text:
Gus Van Sant, Elias McConnell, and Dany Wolf
at Cannes 2003, image: festival-cannes.com
There he is, scorched in Death Valley and on the Saltflats of Utah; in a mold-closed school with a barebones crew on scooters; and on the Palais steps of Cannes, where he accepted the Palme D'Or this year for Elephant.
Gus Van Sant? Sure, he's there, too, but I'm talking about Dany Wolf, the producer. The guy who actually has to figure out how to make the movies Gus sees in his head.
While I've been a fan of Van Sant's since Drugstore Cowboy, I've been very interested in his recent bold filmmaking experiments, which coincide with my own entry into the field. I wanted to find out Wolf's on-set experience and insight on making the films that are remaking film.
Below, read my November 2003 discussion with Wolf, an exclusive feature of greg.org.
[Note: No underage Filipino data entry workers were harmed in the transcription of this 3,000-word piece. Special thanks to Dany Wolf, Jay Hernandez and Jeff Hill, who aren't doing so bad, either.]
Greg Allen: How did you first get involved in producing?
Dany Wolf: I'm originally a New Yorker [like everyone else in LA -g], and came to producing out of a commercial background. We were a little crowd in school who grew up in the commercial business. I've worked with a multitude of directors and crews; I did John Woo's first commercial; did some Superbowl commercials; a Hanson music video for a song called "Weird" (read one fan's extensive interpretation), which we shot around New York and L.A. [a range of accomplishment that impresses all but the most godless of communists. -g]
I was trained to help get what the director wants. You do what you can, and you have to be very efficient, because in the commercial business, you-re on an extremely tight deadline, and you don't have any contingency if you go over budget; you make your living by producing well.
I first met Gus through commercials, around the time he was making To Die For, and he kept asking me to do things: sometimes it'd be a short film, sometimes a music video, sometimes a still shoot for Harper's Bazaar. We did Allen Ginsberg's final film appearance, a music video which got a lot of play on MTV and which went to Sundance in '97 as a short film. Finally, with Psycho, it turned to films, and it's been a great experience.
GA: That's interesting. Usually, the default is to consider just a director's feature films, not all the things they're working on in the interim.
DW: Any director or creative's career, you look at it and evaluate from the outside, there are these hills and valleys, but that's a matter of perspective. From the inside, working on the past four films with Gus, it has been a wonderful, positive experience. People talk about how he was doing the studio stuff and now he's back to his roots, but from my perspective, being right next to him, he's remained very true to his instincts throughout.
He's not strategic about, oh I want to make an art film, or, I want to make a studio melodrama. Now he is enjoying the creative freedom of making smaller films and not being constrained by the normal ways of making films. He's been breaking the mold in a lot of ways by not working with traditional scripts or trained actors, for example. He is not only a very talented artist, but he creates an environment that is nurturing for actors and crew. The day-to-day of this kind of filmmaking is very rewarding.
[DW: continues extensive and unabashed praise of Gus Van Sant. And I mean extensive.
GA: responds with gushing expressions of awe and teenager-like admiration of Gus Van Sant. Repeats. Repeats. Wonders if Jules Asner's spot on E! is available. Dispels any of Asner's job insecurity by asking about film with disappointing box office.]
GA: How was it working on Psycho?
DW: It was like doing a doctoral thesis on Hitchcock, in a sense. We brought in his AD and script supervisor as technical consultants. And we had access to his daughter, Pat Hitchcock. Gus saw it as an experiment, both of filmmaking and of marketing. It was audacious to treat film like theater, and he was vilified for it. Just the announcement got people worked up: how could you tread on such hallowed ground? But we heard from Pat that he would've gotten it.
Wolf, Van Sant, and Casey Affleck on the set of Gerry, image: F. Andrew, Salt Lake Van Sant
GA: What was pre-production and shooting like for Gerry? Watching Salt Lake Van Sant on the DVD, it looked pretty calm, especially considering you're trying to time this massive dolly shot to the sunrise.
DW: That's just because I wasn't in it very much. Gerry's an extreme case. We started in Argentina, and because of weather, we changed locations and ended up in Death Valley in July. We had three people drop from heat exhaustion on the first day; we were doing IV's to recover their fluid levels. but by the end, which you see in Salt Lake Van Sant, it's kind of euphoric, we're finally seeing daylight. [pun, intended or not, I don-t know. -g]
GA: Oh, right. I remember now. You were shooting in sequence.
DW: [You read the voluminous published interviews with Gus well, grasshopper. But don't interrupt.] Right. For that shot, first, we had Jim Kwiatkowski, an amazing grip who also does Spielberg's films. That's a 500-yard dolly shot. Spielberg'd heard about it before the movie came out. People were definitely talking about it, and everyone always asking how we did it. That's why we put it on the DVD. I think Felix [Andrew, who, in addition to shooting the making-of doc, also mixed the sound] caught the mood pretty well.
IMDb Links
Dany Wolf
Gus Van Sant
Harris Savides
Jim Kwiatkowski
PsychoFor a lot of the other shots, we had this little thing-- Gus, Matt, and Casey were writing the script and then they'd throw it away; it was very kinetic. [note to self: avoid using 'kinetic' in studio pitches. -g.] I've said this before: with Gerry and Elephant, we're seeing a very pure, unfiltered creative expression, it's very hard to do in film, with studios, producers, etc. [note to self: consider avoiding studio pitches altogether. -g.]
[Is it really so bad that you'd go to the middle of Death Valley in order to not have studio suits poking around your set? Or that you'd work without a script rather than stare down development execs with their reams of notes? The mind reels. -g.]
GA: What did your shooting day look like? How many setups would you get each day, for example?
DW: We had a little thing that Gus and I would do in advance, where we'd map out the type of locations and build each day off of that. It became very geographic. Then I'd kind of lay it out with Jim. While we were shooting one landscape in the morning, for example, Jim and his crew would be setting up for a completely different-looking shot nearby.
We would take siestas during the hottest hours of the day, which is very hard to do with a union crew, but it was just another sign of their amazing commitment to the experiment. We'd work from 4 to 11 AM, then sleep, and start again working from 5-9. What happens, then, is you're getting the magic hour, during the longest days of the year, for the whole film. It was amazing. I can't say enough about Jim Kwiatkowski; here he'd just come off Minority Report and AI, and he comes to work for spit in the desert like that. Our Steadicam was Matias Mesa.
[I just found a great interview with GVS and Ed Gonzalez at Slant Magazine that dovetails very well with Dany's account. Check it out. Thanks, GreenCine.]
GA: How did you make sure you were getting what you needed in that environment, or is that not the right description of the process, not driven by coverage, per se? Gus told Scott Macauley in Filmmaker Magazine that he'd cut dailies together with iMovie?? Is that all you had?
DW: Well, he would try out things together with our video taps. Because of Argentina, we had time to look at what we'd done for the first week of shooting, so we figured it'd work. That's the risk though. And remember, we didn't have taps on everything. But there's a fair amount of Steadicam, and you know you're getting good negative reports, so you have those takes.
Harris Savides, Wolf, and Van Sant on the set of Gerry, image: F. Andrew, SaltLake Van Sant
The main thing, though, is that Gus didn't second guess himself, wondering, maybe I need to cover this. That's what you're seeing with these long master shots and not a lot of editing. It's a relentless going forward, without getting takes ad nauseum.
GA: Your credits in both Gerry and Elephant are Producer and AD, which sounds crazy. Is that an unusual combination? Does it just mean you're the guy who gets no sleep, ever? Is it a function of the way the movie was shot?
DW: And UPM (unit production manager). It meant really bad script notes. [one of the AD's main jobs when there's no assistant editor. That's what the iMovie's for, I guess. -g.] Part of it was Gus's push to get smaller and smaller and smaller, back to the intimacy of Mala Noche. I wasn't there, but Gus'd tell these stories of five guys sitting around a table asking, does anybody know somebody? And you'd find someone's friend who works in a restaurant, and you call him up, and check it out, and later that night, you're shooting.
But I was used to it. In commercials, when you went overseas, you'd sometimes find out you're better than whoever they gave you as AD. You've just gotta get it done, so you jump in and do whatever it takes. That's sort of how it came about.
GA: The number of credits per person, it's almost like Robert Rodriguez's production style, where he does everything.
DW: Yeah, there is a bit of that Rebel Without A Crew philosophy. Gus is very interested all along the way. He's very involved in the sound; he's on the mixing board when we're finaling; he does the music. But for certain movies you just don't need the army. You're adding time, putting things between you and your actors. Now, so many people just plug their numbers into their Moviemagic budget, their productions are very similar.
Believe me, Gus pushes me hard to not just automatically do everything the accepted way. It's a challenge to the mindset that there's one right way to do things. His questioning instills an awareness that's useful when you do need to follow a traditional routine, too.
GA: Were there similarities or learnings from Gerry that helped you on Elephant?
DW: There wouldn't be an Elephant without a Gerry. It informed Gus and gave him the confidence in his approach. He learned from that experience how liberating it could be.
GA: What did the writing and pre-production processes look like for Elephant?
DW: Early on, Gus had said he liked what JT (Leroy) [who sounds like the love child of the River and Keanu characters in My Own Private Idaho. -g.] wrote. That got it started. With Elephant, we did a fair amount of casting and scouting. By casting and working with the kids- putting them in different groups, picking different people for each callback, then just getting them to divulge more than they know - Gus was able to go off and write a sceneplay. [where broad descriptions of what happens in a scene stand in for specific dialogue. With Psycho, Van Sant hewed precisely to the original script and editing, precisely the conventions he eliminated in Gerry and especially Elephant. His approach may be experimental, but it's a rather well-controlled experiment. -g].
GA: How far into pre-production was that? Were you involved at that point?
DW: Once it was proposed we shoot in Seattle, that's when I got more involved. Then we switched it to Oregon, and I just ramped up a huge open casting, found the school, and within a month or two we were in production. We were working Wednesday through Sunday, and it was tricky because we were working with kids, which had time restrictions. Plus, if you rehearse too much they change from natural kids being themselves. You really had to be sensitive to the environment you're creating.
GA: When we saw that school--which I think is awesome-looking in an ominous Wallpaper-magazine kind of way--we decided we could never send our kids to public school. How did you find it?
DW: Oh, yeah, it was beyond creepy. That school was shut down, it had mold and different issues, and we had to deal with environmental stuff to make it safe to work there. It was amazing for a crew, though. The grips had the wood shop, the camera crew used the darkroom. Everybody had an office; the PA's had the vice principal's office. And we all drove around on these little Razor scooters.
Amazon Links
Finding Forrester
Rebel Without a Crew, Robert Rodriguez's production journal for El MariachiI love having production and everybody together, everybody eating together, the tighter you are the better the communication. I mean, I'm a New York producer, and I've gone in and out of lofts, too, with the holding area five blocks away, but having everyone together created a great atmosphere.
GA: If someone wants to shoot low-impact, Elephant-style, are there different things to consider when picking a location?
DW: To find one that works for everyone. Consult with everyone involved in advance. You have to prep really intelligently, be prepared for saying oh well, we're not doing this now. Then you can have the spontaneity to say, we're gonna do this because the light's perfect.
But Gus is experienced, and he knows Harris (Savides, the DP) can make a movie with five candles, if he has to. And no lighter. He understands the scale of things, and can adapt, and he never says, I need the eight guys to light this shot. It takes real expertise to change what you think you've gotta have.
GA: The video game Eric and Alex play has the characters from Gerry wandering around a desert.
DW: Wow, that's really good you picked that up. Not many people notice that.
GA: [Actually, I didn't notice it, either; my wife did.] Thanks. I've written a couple of things about the connection between Gerry and video games, so... [Tell him your wife spotted it. Tell him your wife spotted it!]
It creates a clear connection between the two films. Are there any other references buried in there? [You're gonna get busted when she reads this, dude. So busted.]
DW: No, I think that's the only one.
GA: How did it get in there?
DW: We wanted to have a video game like Grand Theft Auto, but there was no way a video game maker's going to license their title for the film.
GA: Why not?
DW: [Have you seen the movie or read a newspaper?] Because of the subject matter, really.
GA: Oh, right. [It's a school shooting movie, idiot. Pay attention.]
DW: So we hired a game designer, gave him the images from Gerry, and he programmed it for us.
GA: Yeah, Quake and Doom and other games let you customize your own levels and create your own characters. There's this whole movement now where people are using these video game engines to create films. They program it all up, create the sets and characters in the game, block out their scenes, then one player is the camera, and he records the action. Then they do voiceover. It's called machinima. Do you know it?
DW: First I've heard of it.
GA: There's this one series called Red vs. Blue, which these guys make using four X-Boxes. It's hilarious. You should check it out.
DW: Sounds cool.
GA: I'll send you the link.
DW: Gus has talked about the influence of games like Tomb Raider on Gerry. You go nuts watching these video games, how do I do this with a camera? [Go nuts? Video games make you want to go out and shoot something?? Ix-nay on the ideo-vay ames-gay, any-Day. -g. [Heh. any-Day. That-s cool.-g.]]
GA: I've had this idea, after seeing Gerry, of doing a shot-for-shot remake of it, but set it in Los Angeles. These two Westside guys get lost in East LA or Baldwin Park or wherever, and they can't communicate with anyone. Their dialogue stays exactly the same, and in the mean time, all these amazing stories are going on around them in other languages. It becomes this whole parable of their own alienation, disconnection.
DW: [What the hell? Is this guy interviewing me or pitching me? Do I need to pretend I have another call now? Aren't there screeners in place for this? Waitaminnit, this idea sounds crazy, but it just might work. Get me Gus Van Sant on the horn.]
GA: You'd shoot it in DV, with a run-and-gun crew, so it'd be completely different, but the same. But as I'm thinking about how you'd actually shoot it, you'd need to choreograph and time the action behind the actors and the camera movement so carefully. It's an incredible challenge. It's more like Russian Ark or Elephant, really, than just Gerry, which is so pared down.
DW: [I'd better clear my calendar to get Gerry 2 into development. What? Elephant? Ahh, maybe this is just a question intended to impress me with his filmmaking acumen.] That's true. On Elephant, it was very difficult to do that kind of choreography. Because of camera ramping, sound layers, background action, there can be 12-15 physical cues in a shot, and if you miss one, the shot's trashed.
GA: How does a producer's role differ on features vs. documentaries like The Agronomist?
DW: [pause] The what?
GA: The Agronomist, Jonathan Demme's documentary. I had one question in particular, because it's listed on IMDb as completed in 2003, but Demme talked about it at this year's Full Frame Documentary Festival as a work in progress.
DW: I didn't work on The Agronomist.
GA: --Because it's listed on IMDb as your latest project--It's Demme�s labor of love; he's been gathering footage for ten years on this radio journalist in Haiti--
DW: Nope. I'm not involved. Maybe it's an invitation that he wants me on the project.
GA: Yeah, call Demme. I'll give him a heads up that you're interested.
DW: So it says this on my IMDb.com profile? What else is on there?
GA: You've never checked?
DW: Nope.
GA: I just figured everyone in LA's always checking themselves on IMDb and HSX, seeing how they're doing.
DW: I guess I'd better check mine and update it. [he did, today. The Agronomist gone, along with much of the humorous wrapup for my interview. -g.] What else is on there?
GA: There's The Secret World of Professional Wrestling. Did you do that?
DW: Nope. [laughs] Really?
GA: There goes my whole page of questions about Gus's role in the and the exploration of the male aesthetic in your work.
DW: [laughing] What else you got?
GA: That's about it, then. Thanks a lot. It's been really great talking with you. You should fix that IMDb profile.
DW: I will. It's been a pleasure talking with you, too. Now when did you say this is running in the Times?
[sudden sweating. phone line goes dead.]
DW: Hello? Elvis, are you still there? Hello?


text:
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
NAIPR Message
A simple solution for ARIN
- From: Jim Fleming (JimFleming at unety.net)
- Date: Sat Feb 22 13:47:23 EST 1997
- Next message (by thread): ARIN Fragments the InterNIC
- Previous message (by thread): Internet Taxes
In a recent discussion with one of the leaders of ARIN, it occured to me that there is a simple solution for ARIN. Some of the ARIN Board members have control of their own /8 CIDR allocations. I suggest that all of the people interesting in starting the private, non-profit, 501(c), IRS approved, company named ARIN, take ONE of those /8 allocations and have at it. If funding is needed, that group could consider also selecting some new Top Level Domains to use as a "funding source". This proposal parallels the InterNIC model which has been proven to work thanks to the prototype developed by the National Science Foundation and located in Virginia. ARIN of course could be located anywhere and would serve customers who want to deal with the people who run ARIN. -- Jim Fleming Unir Corporation e-mail: JimFleming at unety.net JimFleming at unety.s0.g0 (EDNS/IPv8)


text:
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In Reply to: Tell me now... posted by Maria (Bos) on October 09, 2000 at 13:46:29:
Hehehehe....well, that might be a better description of the feeling than anything else I can come up with. I remember laying in the recovery room listening to someone groaning LOUDLY and wishing that person would PLEASE BE QUIET!!!....then I realized it was ME!! (How embarassing!) Yes, there definitely was pain upon waking up, but I was pretty "out-of-it" Later in the evening, I started to really feel more pain, despite demoral injections (I think?), and the nurse called the doc and then (finally!!) they added a morphine pump PCA to my IVs. After that I didn't feel much pain (I also didn't make much sense when I talked to people for the next 24 hours - words were pretty slurred hehehe). After about the first 24 hours they removed the morphine and I did okay as the pain lessened pretty quickly. After I started being able to eat and drink again the next day, they started me on just tylenol #3 and they have been adequate ever since - in hospital I took 2 every 4 hours, now I'm down to 1 every 4 hours. So, all-in-all, it's really not too bad. Hope that answers your question - I like the truck comparison :) God bless your dayJill
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NORFOLK, Va. -- Police were searching Wednesday for a fired stockbroker accused of returning to the office and killing the manager who dismissed him.
Joseph Ludlam, 36, reportedly was fired a month ago from First Union Securities because of discrepancies in his accounts and aggressive trading practices. Police say he returned to the brokerage Tuesday and killed Timothy K. O'Shaughnessy, 40.
The search for Ludlam focused on southeastern Virginia because a witness saw him in Portsmouth as late as Tuesday afternoon. ''We don't have anything to indicate that he left the area,'' said Larry Hill, a spokesman for Norfolk police.
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Ejscript is a complete server-side JavaScript Web framework. It supports both async and sync paradigms and includes Web templating, routing, and a complete class library.
Release Notes: This is an optimization and general fix release. It has optimizations for the Array class, Tar, and String classes. It adds base64() and sendmail() support.
Embedthis MakeMe replaces both autoconf and make with a single utility. MakeMe provides a higher level of abstraction for easily specifying the targets to build (libraries and executables). It can build directly on Linux, Mac, or Windows and cross compile for other platforms. It can also generate native projects for Visual Studio, XCode, Make, Nmake, and shell scripts. MakeMe builds quickly without the complexity of autoconf and make. MakeMe projects are described using JavaScript, and the entire build is exposed as a unified DOM object.
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Release Notes: LAM now supports QMail groups, and DHCP support has been enhanced. There have also been several usability changes. This is a test version. Do not install it in a production environment. Please report any bugs until 2013-03-15.
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Release Notes: This release has a few performance improvements and supports Transactions with In-Memory Environments. In addition, it comes with a myriad of small API cleanups. See the README for details and how to migrate your code. Sources and precompiled Win32 libraries are available for download.
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Release Notes: This release adds full support for IPv6 and fixes various issues when using an older version of GnuTLS. Support for encrypted UDP messages and TLS-enabled file transfers are now always enabled by default.
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Botan is a crypto library written in C++. It provides a variety of cryptographic algorithms, including common ones such as AES, MD5, SHA, HMAC, RSA, Diffie-Hellman, DSA, and ECDSA, as well as many others that are more obscure or specialized. It also offers SSL/TLS (client and server), X.509v3 certificates and CRLs, and PKCS #10 certificate requests. A message processing system that uses a filter/pipeline metaphor allows for many common cryptographic tasks to be completed with just a few lines of code. Assembly and SIMD optimizations for common CPUs offers speedups for critical algorithms like AES and SHA-1.
Release Notes: A previously conditional operation in Montgomery multiplication and squaring is now always performed, removing a possible timing channel. A potential crash in the AES-NI implementation of the AES-192 key schedule (caused by misaligned loads) has been fixed. The correct flags for creating a shared library on OS X under Clang are now used, and a compile time incompatibility with Visual C++ 2012 has been fixed.
digiKam is an advanced digital photo management application that makes importing and organizing digital photos a trivial task. Photos can be organized in albums, which can be sorted chronologically, by directory layout, or by custom collections, and they can be tagged, commented, and rated. digiKam makes use of a fast and robust database to store meta-information, which makes adding and editing comments and tags very reliable. Metadata can also be stored inside pictures using Exif and IPTC. An embedded image editor and a standalone application named showfoto have simple but powerful features for editing your pictures with filters and correction tools.
Release Notes: This release adds a video slideshow generator, camera user interface improvements, face recognition, improved integration of Photivo, video metadata support, and many bugfixes.
Rekonq is a Web browser based on WebKit. It first focuses on being a light, fast, and clean way to access the Internet. Its development is doubly based on using the new amazing features offered by the WebKit rendering engine and on the rock solid KDE network technologies.
Release Notes: This release adds Adblock improvements, a closed tabs page, a bookmarks menu, improved KGet file download manager support, an improved spell checker, and support for the second version of the semantic desktop infrastructure (Nepomuk 2).
PHPGrid generates fully-functional grids with minimal coding, with add, edit, del, auto-filter, search, sort, page, grouping, export, custom add/del calls, grid-subgrid, multiple databases, multiple themes, and much more. It saves development time and effort for creating repetitive CRUD functions. The custom SELECT query option is useful for cross table data and report generation. It supports all major databases.
Release Notes: This release allows you to clone a row in a grid. It will make an exact copy of the records in a database table (with new pk), giving a flavor of copy-and-paste.
Giada is a minimal, hardcore audio tool for DJs and live performers. Just pick your sample, drop it in any channel, and start the show by using this tiny piece of software as a loop machine, drum machine, sequencer, live sampler, or effect (VST) host. Giada aims to be a compact and portable virtual device for production use and live sets.
Release Notes: This release features a revamped Sample Editor with full screen support and zoom with the mouse wheel. A sound bug on OS X was fixed. There were many other small but interesting improvements.
Gtk2-Perl is the collective name for a set of Perl bindings for GTK+ 2.x and various related libraries. These modules make it easy to write GTK+ and GNOME applications using a natural, perlish, object-oriented syntax.
Release Notes: This release ensures timely destruction of the initial wrapper of custom subclasses. Module version numbers were changed in all Glib Perl modules.
Gtk2-Perl is the collective name for a set of Perl bindings for GTK+ 2.x and various related libraries. These modules make it easy to write GTK+ and GNOME applications using a natural, perlish, object-oriented syntax.
Release Notes: This release added support for array arguments to the Perl callback, allows Perl code to return Glib::Error objects, registers error domains, and supports conversion to raw structs from unregistered libraries.
check_ssl_cert is a Nagios plugin to check X.509 certificates. It checks if the server is running and delivers a valid certificate. It also checks if the CA matches a given pattern, and checks the validity.
Release Notes: A minor fix for TLS sites with multiple names.
Duke is a fast and flexible record linkage engine. It does not use the traditional blocking (sort by key) approach, but instead relies on Lucene. This makes it high-performance (able to process 1,000,000 records in ~10 minutes). Duke can be run from the command line, but also has an API allowing incremental linking applications to be built easily. It supports reading data from CSV, JDBC, SPARQL, and NTriples, and also supports a number of string comparators and string normalizers.
Release Notes: Support for multi-threading, an upgrade to Lucene 4.0, higher performance, more comparators, more cleaners, major improvements to the command line client, and more.
A JavaScript logging framework based on log4j.
A tool for comparing and merging files and directories.


text:
Rapid and complete relaxation is a prerequisite for cardiac output adaptation to changes in loading conditions, inotropic stimulation, and heart rate. In the healthy human heart, the rate and extent of relaxation depend mainly on actomyosin cross bridge dissociation and on left ventricular end-systolic volume, rather than on the afterload level.
Relaxation is the process by which heart muscle actively returns, after contraction, to its initial conditions of load and length. Over the past 25 years, physiologists, clinicians, and pharmacologists have shown increasing interest in trying to understand the regulation of myocardial relaxation. From a physiological point of view, rapid and complete relaxation is a prerequisite for cardiac output adaptation to changes in loading conditions, inotropic stimulation, and heart rate. From a clinical point of view, the relaxation phase could be impaired earlier and more profoundly than the contraction phase in numerous cardiac diseases. Thus clinicians have speculated that the diagnosis of isolated relaxation abnormalities may help with the early identification of a subgroup of patients who will subsequently develop systolic abnormalities. Finally, therapeutic interventions aimed at improving myocardial relaxation may be useful in the management of cardiac patients.
It is widely accepted that myocardial relaxation depends essentially on the inactivating processes within the myocyte and on loading conditions (1). Indeed, relaxation reflects the imbalance between the number of strongly bound actomyosin cross bridges and the total load imposed on the ventricle (afterload + preload). Afterload is determined by extracardiac and cardiac loading factors (Fig. 1⇓), which potentially contribute to the so-called load dependence of relaxation (1). Recent studies have demonstrated that left ventricular (LV) end-systolic volume (ESV) also plays a key role in regulating cardiac relaxation. The present paper briefly discusses the influences of inactivation, load, and ESV on heart relaxation.
Physiological context
Between aortic valve closure and mitral valve opening, a major drop in LV pressure occurs while LV volume is minimal (ESV). The rapid decrease in LV stress boosts coronary diastolic filling, especially that of the left coronary artery. Thus LV relaxation appears to contribute to adequate coronary perfusion. After mitral valve opening, rapid myocardial lengthening and early diastolic LV filling occur at low left atrial pressure, such that pulmonary circulation is protected. The LV fills under the action of the instantaneous left atrial-to-LV pressure gradient. In the normal heart, in which left atrial pressure is low, the rate of change and magnitude of this gradient are influenced mainly by the rate and extent of LV pressure fall. The ability of the LV to relax both rapidly and completely is of paramount importance for optimal LV filling during the early diastolic period (6, 14).
During exercise, LV stroke volume increases as a result of both increased contractility (via sympathetic stimulation) and increased end-diastolic LV volume/preload (via Frank-Starling mechanism). This must be paralleled by an enhanced LV filling volume. During exercise, both the enhanced LV filling volume and the shortened diastolic interval resulting from the increase in heart rate contribute to the marked increase in LV filling rate in early diastole. Given that there are only moderate changes in left atrial pressure during exercise, appropriate left atrial-to-LV pressure gradient is essentially dependent on the ability of the LV to enhance the speed of relaxation and create low or even negative minimum diastolic LV pressure during exercise (6, 14).
In striated muscles, there is a difference in relaxation kinetics between skeletal and cardiac muscles. In most skeletal muscle, relaxation occurs according to an isotonic-isometric sequence, in which muscle lengthening precedes tension fall. Relaxation of the heart is auxotonic, i.e., it involves simultaneous changes in ventricular pressure and length/volume. However, it can be said that the heart relaxes according to a reverse isometric-isotonic sequence, in which isovolumic pressure drop occurs first, followed by isotonic relaxation (i.e., myocardial lengthening).
If isotonic relaxation occurred first, as observed in skeletal muscles, LV filling pressure would have to be of similar magnitude to systemic pressure. Therefore, under normal conditions, the specific sequence of relaxation of the heart appears to be beneficial because it minimizes filling pressures, thus protecting pulmonary circulation. Because the initial pressure drop occurs at fixed LV volume, essentially no work is performed by the isometrically relaxing LV. Furthermore, given that myocardial lengthening occurs at low pressure, the work performed during the early filling phase is also minimized. Overall, the specific sequence of relaxation of the heart could be especially beneficial from a thermoenergetic point of view.
Inactivation is defined as the intracellular processes leading to dissociation of actomyosin cross bridges and to the lowering of intracellular Ca2+ concentration from 10–5 M to 10–7 M. The term "lusitropy" is often used in place of inactivation. The rate of relaxation is determined mainly by active Ca2+ pumping by the sarcoplasmic reticulum Ca2+ ATPase. Phosphorylation of phospholamban, a membrane-bound protein, removes its inhibitory effect on sarcoplasmic Ca2+ ATPase, thereby accelerating Ca2+ uptake and relaxation rate, especially under isotonic conditions. The rate of relaxation is also limited by 1) the affinity of troponin C (TnC) for Ca2+, especially under isometric conditions; 2) Ca2+ extrusion outside the cell, mainly via Na+/Ca2+ exchange; and 3) the number and kinetics of working cross bridges (Table 1⇓).
It is likely that the majority of working cross bridges detach during isovolumic relaxation. The detachment of cross bridges depends on ADP dissociation from the cross bridge and on ATP binding. After the release of inorganic phosphate and ADP, the actomyosin complex has a high affinity for ATP; ATP binding to myosin decreases the affinity of myosin for actin, thus leading to cross bridge detachment. Finally, myosin ATPase activity determines the cross bridge cycling rate and thus influences relaxation.
Troponin-tropomyosin interactions, cross bridge kinetics, and amplification of activation (cooperativity) can be modified by 1) mechanical changes in sarcomere length and, to a minor degree, in the strain put on cross bridges; 2) changes in neurohormonal state (e.g., cAMP, angiotensin II); and 3) cardiac endothelium-derived factors.
Influence of load on relaxation
The physiologist has no direct estimate of all the inactivation processes within myocytes. Furthermore, an integrated approach should improve our understanding of how myocardial relaxation adapts to acute or chronic changes in venous return and arterial impedance. Thus clinically relevant insights into the regulatory processes of relaxation have generally concerned the link between relaxation mechanics and loading conditions.
The sensitivity of the timing of relaxation to the load imposed before the onset of contraction (systolic load) is a manifestation of the shortening-induced deactivation phenomenon: a twitch contracting against light or medium load ends earlier than the fully isometric twitch (1, 2, 8, 9). Thus the more the muscle is allowed to shorten the shorter the overall duration of the contraction-relaxation cycle. A clinical illustration of this load dependence is that increased systolic load tends to delay relaxation (1).
Animal studies have shown that the rate of tension/pressure fall is hardly affected by preload changes. The isovolumic relaxation rate mainly depends on LV end-systolic pressure (ESP) and/or ESV (5). Consistent results have been reported in animals, with increased afterload having a slowing effect on the rate of pressure fall (i.e., there is an increase in the time constant tau of the monoexponential pressure fall) (1, 5, 6, 10). This load dependence of the isovolumic relaxation rate has been shown to be modulated by the inotropic state and the homogeneity of contraction, as well as the timing of imposition of peak systolic pressure (1, 5, 6, 8, 10). Recently, more complex effects of load on relaxation rate (accelerating or slowing effects) have been reported in dogs (7).
The results obtained in the human heart are at variance with those obtained in animal studies. In humans, the rate of LV isovolumic relaxation appears to be essentially independent of loading conditions in healthy subjects, provided that changes in afterload are moderate. Conversely, the relaxation rate becomes gradually more load dependent as systolic dysfunction progresses (4). The unexpected finding regarding the load independence of the isovolumic relaxation rate in healthy humans has yet to be explained (4, 7, 11).
The effects of load on the relaxation rate may be intrinsically linked to the afterload level (via increased strain put on cross bridges and cooperativity, changes in homogeneity, coronary circulation, or neurohormonal stimulation) or afterload timing. The effects of load may also be explained by changes in ESV, thus modifying intrinsic load and length-dependent inactivation.
Rate and extent of relaxation: the role of ESV
The ability to reduce ESV contributes to the active restoration of LV dimension in early diastole. Reduced ESV enhances the rate and extent of the isovolumic pressure fall (3, 13, 14) and enhances the rate of myocardial active lengthening (15). In both cases, this accelerating effect has been observed irrespective of the loading conditions (3, 13–15). Two mechanisms explain why the rate and extent of relaxation are so tightly linked to ESV. First, the amount of potential energy stored during contraction and released during relaxation is negatively related to the end-systolic length/volume; second, the decay of mechanical activity could be accelerated at short end-systolic length (length-dependent inactivation) (Table 2⇓).
Restoring forces are generated when the LV contracts below its equilibrium volume (Veq). The magnitude of restoring forces is inversely related to ESV. This suction effect contributes to LV filling at low physiological filling pressure and when higher filling rates are required (e.g., exercise). There is also an elastic recoil of external forces surrounding the myocytes, mainly the extracellular elastic components deformed and compressed during ventricular contraction (transmural and three-dimensional deformations).
The (sarcomere) length dependence of activation has been related to length-dependent changes in myofilament overlap and interfilament lattice spacing, Ca2+ release by the sarcoplasmic reticulum, and the affinity of TnC for Ca2+. If these length-induced changes still operate at end systole, hastening of relaxation would occur at small ESV. Furthermore, shortening may be associated with changes in myofilament-bound Ca2+ and with a decreased likelihood of new actomyosin interactions.
Lusitropic reserve
A physiological approach to cardiac relaxation should also help improve our understanding of how relaxation adapts to changes in inotropy and heart rate. When contractility is increased, ESV decreases, helping to accelerate relaxation. Furthermore, increased contractility increases restoring forces for a given ESV below Veq and also increases the peak lengthening rate at any end-systolic length (3, 13–15). Thus relaxation can be intrinsically promoted (i.e., independently of any effect on systolic shortening) thanks to the amount of lusitropy in reserve. β-Adrenergic stimulation and increased heart rate are two major ways by which lusitropic reserve can be mobilized.
Increased cAMP leads to increased cross bridge cycling and activates protein kinase A-induced phosphorylation of both phospholamban and troponin I (TnI). End-systolic length modulates the extent to which β-adrenergic stimulation exerts its positive lusitropic effects (12). Tachycardia induces a positive lusitropic effect by speeding up the activation/inactivation processes. Enhanced inotropy (the positive staircase phenomenon), increased homogeneity, and/or the associated cAMP increases may also be involved.
It is widely acknowledged that, in addition to inactivation (lusitropy) and load, myocardial relaxation also depends on a third regulatory process: the homogeneity of the contraction-relaxation cycle (1). Indeed, the lusitropic reserve may be mobilized by interventions increasing the homogeneity of the contraction-relaxation cycle via different mechanisms that increase the speed of conduction, the extracellular temperature, the heart rate, and the inotropic state. Finally, it has been suggested that internal load would be activation/inactivation dependent.
ESV, afterload, and lusitropy
We have discussed the respective influences of LV pressure and volume on myocardial relaxation. It is important to remember when studying the hemodynamic correlates of relaxation rate that LVESP and ESV are not interchangeable variables. Thus the question arises as to whether relaxation is influenced rather by LVESP (load dependence) or by ESV (length dependence).
Although it is likely that both ESV and systolic load play a part in regulating the rate and extent of isovolumic relaxation, we suggest that ESV has a prominent role. Our proposition is based on the following considerations: 1) the intrinsic properties of the myofilaments and the systolic storage of potential energy are highly dependent on myocardial length and only to a minor degree on load; 2) the effects of end-systolic length/volume on relaxation rate and extent have been shown to be consistent in animals and humans (3, 13–15), whereas the effects of load are almost negligible in healthy humans (4) and still need to be clarified in animal studies (1, 5, 7, 8); 3) load dependence of relaxation can be considered a manifestation of the deactivating effects induced by shortening (1); and 4) pressure fall and onset of lengthening both occur at end-systolic length.
A simplified framework of afterload-independent/length-dependent behavior may help improve our understanding of the regulation of the contraction-relaxation cycle in the healthy human heart (Fig. 2⇓). Contraction and relaxation performances may be determined by LV volume at the onset of each phase and by inotropy/lusitropy, thus explaining the afterload independence of the contraction-relaxation cycle. This approach would integrate the regulatory role of myocardial length, the contractile properties of the myocyte, and the elastic properties of the LV chamber (intrinsic load).
Integrated function
Modulation of cardiac function is mediated mainly through changes in preload (Frank-Starling mechanism), neurohormonal stimulation, and heart rate, such that cardiac output can meet organ demand. Integrated function involves coordinated changes in contraction and relaxation, and further studies are needed to describe the different aspects of contraction-relaxation coupling (biochemical, genetic, mechanical, thermoenergetic, and electrical aspects).
Right ventricular (RV) filling is facilitated by elastic recoil of the LV and by elastic recoil of the RV myocardium, leading to a piston-like motion of the tricuspid annulus. Elastic recoil could be especially important for pump function, given the extremely low RV filling pressure.
Investigation of the interplay between relaxation and myocardial compliance did not fall within the scope of the present paper. Relaxation could be impaired earlier and more profoundly than contraction in numerous cardiac diseases (6, 10). Slowed and incomplete relaxation has a negative effect on the filling function of the heart, especially in cases in which chamber compliance is decreased, diastolic duration is shortened, or the limit of preload reserve is reached.
For a given heart rate, systolic function of the healthy human heart depends on end-diastolic volume (preload) and on activation (inotropy). It has long been accepted that myocardial relaxation depends essentially on afterload and inactivation (lusitropy). Recent studies support an alternative framework, in which relaxation depends mainly on ESV and inactivation. This approach could explain the load independence of the relaxation rate in the healthy human heart. This framework may help improve our understanding of the pathophysiological aspects of human heart relaxation.
This study was supported by grants from PHRC AOM96174, Assistance Publique-Hôpitaux de Paris.
- © 2000 Int. Union Physiol. Sci./Am.Physiol. Soc.


text:
For a lot of musicians, being a member of a seminal rock band in a seminal city can spell death for any plans for a solo career, with interviewers constantly referencing past projects and asking inane questions like, "What are the rest of those guys up to these days?" It must be heart-wrenching. As an artist, you really need to overcome the confines of your band's previous sound if you want to emerge successfully from the shadows of former glory. Some have been able to achieve this seemingly insurmountable goal; David Cassidy, Geri Halliwell, and Art Garfunkel come to mind. Others have faltered in the face of past grandeur when attempting to set themselves apart as solo musicians; see John Lennon, Ghostface Killah, and Lou Reed. Needless to say, if it can be avoided at all, it's best not to play this comparison game.
Julie Doiron, originally of Eric's Trip, transcended such callous considerations when she called upon former bandmates Marc Gaudet, Rick White, and Chris Thompson to help record her newest Jagjaguwar release, Woke Myself Up (TMT Review). Doiron is also joining with Calvin Johnson, the man behind the 'zine-turned-label K Records, to promote her incredibly crafted songs on an expansive North American tour.
Johnson himself has put producing, recording, engineering, and starting music institutions on hold for a while. He is putting The Sons of The Soil on hiatus to travel with Julie across the continent, hitting cafes, galleries, churches, and small clubs along the way, playing songs from his self-titled K Records release (TMT Review).
Check out Doiron's video for "Me and My Friend" here.
You can fold your arms, stare at the floor, and rock slowly but intentionally side-to-side -- maybe even nod your head in affirmation -- as you see them play. But don't get too carried away; you don't want anyone to think you care:
* Johnson only
# Just Doiron


text:
A simple question: We have the Great Buddha at Nara:
and the Great Buddha at Kamakura:
Which is better?
(Unfortunately, that's the best picture I have of the Nara Daibutsu. The camera has a million different modes, selected by a clicky wheel on the top, and the wheel kept getting spun to odd settings as I put the camera in and out of the case. The other shots I took in Nara were all blurry, because it was on some low-light-level setting and took really long exposures.)


text:
|Oracle8i SQL Reference
Release 2 (8.1.6)
Functions, 35 of 121
INSTR searches char1 beginning with its nth character for the mth occurrence of char2 and returns the position of the character in char1 that is the first character of this occurrence. If n is negative, Oracle counts and searches backward from the end of char1. The value of m must be positive. The default values of both n and m are 1, meaning Oracle begins searching at the first character of char1 for the first occurrence of char2. The return value is relative to the beginning of char1, regardless of the value of n, and is expressed in characters. If the search is unsuccessful (if char2 does not appear m times after the nth character of char1) the return value is 0.
SELECT INSTR('CORPORATE FLOOR','OR', 3, 2) "Instring" FROM DUAL; Instring ---------- 14
SELECT INSTR('CORPORATE FLOOR','OR', -3, 2) "Reversed Instring" FROM DUAL; Reversed Instring ----------------- 2
Copyright © 1999 Oracle Corporation.
All Rights Reserved.


text:
whats the most humane way to kill a mouse for taxidermy
Return to Lifesize Mammal Taxidermy Category Menu
Do it like the professionals do. Compressed CO2 gas. Very humane and quick.
do you get that and what is it
Throw it in the air and pretend its a baseball, smack it in the head with your finger, stomp it under your boot, tie a string around its neck and danggle in from of a hungry cat, flush it down the toilet.
To hell with humane ways just kill the thing.
A single sot from a 12 gauge at close range is cool too.
put it in something you can attach on to muffler of vehicle. A few minutes it's done. (6 minutes for a human being)
John C is the only one to come close on the chemistry angle. LOL Carbon DIOXIDE (CO2) is what you breathe OUT. Carbon MONOXIDE (CO) is what you get in exhaust fumes. Any gases element or compound other than oxygen will do the job. Nitrogen will do it quite quickly as well. Personally, I like the 2 x 2 better than both of those.
the best trap is a pail of water in the corner of the garage with a paint stick tettered over the edge with peanut butter on the tip of the stick.
I use cowboy boots you can dispatch and make a rug out of the little critter in one lick
no not a wild mouse like one you buy from the feed store
It is definitely true that we breath Carbon Dioxide out as a waste product of respiration, and that Carbon Monixide is the more dangerous chemical. But Mammals, Birds, Reptile, insect, etc. Can be killed by CO2. The latest methods for fumigating large museum collections is to use a tent like structure impermiable to air, place the objects to be "fumigated" into the tent, then use compressed CO2 to fill the atmosphere completely with carbon dioxide. After sufficient time all the dermestids, moths, cigarette beetles, clerid beetles, etc. are ALL dead. This use of CO2 replaces the old use of Methyl Bromide, or Phosphine Gas, both which aren't good for people to breath. The venting of CO2 doesn't cause a "hazardous waste" problem (though Museum professionals could be blamed for Global Warming if you believe in that crap). Here are two links for you - the first dealing with fumigation and the second, commercial use of CO2
To answer the original question though, a simple thorough squeeze in the thorasic cavity will kill a mouse very quickly - takes 3 seconds.
You're absolutely right, of course. I wasn't thinking about saturation of CO2, but I did especially enjoy the global warming comment. Never figured why they didn't stop building houses by cutting down the trees that actually process that CO2, did you?
Down the barrel of a 54 caliber black powder rifle with 110 grains of powder. Pick out a target , aim carefuly , and simply fire the weapon. I found that mice have a fantastic tragectory if loaded butt first . Their little heads are nice and pointed so they have very little drop to them up to 100 yards ! enjoy ! Bradlee
"Green" people actually are considering using plant matter to "adsorb" all the CO2 then bury it quickly preventing it from decomposing, thus trapping CO2. If it decomposes, there is no entrapment of the gas. It is truly a ridiculous angle, since gas would be used to bury the material and there would be release of CO2 when burning gasoline or a different hydrocarbon.
The global warming debate is gettin to be a discussion I don't wish to enter anymore than evolution. I know man evolved from lower being, whether it was guided or not is up to the individual to believe (or not) but we did evolve. Sure we might possibly have global warming, but humans, though they might be responsible for 1 % of the change, should not unilaterally blame only the wealthy nations. Even the worse case senerio has Global warming increse perhaps 8 degrees in a century from now. That simply means the weather in Pittsburgh will now be changed in 2105 to the weather in Cinncinnati. As long as the Bengals don't come with it, bring it on..
Or just stomp it!
My friend helped me to put down a fancy mouse (bigger than an average mouse) a while back. The mouse was in a small box (a jar could work as well). What you do is take the container containing the mouse, and heave it as hard as you can toward a very hard surface (such as a cement wall). This is a very fast and painless death for it as as soon as the container makes contact against what you're throwing it at, the mouse will break it's neck and / or back, and it will die. I guarantee the method. Another good (although not fast) method is to take the mouse, put it in a box, and then stick it in the freezer. They just go peacefully to sleep. Good luck to you!
Of course you can bash their heads in, blow them up with dynamite, etc. Crushing with shoes is illegal. The person asked about a humane method.
Go look up the AVMA protocol on euthanasia of lab animals (such as mice).
CO2 and CD are the #1 and #2 methods.
CD = neck breaking. You take a forceps, and close them on the mouse's neck right at the base of the skull - lock the forceps down. They kick for about 15 seconds, pee, and then are dead.
I buy mine frozen and pre-killed (with CO2).
put em in a container and let em starve to death
Eat the damn thing!


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Scented wreath workshop
Today is our scented wreath workshop. You never know how people will respond to these workshops until you publicize them and wait for sign ups. We have had workshops where nobody signed up, and we have had workshops where more than expected signed up. Today is one of those days. Over 20 people have signed up to learn how to make a scented wreath to take home. We will have snacks and coffee or tea.
I think this workshop is popular in part because its so timely, but also because its about fragrance. Monica has gathered California bay, Incense cedar, and other fragrant and non-fragrant items to use. The one common theme is they are all from the area, gathered locally. The grape vines that make up the body of the wreath are local as well as the Toyon berries.
We will keep putting on various workshops about every week or two. We are starting to get a handle on which ones are popular and which ones are not. Never the less we will keep trying even if no one signs up. We look at each other and ask why, then move on. I think the most important thing is to keep trying until you figure out which ones work.


text:
At a booth at the Minnesota State Fair, Kris Borgeson stays busy selling corn stoves that burn not only corn pellets, but also wood pellets, and cherry and olive pits.
"The farmer's almanac is predicting a colder than normal winter and more snow," said Borgeson. "So I have people who not only want to save money on their heat bill, but they want to stay warm."
Borgeson and her husband own Haven Hearth & Home in Cambridge. She says many people are interested in both corn and wood stoves, so their business recently began to sell wood stoves and wood pellets. It's proven to be a good business move, particularly with wood pellets.
"We ordered ten semi-loads and we've already sold seven and it's August," said Borgeson. "We're thinking probably by the middle of September we'll be all sold out of the wood pellets we have coming."
Borgeson predicts pretty soon it'll be difficult to find pellet stoves. While most of her clients are in outstate Minnesota, Borgeson says more people from the metropolitan area are expressing interest. In the Twin Cities, it's legal to have corn and wood burning stoves, but you need to get a city permit and the stove has to pass an inspection.
In rural southwestern Minnesota, Brent Olson felt he needed to find a better way to heat his home.
"I live in a big old house," said Olson. "And you can insulate it and you can put in big windows, but it's still a big old house on the prairie, and it takes a lot to heat it." Olson found an energy efficient EPA-approved wood-burning boiler. With this new boiler, he'll heat his house, his workshop next to his house, and a greenhouse he plans to build. Right now he pays about $500 a month to heat his home using propane. Sometimes he's had to pay more.
"If prices stay the way they are, the payback is three years," said Olson. "If the prices drop significantly, five to six years and that's not bad."
Olson is anxious to get his boiler, but the earliest he can get it delivered is the first week in October. He ordered it in July. When he shopped around, Olson found that was the average delivery date.
That's because the company that sold him the boiler is seeing high demand for these boilers. Rodney Tollefson is the vice president of Central Boiler in Greenbush in northern Minnesota.
"Normally, the busy season starts in August and September," said Tollefson. "We've actually had dealers that have sold as many furnaces in the first half of the year as they sold all last year and the normal heating season busy time is really just barely starting."
Tollefson has more than 400 dealers across the U.S. and in Canada.
"They are doing their normal marketing things and the fuel prices have really sped up the decision process for people," said Tollefson. "They're not waiting as long because they are concerned they may not be able to get a wood furnace if they wait too long because the demand is so high."
Tollefson says some of his clients save as much as $3,000 a year in heating costs. His bigger clients save up to $5,000 a year. Tollefson has been with the company for about 18 years, and he says it's typical to see business upticks when fuel and energy prices skyrocket.
Kent Price has also made that observation. He owns Price Firewood Company in the Duluth-Superior area. He's happy more people are turning to the old favorite.
"We've actually, since probably late March, we've been having a lot of inquires for firewood and I would say our business is up as much as 20 percent this year."
Price and other business owners say customers like the fact that corn and wood are renewable sources.
But like other sources of energy, burning wood has its drawbacks. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says while climate change gases from burning wood are lower than emissions from natural gas or oil, other emissions add to the air particulate matter that can cause respiratory and cardiovascular health problems. That's why the EPA now requires all new wood-burning devices to burn more cleanly than old conventional ones.


text:
Hotel Fires
Fire News
About Fires
About Sprinkler
On the morning of May 23, 2000, while the Netherlands-registered
passenger ship Nieuw Amsterdam was en route to Glacier National
Park with 1,169 passengers and 542 crewmembers on board,
a fire broke out in a crew cabin. A premature effort to
extinguish the fire by officers lacking proper gear and
backup contributed to the spread of fire and smoke. The
fire did not spread beyond the deck of origin; however,
the untimely closing of fire screen doors allowed the smoke
to migrate up eight decks, creating hazardous conditions
in crew and passenger accommodations. Properly outfitted
and equipped shipboard firefighting teams subsequently extinguished
the fire. One passenger sustained smoke inhalation injuries
requiring evacuation to a shoreside hospital for additional
medical treatment. Property damage to the vessel was estimated
at more than $360,000.


text:
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Im a laid back kinda guy, I dont smoke. I drink occasionally. Im down to earth person, I like to sing. I do take care of my body, I work out about 3 to 4 days a week. I am not expecting my future lady to be in shape in all that. So you dont think that Im that type of guy, I have a loving caring heart. Im an affectionett guy. I know thats not a word, lol...... But anything else just give me a holler so that we can talk.
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Sometimes it is difficult to choose from the four options given, but there is usually one that fits better than the rest, or at least one that you could see yourself as more so than the others. If you're still unsure, try asking someone who knows you well, such as a parent or sibling. They can give clarity on areas of your personality that you may not notice.


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LAHORE, July 21: A boy awaiting his matriculation result allegedly committed suicide along with the young girl he wanted to marry at a park in a housing society in Chuhng on Sunday afternoon.
According to police and Rescue officials, Bilawal Hanif (17) and Sania Rafique (19) wanted to marry each other but their families apparently did not take the issue seriously.
Sania in her dying statement reportedly told Rescuers 1122 personnel about the reason for their collective suicide. She also gave the rescuers her address so that they could inform her family about the incident.
Chuhng police inquiries showed Bilawal of Musallah village and Sania Rafique of Kamboh locality of Chuhng, had been seeing each other for some two years.
On Sunday, Bilawal and Sania decided to meet at a park in Izmir Town where they consumed poisonous pills.
A guard of the society after spotting them lying unconscious called Rescue 1122 ambulance that shifted them to the Jinnah Hospital where Bilawal was pronounced dead while Sania died after a short while in spite of being provided treatment.
Police handed over the bodies to their respective families without autopsies.
Muhammad Fiaz, eldest brother of Bilawal, told Dawn his brother left home along with a cousin on a motorcycle and later they were informed by Rescue 1122 officials about the incident.
"We were told Bilawal and a girl Sania consumed pills at a park and left a note. I rushed to the Jinnah Hospital to find my youngest brother dead," said sobbing Fiaz.
He said Bilawal, who was waiting for his matriculation result, used to meet Sania, a teacher at a private school.
Fiaz, who is a health department employee, said he tried to convince his brother that he should not get involved in such matters as he was too young for this. Fiaz said he had also advised Sania, daughter of a vendor, against contacting Bilawal.
He said he had yet not seen the suicide note left by his brother that was with the Rescue personnel.
Chuhng SHO Hussnain Haider, however, claimed no note left by the deceased had been handed over to the police by the rescuers.
According to police, Sania's mother was an employee at a private hospital.
Saddar SP (Operations) Malik Muhammad Awais said police handed over the bodies to the families of the deceased boy and the girl as they didn't want post-mortem.
He said police inquiries had established that the victims wanted to marry each other.


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Sarah Jaffe and Joshua Holland list them (Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and Goldman Sachs) and explain why they are so bad and how they get their way.
Currently, Bank of America is engaged in yet another effort to swindle the taxpayers. When it took over Merrill Lynch it also acquired all the toxic derivatives the latter owned. Bank of America is an FDIC-insured institution, which means that its deposits are taxpayer-insured, while Merrill Lynch is not. Now Bank of America is apparently trying to quietly shift the Merrill Lynch liabilities over to Bank of America so that the taxpayers will bear whatever loss occurs,
Of course the Federal Reserve, which has already used enormous amounts of taxpayer funds to bail out the banks, supports the move but the FDIC is balking, fearing getting stuck with a huge bill.


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Best Thing I Ever Ate.....Easter Dinner
Everything, my mom is an awesome cook!
My mom's cooking. Her fried rice and bake pork loin.
Anything my mil makes
Any ham dinner I haven't had to cook myself : )
Hm. The lasagna DH made the first Easter we were together. Oh, it was sooo good.


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I nominate this site. I think its quite old...
Best Wishes,
More of a journal than a blog.
Truly great madness cannot be achieved without significant intelligence.
GMail | Mezzoblue | 1976 Design | Zeldman | Justwatchthesky | Jon Hicks | Airbag | All In The Head
hahaha! Why would you ever buy **** like that!
4 guys rolla (some good asp.net articles)|A browser hack chart, very handy
LMFAOWRDAFH! I SO need an ugly background, banner, title, and annoying song!! I wonder how much they're asking for....
Windows XP SP2 - theme: Thallos
AMD Athlon 64 X2 4600+ | ASUS M2N32-SLI Deluxe | 2 * 1024 PC2-6400 Mushkin DDR2-800 | eVGA GeForce 6800XT 256MB | Creative Sound Blaster X-FI Music
5 * 320GB Seagate Barracuda SATA-II 3Gb/s in RAID 5 | Lite-On 16x DVD-RW | Mitsumi 7-in-1 Floppy drive and card reader
Samsung SyncMaster 204B 20" TFT LCD | Logitech G15 Keyboard | Logitech G7 Mouse | Seasonic PC160SK Headset
Any body else got any contenders?
I have seen some nasty stuff, but this is just hillarious that they are trying to sell a nonvalid layout, with animated gifs, ugly banners, crappy backgrounds, AND MIDIS. I can't compete with you, today atleast. I am going to ask them what they charge.
How much would you ask for something just like that bowler derby page? How much do you charge for an annoying song, some ugly animated gifs and a validator report like this http://validator.w3.org/check?verbos...p/bowlset.html ? Its not even 4.01 transitional... that is a pretty loose doc type. Would my business really benefit from a site like that?
my email to them. I hope it pisses them off and they yell at me. That will be funny. Ill quote their reply.
Last edited by PeOfEo; 06-18-2004 at 03:18 PM.
Well im not really in favour of offending peoples skills but i think that one might make them snap to attention towards a new kind of layout.
Maybe they should visit these here forums!
Best Wishes,
I do believe you have to intentionally make a site that bad. Emphasize INTENTIONALLY!!!
<? Damn Browser Incompatibilities ?>
Dell 1505~2.0 Core Duo~1 gig DDR2-533~ Radeon x1400(256mb)~ Hitachi 100gb 7200rpm
<? Go Blue. ?>
I like to make fun of people when they do stuff like this and try to sell it. Its outragious, that they would try to make cash from this.
Well there are so many dodgy "Web Development" companies around who only use Frontpage and use Paint for images. We can laugh at them!
Well i suppose the world isn't perfect.
They are one step below cowboys because they are still ripping clients off.
I wouldn't mind if you had to pass an exam to practice web development. Except it would be so hard to control behind the computer screens.
I have had experience with cowboy plumbers and builders so i know how bad it is when you get ripped off.
I know a web design company i won't be reccomending...cough cough www.kalart.com/ cough cough.
Best Wishes,
some people should just be shot. but everybody's just tryin to make a buck, right?
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend. Inside a dog, it is too dark to read." - Mark Twain
just like the prostitutes. And this company is a real whore.
And we're the pimps... let's silence these *****es!
Well there are so many dodgy "Web Development" companies around who only use Frontpage and use Paint for images. We can laugh at them!
You would be surprised at how many large-scale Web Design firms use code-generating editors to make their pages.
Both the companies i have worked for used Frontpage for page layout and then gave it to us developers to write the backends and fancy crap.
Its just too slow writing a Web Site by hand for the big players...
Andrew Buntine.
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GT (672) San Diego, California | November 13, 2012
Southern Rail is the unmistakeable renovated train station and actual train car(s) that is in 'downtown' Carrboro in between Milltown and Weaver St Market, both ratebeer places as well. Southern Rail has a pretty extensive craft beer draft list, some macros still, and somewhat annoyingly three different bars with taps so it may be worth it while you are waiting for your food to explore the different rooms around and see what's on tap. There is a new bar and coffee shop inside the complex called "The Tiger Room" which may have different drafts, but they are all combined into one place. It used to be that the menu here was incredible with some really great steak frites among other things. Now they only have 4 entrees for the entire restaurant, and 2-3 specials. So you must ask what the specials are as those are going to be the only interesting things probably for dinner. For lunch, it's going to be sandwiches. Service was slow when I was there most recently and the food was decent, some flaws in a few of their special dishes but certainly everything was yummy. Prices are higher. For two entrees and only one beer plus tip it was $40+ for two people. For beer, expect things to be poured too cold and always into a pint glass instead of proper glassware. However, the craft beer selection is decent enough to warrant an RB places addition: Foothills, Big Boss, even a beer from a new Carrboro brewery called Starpoint Surfin Buddha which I've never seen anywhere else. So- it's an option for food and beer in the area competing with Panzanilla, Milltown, Tylers. For such a small town, I think it's safe to say Carrboro is big into craft beer. The most annoying thing is that Southern Rail does not update their draft list on facebook, doesn't seem to have twitter, and the website doesn't even have a normal beer menu. Strange..as this place and its counterpart in DC called Saint-Ex sort of does.


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Search Results
Entries tagged with "
Burn The Ships"
June 15, 2010 3:58 PM
Money For Nothing And Your Clicks For Free tagged "Burn The Ships"
Do real people really want to have a relationship with a brand? Here are some of the many questions that brands are asking of Social Media... Is Social Media the best place for all brands? Much like any other media... Read more
March 24, 201010:05 AM
CTRL-ALT-DEL - It's Time For A Business Reboot tagged "Burn The Ships"
Maybe the Internet changed much more than we think? Maybe businesses have to reinvent not only themselves, but the entire industry they serve? Its very survival could depend on it. The truth of the matter is that the business world... Read more


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Personalized Wedding Tree Invitations
Make sure your wedding guests save the date for your wedding by sending out these invitations that feature a tree with heart-shaped leaves and your initials in the trunk. Sold as a pack of 40, they come in many color options.


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Detangling Hair Dryer
Getting ready for work in the morning can be quite stressful but you will alleviate some of the tension when you give her this cool detangling hair dryer that features a handy comb attachment.


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Artist description:
This file's a biggun :P 505KB. xo This took about 5 hours xO This is supposed to show Water (Blue) Fire (Red) Wind (Cyan) and Earth (Green). :D This is perhaps my BEST PIC YET! :D
Java Draw Created Aug 11, 2009 470 x 338px Unless noted Copyright 2009 Kabloom.
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nice exclusive
Like it! I wish I could get my tablet. ;-;
beautiful!love the colours..
beautiful picture, I really like it ^_^
it looks so cool!
W-whoah... your... your.... ELEVEN!??!?!
Amazing. 5h
Cool idea. Lovely eye. :)


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President Obama and Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius visited We B Smokin' restaurant in Kansas. (Carolyn Kaster/Associated Press)
Political Notebook
Obama, in Kansas, forcefully argues for equality in economy
December 7, 2011
Text size – +
Venturing into the conservative heartland, President Obama yesterday delivered his most pointed appeal yet for using taxes and regulations to level the economic playing field. "This country succeeds when everyone gets a fair shot, when everyone does their fair share, and when everyone plays by the same rules,'' he told a crowd packed into a school gymnasium.
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flickr/nicocrisafulliBankers in Dubai live and work in one of the most unique cities on earth.
The immense oil wealth found in the Middle East has spurred new waves of construction, requiring advisory from top investment bankers. Many of the investment bankers who oversee the Middle East's development call Dubai home.
They also call it a "Disneyland for adults."
So if you're tired of hearing about doom and gloom, you can go to Dubai where the sun is still shining and world records are still being set in this desert oasis.


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Die Hard: Vendetta - GC - Review
John McClane has a knack for finding trouble. Or maybe it is that trouble has a knack for finding him.
To get an understanding of the premise of the GameCube release, Die Hard Vendetta (a release from Sierra and Bits Studios), one has to backtrack to the original Die Hard film starring Bruce Willis. In that movie his wife, Holly, was held hostage with the executives and employees of the Japanese company she worked for in the Nakatomi Towers. The perpetrator was a thief named Hans Gruber (splendidly portrayed by Alan Rickman), who was under the guise of terrorist. All he really wanted was the vast fortune contained in the tower's safe. In the end, Gruber fell to his death from the towers, McClane saved the day, and the movie industry had embraced many memorable characters.
Die Hard Vendetta takes place many years after the original movie. McClane is much older and has, in fact, a daughter (Lucy) who has just joined the force. She is on patrol at the Townsend Museum, her first assignment, during the unveiling of a priceless work of art. The artwork had been stolen, then recovered by Piet Gruber, son of Hans. His seeming goal is not to make up for his father's transgressions, but to restore a valuable piece of art to the world collective.
Yeah, right. Lucy stumbles upon thieves removing some pictures during the ceremony, fires a shot, which her father hears while watching the telecast of the presentation ceremony.
Richard Thornberg, the television reporter, in classic overreaction hails the single gunshot as a maelstrom of bullets and blood.
John, hurries to the museum, guns at the ready. Captain Al Powell (from the original film and subsequent incarnations of the series) informs him that hostages have been taken. John, undaunted by the warning to be careful, focused on the rescue of his child, enters the museum. An explosion to the entryway seals him inside. From that point on it is up to McClane to save the day.
He will have to work his way through a bevy of gun-toting bad guys, rescue hostages, and pick up ammunition as he progresses through the museum to the big gun battle only to see a helicopter fly off with main bad guy aboard. Los Angeles doesn't really seem big enough to hid this thug, and McClane vows to track him down.
That's the premise of the game in nutshell. This first-person shooter does have some very good features, but it also borrows rather liberally from other groundbreaking games like Max Payne.
The game's sound is perhaps the biggest disappointment of this game. While boasting the usual array of henchmen shouts ("There he is!") to the realistic sound of guns, flame-throwers and bombs, the voice acting leaves a lot to be desired. Only one of the movie actors makes an appearance here Reginald VelJohnson as Capt. Powell and his voice is a welcomed relief from the tired, emotionless bantering of the other characters. Without Bruce Willis' sarcastic inflections, the one liners lack punch or pizzazz. The repetitious phrases used by the training officer in the game's tutorial level quickly become annoying. The special effects, such as the distant sound of the helicopter in the opening level that gets louder as you get nearer, or the sound of footsteps — which can be used to gauge how far away someone is — are well done.
Graphically this game is a bit of a mixed bag. The characters have aged, and perhaps the rendering isn't as sharp nor the motion as fluid as it could be, but shooting victims do fall well and the special effects (with the exception of blood, which doesn't look very realistic at all) are quite well done. Only one character bears any real resemblance to his movie counterpart and that is Al Powell. Of course, the familiar voice may have something to do with that.
The environments are interactive and if you put a bullet hole in something, it will stay there. Bodies litter the floor and don't fade into oblivion moments after you shoot them.
The game introduces some special features for McClane, the primary one known as "hero time." When McClane does good deeds, like rescue hostages, he accrues hero time. Triggering it gives him a distinct edge on his enemies liken it to Max Payne's "bullet time."
Controls of the game are designed for ease of use, but some of the innovations do seem to hamper rather than help. For example, McClane will auto-jump off an edge, which is all right if that is what you are meaning to do. Auto aim doesn't always seem to target the right thing you can hit walls instead of perps, especially if you are trying to squeeze a shot in with the sniper rifle and if you disable it, your weapon bounces around and it is extremely tough to target the enemy. The line between crouch and crawl is fine indeed.
There are collectibles along the game path, not only ammunition but med kits, which aid your health status.
Overall, Die Hard Vendetta is an action packed game that could have been much better than it is. The movies offered a great array of characters, and the flat dialogue of this game doesn't translate that feel too well. Sure, the language does try to emulate the films, but it comes off as ineffectual. The audio track, control setbacks, and average physical graphics combine to make this an average first-person shooter.
This game is rated Mature for blood, strong language and violence.
Gameplay: 7
Some of the gameplay is structured around dialogue. For example, in the opening level, you know you have to go into the museum but can't do that until you have a well-rounded conversation with Powell, which more or less reiterates the level's mission statement. The cutscenes, which propel the story, are not as fluid as they could be.
Graphics: 6.8
The special effects are very good, but some of the polygonal characters are poorly rendered. A lot of the henchmen (a.k.a. target practice) are clones. The animation does look a little stiff, and there seemed to be some frame-rate jumps. McClane is standing next to Thornberg, hears bad guys coming and is suddenly five feet from where he was without triggering hero time.
Sound: 6.8
The vocal characterizations, for the most part, are disappointing. When you have a familiar icon like John McClane (Willis) you expect a certain style to the phraseology, which isn't there.
Difficulty: Medium
There are three difficulty levels, Die Hard, Die Harder and Die Hardest. The latter two definitely provide a healthy measure of challenge. Some of the control elements increase the challenge.
Concept: 7
The game does have some very nice points, but also some detractors. It is very nice to have a FPS that realizes that one shot, appropriately placed, is all it takes to put down the enemy. The game does snag a few of its ideas from previously released programs. One nice element is that there is more than one way to move through a scenario. You may arrive at the same finishing area, but you can take alternate paths to get there.
Multiplayer: N/A
This is a single-player only game.
Overall: 7
Considering the characters, this is a game that could have been so much better rather than just an average shooter. The action is intense, and the weapon array is excellent, but the tiny drawbacks mount to hamper the experience.


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Awards and Achievement – Jyotish Ratna, Jyotish Bhushan, Jyotish Prabhakar, Jyotish Shashtracharya
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Pt Umesh Chandra Pant – Awards & Achievement
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Charles Barkley, on TNT last evening: "There's only two people I want to kill. Skip Bayless and Jay Mariotti. One thing I learned about the press is it's a really powerful tool. And your shtick can't be, you get on TV and be evil everyday. Because people believe what you say. And Skip Bayless is evil every single day, and Jay Mariotti is evil every single day."
We're an hour and a half away from "Around The Horn," Chuck. We know how you feel.
Around The Horn [ESPN.com]


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National Statement of Science Investment
John Kerr posted in National Science Challenges • National Statement on Science Investment • science and politics • science funding • Science policy on May 28th, 2014.
How much money should New Zealand spend on science and who should get it? The Government has tackled this question in a new document, the draft National Statement on Science Investment, which was launched today. The draft Statement describes the goal of the Government's science investment to support a system that meets New Zealand's economic, […]
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