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UPDATE: 10/23/16 - Note that this blog post refers to the older Azure Media Encoder and not the latest "Media Encoder Standard" - for documentation on the advanced presets available in "Media Encoder Standard", please refer to the following page - https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/documentation/articles/media-services-advanced-encoding-with-mes/
Azure Media Encoder offers numerous capabilities for advanced processing of video and audio beyond what is available through the default presets. In this week's post, I wanted to focus on some of the more advanced things that you can do with Azure Media Encoder that are 'hidden" in our high level samples and portal experience. The scenarios I chose to highlight are just a few of the top questions that I often get in email or through the forums.
Custom Presets
One feature that is not obvious to our first time users is the ability to define and submit custom presets. Our encoder already provides a broad set of pre-defined system presets that are well documented on MSDN. We also provide a page with guidance on which presets to use when delivering to specific devices. All of the capabilities and settings of the encoder are also fully configurable through an XML preset file format. This allows you to dial in the settings and performance that you need for your specific use case scenario. The full schema for our XML Preset file format is documented under the Media Services Encoder Configuration Schema. In addition, we provide you the full XML of all of our system defined presets so that you have a "best practices" starting point to make custom modifications. For example, here is a link to the full XML for H264 Adaptive Bitrate MP4 Set 720P. The preset schema has a very simple high level structure. Each XML begins with a <Presets> element that can contain one or more <Preset> definitions. This is really handy when you need to define multiple outputs or encoding settings for a single encode Task. For example, you may need to output to multiple audio profiles in the same encoding job. A good example of this is when you need to encode to both stereo AAC, and maybe Dolby DD+ format for surround sound. The most basic structure of the Preset XML looks like the following. Notice that we provide a version string on our presets as well, since we version them when we make major changes to the Encoder processor.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?> <Presets version="5.0"> <Preset> <MediaFile> <OutputFormat> </OutputFormat> </MediaFile> </Preset> </Presets>
To add new Output's to your preset and modify the settings, you can add different XML elements under the <OutputFormat>. For example, the following output formats are currently supported:
Under each of those output formats, you can set up the detailed elementary stream settings for both audio and video using the following two main elements:
A simple example of a fully defined custom preset for audio would look like the following. In this case I just modified the bitrate on the existing audio only preset to 96kbps. For Audio you can add different codecs under AudioProfile. Currently we support AAC, Dolby, and WMV profiles. For details look at the AudioProfile element documentation
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?> <!—My Custom AAC Audio Preset --> <Presets> <Preset Version="5.0"> <MediaFile> <OutputFormat> <MP4OutputFormat StreamCompatibility="Standard"> <AudioProfile Condition="SourceContainsAudio"> <AacAudioProfile Codec="AAC" Channels="2" BitsPerSample="16" SamplesPerSecond="44100"> <Bitrate> <ConstantBitrate Bitrate="96" IsTwoPass="False" BufferWindow="00:00:00" /> </Bitrate> </AacAudioProfile> </AudioProfile> </MP4OutputFormat> </OutputFormat> </MediaFile> </Preset> </Presets>
If you are a video encoding jockey and want to have deep access to the H264 encoding settings of your job, you can dig deep into the following elements that go under your <VideoProfile> element. Here you can tweak all kinds of encoding settings that can make your encodes go either really fast, or really super slow – so be careful and make sure you know what you are editing. The most widely used H264 settings under the VideoProfile element include, Basic, Main and High profile settings.
Under each of these you specify each of the <Streams> that you want to encode to. You will notice that in our advance multi-bitrate MP4 encoding presets that we define multiple output streams with different resolution scaling and output bitrates. Presets can range from simple audio only ones, to really complex "Super Presets" that combine multiple output Presets and MediaFiles. For a good example of one of the most complex custom presets that we have available in our documentation, take a look at this behemoth preset file for Encoding to Multiple Audio Tracks. This extremely complex preset actually outputs 8 Video files and 5 separate audio encodings (including Dolby DD+) in the same job preset. Once you have a custom preset defined, you can simply submit it in your encoding Task by setting the XML in the Configuration property. In the example code below, I read the custom preset XML into a configuration string and then use that in my Task.
string configuration = File.ReadAllText(pathToCustomXMLConfigFile)); ITask task = job.Tasks.AddNew("My Custom Encoding Task", encoderProcessor, configuration, TaskOptions.None);
Advanced Thumbnail Generation
Thumbnails can easily be created during an encode by specifying the settings in your custom preset or as a completely standalone separate task using the Thumbnail task. Azure Media Encoder has many options to generate thumbnails from your video including percentages or specific time points and intervals. The thumbnail task generates a series of images from the video and writes them into an Asset in your Media Services account. You can then serve those thumbnails directly form Azure Storage, or through the Media Services streaming server along with your published streaming content. To generate thumbnails, you can submit a standalone thumbnail Task in your job and point it to a video asset in your account, or you can also chain tasks together to encode first, and then generate thumbnails after your job. When submitting your thumbnail task you have to use the Azure Media Encoder with a custom XML file that specifies all of the information needed to generate your thumbnails. The simplest form of this XML looks like the following, which shows you how to generate thumbnails with fixed width, variable height, JPEG format with a customized naming template, and at specific percentages along the input timeline.
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Thumbnail Size="100%,*" Type="Jpeg" Filename="{OriginalFilename}_{Size}_{ThumbnailTime}_{ThumbnailIndex}_{Date}_{Time}.{DefaultExtension}"> <Time Value="10%" Step="10%" Stop="90%"/> </Thumbnail>
The following attributes on the Thumbnail element allow you to set the details about the output size and type of the Thumbnail
- Size – this sets the width and height to use for creating the thumbnail. You can use percentages, exact pixel values, or an asterisk "*" to maintain the aspect ratio of the original source.
- Type – sets the output file format. Supported values are "JPEG","BMP", "GIF" or "PNG".
The @FileName attribute uses a set of macros that are available to you when specifying the output naming template for your thumbnails. The following macro names are supported:
- OriginalFilename – the name of the source input file for the Thumbnail job
- Size – the size(Width x Height) of the thumbnail task as set in the @Size attribute
- ThumbnailTime – the time point at which the thumbnail was extracted from the video
- ThumbnailIndex – the absolute index number for the thumbnail
- Date – the short date (DD-MM-YYYY) the thumbnail was extracted
- Time – the time (HH.MM AM/PM) that the thumbnail was extracted.
- DefaultExtension – the extension used for the @Type of output format that was chosen. In the case of Type="Jpeg" this will be set to "jpg"
The <Time> element in the XML has three properties that control how the thumbnails are extracted from the source video. The @Value attribute sets where the thumbnail extraction will start from. This is set to 10% of the duration of the video in this case. The @Step attribute controls how far to step ahead from the starting value. It will repeat this skip and grab behavior until it exceeds the Stop boundary of 95% in this example. The advantage of using percentage based units is that you don't need to set the exact time codes or know the full duration of the video before creating the XML file for the job. Note that when creating your naming template in the @Filename attribute, the value of the Filename property cannot have any of the following percent-encoding-reserved characters: !*'();:@&=+$,/?%#[]". Also, there can only be one '.' for the file name extension. This is what the output of the above XML would generate in terms of file names based on the template settings. My sample was really short (only 5 seconds) so I didn't get a lot of thumbnails!
Another option when creating thumbnails if you know the exact time points that you wish to extract from the video you can submit a modified XML using timecode values in the form of "Hours":"Minutes":"Seconds".
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?> <Thumbnail Size="300,*" Type="Jpeg" Filename="{OriginalFilename}_{ThumbnailIndex}.{DefaultExtension}"> <Time Value="0:0:0" Step="0:0:5" /> </Thumbnail>
The sample above will start at the beginning of the video (0:0:0) and then grab a new thumbnail for ever Step value of 5-seconds (0:0:5) until it hits the end of the video. That same short video used above with this template would generate only a single thumbnail with an index value of "1".
For more details and example code on how to submit your customized XML settings as a Job for Media Services API see Creating a Thumbnail for Video.
Video and Audio Overlays
Visible watermarking of video in the encoder can be used to apply a visible image overlay to prevent unauthorized distribution of your content or to brand your content. For example, you may be used to seeing your local TV channel overlay their logo in the corner of a broadcast to identify the content. This is also common on airlines where you may notice the occasional watermark of the airline being displayed during a movie. Visible watermarks don't completely prevent the usage of the video of course, but it does discourage the usage by others and clearly identifies the owner. For prevention of distribution or controlling access to the video, Digital Rights Management features like our upcoming PlayReady content protection services is recommended. Note: Media Services does not currently offer what is known as 'forensic' watermarking. That is an invisible, individualized watermark that is applied to the video stream in a non-destructive manner and can be detected at a later point in distribution to identify the person or owner that leaked the content. The Azure Media Encoder allows you to overlay an image (*.jpg, *.bmp, *.gif, *.tif, *.png), a video, or an audio track onto an existing video. Using the settings on the Overlay, you can control the duration of the overlay, fades, opacity, and location on the output video. Overlay settings are controlled in the XML for your encoding job. The following attributes are available to control the video overlay.
- OverlayFileName - The name of the file containing the video overlay. In the example below, I will use a single input Asset to the Task, which contains both the input video that is to be transcoded, and the file that is to be overlaid onto the input video.
- OverlayRect - The x & y coordinates of the upper left hand corner of the overlay rect, followed by the width and height, in pixels. These dimensions are relative to the source asset dimensions, and not the output encoding settings.
- OverlayOpacity - The transparency of the video overlay. Valid values: 0 – 1, where 0 is completely transparent and 1 is completely opaque
- OverlayFadeInDuration - How long it takes for the video overlay to fade-in. Valid values: Time in hh:mm:ss:fff format. Make sure this fits within the timeline of the input video.
- OverlayFadeOutDuration - How long it takes for the video overlay to fade-out. Valid values: Time in hh:mm:ss:fff format
- OverlayLayoutMode - Specifies whether the overlay should be displayed over the entire timeline or only a specific portion of the timeline. Valid values:
- WholeSequence – the overly is displayed during the entire video sequence
- Custom – the overlay is displayed during the time period specified by the OverlayStartTime and OverlayEndTime attributes
- OverlayStartTime - The point on the video timeline when the video overlay begins, only used when OverlayLayoutMode is set to "Custom". Valid values: Time in hh:mm:ss:fff format. Make sure this fits within the timeline of the input video.
- OverlayEndTime - The point on the video timeline when the video overlay ends, only used when OverlayLayoutMode is set to "Custom". Valid values: Time in hh:mm:ss:fff format. Make sure this fits within the timeline of the input video.
- As an example, I'm going to overlay this simple Icon on top of a video file that I have in my Azure Media Services account:
Media.png – download the source here.
To do so, I first need to upload this graphic along with the source video that I want to overlay into my Media Services account. Alternatively, I could have just uploaded this to a standalone Asset which is handy if you need to re-use on multiple jobs.
Azure Media Services.MP4 – download the source file here. After uploading both files into a single Asset, I can then create a customer encode job for the Overlay. I'll base my encode XML off of the "H264 Broadband" MP4 encoding system preset. Instead of showing all of the XML for that Preset, I'll just show you what needs to be edited and changed to submit this Overlay job.
On the <MediaFile> element for the Preset, I simply added the following additional attributes and saved the XML file for submission. I updated the @OverlayFileName attribute to point to the "Media.png" image that I uploaded with my video.
<MediaFile ... OverlayFileName="Media.png" OverlayRect="200, 100, 40, 40" OverlayOpacity="0.9" OverlayFadeInDuration="00:00:02" OverlayFadeOutDuration="00:00:02" OverlayLayoutMode="Custom" OverlayStartTime="00:00:05" OverlayEndTime="00:00:20">
Submitting the job with the above modifications to the Preset XML results in a video where the Media Services logo fades in at 5 seconds stays on screen for 15 seconds and then fades out at 20 seconds. The opacity is set to 90% so you can see through it, and the @OverlayRect controls the position of the image. The @OverlayRect uses x & y coordinates of the upper left hand corner of the overlay rect, followed by the width and height, in pixels for the final image. When adjusting this, make sure that it fits within the dimensions of the source video or you will get an error message back. In addition the times used for the Start and End time need to be within the source timeline for the video (percentages are not supported for this attribute). This is what the sample looks like when composited into the video and played back. You can download and watch the output video file here.
In addition to video overlays, we also support audio overlays. Audio overlays can take any supported audio file format and fade it in and out over your video. This is handy for adding in voice overs or music. You can control the audio overlay capabilities by using the following attributes on the MediaElement in a similar fashion to the example above. The following attributes can be used to control the audio overlay:
- AudioOverlayFileName -The name of the file that contains the audio to overlay. This can be an individual file name or the %n% zero-based index to point to one of the input assets for the job
- AudioOverlayLoop - Specifies whether the audio overlay should loop. Valid values: True, False.
- AudioOVerlayLoopingGap - The amount of time between when the audio overlay finishes and starts up again. Valid values: Time in hh:mm:ss:fff format
- AudioOverlayLayoutMode - Indicates during which part of encoded video stream the audio overlay should be played. Valid values:"WholeSequence" – the audio overlay plays throughout the entire stream, "Custom" – The audio overlay plays through the duration specified by the AudioOverlayStartTime attribute.
- AudioOverlayStartTime - The point in the video timeline when the audio overlay begins. Valid values: Time in hh:mm:ss:fff format. Make sure this fits within the timeline of the input video.
- AudioOverlayEndTime - The point in the video timeline when the overlay ends. Valid values: hh:mm:ss:fff. Make sure this fits within the timeline of the input video.
- AudoOverlayGainLevel - The gain level for audio overlay. Valid values: 1 – 10 in increments of 0.1
- AudioOverlayFadeInDuration - The length of time it takes for the audio overlay to fade in. Valid values: : hh:mm:ss:fff
- AudioOverlayFadeOutDuration – The length of time it takes for the audio overlay to fade out. Valid values: : hh:mm:ss:fff
Audio overlays work the same as video overlays when it comes to setting the file name. You can use a single asset to point to a specific audio file inside it, or you can submit multiple assets as the source for your encoding job and set the file name with the %n% based syntax. For more details on the API and how to submit jobs for encoding with overlays see Creating Overlays.
Video Cropping
If you have a need to cut out a few pixels from your videos (scan line removal) or just extract a portion of the video for some reason, you can easily do that with a single setting in your custom preset. Videos can be cropped simply by setting the @CropRect attribute on the MediaElement
- CropRect - Specifies a rectangle, which is used to crop the input video. Valid values: The x & y coordinates of the upper left hand corner of the cropping rect, followed by the width and height, in pixels. Note that these coordinates apply to the input video, so keep the dimensions of the source in mind when setting up this rectangle.
For example, to crop a the top 150 x 150 pixels from a video you would use the following attribute settings.
<MediaFile CropRect="0,0,150,150"/>
Just remember to set the size for your final encoding to the correct height and width to match your cropping, or you will end up with some oddly stretched videos (unless you intended that of course!)
Video Rotation
With the ease of use of mobile devices today, consumers can capture videos in all kinds of situations and sadly – angles. To deal with the "Vertical Video Syndrome (VVS)" problem, you need the option to detect the orientation of a video and rotate it. Azure Media Encoder supports the ability to detect the orientation of the video, as well as re-orient it based on 90 degree increments. When the video is encoded, it will playback properly on the screen (of course, you should try to avoid VVS at all costs!) Currently we only support rotation of MP4 source format files. Most phones today will be generating this file format and insert the rotation metadata into a specific area inside the MP4 files that we recognize. To automatically detect and rotate your videos during encoding, you just need to enable the @Rotation attribute on the <Presets> element by setting it's value to "Auto. Make sure to set it on the top level <Presets> element and not on the <Preset> element.
<Presets Rotation="Auto"> <Preset Version="5.0">
By setting this value, the encoder will attempt to automatically detect the orientation of the incoming source video based on metadata that is stored in the stream by most cameras and mobile phones. If the metadata is not detected, then the video will not be rotated. This works for Thumbnail jobs as well. For Thumbnail jobs you just apply the @Rotation attribute to the <Thumbnail> element instead.
<Thumbnail Rotation="Auto" Size="300,*" Type="Jpeg" Filename="{OriginalFilename}_{ThumbnailIndex}.{DefaultExtension}">
Sub-clipping a Video
Many times there are scenarios where you need to cut a clip or highlight out of an existing video or audio asset. To do this, Azure Media Encoder supports a sub-clipping feature. Simply add a <Clips> element and a list of clips into your custom preset, setting the start and end time for each clip that you want to extract from the video. Multiple clips will be stitched together in the output asset. For example, the following XML snipping can be added inside the <MediaFile> element of an existing preset to extract the first 30 seconds of your video as a clip. Keep in mind that this is just a snip of XML and should be merged into one of the system or full custom presets.
<Sources> <Source> <Clips> <Clip StartTime="00:04:00" EndTime="00:04:30" /> </Clips> </Source> </Sources>
To demonstrate how to sub clip a video, I'll utilize this timecode clip that clearly shows what time point that you are clipping out of your video. The clip starts at 00:58:00;00 and counts up over the 1 hour mark for about 11 minutes.
Timecode.wmv – Here is the link to download this clip.
In my custom preset, I have added the <Source>, <Clips> and a single <Clip> element and set the start and end time to 4 minutes and 00:04:30 to cut a 30 seconds clip out of the video. I expect to get back a burned-in timecode that starts now at 1:00:02:00 in the video. After submitting my encoding job to Azure Media Encoder with this customized preset, the Asset is now clipped down to 30 seconds. Download the output asset MP4 here.
Stitching Videos
Sometimes you need to stitch together two or more videos to create a longer video. This is often the case when creating marketing videos, or adding advertisements or "bumpers" to a video. You can also use this feature to string together a set of short videos into one long final clip. The videos to be stitched together can have the start and end times altered, and they can all come from different assets in your Media Services account to make it easy to add bumpers and trailers onto your new videos from existing assets. To stitch videos together in Azure Media Services you simply use the <Sources> and <Source> elements inside your <MediaFile> element of your custom preset, and make use of the fact that you can provide a collection of Assets as input to the encoding Task. A simple example of stitching two clips together would look like the following. In this example, two <Source> elements are used. The first <Source> refers to the first input asset, the second is identified as the second input asset through the use of the @MediaFile attribute set to "%1%". This syntax tells the encoder to look for the second file in the zero-based index of input assets.
<MediaFile> <Sources> <Source AudioStreamIndex="0"> </Source> <Source AudioStreamIndex="0" MediaFile="%1%"> </Source> </Sources>
Here is a more advanced example that shows a preset that is set up to source from 2 separate input assets and stich them into a single clip. This example XML shows the usage of the <Sources> element to define the multiple input <Source> files and also shows how to use the subclipping capabilities of the encoder to set the start and end time of each source clip with the <Clip> element. I first uploaded each file as a separate Asset. This allows me to submit two assets as part of the Input of the job and then refer to each asset in my <Source> element's @MediaFile attribute using the %n% convention for indexing the Input Asset array. Note that you cannot use "%0%" for the input asset in the zero index position – just leave the @MediaFile attribute out to access the first Input Asset. Again, keep in mind that the XML snipping below is just "partial" and needs to be merged in with a full custom XML preset. I recommend to start with one of the system presets from the custom preset section above. You can download the same source assets here:
XML Snipping (add this to a full preset XML)
<MediaFile> … <Sources> <Source AudioStreamIndex="0"> <Clips> <Clip StartTime="00:00:30" EndTime="00:00:41" /> </Clips> </Source> <Source AudioStreamIndex="0" MediaFile="%1%"> <Clips> <Clip StartTime="00:00:00" EndTime="00:00:10" /> </Clips> </Source> <Source AudioStreamIndex="0"> <Clips> <Clip StartTime="00:2:50" EndTime="00:02:58" /> </Clips> </Source> </Sources> </MediaFile>
After submitting the job, the final encoded asset will have the three sections of video clipped together into a single asset. To view the output from this job, download the final MP4 here. For more details on using the API see Stitching Video Segments.
Customizing Output Filenames
There are many times where you need to have fine control over the names of your output files. Azure Media Encoder provides a set of macros and naming conventions to control the output file names. You can provide a customized naming template on the <Preset> element by setting the @DefaultMediaOutputFileName attribute. For example, the following custom preset shows how you can use a combination of macros, and custom name settings to control the naming template.
<Preset Version="5.0" DefaultMediaOutputFileName="{Original File Name}{Video Codec}{Video Bitrate}{Audio Codec}{Audio Bitrate}.{Default Extension}"> <MediaFile …>
The encoder will insert underscores between each macro as it expands them. For example, the configuration above would result in a file name like: MyVideo_H264_4500kpbs_AAC_128kbps.mp4. Supported macros include:
- {Original File Name}
- {Audio Bitrate}
- {Audio Codec}
- {Channel Count}
- {Default Extension}
- {Language}
- {StreamId}
- {Video Codec}
- {Video Bitrate}
For more details on the API see Controlling Media Service Encoder Output Filenames.
Audio files with Speech
When encoding content that mostly contains speech (and little use of music of sound effects), the default encoder presets may cause background noise to be amplified in a way that results in a hissing sound in your audio tracks. To avoid this unwanted side effect, there is a little known setting in our presets that needs to be disabled. This is the @NormalizeAudio attribute on the <MediaFile> element in the preset. You can copy any existing system preset and adjust this setting by either deleting the @NormalizeAudio attribute, or setting it to False as in the example XML snipping below (don't forget to add these example edits to a full XML preset):
<MediaFile DeinterlaceMode="AutoPixelAdaptive" ResizeQuality="Super" NormalizeAudio="False" AudioGainLevel="1" VideoResizeMode="Stretch">
For more details on how to handle audio files with speech only and submit the jobs with the API see Encoding Presentations with Mostly Speech.
Preserving Captions in MP4 files
If your source MP4 files have embedded captions inside the elementary streams in the form of EIA-608 and 708 data in the SEI messages of the H.264 encoded streams, you can preserve those captions and pass them through into the newly encoded output files. To do this, we have the @ClosedCaptionSEIPassThrough attribute setting on the <MediaFile> element of the preset that enables the pass-through. Just set this to "True" to preserve captions through to the output files. This is very useful when you are delivering captions to HLS protocol devices like iOS that support native decoding of the CEA-608 caption data in the client.
<MediaFile WindowsMediaProfileLanguage="en-US" VideoResizeMode="Letterbox" ClosedCaptionsSEIPassThrough="True">
Note that this feature currently only supports source files that are in the MP4 file format and have source elementary streams that are encoded with H.264. Further, the encodeTask should not attempt to subclip or stitch together two or more videos.
These are a just a few of the cool advanced features that we have worked on for our customers in the Azure Media Encoder. Hopefully I have hit on a few that you were never aware of before and that enable great scenarios for your own media applications and workflows. As always, keep the great ideas coming, keep encoding, and send us your feature requests through the Azure Media Services forum on MSDN.


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subset: commoncrawl


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Research firm IDC analyzed over 14.6 million jobs listings to identify the top skills required for high-growth, high-wage positions. Based on this study, the two most important skills needed for these positions include oral and written communication skills and being detail oriented. Proficiency in Microsoft Office was ranked as #3 skill students require to be ready for the workforce.
With Office 365 for education, students can hone in on these skills while they are still in school. They can better communicate with teachers and students using the latest communication technology such as email, chat, and web conferencing. Yammer helps students find other students and experts working on similar projects to help them expand their ideas. They can confidently work with other students on group projects using Office and Office Web Apps without having to worry about losing changes to their group projects. And they can use Microsoft Office to finish their project deliverables before their final submissions.
The infographic below shows how a student can get ready for the future using Office 365 for education with Yammer versus Google Apps. Check it out for yourself!


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JR wrote:itlnstln wrote:JR wrote:Many top pros release the disc when their body faces 9.30-10 o'clock.
I like this. I'm going to use clock terminology instead of "roughly 90 deg." 9:30-10:00 is exactly right with the disc leaving about 12:00 (probably closer to 11-11:30). If my shoulders get past 10:00, I'm spraying right. 9:30 is a little better for me, personally. I'm a tall(-ish), lanky dude with big shoulders and long arms, so the extra length of arm-whip (however long) works well for me.
The body is in the same position with 90 degrees left of the target or 9 o'clock the terminology does not change anything. If you spray right trying to turn the torso closer toward the target it means the arm is not yet in the correct place leading the movements, the hips or the shoulders or both lead the movements. Possible causes are too slow arm pull from the left pec forward, too short a pause or super quick hip and/or shoulder turning. Spraying right does not happen if the elbow is well ahead of the body at the right pec position and waiting a little longer in the pause and having some core muscle tightness without flat footed plant step helps a lot in avoiding too early momentum shift from the x steps into twisting the hips.
I spray right because my upper body timing is ahead of of my lower body timing. I still hit in the same orientation. My upper body timing is solid and my lower body timing is solid, but occasionally, my upper body gets ahead of my lower body. It's usually when I don't trust my accuracy so I (subconsciously) try to look before I throw. When my arm is out of sync, I spray left. This I recognize quickly and adjust for.


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Fosamprenavir Versus Other Protease Inhibitors
This study has been completed.
ViiV Healthcare
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
ViiV Healthcare
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: October 20, 2004
Last updated: June 8, 2017
Last verified: March 2011
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- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
This study was designed to evaluate and compare safety, tolerability of subjects who successfully suppress HIV-1 on their first PI regimen to those who switch to fosamprenavir. This is a 48-week study, where subjects who were assigned to be in their original PI-group have the option of switching to fosamprenavir on week 24. Prior to being assigned their treatment group, subjects had to be suppressed for at least three months. All subjects also take a background regimen of two nucleoside/nucleotide reverse transcriptase inhibitors.
|Infection, Human Immunodeficiency Virus I HIV Infection
|Drug: fosamprenavir
|Phase 3
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Allocation: Randomized
Intervention Model: Parallel Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|A Phase IIIB/IV, Open-label, Multi-center Trial to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, and Efficiency of HIV-1 Infected Subjects Switching Their Current Protease-inhibitor Therapies for a Fosamprenavir Therapy Over 48 Weeks
Resource links provided by NLM:
MedlinePlus related topics: HIV/AIDS
Drug Information available for: Fosamprenavir Fosamprenavir sodium Fosamprenavir calciumU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by ViiV Healthcare:
Primary Outcome Measures:
- Proportion of subjects with HIV-1 RNA less than 400 copies/mL [ Time Frame: 24 weeks ]
Secondary Outcome Measures:
- % subjects with HIV-1 RNA <400 copies/mL [ Time Frame: week 48 ]
- % subjects with HIV-1 RNA <50 copies/mL AEs CD4 and HIV-1 RNA [ Time Frame: weeks 24 and 48 ]
- Adherence to study medications [ Time Frame: Throughout study ]
|Study Start Date:
|December 2004
|Study Completion Date:
|June 2007
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years and older (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Be on your first protease inhibitor (PI) containing regimen, and the regimen must consist of a PI +/- ritonavir and 2 Nucleoside/Nucleotide Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors (N[t]RTIs).
- Have a plasma HIV-1 RNA level (viral load) at screening of less than 400 copies/mL, for at least 3 months prior to Screening and at Screening while on your current regimen of a PI +/- ritonavir + 2 N(t)RTIs.
- Females must not be pregnant or breastfeeding or plan to become pregnant during the study.
- Females of child-bearing potential must agree to use one of the approved methods of birth control.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Not able to follow the medication schedules and attend the study visits for the entire length of the study.
- Have any other illnesses, laboratory test results, medication use, allergies, or medical conditions that would make it unsafe for the subject to participate in this study.
- Currently be enrolled in any other research studies that could affect the subject''''s HIV-1 RNA levels.
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00094523
Show 46 Study Locations
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00094523
Show 46 Study Locations
Sponsors and Collaborators
ViiV Healthcare
|Study Director:
|GSK Clinical Trials, PharmD
More Information
Keywords provided by ViiV Healthcare:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
|Responsible Party:
|ViiV Healthcare
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00094523 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|October 20, 2004
|Last Updated:
|June 8, 2017
Keywords provided by ViiV Healthcare:
fosamprenavir LEXIVA non-inferiority safety tolerability
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Communicable Diseases
HIV Infections
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Immune System Diseases
Slow Virus Diseases
Protease Inhibitors
HIV Protease Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Anti-HIV Agents
Anti-Retroviral Agents
Antiviral Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


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Topic: My wonderful mother
Dear everyone ,
My beautiful , young ( only 58 ) mother passed away the beginning of this month .She was a great wife , wonderful mother , unforgettable grandmother , great sister . To me she was a friend , mother , sister and a teacher . I am an only child and she was all these things to me and more .The void I feel in my heart is soo painful and life is n't feeling the same anymore . I posted in this site at the time of her diagnosis .Since then , I have been a regular visitor and many of your posts gave me lot of courage to fight this battle . She was inoperable at diagnosis in April 07 .Chemo gave us only 9 months . I miss her .I cant believe she wont talk to me again . I cant believe she wont visit me again . I just cant believe that she wont be there for her grandchild anymore . The only solace for me is that she wont suffer anymore . She passed with a smile on her face .
You will be always alive in my heart , Mom


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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Monday, September 25, 2017
Colorectal Diseases
Could it be IBS
I had a colonoscopy 3 years ago. Found no polyps only mild inflamation. I was going to the rest room 5 to 10 times a day. I never had any blood or weight loss. They done biopsies and loads of blood work wich showed nothing I assume they said everything was great and not to worry about it that was IBS. My stomach cramping and gas pains have come back going to the restroom 5 to 10 times again. They didn`t put me on any meds just told me to watch certain foods and keep stress down. Should I have another colonoscopy to recheck everything? I worry that someting is wrong with me and I think the stress is making it worse. Could it be Chrons Disease I have suffered from the constant running to the restroom since I was a teenager.
You may not need a colonoscopy, but you certainly need the care and advice of a Gastroenterologist who will do more than just "scope" you. You need ongoing medical management of what could be irritable bowel syndrome, or a host of other motility or inflammatory disorders of the intestinal tract.
Janice Frederick Rafferty, MD
Professor of Surgery
Chief of Colorectal Surgery Division
College of Medicine
University of Cincinnati


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- For Attendees
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- Computer Animation Festival
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- Seoul
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- For the Media
Build Your Own 3D Display
Friday, 17 December | 12:15 am - 2:00 am | Room E6
Commercial stereoscopic displays have re-emerged in the consumer market, and film studios routinely produce live-action and animated 3D content for theatrical release. While primarily enabled by the widespread adoption of digital projection, which allows accurate view synchronization, the underlying 3D display technologies have changed little in the last few decades. Theatrical systems rely on stereoscopic display: projecting a left/right image pair separated by various filters in glasses worn by viewers. In contrast, several LCD manufactures are introducing automultiscopic displays, which allow view-dependent imagery to be perceived without special glasses. 3D display is poised for another resurgence.
This hands-on introduction to 3D display provides attendees with the mathematics, software, and practical details necessary to build their own low-cost stereoscopic displays. An example-driven approach is used throughout. Each new concept is illustrated by a practical 3D display implemented with off-the-shelf parts. First, glasses-bound stereoscopic displays are explained. Detailed plans are provided for attendees to construct their own LCD shutter glasses. Next, unencumbered automultiscopic displays are explained, including step-by-step directions to construct lenticular and parallax-barrier designs using modified LCDs. All the necessary software, including algorithms for rendering and calibration, is provided for each example, so attendees can quickly construct 3D displays for their own educational, amusement, and research purposes.
The course concludes by describing various methods for capturing, rendering, and viewing various multi-view imagery sources. Stereoscopic OpenGL support is reviewed, as well as methods for ray-tracing multi-view imagery with POV-Ray. Techniques for capturing "live-action" light fields are also outlined. Finally, recent developments are summarized and attendees are encouraged to evolve the capabilities of their self-built 3D displays.
Intended Audience
Students, hobbyists, and industry professionals, especially those interested in quickly learning how to use 3D capture and display technology in their own research and who are excited by hands-on projects.
Presentation Language
Presented in English / 영어로 발표 됨
Attendees should have hobbyist-level experience with do-it-yourself electronic projects. While executables are provided for beginners, attendees with prior knowledge of Matlab, C/C++, and OpenGL can directly examine and modify the provided source code.
History and Physiology - Hirsch
Representation and Display - Lanman
Glasses-Bound Stereoscopic Displays - Hirsch
Unencumbered Automultiscopic Displays - Lanman
Source Material: Rendering and Capture - Hirsch
Emerging Technology - Lanman
Matthew Hirsch
MIT Media Lab
Douglas Lanman
Brown University
Instructor Bios
Matthew Hirsch
Matthew Hirsch is a PhD student at the MIT Media Lab. His research focuses on imaging devices that enable new understanding and interaction scenarios. He works with Henry Holtzman and Ramesh Raskar in the Information Ecology and Camera Culture groups, respectively. He graduated from Tufts University in 2004 with a BS in computer engineering. From 2004 to 2007, he worked as an imaging engineer at Analogic Corp., where he designed threat-detection algorithms for computed tomography security scanners.
Douglas Lanman
Douglas Lanman is a PhD student at Brown University. His research focuses on computational photography, particularly active illumination for 3D reconstruction and lightfield capture and display. He received a BS in applied physics with honors from the California Institute of Technology in 2002 and a MS in electrical engineering from Brown University in 2006. He has worked as an intern at Intel, Los Alamos National Laboratory, INRIA, Mitsubishi Electric Research Laboratories, and the MIT Media Lab. He previously presented the Build Your Own 3D Scanner course at SIGGRAPH 2009 and SIGGRAPH Asia 2009.


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A Randomized, Prospective, Double-Blind Study Comparing Fluconazole With Placebo for Primary and Secondary Prophylaxis of Mucosal Candidiasis in HIV-Infected Women
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- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
To compare the efficacy of fluconazole versus placebo for the prevention of Candida esophagitis and vaginal/oropharyngeal candidiasis, including a comparison of the development of clinical resistance.
Fluconazole has been shown to be effective in preventing or suppressing candidiasis in HIV-negative women. An increasing likelihood of oral and esophageal candidiasis in conjunction with progressive immunosuppression raises the question of the potential role of prophylactic antifungal therapy in high-risk persons.
|Candidiasis Candidiasis, Esophageal HIV Infections
|Drug: Fluconazole
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Masking: Double
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|A Randomized, Prospective, Double-Blind Study Comparing Fluconazole With Placebo for Primary and Secondary Prophylaxis of Mucosal Candidiasis in HIV-Infected Women
|Estimated Enrollment:
|Study Completion Date:
|December 1995
Fluconazole has been shown to be effective in preventing or suppressing candidiasis in HIV-negative women. An increasing likelihood of oral and esophageal candidiasis in conjunction with progressive immunosuppression raises the question of the potential role of prophylactic antifungal therapy in high-risk persons.
Four hundred HIV-infected women are randomized to receive fluconazole or placebo weekly for up to 2 years. Patients undergo follow-up every 3 months or more often if signs and symptoms of mucosal candidiasis occur.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|13 Years and older (Child, Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria
Patients must have:
- Evidence of HIV infection.
- CD4+ count <= 300 cells/mm3 or <= 20 percent of total lymphocyte count.
- Reasonably good health with a life expectancy of at least 6 months.
- Pelvic exam including Pap smear or colposcopy performed within the past 90 days.
Prior Medication:
- Topical or systemic treatment or prophylaxis with an antifungal agent.
Exclusion Criteria
Co-existing Condition:
Patients with the following symptoms and conditions are excluded:
- Current diagnosis of Candida esophagitis.
- Known intolerance to azoles.
Concurrent Medication:
- Systemic treatment or prophylaxis with an antifungal agent.
Patients with the following prior conditions are excluded:
- Past history of Candida esophagitis.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00000744
|United States, California
|Community Consortium of San Francisco
|San Francisco, California, United States, 94110
|United States, Colorado
|Denver CPCRA / Denver Public Hlth
|Denver, Colorado, United States, 80204
|United States, Delaware
|Wilmington Hosp / Med Ctr of Delaware
|Wilmington, Delaware, United States, 19899
|United States, District of Columbia
|Veterans Administration Med Ctr / Regional AIDS Program
|Washington, District of Columbia, United States, 20422
|United States, Georgia
|AIDS Research Consortium of Atlanta
|Atlanta, Georgia, United States, 30308
|United States, Illinois
|AIDS Research Alliance - Chicago
|Chicago, Illinois, United States, 60657
|United States, Louisiana
|Louisiana Comm AIDS Rsch Prog / Tulane Univ Med
|New Orleans, Louisiana, United States, 70112
|United States, Michigan
|Comprehensive AIDS Alliance of Detroit
|Detroit, Michigan, United States, 48201
|Henry Ford Hosp
|Detroit, Michigan, United States, 48202
|United States, New Jersey
|North Jersey Community Research Initiative
|Newark, New Jersey, United States, 07103
|United States, New York
|Bronx Lebanon Hosp Ctr
|Bronx, New York, United States, 10456
|Addiction Research and Treatment Corp
|Brooklyn, New York, United States, 11201
|Clinical Directors Network of Region II
|New York, New York, United States, 10011
|Harlem AIDS Treatment Group / Harlem Hosp Ctr
|New York, New York, United States, 10037
|United States, Oregon
|Portland Veterans Adm Med Ctr / Rsch & Education Grp
|Portland, Oregon, United States, 97210
|United States, Virginia
|Richmond AIDS Consortium
|Richmond, Virginia, United States, 23298
|Study Chair:
|P Schuman
|Study Chair:
|L Capps
|Responsible Party:
|National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00000744 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
11562 ( Registry Identifier: DAIDS ES Registry Number )
|Study First Received:
|November 2, 1999
|Last Updated:
|September 28, 2013
Keywords provided by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID):
Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
AIDS-Related Complex
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
HIV Infections
Lentivirus Infections
Retroviridae Infections
RNA Virus Infections
Virus Diseases
Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Viral
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Immunologic Deficiency Syndromes
Immune System Diseases
Antifungal Agents
Anti-Infective Agents
14-alpha Demethylase Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 Enzyme Inhibitors
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Steroid Synthesis Inhibitors
Hormone Antagonists
Hormones, Hormone Substitutes, and Hormone Antagonists
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C9 Inhibitors
Cytochrome P-450 CYP2C19 Inhibitors
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 25, 2017


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An Illinois woman has filed suit against LinkedIn Corp. over the social network's recent data breach. Katie Szpyrka said in her suit that LinkedIn violated its promise to users by not having better security in place, and is asking the court for $5 million.
Earlier this month, hackers hacked into LinkedIn's site and stole about 6.5 million passwords from the site's users. The site has more than 160 million subscribers.
Szpyrka filed her suit against the Mountain View, Calif.-based LinkedIn in San Jose. She is seeking class action status. According to the Chicago-based law firm Edelson McGuire, which filed the suit on her behalf, LinkedIn "deceived customers" by having a security policy "in clear contradiction of accepted industry standards for database security."
LinkedIn spokeswoman Erin O'Harra told Reuters that the suit is meritless, filed "by lawyers looking to take advantage of the situation." She also said that no user account was breached as a result of the incident. "And we have no reason to believe that any LinkedIn member has been injured," she added.
That could make it hard for Szpyrka to see victory in this case, as experts say plaintiffs must show they were actually harmed to succeed in these types of cases. "In consumer security class actions, the demonstration of harm is very challenging," Ira Rothken, a lawyer at the Rothken Law Firm, told Reuters. His firm handles similar plaintiffs cases.
Although LinkedIn's troubles pale in comparison to the hacking nightmare Sony faced last year, it will no doubt prove to be a headache for the social network all the same.
Katie Szpyrka v. LinkedIn Corporation was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.


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MORE than 17,000 street lights in Worcestershire are going to be switched off - plunging parts of the county into darkness.
Your Worcester News can reveal how a plan to turn off lights across the county is on the verge of being finalised in a bid to save taxpayers £500,000 a year.
From April workers will start taking out 1,000 lights a month and replace them with special 'timed' dimmers that go out from midnight to 6am.
Worcestershire County Council operates 52,000 lights, but says it wants to switch off two out of every three during those times to save money and help the environment.
The project, which has been two years in the making, would see lights on all main roads, bends and junctions to housing estates kept on.
Some critics have already labelled it "bonkers" but supporters of it say it will save money.
The move, which is expected to be voted through by the Conservative cabinet on Thursday, follows a trial in Droitwich.
Between November 2012 and last May, 72 lights were switched off in the spa town, two out of three, from midnight to 6am.
The county council said it had no complaints or feedback that it led to increased crime or traffic incidents.
Councillor John Smith, cabinet member for highways and transportation, said: "The feedback in Droitwich was very positive and not only will this save money, it will be better for the environment.
"We've had discussions with the police and we won't be turning them off in any crime hotspots or on junctions leading to estates, or main routes like London Road (in Worcester).
"We think it will be a good scheme."
The cost of installing the dimmers will be £270,000, but the council say it will then save £500,000 yearly.
It is expected to take around 18 months to two years to fully finish, with workers set a target of replacing 1,000 lights a month.
Councillor Peter McDonald, from the opposition Labour group, said: "They're bonkers - without street lighting, especially at that time of night when it is most needed, people will not feel safe.
"These stupid, unsafe proposals could well make our streets unsafe after midnight.
"Nobody in their right mind is going to relish the thought of walking alone along blacked out streets."
But Paul Branston, 61, from Corbett Avenue, Droitwich, said: "I don't think anyone battered an eyelid when they went off here.
"If the main road ones stay on I think I wouldn't be against it."
The council is planning to save £103 million by 2018 to cope with unprecedented cuts in Government funding and pressure on social services.


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Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City review
While Capcom's Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City wasn't my most anticipated game of 2012, it was definitely on the list. The trailers, the concept, and the coop / multiplayer aspects were quite compelling and alluring. As a Resident Evil fan, I was excited to relive a familiar time period in the series — the initial outbreak in Raccoon City.
You play as the 'bad guys' — Umbrella security agents. Your task is to cover up the evidence of any connection to Umbrella and the incident involving zombies. 'Covering up' includes burning physical evidence, deleting digital data, and killing any survivors found. What I love about this concept is that for once you play as a faction that knows what Umbrella is up too. You see a hunter and your character identifies it as a MA-121. Instead of being surprised by a zombie outbreak, you understand it, have the skills to enhance it, and have the ability to cure infection. For once, you don't play as a Chris, Leon, or insert S.T.A.R.S. member here.
The negative aspect of playing as an Umbrella agent is that by knowing what you're against and what's going on, you lose a lot of the fear element. As a player, it's difficult to grasp the severity of the outbreak when your squad is reprogramming a Nemesis. The co-op aspect of the game also takes away from the fear element. It's hard to catch the few 'scary' moments when the event starts by someone that isn't you.
Despite what I just said, the cooperation play is the best aspect of REORC. To play through the game with three friends is ideal. I had the most fun when playing with friends or at least other humans. The AI for your squad is downright awful. Charging into hordes of zombies, not moving at all, walking over trip mines, and just standing in fire until they die were popular tactics of my single player squad mates. I thoroughly enjoyed the times my mates would get infected so I could just shoot them in the head.
There is a general consensus among myself and other reviewers about the bad AI. While I fully admit the AI is terrible, the game is designed to be played cooperatively. Playing Left for Dead single player can be just as painful. In a squad-based game you need to have squad dynamics to be efficient. The penalties for death are not grave enough (pun intended). Losing your sprays and grenades to get all your ammo back isn't a bad trade off. As long as one human player is alive, the game stays in motion. For some reason, you can revive a player who was previously infected and / or brutally mangled with no limbs left. To revive someone costs nothing but time.
For the campaign mode, there are six different characters you can play as. Each character has two unique passive abilities and three unique abilities. However, you can only use one of the three unique abilities at a time. Both the passive and active abilities have three levels that you can upgrade with experience points. Experience points are universal, so while you play one character you can unlock other character abilities with the same experience. Different guns can also be unlocked, which any character can use once you unlock them.
While I admittedly love the setting, the plot still fell short of my expectations. Since the Resident Evil series often uses the same characters in each of the games, they don't have to catch you up too much on their past. In REORC, these are six brand new characters and there is literally no backstory. While I never expected too much in this department, I would have liked more than the small blurb when you're highlighting the character you want to play as. Without giving away spoilers, the twists in the game were somewhat predictable. I feel like Capcom could have done so much to flush out these characters and have some development during the game.
With all that said, there are many things I enjoyed about the setting. REORC takes place during the events of Resident Evil 2 and the outbreak in Raccoon City. Due to this time period, Leon and Claire are integrated into the story. The scenery looks like an updated Raccoon City from RE2, you fight classic enemies like hunters and lickers, and you even visit the Raccoon City Police Department. There is even an easter egg that I picked up on is when coming across a piano which plays "Moonlight Sonata" like the piano in the original Resident Evil. I will forever associate that song with the Resident Evil series.
The gameplay itself is a bit clunky. While the cover system is easy to get into (you just run into what you want to take cover against), I found it to be too easy at times. While running away from stuff, I would often go into cover, giving whatever was chasing me a few easy hits on me. I didn't like that I wasn't able to vault over smaller objects. Shooting felt similar to other third person games. You always have a sidearm and one other gun. You will often drop guns for new ones on the ground for the sake of having ammo to fire. I felt this gave a slight 'survival horror' feel to the game.
Headshots, as they should be, were extremely effective versus zombies. The other B.O.W.s (Bio Organic Weapons) were hard to determine just how much your attacks were doing to them and often took clip after clip to take down. The Hunters and especially the Tyrants were quite the ordeals to bring down. Melee attacks are weak, but they open the ability to instant kill zombies / humans which make them strong. Effectively using melee attacks will leave you completely unscathed, even when surrounded by a horde of zombies.
The campaign mode was fairly short; somewhere around eight hours. The multiplayer may have potential, but it wasn't able to grab my attention. The same experience points you gain in the campaign is also gained in multiplayer. The unlocks you get in single player pass over to multiplayer and vice versa. So if you pick up the game without ever playing you have to rely on the standard guns and you won't have any powers. After a match or two though, you will be caught up. Only one person can play a single character at a time, so spread out your powers instead of having one fully upgraded character — unless you are playing with three friends.
In conclusion, if you are a die-hard Resident Evil fan or someone who knows a handful of friends who want to play the game, I'd say pick it up. If you don't have internet connection or plan on playing through the entire game as a private single-player experience — I don't suggest it. The game excels as a multiplayer and cooperative game, and I feel it should only be played as one. I enjoyed my experience with the game, but I would have rather had it more polished with a slightly more fleshed out story. I don't feel like I got what I anticipated so long for. The length of the campaign was disappointing, as well. There is already free DLC promised, so let's see what direction the future of this game takes. At least we can all go back and watch those kick ass trailers. The trailers were so good...
[Reviewed on Xbox 360]
Above Average


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For three generations, the Eastland family has been crafting casual leather footwear that exudes style and luxury. Founded in Maine in 1955, Eastland products continue a proud tradition of hand-sewn footwear that can be worn either formally or for protection during inclement weather. Stylistically, Eastland is influenced by traditional shoemaking techniques that reflect an appreciation for American heritage, including the use of full-grain leathers and hand-stitched details. By balancing modern aesthetics with a classic approach to shoemaking, Eastland is able to maintain a level of quality that few brands can aspire to, making Eastland products an ideal choice for the sophisticated streetwear enthusiast. In addition, Eastland 1955 products come with a full guarantee of satisfaction— a bold move by a brand that has every reason to be so confident about the quality of its products.
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In Grand Theft Auto: Liberty City Stories, the player is given the choice of wearing 16 different outfits to wear similar to previous installments, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Changing clothes can remove up to a 2-star wanted level. The player can change their clothes inside the three safehouses available at each island; They include the Portland safehouse in Saint Marks, the Staunton Island safehouse in Newport and the Shoreside Vale safehouse in Cedar Grove.
Unlocked After
|Casual Clothes
|A dark brown jacket and buff pants that are worn by Toni as he is first introduced in the game.
|Home Sweet Home
|Leone's Suit
|The black suit that is the same as those worn by members of the Leone Family. Given to you in the first mission.
|Home Sweet Home
|Blue overalls and a hockey mask. Worn when about to trigger the Slash TV minigame.
|The Portland Chainsaw Masquerade
|Avenging Angel's fatigues
|This is the same outfit that the Avenging Angels wear when on duty.
|Chauffeur's Clothes
|A grey chauffeur outfit with a grey hat. Used in the mission "Rollercoaster Ride" for Salvatore Leone, where you disguise yourself as Jane Hopper's chauffeur.
|Rollercoaster Ride
|Lawyer's suit
|A blue lawyer suit with glasses. Used in missions where you are Salvatore Leone's lawyer.
|Rough Justice
|A tuxedo used in the mission "A Date with Death", where you and Toshiko Kasen go out for the night.
|A Date With Death
|'The King' jumpsuit
|An Elvis inspired jumpsuit.
|The Sicilian Gambit
|Cox Mascot suit
|The mascot costume for the Liberty City Cocks.
|Completing Slash TV twice
|Toni's underwear.
|Completing 1 Unique Stunt Jump
|Hero Garb
|A hero costume unlocked after completing all Avenging Angels side-missions.
|Completing the Avenging Angels side-mission in Shoreside Vale
|Dragon Jumpsuit
|A yellow jumpsuit (inspired by Bruce Lee's suit in Game of Death).
|Crazy '69'
|A casual outfit with a white shirt, jeans and a pair of white sneakers.
|Making Toni
|A blue tracksuit with white sneakers.
|A Walk in the Park
|A black suit that is unlocked in "Overdose of Trouble". Its name is inspired by the movie of the same name.
|Overdose of Trouble
|Another more casual look that is very similar to the Antonio outfit, but with a brownish, more expensive, short-sleeve shirt and black leather pants.
|Shoot the Messenger


text: OverviewBack to top Pirate Brands - Potato Flyers Baked Potato Chips Original - 5.5 oz. Item# :116992UPC# :015665502202 Brand:Pirate Brands Size/Form:5.50 oz. Ship Weight:0.30 Servings:5.50 Dosage:1 oz. Flavor:Original Pirate Brands Potato Flyers Baked Potato Chips Original - 5.5 oz. (156 g) Pirate Brands Potato Flyers Baked Potato Chips Original have always been first in flight. Pirate Brands Potato Flyers Baked Potato Chips Original are baked with pressure and sent flying through the air, saving the day with a crisp, delicious and healthier option. So be original, grab a bag of Pirate Brands Potato Flyers Baked Potato Chips Original and pilot your own adventure. Pirate Brands Potato Flyers Baked Potato Chips Original are made with wholesome potatoes, sea salt and a hint of seasoning for potato flavor at its best. Pirate Brands Story The Pirate Brands story began in 1987 in Sea Cliff, NY with founder, Robert. Robert, a snack industry renegade and father of two, scoured the high-seas for a tasty treasure that would inspire people to live a little healthier and have fun while doing it. That's when Robert discovered the cheesy rice and corn puffs we know today as, Pirate's Booty. Thanks to Robert and his tasty treasure, no longer do you have to eat "cheese" puffs dusted with neon orange powder with incomprehensible ingredients. When you buy Pirate Brands products, you are getting wholesome goodness without the guilt. Pirate Brands has created products for the whole family that are all natural, baked AND delicious. They've eliminated fryers and trans fats from all of their products and keep the ingredients simple (no need to Google search today). Their only additives are just good, wholesome fun. Frequently Asked Questions What makes Pirate Brands' products unique? Pirate Brands' snack food products are delectably crunchy, all-natural, baked, trans fat, gluten free and possess great subtle flavors that will have you craving more! What are the quality standards of Pirate Brands' ingredients? All-natural Gluten free Trans fat free No preservatives No artificial sweeteners Kosher Is Pirate's Booty popcorn? Pirate's Booty is made from corn and rice meal that is extruded and results in a puff of rice and corn. In some industry circles, the puffs are known as hull-less popcorn. Are Pirate Brands' products organic? No, their products do not qualify as organic, but all Pirate Brands' products are all-natural. According to the Food and Drug Act, products are deemed "all-natural" if nothing artificial or synthetic including color additives, regardless of source has been included in or added to a food that would normally be expected to be in that food. All of Pirate Brands' products meet and exceed the Food and Drug Act's definition of "all-natural." Who conducts Pirate Brands' all-natural certification? The natural label claim is certified by Pirate Brands' through ingredient sourcing and how the products fall under the auspice and regulatory mandate of the Food and Drug Act. Are all Pirate Brands' products vegan? Not all Pirate Brands' products are vegan, but both Original Tings and Pirate's Booty Veggie are. Is Pirate's Booty Veggie made with real vegetables? Yes, Pirate's Booty Veggie is made with spinach powder, broccoli powder, kale powder, carrot powder, cabbage powder and parsley powder. Are Pirate Brands' products made with whole grains? Yes, as both the rice and corn meal contain bran, germ and endosperm and are not refined. Why are Pirate Brands' products gluten free? Pirate Brands' products are gluten free, as they are made out of rice and corn meal, which are naturally gluten free. Further, the rice and corn meal come from dedicated silos that have never contained gluten items. Are Pirate Brands' products produced in a certified gluten and wheat-free facility? No, Pirate Brands' products are not produced in a gluten- and wheat-free facility. However, our products are produced in gluten- and wheat-free lines and our products are kept away from gluten and wheat products within the facility. Why are Pirate Brands' products trans fat free? They keep trans fats out of their healthy snacks here at Pirate Brands. They do not introduce hydrogen into our oils, which keeps the saturation level normal and results in no trans fat. Trans fatty acids, trans fats and hydrogenated fats are made by humans and processed, thus are higher health risks than any other fats. Trans fats can raise blood cholesterol levels and significantly increase the risk of coronary heart disease. Trans fats were created by manufacturers to prolong a product's shelf life, reduce cost and improve flavor and texture. In a nutshell, they are able to create all-natural wholesome snack without trans fat. What is nutritional yeast? Nutritional yeast is deactivated yeast produced by culturing it with a mix of sugarcane and beet molasses, and then harvesting, washing, drying and packaging the yeast. Nutritional yeast is a nutritional substitute and source of protein and vitamins, specifically B-complex vitamins. It is naturally low in fat and sodium. The yeast has a desirable flavor described by many as nutty, creamy or cheesy. Is the cheese in Pirate Brands' products animal rennet free? Yes, the cheese in Pirate Brands' products is rennet free. Are Pirate Brands' products peanut and tree nut free? Yes, Pirate Brands' products are made in a nut-free facility, therefore are peanut and tree-nut free. Are Pirate Brands' products kosher? Yes, all Pirate Brands' products are kosher. What is the shelf life of Pirate Brands' products? Pirate Brands' products have a six month shelf life. What is the best way to store Pirate Brands' products? Store Pirate Brands' products in a cool dry place. If a bag is opened and not finished, reseal or close bag after squeezing out as much air as possible.


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Tuesday January 4, 2005 11:49 am
Vonage Introduces Wireless VOIP Handset
Posted by Categories: Wireless / WiFi
Now this is something I can really sink my teeth into. I have Vonage broadband phone service at my house and I absolutely love it. For $24.99 a month I can make unlimited calls to anywhere in the US and Canada. Now Vonage is preparing to offer wireless VOIP services. Using any standard 802.11b network, users can use this phone to make calls on their vonage account. How cool is that?
Read More | EE Times
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Learn About Healthi Kids
Are you a Healthy Hero? Finding time to eat right and stay active is hard. So we're giving you easy and fun ways to keep your children moving and help you prepare healthy food.
Buy Fresh
For Less
By visiting this website you've already taken the hardest step there is toward helping your kids. Because it means you know that if you don't take action today, they could face an unhealthy tomorrow. We're here to help you do just that, with tips, tools and advice that encourage your kids to eat well and stay active. It's really pretty easy. What is 5•2•1•0?
Find easy-to-use tips that can help you become the Healthy Hero in your family. Also, meet Healthy Heroes in our community who are making small changes to create a big difference.
What is "Active Play?" Find ways to get the entire family involved and locate safe places around town where kids can enjoy more heart-pumping play!
Eat fruit, lose the fries. Replace soda with skim milk. Learn more about healthy choices and shopping smart. Find quick, healthy recipes you can make at home. Easy tips for making meaningful changes.
Get access to local and national resources that will help your efforts to raise healthier kids. Also, see Healthy Hero in the news. Find pediatricians in the Rochester community.


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Gov. Mark Dayton must decide Monday whether he wants to extend any of the executive orders signed by his predecessor, Republican Tim Pawlenty.
New governors have 90 days to renew a predecessor's executive orders or they lapse.
Pawlenty signed 132 orders during his two terms, most of them dealing with disaster declarations and other routine matters. A few dealt with policy issues such as immigration.
In 2008, Pawlenty required state agencies to participate in E-Verify, a federal system used to verify immigration status of their workers. The order also applied to private vendors doing more than $50,000 worth of business with the state. Another executive order required closer collaboration between state law enforcement and federal immigration authorities.
Pawlenty also signed an order saying people civilly committed as sexually dangerous would not be released by the state unless it were court-ordered. The state has found itself in a potential legal bind with no one successfully completing treatment, and shouldering the growing costs of housing this population.
Katharine Tinucci in Gov. Dayton's office emailed MPR News last week. She wrote, "The governor is currently reviewing all of the executive orders from the previous administration; no decisions have been made yet." She said his office will release a statement Monday.
Within days of taking office in January, Dayton did reverse a Pawlenty order that had prevented the state from accepting grant money under the new federal health care law.


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Republican legislators, the target audience of last week's State of the State address, had cause to silently reorder their constituency relationship. Some no doubt were deciding to become more a political agent. Others, though, were deciding to become something new, or at least something that hasn't been tried for a while — a citizen legislator.
In normal times the two roles co-mingle in the best of them. Even the most conscientious find moments when they have to be just a bit of a mandarin to meet voter expectations. Those who are most comfortable with that duplicity have floated to the top and leadership. Those least comfortable have dropped to the bottom and ignominy.
Perhaps not so much any more. Hoosiers listening to the new governor were focused on their own little budgets at their own little statehouses (in most cases, the kitchen table). And in listening to the State of the State they couldn't help but realize that they are expert in the economics of their times — as expert as the speech writers or even their own legislators (arguably moreso in that they are dealing with their own money).
We are returning to a time when Hoosiers send legislators to the Statehouse as friends and neighbors, not as lawyers to court. The difference being that the former is expected to sincerely share our political, religious and philosophical beliefs, the later only to win the next case on the docket.
You don't have to be a Karl Rove to know that this means voters will be looking for representation (political relationship) that is above all authentic and trustworthy.
Earlier this month, the governor put down an uncommonly straightforward budget, and thereby unassailable by the usual socio-political means. Moreover, it appears to build on the fiscal successes of the previous administration, and does so in a concerted way that promises to reduce the size of Indiana government.
That could mean surpluses, tax cuts and eventually the increase in private investment and jobs that some economic historians tell us accompanies such policy. At the least, it would send an economic message to the nation that Indiana "gets it."
So who could be against that?
Yes, well, liberal Democrats of course, which judging from the presidential inauguration is pretty much all Democrats these days. It threatens their contention that governments, good times or bad, should grow larger to keep pace with what they see as the uninterruptible advance of Homo sapiens toward the Utopia of moment.
Opposition also has come from the GOP leadership, at least initially, and perhaps even from tacticians within the governor's office. The Indianapolis political class does not appreciate any attempt by any governor to make the Statehouse less palatine. Who will cut the deals, make the exceptions, apply the realpolitik so that everything comes out fair, balanced and neutral? Who will guide this historic super-majority? Who, in sum, will make the sausage we call state government?
"(The governor's budget) puts transportation funding totally in the hands of the economy; if the economy tanks, there's no transportation dollars," complained House Speaker Brian Bosma to Network Indiana.
To appreciate the difficulty of the Speaker's position, ask your spouse to take a second job because you spent the grocery budget on beer. Under such calculations, the laws of economics don't apply to government itself. And even past accounting and spending errors don't carry over to the next page. The leadership, in effect, proclaims itself supremely exempt from the rules by which the rest of us live, an expression of hubris that is always fatal.
So let's hope Mr. Bosma and his friends take a step back in coming weeks. They need to know that this is no longer about them. The state and nation are in full crises. The Republican brand is not exactly flying off the shelves. From now on, every issue headed their way will not be "politically survivable" in the old sense of the words.
Leadership, being leadership, might disagree. The Tea Party, it hopes, can be co-opted. The warning signs in the polling data can be dismissed as "cyclical." Issues can be muddied, incongruity explained, embarrassments covered, the unruly disciplined, facts disputed, reportage skewed. Power always thinks it will hold.
More and more, though, the legislative rank and file recognize that their relationship with friends and neighbors must be restored. They must be citizens first and politicians second.
A real budget is the right place to start.


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tobyboy wrote:Hi , I am from China ,so the most popular sport is table tennis .Now many parents send their children to have a training . But I am not good at it ,I just watch .And besides,badminton is also popular here .I like playing badminton.By the way ,I also like watching tennis match.And Andy Roddick is the best tennis player in my heart .
simplyblessedwithlove wrote:pirate wrote: In UK it's cricket above soccer. Right?
Yup! You're right!!!
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Archer Who Thinks Women T-Shirt
Product Color:
Product information
The Women T-Shirt Archer Who Thinks is our old-school favorite. Perfect for use in sports where you are bound to sweat and need wide range of movement. Short sleeves to let cool air in on those hot and sunny days. Also great for every day use and to show everyone your love for Archer Who Thinks.
This product is made of the finest combed jersey which feels soothing against your skin. Shoulder-to-shoulder taping guarantees long life and a good fit. Archery Women T-Shirt is available in 17 different color options. Heather Grey: 80% Cotton/20% Polyester. Remaining Colors: 100% Cotton.
Sku: TC2BR0000027110202020019YGWH00000


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I arrive at her swank Beverly Hills hotel room this week and to my surprise a very relaxed and cordial Miss Aretha Franklin answers the doorbell. With a big smile and a warm embrace, she receives me into her penthouse suite which is already overflowing with flowers and fancy foods.
|ArethaFranklin in the 60's
It's clear it's the presidential suite and it was designed for the rich and famous and Miss Franklin, known around the world as simply Aretha, seems very much at home with all the luxury. It's also clear that her famous friends, fans and business associates are thrilled that's she's back in Los Angeles and have provided a royal welcome to the woman also known as the undisputed Queen of Soul.
"I used to live here," a very laidback Aretha Franklin tells me while resting comfortably on her French sofa. "I love L.A." Already, she has set aside the high brow selections and had her assistants make a run to Pink's Famous Hotdog Stand. "I had my Pink's this morning and can't wait to have FatBurger tomorrow."
But deep within all the love for the city, she also announces very softly but definitely that "this is my last trip and my last performance in Los Angeles."
Why? The Queen, who still refuses to fly since a 1984 bad flight aboard a twin engine plane, had just arrived in the City of Angels. She spent six days aboard her luxury bus and still the trip from her hometown of Detroit was just too much.
"We had to take the most southern route due to the weather," she says. "It's a long drive, it's a very long drive and now I know how the people felt who came over in the covered wagons. I know exactly how they felt." Six days on a bus – no matter how comfy – could make anyone road weary. "I'm always glad to be back in L.A., but this will be my last L.A. performance until I start flying again." Fortunately for her fans, she is watching tapes to help her get over her fear of flying, but she's not feeling the need to board a plane yet.
"I'm not going to put a time thing on it," she adds. "I'll just know when I'm ready to fly again and I'm not ready yet."
The Queen Gets Some R.E.S.P.E.C.T
If everything indeed has a season, then this is again Miss Franklin's time. She's come to Los Angeles for two major concerts (Thursday, Feb 14 and Friday, Feb 15) at the new Nokia Theatre downtown and to pickup two major awards: the NAACP Images' Vanguard Award and Grammy's MusicCares Person of the Year honor.
In addition, the music icon who had delivered hit after hit for the last 47 years, is nominated for another Grammy, possibly her 20th, for her Gospel duet with Mary J. Blige. "This nomination is like the first," she says. "I'll be sitting there hoping that I'm gonna get it. This never gets old. To me, it's a confirmation that people still love what you do." Ms. Franklin will perform the nominated song, "Never Gonna Break My Faith" on the telecast Sunday night, Feb 10.
"It's a very special time for me," she tells the LA Sentinel exclusively. "There's so much happening, I can barely keep up with it." This from a woman who has already received the Presidential Medal of Freedom – the highest honor for any American citizen; nineteen Grammys, the 2nd highest of any female artist ever, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from her peers at the Recording Academy.
|Aretha Franklin in the 90's
But somehow it seems she still deserves so much more. Consider her legacy: dozens of chart-toping records including such timeless classics as "I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Love You)." "RESPECT," "Baby I Love You," "Natural Woman," "Chain of Fools," "Think," "Jump to It," "Freeway of Love," and 100 other singles. You really can't turn on the TV without hearing a commercial with her music in it, a movie without someone attempting to sing one of her songs and her gospel CD "Amazing Grace" still holds the record as the highest selling gospel CD of all time.
Ms. Franklin admits her guilty pleasure is watching the TV Show American Idol and seeing some of the contestants butchering her songs. "I just laugh usually and say no, baby." As for her music standing the test of time, she chimes in, "I think it's fabulous, not only are they standing up for when we did it, but they're standing up 10-20 years from now. Musically – some of them still sound really good."
So what can fans expect in her LA show? "Everything," she tells the LA Sentinel. "I'm gonna sing as many as I can within the 2 nights, there will be some new things and there will be some surprises – I love surprises. It's gonna be a really, really cool two nights."
Why does she believe her fans have been so loyal over the years? "They know I'm real," she says. "I don't come with the funny stuff."
During her time in LA, Ms. Franklin says she's looking forward to catching up with some good friends like Motown Founder Berry Gordy and record executive and music mogul Clive Davis.
She's also looking forward to being honored as Grammy's MusicCare's Person of the Year. At the event at the Los Angeles Convention Center Friday, Feb 8, many of her peers will gather to sing her praises for her extraordinary musical achievements but also her philanthropic commitments to various church and food banks in the Detroit metropolitan area.
"My father always taught me to help others and many many years ago he taught me to keep my feet on the ground" she explains.
The MusicCare's tribute and all-star concert will feature some of Ms. Frankin's favorite singers including John Legend, BeBe and CeCe Winans, Fantasia, Shirley Caesar, Herbie Hancock Robin Thicke, Faith Hill and Anthony Hamilton. "I love Anthony Hamilton's music especially his song, no matter what the people say," she added.
Also, that night her son and grandson will perform at the dinner. "That's going to be special. They have a Christian hip hop group and they're very good – they're very, very good."
As you might expect, some Hollywood agents also want to talk to the Queen of Soul while she's in town. Since the release of her autobiography "From These Roots" telling of her journey from a child prodigy singing in her father's Baptist church to concert stages around the world – Ms. Franklin continues to field offers to turn her life story into a movie.
"We have new deals on the table," she says about the biopic. "I have to cast the person who plays me, my father and my brother – I'd like to see this happen." But she's not willing to give up total creative control.
Who does Ms. Franklin see in that starring role? She confirms she had tea and talks with Oscar-winning actress and singer Jennifer Hudson. "It was interesting," she says. Other names that come to mind include American Idol Winner Fantasia Barrino and Oscar-winning actress Halle Berry.
Who could believe all of this could happen for a woman who never really wanted to sing. (Her father, a minister, forced her to perform in church and for friends who dropped by the house including famed Gospel singer Mahalia Jackson. )
Now — if we can just get someone to help the Queen of Soul get over her fear of flying.
Her latest CD: Jewels In The Crown: All-Star Duets With The Queen
Aretha Franklin will be performing for 2 nights at Nokia Theatre L.A. Live on Thursday, February 14th and Friday, February 15th at 8pm.


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Makes My Life Whole Sleeveless
Product Color:
Product information
The Sleeveless Makes My Life Whole is the no-sleeve version of the popular favorite t-shape. Perfect for use in sports where you are bound to sweat and need wide range of movement as well as on hot and sunny days, to avoid those tan-lines across your biceps. Put Alaskan Klee Kai on the finest combed jersey which feels soothing against your skin.
Alaskan Klee Kai Sleeveless is available in 10 different color options. Heather Grey: 80% Peruvian Cotton/20% Polyester. Remaining Colors: 100% Peruvian Cotton.
Sku: SL1WH0000013450606060224BLVR00000


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Commander Cody and Darth Vader (ROTJ)...
To insure your action figure collection, get in touch with our sponsor Collectibles Insurance.
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For an amazing selection of original sculptures, statues, prints and DVDs be sure to check out ShiflettBrothers.com.
Kotobukiya passes along new photos and details on two upcoming Star Wars ArtFX Statues. These include:
STAR WARS COMMANDER CODY ARTFX STATUE(pictured above)
The recently resurrected line of Star Wars ARTFX Statues (bringing the heroes and villains of the Star Wars universe to life in dynamic 1/7th scale) continues with one of the most popular characters from the prequel films. A leader of clone troopers and friend to Obi-Wan Kenobi until Order 66, here comes Episode III: Revenge Of The Sith: COmmander Cody. Paying homage to Cody's switch in allegiance, his ARTFX Statue comes with two unique display modes. The first depicts the commander before Order 66, standing triumphant on the field of battle with his blaster at the ready. Cody scans the scene before him looking for any final opponents while dangling from his left hand are the remains of the last one: the severed head of a battle droid! If you prefer the commander working for the dark side, swap out parts to portray him in the final moment before turning on Obi-Wan. This Cody looks down at a hologram of Emperor Palpatine that glows with a bright LED light. He even wears the Jedi's lightsaber on his belt as the character did in that specific scene.
Available in July priced at a SRP of $129.99.
Kotobukiya's line of Star Wars ARTFX Statues continues with the Dark Lord of the Sith, Darth Vader. Based on his look in Return of the Jedi, Vader springs to life with multiple light-up parts via LEDs in his helmet, chest, waist, and lightsaber. Darth Vader stands 11 inches tall (1/7th scale) atop an exclusive Death Star panel display base.
Available in October priced at a SRP of $129.99.
Source: Edited Koto PR


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Additional tomato growers have joined a lawsuit against the federal government seeking reimbursement for money they lost in 2008 when the Food and Drug Administration erroneously warned consumers against eating Florida tomatoes during a salmonella outbreak.
The FDA ultimately found that hot peppers from Mexico were responsible for the outbreak.
Tomato growers contend they lost the value of their entire spring crop in the six weeks between the agency's first public warning about Florida tomatoes and its announcement that tomatoes were not the cause of the outbreak, according to the lawsuit.
Initially, 17 growers said they collectively lost more than $40 million. With the addition of 13 growers, the amount of losses is substantially more. In 2008 the Florida tomato industry estimated its losses at $600 million. Growers said prices dropped from $18-$19 per box to 50 per box after the FDA warning.
The growers' case is now being handled by attorney Stephen Turner, who said he does not generally include specific damage amounts in the early stages of a case. The attorney who filed the initial complaint in the case, Frank Baker, asked Turner to take over the case earlier this year.
"This case is of interest industrywide because next time it could be apples or sweet potatoes," Turner said.
The government has asked that the case be dismissed, claiming that the FDA did not take "final" action during the outbreak in relation to Florida tomatoes and that even if it had taken "final" action the situation does not meet the Constitution's definition of a "taking."
Growers contend the Fifth Amendment's "takings clause" does apply. The clause includes government actions where property is taken — both announced as in eminent domain cases and unannounced as in the tomato growers' case.
"A taking can occur when the government takes steps that directly and substantially interfere with the owner's property rights to the extent of rendering the property unusable or valueless to the owner." according to the amended complaint from the 30 growers.
The government has until the end of June to file a response to the tomato growers' response to the motion to dismiss the case, Turner said. He said he expects the judge to rule on whether to dismiss the case by August or September.
The growers suing for losses are: High Hope Farms LLC, SK Enterprises of North Florida Inc., Butler Farms Inc., Two Feathers Farms Inc., Quality Produce LLC, Dan Jones, Circle C Produce LLC, Juniper Tomato Growers Inc., JWM Farms LLC, Jackson Farms, Flowers Farms LLC, Patterson Farm Inc., Hopkins Farms LLC, Mobley Greenhouse Investments LLC, Gregory Enterprises LLC, Townsend Brothers Farms Inc., Murray Farms, DiMare Fresh Inc., DiMare Ruskin Inc., DiMare Johns Island Inc., Gargiulo Inc., DMB Packing corp., Artesian Farms Inc., Kuzzens Inc., Farm-Op Inc., West Coast Tomato LLC, Michael Borek Farms LLC, Frank Diehl Farms, and Diehl & Lee Farms.


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Chennai, Sep 19 (IANS) The first look of Telugu multi-starrer featuring three generations of Akkineni family is likely to be released Friday on the 90th birthday of acting legend Akkineni Nageswara Rao (ANR).
Nageswara Rao will be seen with his son Nagarjuna and grandson Naga Chaitanya in the film.
"I think this is the best gift we could think of. Plans are being made to release the first look poster of the film on Friday. We thought it would be a great moment for his fans to look forward to. Releasing it on this day also means good visibility," a member from the film's unit told IANS.
"Manam" is being directed by Vikram Kumar. It is touted to be the first family multi-starrer in Telugu industry.
The film, which has already completed its first schedule, is being produced by Annapurna Studios, home banner of Nagarjuna.


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And now for something completely different...
NECA is known for their licensed novelty items just as much - if not more so - their action figures. From themed mugs and votive holders to printed t-shirts and movie standees. Now you can add another unique new item to that long list: Video Game Controller Talking Keychains. In stores now, these electronic devices, as their name implies, resemble video game controllers and are themed after three hit games: Borderlands, Assassin's Creed and Gears of War. In addition to looking cool, each keychain speaks four phrases directly from the game it's modeled after. SRP of around $9 each.
Source: NECAonline
To insure your action figure collection, get in touch with Collectibles Insurance, the official insurance company of the Figures.com network. Say "Figures.com" to get 5% off your first term premiums.
To buy action figures, take a look at BigBadToyStore.com, RedfordFilms.com, Toynk.com, PastGenerationToys.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, and MonkeyDepot.com.