Who Prosecuted CIA Contractor Case
On Tuesday, Judiciary Committee member Arlen Specter revealed publicly that the committee he used to Chair would be going behind closed doors to discuss still-classified details about the retaliatory firing of U.S. Attorney Caroline Lam, who had aggressively prosecuted the MZM Wade-Cunningham contracting case. (Source C-Span Radio, 03/05/2007, @ 7:20 pm).
According to Specter, the Senate Judiciary Committee went into closed session to talk about an ongoing TOP SECRET investigation that stems from the Cunningham case. Three Hill Committees reached an agreement with the Department of Justice to receive files compiled by the U.S. Attorneys office in San Diego, and are just beginning to hold public hearings into the unlawful dismissal of Lam. (See, generally, http://thehill.com/leading-the-news/emanuel-tangles-wit ... ; http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/metro/20070112-9999 -... ; http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL0605/S00125.htm
These closed hearings are most likely related to contracts that MZM had with CIA, including one that led to the falsification of data about aluminum tubes shipped to Iraq that allegedly were going to be used to reconstitute Saddam's nuclear program. That's right, those aluminum tubes, the one's that were falsely used by White House and Vice President to justify the invasion of Iraq.
On background, it should be noted that Laura Rozen's WAR&PIECE column of December 11, 2005, "Wade, Wilkes and Bad Intelligence?" identified Mitchell Wade's MZM defense contracting firm as a culprit in faulty intelligence generation that led to the Iraq invasion. See, http://www.warandpiece.com/blogdirs/003244.html
A source cited by Rozen identified MZM as the private contractor cited for support of an errant CIA Iraq WMD assessment used to justify the Bush Administration's argument for war. An MZM analysis erroneously concluded that aluminum tubes ordered by Saddam Hussein were intended for use in a clandestine nuclear fuel enrichment program that didn't exist. Rosen came up with the extraordinary finding that consultants working for MZM and other intelligence contractors staffed the Robb-Silberman Commission that investigated the faulty Iraq WMD findings.
During testimony in the Scooter Libby trial, we learned that Valerie Plame was involved in the aluminum tube issue within the CIAs Counter-Proliferation Division (CPD), where she worked before being outed by Libby and others in the White House and Vice Presidents office.
Dan Quayle is chair of new Leumi owner Cerberus-Gabriel
Dan Quayle is chair of new Leumi owner Cerberus-Gabriel
Haaretz 11/16/2005
Cerberus is chaired by former U.S. vice president Dan Quayle. The Cerberus-Gabriel group was led by Gabriel president J. Ezra Merkin, assisted by CPA Avi Berger, the general manager of the Kesselman & Kesselman accounting firm, and attorney Yaakov Neeman. Stephen Feinberg, 45, a Jew from New York and the wunderkind of the hedge funds world who, within 20 years, turned a $10 million fund into a holding company whose companies have combined sales of $30 billion a year, is the founder and manager of Cerberus Global Investment.
Experts: Ultimate owners of Leumi unclear
Globes 11/16/2005
Banking sources: US investor disclosure regulations will cause Cerberus-Gabriel problems. Ministry of Finance officials have declared a great victory in the Bank Leumi (TASE: LUMI) tender, but banking specialists are not so enthusiastic. They say that the victory wasnt so great: the buyers (Cerberus Capital Management LP and Gabriel Capital Management) are too anonymous, their business isnt transparent enough, and, most of all, the saga is far from over these owners have specific problems in connection with operating a bank in the US, and they are looking for indirect ways to operate there, perhaps without a banking license.
(Can't get that top link to work yet -- Globe link requires registration and installation of their software. Found these links from: http://22.214.171.124/search?q=cache:0b_1KEnb01UJ:www.wi ... )
During the tenure of former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, the Pentagon awarded a large contract to the company at the center of the Walter Reed Army Hospital scandal. Rumsfeld may have financially benefited from it along with other major GOP figures, including former Vice President Dan Quaile, and former Treasury Secretary Snow, who also invested in or are employed by, or received campaign contributions from the same Wall Street hedge fund that owns the company.
In his last financial disclosure before becoming Defense Secretary, Rumsfeld revealed that he held shares in Cerberus, a large NY Hedge Fund that acquired International American Products, Inc. Worldwide Services. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b395...
Former Treasury Secretary John W. Snow is chairman of the New York hedge fund that owns IAP
DU Contributor, Emit, also played a significant role in researching and compiling this information about Cerberus-IAP. Some of his research is found at this DU subthread - http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
Emit writes:
Recall John Snow http://www.buzzflash.com/analysis/06/02/ana06011.html from the Dubai Ports World deal?
I didn't notice Snow's name in the "Leadership" or "Board" links at IAP's website, but this is an interesting explanation:
Mr. Snow's Cerberus Capital Management LP owns Cape Canaveral, Fla.-based IAP, which is led by former executives from Halliburton's engineering, services and construction subsidiary KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown & Root). KBR is currently the Army's sole contractor for providing food and shelter to the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the Army now wants multiple contractors for these services and KBR is bidding again. Some defense analysts are predicting both KBR and IAP, which is run by former KBR executives, will each win one of the 10-year deals that start in 2007.
http://www.politicalfriendster.com/rateConnection.php?i ...
Cerberus has been shopping up a storm for a year now, seemingly coming out of nowhere to build a corporate empire. With more than $16 billion of investors' assets on its books -- almost double what it had in 2003 -- it has bought 28 companies and snapped up stakes of at least 15% in an additional 15 over the past decade. According to BusinessWeek estimates, Cerberus controls companies that ring up at least a combined $30 billion in annual sales, more than McDonald's, 3M (AXP ), Coca-Cola (KO ), or Cisco Systems (CSCO ). With more than 106,000 employees, Cerberus companies have a bigger payroll than Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM ). Its trophies include 226 Burger King restaurants, the National and Alamo car-rental chains, building-products maker Formica Corp., and the old Warner Hollywood Studios, where blockbusters such as Basic Instinct were made. Its companies connect BlackBerrys, provide medical therapy, and set up military-base camps in Iraq.
The mind-boggling rise of Cerberus -- from a fringe vulture fund started with a grubstake of about $10 million in 1992 to a Wall Street powerhouse -- has been driven by its enigmatic boss, Stephen A. Feinberg, 45. Like other hedge-fund managers and buyout kings, Feinberg has a penchant for secrecy, although his is more developed than most. While co-founder William L. Richter deals with investors, and lieutenants such as former Vice-President Dan Quayle jet around the globe to seal deals, the mustached Feinberg keeps very much to himself in a nondescript office on the 22nd floor of a high-rise on Manhattan's Park Avenue.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/05_40/b395 ...
Created in 1992, Cerberus is a hedge fund, a type of private investment group that's not regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission. It's named after the mythical, three-headed dog guarding the gates of Hades.
Often called a "vulture fund," Cerberus invests mainly in companies in or on the verge of bankruptcy, buying those firms' bonds in the hopes of converting them into cash or stock in a revived company. In 2000, the company hired former vice president Dan Quayle as a top executive.
In 2003, Cerberus owned more than $140 million in stock and bonds of the bankrupt telecommunications giant WorldCom, financial records show. Its stake in the company, which had filed for bankruptcy protection the previous year, was large enough that a Cerberus executive joined the board of directors of MCI, the company's post-bankruptcy name.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-01-19-cerb ...
Small firm targets Halliburton contracts
November 4, 2006
A small defense contractor now controlled by former Bush Treasury Secretary John W. Snow is taking on Halliburton Co. by bidding for one of three Army contracts worth up to $50 billion each to provide food and shelter to U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Within days of Mr. Snow becoming chairman of the New York hedge fund that owns IAP Worldwide Services Inc., the company submitted its bid for huge Army contracts that will be awarded by year-end.
Mr. Snow's Cerberus Capital Management LP owns Cape Canaveral, Fla.-based IAP, which is led by former executives from Halliburton's engineering, services and construction subsidiary KBR (formerly Kellogg, Brown & Root).
KBR is currently the Army's sole contractor for providing food and shelter to the military in Iraq and Afghanistan. But the Army now wants multiple contractors for these services and KBR is bidding again. Some defense analysts are predicting both KBR and IAP, which is run by former KBR executives, will each win one of the 10-year deals that start in 2007.
IAP Chief Executive Officer Al Neffgen, who joined the company in December 2004, served as KBR's chief operating officer of government and infrastructure for the Americas, while President Dave Swindle was vice president of KBR's business acquisition and national security programs before joining IAP in April 2005. Chuck Dominy, a retired Army lieutenant general, joined IAP in July 2005 after serving for years as Halliburton's chief lobbyist in Washington.
IAP was founded in 1990 by a former Army logistician as the United States was preparing for "Operation Desert Storm," and now has 5,500 employees. Cerberus became majority owner in May 2004. ~snip~
http://www.kuwaittimes.net/Navariednews.asp?dismode=art ...
Cerberus group, which in 2005, acquired the second largest Israeli bank, Leumi Bank, completing a process of privatization of the Israeli financial sector pushed by the Right-wing Likud Party and its successor under the present Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert.
Cerberus holding Leumi Bank privatized Israeli banks - IAP privatized VA hospitals
Strange symmetry to this, isn't there? Perhaps, no coincidence to any of it. Here's why. You have to read a seminal neocon document written in 1997 for then-Israeli PM Netanyahu by the guys who went on to run the Office of Special Plans (OSP), Feith, Wurmser, and Perle. That paper, "A CLEAN BREAK: A New Strategy for Securing the Realm" -- http://www.iasps.org/strat1.htm -- lays out a battle plan for conquering the Mid-East, starting with Iraq and Lebanon as means to undermine and discourage Syria, and then, finally, a forced reorientation of the regions enormous Shia population away from Iran and the elevation of the Heshemite Kingdom of Moroccos King Hussein. The point of all this isn't just military conquest, and the elimination of regional threats, it's actually to set the preconditions for a PRIVATIZED Israeli economy, and the "clean break" is with Israeli's social-democratic past. It is also meant to map out a profound shift in Israels relationship with the United States, away from a traditional client state that submits to Washington, with the elevation of Israel into a new regional Superpower. The Clean Break is a daringly blunt statement of those commercial, ideological and strategic ambitions:
Israel has a large problem. Labor Zionism, which for 70 years has dominated the Zionist movement, has generated a stalled and shackled economy. Efforts to salvage Israels socialist institutionswhich include pursuing supranational over national sovereignty and pursuing a peace process that embraces the slogan, "New Middle East"undermine the legitimacy of the nation and lead Israel into strategic paralysis and the previous governments "peace process." That peace process obscured the evidence of eroding national critical mass including a palpable sense of national exhaustionand forfeited strategic initiative.
Syria challenges Israel on Lebanese soil. An effective approach, and one with which American can sympathize, would be if Israel seized the strategic initiative along its northern borders by engaging Hizballah, Syria, and Iran, as the principal agents of aggression in Lebanon, including by:
striking Syrian military targets in Lebanon, and should that prove insufficient, striking at select targets in Syria proper.
Israel can shape its strategic environment, in cooperation with Turkey and Jordan, by weakening, containing, and even rolling back Syria. This effort can focus on removing Saddam Hussein from power in Iraq an important Israeli strategic objective in its own right . . . Since Iraq's future could affect the strategic balance in the Middle East profoundly, it would be understandable that Israel has an interest in supporting the Hashemites in their efforts to redefine Iraq.
King Hussein may have ideas for Israel in bringing its Lebanon problem under control. The predominantly Shia population of southern Lebanon has been tied for centuries to the Shia leadership in Najf, Iraq rather than Iran. Were the Hashemites to control Iraq, they could use their influence over Najf to help Israel wean the south Lebanese Shia away from Hizballah, Iran, and Syria. Shia retain strong ties to the Hashemites: the Shia venerate foremost the Prophets family, the direct descendants of which and in whose veins the blood of the Prophet flows is King Hussein.
Forging A New U.S.-Israeli Relationship
In recent years, Israel invited active U.S. intervention in Israels domestic and foreign policy for two reasons: to overcome domestic opposition to "land for peace" concessions the Israeli public could not digest, and to lure Arabs through money, forgiveness of past sins, and access to U.S. weapons to negotiate. This strategy, which required funneling American money to repressive and aggressive regimes, was risky, expensive, and very costly for both the U.S. and Israel, and placed the United States in roles is should neither have nor want.
Israel can make a clean break from the past and establish a new vision for the U.S.-Israeli partnership based on self-reliance, maturity and mutuality not one focused narrowly on territorial disputes. Israels new strategy based on a shared philosophy of peace through strength reflects continuity with Western values by stressing that Israel is self-reliant, does not need U.S. troops in any capacity to defend it, including on the Golan Heights, and can manage its own affairs. Such self-reliance will grant Israel greater freedom of action and remove a significant lever of pressure used against it in the past.
To reinforce this point, the Prime Minister can use his forthcoming visit to announce that Israel is now mature enough to cut itself free immediately from at least U.S. economic aid and loan guarantees at least, which prevent economic reform.
Israels new agenda can signal a clean break by abandoning a policy which assumed exhaustion and allowed strategic retreat by reestablishing the principle of preemption
Israels new strategic agenda can shape the regional environment in ways that grant Israel the room to refocus its energies back to where they are most needed: to rejuvenate its national idea, which can only come through replacing Israels socialist foundations with a more sound footing; and to overcome its "exhaustion," which threatens the survival of the nation.
Ultimately, Israel can do more than simply manage the Arab-Israeli conflict though war.
The rush to privatize many of the functions of the Pentagon, including the VA system, is really the same strategy as that advocated by Feith, Perle and Wurmser in their strategic vision for Israel in 1997. Seize upon the opportunities created by a series of wars in the Mid-East that expand the military, and then privatize that economic engine. That is at heart a fascist vision. That, in short, is what has been going on in the United States during the Bush-Cheney era. It's military Keynesianism turned into a killing and maiming machine for profit.
So, this is the Israeli state they ended up with, led by Kadimas Ehud Olmert, a Tool of Oligarchs, with Cerberus-Gabriel at the head of the table.
Forbes Reinforces Claim That Kadima is Tool of Oligarchs
by Ezra HaLevi
According to the report, the business groups are controlled by the following families: Sami Ofer, Nochi Dankner, Shari Arison, the Cerberus-Gabriel consortium, Charles Bronfman, Yitzchak Tshuva, the Saban group, Lev Leviev, Matthew Bronfman, Tzadik Bino, the Borovich family, and Eliezer Fishman. The 12 families own 60 percent of the aggregate market value of all Israeli public companies (excluding the even larger Teva Pharmaceutical Industries), Forbes reported.
The report goes on to say that the families have constructed their empires, which consist of Israel's largest companies, using organizational structures that have long ago been done away with in the Western world.
The report explains that the groups have an inordinate amount of control over Israel's economy, political leaders and media due to the structuring of their holdings as pyramids meaning several layers of companies each own others beneath them but are all beholden to the leading families. Such a phenomenon was eliminated in the US in the early 20th century through restrictions on ownership and the double taxation of dividends a company paid its owner company.
In that light, consider the article about the conflict surrounding the Serberus-Leumi group privatizing the Israeli banking system. Bear in mind that Israels banks, including Leumi, had been bailed out by the government in the disastrous year of 1983, after Ariel Sharon led the IDF into an ill-fated and incompetently led invasion of Lebanon. An optional war that resulted in the massive withdrawal of international capital, and a steep recession in Israels reputation and fortunes:
http://126.96.36.199/search?q=cache:RhAPCyu8hiMJ:www.h ...
Leumi on the way to going global
By Nehemia Shtrasler
A historic decision will be made next week. The Bank of Israel will announce whether it approves the sale of Bank Leumi to the Cerberus-Gabriel consortium. This would mark the end of the long process of privatizing Israel's banking system.
As early as November 2005 a tender was issued for the bank's sale, and it was won by Cerberus-Gabriel. The consortium offered to pay NIS 4.62 billion for a controlling stake of 20 percent in the bank - a very high price indeed. But the consortium failed to close the deal because the Bank of Israel did not approve its becoming a controlling partner.
The decision will now be made by the Bank of Israel Governor, Professor Stanley Fischer, who has said in internal meetings that this is one of the most difficult decisions he has been asked to make. At those same meetings, Rony Hizkiyahu, the new Supervisor of Banks, said that he wished the problem with the New York branch of Bank Leumi were resolved because then there would be no obstacle to selling the bank to the consortium. Indeed, this is the only problem that is keeping Cerberus-Gabriel from Bank Leumi, the subsidiary in New York.
According to American law, the Cerberus-Gabriel consortium will not be able to hold the bank in New York because it is invested in non-financial sectors. According to American rules, it is not permitted to have industrial and real estate holdings and also a bank - out of concern for possible conflict of interest.
During those same internal meetings at the Bank of Israel a number of proposals were put forth for a solution to the problem. For example, to sell Leumi New York, and in its place set up a financial entity that could offer business loans but not be able to accept deposits or offer retail banking services. The problem is that such a financial firm will not operate under the supervision of the Federal Reserve (because it is not a bank). As for Israeli supervision, it will not be easy to keep an eye on a company that is situated so far away.
Indeed, the deal went through and the regulatory obstacles removed to the privatiziation that is pushed by Prime Minister Olmert, one of the leading proponents of the scheme, as this article makes clear:
December 13, 2005
Cerberus-Gabriel hedge fund buys stake in Leumi Bank
Israel is on its way to privatization. The banking sector is amongst the first ones to take a step in this direction. Bank Leumi was in the market recently and attracted bids from several players. Bidder names include strategic investors like Lev Leviev, IDB and Bill Davidson and also financial contenders like UBS, Deutsche Bank and Citibank. However the winner was an American Hedge fund, Cerberus-Gabriel.
Cerberus-Gabriel has purchased 9.9% of the shares of the bank. The purchase of this stake was for approximately $500 million. The fund also has the option of buying an additional 10.01% in the bank. This will bring the total shares quantum to 20% and is roughly valued at $1 billion. This option of additional purchase has to be utilized with in the next one and a half years.
Ehud Olmert, Finance Minister of Israel, is reportedly quite satisfied with the outcome. He feels that this is a positive development and will help the over all Israeli economy. He is amongst the top promoters of privatization move. In his statement he also mentioned that the purchase will ensure healthy competition between the banks and will definitely contribute a lot to the local market.
Another person quite happy with the development is Yaron Zelekha, the treasury's accountant-general, who led the tender. He sees it as fulfillment of the promise made to the people of Israel about privatization of the entire banking system in 2005.
The MZM-Cunningham case involves the funneling of foreign money to the GOP
through a neocon controlled hedge fund, Cerberus Capital Management, that was dispersing money to a number of key GOP figures and organizations in various ways, including Bush, Rumsfeld, a number of GOP Congressmen, and the RNC. The case is also tied up with the Walter Reed scandal, and the effort to privatize many Pentagon and CIA functions, which resulted in catastrophic failures at both. See, http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph ...
Let's recap: a corrupt Israeli PM - has a stake in a corrupt Israeli bank- owned by a corrupt Wall Street global hedge fund - which owns a corrupt US defense contractor - which contributes to corrupt GOP Congressmen - who also receive money from another corrupt defense contractor - that defense contractor produced faulty intel under contract to a corrupt CIA Assn't Director - that faulty intel was used to justify a corrupt US Administration's case for invading Iraq - that was planned and executed by corrupt neocons inside DoD who had written a proposal years earlier to wage wars to privatize the Israeli economy.
What a tangled web. One wished Chairman Waxmans staff and other Congressional investigators the strength of Hercules in taking down the Three-headed Dog, Cerberus, that guards the gates to Hell.
2007. Mark G. Levey. Fair use applies. Acknowledgement: Some material compiled from a research thread at Democratic Underground.com, with particular thanks to bobthedrummer and Emit, and other DU researchers: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...
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Book Club Channel
At the Heart of the Gospel: A Book Excerpt
Now Featured at the Patheos Book Club
At the Heart of the Gospel
Reclaiming the Body for the New Evangelization
By Christopher West
Book Excerpt
I remember the first time I read John Paul II's Theology of the Body (TOB) in the early 1990s. I was convinced that if this glorious vision of human life and divine love were delivered to people in a comprehensible and engaging way, it could change the world dramatically for the good, even rescue us from the downward spiral of the "culture of death." In short, I was convinced I was holding a revolution in my hands and I knew I would spend the rest of my life studying it and sharing it with others as part of the "new evangelization."
While the late pope's teaching does present some bold theological developments, we must affirm, of course, that "revolutions" do not occur in Catholic teaching itself. That would imply a fundamental change and, although our understanding of the Gospel can and does deepen with time (see CCC 66, 94), the essential witness of the Church is the same yesterday, today, and forever (see TOBE, pp. 599, 601). Yet, in responding to the particular crises of their times, the saints bring "new impulses into the world," observes Pope Benedict XVI; and through these new impulses, he says, the saints bring about "revolutions"—"revolutions for the good" (LW, p. 158). Blessed John Paul II's TOB is just such a revolution: it's bringing "new impulses" into the world, making the often hidden glories of the Gospel accessible to men and women of our times.
"New impulses," of course, create waves. Not surprisingly, certain circles in the Church have witnessed some spirited debate in recent years about John Paul II's TOB. What did he really teach? Is it all about sex? What is sex all about? What is the place of this TOB in the theological tradition of the Church? What is the role of the body, sexuality, and marriage in understanding the Gospel itself and the sacramental life of the Church? Is it really possible on this side of heaven to overcome our tendency to lust and "see" the human body as a revelation of human dignity and as a sign of the mystery and beauty of God? What is the best language and approach to use in communicating John Paul II's scholarly teaching in the "new evangelization"?
In the midst of these conversations, my work as a popularizer of John Paul II's teaching has been the subject of some rather harsh critiques. During an extended sabbatical in 2010,1 I reflected prayerfully on the various challenges my work has received, seeking to glean as much as possible from what various authors were saying. This book is the fruit of those reflections. I offer it not only for those who have followed the discussion and in the hopes that it will clarify some of the debated points; I offer it also and even more so as an invitation to all those involved in the "new evangelization" to reflect on the challenge, hope, and promise that John Paul II's TOB represents for the Church and the world at the beginning of the third millennium.2
In light of John Paul II's beatification in May of 2011, we have all the more reason to examine (or reexamine) his "masterwork" and allow its healing rays to penetrate our hearts more deeply. As Monsignor Lorenzo Albacete expressed it in his endorsement of this work: "The beatification of Pope John Paul II is more than the Church's official recognition of his sanctity. John Paul II's teaching is now bequeathed to the Church in a new way—not only by his authority as Pope, but also by his personal experience of sanctity." This book is offered as a celebration of his sanctity and as an invitation to follow in his footsteps. If we do, we cannot help but become ever more effective witnesses to Christ's love in the new evangelization.
Christopher West is a renowned educator, best-selling author, cultural commentator, and popular theologian who specializes in making the dense scholarship of the late Pope John Paul II's Theology of the Body accessible to a wide audience. His extensive global lecturing, his numerous books and articles, and his multiple educational programs have sparked an international groundswell of interest in the late pope's teaching across denominational lines.


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Hi, I'm trying to mirror a cube. I applied the modifier and nothing happens. I understand I need to choose the axis but they don't have any effect.
Is it bugged or am I doing something wrong?
I am following this video tutorial. The first thing he does is scale down the cube, then he applies the mirror modifier to it and it mirrors fine.


text:
|Document Type:
|Seungho Jung
|Email address:
|An Empirical Investigation of Tools and Joint Practices Used in Managing Customer-Supplier Relationships
|Doctor of Philosophy
|Industrial & Systems Engineering
|Committee Chair:
|Dr. Eileen M. Van Aken
|Chair's email:
|Committee Members:
|Dr. Brian M. Kleiner
|Dr. D. Scott Sink
|Dr. Philip Y. Huang
|Dr. Gary L. Downey
|Mr. Stephen K. Hacker
|Dr. L. Altyn Clark
|customer-supplier relationships, joint action, shared results
|Date of defense:
|November 20, 1997
|Release the entire work for Virginia Tech access only.
After one year release worldwide only with written permission of the student and the advisory committee chair.
The purpose of this research was to study customer-supplier relationships, and particularly their partnerships, to help managers and practitioners successfully design, develop, implement and deploy tools and joint practices for their upstream systems. To achieve this purpose, a total of 1,811 (potential mailed survey questionnaire respondents) and 7 (structured interviewees) managers who are responsible for purchasing, sales/ marketing, quality-related, and production- or operations-related functions of U.S. private manufacturing companies in SIC 35, 36, and 37 were used to collect qualitative and quantitative data.
Using 172 usable mailed survey questionnaire responses (response rate: 9.78%) and qualitative data from the structured interviews, the following major findings were derived:
* Four tools/joint practices most frequently used in customer-supplier relationships were supplier certification/verification, joint problem-solving teams, quality audits, and Just-In-Time production and delivery,
* Five tools/joint practices that have been used most effectively were ISO 9000 and/or QS 9000 and/or Baldrige criteria, quality audit, JIT production/delivery, joint planning, and joint problem-solving teams,
* Five tools/joint practices that have been most internalized were ISO 9000 and/or QS 9000 and/or Baldrige criteria, quality audit, JIT production/delivery, joint problem-solving teams, and supplier or customer performance measurement systems,
* Overall perceived organizational performance improvement was 25% (30% quality improvement, 21% cost reduction, and 26% cycle time reduction).
In addition to these findings, eight hypothesized relationships were tested using two independent variables (joint use of specific tools and joint use of practices) and four dependent variables (informed partners, role integrity, conflict resolution, and mutuality). The results showed that customer and supplier companies do not share the same experience with respect to the relationships between the two independent variables and conflict resolution.
Using these findings, a set of practices was proposed as a means for further improving specific organizational performance dimensions and providing a mechanism to better share the consequences of joint action.
List of Attached Files
|At the author's request, all materials (PDF files, images, etc.) associated with this ETD are accessible from the Virginia Tech network only.


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If you're like us, your bike is precious property. Naturally, you lock it up accordingly wherever you go, and always feel thankful when you and your ride make it home safely. But is there were one extra step you take in protecting your bike — to help make sure that even if it is stolen, you will be reunited with it once and for all?
There are several ways to safeguard your bike beyond solely locking it up (wheels and all). Anyone can register their ride with the National Bike Registry — and for $10 receive ten years worth of registration and "a tamper-resistant, serialized security label."
Another (entirely free) option is BikeGuard, a program that offers stolen bikes a way to find their homes. Hosted by MyAssetTag, is a free online system that catalogs people and their bikes by a series of individual numbers inked onto tags that you slap right on your bike's frame. Each bike gets three tags, to put on the "the body of the bike, near the handlebars and/or underneath the seat," according to BikeGuard's site. What's more, if your bike ever is stolen and recovered by your local authorities, police can scan one of your tags and get all of your contact information. BikeGuard offers these tags for up to three bikes per person for anyone in the United Sates — at zero cost.
So why, you ask, does BikeGuard do this all at no charge? Via the BikeGuard site:
"… because the cyclists here at our Brooklyn office know what it's like to lose a bike, when it's most probably languishing in the storeroom of a police station because it lacks proper identification. As one police station puts it, "The purpose of the program is to reduce the number of bicycles stolen and assist the police in the recovery of stolen bicycles."
We want to know how many of you register your bikes already and/or how many of you would register your bike to help it in the case of a kidnapping? Alternatively — if you don't or wouldn't register your bike — do you have an extra measure you take to keep your ride safe? Let us know!
Every Monday on Lane Love, we'll be featuring bicycling news, stories and photos from around the world. Have a lane that you love? Send us a photo! You can post it to our Facebook page or upload to our Flickr group and we might just feature it here on Lane Love.


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The game of billiards had a better reputation than the game of pool in 1914, it would seem, even though they are the same to many. Perhaps pool halls were the source since they were often considered places of drinking and gambling.
But the larger problem seemed to be keeping underage boys out of the game.
From the Arizona Daily Star, Thursday Feb. 5, 1914:
Prejudice Because of Name "Pool" Swept Away, Now Game Played by Y. M. C. A. and Church Organizations
At no period in the history of this country has a wilder interest been displayed in the uplift of the youngster than at present. No movement or movements having for their object the betterment of the juniors have had greater influence than those formulated for the purpose of encouraging clean sport.
Statistics show conclusively that the establishment of small parks and playgrounds have lessened the truancy and improved the physical and moral condition of the youngsters. Right at the present time many of the big golf clubs of the country are cooperating in plans to better the condition of the caddie boys, some of them already having installed swimming baths and small gymnasiums and placed competent instructors in charge of them.
Quite as important as any of these movements is the crusade on behalf of cleaner billiards. Prejudices against the game have gradually been swept away, and its adoption by many Y. M. C. A.s and churches has demonstrated that "the gentlemen's game" is all that its name implies.
There is no denying the fact that the game has suffered from abuses. For many years a pool room was thought by many to be some sort of gambling house, no matter whether it was a billiard room or a place where bets could be placed on horse races. To differentiate between the two, the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company some two years ago inaugurated a movement to substitute the term pocket billiards for the word pool, and in the majority of the larger rooms in the cities the term "pool," as applied to billiards is now obsolete.
This, however, was only a preliminary step in a big plan to wipe out some of the real evils which infest the game and bring it onto undeserved repute.
All over this wide country civic authorities have been confronted with the problem of keeping minors out of billiard rooms, and in many cities they are now getting the co-operation of the roomkeepers.
Recently in Mason City, Iowa, the city commissioners and the billiard room keepers held a joint meeting at which the latter welcomed the suggestion of the commissioners to place notices around their rooms notifying minors they are not permitted to remain there. On this notice is printed a synopsis of state law.
The harmonious action between the commissioners and the billard room keepers already has produced good results.
Other cities have appointed inspectors who make the rounds of the rooms and report violations.
So far these movements have largely been local, but a movement already has been started for a national organization formed of local organizations. The object of the bigger body will be to assist the smaller ones, and by concerted action it is expected that many of the evils will be corrected. Pressure will be brought to bear on room keepers who violate the laws of their respective cities, and in this the men who are seeking to elevate the game are assured of the support of the manufacturers.
One could understand the patrons of a billiard room would not like to compete with teenaged boys for the tables, but wouldn't an easier solution be to have a separate room for the boys to play? Then they are out of the way, out of trouble and still happy.
One hundred years later, it probably doesn't matter anymore.