text:
It goes without saying there is heavy interest in the new proposed food safety rules from the FDA.
The Packer's coverage of the price tag of the produce safety regulation has had several passionate reader comments, revealing that this rulemaking process will be considered by a matter of life and death in both business and personal terms.
Here are a couple of comments on that story:
Chuck from Florida writes:
Americans are to pay $460 million, foreign farms pay$171 million. Over 60% of the fresh
fruits and veg consumed in the US are from foreign farms according to the USDA perhaps
I don't know how to do math but this doesn't calculate! Are American farms to help pay
foriegn farms portion of food safety? Americans speak up!
Chris from North Carolina adds:
680 pages... I can't afford for this farm to buy the paper to print it out, much less comply with this rule. Who is going to pay to fence my 20 acres?
Meanwhile, others feel the article's focus on costs shouldn't be the focus:
From Mexico, this comment:
Regarding the article's (and the commentator's) focus: $
Is that what this is really about?
"The proposed rule imposes new standards on growers for worker training and hygiene, agricultural water purity, biological soil amendments, equipment, tools and buildings".
Is that a necessary and valid goal? Of course! Serious (including fatal) Diseases have been spread by contaminated (improperly grown and handled) Produce.
Is that goal implemented in law effectively and efficiently?
That's the real question. (After reading the law and observing it's implementation we can comment further).
Another reader from Nevada said:
And what is the cost of a human life?
Just how reasonable are these proposed food safety regulations? Is there an objective, dispassionate way to measure the cost and benefit of the rules when human lives hang in the balance?
The sheer audacious volume of new regulation that will be coming industry's way in the next two years will be mind-boggling. I can't help agree with Chris Schlect of the Northwest Hort Council that more than 120 days will be needed to evaluate and comment on the proposed rules.
While we wait for more substantive input from industry associations, I've put together some links from the FDA. The agency has populated its website with all kinds of resources related to the newly published produce safety rule and the preventive controls rules.
Here is a brief listing of the links readers may find useful.
Overview: FDA strengthens food safety foundation
"Preventing problems before they cause harm is not only common sense, it is the key to food safety in the 21st century," says FDA Commissioner Margaret A.
Hamburg, M.D. "We cannot afford to wait until people become ill to realize there is a problem."
Summary page: The New Food Safety Modernization Act
Key link: Get FSMA updates by email
Food Safety Modernization Act: Frequently Asked Questions
Key Question:
PT.3.4 When will FDA begin developing recordkeeping requirements for high-risk foods, as directed by FSMA?
Once the product tracing pilots are completed, and other data are gathered, the Agency will begin the development of a proposed rule.
PT.3.5 Will FDA expand requirements for recordkeeping requirements to foods that are not designated as high risk?
No. FSMA specifies that additional recordkeeping requirements developed under section 204 must apply only to high risk foods. FDA will be seeking input from stakeholders in considering whether to develop voluntary guidance for foods beyond those designated as high risk to enhance product tracing in the supply chain.
PT.3.6 Will FDA recommend certain product tracing technologies either for the pilot or for future regulations and potential guidance?
FDA does not plan to recommend specific software or systems at any of these stages. Rather, FDA will focus on the elements of a product tracing system that enable rapid and effective tracing of food products. Under section 204, FDA is not permitted to prescribe specific technologies to maintain records in the context of the additional recordkeeping requirements for high-risk foods.
Summary: Produce Safety Standards
Produce Safety Standards: Entire proposed rule
Can you believe? 547 pages
Produce Safety Standards: Analysis of economic impact
Key takeaway: 388 pages!
Summary page: Preventive control standards
Also note:
Along with the proposed rule, FDA is announcing the availability of, and requesting comment on, a draft qualitative risk assessment, Draft Qualitative Risk Assessment of Risk of Activity/Food Combinations for Activities (Outside the Farm Definition) Conducted in a Facility Co-Located on a Farm (PDF: 660KB), designed to provide a science-based risk analysis of those on-farm activity/food combinations that would be considered not reasonably likely to introduce hazards that are reasonably likely to cause serious adverse health consequences. Interested persons may submit written comments regarding the draft risk assessment by visiting http://www.regulations.gov.
Entire proposed rule: Preventive control standards
Comment: Roughly 700 pages long
Preventive control standards: Analysis of economic impact
Peer review of qualitative risk assessment for food facilities
Lest we forget: still more rules to come
Foreign Supplier Verification for Importers: This program will require importers to verify that foreign suppliers are following procedures that provide the same level of health protection as that required of domestic food producers. About 15 percent of the food consumed in the U.S. is imported, including about 49 percent of fresh fruit and 21 percent of vegetables.
Accredited Third Party Certification: The accreditation of third-party auditors would help ensure that food producers in other countries comply with U.S. food safety laws.
Preventive Controls for Animal Food: This is the implementation of preventive controls at animal food facilities that are similar to those proposed for human food.


text:
King of the Q & A
What Do Clint Eastwood, Jack Kemp, Richard Nixon and the Beatles have in common? they were all interviewed by David Frost.
(continued from page 4)
He has sat opposite hundreds upon hundreds of celebrities and politicians, artists and writers, movie stars and athletes, military men and musicians, trying and often succeeding in getting them to reveal a little or a lot of the truth behind their public mask--or, as he once called it, their "what-makes-people-tick factor."
He has chatted with Richard Nixon (in the highest-rated news interview in television history), Yasser Arafat, Yitzhak Rabin, George and Barbara Bush, Robert Kennedy, Sirhan Sirhan, Prince Charles, Idi Amin, Tennessee Williams, Golda Meir, Nelson Mandela, Salman Rushdie, Muhammad Ali, Jacques Cousteau, Warren Beatty, Norman Mailer, Truman Capote, Woody Allen, the Rev. Billy Graham, John Wayne, Margaret Thatcher, Indira Gandhi, Benazir Bhutto, King Hussein, Gen. Norman Schwarzkopf, Newt Gingrich, Robin Williams, Orson Welles, Garth Brooks, Clint Eastwood, Jack Kemp, Isaac Stern, Ted Turner, Jane Fonda, Elton John, the Shah of Iran and the Beatles--to name just a few.
But today Frost will be in the other seat. He has, over the years, become as famous as many of his subjects, and as he ushers a visitor into his lavish suite at the St. Regis Hotel just off Fifth Avenue in midtown Manhattan, it is his turn to be interviewed.
"I thought that before we begin we would light up a couple of cigars," he says in his impeccable British accent. He is ever the perfect host, his relaxed, informal, easygoing and unfailingly polite manner calculated to put his interviewer at ease, just as he has calmed many a nervous talk-show guest. "It somehow seems appropriate, given we're doing this for Cigar Aficionado. And I have this lovely California Cabernet. I've just tried it; would you like some?"
He presents the wine, already poured, then lifts from the coffee table two aluminum tubes, each holding a Cuban Romeo y Julieta No. 2. "I like the chunkier, smaller cigars," he says. "And I always take tubed cigars with me when I travel. They're easier to carry than a humidor and they keep the cigars well enough. I know it's maybe only 95 percent the quality I would get if I kept them in a humidor. I always use a humidor at home. But I like the convenience. The trick is to ration the cigars so I light up the last one on the way to the airport for the flight home."
He sits on the sofa, takes out a guillotine cutter, snips the cigar's end, proffers the cutter to his guest, strikes a match, carefully creates a perfectly rounded ash and slowly takes his first puff. "There's just nothing like a Havana," he says with a smile.
As he puffs, Frost begins to reminisce about some of his experiences, some of the stars in his galaxy of subjects. First and foremost is Richard Nixon, who admitted to his interviewer, after long hours of questioning, that in the Watergate scandal he "let down the entire country."
Even after 12 days of face-to-face questioning, Frost says, it was impossible to really know the former president. "He was so impersonal," Frost recalls. "He erected a wall to stop other people from gazing into his heart, and probably also to stop himself from gazing into his heart."
In recent years, Frost says, the most charismatic person he has interviewed is Nelson Mandela, the president of South Africa. "Courage is a very difficult word to define," Frost says. "But one definition is Nelson Mandela. What everyone admires about Mandela is how he could have been wrongly incarcerated for 28 years and emerged without bitterness. Such a triumph of the human spirit! When I asked him how he managed it, he simply said, 'David, I would like to be bitter, but there is no time to be bitter. There is work to do.' "
Frost's take on Yasser Arafat is a positive one. "I wasn't really surprised when Arafat decided to take a risk on peace," he says. "In the interviews I had done with him, I had always sensed that yearning. The first time I interviewed him was in 1977, when he was seen by everybody as a devil, and even then he seemed to me to have more depth than people realized.
"There's an amusing anecdote about that interview," he says. "Because of security and the dangers then of the Israelis finding out his whereabouts, my people and I were met at the Beirut airport and blindfolded before we were led to the location where the interview was to take place. And then, having taken these precautions, in the middle of the interview he pointed out a window and quite openly he told me that his office used to be across the street but it was attacked by the Israelis. So to figure out where he was, all the Israelis really had to do was look at the interview. The blindfold was superfluous."
Frost calls House Speaker Newt Gingrich "one of the most hard-working men I've ever met. We did an interview [in 1995], and I could see as he was relaxing beforehand in the chair for makeup that he was bone-tired. But the moment the interview started and the lights clicked on, he was bang-on and informed. I sensed a man who is truly driven."
Among the most telling comments Frost has elicited was one from Prince Charles about the limits imposed on royalty. "When I first interviewed him, it was on the eve of his investiture as the Prince of Wales," Frost recalls. "We had the most memorable exchange, one that underlined so much about the life of a royal. I mentioned to him that when I was four or five years old, I wanted to be a railroad engine driver--it's what every British boy wants to be. And I said that in his case it was pointless having dreams like that, because his future was predestined. And he said he remembered that when he was a small boy he also wanted to be a railroad engine driver--but when he was six, he woke up one day and realized he was 'sort of stuck.' And I thought that using the phrase 'sort of stuck' as a way of describing becoming the King of England was a masterly sort of British understatement."
In the world of entertainment, Frost says that two of his favorite people are Warren Beatty and Robin Williams. Beatty, he says, "is very intelligent, very likable and very literate. I left getting married to quite late in life, and he left it to quite later. I once told him that if my son took as long as I did to marry and have a child, I wouldn't become a grandfather until I was 89. Warren said he had me beaten--that in his case, he would be 109."
What Frost admires most about Robin Williams is the comedian's dedication. "I once asked him to come over to London to appear at a royal gala I was organizing for Prince Charles. It was an unpaid gig, and Robin simply could have done some old material, perhaps sweetening it a little for an English audience. But he has a low opinion of sweetening, and he came over four days earlier and tried out his material for three nights, in London clubs with British audiences, so he could do a performance that wowed both the British and the American audience back home. It was a wonderful example of dedication and professionalism."
The person who has inspired Frost the most is the Rev. Billy Graham. "He was the first personal interview I ever did on the BBC, in 1964," he recalls. "I've probably interviewed him more times than anyone else, and he has had something new and delightful to say each time. Through the years his faith has remained undimmed, but he has shown more and more the ability to doubt. He once said that the first time I interviewed him, had I asked, he would have given me the dimensions of heaven. But, he said, he doesn't do that anymore. He said he had made a list of questions he wants to ask God--things he doesn't understand, like whether there is life on other planets or why God made Satan such a strong force. Even Billy Graham has questions--about suffering and pain and his own battle with Parkinson's disease. But he's such an inspiring man."
Frost smiles. In this moment of reminiscence, he truly looks inspired. His hair is largely gray now, his face considerably older than when he became a television presence in the United States in the mid-1960s, when he hosted the comedy news show, "That Was the Week That Was." But the vibrancy, the grace, the sophistication, the probing intellect are the same. Frost is 57 now, but age becomes him. Another puff or two, a sip, some small talk; it is time for the first question. How does it feel, he is asked, to be sitting on the other side?
He reflects for a moment and is about to answer when suddenly the telephone rings. He rises from the couch and walks the few steps. It is London calling. There are, it seems, visa problems. In three days, he is flying to Moscow. The Russians, to grant him a visa, require his passport. But he is in New York, and the passport is, of course, with him. And he is flying back to London in 48 hours and will need it with him then. Perhaps a Xerox copy will do? Call his assistant, he says; tell her which Russian official she will have to call to clear things up. "I'm in the middle of an interview," he says, direct but gentlemanly. "I'll call back when it's over."
He hangs up. "It's for a talk with Mikhail Gorbachev," he says. "There's an infinite amount of jugglery going on. We're doing it Sunday, before the Russian presidential election. I fly home Friday, then it's on to Moscow. It's for 'Talking With David Frost,' which appears in the States on PBS monthly, the last Friday of the month. I'm delighted to be doing Gorbachev again. I find him so fascinating--his personal journey from loyal Communist to doubting Communist to non-Communist."
He returns to the sofa and takes a puff from his cigar. "Where were we?" Ah yes, he says, it's refreshing--it's good to be sitting in the opposite chair for a change.
"It sharpens you up," he says. "I do more interviewing than being interviewed, but I do get interviewed quite often and it helps you check out your reflexes. Sometimes you get a good idea from a question somebody else asks. And it confirms the basic rules of an interview."
The first basic rule, he says, is to prepare--his staff will often spend months researching everything there is to find out about a subject. For an interview with Alexander Haig, they even read Haig's master's thesis. But even more important, he says, as obvious as it sounds, is paying attention.
"People used to say about me with a tone of astonishment, 'He listens.' But it is such a given, as far as I'm concerned, that you must listen. Some of the best questions are ad-lib follow-ups to what someone has just said that's fascinating. And of course, the fun of doing it is listening, isn't it? It's important to do your homework and prepare, in terms of striking up the relationship with the person you're talking to and all that; the fact that you've taken the trouble. But what all that preparation does is liberate you to go with the ad-libbing. Sometimes people think that preparing a lot shackles you, but the answer is, of course, that you're not shackled. You are liberated to go with whatever comes up rather than having to stick with the one narrow area you know about.
"I remember one interview with Tennessee Williams when, from the very first question, every single question of mine came out of something he'd just said. It was so provocative, so bewildering. We were talking about the fact of heterosexuality and homosexuality. And at the end, he paused and grinned, and the audience grinned with him, and he said, 'I've covered the waterfront.' And he said it so charmingly that the audience virtually applauded."
Before you can hope for the ad-lib, however, you must get your subject to loosen up. "You have to overcome the slightly abnormal atmosphere that television provides," Frost says, "One way is with direct eye contact. If you're interviewing someone you've never met before, the fact that they may have seen you on television and you've seen them on television actually helps, because it sort of breaks the ice. It's almost as if the first meeting becomes a reunion, because you both know each other from television. One may know a bit more about the other and wants to get something through to them. That all helps. But I would guess the most important thing is to ask them questions they haven't heard before, questions that challenge them, to get them absorbed into the conversation as quickly as possible."
Frost leans forward. "But in the end," he says, "a lot of good interviewing is just basically instinct. For instance, especially when it comes to silence. Silence in an interview can be very good."
Silence? On television? Television usually abhors silence.
"There are three forms of silence," he says. "There's the sort of silence that feels as though it's going to go on forever, because the person has forgotten what they're going to say. It's an embarrassing silence, an awkward silence, a switch-off sort of silence. You have to leap in as quickly as possible when you sense it's that sort of silence, because then two seconds can be an eternity. It's not telling or revelatory. It's just awkward.
"But the second type of silence--there are times where you just sense that if only you shut up the person's going to go further of their own volition and they'll reveal more, they'll say more. They don't like the silence, and they'll say anything to fill the silence, and sometimes that 'anything' is really worthwhile. With that sort of silence you let it roll, and the result can be very exciting. How do you tell which silence is which? It's just instinctive."
Then there is the third sort of silence. "It's a pause at the beginning of an answer, when they're thinking. That's terrific, because it shows that they probably haven't been asked that question before and they don't have a ready answer. I remember a marvelous silence, when I was interviewing Pierre Trudeau when he was prime minister of Canada, and then as now there was tension between French-speaking Quebec and all the English-speaking provinces. And this also shows that sometimes the most lighthearted and simplest-sounding questions can be the most telling. You don't have to get angry with someone--that will often shut people up rather than open them up.
"I looked at Trudeau and said, 'If someone was to wake you in the middle of the night by shaking you, would your first words be in English or French?' It sounded like a question he might be asked at a cocktail party. And there was a marvelous pause, when he realized that this was not just a playful question but that there were [a certain percentage of] votes at stake here, depending on which way he went. You could see he was thinking, and you had that great live television moment when you could see he wasn't prepared. And then he made a very good comeback. He said, 'Well, I'm often awakened in the middle of the night by my sons. And if they say, 'Alo, Papa,' I say, 'Oui,' but if they say, 'What's up Dad,' I say, 'What's up yourself?' So I guess it would depend on the language of the person who was waking me up.'
"Then I said, 'That's why I said they only shook you. So you didn't have that cop-out.' And he roared with laughter."
Repeating a question, until you get the answer you're seeking, can sometimes be a very effective technique--and can make the subject appropriately uncomfortable. "In 1974, Edward Heath was the British prime minister and Harold Wilson was the leader of the opposition," Frost recalls. "It's normally a given that the prime minister and the leader of the opposition, although they may attack each other on the floor of the House of Commons, really get on well; they sort of like each other when the lights are turned off. But in this case, though Heath would never admit it publicly, he couldn't stand Harold Wilson. I was interviewing Heath, and I asked a very simple question. I just said, 'Do you like Harold Wilson?' And he said, 'Well, it's not a question of liking or disliking, it's just important that the business of government should be continued, and between us we insure that that happens.'
"And I said, 'But do you like Harold Wilson?' And he said, 'I don't think we're interested in that sort of thing. The Labor and Conservative parties have different views on certain issues, but we have a duty to the electorate that the issues of the day should be ventilated, and I think we do that.'
"Heath's tone of voice indicated that the subject was closed. So I paused. And then I said, 'But do you like Harold Wilson?' And he said, 'Well, we'll have to see about that, won't we?' And he laughed awkwardly. That last remark said it all. It was quite clear what he really felt. It's only occasionally that you can repeat a question--and to be effective, it has to be precisely the same words."
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
How to get max memory, free memory and total memory in Java
5 comments :
- Java Memory said...
Good post on how to find memory usage in Java, I was looking for some kind of simple utility to find memory and cpu usage in java program, Can you also let us know how to find cpu usage from Java program, whether its possible or not ?
- January 19, 2012 at 1:02 AM
- Anonymous said...
I may be wrong here but shouldn't the MegaBytes variable be 1024 * 1024?
You say in the text that calculating used memory is totalMemory - freeMemory, but in the code example you are using maxMemory instead of totalMemory. The latter would be incorrect. I thought I would just give you a heads up =).
Thanks for the tutorial.
- October 5, 2012 at 12:33 PM
- Javin Paul @ sort arraylist in Java said...
@Anonymous, you are absolutely correct. Thanks for pointing that out. MegaBytes is indeed 1024*1024, some how * got disappeared while pasting. Also used memory should be totalMemory- freeMemory. That's a typo. thanks
- October 5, 2012 at 10:34 PM
- Blog4U said...
if so many applications are running on JVM then we have to know how much memory is used by our program and how to know how much memory for which object....
- July 28, 2013 at 11:11 AM
- Srikanth Kodali said...
Used Memory is always less than the values shows up on Linux top command. Why is this difference?
top command values are not even close to TotalMemory when we give the spike. How do I get the top command values through JAVA program.
- July 20, 2016 at 10:48 AM


text:
Study to Assess the Safety and Tolerability of Idebenone in the Treatment of Friedreich's Ataxia Patients (IONIA-E)
This study has been completed.
Santhera Pharmaceuticals
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
Santhera Pharmaceuticals
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: June 11, 2008
Last updated: May 24, 2013
Last verified: May 2013
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- Study Results
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Detailed Description:
This study is meant to assess the safety and tolerability of idebenone in patients with Friedreich's Ataxia over a 12 months period.
|Friedreich's Ataxia
|Drug: Idebenone
|Phase 3
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Allocation: Non-Randomized
Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|A Phase III Open-Label, Single Group Extension Study of the Safety and Tolerability of Idebenone in the Treatment of Friedreich's Ataxia Patients
Resource links provided by NLM:
Genetics Home Reference related topics: Friedreich ataxia VLDLR-associated cerebellar hypoplasia autosomal recessive cerebellar ataxia type 1
MedlinePlus related topics: Friedreich's AtaxiaU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by Santhera Pharmaceuticals:
Primary Outcome Measures:
- Change in ICARS [ Time Frame: baseline and 12 months ]
International Cooperative Ataxia Rating Scale (ICARS):
ICARS consists of a one-hundred-point semi-quantitative scale based upon 19 simple testing manoeuvres compartmentalized into postural and stance disorders, limb ataxia, dysarthria and oculomotor disorders and has been previously used in this patient population with good inter-rater reliability.
Scores for each subscale quantify the extent of ataxia in each clinically important area. Subscale scores are summed to give a total score ranging from 0 (best) to 100 (worst).
Secondary Outcome Measures:
- FARS (Friedreich's Ataxia Rating Scale) [ Time Frame: baseline and 12 Months ]
- Nature and Frequency of Adverse Events [ Time Frame: 12 Months ]
|Study Start Date:
|July 2008
|Study Completion Date:
|May 2010
|Primary Completion Date:
|May 2010 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
Experimental: 1
high dose Idebenone
Drug: Idebenone
Patients ≤ 45 kg/99 lbs: idebenone 1350 mg/day; Patients > 45 kg/99 lbs: idebenone 2250 mg/day
Detailed Description:
The study involves 6 clinic visits.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|8 Years to 18 Years (Child, Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion criteria:
- Friedreich's ataxia patients completing core study SNT-III-002 (NCT00537680) and presenting at Week 24 (Visit 5) of that study
- Body weight ≥ 25kg/55 lbs
- Negative urine pregnancy test
- Patients who in the opinion of the investigator are able to comply with the requirements of this study
Exclusion criteria:
- Adverse events during the course of SNT-III-002(NCT00537680)which in the opinion of the investigator are attributable to idebenone and preclude further treatment with idebenone
- Clinically significant abnormalities of clinical hematology or biochemistry including, but not limited to, elevations greater than 2 times the upper limit of normal of AST, ALT or creatinine
- Treatment with coenzyme Q10, vitamin E (if taken at a dose 5 times above the daily requirement) or other sources of idebenone within the past month
- Parallel participation in another clinical drug trial
- Past or present history of abuse of drugs or alcohol
- Pregnancy or breast-feeding
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: NCT00697073
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00697073
|United States, California
|David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
|Los Angeles, California, United States, 90095-1769
|United States, Pennsylvania
|The Children's Hopsital of Philadelphia
|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
Sponsors and Collaborators
Santhera Pharmaceuticals
|Principal Investigator:
|Susan Perlman, MD
|University of California, Los Angeles
|Principal Investigator:
|David Lynch, MD
|Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
More Information
Keywords provided by Santhera Pharmaceuticals:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
Meier T, Perlman SL, Rummey C, Coppard NJ, Lynch DR. Assessment of neurological efficacy of idebenone in pediatric patients with Friedreich's ataxia: data from a 6-month controlled study followed by a 12-month open-label extension study. J Neurol. 2012 Feb;259(2):284-91. doi: 10.1007/s00415-011-6174-y. Epub 2011 Jul 22.
|Responsible Party:
|Santhera Pharmaceuticals
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00697073 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|June 11, 2008
|Results First Received:
|June 7, 2011
|Last Updated:
|May 24, 2013
Keywords provided by Santhera Pharmaceuticals:
Friedreich's Ataxia
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Cerebellar Ataxia
Friedreich Ataxia
Neurologic Manifestations
Nervous System Diseases
Signs and Symptoms
Cerebellar Diseases
Brain Diseases
Central Nervous System Diseases
Spinocerebellar Degenerations
Spinal Cord Diseases
Heredodegenerative Disorders, Nervous System
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Genetic Diseases, Inborn
Mitochondrial Diseases
Metabolic Diseases
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action
Protective Agents
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Growth Substances
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


text:
Golf for Dreamers
Professional golf's version of the minor leagues draws hundreds of players willing to put up their own money for the prize pool, and a faraway goal of making the PGA Tour
(continued from page 4)
There were no massive grandstands at the Outlaw Course in the Desert Mountain development. There were no galleries surrounding the greens or standing five deep at the tees. The few spectators—loved ones and friends—were outnumbered by the cacti about a thousand to one. Johnny Miller wasn't in a tower behind the 18th green and there was no press corps to chronicle the event. This was a minitour tournament, far from the Tigerized PGA Tour where thousands watch and millions in prizes are at stake. Hardly a soul was witness to Steve Marino's personal history.
On the short par-4 10th, the 26-year-old Marino ripped a drive that landed 30 yards short of the green and hopped perfectly to the putting surface where it barely missed going in for an ace. He made his three-foot eagle putt and stood at 9-under par for 10 holes. He would make two birdies, then another eagle at the par-5 16th, finish with two routine pars and shoot that magic number of 59, a round that carried him to the Grey Goose Tour title. As he tapped in his putt on the 18th, there was applause from the handful of pros, tournament officials and the odd spectator. There aren't any roars in minitour golf, not even for a 59.
Here in the minor leagues of the game, David Feherty doesn't prowl the fairways wielding a cutting-edge wit, hospitality suites filled with the pampered privileged don't overlook the greens, and golf company reps don't haunt the driving range to make sure their prized players have everything they need. The minitours of golf aren't for the masses.
Instead, minitours are where dreams of playing the PGA Tour are kept alive, where games are honed and lessons learned. For the tough, talented few, they are stepladders to the PGA Tour. For some, they are cushions, safety nets that catch them when bad play knocks them from PGA heaven. But for most, they are a proving ground of a negative sort, proving, that is, that the vast majority of players don't have what it takes to compete with the Phil Mickelsons and Vijay Singhs, or even the Brett Quigleys and Joe Durants.
The NGA Hooters Professional Golf Tour is the most established of these tours, based in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. The Grey Goose Tour is a relative newcomer based in Scottsdale, with a division in West Palm Beach (it will operate under a new title sponsor in 2007). There are many smaller tours across the United States, such as the Tight Lies Tour, the A.G. Spanos Tour, the Golden State Tour, the Tarheel Tour, the Dakotas Tour and an ambitious newcomer, the U.S. Pro Golf Tour. The latter has support from Donald Trump and intends to operate 22 tournaments in 2007, its first full season.
These tours share something in common: they are filled with dreamers. And there's reason for more than a little hope in those dreams. Occasionally, great players do emerge from the satellite competitions. Tom Lehman, Jim Furyk, John Daly, David Toms, Ben Curtis, Lee Janzen and Shaun Micheel, all major tournament winners, played Hooters Tour golf (back in their time, it was known as the T.C. Jordan Tour).
What Lehman & Co. have achieved drives hundreds of good, young players to play for their own money in the hopes that one day they will be playing for the millions put up by others. Minitour players put up the money that makes these tours possible, but there are no guarantees that a PGA Tour spot awaits. These minitours are not affiliated with the PGA Tour. The PGA has its own minor league tour, the Nationwide, that provides automatic promotion to the big tour for its most accomplished players. So no matter what a player does on the minitours, he still has to go through the grueling PGA Tour qualification process. The minis, therefore, provide a tournament-style venue for players that lets them experience the thrill—or misery—of standing over a putt where the money means more than just a check in your pocket.
More than anything, minitour players practice grinding.
"This is organized gambling," says Marc Turnesa, 28, a University of North Carolina graduate and Grey Goose Tour player. "It's no different than gambling with a bunch of buddies and putting up $1,300 apiece. Of course, if you did, you would be playing for 100 percent of it, not here, where you play for maybe 80 percent. But it's a good way to prepare for [PGA] Q school and that's all that matters."
Jamie Neher, of West Palm Beach, Florida, was the Grey Tour's leading money winner in 2006 with more than $160,000. Not bad when you consider that the average purse is around $120,000 and the average first prize is $20,000. It can cost a player upward of $36,000 in entry fees to play in all 31 events. At 33, Neher is getting up in age, but he still holds on to the PGA Tour dream. It doesn't hurt that he's a good friend of British Open champ and fellow Floridian Nick Price. While he was fishing with Price one day, the conversation turned to golf strategy and the outcome turned Neher's game around.
"Nick asked me how many pins I aimed for in a round," says Neher. "I said most of them. He said he probably aimed at four pins a round, maybe six. He said it's more important to be putting from the correct side of the pin than it is just trying to get close to it all the time, and maybe risking something by going for them. My game has improved ever since. I'm not giving away as many shots. I won tournaments this year not playing my best, which is a real good sign. When you can perform when you aren't playing your best, it means you have a solid game."
Most players believe they have a solid game or they wouldn't be on the minitours, where there are no courtesy cars, hospitality rooms or even many caddies (they're too expensive). To watch them play is to be at once in awe of their games and awestruck by the fact that, despite their perseverance, most of them are just not good enough to reach the PGA Tour.
Marion Dantzler is a 43-year-old from Orangeburg, South Carolina, who plays the Hooters Tour and has gone to the PGA Tour qualifying school 14 times, 13 times coming away with nothing. He once qualified to play on the Nationwide Tour, but pulled a muscle in his back early in the season and never had a chance. He's won only once on the Hooters Tour, a 1993 playoff victory over Gary Nicklaus when his legendary father, Jack, was caddying for him. He drives a 1993 Toyota with more than 323,000 miles on it. He's never had to sleep in it, but he once passed out at the wheel from exhaustion after a tournament in Oklahoma. He supplements his income by producing the yardage books that players use during the tournaments.
"I could be doing other things and making more money," says Dantzler. "But I enjoy the game of golf, and I feel I can get better. We stay in private housing a lot on this tour. I've made some great friends because of that and I wouldn't want to trade that for anything."
If Dantzler might be a little old to still dream of playing on the PGA Tour, Gareth Maybin is in full flight. The 26-year-old from Ballyclare, Northern Ireland, has no doubt that his talent and desire can carry him to the Tour. "I've got the talent. I've got the work ethic," says Maybin, who attended the University of South Alabama. "I've won two Hooters Tour events, and the Alabama Open. I know I can win out here and have the game to make it to the top."
He's been given that opportunity by virtue of sponsorship, which is common among minitour players (see sidebar, page 119.) In Maybin's case, it was acquaintances in a local pub who provided him with a grubstake. "The Five Corners Bar is a half mile up the road from my house and ten guys got together two years ago and wanted to sponsor me. I entered into a contract with them. To play the [entire] Hooters Tour, it takes about $24,000. I won early this year and I've been able to keep going off of that."
Todd Demsey is lucky to have kept going at all. Demsey, 34, is playing the Grey Goose Tour in his hometown of Scottsdale. In his case, the Grey Goose is a safety net that caught him when he fell off the Nationwide Tour. It looked as if Demsey was destined for the PGA Tour when he won the 1993 NCAA championship playing for Arizona State, where he followed Phil Mickelson onto the team. He was never quite good enough to be a Tour regular, but he did play more than 200 Nationwide Tour events. A bad back, which had plagued him since college, eventually took its toll, and in 2001 he didn't play any competitive golf, instead going through intense rehabilitation.
Demsey returned in 2002 to the Nationwide Tour. He had been bothered by intense headaches for a while, always seemed to have cold-like symptoms and had been on antibiotics to treat a sinus infection. When the headaches and infection wouldn't go away, he was finally X-rayed, which revealed a tumor the size of two golf balls growing behind his left sinus. He continued to play until late in 2002, and then underwent surgery.
"There was a 10 percent chance of death or brain damage because of the surgery," says Demsey. "It was a real problem. It takes a lot out of you. Golf becomes less important. When you get your skull opened up, it gives you a different perspective."
He tried playing the Nationwide Tour again, but didn't perform well. He tried new swing thoughts, new putting strokes, but he didn't get the results he needed to stay exempt. So the Grey Goose Tour gives him a place to play, and close to home. "They do a really good job here," says Demsey. "They run it like a Nationwide event. We don't play for that money, of course, but they set up the courses good, sometimes harder than they are on the Nationwide." Demsey, however, earned a 2007 Nationwide Tour card with his performance at the PGA Tour's Q School. The road back has begun.
Charley Yandell, owner of the Grey Goose Tour and its director, says it's important to set up courses to challenge the players and better prepare them for the PGA Tour qualifying process while at the same time providing an economical place to play. "All our tournaments here, and in our West Palm Beach Tour, are played in the same area, so that means no airplanes or hotels, [which helps] keep costs down," says Yandell. "We want to set up the courses as tough as we can, keeping in mind that we can't grow heavy rough on these members courses. We give them some pretty interesting pins to shoot at and get the green speed up as fast as we can. The most important thing is that we have never missed a paycheck or canceled an event. We've become a stable, dependable place to play."
The Grey Goose Tour lets its players ride in carts and wear shorts, two things that are not permitted on the Hooters, Nationwide and PGA tours. Steve White, the Hooters Tour vice president of operations, thinks his tour offers first-rate, maybe even better, preparation for the PGA. "We play our tournaments in a number of different states where there's travel involved and the courses can be quite different," says White. "We require them to walk [they don't have to have caddies] and they must wear long pants. We think this is the best kind of preparation for the Tour, giving these players a lot of the variables and rules they would face on the Tour."
The Hooters Tour runs fewer events than the Grey Goose, but the purses are somewhat larger. In 2007, the Hooters Tour will offer 18 tournaments, each with a purse of $200,000 and first prize of $34,000. It costs $2,000 to join the Hooters Tour and each event has a $1,000 entry fee. While Grey Goose players are competing for about 85 percent of their entry fees (with a takeout for tournament management and costs), Hooters Tour players are playing for about 116 percent of their entry fees. "Unlike the other tours, we're not in business to make money," says White. "This is a marketing arm for Hooters restaurants. Nearly every town we go to has a Hooters restaurant. We become front-page-of-the-paper. And we are a good place to play golf."
For Tommy Biershenk, 33, married with two children, the Hooters Tour has given him a chance for redemption. Biershenk played the Nationwide Tour from 1999 to 2003, but not all that well. He lost his status, and more importantly, his confidence as a professional. In 2004, he sold room key folders with advertising on them to hotels and didn't play any competitive golf. That lack of competition eventually gnawed at him.
"That year off was good for me," says Biershenk. "I realized that golf was the only thing I was good at. I need to quit being a baby and get out there and get to it. I looked back and said, Here's an idiot who's blessed with talent and you just want to quit, give up. I know there is a lot of golf ahead of me."
That's what so many of these players think, what keeps them going through the three-putt greens, the chunked wedges, the bad bounces and the tough lies. Hope springs eternal, even in 39-year-old Brian Cooper. In 2005, Cooper, a former minitour player with 30 victories under his belt, was down on his luck and himself. He was working as a caddie at the Silverleaf club near Scottsdale when he happened to caddie for former Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Mark Grace. Grace invited him to play at his club, Whisper Rock, and during that day asked him about his absence from tour golf.
"Why aren't you playing," said Grace.
"I don't have any money," said Cooper.
"Well, you do now. What do you need to play?"
And so began Grace's sponsorship of Cooper.
"I get pretty emotional when I think of what Mark has done for me," says Cooper, who's still chasing the dream, still going to the PGA Tour Q despite a mediocre season. "I was at the end of my line. I needed one more chance."
Having played at the highest levels, Todd Demsey knows how he, and so many others, can hold on to that dream and look for one more, two more, three more chances to succeed. "It's such a fine line between the guys out on this tour, the guys on the Nationwide and the guys on the PGA Tour," says Demsey. "You've got Tiger and Phil and a couple of dozen others with a big talent difference, but the rest of the guys up there aren't that much different from the guys here. It's a very fine line and it's almost all mental. I don't need to make changes. I just have to trust what I have and believe you can do great things. Just getting it done when it really matters."
A guy like Casey Wittenberg is pretty sure he can get it done, he just hasn't done it yet. Wittenberg, just 22, played only one year of college golf before turning pro after the 2004 U.S. Open. A runner-up finish in the 2003 U.S. Amateur had earned him an invitation to the Masters, where he finished 13th the following year. In 2005, he played again in both the Masters and U.S. Open. He got a handful of sponsor exemptions to PGA Tour events, but he couldn't get through the difficult PGA Tour qualifying process and found himself playing on the Hooters Tour in 2006.
"You know, you can be playing on the Hooters Tour one week and a month later be playing on the PGA Tour," says Wittenberg. "I've been the No. 1 junior player, the No. 1 amateur player. I turned pro at 19 and I'm 22 now and definitely more mature. There's no reason for me not to be successful. There are a lot of guys who have their PGA Tour cards that if you put them in the first stage of Tour school, many wouldn't make it through all three stages. That's just how tough it is, how many good players there are."
Wittenberg went back to Tour school in the fall, brimming with confidence and knowing he has a place to play if he doesn't make it. "Do I want to be on the Hooters Tour? No," he says. "Am I glad it's here? Yes."
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The Poland Fire Company Auxiliary has your Fish Fry Dinner each Friday through March. Call for take-out, 826-7141. Source: Poland Fire Company Auxiliary Friday Fish Fry
LITE 98.7 Events
Free Screening of "Bully"
Happening on Thursday 3-7….A free screening of the movie ''Bully'' Thursday night at 7 in the Utica College Macfarlane Auditorium. All are welcome. Source: Free Screening of "Bully"
HIV Awareness Day Event
National Women and Girls HIV Awareness Day is Friday. AIDS Community Resources will host an awareness event from 6 to 9 at MVCC's Utica Campus. All are welcome. Source: HIV…


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Under a new partnership, Bunzl Distribution USA is offering Command Packaging's reusable plastic bags – Smarterbags – to grocers where bans have eliminated ultrathin T-shirt bags.
In California, the biggest ban to date — in Los Angeles — took effect Jan. 1 at grocery retail chains. Shoppers there must now bring totes or pay a dime for paper sacks. Smaller, independent operations won't have to comply with the ban until July 1.
About 90 cities, including San Francisco, and counties in the state have similar laws and ordinances. So far, the issue has been legislated locally.
Plastic bags continue to have a role in grocery despite the environmental concerns that prompt such bans, according to Pete Grande, chief executive officer of Vernon, Calif.-based Command Packaging.
"We're innovating ways to make them better and changing age-old perceptions about their shortcomings," Grande said in a news release.
"Pete and his company are committed to providing a viable, long-term solution to the upcoming bag ban in Los Angeles, as well as to bans springing up across the country," Terry Frank, senior vice president of Bunzl Distribution USA, said in the release.
Smarterbags are designed to be used 125 times and meet reusability requirements of the various California local bans, according to Command Packaging. They're made from recycled agricultural plastic. The company opened Encore Recycling in Salinas last fall to help increase production.
Information on Smarterbags is available through Erin Grande, national sales manager, at firstname.lastname@example.com.
"It's important to us that we give our customers an opportunity to reduce, reuse and recycle whenever we can," Frank said.


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Cash Dash – Earn Cash for Shopping
How it works
Follow these four simple steps to start earning cash when you shop.
Get the app.
Install the Find&Save app on your phone, and you'll start receiving Cash Dash offers. Available for iPhone and Android.
Go shopping.
Choose an offer and go shopping. Offers typically require a minimum purchase to earn your reward, so remember to read the details!
Upload your receipt.
You'll be able to take a photo of your receipt and upload it, all from inside the app.
Get paid!
We'll review your receipt, and then deposit your reward into your account. Keep tabs on your offers and payouts using the Cash Dash inbox in the app.
More than one way to earn
Try these on for size, and you're sure to find a great fit.
- Cash Dash Alerts
- We'll send you an alert when you're near an eligible store, just in time to earn you cash.
- Cash Cart
- Customize your Cash Dash by choosing items from the weekly ads, and earn cash back on the stuff you really want.
- Dash Rewards
- Upload multiple receipts and get a percentage back on your purchases for one or more retailers.
- Cash Dash Tuesday
- Check back in the app each week to get a bonus Cash Dash offer.


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'A fluke goal early in the third period proved to be the difference Tuesday night as the Columbus Blue Jackets held on for a 3-2 victory over the Buffalo Sabres before 16,304 at Nationwide Arena. The Jackets took a 3-0 lead when Curtis Brown of the Sabres accidentally shot the puck into his own net during a delayed power-play call.'
You are here: Home / SabresBeat / Brown's miscue costs Sabres


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Jesus is performing healing miracles through Torbi el Mekki in Morocco
He can cure any disease, and refuses to accept money from anyone. He simply shakes the hands of the pilgrims coming for cures, touches the water bottle or bag of sugar they have brought to be blessed, and dismisses them. "God gave me this talent so I have to use it. Even some doctors have come to see me and you will see cases of people who have been cured. There was a man with cancer that came all the way from France and now he is cured." At this point it is not known whether Torbi el Mekki has cured people with Morgellons Disease. Thousands make the journey to Skhirat every day to see Father Mekki. As well as performing healing miracles through people like Torbi el Mekki, Jesus is understood to be active in directing healing energies through physical artefacts such as The Den Bosch Madonna in The Netherlands. And in recent years many photographs of light blessings from Jesus have been recorded around the world.
Sources: BBC News (London, UK) 07.02.07 and Share International Magazine - April 2007 - Signs of the time section (down page).
Labels: Healing, Health issues, Jesus, Jesus in current action, Morocco, Rabat (Morocco), Recent news about Jesus, Signs and wonders, Skhirat (Morocco), Torbi el Mekki


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Poetry Month Thursdays
12:15-12:45pm Thu, Apr 4 - Thu, Apr 25, 2013
Venue: First Church in Boston
66 Marlborough St., Boston, MA 02116Contact:
Paul Cienniwa
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During the month of April, First Church in Boston will be welcoming two published poets each Thursday, from 12:15-12:45, to read from their original work. Curated by poet Mary Collins, the series features a diversity of writers from a variety of backgrounds. The schedule is as follows: April 4: Kemi Alabi and Tom Daley, two dramatic and outspoken poets launch our lunchtime poetry series; April 11: Ellen Beth Siegel and Holly Zeeb, both women poet/therapists, offer their own unique and thoughtful views; April 18; Mary Collins and Adnan Onart, First Church in Boston member/poets from very different religious backgrounds share aesthetic values; April 25: Beatriz Alba Del Rio poet/lawyer and lifetime member of the New England Poetry Club, founded by Robert Frost, and Emerson College professor Daniel Tobin, vice president of same, relate their deep respect for the poetic tradition. For detailed biographies of each poet, visit www.firstchurchbostonmusic.org.
MA Spotlight on Gene Cassidy
There's Something For Everyone at The Big E! Eugene (Gene) Cassidy is President & CEO...
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BEREAVEMENT counsellors at Great Western Hospital have embarked on an ambitious project to set up a countywide charity to ensure grieving families receive the support they need.
Rebecca King and Helen Pepler run the Rainbow Club, a support group for children who have lost a loved one, and recently started Butterflies, aimed not only at youngsters but their relatives or carers.
The four-week bereavement programme, set up with help from charity Child Bereavement UK in January, was designed to allow children and adults to air their feelings of anger or pain in a safe, judgment-free environment.
On the back of this success, the pair have embarked on a mission to create a new charity for Swindon and Wiltshire, Treehouse, with the help of other groups and partners to roll out more consistent and thorough bereavement support in communities and schools.
"Butterflies allow children and adults to express whatever feeling they might experience," said Rebecca.
"Often they have difficulty expressing these feelings. It's about giving them coping strategies and giving them a safe place to talk about their grief. Grief is a very individual thing and within a family people grieve separately. It's about coming together and realising where they are at in their grief. It is a new venture and we are hoping to run it twice a year.
"This is quite a big thing to be running and we are now trying to set up a countywide charity for bereaved families."
The duo are hoping to hold a scoping meeting shortly with others providing bereavement support in the region to explore how to launch Treehouse and the services it could offer.
Both Rainbow Club and Butterflies would come under the Treehouse umbrella.
Helen added: "We want to meet with all interested people providing bereavement support in Wiltshire to identify what the gaps are and how we can work together to provide help."
To volunteer with or sign up to the Butterflies group or if you work in bereavement, contact Rebecca or Helen on 01793 605133 or email email@example.com.


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Sea Island Stripe Rug, Navy
No longer available
- Overview
Sporty stripes give our pure wool rug its all-American good looks.
- 3' wide x 5' long (36" wide x 60" long)
- 5' wide x 8' long (60" wide x 96" long)
- 8' wide x 10' long (96" wide x 120" long)
- Hand tufted of 100% wool.
- Backing is made of cotton canvas with odorless synthetic latex.
- Use with our Rug Pad (sold separately).
- Imported.
- Dimensions + Care
- Recycled canvas / synthetic latex backed.
- Synthetic latex provides a more durable and flexible backing that reduces odor and extends the rug's life; it does not present a risk to those with latex allergies, and can be safer for people who are allergic to proteins.
- Shedding of loose fibers is normal during initial month of use.
- Vacuum regularly and/or shake to remove dust.
- Blot spills immediately with a white cloth.
- Professional rug cleaning is recommended as needed.
- Harsh chemicals may damage or fade rug.
- Use rug protectors under heavy furniture.
- For indoor use only.
- Shipping Info
This item will arrive in 3-5 business days. Please proceed to the Payment & Review page of Checkout for a precise delivery estimate.


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From backless gowns to designs with plunging necklines and thigh-high slits, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley's sultry style has been getting the actress a lot of attention during her international promo tour for Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon.
And Tuesday night the Victoria's Secret model, 24, who replaced Megan Fox in the mega-successful movie franchise, channeled Jessica Rabbit in her sexiest look yet at the film's New York City premiere.
PHOTOS: See Rosie's VS Angel getup
The stunning 5-foot-9 Brit showed off her endless legs in a scarlet strapless Antonio Berardi gown (which featured a racy slit up the front). She accented the look with a silver ribbon tied around her neck and pointy nude Christian Louboutin pumps.
Earlier this week Huntington-Whiteley wore a backless silver sequined short sleeve Naeem Khan gown on the red carpet in Berlin, Germany followed by a custom midnight blue Burberry gown at the London premiere.


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Soto gets night off after catching 14 innings
ARLINGTON -- Rangers catcher Geovany Soto was supposed to start on Wednesday, but manager Ron Washington gave him the night off after he caught 14 innings on Tuesday.
The Rangers were still encouraged that Soto was able to hold up that long after missing the first half of the season while recovering from surgery on his right knee. He also missed two weeks with a strained right groin muscle and has played just six games this season.
"I asked him a couple of times how he felt and he said pretty good," Washington said. "That's why he's not playing today. He was supposed to go back-to-back [games]."
Tuesday marked the first time a Rangers catcher has been behind the plate for 14 complete innings since 2011.
"I felt great, my legs felt good," Soto said. "I was surprised, the whole night I felt really good. I feel like I'm at full strength. I still feel like it's Spring Training for me, I'm getting ready and everybody else is in midseason form. But as far as my strength, I feel like I'm 100 percent."
Soto was 1-for-6 on Tuesday with a big double in the Rangers' two-run seventh-inning rally that tied the game. He is 2-for-13 since returning last Friday from the groin injury. He is 6-for-24 in six games overall.
"My timing is a little off," Soto said. "I'm working with [hitting coach Dave Magadan] trying to get the right path through the zone. It's a matter of getting good pitches to hit."
T.R. Sullivan is a reporter for MLB.com Read his blog, Postcards from Elysian Fields and follow him on Twitter @Sullivan_Ranger. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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A Vote of No-Confidence
After some panic Friday afternoon, market players are feeling more optimistic about a fiscal-cliff deal this morning. The problem is that they have done a terrible job of anticipating a deal and even if the Senate can come up with a compromise, the big hurdle will be passing a bill in the House. We probably don't even have a time for a vote today unless something happens in the next hour or so.
I'm trying to focus on stock-picking rather than headlines as there has been pretty good action. My stock of the week, Qihoo 360 (QIHU), which I've mentioned a number of times last week, is up strongly on a report from Wedge Partners that it is close to a deal with Google (GOOG) in China. The stock broke out there the $28 level on strong volume....147 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
There's no substitute for a trading floor to get great ideas, so Jim Cramer created a better one at Real Money and blogs there exclusively. We then added legendary hedge fund manager, Doug Kass, with his exclusive Daily Diary and best investing ideas. Staffed with more than 4 dozen investing pros, money managers, journalists and analysts, Real Money Pro gives you a flood of opinions, analysis and actionable trading advice found nowhere else, and allows you to interact directly with each expert.
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GetMeCab.com, which is owned and operated by Unicus Infolabs Pvt Ltd, is an online aggregator and seller of cab rental services across India. The site ties up with select car rental companies and brings their inventory online. The entire process of searching, booking, payment and confirmation is handled online on the website. Customers can also make booking via phone. The company also caters to corporate and b2b partner network. The company claims to has a fleet management system which help the car rental operators to improve their service quality as well as operational efficiency.
GetMeCab was launched in April 2011 and has been experiencing rapid growth over the period. The company have seen very encouraging response since launch and currently do around 300 transactions, serving around 900 customers per month.


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The Springfield-Greene County Library District is among dozens of area organizations making plans to observe the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War in 2011.
We've selected the Civil War as the centerpiece of the April 2011 Big Read. It's the library's annual community reading project, when we celebrate the power of books in creating a stronger community. Our theme is "Voices of Conflict: The American Civil War."
Typically we select one book and encourage all ages to read it, discuss it and attend a library program related its themes. Last year's title, "A Long Way from Chicago," included a visit from the author, Richard Peck, and themed events including music, book discussions and a four-day, standing-room-only chautauqua with characters of Franklin D. Roosevelt, Will Rogers, Henry Ford and Aimee Semple McPherson.
Why am I writing about this now? So you can start reading the books we've selected for the 2011 Big Read – because we're recommending nine titles this time. There are too many good books about the Civil War to select just one.
Here are the titles in each age group you'll want to check out:
The library is also a partner in the 2011 Missouri Literary Festival Sept. 23-25, 2011, at The Creamery Arts Center. It will highlight Civil War literature and its authors including keynote guest Jeff Shaara, who wrote "Gods and Generals," "The Last Full Measure" and others. Interestingly, his father is the same Michael Shaara who penned the upcoming Big Read main title, "Killer Angels."
Find this article at


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Jonathan Levey is looking to take his love for baseball to the next level.
The 29-year-old Highland Heights resident and self-described "biggest Indians fan alive" is one of 52 finalists in the 2013 MLB Fan Cave contest sponsored by Major League Baseball.
"I've been following the MLB Fan Cave since the contest began in 2011," Levey said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity."
In his initial application to be an MLB Fan Cave participant, Levey submitted a written essay and a video stating his case.
The video is posted at mlb.com/XpJPc1.
All of the videos submitted by the 52 finalists are available at www.MLBFanCave.com. Votes for individual contestants can be cast on the Fan Cave website.
This first wave of voting continues through 5 p.m. Wednesday. The 30 finalists passing through to the next stage of the contest will be determined by a combination of fan voting, quality of submissions and the amount of buzz generated by entrants through social media and coverage in the regular media.
Those 30 finalists will receive all-expenses-paid trips to spring training in Arizona. They'll be put through a series of challenges there to determine the final group of Cave Dwellers.
A still undetermined number of contestants will be declared Cave Dwellers after the spring training trip. Last year, there were nine.
Cave Dwellers will spend the entire 2013 season living in the MLB Fan Cave in New York City. While there, Fan Cave residents will have access to telecasts of all 2,430 scheduled major-league games.
The contest shifts to another phase during the season as residents chronicle their experiences in the Fan Cave via social media, blogs and videos.
A grand prize winner will be announced before the end of the World Series.
Levey is a graduate of Orange High School and Indiana University, where he majored in sports marketing. He said his lifelong love of baseball and job experiences in sports marketing have prepared him well for the Fan Cave contest.
After graduating from IU in 2006, he went to work for the Lake County Captains as a group sales assistant. After serving as manager of group sales in 2007 and manager of promotions in 2008, he was named director of promotions in 2009.
He stayed in that job through the 2010 season, when he left the Captains to be a self-employed specialist in search-engine marketing and optimization.
Levey said being self-employed and single gives him the leeway to be in the Fan Cave contest.
"Hopefully, I'll be one of the finalists and get to go to New York," Levey said. "If it doesn't work out, though, I'm very happy with my current situation."
No matter the outcome of his quest to be a Cave Dweller, Levey said his long-range goal is to get back into professional baseball in an administrative or marketing capacity.


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Buchholz unable to protect pair of leads in loss
Pedroia, Ortiz go deep; Breslow gives up go-ahead homer in sixth
BOSTON -- When Jon Lester and John Lackey were traded in a matter of hours on Thursday, Clay Buchholz suddenly became the Red Sox's most established starting pitcher. On Sunday night against the Yankees, the ascension on the depth chart didn't help Buchholz emerge from his most recent funk.
Instead, the right-hander's mysteriously inconsistent season took another downturn. While throwing a whopping 114 pitches over just five innings, Buchholz allowed eight hits, seven runs and five walks.
Twice, Buchholz had three-run leads. And both times, he gave them back in a game the Red Sox ultimately lost, 8-7, in the rubber match of a three-game series.
Following the game, Buchholz didn't have much in the way of answers.
"Pretty frustrating," Buchholz said. "I don't know. I don't know how to explain it. Definitely frustrating."
Command, or lack thereof, was the obvious issue.
"Everything. Command. I didn't have feel for much of anything," said Buchholz. "Second start in a row where walks killed me."
Craig Breslow came on in a 7-7 game in the sixth and served up a solo homer to Brett Gardner that proved to be the winning run.
It was the second day in a row Breslow was taken deep by the first batter he faced.
"He's made some pitches on the middle of the plate, yesterday to [Mark] Teixeira, today to Gardner," said manager John Farrell. "He's looking to get ahead, and yesterday, where he fell behind in the count, it was a fastball over the plate. Today, just feeling like there was a lefty-righty-lefty matchup for him. Felt like there was an inning in which he matches up well. Pitch stays over the plate to Gardner."
The Red Sox threatened to make a comeback in the bottom of the ninth against Yankees closer David Robertson.
Christian Vazquez led off with a walk, and off the bench came speedster Mookie Betts to pinch-run. Farrell called for a hit-and-run and Brock Holt scorched a line drive, but right at third baseman Chase Headley, the only infielder on that side of the diamond. It was an easy double play, as Betts couldn't get back in time.
Still, Dustin Pedroia threatened to bring the Red Sox back with one swing. As part of a nine-pitch at-bat, he hammered one down the line in left that seemed to have a chance to be his second homer of the day.
"It started out fair and then it kind of hooked foul," said Pedroia. "Just one of those things. It was kind of up and in. I hooked it a little bit."
The game ended when Pedroia hit one hard toward the middle, but shortstop Derek Jeter made a nice play and threw him out to end the game.
"Yeah, we had a couple of balls hit right at guys," said Pedroia. "The double play in the ninth, that's obviously tough. But you've got to continue to battle and try to find ways to overcome that and get the breaks."
For the second day in a row, the Red Sox took an early 3-0 lead and it didn't last.
Holt and Pedroia led off the bottom of the first with singles against David Phelps, who would leave after two innings with right elbow inflammation. David Ortiz lofted a sacrifice fly to center for the first run of the game. After Yoenis Cespedes walked, Mike Napoli lined a single to right to load the bases. Daniel Nava came through with a two-run single to right to make it 3-0.
Buchholz walked three batters in the second. Stephen Drew got a run home on a fielder's-choice grounder. Brett Gardner's two-out, two-run double to right tied it at 3.
"My mindset is always to go out and compete and try to keep the team in the game. I didn't do any of those tonight," said Buchholz.
Pedroia got the lead right back for the Sox, hammering a two-run homer over the Monster with two outs in the second. It ended a 146 at-bat homerless drought for Pedroia, and it was his fifth of the season.
"I think over the last seven, eight days, you're seeing much better bat speed," said Farrell. "He misses another one there in the ninth inning, foul. Just better bat speed and more freedom in the swing."
Drew sliced New York's deficit to a run with an RBI double to right in the fourth.
Ortiz answered by unloading for a 420-foot, two-run shot over the wall beyond the triangle in right-center.
Staked to a 7-4 lead, Buchholz again gave it back with a laborious top of the fifth. After retiring the first two batters of the inning, Buchholz gave up a double to Carlos Beltran that started a three-run rally for New York. Headley came through with an RBI double and Drew drilled a two-run single to tie it.
Going right from the Red Sox to the Yankees in a trade, Drew warmed up for his new team, driving in five runs over the last two games. In 18 games at Fenway this season for the Red Sox, Drew had three RBIs.
"I's been a whirlwind for three days, but it's still baseball so you go out there and do your job. That's the way I look at it," said Drew.
As for Buchholz, he will try to find a way to regain his form, all the while replacing two veteran teammates.
"It's been a frustrating year for me individually and, obviously, the organization," Buchholz said. "It's definitely not the way that we want to go out there and wear the Red Sox uniform, to not perform on any given night. A lot of that is on my shoulders, not picking up the weight I need to pick up during the season."
Ian Browne is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Brownie Points, and follow him on Twitter @IanMBrowne. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


text:
We just honestly need the regular season to be over. Hope that the week off till the first round opener refreshes the team and they can figure out some form of offense.
This ending has been an absolute train wreck.
Regular season games are really never must wins unless somehow if you win or lose determines if you make the playoffs or not, but this home game vs. the Heat Wednesday is as close to a must win game as you can get. If we lose then there is one game separating us and Miami and we have to go there to play the following week. Anyone feel confident that we can go there and get a win? Me neither.
In reading the post game thread I am at least happy to see that most people are not making excuses for the team. The last thing I wanted to see tonight is how we were tired or any other form of excuse. We are playing a team that has been decimated by injuries and a lopsided trade that sent away their best player not to mention that most nights they go 7 or 8 deep so their starters play more min a game than ours for the most part.
No, we just got beat.
As normal we will salute the Bulls, they were ready for us and they just flat out beat us. They hustled more, they were mentally prepared and what has been a common theme here recently they were just plain tougher than we were. Tom Thibodeau is the coach of the year IMO.
Let's talk about us and this won't take long.
What has been my one overall theme since I've returned? We have no one who will/can night in and night out hit an open jump shot from outside the paint. What happened once again in this game? We have no one who can hit a shot from outside the paint and once again we allowed a great interior defensive team to pack the paint and just dare us to score, which of course we couldn't.
Our team shot 37% from the field however if you just go with George, West, Hibbert & Stephenson they combined to go 31% from the field. You are not going to beat any NBA team if 4 of your 5 starters shoot 31% from the field.
I can't put it any more plainly than this, if we can't get someone to hit a face up jumper or to hit a curl screen jumper we are just dead in the water.
Sure we would all agree with Roy that we need to look inside first however the problem is that team are just doubling the ball in the paint because the do not fear anyone on our team on a consistent basis to burn them.
I don't know how to fix this btw, I am beginning to think we are cursed and have offended some form of ancient deity because whoever comes to our team loses the ability over time to shoot. David West missed what, the first 50 shots he took tonight before he finally got one to drop and this guy was known as the 17' assassin before he got here.
Paul George is as consistent as an epileptic chicken, Roy Hibbert is Roy Hibbert, Lance is steady but obviously there is chemistry issues with him and the other players and George Hill actually decided to show up tonight but he can't be counted on every night.
Missing C.J. Watson hurts (not nearly as much as missing Derrick Rose does for the Bulls so this is zero excuse for this game) as he is a guard who can moderately be counted on to hit a shot.
Scola obviously used his entire payload on Friday and that's about it.
Look guys our defense for the most part is fine. Our offense is beyond a joke.
So to wrap up this portion of our program let me just reiterate. Luis Scola hits outside shots on Friday vs. the Bulls and it opens up the floor and we win. Nobody can hit any form of outside shot with consistency tonight and we basically lost this game in the first 2 min. of the 3rd quarter.
BTW, Taj Gibson for the most part, owns us. He had a horrible night Friday (thanks mostly to Luis making him move on defense) but he ruled with an iron fist tonight.
Also whatever happened to us being a tough physical team? Those days are so long gone that I don't even remember them.
While I'm pondering let me ponder this, and this really goes into Uncle Bucks thoughts and I know you are still reading this (you know who you are) but I wonder if trading Danny Granger didn't disrupt team chemistry more than it helped the on court production? Don't get me wrong on the floor there have been times where Turner has far outplayed what Danny brought & by no means am I naïve enough to believe that he would have been a game changer because our struggles started when he was still here. But I wonder if he wasn't more of a glue guy in the locker room who could get along with anyone?
What this team could use now more than his outside shot (if it ever falls again) is an injection of the old Danny Granger fire and passion where he wanted to fight whoever was on the opposite side of the court. These guys are all now friendly and soft.
Bah, let's just do grades and be done with this.
Paul George: C
That's being generous in my opinion. Look even the great ones have bad games but the truly great ones do not go on 1-2 month slumps. Honestly I just want to see him get angry at something (well besides the referee's) and then do something about it. Reggie Miller played at a whole other level when he got mad, Danny Granger played at another level when he got mad. Paul George on the other hand just flows like a twig on the shoulders of a mighty stream. Nothing ever bothering him, other than a referee
David West: C
Finally started hitting but by that time it was to late. Left several good looks on the floor at the beginning of the game and it cost us several chances to build on an early lead. Just got worked by Gibson all night long. To his credit he did at least try and battle inside and got no help from anyone.
Roy Hibbert: F
Soft as a baby's @ss.
Lance Stephenson: D
Was not effective on offense tonight and had a horrible defensive game. When you get worked by Mike Dunleavy you need to re-evaluate your game.
George Hill: B
Well at least he showed up tonight, however I'm not feeling generous or the need to dispense needless compliments so I'll just say he managed to defend DJ Augustine very well.
I can't go on
The bench as a whole is just going to get a collective D.
I know things look bleak, and they are don't kid yourself. But if for some reason we can just manage to hold onto the # 1 spot we can at least assure ourselves to face the Hawks and have home court throughout, which may not be beyond the second round if things don't change.
It's not time to throw in the towel but if you aren't at least concerned with the play then you need to go into motivational speaking.
This team doesn't deserve any form of manly music so I'm just giving you the only thing I think that fits both Paul & Roy's game right now. In fact that opening dance sequence with the resulting laughter made me think of Roy's game tonight with both Noah & Gibson reaction to him.


text:
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Choose My Dress Part 2 or the Tale of Two Dresses
Dress #1, The Forgotten Dress
Before Robert's illness took a turn for the worst, one of the things I did to get my mind off of things was to surf the internet for pretty things (ok, I still do that now). One day, on Ebay, I saw this gorgeous, Chinese-embroidered pink silk dress. It was way too large for me and I had no place to wear it to, but it was so eye-catching and going for so low that I put a bid on it...and won!
After Robert passed, I went through a great purging period. Somehow, I thought if I got rid of my things, I could get rid of my sadness and grief too. Clothes, shoes, shampoo, curtains...all sorts of random things were piled and pushed straight to the goodwill. The pink dress landed at the top of one of those piles, but the bright color caught my friend Libby's eye.
"This is gorgeous," she said, "Are you sure you don't want it?"
"Take it!" I said, airily, waving my hand at it in disdain.
So, she did.
And now, 2 and half years later, she's given it back. "It's perfect for the Newbery Banquet," she said, "You bought it for someday. This is the day!"
Maybe, with alteration, she could be right. What do you think?
Dress #2, The Dress of Destiny?
So, if you remember from my last dress post, I had for a while been hoping to wear the "Painted Lotus" dress from Anthropologie but had continually struck out in my search for it. I had about given up, but after posting, I decided to try once again. I scoured the internet...and found a size 0. A friend's daughter had the dress...also in a size 0. For a moment, I considered dieting and going to the gym like a maniac to try to fit into a size 0, but realized that was a bit excessive (and unlikely).
Then, following the lead of some of my lovely readers, I contacted Anthropologie. They gave me a list of stores that, according to their database, might have the dress in a size larger than a 0. I called all of them--the store in Michigan, the store in CA, the store in New York. None had it.
At that point, I realized I had spent WAY too much time trying to find this dress. I really had to stop thinking about clothes and write my novel! So, with great effort of will, I attempted to switch gears.
Now, in the book I am writing, "Dumpling Days" the main character takes Chinese brush painting lessons. This is based on my childhood experience of Chinese painting class, but I have to admit my memory of it is a bit fuzzy. There were so many little details about Chinese painting that I knew I was forgetting. I needed to do some research. I remembered fellow author and artist Cindy Pon (whom I am on the Enchanted Inkpot blog with)did brush painting so I went to her website and blog and nosed around and then there on her blog I saw....
Cindy wearing THE DRESS!!!!
Oh my! What were the chances? It felt like some sort of weird fate and I felt obligated to e-mail her. As it was NOT a size 0, she very, very kindly offered to loan it to me:
and here it is!
Unfortunately, this dress too needs a bit of alteration as I don't have the cleavage to hold it up and nor have I any desire to make a scandal at the Newbery Banquet. But the dress is just as gorgeous in person as I thought it would be.
So, #1 or #2? Let me know what you think ASAP (the tailor must begin soon)! Leave a comment here with your choice and your reason why! To one random commenter I will send an audio book (4 cds!) of Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (it's a really great recording!). Thanks!
42 comments:
- Nature's Architect said...
I definitely vote for the Anthropologie dress. It is elegant and looks lovely on you. Plus you had your heart set on it. What are the odds that you would find one? Perhaps destiny...That being said, the pink Chinese dress is very pretty as well and a great color on you. You could wear that for sentimental reasons...Nah, I still vote for the Anthropologie dress.
- June 8, 2010 at 5:54 AM
- Rachel said...
Such a tough choice-they're both marvelous & look great on you! The Anthropologie dress has a distinct elegance, but I do really like the vivacity of the pink one & the bird design speaks to me! Do you have shoes that go with one or the other? Which one makes you feel the most fabulous-maybe that's the way to decide?
- June 8, 2010 at 7:07 AM
- S said...
I like both of them. But for the evening newbery banquet, I vote for the Anthro dress. Maybe you can wear the pink one when you're signing at the exhibits? It's not only very pretty but also looks very comfy. I hope to see you at ALA! Congratulations!
- June 8, 2010 at 7:10 AM
- alice said...
I vote for the Antrhopologie dress too. Can the alterations be reversed though so that your friend can wear it again? Congrats...I buy your books as gifts all the time for the little girls in our lives! Alice
- June 8, 2010 at 7:17 AM
- mommysweeps said...
if it's an evening banquet, i think dress number 2 is more sophisticated..
I like the suggestion of someone else, to wear the pink one if you have a day event/ signing at ala..
the pink is a gorgeous color, I just think dress 2 is better for a night event...
- June 8, 2010 at 7:22 AM
- MotherReader said...
No doubt in my mind- the Anthropologie dress. You've looked for it for too long, and it was amazing that you found it. And with a supportive friend, no less. It was meant to be. And you look lovely in it, my dear.
- June 8, 2010 at 7:48 AM
- pumpkingrrl said...
I vote for dress #2. I like the way the dress looks on you, and seems more appropriate for your affair. #1 is nice, too, but seems more old-school.
- June 8, 2010 at 8:24 AM
- Pamela said...
The Painted Lotus has my vote. There are so many new-fangled bras that will keep the banquet g-rated but it would certainly keep the event lively otherwise ;)
While the pink dress is beautiful & your story gave me goosebumps, there will be many more occassions to celebrate!
Congratulations, again!
- June 8, 2010 at 8:38 AM
- Kiy said...
Love them both, but I too vote for #2. While I love the fabric of dress #1 I am not thrilled with the cut. Dress #2 adds that touch of class and 'an evening out', dress #1 seems fine for a day outing. Although, really reworked, it could be awesome. But for this, I really would go with dress #2 - you look wonderful it in !
- June 8, 2010 at 8:39 AM
- Barbara O'Connor said...
No question about it. #2. It was in the stars.
- June 8, 2010 at 8:43 AM
- Joan said...
I asked my fashionista eight-year-olds - Janie & Suzie said that for themselves, they would want the pink dress, but on you the strapless dress is "so super awesome!" They said it looks more like you should win something wearing it. Congratulations and they are both spectacular!
- June 8, 2010 at 8:50 AM
- Katy said...
I'm going to have to cast my vote with what is appearing to be the majority. The Anthropologie dress is perfect on you.
- June 8, 2010 at 8:51 AM
- Ronda said...
I think you should wear dress #2 - the hard-won Anthropologie dress!! This is obviously a dress you wanted very badly and put a lot of effort into finding - even if you did end up finding it by accident!! Take it to the tailor now!! Enjoy your night!!
- June 8, 2010 at 8:58 AM
- Linda said...
The bright pink looks so good with your dark hair and coloring.
I vote for number 1......even tho they both look good and are perfect for the occasion.
- June 8, 2010 at 9:14 AM
- Maria Mercado said...
Anthropologie dress for sure. It looks better on you, though both are beautiful.
- June 8, 2010 at 9:16 AM
- Redwinechick said...
I have to agree with the masses. Both dresses are lovely, but the Anthro dress is elegant and more suitable for the occasion. There must be some reason you found it (or it found you!).
- June 8, 2010 at 9:28 AM
- jwstudio said...
Voting for dress #2...its perfect! Hoping to run into you at ALA. Good luck and have a terrific time at the dinner!
- June 8, 2010 at 9:32 AM
- betsy said...
Definitely the Anthro dress. It is gorgeous, Grace, and you just sparkle in it!
- June 8, 2010 at 9:40 AM
- Nicole Tadgell said...
The Anthroplogie dress! How about shoes? Jewelry? Hair? :)
So happy for you!!
- June 8, 2010 at 9:49 AM
- jpetroroy said...
Go with Dress 2. It's your dream dress and perfect for a dream night. Don't settle for less!
- June 8, 2010 at 10:06 AM
- Linda V said...
I have to vote for #2-even before I read all the other comments. Both dresses are beautiful, but the Anthropologie dress just looks like the one for an evening evening event and you look stunning wearing it. Any time a string of events work liked they did to really bring the dress to you, it was meant to be-don't fight it!
- June 8, 2010 at 10:44 AM
- Amy said...
I vote for the Lotus dress too. It really looks stunning on you. I tried to come up with a reason that I didn't like the pink one and was having trouble, but the other commenter, Kiy, had it. It's the cut. Something about the cut of Dress 1 makes it not right for the banquet. I would go with #2.
- June 8, 2010 at 3:59 PM
- Ruth said...
Absolutely dress #2 - such a beautiful dress & you look absolutely stunning in it!
- June 8, 2010 at 4:22 PM
- kirst68hk said...
Your date with Destiny wins!
- June 8, 2010 at 6:09 PM
- purple glasses club said...
#2 hands down. I agree with the others who said that #2 for the awards banquet and #1 for a more casual occasion.
BTW, I like your new hairstyle too.
- June 8, 2010 at 6:20 PM
- karensbooksandchocolate said...
I vote for Dress #2. They're both beautiful but I can understand why you searched long and hard for the Anthropologie dress. I would too if it weren't too late. . . and I'm definitely not a size 0!!!
- June 8, 2010 at 8:25 PM
- cxjcarey said...
#2--less sundress-y. Both beautiful, but #2 for sure. Have fun!
- June 8, 2010 at 8:25 PM
- Mama to Mia said...
Our fancy and fashion forward four year old, Amelia MeiYun, says, "Tell Gwace to wear de pink one. Pink is for pwincesses." I second her vote. With the proper alternations, undergarments, and glammed up makeup, you'll be the belle of the ball. The color is beautiful on you and the embroidery is so distinctive and unique. Best wishes--have fun!
Lynne and Amelia
- June 8, 2010 at 9:26 PM
- Patty said...
How fun... #2
- June 9, 2010 at 12:20 AM
- Creative Minds Wanda Ng said...
Dress #2. It just looks right for you.
- June 9, 2010 at 12:57 AM
- reg said...
Definitely Dress 2 -- it's absolutely gorgeous and actually evokes the book a bit for me (which Dress 1 does not). Wish I could ask my students but we're out already for the summer.
- June 9, 2010 at 5:49 AM
- Michelle Henninger said...
Going against the grain, personally, I think the pink one is stunning, and there seems to be some cosmic meaning to the fact that you bought it, tried to get rid of it, but it found you once more. With a little alteration, it seems to me the perfect dress for the Newberry!
- June 9, 2010 at 10:24 AM
- Anamaria (bookstogether) said...
Chiming in with yet another vote for Number 2. You're smiling more in the picture! Congratulations again, by the way--we loved Where the Mountain Meets the Moon (all of your books, really. I need to write a proper note to you about them!).
- June 9, 2010 at 12:01 PM
- anne said...
I would say dress number 2. Really lovely :)
- June 9, 2010 at 4:41 PM
- Mary Beth said...
2nd dress!!!
- June 9, 2010 at 9:14 PM
- Marjorie said...
I go with #2 too - both dresses are wrapped up in friendship and have special stories attached to them but the Pianted Lotus has a quest story to it, like Where the Mountain.... And surely the tailor will be able to work magic enough to mean any alterations can be undone before the dress flies back Cinderella-style to whence it came!
- June 10, 2010 at 8:53 AM
- egirlsmama said...
I also vote for #2. I think the black lends it an elegance for evening. Both are beautiful... And what great stories.
- June 10, 2010 at 4:46 PM
- lelapinamoureux said...
vote for #2 because of the confidence and thrill you show when wearing it.
- June 10, 2010 at 6:39 PM
- Ladybugs' Mom said...
No Doubt! #2!!
- June 10, 2010 at 9:31 PM
- Allison said...
Dress #2 is PERFECT! It looks stunning on you, and suits the formality of the banquet. What a find! You will be fabulous.
- June 10, 2010 at 10:24 PM
- Dave said...
I like both, but I kind of like number 2 better because it dos'nt have straps, Leah Whalen 6 years old.
- June 12, 2010 at 11:56 AM
- Quon_mom said...
I know you've probably figured out the dress dilemma by now. But in case you want to buy the dress after wearing the loaner....!
- June 28, 2010 at 3:05 AM