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Starting out...
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How did you get your start doing underwriter work, and what career moves did you make to get to your current position?
Do you need a particular educational background?
youtalkwireless@*****.*** in Palm Bay, Florida
114 months ago
I'm looking to get into underwriting, but am curious to see what class I can take to get a jump start into the field??
Are there courses I can take?
Cindy in Sellersville, Pennsylvania
114 months ago
CPCU if you have background experience. Several colleges offer Risk Management and Insurance degrees as well.
Twinkle Toes in Minneapolis, Minnesota
107 months ago
Banking... it's a simple enough industry but I got a great jump here being a personal banker for US Bank. It was so boring and simple after a while, I had to find something else! It was a simple introduction into debt to income and working with underwriters on a regular basis and understanding how and why they made the decisions they did. US Bank was a "cream of the crop" lender they wouldn't touch anyone with a credit score lower than 650 that made a lot of the loans walk out the door. I had to fight for a lot of people so this was terrific experience for that reason. Good luck everyone! I am interviewing for several positions including underwriting at the current moment.
Twinkle Toes in Minneapolis, Minnesota
107 months ago
Cindy in Sellersville, Pennsylvania said: CPCU if you have background experience. Several colleges offer Risk Management and Insurance degrees as well.
Just so everyone knows any highly regarded insurance company will pay for your insurance certification classes! Don't buy em yourself! Well, that's only if you already have your bachelor's degree's like I have two MArketing and Speech communications.
Blakrain in Mesa, Arizona
104 months ago
What about changing careers? I did have a producer's license (I let it lapse but getting it back would be an option if I needed to). I spent most of my working life in Customer Service but I do have a Bachelor's degree in Urban Planning. The field I origionally trained for it was amazingly difficult to get into and bills could not wait, So I was never able to get into the field. .
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Part II: Sovereign of the Seas
Even with many cruises under her hull, this Feadship finds circling South America extraordinary.
By Capt. Ian van der Watt — July 2006
We also got to meet Andreas and Christina, one of the local families in Puerto Varas, who proudly introduced us into their society. We visited cattle farms and auctions and were shown around their charming Bohemian town on the banks of Lago Llanquique. Once you are accepted by the Chileans, you meet truly warm and friendly people who you feel will become lifetime friends. Andreas told me that "it was better to have millions of friends than millions of dollars."
Next page > Photo Gallery: Sovereign of the Seas>>Part II > Page 1, 2, 3, 4
This article originally appeared in the August 2006 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.

subset: commoncrawl


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Looks sweet...would love it on the iPad.
4.5/5....Have you ever given a 5? If so..which tweaks? A "Best of" list would be a cool article.....Just a thought!
Been waiting a week for this one. Just got it, works as advertised. VERY clean app, looks great, easy to set up and use. I just hope it will work on the new iOS and phone coming out in a month or two- I'm taking it easy with new purchases because every time we get a new OS or phone some of the best tweaks fall by the wayside. Fingers crossed on this one.
Oh, and btw, let's keep THIS thread on topic, ok? No more crazy thread-knapping, please!!
It has a memory leak, I installed it today and my free ram counts down to around 40mb from 250mb with no apps running. Uninstalled it and all is well, avoid!!
Waiting so is Developer for ModMyi to fix the Repo. Apparently iPad only. Not in Repo for iPhones. Yet. Come on boys. Get it together
Here's my demo of it!
***FYI, I edited the background already


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What man doesn't like a good, old-fashioned hamburger? There are so many ways to prepare a burger — making a few changes here and there to turn an ordinary burger into something to please your favorite Father's Day person.
Marty's Burger
2 Vienna beef foot-long hot dogs (split in half length wise)
3 1/2 ounces fresh ground chuck (pressed into 2 paper thin patties)
Fry the hamburger patties on a well seasoned skillet, about a minute on each side as they are so thin, then fry the hot dogs with a weight on them to flatten. Put a slice of yellow cheese on top of the hamburger and layer the hot dogs on top. The toppings are mayonnaise, ketchup, lettuce, onion and a tomato slice. Mustard and pickles are OK too. Top it off with a grilled bun, and you've solved the dilemma of whether you want a burger or a hotdog from the grill.
The Beer Maid-Rite Sandwich
1 pound fresh ground 80/20 chuck
5 pinches salt (to taste)
1 cup beer
3 squirts (teaspoons) yellow mustard
6 white squishy buns
Pickle slices
Chopped onion
More yellow mustard
Place a heavy cast iron skillet over medium heat to warm for five minutes. Turn heat to medium high and crumble the beef into the skillet. Add salt. Using the blade end of the spatula, chop the beef as it cooks until it is pebbly. When the beef loses most of its pink, add the beer and turn the heat up to high. Add the mustard as the beer begins to bubble and stir to mix contents. Cook over high heat, stirring constantly, until most of the liquid has evaporated. Scoop onto buns that have been doused with onion, pickle and more mustard. Enjoy with the remaining beer. Makes 5 to 6 sandwiches. This recipe comes from Taylor's Maid-Rite in Marshalltown, Iowa.
The Peanut Butter 'Guberburger'
1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 pound fresh ground 80 percent lean chunk
4 white squishy buns
In a small saucepan, heat peanut butter over a very low flame. Divide the meat into quarters and form into loose balls. Place a heavy cast iron skillet over medium heat to warm for one minute. Turn heat to high, wait a minute, then place balls of beef into pan. Sprinkle some salt on the meat and with a strong spatula press once into the shape of a patty; cover the pan. Once the pink in the meat is almost gone from the surface (about 2 minutes) flip the burgers and cook for another two minutes. Remove from heat and place on toasted white buns. To best toast buns, butter and place in skillet over medium heat. Spoon some hot peanut butter onto the patty and enjoy. This recipe comes from the Wheel Inn of Sedalia, Mo., where they make a practice of including lettuce, tomato and mayonnaise. Give it a shot if you've got the stomach. Makes four quarter-pound burgers.
Bobcat Bite Coleslaw
2-3 heads of cabbage, shredded
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar
2 cups distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon celery seed
2 tablespoons prepared mustard
Place the cabbage in a large bowl. Place the green pepper on top of the cabbage. Pour the sugar over both (for 2 heads use 1 cup sugar, for 3 heads use 1 1/2 cups). In a large saucepan bring to a boil the vinegar, canola oil, salt, pepper, celery seed and mustard. Boil until the mustard is dissolved (about 5 minutes). Pour the hot brew over the bowl of cabbage and peppers and let set; when the bowl has cooled, mix the contents and refrigerate. The slaw tastes best when it has had time to marinate. This comes from the Bobcat Bite in Santa Fe, N.M. They put this on a green Chile cheeseburger, but it could go on about any burger or even a pulled pork sandwich. Yum!
Deep Fried Depression-Era Burger
1 cup finely crumbled, stale white bread
1 pound fresh ground 80 percent lean chuck
2 teaspoons salt
Corn or vegetable oil for frying
8 white buns
Yellow mustard
This recipes makes eight burgers and requires one hour prep/refrigerator time. Place the bread, salt and meat in a large mixing bowl and blend well with hands. Form the patties by pressing a golf ball-sized wad of beef flat on a square of waxed paper with the heel of your palm. The flat patties should be a bit larger than the bun. Refrigerate patties for at least an hour (cooling the burger mix helps to keep the patties moist in the center when you deep fry). Heat 1/2 inch of oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. The oil needs to be hot (to test, toss in a small crumb of fresh bread. If the bread immediately bubbles, the oil is ready). Place one patty at a time into the oil, it should float freely. After roughly 30 seconds, flip the patty and cook for another 30 seconds. The patty's edges will crisp to brown and resemble fried chicken. Remove from the oil, drain on paper towels and serve on buns with pickle and mustard. This is a recipe from the Snappy Lunch in North Carolina.
The 'Motz Burger' with Schnack Sauce
1 pound fresh ground 80 percent lean chuck
4 white soft buns
Divide meat into quarters and form into loose balls. Place a heavy cast iron skillet over medium heat to warm for 10 minutes. Turn heat to high, wait a minute, then place the balls of beef into pan. Sprinkle some salt on the meat and press as little as possible into patty shapes using a strong spatula. Cover the pan. Cook on one side for about two minutes (no more), flip and cook for another minute and a half (do not press again). Remove from heat and place on toasted white buns (to best toast buns, butter and place in skillet over medium heat. Makes 4 quarter-pound burgers.
Schnack Sauce
1/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons grainy mustard
2 teaspoons canned Mexican chipotle (A pinch of chipotle powder can be substituted, but the canned chipotles work best)
Combine the ingredients in a food processor and blend well (mix in bowl if not using whole canned chipotles). Serve on a Motz burger. Note: This sauce is hot. If you like creamy hot things, this sauce is for you. Makes enough for eight quarter-pound burgers. This recipe came from the Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City, Queens, N.Y.
Goop Sauce, My Way
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
4 teaspoons sweet relish
4 teaspoons yellow mustard
Mix contents. Spread on your favorite burger. Makes enough for 12 burgers.
This recipe comes from Eastside Big Tom, Olympia, Wash., where it's made daily and even used by customers for French fries and Tator Tots.
If you have any recipes you would like to share you can email me at email@example.com. I'd love to have some new recipes come in for something different. I know there are a lot of good cooks out there. Happy Father's Day!


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Investors with long-ish memories will recall that Ariba, the business-to-business ecommerce network that SAP has just agreed to buy, was a dotcom IPO star of 1999: its stock surged 291 per cent on its debut, giving it a market capitalisation of $3.7bn – only just short of the $4.3bn that the German enterprise software company has agreed to pay for it 13 years later. Those were the days, Facebook investors may ruefully reflect.
Ariba had much further to go in the short period before the dotcom bubble deflated in 2000 – at one point it was worth a heady $30bn. But its longevity, before finally being snapped up by one of the companies it successfully challenged, demonstrates the durability of its underlying offering. Ariba's early potential was obviously hugely overrated at the peak of the internet boom, but it grew into that original valuation. Read more


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SAINT LEO, Fla. – Saint Leo men's swimmer Tim Olson put the finishing touches on an outstanding swimming career at Saint Leo, earning Sunshine State Conference First Team Honors, league officials announced Wednesday.
Florida Southern swept all three major awards announced Wednesday as part of the 2012 All-Sunshine State Conference Men's Swimming Team. Jeb Halfacre was named Swimmer of the Year for the second consecutive season. Luis Rojas was tabbed Freshman of the Year. Duncan Sherrard was selected Coach of the Year.
Named to the All-SSC First Team with Halfacre and Rojas were: Oskar Nordstrand (Nova Southeastern), Armin Hornikel (Nova Southeastern), Tim Olson (Saint Leo), Jonas Grundstrom (Nova Southeastern), Oscar Aldabe (Nova Southeastern), and David Humphrey (Tampa).
Voting for the Swimmer of the Year, Freshman of the Year, and Coach of the Year was conducted among coaches and sports information directors at SSC member institutions that sponsor the sport of swimming. The All-SSC Men's Swimming Team was determined by points accumulated at the SSC Swimming Championship, which was conducted Feb. 15-18 at the Long Center in Clearwater, Fla. The top eight swimmers, based on points, were named All-SSC First Team, while the next eight were named All-SSC Second Team.
Oskar Nordstrand, Nova Southeastern, Junior
Armin Hornikel, Nova Southeastern, Senior
Tim Olson, Saint Leo, Senior
Luis Rojas, Florida Southern, Freshman
Jonas Grundstrom, Nova Southeastern, Senior
Jeb Halfacre, Florida Southern, Junior
Oscar Aldabe, Nova Southeastern, Sophomore
David Humphrey, Tampa, Junior
Swimmer of the Year – Jeb Halfacre, Florida Southern
Freshman of the Year – Luis Rojas, Florida Southern
Coach of the Year – Duncan Sherrard, Florida Southern
Miguel Ferreira, Florida Southern, Junior
Norbert Kovacs, Tampa, Junior
Stephen Swan, Florida Southern, Junior
Addison Cates, Nova Southeastern, Freshman
Berk Kahramen, Tampa, Senior
Bruce Janzen, Florida Southern, Junior
Allan Gutierrez, Florida Southern, Freshman
Cameron Chambers, Nova Southeastern, Junior


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20th Century English Poetry contains over 44,000 poems by 288 poets, incorporating the Modern Poetry Collection and The Faber Poetry Library. The complete text of each poem is included, and any integral images are also scanned. Introductions and prefaces to the volumes are included, as are all notes and any prose sections. For early English poetry, see English Poetry 600-1900.
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(Posts in Category 'History')
21 Mar 2012 by Clare-Marie Grigg in Culture , History and Entertainment
Newfoundland and Labrador has an enduring Irish culture, which is why we go all out celebrating St. Patrick's day, but some of our Irish history is really quite mysterious, stretching back thousands of years...
16 Mar 2012 by Janice Goudie in Festivals & Events , Culture and History
There's one place I've always wanted to visit on St. Patrick's Day. Not because I expect to find a jolly little leprechaun with a bountiful pot of gold, but because it's the closest you can get to Ireland right here in Newfoundland and Labrador.
14 Mar 2012 by Guest Blogger in Diving , Festivals & Events , Icebergs , Culture , History and Entertainment
It's not often that mere mortals can afford to stay in the same luxurious lodgings where royalty once slept. And when those accommodations also boast intriguing links to the ocean liner Titanic, the chances seem remote indeed.
16 Jan 2012 by Janice Goudie in Nature , History , Parks and Geography
It was a day ripped straight from a Star Wars movie. There we were, heading into the wild unknown aboard our airship, all seemingly unaware of what may lay ahead.
11 Jan 2012 by Candice Walsh in Food & Dining , Nature , Culture and History
I might have mentioned once or 300 times that I grew up in central Newfoundland, and yet my jaunt around the area this past summer had many surprises in store. That's what happens when you live somewhere for 18 years: you start taking things for granted.
21 Dec 2011 by Clare-Marie Grigg in Festivals & Events , Culture , History and Entertainment
Last weekend, hundreds upon hundreds of people in St. John's paraded through the streets. Men were dressed as women, women were dressed as men. Underwear was worn as outerwear and even small children were merrily sporting bras stuffed with socks over the tops of their various layers. There were lots of ingeniously creative hobbyhorses prancing around and it was almost impossible to count the number of ugly sticks and accordions.
It's all just another Christmas in Newfoundland and Labrador.
8 Dec 2011 by Clare-Marie Grigg in Culture and History
It's almost Christmas. Have you heard?
I for one tend to get a bit twitchy when November starts to gallop towards December and public places set their sound systems to Jingle Bells 101. So I find it helps my Christmas spirit (or lackthereof) to remind myself of the good things about the season. The things that don't involve frantically running around malls full of people mowing you down to get better spots in cash register line-ups so long there should a surprise pop-up concert by Adele waiting at the end.
30 Oct 2011 by Clare-Marie Grigg in Festivals & Events , Culture , History and Entertainment
St. John's is a city that has been on the go for over 400 years. That's a whole lot of life, death, love, murder, passion, intrigue, treachery and… did I mention death? That's a whole lot of history, spilling out into the twists and turns of the narrow streets. No wonder it's a hotbed of hauntings.
30 Aug 2011 by Clare-Marie Grigg in Festivals & Events , Culture , History and Entertainment
Last week I went to catch the final performance of Hamlet – one of the 2011 Shakespeare By The Sea productions. I realize writing about this festival when it's already happened and you can't now go and see the shows (if you unfortunately missed them) is a bit of a tease, but I'm hoping this post will encourage anyone out there who's already thinking about a 2012 trip to Newfoundland and Labrador, to plan on seeing a performance or two next year.
19 Aug 2011 by Kurt Turchan in Hiking & Walking , Icebergs , Nature , Culture , History and Geography
On the last leg of their adventure, the hikers from TrailPeak.com saw the wreck of a ship from the early 1900s, whalebones, and a slew of icebergs.
18 Aug 2011 by Kurt Turchan in Hiking & Walking , Icebergs , Nature , Culture , History , Trip Planning , Geography and Top Destinations
This week, the hikers from TrailPeak.com saw 10,000-year-old icebergs, and visited historic Battle Harbour, a restored fishing village that thrived over the last three centuries.
15 Aug 2011 by Kurt Turchan in Hiking & Walking , Nature , Culture , History , Trip Planning and Geography
From waterfalls to ancient coastlines, the hikers from TrailPeak.com have seen it all over the past three days, while trekking through southern Labrador.
12 Aug 2011 by Kurt Turchan in Hiking & Walking , Whale Watching , Nature , Culture , History , Trip Planning and Geography
Check out the latest blog from Kurt at TrailPeak.com to read about the scenery, history and culture they've discovered along the south coast of Labrador.
12 Aug 2011 by Keith and Heather Nicol in Hiking & Walking , Nature and History
Fleur de Lys is located at the very northern tip of the Baie Verte Peninsula in Central Newfoundland and we were impressed with the hiking that it had to offer as well as the unique Dorset Paleoeskimo Soapstone quarry that has been discovered there.
18 Jul 2011 by Keith and Heather Nicol in Festivals & Events , Culture and History
Nurse Bennett was a true Newfoundland hero who was dedicated to serving the health care needs along Newfoundland's rugged Northern Peninsula for over 50 years beginning in 1921. She was known as the "Florence Nightingale of the North", delivered more than 700 babies and amazingly reattached logger's foot that had been severed in an accident!
6 Jun 2011 by Guest Blogger in Culture and History
Pope's Point in Badger, central Newfoundland, bears archeological evidence of nearly every culture that has ever inhabited the island: Maritime Archaic Indian, Groswater and Dorset Palaeoeskimo, Recent Indian, Beothuk and Mi'kmaq artifacts and features have either been recovered or historically recorded to have existed there at one time.
24 May 2011 by Guest Blogger in Hiking & Walking , Culture , History and Trip Planning
On the May 24th weekend, our family took a trip to the Port au Port Peninsula. We spent the night in Stephenville and then started our adventure looking at the petrified forest just outside the town....
25 Nov 2010 by Peter Bull in Hiking & Walking , Culture , History and Trip Planning
There is no shortage of hikes to take in St. John's. One of my favorites is around Signal Hill - the North Head Trail. Before starting our hike we went to the Park's interpretive center. There we learned about the many battles between the French and English that have taken place on its rocky slopes.
21 Sep 2010 by Peter Bull in Culture , History and Parks
In late August, my sons Ronan, Cormac and I took a visit to the Port au Choix, Hawke's Bay area of the Great Northern Peninsula. We started our day with a visit to Parks Canada's National Historic Site at Point Riche. The visitor center there contains many artefacts dating back over the past 5000 years. After learning about the cultural history we set out for the point's light house to take in some of the area's natural history. The shoreline at Point Riche is littered with fossils and the lads had a great time playing palaeontologist "discovering" many different kinds of petrified life forms.
10 Sep 2010 by Guest Blogger in Boat Tours , Fishing , Hiking & Walking , History and Parks
The first thing you notice is the air, scrubbed by a thousand miles of ocean and a hundred miles of evergreen forest. The spruce-scented breeze wafts along the shores of western Newfoundland filling the billowing sails of our tall ship, Concordia, and simultaneously purging our lungs of city smog. Even the tap water in Newfoundland (affectionately known as "the Rock" by locals) is so pristine you can fill your car battery with it.


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The Crap We Missed – Friday 4.15.11
Welcome to the Friday edition of The Crap We Missed where we learn that the paparazzi will not only take pictures of anyone on TV, but also dead bodies someone forced to hold a puppy. I'd say I'm offended by this, but that's less pics of Kirstie Alley and canned Teen Mom photo shoots. So basically they're doing God's work.
In the meantime, if I haven't said it enough before, your comments on these posts are the favorite part of my day, so sincere thanks to everyone who goes to town on these. Also, yes, this is just my way of buttering you up because this set doesn't have a midget in it. Not all of them reveal themselves for Reese's Pieces. Believe me, I've tried.
Auf Wiedersehen,
- The Superficial
Click Here to Start The Gallery
Photos: Bauer-Griffin, Fame, Pacific Coast News, Splash News, WENN


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Results 1 to 1 of 1
Thread: Planetside 2 for begginers
Planetside 2 for begginers
What is Planetside 2?
Planetside 2 (PS2) is an MMO-FPS of thousands of players, each chosing one of three empires, fighting over vast scales of conflict.
Think the scale of EVE with the gameplay of Battlefield.
It is also best played as part of a group. A wider context to your actions really help. Guilds of players in PS2 are called 'outfits'.
Getting Planetside 2
- Use this link: www.rockplanetshotgun.com/recruit.php
And you will be directed through SOE's recruitment process. This furnishes you with some free weapons and an XP boost.
- Or Downloaded from Steam
- Or go to www.planetside2.eu
Joining a Rock, Paper, Shotgun outfit
- Create a Vanu Sovereignty and / or a New Conglomerate character on the Miller server (EU)
- Join the semi-official RPS Mumble server (See this thread)
- Join either the New Conglomerate or Vanu Sovereignty channels and ask for an invite.
Outfits & Outings
Steam Group Here - For all outfits.
For those of you whose allegiances are guided by a love for a colour scheme that owes a debt to Dennis the Menace, then PCGamer's UK outfit is with the Terran Republic, also on the Miller server. Details here:http://www.pcgamer.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=69
Outfit tag: [RPS]
Vanu Sovereignty (empire description)
- Website: rockplanetshotgun.com
- Outfit Calendar
- Forum Thread
- Server: Miller (EU)
Regular outings:
Strategic Giraffes (Wednesdays) (7:30pm GMT)
TVA Fridays (7:30pm GMT)
Rock, Traitor,
Outfit tag: [RTRS]
New Conglomerate (empire description)
- RoTrS Steam Group
- Forum Thread
- Server: Miller (EU)
Regular outings:
Freedom Fridays (7:30pm GMT)
Sedate Saturdays (7:30pm GMT)
We usually use Mumble for voice chat on our regular outings. In-game voice chat is decent, but has a tendency to break & require a restart, and the levels can be off on occasion.
You are expected to be on Mumble when playing with us. We don't expect everyone to have or use a mic, but listening-in will give some context. You can always use the in-game text chat to communicate if you don't have a mic.
Details of the unofficial mumble server & how to join & setup are here
RPS outfit-specific info:
- Comms Etiquette & Glossary
- Mumble for Radio Operators (This allows you to report-in to the platoon leader from your squad.)
- Mumble for Platoon Leaders
New Player advice
In all honesty, the "New Player Experience" is currently a bit crap. Planetside 2 is also not the most intuitive game; the hundreds of icons on your HUD, reading the continent maps, working out where to go & what to do are not always particualrly obvious.
Your best bet if you are jumping in for the first time is to join one of the regular outings and ask questions.
Here, though, are some resources that might help:
Planetside 2 Wiki:
Video tutorials:
Wrel's intro video
Slightly out of date, but quick & basic intro to PS2
Detailed intros:
The [RPS] Certification guide
Empires & Classes
Menus, Finding fights, Map & Resources
Ground Vehicles
Air Vehicles
Last edited by Cooper; 25-05-2014 at 11:15 PM."KING GEORGE IS A FROG
le BANG~__-MICHEAL FUCK OFF~~__-INTERPOL KNOW YOU WELLBIENG~


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i think it should be named for Thanatos the god of death because when people think of Pluto they think of the underworld which makes them think of death. plus he is Nix's son. i really don't want Persephone because she has nothing to do with Pluto except she is his wife and she didn't even choose that. she's the goddess of spring for goodness sake.
oh and when i said i want it to be named Thanatos i mean Thanatos not his Roman equivalent Mors. i hate that everyone knows the Roman gods and not the Greek ones. just because Rome was better at conquering lands and being an empire doesn't mean they're better than Greece. actually the Greeks were better at all the other stuff like voting and managing not to kill all their kings. they were also better at religion. they thought of all the major deities and the Romans just stole it from them. they also thought of most of the legends and myths which the Romans just copied. sure the Romans had way more gods but that's just because they copied all the Greek ones.
whether you agree or disagree with me, please reply. thanks


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Heading home…
I'll be heading home in a couple hours since that is when the science ends and the political firestorm takes off. I don't totally regret that I'm going home for the really interesting part though since I wouldn't be able to see it if I were here anyway. Denmark seems to have underestimated the number of delegates that this conference would draw while overestimating the size of their facility. The Bella center, as beautiful as it is, has a capacity of 15,000. With 5,000 members of the press and an influx of many thousands of party delegates inbound in the coming days, there is very little room for the ~20,000 NGO delegates. Each delegation is being given a small handful of secondary badges that will be needed from today on. Connie Hedegaard met with all of the NGO delegates yesterday and first asked us to not let up on the pressure, and then qualified that in response to a question with the apology that it'll be so much harder to do that once the NGO delegate allotment vanishes in response. Again, a question answered so tactfully that I forgot the main reason people are grumpy is that we've been put in too small of a facility.
That said, I do wish there were a way I could sit in on the 16th of December speeches. They'll go from noon to roughly 2 a.m. on the 17th… but how awesome would it be to hear a litany of speeches on climate change from some of the most powerful and controversial people of our era. The speaker list seems to change every day, but right now it includes Hugo Chavez, Jose Manuel Barroso, Saad Harriri, Felipe Calderon, Kevin Rudd, Wen Jiabao, Hosny Mubarak, Prince Albert II of Monaco (winner of the Roger Revelle Prize at Scripps and advocate of ocean acidification research), Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Luiz da Silva, Myung-bak Lee, Zapatero, Nicolas Sarkozy, Silvio Berlusconi, Hsien Loong Lee, and Gloria Arroyo. The number of other heads of state speaking are really too numerous to count… these are just the names that I recognize from listening to NPR too much… I'm not sure if Berlusconi is on the list still and I didn't check yesterday.
Yesterday saw the walkout of the G77 and a bizarre hoax played on Canada.
Also I was lucky enough to be present when two people from countries that don't officially exist had a conversation over lunch. A girl from the British Virgin Islands was talking to me, Grant, and another girl from Taiwan about how her country was in a tough spot… as part of Britain they are an "Annex 1," or rich, country, but as a developing island region they hardly have the resources to battle sea level rise much less reduce their own emissions. The assumption under Kyoto was that Britain would help, but, if I understood correctly, her region has so far seen 20,000 pounds from the mainland on this issue. The girl from Taiwan then pointed out that she was in the equal and opposite situation… as a developed region that was lumped officially into China under Kyoto her region had no emission reduction responsibility under Kyoto.
Ok, I'm headed home now. Good luck Copenhagen!
–Brendan Carter, Scripps Oceanography graduate student


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Little is known about the rate of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in patients with end stage lung disease (ESLD). Given the potential deleterious effect of OSA in these patients, we assessed the case-rate and severity of OSA and described associated patient characteristics.
Retrospective survey of 60 patients with ESLD referred for lung transplantation evaluation. Demographic, polysomnographic, spirometric, and medication utilization data were extracted and analyzed.
As demographic and polysomnographic data did not differ between obstructive and restrictive patients, we present analysis of pooled data. Demographics/physiology: median age was 58.5 years, 52% males, mean BMI 32.3 kg/m2, 52% obstructive. Sleep variables (all medians): total sleep time (TST) 312 min, sleep efficiency 77%, minimal oxygen saturation 84%, apnea hypopnea (AHI) 9.7, respiratory disturbance index (RDI) 12.7 events/h of sleep. Sixty-seven percent had RDI > 5; 21% had RDI between 15 and 30; and 21% had RDI > 30. Periodic limb movement index ≥ 15/h sleep was present in 21.7%. An independent positive correlation between DLCO% and RDI was noted (r = 0.41, p < 0.01). The minimal oxygen saturation was negatively correlated with the RDI (r = -0.34, p < 0.01). The use of ACE inhibitors was associated with moderate-to-severe OSA (odd ratio of 4.67, CI 1.45-15.03; p = 0.017).
In patients with ESLD, organic sleep disorders are common. Greater severity of OSA was associated with the higher DLCO% and lower oxygen saturation.
End-stage lung disease, sleep apnea, obstructive lung disease, restrictive lung disease, diffusion capacity, lung transplantation, sleep disorders, oxygen saturation
Romem A; Iacono A; McIlmoyle E; Patel KP; Reed RM; Verceles AC; Scharf SM. Obstructive sleep apnea in patients with end-stage lung disease. J Clin Sleep Med 2013;9(7):687-693.
Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) describes a group of disorders of respiratory pattern or ventilation during sleep. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common subtype.1 Prevalence estimates of OSA vary widely, depending upon definition used and population studied. In the general population, prevalence estimates range from 5% to 22%.2–4
Several reports have assessed the epidemiologic relationship between chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and OSA.5–7 Most data suggest that the prevalence of OSA in patients with COPD is similar to that of the general population, but previously studied cohorts include very few subjects with advanced lung disease. Patients undergoing evaluation for lung transplantation constitute a cohort of well-characterized subjects with advanced lung disease. Few studies have looked at the case rate of OSA in patients with ESLD being evaluated for lung transplantation. In one study of 50 patients with ILD, there was a high prevalence of OSA (88%).9 Both end-stage lung disease (ESLD) and OSA have been associated with decreased health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and important comorbidities.10–12 If the rate of OSA in ESLD patients is substantial, some of the associated changes in HRQOL and comorbidities could be due to the presence of concomitant OSA. In view of the scarcity of data on the case rate of OSA in patients with ESLD and a possible association between OSA and multiple comorbidities as well as poor HRQOL, we performed a retrospective review of patients with ESLD referred to our lung transplant service for evaluation. We hypothesized that OSA is common in this patient group. We also compared the frequency of OSA between patients with COPD and those with restrictive lung disease due to interstitial lung disease (ILD).
Current Knowledge/Study Rationale: The concomitant presence of organic sleep disorders including sleep disordered breathing (SDB) and periodic limb movement disorder (PLMD) could impact the quality of life and prognosis of patients with end-stage lung disease. Currently there are few reports on the prevalence of SDB and PLMD in such patients being evaluated for lung transplantation.
Study Impact: This study demonstrates a high prevalence of SDB and PLMD in patients with end-stage lung disease whether obstructive or restrictive, in a lung transplant clinic. Patients being evaluated for lung transplant should be evaluated for organic sleep disorders.
In this study, we retrospectively reviewed the archived data of 60 subjects with ESLD referred for initial lung transplantation evaluation to the lung transplant clinic of the University of Maryland. As part of the clinic protocol, patients being evaluated for lung transplant underwent polysomnography (PSG) in the sleep disorders center of the University of Maryland, regardless of preexisting risk factors for OSA. Patients also underwent pulmonary function testing (PFT) as well as extensive clinical evaluation. Demographic, polysomnographic, spirometric characteristics, comorbidities, and medication utilization data were extracted from patient records. Patients with Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) scores ≥ 10 were considered to have excessive daytime sleepiness.13 Comorbidities presented are those present in ≥ 20% of the cohort. The University of Maryland School of Medicine Institutional Review Board approved this protocol.
Spirometry (FEV1, FVC; FEV1/FVC ratio), measurement of static lung volumes (total lung capacity [TLC] by body box plethysmography) and measurement of diffusion capacity of the lung for carbon monoxide (DLCO% predicted) by the single-breath technique were performed (Vmax22, SensorMedics, Yorba Linda, CA, USA), with the patient in the seated position according to approved standards.14
Subjects with a ventilatory defect (defined as FEV1 < 70% predicted) were included. Subjects were categorized into obstructive (FEV1/FVC ratio < 70%, TLC > 80% predicted) or restrictive (FEV1/FVC > 70% and TLC < 80% predicted) disease.
All PSGs included ≥ 6 h of overnight sleep in an American Academy of Sleep Medicine accredited sleep laboratory. The PSGs were performed according to commonly accepted clinical standards.15,16 The montage included encephalogram leads O1A2, O2A1, C1A2, C2A1, F1A2, F2A1; electromyogram leads for left eye, right eye, submentalis, and leg (left and right separately), electrocardiogram, and respiratory status measures by nasal airflow (nasal air pressure) and oronasal airflow (thermistor, used for backup), rib cage and abdominal respiratory effort (respiratory impedance plethysmographs), and pulse oximetry. Sleep scoring was done in 30-sec epochs according to the system of Rechtschaffen and Kales,17 as modified by the 2007 AASM scoring manual.18
Respiratory events were scored according to the 2007 AASM scoring manual.18 Obstructive apneas were scored where there was a decrease in nasal airflow to < 10% of baseline for ≥ 10 s with continued respiratory effort. Obstructive hypopneas were scored as a decrease in nasal airflow by 50% to 90% of baseline accompanied by oxygen desaturation > 4% for 10 s with continued respiratory effort. Respiratory event-related arousals (RERAs) were scored as a decrease in airflow by 30% to 90% accompanied by ≥ 3% decrease in oxygen saturation and/or a terminal arousal. Severity of SDB was quantified in two ways. First, we calculated the respiratory disturbance index (RDI), equal to the sum of apneas, hypopneas, and RERAs per hour of sleep. Second, we calculated the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI, equal to the sum of apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep). For primary clinical purposes, the severity of OSA was defined as follows: "mild" = RDI 5-14.9, "moderate" RDI 15-29.9, and "severe" = RDI ≥ 30. Other PSG diagnoses were scored according to the AASM manual.18 Patients used oxygen during their PSG testing if ordered by their referring physician.
Categorical variables are reported as counts and percentages, and were analyzed by using the Fisher exact test. For continuous variables, Gaussian distribution was evaluated by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test. Normally distributed variables are presented as mean (standard deviation), and non-normally distributed variables are presented as median (interquartile range). Between-group comparisons employed non-paired t-tests for normally distributed variables and a Mann-Whitney rank sum test for skewed variables. The association between medication use and SDB was assessed with univariate logistic regression. Bivariate linear regression analyses were used to assess the association between clinical correlates with SDB. The following independent variables were tested: body mass index (BMI), DLCO%, and PSG measures of sleep architecture and indices of oxygen saturation. In addition, backward stepwise multivariate regression analyses were conducted while treating AHI/RDI as a dependent variable. Independent variables were chosen if the bivariate associations were significant. For all comparisons, a two-tailed p < 0.05 was considered significant. SigmaPlot 12.0 (Systat Software Inc., San Jose, CA) was used for all analyses and graph production.
Subject characteristics are summarized in Table 1. Sixty subjects meeting inclusion criteria were identified. Comparison based on their primary ventilatory defect (obstructive versus restrictive) showed similar demographic indices (age, gender distribution, BMI, ESS, and supplemental oxygen use) and major comorbid conditions (Tables 1, 2). The combined patient group was characterized by a median age of 58.5 years, BMI of 32.3, equally balanced gender distribution (52% male), and a median ESS of 9. Half the subjects were on home supplemental oxygen treatment, and 40% used supplemental oxygen during their overnight polysomnography.
Demographic, medication, and pulmonary function testing (PFT) characteristics according to underlying breathing abnormality
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Major comorbid conditions grouped by ventilator defect and RDI
No difference was noted in DLCO% predicted between the obstructive and restrictive subgroups. Both groups included mostly patients with severely diminished pulmonary function as indicated by a low FEV1 < 50% predicted and/or DLCO% < 40% predicted.19
The use of antihypertensive medications and systemic steroid use was equally distributed between both obstructive and restrictive patient groups (Table 1). Inhaled medication use was significantly more common in the obstructive group.
PSG data are summarized in Table 3. None of the variables differed between the obstructive and restrictive groups. Hence, for further analysis, we have pooled the data for the entire cohort. Median sleep efficiency was reduced, with half the patients demonstrating sleep efficiency < 77.3%. Slow wave and REM sleep were also severely reduced. Sleep onset latency was slightly increased. The median AHI (9.7) and RDI (12.7) were in the mild range. Forty of 60 subjects (67%) had OSA, as defined by an RDI > 5/h (Figure 1). Fourteen (23%) had mild OSA and 26 (43%) had moderate-to-severe OSA (RDI > 15/h). Periodic leg movement index (PLMI) was elevated (> 15/h) in 13 patients (21.7%), with no differences between obstructive and restrictive patients. Time with oxygen saturation below 90% (T90%) was 17.7% ± 22.6% of total sleep time, with a median minimal saturation of 84%.
Sleep architecture characteristics according to underlying breathing abnormality
OSA as defined by an AHI or RDI ≥ 5 events/h was prevalent among 60% and 68% of the subjects (n = 60) respectively.
Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea according to severityOSA as defined by an AHI or RDI ≥ 5 events/h was prevalent among 60% and 68% of the subjects (n = 60) respectively.
Table 4 summarizes the observed correlations to RDI and AHI. RDI and AHI correlated positively to both predicted FEV1% and predicted DLCO% values (p < 0.05 and p < 0.01, respectively). RDI and AHI were inversely correlated with the minimal oxygen saturation value (p < 0.01) and the percentage of time spent in slow wave sleep (p < 0.01). Subgroup analysis of subjects who had PSG done with and without supplemental oxygen showed persistence of these associations. Neither the Epworth score nor any of the other spirometric values correlated with the RDI or AHI. None of the major comorbid conditions was associated with an RDI ≥ 5/h (Table 2). No association could be found between the PLMI and the AHI, RDI, or ESS.
Univariate coefficients of correlation between sleep disordered breathing indices and demographic, spiro-metric, and polysomnographic variables
Multivariable modeling included a backward stepwise regression using significant predictors from Table 4 was performed. Only DLCO% and minimum O2 saturation were found to be significant predictors (p = 0.013 and p = 0.023, respectively) of RDI (Figures 2 and 3, respectively) and AHI (p = 0.034 and p = 0.023, respectively). A multi-linear regression model incorporating the above predictors generated the following equations:
For linear regression: RDI = -3.653 + (0.626 × DCO%); r = 0.410; p = 0.002.
Bivariate correlation between RDI and CO diffusion capacity (DCO)For linear regression: RDI = -3.653 + (0.626 × DCO%); r = 0.410; p = 0.002.
For linear regression: RDI = 89.934 − (0.850 × minsat); r = -0.341; p = 0.008.
Bivariate correlation between RDI and minimal O2 saturation during polysomnographyFor linear regression: RDI = 89.934 − (0.850 × minsat); r = -0.341; p = 0.008.
The use of ACE inhibitors was strongly associated with the occurrence of moderate-to-severe OSA (odd ratio of 4.67 CI 1.45-15.03; p = 0.017). This association was not evident for any other antihypertensive medications, including angiotensin receptor blockers. Only patients with hypertension received ACE inhibitors. Also, the association between ACE inhibitors and the occurrence of moderate-to-severe OSA was independent of comorbid conditions and BMI.
In this study of patients with ESLD, we demonstrated a high rate of sleep fragmentation, OSA, and PLM disorder. Factors such as BMI and ESS failed to predict OSA in patients with ESLD. Conversely, higher DLCO% and lower saturation during sleep correlated to higher RDI and AHI. In the ensuing discussion we consider these findings in the light of the currently available literature.
Few studies on sleep disorders have been directed at patients with ESLD. The majority (67%) of the patients had obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) as defined by an RDI ≥ 5 events per hour, with 23 of 40 (57.5%) subjects diagnosed with moderate-to severe OSA (RDI ≥ 15/h). No difference in the case rate of OSA was noted between the "obstructive" group and the "restrictive" group, despite the inherent differences in the underlying respiratory mechanical abnormalities. These facts underscore the complexity and yet poorly understood etiology of OSA among subjects with lung diseases.
We note that the median BMI among our patients was high. Patients with higher BMIs are known to have an increased incidence of OSA.23 Since we did not have a control group matched for BMI, we cannot say that the rate of OSA was higher than would be expected on the basis of BMI alone. The effect of age on polysomnographic respiratory abnormalities in healthy individuals was previously reported by Pavlova et al.,24 who showed a positive correlation between age and RDI with an average RDI of 12.8/h in the 50-65 year age range. Thus, it is possible that part of the high prevalence of sleep disordered breathing reported here is related to the age of the patients we evaluated. Prior reports of lung disease patients including COPD, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), and patients on the waiting list for lung transplantation reported different frequencies of OSA. Some of these are reviewed in Table 5. Depending on the definition of sleep disordered breathing and differences in population base, rates of 14% to 88% have been reported in patients with ESLD. The reasons for differences between reported prevalence estimates between studies are likely attributable to differences in patient selection, techniques, scoring criteria, definitions, and severity of lung disease.
Previously reported prevalences of OSA in lung disease patients (polysomnographic recordings)
The potential to predict the occurrence of OSA in patients with advanced lung disease would facilitate more effective and efficient screening of this growing patient population. In our study, associations were found between OSA (as indicated by higher AHI/RDI scores) and multiple physiological parameters, including higher DLCO%, lower oxygen saturations during sleep, and percent of total sleep time spent in slow wave sleep. Though all of the above parameters have been found to correlate with OSA in previous studies, only DLCO% and minimal oxygen saturation remained independent predictors in the multivariate analyses. High rates of nocturnal oxygen de-saturation have been described extensively in both COPD and ILD patients,25,26 being further deranged among those with superimposed OSA. The concept of predicting OSA by overnight pulse oximetry to monitor severity of nocturnal oxygen desatu-ration was thoroughly reviewed by Netzer et al.27 Those authors concluded that overnight pulse oximetry is a useful tool for the screening for OSA, although they did not specifically consider patients with ESLD. Our study is consistent with the notion that OSA and ESLD have additive negative effects on oxygenation, and that indices of oxygenation could be useful for prescreening patients with OSA being considered for lung transplant. Interestingly, the association between minimum saturation and RDI was also present in those patients receiving oxygen at night.
The reasons for the direct correlation between DLCO% and OSA are not clear. This could be explained by a number of factors. Keens et al.28 have shown that adding external resistance during inspiration leads to an increase in DLCO in normal subjects. Therefore, increased inspiratory airflow resistance, typical of OSA patients,29 could have resulted in improved DLCO. It is possible that increased inspiratory effort associated with increased upper airways resistance leads to increased pulmonary capillary volume, both related to increases in venous return and increased afterloading of the left ventricle,30 hence leading to improved DLCO with worse OSA. Elevated DLCO has been reported in adults with increased BMI,31 although these findings are not universal.32 It is also possible that in ESLD capillary destruction (lower DLCO), results in a greater degree of intermittent hypoxemia, which in turn could lead to increased respiratory drive (peripheral chemoreceptors), including the abductors of the upper airway—thus providing some protection from OSA. Hence, with worsening DLCO the severity of OSA might have been mitigated, as we observed (Figure 2).
Excessive sleepiness as assessed by the ESS did not correlate with severity or the occurrence of OSA. The reasons for the dissociation between excessive sleepiness and severity of OSA are not clear. Others have also demonstrated that the ESS is a poor predictor of the severity of sleep disorders and that the ESS may not reflect sleepiness measured objectively.33 It is possible that sympathetic hyperstimulation, or anxiety could induce a "hyperalert" state, thereby diminishing the extent of perceived sleepiness. In their study of sleep quality in patients with COPD, Scharf et al.34 found that in spite of a high incidence of self-reported poor sleep quality and insufficient sleep, few patients had excessive sleepiness as measured by ESS. These authors speculated that these patients also had a "hyperalert" state.
Intriguingly, we found a significant and substantial positive association between moderate-severe OSA and the use of an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (odds ratio 4.67). This association did not exist for other antihypertensive medication categories. While possibly due to chance, these findings are in agreement with those of Cicolin et al.35 who, in a small case series, showed that withdrawal of ACE inhibitors can lead to a significant decrease in AHI. These findings led the authors to suggest that through inhibition of degradation of bradykinin, ACE inhibitors induced vasodilatation and plasma extravasation in the upper airway in turn increasing the propensity for OSA.
We failed to find that the presence of any particular RDI cutoff was predictive of the occurrence of self-reported hypertension. The association between OSA and hypertension is well established.36 In our cohort, it is possible that confounding factors such as obesity and the presence of lung disease may have weakened the association between hypertension and OSA, so that it was not detected in our small cohort.
Finally, the finding of the high prevalence of sleep disordered breathing in patients with end-stage lung disease might appear surprising. The association between lung disease and OSA could be related to the release of proinflammatory cytokines due to the underlying lung inflammation with subsequent edema and swelling of the upper airway, which would increase the likelihood for OSA. Alternatively, during OSA there is release of cytokines and oxidant stress, which could have accelerated the progression of the underlying lung.37
Our study has several limitations. It is limited by its relatively small size and its retrospective nature. Furthermore, clinical necessity mandated the use of supplemental oxygen during the overnight sleep study in a large portion of our study population, potentially masking hypoxic episodes and leading to underestimation of the true prevalence of nocturnal oxygen desaturation—a critical determinant of hypopnea definition.
In summary, we observed a high case rate of OSA among a group of patients with advanced lung disease, irrespective of underlying etiology or subjective symptoms of excessive sleepiness. Diagnosis of OSA could well lead to improved quality of life, better perioperative management, and possibly improved course of the underlying disease.38 Additional studies will be necessary to further understand the true prevalence of OSA in advanced lung disease and its consequences, as well as the effects of treatment of OSA. There is a large disease burden borne by patients with ESLD. Addressing a common and underdiagnosed comorbidity such as OSA would appear to be an important component of their evaluation. Our study suggests that OSA is common in patients with ESLD, and therefore these patients might benefit from OSA screening with overnight polysomnography.
This was not an industry supported study. The authors have indicated no financial conflicts of interest.
The study was performed at the University of Maryland Medical Center.
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THE funeral of a fun-loving young Blackburn man who died in a snowboarding accident is due to be held on Monday.
Michael Handley, 20, was killed following a tragic accident on the slopes at French alpine sports resort Les Deux Alpes on February 20.
An experienced snowboarder, Michael hit his head after landing badly on a route that he had taken many times before.
A requiem mass will be held at St Albans Church at 10am prior to cremation at Pleasington.
A memorial fund has been set up in his name and so the family ask that anyone who wanted to send flowers make a donation to the fund which will be split between Peloton de Gendarmerie (Helicopter rescue) and Maison Familiale Hospitaliere.


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A highly paid manager doing his duty for the nation resigns in a huff after his ultimate paymasters interfere with his right to manage. Fabio Capello, manager of the England football team, has done what Stephen Hester, chief executive of state-controlled Royal Bank of Scotland, declined to do.
Mr Hester – who spent most of Wednesday doing interviews to explain his decision to stay, despite the row over his bonus – has told the world that it would have been "indulgent" to resign. At the same time, he has sent a strong message to the government that if it wants to earn a return on the taxpayer's £45bn forced investment in RBS, it should leave him alone.
To use Mr Hester's terminology (and assuming that the England manager jumped and wasn't pushed), by comparison, Mr Capello's decision looks, frankly, indulgent. If the FT's Simon Kuper is right, the resignation has less to do with the Football Association's decision to override his view on whether John Terry should keep the England captaincy, and more to do with England's poor prospects in the coming Euro 2012 tournament and the potential that it would put a blot on Mr Capello's reputation. Read more


text:
Giants stumble in Bay Bridge Series opener
Offense shut down by A's Chavez; hit batters, errors prove costly
OAKLAND -- The Giants understood how their 5-0 loss to the Oakland A's developed Monday night.
Just a few weeks ago, they were the ones administering such setbacks.
During their 31-11 surge that spanned late April through early June, the Giants seized upon opponents' mistakes, committed relatively few of their own and maintained an unshakable confidence that matters ultimately would turn in their favor.
None of this was the case for the Giants in the opener of a four-game, home-and-home series against their cross-bay Interleague rivals. A tight contest eroded into a one-sided affair with each adverse event that befell the Giants.
San Francisco absorbed its fourth shutout loss in eight games. That's an alarming rate, even with leadoff catalyst Angel Pagan sidelined and cleanup hitter Pablo Sandoval recovering from a bruised left elbow.
Asked if he regarded the club's inability to score as stunning, Giants first baseman Brandon Belt said, "It is, honestly, with the talent we have on this team. We're not playing well right now. We have to figure out something to pick it up."
Giants manager Bruce Bochy agreed that the absences shouldn't be an all-encompassing excuse.
"We're throwing a pretty good lineup out there, a lineup that shouldn't get shut out as much as we have the last couple of weeks," he said.
Bochy outlined the formula for a turnaround.
"I think more than anything [it's] getting back to who we were," he said. "We were a team that kept the line moving and everybody was doing something to make a contribution. We have some guys who are cold with the bats. It's hard to keep things moving when it gets like that."
A's starter Jesse Chavez (7-5), who allowed nine runs over 10 innings in his previous two starts, reversed that trend by limiting the Giants to four singles in six innings. He tied a career high by striking out nine, including five batters looking.
The Giants had won six of the previous seven road games started by Ryan Vogelsong (5-6), who was locked in a scoreless tie with Chavez and the A's through four innings.
The A's then opened the scoring in the fifth without hitting a ball out of the infield. Vogelsong hit Craig Gentry with a pitch, a call that Bochy unsuccessfully challenged. Gentry stole second base and advanced to third on Coco Crisp's deft bunt, which was meant to be a sacrifice but became a single. John Jaso's groundout sent home Gentry.
Alberto Callaspo's two-run, sixth-inning double off Juan Gutierrez extended Oakland's lead. The uprising began when umpires ruled that Vogelsong hit Josh Donaldson with a pitch, after the 1-2 delivery was initially called a foul ball. Donaldson brandished a swollen left hand, which apparently swayed the umpires. Bochy later pointed out that Donaldson could have hurt his hand during batting practice or at another earlier juncture.
Vogelsong vanished after yielding Jed Lowrie's one-out single. In came Gutierrez, whose first pitch Callaspo hammered. But Bochy dwelled on the revised Donaldson ruling.
"That turned out to be a big call," he said. "We had a good game going on until all that happened. Then things went awry. Once that call got changed, a couple of hits later, we're down three."
A's manager Bob Melvin acknowledged the Donaldson decision's importance: "I felt like he didn't swing, so that ended up being a big play to put him on base there."
A pair of seventh-inning throwing errors by shortstop Brandon Crawford set up Brandon Moss' sacrifice fly and Donaldson's RBI single, enabling the A's to add a pair of unearned runs.
Bochy absolved Crawford from any blame.
"He's won too many games for us," Bochy said, praising Crawford's defensive skill.
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Haft-Baked Ideas, and follow him on Twitter at @sfgiantsbeat. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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The challenge: Managing and maintaining traditional software development infrastructures. The world is becoming increasingly instrumented, interconnected and intelligent. In turn, software development and delivery teams are being asked to respond to changes in the marketplace more quickly—but with fewer resources and while delivering more value. Today, geographically dispersed teams are being asked to continually deliver new and innovative products to the marketplace faster and faster, and software is increasingly the key differentiator in those smarter products. Software developers and delivery professionals need to create quality software quickly and efficiently, while many are also wearing many hats—performing administrative duties in addition to managing an ever-expanding technology infrastructure that supports an increasing number of business responsibilities. As a result, IT staff spend more time acquiring, configuring and managing environments quickly and cost effectively for the software development life cycle than they spend actually developing and delivering software.
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Yep, That image is the only reason I want a macbook pro.
MacBook Air! Ftw!
It seems petty but legally they have a claim. Why not get paid for a mistake by one of the largest companies in the world? Prolly make more off this hiccup than their whole artistic career.
Apple is winning this case trust me
I hope the artist gets his fair share.
the photographer is due compensation. maybe not a percentage of profits, that's a little silly, but apple should absolutely be paying the photographer for the use of the photograph that goes outside the boundaries of the original license. Apple used the photo for a use not covered by the license. that's wrong to do to the photographer. i used to write a lot of music for tv commercials. if i'd written a piece that was only supposed to be used for an internet promo, but then i saw it on a national television spot, i'd pursue monetary compensation. it's not easy for creative professionals to make a living when larger corporations try to rip them off and get something for nothing. it's not like apple can't afford to license a damn photograph.
what goes around and comes around
I've never seen that one. I thought they were using the stupid zebras?
Apple used someone else's work without permission or compensation. This person has every right to sue.
Some of Apples cases are on the grounds that other companies use apple technologies without asking, Apple is doing the exact same thing.
The best thing that ever could happen to this photographers is that mistake


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|By Marketwired .
Article Rating:
|March 31, 2014 09:04 AM EDT
SAN FRANCISCO, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 03/31/14 -- Midokura, a global company focused on network virtualization, today announced that Midokura and Softbank Telecom started the collaborative project where Softbank Telecom will define and build network virtualization design using MidoNet, Midokura's network virtualization platform.
As new business applications are developed and released to the market, enterprise IT infrastructure has seen a need to be more flexible and agile. In addition, to avoid vendor lock-in, they see an increasing need for using open-source based components and standardized software.
Softbank Telecom, one of the major telecom and cloud providers in the world, needs to build an IT infrastructure to satisfy these requirements to continue leading the industry. Softbank Telecom's initiative, which is called the "IT infrastructure standardization project," aims to build the IT infrastructure, which enables fast and agile new service development. In addition, Softbank Telecom will leverage the initiative to expand its cloud services.
MidoNet is a software-based, highly distributed, network virtualization system that allows enterprises and service providers to build, run, and manage virtual networks with increased control and flexibility. Using industry standards and leveraging existing physical infrastructure, MidoNet reduces costs and improves stability, scalability and performance of networks.
Softbank Telecom has built a testing environment by using OpenStack, an open source cloud management system, with MidoNet to start functional and performance evaluation.
The collaboration with Softbank Telecom enables Midokura to gain experience of building Telecom-grade IT infrastructure with an open architecture where IT resources are fully virtualized and automated. Softbank Telecom aims to implement OpenStack and MidoNet for its cloud services and solution service offerings in the future based on the result of this phase in the project.
Tweet This: .@SoftBank Telecom and @Midokura Collaborate on SoftBank's Initiative, 'IT Infrastructure Standardization Project' http://bit.ly/1gpREMe
About Midokura
Midokura is a global company focused on network virtualization. Founded in 2010, the team has a pedigree including Amazon and Google, and has spent more than three years building MidoNet, a complete overlay network virtualization solution that integrates with cloud platforms, such as OpenStack. Midokura has offices in San Francisco, Tokyo and Barcelona, and is on the web at http://www.midokura.com. Follow us on twitter: @midokura
All trademarks and registered trademarks are the property of their respective owners.
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Nigeria's tourism minister visits South Africa
Nigeria is a major growth market for our destination. We saw monumental tourist arrivals growth of 37.5% from Nigeria in 2011 and arrivals from Nigeria grew a further 28.7% in the 1st 4 months of this year.
The meeting between the tourism ministers of Nigeria and South Africa follows an invitation from Tourism Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk to his Nigerian counterpart, Chief Edem Duke, for an official 4-day visit to South Africa.
The wide-ranging agreement covers interaction between tourism and travel officials, the exchange of tourism research and statistics, human resource development, investment, exchange programmes, joint marketing, entry formalities, environmental matters, and the establishment of a joint commission.
Duke said it was Nigeria's aim to continue to forge partnerships and working relationships between Nigeria and South Africa. 'We want to further boost and grow our tourism sectors to provide employment opportunities as well as contribute a significant percentage to the economies of our nations,' he said.
He added that Nigeria and South Africa had partnered in areas such as telecommunications, media, tourism and aviation.
'This has led to more than US$3-billion in trade volume between South Africa and Nigeria and there is great potential for both countries to not only to maintain this mutual and symbiotic relationship, but to up the ante too,' he said.
Van Schalkwyk said South Africa's relationship with Nigeria was one of deep friendship, a strong partnership and a united determination to grow tourist arrivals not only to the 2 destinations, but to the entire African region.
'Nigeria is a major growth market for our destination. We saw monumental tourist arrivals growth of 37.5% from Nigeria in 2011 and arrivals from Nigeria grew a further 28.7% in the 1st 4 months of this year,' he said.
During his 4-day trip, Duke joined Van Schalkwyk at the launch of South Africa's Tourism Month at the Getaway Show on 31 August 2012. Duke is also visiting Cape Town, where his delegation will be treated to a host of leisure activities.


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Topic: Financial assistance
Hi all,
I often receive e-mails and phone calls asking for financial assistance. I remember very well looking over Mark's bills and frequently being shocked.
The foundation is not set up to assist in this way right now, but we hope as we grow we will be able to do this. I'm wondering if any of you have received financial assistance through any of the national cancer foundations or any other source? I'm not looking for information on local assistance that you have received, unless the organization does so in all of the states.
There is a lot of information posted on our site and other sites about different organizations you can look to for assistance. However, I'm wondering if anyone has actually received financial assistance specifically for their medical care with cholangiocarcinoma.
I would like to be able to pass on specific information when patients contact me.


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If you are a VMware virtualization administrator and haven't been indoctrinated yet into the use of "flings," perhaps it's time you climbed on board. There is a community repository filled with golden nuggets created by VMware-employed developers and engineers -- and yes, they are offered for the low, low price of free.
We've spoken about these free VMware virtualization plug-ins in the past. They are conveniently located within the online VMware Labs, where VMware engineers are empowered to get creative by developing cool and useful tools that are not yet part of any official product by VMware. Flings are shared with VMware's community of users free of charge, but come with no official support by the company, as they are experimental and offered under Technical Preview and open source licensing.
[ Also on InfoWorld.com: Read about how the virtualization blogosphere launched a virtual "Occupy VMware" campaign. | Learn how VMware may be losing dominance in the server virtualization market. | Keep up on virtualization by signing up for InfoWorld's Virtualization newsletter. ]
Remember, these are plug-in tools meant to fill in the gaps, not production-ready enterprise applications. They include recently launched useful tools such as PXE Manager for vCenter, a management tool designed to support automatic PXE boot (network boot using preboot execution environment) and automatic customization of large numbers of VMware ESXi systems, as well as vCenter XVP Manager and Converter, a fling to help provide basic virtualization management capabilities for non-vSphere hypervisor platforms, such as Microsoft Hyper-V, from within a vSphere Client.
VMware Labs added two new interesting flings to the list this month: I/O Analyzer and ESX System Analyzer.
I/O Analyzer is a 555MB virtual appliance that offers a simple and standardized way of measuring storage performance in a VMware vSphere virtualized environment. I/O Analyzer automates the traditional storage performance analysis cycle and helps reduce the amount of time it takes to perform a diagnosis from days to hours. The tool was designed to minimize burdens and mistakes in I/O benchmarking and help with basic I/O performance troubleshooting in virtualized environments. Some of the features include:
- An integrated framework for storage performance testing
- Easily configured and launched I/O tests on multiple hosts
- A view of integrated performance results at both guest and host levels
- Easily exported performance data for off-site analysis


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Meet Schedule
PHILADELPHIA - Friday will mark the first meet for the University of Pennsylvania men's and women's track and field teams under the guidance of Director of Track & Field/Cross Country, Steve Dolan. The 2012-13 campaign opens in Bethlehem, Pa., for the Lehigh Invitational.
All field events will begin at 5 p.m., while the track events start with the men's 60-meter hurdles at 5:30 p.m. The season-opening meet will conclude with the women's 4x400 relay at 10:20 p.m.
Last season, the Penn men sent four to the NCAA Outdoor Championships in June and two of those Quakers return for the 2012-13 season. Jacob Brenza, who owns the third-best outdoor shot put toss in school history, and Maalik Reynolds, a three-time All-American in the high jump, both enter their junior seasons in the Red and Blue. The women also return two NCAA Outdoor qualifiers in seniors Jillian Hart and Morgan Wheeler, as well as Gabrielle Piper, the school record-holder and defending Heps champion in the indoor 60-meter hurdles.
In last year's season opener at Bucknell, the women were led by then-senior Catherine Okoukoni, who won the triple jump and long jump, while a freshman made the school record books. Lydia Ali made the biggest splash in her collegiate debut with the third-fastest time in school history. She finished as the runner-up with a time of 7.66.
This will mark the second straight year the men open at Lehigh. Four Quakers posted wins to start the indoor season as Reynolds, Brenza, Thomas Tallerico (1,000 meters) and Tom Timmins (400 meters) won their respective events in addition to a victory from the 4x400 relay.
A full recap will be available at PennAthletics.com shortly after the conclusion of each day's events.


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SAINT LEO, Fla. – The Saint Leo women's lacrosse team opened their sophomore season with intensity and found themselves knotted up with Molloy at 6-6 at the halftime break, but a stagnant second half got the better of the Green and Gold as they fell by a score of 11-7 on Friday evening from University Turf Field.
The loss kicks off the Lions' season with a record of 0-1, while Molloy, who received votes in the IWLCA Preseason Poll, opens their campaign with a mark of 1-0.
Sophomore Alix Murray led Saint Leo with two goals and an assist for three points overall. Stephanie Marran slotted two shots between the pipes, while Alyssa Viscomi, Cassie Miller, and Christina Minneci each tallied one.
Molloy was headed up by Nicole Mastrianni, whose hat trick notched a game high in goals. Alexa Toscano led the game in assists with five on the night. Marran earned a game high four draw controls, matched by Molloys Samantha Arlotta.
Defensively, Brittany Millsap made 11 saves between the posts while collecting five ground balls and a game best three caused turnovers for Saint Leo. Molloy gave the start to Laura Vetter, who allowed six goals while earning four saves, before putting freshman Caroline Winters in cage. Winters earned the win making four saves and allowing just one goal.
Molloy was first on the scoreboard off of a man-up goal a shade over five minutes into the contest, but Saint Leo struck back with a goal of their own to knot the score at 1-1 with 23:30 on the clock. Molloy's Kaitlynn Kelly converted a free position shot at the 21:28 mark to pull her team ahead 2-1, but Murray placed a shot in cage with 18:18 to go before the half to even the score at 2-2.
The Lions kept their scoring streak going, posting two more tallies to pull ahead 4-2 with 15:07 on the clock, but Molloy whittled away at the deficit and scored three straight to pull back into the lead, 5-4 with 10:12 to go before the half.
Marran and Murray scored two consecutive goals to give the Green and Gold a 6-5 lead with 3:07 to go, but a late goal from Mastrianni with 35 ticks on the clock knotted the score at 6-6 at the half.
Despite their strong first half, Saint Leo found themselves unable to capitalize on their shots in the second as Molloy outscored them by a tally of 5-1.
Molloy led the game in draw controls, 11-9, as well as shots 28-20. Saint Leo trailed the ground ball count by three, 30-27, but led the game in caused turnovers 10-7.
The Lions return to action on Sunday, February 17, when they take on third-ranked Adelphi at 3 p.m. at University Turf Stadium. Fans who cannot make it to the game will be able to catch all of the action live on the Saint Leo Sports Network at saintleolions.com.


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Three phase bridge assemblies feature low thermal resistance for increased output current
Solid State Devices, Inc. announced their enhanced SDA312A - SDA312G and SDA312AF - SDA312GF series of three phase bridge assemblies. These bridge assemblies deliver 15 Amps of forward current and a maximum thermal resistance of 3.5 degrees Celsius, which equates to a 50 percent increase in output current and a 50 percent improvement in thermal resistance over their previous versions. The reliable ultraminiature packaging consists of glass passivated void free hermetically sealed discrete rectifiers in an electrically insulated aluminum case for high thermal conductivity. Both series feature a blocking voltage range of 50 to 1000 volts and a low reverse leakage current of 5 µA. The SDA312A - SDA312G series includes standard reverse recovery devices with a maximum rating of 5 µsec, and the SDA312AF - SDA312GF series are fast recovery devices with a maximum rating of 200 nsec.
Solid State Devices, Inc.
(562) 404-4474, www.ssdi-power.com


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Hi all, I have a problem with some directory issues I presume.
I have 2 ListWidgets - jobItemList and refItemList, and 1 LineEdit - CatName and 2 PushButtons - SetCatName and SetConfirm
# Item0X are folders from the directory
CatName = 'Test01'
jobItemList = ['Item01', 'Item02', 'Item03']
refItemList = ['Item01', 'Item02']
CatName = 'Test02'
jobItemList = ['Item04', 'Item05', 'Item06']
refItemList = ['Item05', 'Item06']
self.connect(self.setCatName, SIGNAL('clicked()'), self.updateCat)
# updateCat is using of my school in-house modules similar to os.listdir.
When user executes the program, upon the input of CatName and the click of SetCatName button, it will prints out the ItemName and the refItemList (based on the currentItem selected)
For example, if the ItemName = 'Test02' and 'Item 05' is selected, it will prints as Test02, Item05
- The ItemName can be repeatedly switched between Test01 or Test02 until user hits the SetConfirm button to print
Currently the problem I encountered is, instead of printing the example as above, it prints 'Test01, Item05', as I fear it could be due to my usage of my school's in-house modules as it uses os.environ['Item'] - To log in the CatName and os.environ['Item'] for the item selected in ListWidgets
As such, are there any ways in which during the execution of the program, to force it to check and make sure that the Items belongs to the CatName?