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2MOMS on a Mission to Raise Funds for Connecticut Children's Neonatal Intensive Care Units
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: April 23, 2013
MEDIA CONTACT: Teresa Riccio, Communications Specialist
(860) 837-6375; firstname.lastname@example.com
HARTFORD, Conn. - 2MOMS on a Mission, two Enfield moms committed to aiding individuals, families and organizations, is leading fundraising efforts in support of Connecticut Children's Medical Center.
This past January, 2MOMs presented Connecticut Children's with the proceeds of a Quarter Auction, which raised $300 for the Medical Center's Neonatal Intensive Care Units (NICUs). The auction, which takes place monthly for various organizations and families, raises awareness for different local causes while promoting independent sales consultants and business owners throughout the community. Participating vendors include Tupperware, Avon Cosmetics and Scentsy.
2MOMs on a Mission has recently begun preparations for its 2nd Annual Beautiful Baby Contest. The baby that receives the most votes wins year-long bragging rights and the grand prize. Child-friendly companies including LEGO and Happy Family have also donated prize items. All contest participants agree to raise funds and encourage donations in support of Connecticut Children's. The winner is determined by the most funds raised during the contest period and will be announced on June 1 at Center Court in Enfield Square.
"We are honored to have their support," said Martha Schall, President of Connecticut Children's Medical Center Foundation. "2MOMS on a Mission provides both financial resources and the opportunity to make sure that families know we are here for them when a child is sick or injured."
If you are interested in participating, please submit your child's photo along with their name and age (newborn to 3 years) to firstname.lastname@example.com. In order to qualify, all photo entries must be received via email between the dates of April 19-27 and semi-finalists will be determined by voting on the 2MOMS Facebook page. For contest details, please visit www.2momsct.com.
About Connecticut Children's Medical Center
Connecticut Children's Medical Center is a nationally recognized, 187-bed not-for-profit children's hospital serving as the primary teaching hospital for the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. Named among the best in the nation for several of its pediatric specialties in the annual U.S. News & World Report "Best Children's Hospitals" rankings, Connecticut Children's is the only free-standing children's hospital in Connecticut that offers comprehensive, world-class health care to children. Our pediatric services are available at Connecticut Children's Medical Center in Hartford and at Saint Mary's Hospital in Waterbury, with neonatal intensive care units at Hartford Hospital and the University of Connecticut Health Center, along with five specialty care centers and 10 other locations across the state. Connecticut Children's has a medical staff of nearly 1,100 practicing in more than 30 specialties.
For more information, visit www.connecticutchildrens.org or connect with us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/connecticutchildrens and Twitter at www.twitter.com/ctchildrens.


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Brides, grooms and other wedding professionals love the caterers listed below. How do we know? We ask them ourselves—and if we don't hear rave reviews, we don't consider them Certified By The Guide. Here Comes The Guide only lists wedding vendors who are not only talented but also ethical, reliable and easy to work with—i.e., professional in every sense.
Check out our pre-screened wedding caterers below, but before you make your final choice, make sure all your questions are answered—in writing! We've created a list of important questions to ask your wedding caterer to get you started. Also, read our articles and ideas about wedding food for inspiration.
|Special Offer
|Real Weddings
|Main Office Location
Tarpy's Roadhouse Catering
Tarpy's menus feature what they call "Creative American Country Cuisine." According to their many fans, that translates as "really great food," (and hearty portions, too!…
The Classic Catering Company at Six-Two-Five
Classic Catering Company at Six-Two-Five was created "with the goal of providing outstanding food, appealing presentation and excellent service at the location of your choice" and the feed…
Aqua Terra Culinary
Local, seasonal, sustainable and farm-to-table. Words that perfectly describe AQUA TERRA Culinary's responsibly sourced, high-quality ingredients. You won't find run-of-the-mill wedding fo…
|Pacific Grove

subset: commoncrawl


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LOUDON, N.H.—Brad Keselowski believes teammate AJ Allmendinger's career is ruined no matter whether the testing of the B sample exonerates Allmendinger.
Allmendinger is hoping that Aegis Sciences Corp. made a mistake when processing the A sample of the drug test he took June 29, which Allmendinger's business manager said tested positive for a stimulant.
The B sample – when a driver urinates, the specimen is split into two cups – won't be tested at least until next week as Allmendinger arranges to have a toxicologist monitoring the labwork being done. But no matter what it says, Keselowski believes his Penske Racing teammate will forever be stained.
Allmendinger already has said he didn't knowingly take a banned substance. "It's going to be a long road," Keselowski said Friday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. "Whether it comes back positive or negative, it doesn't make a difference – it's still a death sentence.
"Within this sport, we rely on sponsors and reputation."
Comparing it to a plane crash, Keselowski said that the "course of history shows that humans make mistakes even when they check, check, and re-check," so something can go wrong when processing the drug test.
"Going in that room to have a drug test, and I've never taken drugs in my life, I'm scared ----less of it," Keselowski said. "It's honestly a phobia of mine. I go in that room and I'm still scared because you know if something goes wrong, it's a death sentence for your career. "It's over. It's in human hands, and by the very nature of being in human hands, there's potential for error."
Keselowski said he felt awful for Allmendinger.
"I don't know how you couldn't be shocked," Keselowski said. "It's a tough thing to see. As a racecar driver, it's like watching somebody get killed because you know what it is to that person's career.
"It's a devastating moment."
Not having talked with Allmendinger, Keselowski said he doesn't know any of the specifics about what the test showed. NASCAR defines a stimulant as "amphetamine, methamphetamine, Ecstasy (MDMA), Eve (MDEA), MDA, PMA, Phentermine, and other amphetamine derivatives and related compounds."
Keselowski said he hopes it wasn't an illegal drug and it makes a "huge difference" if it was a supplement that Allmendinger was taking or an illegal drug.
"There's always going to be that level of uncertainty that I have over any athlete or driver that performs at these levels and what they're taking or not taking," Keselowski said. "I want to believe that any performer or athlete out there would be dumb enough to take a drug that is illegal."
And Keselowski believes that drivers shouldn't take stimulants.
Anyone can find a lawyer or doctor who can argue that a set of stimulants should be legal, Keselowski said.
"It's my personal belief that nothing should be allowed," Keselowski said. "Nothing. I don't feel like you should be able to take Flintstone pills.
"You're a race-car driver. You should have to overcome it. I think it's a bunch of bull––– that people are allowed to take supplements, any of those things. I don't think that's right. … You should just man up and drive the damn racecar."


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hi cga - it works for me - vim 6.1
How do I set my default font in GVim?
I have changed the line in my ~/.gvimrc
However, it has no effect when I restart. I can go into the pulldown menu and change the font as I like, but it always falls back on restart.Code:set guifont=-misc-fixed-medium-r-normal--14-140-75-75-c-70-iso8859-1
This is on my Mandrake 8.2 system, and it is Gvim 6.0.
This here GVim is looking pretty good, overall, and I may become a full time Vim-er if I can get the font issue worked out.
Works for me as well in vim 6.1 .... maybe there was a bug or diffrent syntax for 6.0?


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Merit Scholarships
The Brandeis-Genesis Institute Undergraduate Fellowship
The Brandeis-Genesis Institute for Russian Jewry (BGI) strives to prepare Russan-speaking students from around the world to become effective community leaders fortified by Jewish knowledge, a systematic understanding of Russian Jewry, and a commitment to the future of Jewish people.
The BGI undergraduate fellowship program integrates academic study at Brandeis with BGI extracurricular programming designed to enhance connections to the Russian-speaking Jewish world. Students participate in specially- designed programming that includes an overseas educational trip, community-based volunteer projects, a speaker series and cultural events, group retreats and leadership development seminars. Students participate in a two-year undergraduate fellowship program during their sophomore and junior years and receive a $5,000 merit scholarship for these two years. (Students should contact Student Financial Services for more information on how this merit scholarship may affect their financial aid package.)
The fellowship program is intended for domestic and international undergraduate Brandeis students from Russian-speaking households who have the knowledge and motivation to be of service to the Jewish community. Brandeis students interested in joining the fellowship should apply during their first year. Specific instructions and application forms will be posted to the BGI website in November 2012. Student are encouraged to contact BGI either before or after submitting their applications. The BGI Fellowship is highly selective and all candidates go through a rigorous screening process. Fellows are selected by the Admissions Committee, which is comprised of BGI staff, faculty and alumni. Selection criteria include academic achievements, extracurricular and community involvement, and leadership potential.
For further information about the BGI, and about the current BGI undergraduate fellows, please go to www.brandeis.edu/bgi , or contact the office at http://www.brandeis.edu/bgi/learn_more.html or 781-736-8410.
Brandeis-Sponsored National Merit Scholarship
This scholarship is available to entering first-year students who have attained National Merit Finalist status and have designated Brandeis as their first choice through the National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC).
Recipients of this scholarship are chosen by the NMSC. The amount of this scholarship ranges from $500 to $2,000, based on financial need.
Martin Luther King Jr. Scholarship
This scholarship is awarded to entering first-year students on the basis of academic performance and extracurricular participation in secondary school, outstanding community involvement and demonstrated financial need.
There is no application for this scholarship beyond the admission application and the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE. (Please note that the FAFSA and parent and student taxes will also be required upon payment of the deposit.)
The amount of this scholarship is equal to the student's calculated institutional financial need, based on the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE, the FAFSA and student and parent tax returns, and is renewable for up to eight semesters of study at Brandeis.
Fannie Penikoff Scholarship
This scholarship is awarded to one outstanding entering first-year student from the Chicago area. This scholarship was created through a gift from the Fannie Penikoff Charitable Trust to the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago.
There is no application for this scholarship beyond the admission application and the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE.
The amount of this scholarship is equal to full tuition and is renewable for up to eight continuous semesters of study at Brandeis, beginning with the semester in which the recipient was initially offered admission.
Recipients of this scholarship will be required to provide information about their campus activities to the Office of Donor Relations at Brandeis at least once each year and will also be required to write a letter of thanks to Ms. Donna Kahan, who oversees the Fannie Penikoff Fund at the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago, twice each year that details the recipient's campus involvement.
Stroum Family Waltham Scholarship
This scholarship is awarded to four top graduating seniors from Waltham High School in Massachusetts.
There is no application for this scholarship beyond the admission application and the CSS/Financial Aid PROFILE.
The amount of this scholarship is equal to full tuition and is renewable for up to eight semesters of study at Brandeis.


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The Landmark
Mandarin Oriental, Hong KongHong Kong Hongkong Land P+T International, Architect-of-Record (Phase I); Aedas, Joint Designer (Phase II), D.I. Design, Retail Consultant Mixed-Use, Repositioning + Transformation, Retail, Hospitality 200,000 ft2 / 19,000 m2 People's Choice Award for Architecture, HKIA (2007), Award of Excellence, Asia Pacific, Urban Land Institute (2007)
The Landmark has established itself as one of the premier retail centers in Hong Kong and Asia. In order to maintain its position, the complex is regularly updated to align itself with the pervading retail culture.
The original building was erected in the late 1970s and KPF's Phase I renovation was completed in 1997. This involved the reclad of exterior facades and the upgrade of internal shop fronts, entries, basement and retail corridors. Additionally a new skylight roof and fountain were added.
The Phase II project encompasses several levels of upgrades: the introduction of a new atrium entry that connects Queen's Road Central to the existing atrium; the addition of a 23-story office tower at the corner of Icehouse Street; the renovation and addition of a new facade along the entire length of the Queen's Road Central facade; additional retail space and restaurants in the new and the existing atrium; a boutique hotel (The Landmark Mandarin Oriental) and spa in the low rise-bank of Edinburgh Tower; a roof garden; double story shop fronts that is part of the flagship retail concept; a Harvey Nichols department store and a Vuitton superstore on Peddar Street.
A wall of vertically folded glass panels envelopes the new retail podium unifying these disparate elements. Conceived as a diaphanous veil, the zigzag glass screen alternatively obscures and reveals the retail world within bringing this activity into the streets of Central.
As the main destination point of Central, Landmark II is intended to reflect the surrounding investment banking and luxury brands while creating an integrated round the clock lifestyle, work and leisure environment.


text: Leslie Denniston | IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information IBDB: The official source for Broadway Information Official Broadway League sites: - sites - broadway.org broadwayleague.com broadwayfanclub.com kidsnightonbroadway.com stagespecs.org tonyawards.com Quick Search For: In This Category: All Show People/Org. Theatre Season Leslie Denniston Performer ( b. May 19, 1950 San Francisco, California, USA ) Female ProductionsAwards ProductionsDate of ProductionsCopperfield[Musical, Original] Performer: Leslie Denniston [Agnes Wickfield]Apr 13, 1981 - Apr 26, 1981To Grandmother's House We Go[Play, Drama, Original] Performer: Leslie Denniston [Twyla]Jan 15, 1981 - Mar 08, 1981Happy New Year[Musical, Original] Performer: Leslie Denniston [Linda Seton]Apr 27, 1980 - May 10, 1980Shenandoah[Musical, Original] Performer: Leslie Denniston Anne - ReplacementJan 07, 1975 - Aug 07, 1977 1980 Theatre World AwardHappy New Year [recipient]Performer: Leslie Denniston Find out where Leslie Denniston and are credited together © 2001-2015, The Broadway League, All Rights Reserved. (Copyright and Disclaimer)


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Plug For Pepe
The New Republic Staff
| January 19, 2007
As Brad Plumer
, this morning's
New York Times
a front page story
about how Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei is losing patience with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's demagoguery. But the story
yesterday in
Asia Times
under the byline of Pepe Escobar. I have no idea who Pepe Escobar is, but I have been reading his "Roving Eye" column for several years. He is one of the most interesting--and as far I can tell, informed--journalists writing about the Middle East. He travels there, and seems to speak and read several of the languages. He also has recently published a book,
Globistan: How the Globalized World is Dissolving into Liquid War.
Escobar thinks that much of what passes for the war on terror is a war for energy. I think he is right about this.
--John B. Judis
Source URL: http://www.newrepublic.com//blog/the-plank/plug-pepe


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The bad news — that unions have abandoned President Barack Obama in his fight to implement the Affordable Care Act — was probably carried, at some point, by a union member. That's because it's the nation's largest and most powerful workers' organizations, including the Teamsters, that have done the leaving.
The letter was addressed to Democratic honchos House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid.
"When you and the President sought our support for the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you pledged that if we liked the health plans we have now, we could keep them," the letter reads. "Sadly, that promise is under threat. Right now, unless you and the Obama Administration enact an equitable fix, the ACA will shatter not only our hard-earned health benefits, but destroy the foundation of the 40 hour work week that is the backbone of the American middle class."
It gets worse.
"Time is running out: Congress wrote this law; we voted for you," the letter declares. "We have a problem; you need to fix it. The unintended consequences of the ACA are severe. Perverse incentives are already creating nightmare scenarios."
These "nightmare scenarios" are not surprising to Republicans, who warned against them when the bill was being considered in 2010.
"The law creates an incentive for employers to keep employees' work hours below 30 hours a week," the letter says. "Numerous employers have begun to cut workers' hours to avoid this obligation, and many of them are doing so openly. The impact is two-fold: fewer hours means less pay while also losing our current health benefits."
The law also does a bad job of protecting the health care benefits that unions have negotiated for decades to secure.
And the government will start taxing health plans — including the non-profit plans most union members have — to pay for the massive program.
"Taken together, these restrictions will make non-profit plans like ours unsustainable, and will undermine the health-care market of viable alternatives to the big health insurance companies," the letter says.
This could signal real trouble for Obamacare. The Teamsters, the United Federation of Communications Workers, and UNITE-HERE (a service industries union) have been solid supporters of the law, up until now.
The Manhattan Institute's Avik Roy, writing in Forbes, says there's a political side here that the Obama administration didn't figure on: Obamacare diminishes the power of unions.
"What a lot of people may not realize is that for much of our history, labor unions opposed universal coverage," Roy says. "If unions' role in negotiating health coverage is taken over by the government, unions lose a big chunk of their utility."
Whatever the unions' reasons for jumping ship, Obama is finding his signature legislative achievement adrift.
That explains why he and Democratic leaders are now pleading with Republicans to "help fix" the law.
But they can no longer complain that Republicans are obstructing the bill.
Their longtime allies, the unions, stand in the way now, too.


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PJM Exclusive: Excerpt From J. Christian Adams' Injustice, Released Today
Click here to order Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department. Look out for bombshells.
October 4, 2011 - 12:00 am
Excerpt from Injustice: Exposing the Racial Agenda of the Obama Justice Department, by J. Christian Adams:
Obama and his backers have engaged in a strange form of political projection, baselessly accusing the Bush Civil Rights Division of the exact kind of malfeasance and bias that have become hallmarks of the division under Obama's presidency. This is evident time and again in the administration of Section 5, which during the Bush years was one of the chief areas critics claimed had become politicized …
To understand the Obama administration's duplicity, it's important to understand how Section 5 enforcement works. DOJ Section 5 regulations give the Assistant Attorney General for Civil Rights the authority to interpose an objection to a state law. The regulations, however, do not allow the AAG to approve state election changes. As a matter of longstanding practice, the career bureaucrats inside the Voting Section review state submissions. They gather facts, conduct interviews and, if they are satisfied the proposal does not discriminate, approve the plan. … Submissions that are pre-cleared don't reach up into the political ranks of the department. … Only if the technicians, lawyers, and statisticians detect problems justifying an objection do the political appointees get involved.
The exercise of an objection to a submission is a profound power. Such federal oversight is at the farthest frontier of federal power under the Constitution. Thus, it is understandable that the AAG alone, and not the bureaucrats in the Voting Section, has the authority to object to a submission. … The AAG remains free … to reject or accept the recommendation. But the important point is that internally, the Voting Section is responsible for pre-clearances, while the political appointees are responsible for accepting or rejecting a Voting Section recommendation for an objection.
The Obama DOJ has turned this process upside down. According to sources inside the Voting Section, Deputy Assistant Attorney General Julie Fernandes has implemented a new Section 5 process that shifts massive power to approve state laws into the DOJ's political ranks. It works like this: when a politically important submission comes in, Fernandes or some other Obama appointee now tags it as a "red file" — it is literally placed into a red file so everyone knows this is a state law that keenly interests the Obama political appointees. Red files are treated much differently from other submissions because the staff members know their work is being watched at the highest levels of the department. It also sends a signal to the career technicians that they should be extra aggressive in collecting evidence of discrimination.


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I have been doing this for awhile and I feel that I should share what I know on making money through selling accounts.
First:Creating accounts to hack with
When creating this account, do not think of it from your point of view but what is truly best atm.
Currently the best accounts to bot are Mage's / Dawn warriors - Mage's due to mage kami and tele mastery , Dawn warriors due to soul driver
These accounts are both easy to bot and will level fast, meaning you will make money at a faster rate.
Second: Taking it seriously
When botting accounts people tend to get lazy, though I find that ridiculous considering you really aren't doing much, it happens and once it does its all over and you wasted time.
Third: Stats
When in the creation process make sure you apply proper AP/SP distribution, I have seen far to many time's that "to much dex",or "to much luck" has broken a deal. Make sure you look into what is best before applying.
Fourth: Eye candy
I recommend once the account is at a level you feel worthy enough to sell, spend 5-10m to make it look nice.A decent weapon at its level, a glove with some attack, ect. You will be surprised how much this could increase its value in the eye's of a buyer.
Fifth: Where to sell / Who to sell to.
There are numerous site's that host bidding on such accounts, I would like approval before posting my personal site of use, but you should have no problem finding one.
The buyer's you should be aiming for are legit players, therefore you should sell on legit forums.
Things are worth more to them because they actually work for levels and presume you have as well. Though on a hacking forum its value is decreased because everyone has access to attaining what you have.
Common worth based on level / Average time frame of creation
LV 70 - 10-15$ / one to two days
LV 80 - 15-20$ / two days
LV 90 - 20-25$ /two to three days
LV 100- 25$ / three to four days
LV 110 - 30$ / four days
LV 120 - 35-40$ / four to five days
NOTE-These prices are based on legit player bidding websites, and are based on my own personal sales.
LV 130+ -varies and I do not recommend botting an account for this long a period considering you are only in this for the money, and could have started a new project in this time.
Additional Money making tips
If you have purchased VIP and think it is worth it, purchase a pet with an item pouch and meso bag, and use pet item vac,having a pet with both these items can also increase your characters worth. This will allow you to collect everything on the map and every meso dropped throughout your journey.
To legits 100m = about 5-6$, so you can make your money back and then some.


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Our Mission
The Office of Graduate Studies and Professional Development was created to assist prospective graduate students in locating and investigating graduate programs suited to their interests, and to help current graduate students get the most out of graduate studies by highlighting opportunities to expand and enhance the training they already receive in their individual graduate programs. The Director and the Advisory Group work to guide graduate programs and graduate students toward a secure and bright future. Our efforts include securing institutional support for graduate education, addressing issues of professional development not currently addressed by individual programs, and implementing strategies to recruit and retain students of under-represented groups.


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Have a question or a tip to share?
Folica stands behind the authenticity of everything we sell. Since 1998, Folica has made it our mission to provide you with an outstanding selection of hair and beauty products at highly competitive prices.
before4 or after or does it matter. Should hair be shampood first and should hair be wet or dry Thanks Ann
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text:
Quantitative reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) has been demonstrated to be particularly suitable for the analysis of weakly expressed genes, such as those encoding transcription factors. Rice (Oryza sativa L.) is an important crop and the most advanced model for monocotyledonous species; its nuclear genome has been sequenced and molecular tools are being developed for functional analyses. However, high-throughput methods for rice research are still limited and a large-scale qRT-PCR platform for gene expression analyses has not been reported.
We established a qRT-PCR platform enabling the multi-parallel determination of the expression levels of more than 2500 rice transcription factor genes. Additionally, using different rice cultivars, tissues and physiological conditions, we evaluated the expression stability of seven reference genes. We demonstrate this resource allows specific and reliable detection of the expression of transcription factor genes in rice.
Multi-parallel qRT-PCR allows the versatile and sensitive transcriptome profiling of large numbers of rice transcription factor genes. The new platform complements existing microarray-based expression profiling techniques, by allowing the analysis of lowly expressed transcription factor genes to determine their involvement in developmental or physiological processes. We expect that this resource will be of broad utility to the scientific community in the further development of rice as an important model for plant science.
Various high throughput techniques that allow the accurate quantification of expression levels (transcript abundance) of hundreds or thousands of genes are currently available [1]. Commonly, cDNA- and oligonucleotide-based microarrays are used to measure transcripts at a genome-wide scale [1]. However the usefulness of these is often limited by their sensitivity and accuracy, particularly for low-abundance transcripts. In contrast, quantitative reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR or real-time RT-PCR) allows even weakly expressed genes to be accurately quantified [2]. Thus, whilst array-based hybridisation typically allows the detection of one transcript per cell [3,4], qRT-PCR can detect one transcript per 1000 cells [5]. Recent improvements in qRT-PCR methodology have eliminated many of the initial problems that were associated with quantitative gene expression studies, such as those arising from alternative splicing events [6]. Despite such developments qRT-PCR is mostly used to detect relatively small numbers of genes.
Transcription factors (TFs) are proteins (trans-acting factors) that enhance or repress gene expression through their binding to specific DNA sequences (cis-acting elements) in the promoters of their target genes. The functional characterization of TFs is crucial for the reconstruction of transcriptional regulatory networks controlling developmental and physiological processes such as growth, organ formation and the response to hormonal or environmental stimuli [7,8]. Transcription factor genes represent a sizable fraction of the genomes of all eukaryotic organisms, including higher plants [7]. Analysis of the rice genome [9,10] indicated that approximately 2.6% of the identified genes encode TFs [10]. Currently, the functional analysis of TFs in monocotyledonous species lags considerably behind that of the model dicotyledonous species Arabidopsis thaliana.
Microarray expression profiling in rice has not been widely reported with relatively few publicly available data. Studies using qRT-PCR have also not been widely reported, have focussed on small groups of genes, and in many cases were only used to confirm expression changes from microarray experiments. Therefore, the utility of qRT-PCR as a high-throughput method in rice has not been investigated.
To facilitate the analysis of rice TFs we have recently established a database [11,12]. The coding sequences of more than 2500 identified rice TFs were used to design primers for a large-scale qRT-PCR platform. The comparative analysis of several rice varieties and tissues described here has confirmed the broad applicability of the platform.
Results and Discussion
Primer design
Analysis of the rice genome indicated that 21% of all genes give rise to alternatively spliced transcripts [13]. In the case of TFs, splice variants can affect the architecture of the DNA-binding domain and often show tissue-specific expression patterns [14]. To distinguish between such variants, splice variant-specific primer pairs were designed for the 5.7 % of all TF loci (131 TF loci) where this was possible. In total, primer pairs for 2508 gene models derived from 2306 loci were designed (Additional file 1). The design of primers followed a set of stringent criteria, as generally suggested in qRT-PCR protocols (e.g. Primer Express Software v2.0 Application Manual, Applied Biosystems). To minimize the risk of amplifying contaminating genomic DNA, primers spanning at least one exon-exon junction, or annealing to different exons, were designed where possible (56% of predicted gene models). However, 35% of genes contained no introns. The specificity of each primer was confirmed by comparing its sequence with all predicted rice coding sequences (CDS) using the BLASTN tool at TIGR [15] to ensure that at least one primer of each pair targets a unique site within the set of predicted rice CDS.
Additional file 1. Complete list of TF genes, primer data and corresponding PCR efficiencies. The TF primer platform was established based on the data for the gene models according to the Version 2.0 of TIGR Rice genome annotation. The corresponding new identifiers (Version 5.0) are also presented. The ranking of primer pairs taking into account experimental data (Cat column) was done as follows: 1, specific amplification; 2, no amplification; 3, non-specific amplification. 'Primer Location' indicates the sites within genes selected for primer design: J, at least one of the primers extends over an exon-exon junction; D, the primers are located in different exons; S, both primers are located within same exon.
Format: XLS Size: 939KB Download file
This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Excel Viewer
RNA sampling and control for genomic DNA contamination
RNA was initially extracted using a phenol-based method from two different tissues (root and shoot) of four rice cultivars, three of which were indica cultivars (Cham, DR2 and Lua man) and the fourth was a japonica cultivar (Nipponbare). This protocol (e.g. as described by Czechowski et al. and Jain et al. [5,16]) gave satisfactory total RNA yield, but the RNA quality was too low for the synthesis of high-quality cDNA [data not shown] [17]. We therefore used the guanidinium thiocyanate-based RNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) [18]. Total RNA extraction was straightforward and provided RNA with high yield and quality from both root and shoot tissue (45–75 μg total RNA/100 mg fresh weight).
RNA preparations are usually contaminated with low amounts of genomic DNA, which can result in non-specific amplification [19]. The manufacturer's recommended on-column DNAse treatment was not sufficient to remove interfering genomic DNA. Therefore, we performed a second DNAse incubation on the isolated RNA to eliminate detectable genomic DNA contamination. Genomic DNA was detected by qRT-PCR using 0.125 μg of isolated RNA as template, and three different primer pairs annealing to intergenic regions of chromosomes 1 (AP003727, positions 7366–7426) and 7 (AP006456, positions 27334624–27334684), and an intron of the gene Os01g01840. It is important to select more than a single genomic region to assess genomic DNA contamination because chromosomal sites can be differentially accessible to DNAse I. Omitting the second DNAse digestion always resulted in the amplification of some, but not all, of these genomic regions (data not shown). In most cases the CT values obtained were >30. Synthesis of cDNA from the isolated RNA was only performed when all three genomic control amplifications scored negative.
We chose a two-step qRT-PCR protocol where reverse transcription and PCR-mediated cDNA amplification are carried out in subsequent steps in separate tubes. The two-step protocol is preferred when SYBR Green is used as a detection dye because it diminishes unwanted primer dimer formation [20]. The reverse transcriptase reaction was primed with oligo-(dT) instead of random-sequence primers because the latter preferentially selects for more abundant mRNA species and not for transcripts of weakly expressed genes, such as many TF genes. A flowchart of the protocol is shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Flow-chart of an optimised protocol for qRT-PCR in large-scale expression profiling experiments. The protocol implements multiple optimised and control steps including RNA isolation, digestion of genomic DNA (gDNA), evaluation of cDNA quality, primer design and data analysis. The absence of gDNA was confirmed by quantitative RT-PCR (qRT-PCR) with primer pairs targeting various non-coding regions. The quality of the cDNA was tested using different reference genes, as outlined in the text.
Reaction specificity
All 2508 primer pairs were checked by qRT-PCR using cDNAs synthesised from the roots of the rice cultivars, Cham and DR2 kept under control and salt stress (100 mM NaCl) conditions. Additionally, shoot cDNA from DR2 was used to test a smaller set of primer pairs targeting 192 TF genes. Melting curve analysis was performed for all PCR products to confirm the occurrence of specific amplification peaks and the absence of primer-dimer formation. Finally, all 2508 PCR products from the control DR2 root sample were run on 4% agarose gels and photographically documented (available upon request).
Approximately 3% of all TF genes analysed (i.e. 73 out of 2508 genes) did not yield detectable PCR amplicons, indicating no or weak expression under the employed conditions. In most cases (57 TF genes) at least one primer spanned an exon-exon junction thus precluding tests for priming efficiency on genomic DNA template. Only 2.5% of all reactions (61 TF genes) yielded unspecific PCR products as indicated by multiple or incorrectly sized amplicons.
Primer efficiency
Although the fluorescence during qRT-PCR is primarily determined by the starting abundance of a given cDNA template, its increase during the run is strongly affected by the amplification efficiency. When this efficiency is 100%, the amount of a cDNA targeted by a given primer pair is doubled in every PCR cycle of the exponential phase. However, the priming site, the sequence specificity of the primer, and the unwanted formation of primer-dimers are factors that can significantly affect the efficiency of individual PCR reactions. We used the LinRegPCR software [21] to determine the PCR efficiency of each primer pair of the TF qRT-PCR platform, taking into account all amplification profiles obtained (27588 in total). Firstly, the correlation coefficients (R) assigned to efficiency values were used to evaluate the amplification curves and all reactions with an R < 0.990, reflecting low-quality amplifications, were excluded from further analyses. Subsequently, average PCR efficiencies were computed for each individual primer pair across all analyzed samples. This showed that 8% of the 2508 primer pairs (200 TF genes) displayed PCR efficiencies greater than 1.90, and 87% of the primer pairs (2182 TF genes) had efficiencies of 1.51–1.90. Only 5% of the primer pairs (125 TF genes) had PCR efficiencies with mean values below 1.4, and these mostly represented reactions that lacked detectable fragment amplification (CT > 40) or that generated unspecific PCR products. The efficiencies of reference genes tested in this work ranged from 1.73 to 1.96 (see below; Table 1).
Table 1. Selected reference genes for rice and corresponding primer pair information.
The TF qRT-PCR platform was developed primarily using the nuclear genome sequence of the japonica cultivar Nipponbare (TIGR annotation) [15], which might affect its general applicability for experiments involving indica cultivars. SNP (single nucleotide polymorphism) variation among the two rice subspecies was found to be low (<0.4%) [22], and these mostly occur in intergenic regions which contain approximately four times more SNPs than occur within genes [23]. SNPs may affect the comparative analysis of gene expression levels in qRT-PCR experiments. Therefore, to investigate variation of primer specificity between the indica varieties Cham and DR2, PCR efficiencies were separately computed in a cultivar-specific manner for all gene models. Although individual primer pairs of the TF primer platform can exhibit slight differences for their target genes in different varieties/cultivars (Figure 2), this did not significantly affect the overall applicability of the platform for expression profiling experiments, a finding we have also validated in independent experiments (Caldana et al., manuscript in preparation).
Figure 2. Distribution of calculated PCR efficiencies as determined for two indica rice cultivars. The two distributions were compared using a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and were found to be significantly different at p = 0.001. Non-parametric comparison of mean values (Mann-Whitney U test) confirmed the presence of statistically significant differences at p = 0.000001. Transformation to expression values revealed that the slightly different PCR efficiencies could lead to a mean difference of maximal 0.3, when the fold change was expressed as log2. Individual primer pairs can thus exhibit slight differences for their target genes in different cultivars. However, this does not significantly affect the overall applicability of the primer platform for expression profiling experiments (Caldana et al., manuscript in preparation).
Accuracy and precision of real-time PCR
To determine the sensitivity and accuracy of the rice qRT-PCR platform, as reported for other platforms [5], we performed additional experiments. Firstly, we assessed the linearity, sensitivity and accuracy using three weakly expressed genes with preferential expression in either shoots (Os12g38200) or roots (Os03g55610 and Os08g38220). Shoot- and root-derived cDNAs were mixed in different ratios (see Figure 3) and transcript abundance of the three genes was determined by qRT-PCR. Linearised values were calculated as , where CT represents the threshold cycle and directly reflects template abundance. A linear relationship was observed in all three cases, suggesting that, as previously reported for Arabidopsis [5], qRT-PCR was sufficiently accurate in rice even for low-abundant transcripts. These relationships were highly significant with R2 values (coefficient of determination) of 0.61, 0.94, and 0.90 for Os03g55610, Os08g38220, and Os12g38200, respectively (Figure 3).
Figure 3. Linearity and sensitivity of qRT-PCR. cDNA derived from root or shoot RNA was mixed in different ratios (as indicated; total amount of cDNA was 1 ng) and used as template to test transcript abundance of three selected genes (Os03g55610, Os08g38220, and Os12g38200) via qRT-PCR. A linear relationship between root (or shoot) cDNA and expression level of the various genes was observed. Symbols in both panels represent the mean ± SD (n = 3).
We also tested the experimental reproducibility of the rice qRT-PCR platform. Czechowski et al. [5] demonstrated qRT-PCR precision by analysing intra-assay variation using the same pool of cDNAs and inter-assay variation using two different pools of cDNAs synthesised from the same batch of RNA, obtaining R2 values of 0.99 and 0.95, respectively. Here, we wanted to determine the variation between different biological replicates which encompasses both technical and biological variation. Using cDNA synthesised from DR2 harvested in three independent experiments we measured the expression of 201 TF genes. The ΔCT (CT_gene of interest - CT_reference gene) was calculated and the precision of the assay was assessed using the coefficient of variation (CV). Despite the fact that the majority of gene models tested (111 genes) displayed an extremely low expression level (CT > 35), the obtained mean CV was 14%. This is in good agreement with published expression data for human keratinocyte subclones, in which a CV of 18% was found for genes with a CT > 30 [24]. In contrast, CV values are generally higher in microarray-based analyses of genes with such low expression, indicating a lower reproducibility [25]. These findings underscore the advantage of qRT-PCR as an alternative and often superior tool for expression profiling studies, especially for the investigation of genes with low expression level.
Selection of reference genes for qRT-PCR in rice
Generally in qRT-PCR, transcripts of stably expressed genes, also called reference genes, are employed for data normalisation. In rice, previous publications have suggested 18S-rRNA, GADPH, UBI5 and EF-1α as good reference genes [26,16]. To identify the most suitable reference genes in rice we initially selected nine candidates: 18S-rRNA, ubiquitin (UBQ), actin (ACT), actin1 (ACT1), β-tubulin (TUB), cyclophilin (CYC), elongation factor 1α (EF-1α), which are commonly used house-keeping genes in plants, and expressed protein (EP) and TIP41-like protein (TIP41) found to be good reference genes in Arabidopsis [27]. UBQ (Os01g45420), considered as a stable house-keeping gene in various plant species [27,16], had unstable expression across three different rice cultivars (data not shown), and was excluded from further studies. Although the abundance of 18S-rRNA remained constant in different rice cultivars and physiological conditions (data not shown), we did not consider it further as a suitable reference for our analyses, primarily because it requires the use of random hexamers instead of oligo(dT) as primers for the reverse transcriptase.
An overview of the remaining seven reference genes is given in Table 1. CYC, EP and TIP41 are expressed at low, TUB, ACT and ACT1 at intermediate, and EF-1α at high levels, respectively. Their expression stability was measured by qRT-PCR in a set of 11 different cDNA samples (Additional file 2), and calculated using the gene expression stability measure (M) implemented in the geNORM software [28]. This determines the stability of a reference gene, taking into account the average pair-wise variation (V) of that gene in comparison to all other reference genes tested. Assuming that the difference of gene expression level of two ideal control genes is the same in all experimental conditions (tissues, treatments) compared, the lower a genes M value is, the more stably it is expressed (suggested limit of M<1.5).
Additional file 2. cDNA samples used for the validation of the reference genes.
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To follow the relationship between expression stability and experimental condition, geNORM was run with different input data (Figure 4). The first experimental series used the 11 cDNA samples. Except for CYC, which exhibited an M value of 1.88, all genes displayed values below the threshold of 1.5, proving their stability. EF-1α and EP had the most stable expression and are consequently the best overall reference genes. We also compared expression stability using shoot or root tissue of the different rice cultivars (Figure 4). Although all genes had M values below 1.5, TIP41 was the least stably expressed gene in both tissues. This is in contrast to the stable expression of the orthologous gene from Arabidopsis (At4g34270) across many different tissues [27]. Together with our data from UBQ, this highlights the need to test the suitability of a given gene even if its orthologue in another species is an adequate reference gene. We also tested the affect of salt stress on the expression stability of the selected genes. As in the tissue experiment, all genes displayed satisfactory M values and the best ranked genes were ACT1 and CYC, followed by EF-1α. However, the weakly expressed gene CYC was the least stable when more diverse conditions were used. Therefore, considering all the experimental categories, ACT1 and EF-1α were the most stable reference genes. Additionally, EP, similar to its Arabidopsis orthologue (At4g33380) [27], showed good stability in all experiments. Generally, we recommend including more than a single reference gene in each qRT-PCR experiment. Conveniently, the geNORM software also calculates the pair-wise variation (V), which indicates the optimal number of reference genes to be analysed in a given experiment.
Figure 4. Expression stability of selected reference genes as calculated by geNORM. The data sets used for the calculation of the average expression stability (M) values are provided in Additional file 2. 'All tested conditions' includes all probes tested (different cultivars, tissues and physiological conditions); 'Root tissue (100 mM salt stress)' includes all root samples of salt stress-treated plants; 'Root tissue' and 'Shoot tissue' include samples of non-stressed tissues of different cultivars. A lower M value indicates more stable expression. According to the geNORM manual, genes with M values >1.5 are not suitable reference genes for the selected conditions. Gene codes and primers used for the qRT-PCR experiments are given in Table 1.
A qRT-PCR platform for multi-parallel expression profiling of more than 2500 rice TF genes has been established. It complements existing microarray-based profiling technologies, which are generally not well suited for reliable analysis of weakly expressed genes including TFs. This resource is available for the scientific community to use for their own experiments.
Plant material
The three rice (Oryza sativa L. ssp. indica) cultivars (Cham, DR2 and Lua man) were obtained from the Institute of Biotechnology (Hanoi, Vietnam). Additionally, a Nipponbare (Oryza sativa L. spp. japonica) cultivar provided by the International Rice Research Institute (Manila, Philippines) was used. The plants were grown in hydroponic culture [29] under a day-length of 12 h at 26/22°C (day/night), 70% humidity and 700 μmol m-2 s-1 light intensity. Roots and shoots were harvested three weeks after germination. Salt-stressed plants (Cham, DR2, and Lua man) were harvested 30 min or 3 h after the application of 100 mM NaCl, with control samples harvested in parallel.
RNA extraction, DNAse I digestion and cDNA synthesis
The roots and shoots of three biological replicates with five plants each were pooled to isolate total RNA using the RNeasy Plant Mini Kit (Qiagen, Hilden, Germany) according to the manufacturer's protocol. During the extraction, the first on-column DNAse I (Qiagen) digestion was carried out. A second DNAse I (Roche, Mannheim, Germany) digestion was performed on a total of 60 μg of total RNA according to the manufacturer's instructions. Absence of genomic DNA contamination was subsequently confirmed by qRT-PCR using three different primer pairs. The primers were designed to amplify two intergenic regions (AP003727, positions 7366 – 7426: forward 5'-AGAGAAGACCGCCATGTTGG-3' and reverse 5'-CTGGCACCACAAAAACAATGAC-3'; and AP006456, positions 27334624 – 27334684: forward 5'-TATCCACTCGACAGGACGTGC-3' and reverse 5'-CCGGCAGGCAAGCTACTAGAC-3'), and an intron sequence of the gene Os01g01840 (forward 5'-TAGAGAGTTCGATCTTGCGCG-3' and reverse 5'-CGGCCCATTCAATGAAGTCTT-3'). RNA integrity was checked on 1% (w/v) agarose gels and the concentration measured before and after DNAse I digestion. cDNA was synthesized from 5 μg of total RNA using Superscript™ III reverse transcriptase (Invitrogen, Karlsruhe, Germany), according to the manufacturer's instructions. The efficiency of cDNA synthesis was estimated by qRT-PCR using β-tubulin (Os01g59150, forward primer 5'-GGAGTCACATGCTGCCTAAGGTT-3' and reverse primer 5'-TCACTGCCAGCTTACGGAGG-3').
Design and validation of qRT-PCR primers
Transcription factor sequences were extracted from version 1 of the Rice Transcription Factor Database [11,12] and used to establish the rice TF qRT-PCR platform. The set of 2508 gene models corresponding to 2306 loci of confirmed and putative transcription factors was subsequently used to design primers for ca. 500 genes. The remaining 2000 primer pairs were designed by MWG Biotech AG (Ebersberg, Germany). A standard set of reaction conditions and a set of stringent criteria were used as follows: Tm of 60°C ± 2°C, PCR amplicon length of 60 to 150 bp, primer length of 20 ± 5 bp, and a guanine-cytosine content of 45 to 55%. If gene structure allowed, at least one primer was designed to cover an exon-exon junction. The specificity of the primer pair sequence was checked against Version 2 of the rice transcripts (CDS) from the TIGR Rice Database [15] using the BLAST programme. The EXPECT threshold (statistical significance) was set to 1000, as suggested when searching for short, nearly exact matches [30]. The specificity of the amplicons was checked by qRT-PCR dissociation curve analysis and electrophoresis of PCR products on 4% agarose gels. The efficiencies (E) of the polymerase chain reactions were estimated using the LinRegPCR software [21] (Additional file 1).
Selection of reference genes
Potential reference genes were chosen based on published data for rice and other plant species and rice orthologues were identified using the TBLASTN programme [15]. The gene models used were: actin (Os03g50890), actin1 (Os05g36290), β-tubulin (Os01g59150), expressed protein (Os06g11070), TIP41-like protein (Os03g55270), cyclophilin (Os08g19610) and elongation factor 1α (Os03g08020). Primer design followed the same criteria as described and details are given in Table 1.
Quantitative RT-PCR conditions and analysis
PCR reactions were conducted in an ABI PRISM 7900 HT sequence detection system (Applied Biosystems). A 5 μl reaction containing 0.5 μl of cDNA (1.25 ng/μl), 200 nM of each gene-specific primer and 2.5 μl of SYBR Green master mix (Applied Biosystems Applera, Darmstadt, Germany), was used to monitor double-strand DNA synthesis. The qRT-PCR reactions were carried out following the recommended thermal profile: 50°C for 2 min, 95°C for 10 min, followed by 40 cycles of 95°C for 15 s and 60°C for 1 min. After 40 cycles, the specificity of the amplifications was tested by heating from 60°C to 95°C with a ramp speed of 1.9°C min-1, resulting in melting curves. Data analysis was performed using SDS 2.2.1 software (Applied Biosystems). All amplification curves were analysed with a normalized reporter (Rn: the ratio of the fluorescence emission intensity of SYBR Green to the fluorescence signal of the passive reference dye) threshold of 0.2 to obtain the CT values (threshold cycle). The reference control genes were measured with four replicates in each PCR run, and their average CT was used for relative expression analyses. TF expression data were normalized by subtracting the mean reference gene CT value from their CT value (ΔCT). The Fold Change value was calculated using the expression , where ΔΔCT represents ΔCTcondition of interest - ΔCT control. The obtained results were transformed to log2 scale.
Dilution experiments
Mixtures of root and shoot cDNA were prepared as described by Czechowski et al. [5] to give the ratios indicated in Figure 3. Primer pairs for two root-specific genes (Os03g55610, 5'-TACCCCACCCAACACCATCATCTG and 5'-TGAGAAGAAGGCAAAGGCAGTGAG; Os08g38220; 5'-GGGGTTTCCAACTACACCCGATGA and 5'-TCACCATATACCCCACGCGCAA) and one shoot-specific gene (Os12g38200, 5'-TGGTTTTCTCCTCGCTTCCAATCT and 5'-TGCTGCTGCATCTGAGTCCAATT) were used in qRT-PCR experiments.
Determination of reference gene expression stability
To analyse the expression stability of the selected reference genes, the geNORM v.3.4 software was used as described by Vandesompele et al. [28]. The measured CT values were transformed so the highest expression of each reference gene is equal to 1 and its expression in all other conditions is relative to this value (as suggested by the geNORM manual). The gene expression stability (M) was calculated and the most stable control genes were determined.
Competing interests
The author(s) declare that they have no competing interests.
Authors' contributions
CC performed the experimental work and drafted the manuscript. WRS helped to outline the project. BMR and SR designed and coordinated the project and wrote the manuscript. Overall supervision was provided by BMR.
This work was supported by a BMBF research grant (FKZ 0312854). Camila Caldana received a DAAD (Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst) scholarship (No. A/02/37115) and is a member of the International PhD Programme 'Integrative Plant Science' (IPP-IPS) funded by the DAAD (No. D/04/01336) and the DFG (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft). We are grateful to the following colleagues from the Max-Planck Institute of Molecular Plant Physiology (Potsdam, Germany): Prof. Dr. Mark Stitt for financial support of the primer resource; Dr. Tomasz Czechowski and Dr. Michael K. Udvardi for initial advice on establishing the platform; and Dr. Dirk Walther for help in statistical analyses. We are also very grateful to Dr. Matthew Hannah for improving our English. We thank Diego Mauricio Riaño Pachón (University of Potsdam, Germany) for assistance in initial bio-computational analyses. We thank Prof. Dr. Le Tran Binh from the Institute of Biotechnology (Hanoi, Vietnam) for providing rice seeds. Bernd Mueller-Roeber thanks the Fond der Chemischen Industrie for funding (No. 0164389).
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Sacred Heart University
NU 501 - Health Care Policy and Ethics
Policy Paper
Reducing and Preventing Drug Seeking Behavior in the Emergency Department
November 28, 2012
Problem identification
"Drug seeking" in the emergency department is a serious social and health problem in the United States today. Abuse and exploitation of controlled prescription medication is a significant and growing problem on a daily basis, especially for the emergency room staff. This is a difficult healthcare issue and the goal is to try to reduce potential damages while still addressing legitimate medical needs of these challenging patients. I would at first like to define several terms for the purposes of this paper. "Drug seeker" or "drug seeking (behavior)" are phrases commonly used in common medical lingo and have several definitions. According to a medical dictionary, " A drug seeker - a person who seeks narcotic agents from a physician or other licensed prescriber, either for personal use or to sell." (Drug seeker, 2012) Drug seeking patients often present with conditions that are difficult to evaluate and easily feigned, such as headache, back pain, and dental pain. In addition, I would like to define a phrase "controlled medication seeking" as: intentionally faking or amplifying a medical condition, using deception (example prescription tempering) to obtain a controlled medication. Controlled medications are classified as schedule (classification) I-IV by The Controlled Substances Act (CSA). "The CSA is the federal U.S. drug policy under which the manufacture, importation, possession, use and distribution of certain substances is regulated." (Controlled Substances Act, 2012) The foundation for the regulation is to attempt to prevent the danger of addiction, abuse, physical and mental harm, the illegal distribution of them, and the risks from actions of those who have used these substances. As healthcare providers we are...


text: iStock [ What's the Healthiest (And Unhealthiest) State in America? Where Did Washington Land? By Drew Weisholtz December 11, 2013 We've heard a lot about the need to improve our bodies in recent years, so if you really want to get into tip-top shape you may want to move to this state. Read More|Comment Category: Health & Fitness, News Tags: fitness, healthy state Send to a friend! Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Pin it! Reddit This! Share on Tumblr!


text:
1.1 Research Question
"Should Mrs. X invest in a Rubber plantation in the North East of Thailand?" This question was chosen as a friend of my family has recently been offered an investment opportunity in the North East of Thailand. Mrs. X has no knowledge of how to assess the project. The opportunity for investment is further complicated by a very long period before any returns are seen.
1.2 Theoretical Framework
Financial assessment tools including payback period, accounting rate of return and net present value. In addition cash flow will be examined over the life of the project which has been limited to a fixed period of 15 years.
1.3 Methodology
Firstly secondary research will be conducted into the market for rubber and substitute products. The primary research conducted will include an interview with the investor to discuss her financial situation and her feelings about investing in the rubber business and her knowledge of the market. Any financial data relating to the potential investment will be examined and the basis of any forecasts made will also be investigated.
1.4 Anticipated Difficulties
A number of difficulties may occur during this project. First I am uncertain about how much data the potential investor has and secondly it is difficult to make accurate predictions about projects with very long lives. It is also difficult to assess given the changing business environment however in order to combat this problem a conservative approach is used.
Decide on a validated title28
Complete Research Proposal6
Complete Introduction16
Complete Methodology20
Carry out primary and secondary research23-25
Complete Analysis and Discussion26
Complete Conclusion and Recommendations27-28
Complete Bibliography and Appendices29
Hand in first draft of coursework to supervisor31
Complete final draft of coursework12


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Issue 8.06 | June 2000
this article for free.
|Schlumberger (SLB)
|Oil-field services
|New York
|FY 99 sales
|$8.4 billion
|FY 99 profit
|$366.7 million
|Market cap
|$38.7 billion
How did an oil exploration company land a contract to build North America's first smartcard-enabled rail ticketing solution for Dallas Area Rapid Transit? The answer is information expertise, whether the task is tapping oil fields or tracking fares and destinations.
Schlumberger has been hauling computers into the desert and beaming data back to its client for decades, but the oil industry's cycles of boom and bust have driven the company to leverage its skills into other areas. The acquisition of Fairchild Semiconductor in 1979 brought strengths in microprocessor manufacture and testing, which have led to dominance in smartcards, the chip-on-a-card wonders that are fast approaching the computing horsepower of the average PC. Last year, the company introduced the first smartcard-based identity module for mcommerce, electronic passports, and other high-security functions.
But Schlumberger is ahead of the market, and meanwhile a worldwide surfeit of oil has stunted growth two years in a row. 1999 was especially difficult, with sales down 22 percent. Analysts expect the smartcard business to take off this year as the wireless Web fuels an explosion in mobile transactions - but today it accounts for less than 14 percent of Schlumberger's business. The company will have to market its innovations aggressively to complete the long transition from the old economy to the new.
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History of Cardiology at Mount Sinai
From its humble origins in 1852 as the Jews Hospital in lower Manhattan, The Mount Sinai Hospital was already a leader in patient care by the time it moved to its present Upper East Side location on Fifth Avenue adjacent to Central Park in 1904. A unique paring of an old and venerable hospital with one of the nation's youngest medical schools, Icahn School of Medicine founded in 1963, The Mount Sinai Health System is today one of the largest and most famous in the world. Its cardiology program is one of the oldest and most distinguished in the country.
Beginning in 1909, under the leadership of Dr. Alfred E. Cohn and then Dr. Bernard S. Oppenheimer, the Electrocardiography Laboratory at The Mount Sinai Hospital was a pioneering group in the field of Cardiology in this country. In 1934 Dr. Arthur M. Master was named head of the Cardiac Laboratory and the cardiac clinics. Dr. Charles Friedberg succeeded Dr. Master in 1957 and authored one of the first standard textbooks of cardiology, securing its place in the curricula of medical schools around the nation. Dr. Arnold Katz assumed the mantle of leadership of the Division of Cardiology in 1968 and introduced a scientific approach to the study of hemodynamics.
In 1974, Dr. Richard Gorlin, an internationally renowned cardiologist, became Chairman of the Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine, and appointed Dr Michael V. Herman as Chief of Cardiology, the first to develop a full-time cardiology faculty at the institution. In 1983, Dr. Valentin Fuster was recruited from the Mayo Clinic to serve as the Chief of Cardiology and the Dr. Arthur M. and Hilda A. Master Professor of Medicine. Dr. Fuster assembled a team of investigators and created an internationally renowned research program in thrombosis. In addition to establishing the first integrated experimental laboratories for cardiovascular research at Mount Sinai, Dr. Fuster reorganized the clinical practices of the division and made the cardiology fellowship training program among the most sought-after in the nation.
In 1990, the Molecular and Cellular Cardiology Laboratories were established, dedicated to investigating cardiovascular diseases through the techniques of molecular and cellular biology. Dr. Fuster returned to Mount Sinai in 1994 as Director of the newly created Cardiovascular Institute. In 1996 the Robert and Harriet Heilbrunn Professorship was endowed and established for the Institute's Director of Clinical Cardiology Services, and Dr. Jonathan L. Halperin was installed as its first occupant. In 1997, Dr. Fuster was named the Richard Gorlin, M.D. / Heart Research Foundation Professor of Cardiology, a newly endowed chair designated for the Director of the Institute. On November 4, 1997, the Cardiovascular Institute itself was endowed by and named for Zena and Michael A. Wiener, establishing a firm base for its future development.
|Around the time cardiology emerged as a medical subspecialty, Dr. Arthur Master, Mount Sinai's first Chief of Cardiology, develops the first exercise stress test, the "Master two-step test."
|Two leading cardiologists of the day, Drs. Ephraim Donoso and Simon Dack, help to establish the American College of Cardiology, today one of the largest and most respected professional organizations of physicians.
|Dr. Charles Friedberg, successor to Dr. Master, pioneers the use of direct current cardioversion for treatment of cardiac arrhythmias, and authors one of the first standard textbooks of cardiology, Diseases of the Heart.
|Dr. Dack becomes the first editor-in-chief of the American Journal of Cardiology and develops it over a period of twenty-five years into one of the world's most prestigious medical journals. In 1988, Dr. Dack repeats the achievement as the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
|Dr. Richard Gorlin, who opened the era of surgical treatment of rheumatic heart disease by developing a formula to measure how severely patients' heart valves were blocked while working in Boston, is appointed Chairman of Mount Sinai's Samuel Bronfman Department of Medicine.
|Dr. Louis E. Teichholz, who developed the formula still used to measure the pumping function of the left ventricle noninvasively, establishes the first echocardiography laboratory at Mount Sinai.
|Dr. J. Anthony Gomes is the first investigator to measure the effects of digitalis on the His-Purkinje electrical conducting system of the heart.
|Dr. K. Peter Rentrop opens the era of interventional angiography in the United States with intracoronary thrombolysis, using a clot-dissolving drug to open the coronary arteries of patients during a heart attack.
|Drs. James H. Chesebro and Valentin Fuster, then at the Mayo Clinic, follow five years of experimental studies with a clinical trial proving the value of aspirin to prevent coronary bypass grafts from closing. Rapidly adopted by cardiologists and surgeons the world over, the approach greatly improves the prognosis for patients undergoing this commonly performed operation.
|Drs. Juan Jose Badimon and Lina Badimon, working in Dr. Fuster's laboratory, carry out a series of painstaking experiments demonstrating the relationship between blood clots in arteries and the disturbances of blood flow leading to acute coronary syndromes such as unstable angina pectoris, myocardial infarction and sudden death.
|Dr. Martin E. Goldman is the first to utilize intra-operative transesophageal color-flow Doppler echocardiography to guide the hand of the cardiac surgeon in the operating room, allowing moment-to-moment decisions during heart valve repair and replacement.
|Dr. John A. Ambrose, then Director of the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories, discovers the relationship between complex angiographic lesion morphology and acute coronary events, dramatically altering the way patients are selected for angioplasty and bypass surgery.
|Dr. Gomes develops a noninvasive index of the risk of sudden death among heart attack survivors, based upon a combination of signal averaged electrocardiography, Holter monitoring and left ventricular function.
|Dr. Jonathan L. Halperin directs a multicenter team of cardiologists in the largest clinical trial of antithrombotic therapy for prevention of stroke in patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation, a common cardiac rhythm disturbance.
|Dr. Mark B. Taubman and colleagues identify the proteins responsible for thrombosis and inflammation in the blood vessel wall that contribute to the problem of restenosis following coronary angioplasty
|Receiving the Andreas Gruntzig Scientific Award of the European Society of Cardiology, the Distinguished Scientist Award of the American College of Cardiology, and Lewis A. Connor Memorial Award of the American Heart Association, Dr. Fuster becomes the first individual to earn cardiology's "triple crown" from the world's three major cardiological organizations.
|Dr. Jonathan I. Halperin led a major study that demonstrated the safety and efficacy of a new generation of anticoagulants in preventing stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. The new treatment, ximelagatran (ExantaR), is far less toxic than the traditional treatment, warfarin (CoumadinR), involves no interactions with other substances in the body, and obviates the need for frequent blood test monitoring and dosage adjustments.
|Leading an international collaboration of investigators, Dr. Fuster reports the results of the largest clinical trial of heart attack survivors beyond hospital discharge, defining the best approach to preventing a second heart attack, stroke or death using clot-preventing medications.
|Dr. Fuster is elected the next President of the American Heart Association.
|Endowment and naming of the Zena and Michael A. Wiener Cardiovascular Institute.
|Drs. Zahi A. Fayad, Valentin Fuster and colleagues report the results of a pilot study for the black-blood MRI, a non-invasive imaging technique that causes blood to appear dark while vessel walls appear bright, allowing cardiologists to identify thickening of the artery wall, an indication of otherwise undetectable vulnerable plaque. While still experimental, this new tool already has been heralded as a breakthrough with the potential to pinpoint silent killers.
|The work of a number of Mount Sinai investigators, including Drs. Michael Poon, Juan J. Badimon and Valentin Fuster, results in the development of a Rapamycin-coated stent, a breakthrough in the prevention of restenosis following cardiac catheterization.


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The University of Cambridge
News about The University of Cambridge, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
Chronology of Coverage
Apr. 12, 2015
Men's and women's rowing crews from Oxford and Cambridge race on same course and day for first time. MORE
Aug. 2, 2014
Works of Siegfried Sassoon, World War I soldier considered by some to be the most innocent of Britain's war poets, have been made available online by Cambridge University Library Project; archive showcases 4,100 handwritten pages from Sassoon's notebooks, written near battlefields in northern France. MORE
Mar. 27, 2014
Oxford and Cambridge women's boating teams, which historically have raced on a different day and stretch of the Thames from the men, will face off this spring for the last time on this course; starting in 2015, women will race shortly before men on championship course on the Tideway. MORE
Apr. 9, 2012
Memo from London; annual Oxford-Cambridge boat race along a historic stretch of the Thames in London is disrupted after protester swims directly in the path of two boats to protest elitism of the event; incident revives old national debate over issues of class privilege. MORE
Mar. 17, 2012
Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams announces that he will resign at the end of 2012; he will accept position as master of Magdalene College, Cambridge, returning to academic life that he left on his first appointment as bishop more than 20 years ago. MORE
Mar. 7, 2012
Cambridge Union Women's Campaign, upset that Dominique Strauss-Kahn will speak at Cambridge University, invites Douglas Wigdor, the lawyer for the New York hotel maid who accused Strauss-Kahn of sexual assault, to speak the same day. MORE
Oct. 17, 2011
Britain's billionaire supermarket chain mogul David Sainsbury wins lively election to fill largely ceremonial chancellorship of Cambridge University. MORE
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John Horton Conway, the Genius at Play
Try the famous Look-and-Say puzzle by John Horton Conway, the subject of the new biography "Genius at Play" by Siobhan Roberts.
August 3, 2015, Monday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Conway, John Horton (1937- ) , Diaconis, Persi , Gardner, Martin (1914-2010) , Gawande, Atul , Cambridge University , Princeton University , Queens College, City University of New York , Royal Society , Books and Literature , Mathematics , Puzzles , Writing and Writers
How Ants Keep Clean and Safe
For many insects, cleanliness means survival. Dirty antennas don't pick up scents, and that's how ants, in particular, navigate and communicate.
July 27, 2015, Monday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Ants , University of Warwick , Cambridge University , Research , Hackmann, Alexander , Royal Society Open Science (Journal)
Schneider Electric to Take Majority Stake in Aveva
Aveva would receive Schneider Electric's industrial software business and cash for a 53.5 percent stake in the British engineering company.
July 21, 2015, Tuesday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Mergers, Acquisitions and Divestitures , Engineering and Engineers , Schneider Electric SA , Cambridge University , Great Britain
Legs Give Moths a Flying Start
Another insect that shows that the mechanics of its limbs is more important than messages from the brain when it comes to quick movement.
April 28, 2015, Tuesday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Butterflies and Moths , Brain , Biology and Biochemistry , Journal of Experimental Biology , Burrows, Malcolm , Cambridge University , Research
Rowing Crews Break Gender Barrier in England
The gender barrier in one of England's oldest sporting events was broken Saturday when the men's and women's rowing crews from Oxford and Cambridge raced over the same course on the same day for the first time.
April 12, 2015, Sunday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Rowing , Colleges and Universities , Gender , River Thames (England) , Cambridge University , Oxford University
Extra Sleep Linked With Stroke Risk
Sleeping more than 8 hours may be an early sign of stroke risk, a new study shows.
March 2, 2015, Monday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Neurology (Journal) , Sleep , Stroke , Cambridge University
Putin's Power, and Cold Feet
Karen Dawisha's longtime British publisher will not publish her latest, "Putin's Kleptocracy."
November 30, 2014, Sunday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Books and Literature , Dawisha, Karen , Cambridge University Press , Libel and Slander , Putin, Vladimir V , Russia , Great Britain , Putin's Kleptocracy: Who Owns Russia? (Book)
More Transparency, More Pay for C.E.O.s
As compensation consultants have become more popular in determining pay, chief executives' paychecks have actually grown.
November 10, 2014, Monday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Cambridge University , Buffett, Warren E , Boards of Directors , Consultants , Executive Compensation
Ignited by Martin Gardner, Ian Stewart Continues to Illuminate
Celebrate Martin Gardner, the famous puzzler, with best-selling author Ian Stewart and artist Lucian McLellan.
October 27, 2014, Monday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Gardner, Martin (1914-2010) , Stewart, Ian , Cambridge University , Scientific American , Mathematics , Puzzles , Writing and Writers
A Soldier Poet, Baring His Soul
Cambridge University has digitized 4,100 handwritten pages of notes by the British wartime poet Siegfried Sassoon and has made them available free online.
August 2, 2014, Saturday
MORE ON CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY AND: Colleges and Universities , Sassoon, Siegfried , World War I (1914-18) , Archives and Records , Cambridge University , Poetry and Poets , Egremont, Max
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Paramus Little League: Welcome
Congratulations to the 2015 Major League Champions
Tampa Rays
& Runner up Athletics
Congratulations to the 2015 Minor League Champions
Tampa Rays
& Runner up Dodgers
2015 Home Run Contest Winner is
Brendan O.
Runner-up Anthony M.
Great job by all players who participated
The next PJBL General Meeting will be Wednesday, September 9th @ 8:00 pm at the Petruska Park Field House. All managers & coaches are encouage to attend.
The next Executive Board Meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 28th, @ 800pm at the Al Daeschler Field House.
Tuesday, March 5
Volunteer Forms must be filled out by all coaches:
Any individual who intends to coach or manage this year must completely fill out a 2015 Volunteer Form and forward it to firstname.lastname@example.com in order to be on the field or in the dugout. The form requires a signature and must also have a scoial security number so a complete background check can be done. All first time coaches must also submit a photo ID (Driver's License) and a copy of their R.U.T.G.E.R.S. Safety Card. There is a class schedule and information on the R.U.T.G.E.R.S. Safety Course in the "Handout/Forms" Section. Every volunteer in PJBL must have a background conducted before they are permitted to be on the field. Anyone who does not complete the necessasy paperwork will not be permitted on the field and will be suspended until further notice if they are caught on the field. There will be no exceptions. Please complete all items and submit them to one of the below:
All returning coaches who were certified in 2014 must use Form "Returning Volunteer"
All new coaches must use form "New Volunteer"
Email forms to firstname.lastname@example.com
or bring to a General League meeting. (Check calendar section for dates)
Once the volunteer is cleared to be on the field their name will be put on the web site under the tab "Certified Volunteers". The forms are in the "Handout Section".
If you wish to be included on our PJBL e-mail mailing list and receive periodic information as to PJBL news and activities please send an e-mail to
requesting to be added to the e-mail list. The e-mail list is used solely for communicating PJBL information and is not otherwise distributed. It is the most cost efficient and the most effective way of being kept informed of all of our league activities. So send an e-mail to join!
The Paramus Spartans travel committee has posted their travel guidlelines for parents in the handout section. The document outlines the program, expectations and responsibilities of all involved.
You can access the file by going to the "Handouts" section or simply click the link below.
Should you have any questions, please email mailto:email@example.com
Handout: 2014 Paramus Spartans Travel Guidelines for Parents
Sunday, February 20
Please follow the link below to see which bats are approved for Little League play this year. Keep checking back often as they add bats weekly to their list.
Approved Composite Bats:
All other approved bats:
If you have a question you can reach us by any method below:
E-MAIL (Preferable): email@example.com
or you can leave a message on our league telephone (201) 444-6788
By Mail
PO Box 231
Paramus, NJ 07652


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4 Ways To Research An Employer
It's standard practice for an organization to conduct a background check on potential employees. Employee screens allow employers to ensure that everything they have been told by the candidate is correct, and will give them peace of mind that they are not hiring someone with a checkered past. Job seekers aren't the only ones who should undergo a lengthy background check; candidates should also do their own research on the employer.
The only way you are going to know whether an organization is right for you is to research its history. You should start by looking for the following four pieces of information, which are readily available on the Internet:
- Finances: Is the organization you are looking to join in good financial shape? Most nonprofits are required to make their Internal Revenue Service Form 990s available online, which provide details on annual revenue and other financial information. Reviewing a Form 990 can give you a good idea if the organization is thriving or struggling.
- Organizational Culture: Is the organization making headlines for good reasons or have there been a lot of stories that allege questionable ethics? It goes without saying that you don't want to work somewhere that has a shoddy ethics record, so make sure to do thorough research.
- Problem-Solving Record: Look for news stories to find out what has been the organization's biggest challenge in the past year, and see what they did to solve it. Alternatively, you can simply ask the hiring manager should you get called in for a job interview.
- Layoffs: It's impossible to say for sure that you won't be let go at some point, but it's a red flag if the organization has recently been laying workers off at high rates. Looking into the turnover rate is also a good idea, as this can be a good indicator of the quality of the workplace.


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Cranberry Orange Relish
- 1 navel orange
- 1 (12-oz) bag fresh cranberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Finely grate 2 teaspoons zest from orange. Cut away and discard peel and pith from orange, then cut sections free from membranes.
Pulse cranberries with zest, orange sections, sugar, and cinnamon in a food processor until finely chopped. Chill, covered, at least 2 hours to allow flavors to develop.
Cooks' note: Relish can be chilled up to 3 days.
Epicurious.com © Condé Nast Digital, Inc. All rights reserved.


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Moving and Storage in Dayton, Ohio
Mayberry's Van & Storage coordinates moves for businesses, families and corporate employees originating anywhere in the world. We have offices and warehouse facilities located in Dayton, Ohio.
Because we're an agent for North American Van Lines, you know you can trust us with moving your most valued possessions. We have the personnel, experience, equipment, and communications technology to meet and exceed your relocation needs and expectations to be the best Dayton mover.


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Losing Sleep Over Financial Problems That Seem Unsolvable? Bankruptcy or Tax Problem Relief May Be the Solution to a Fresh Start!
Debt problems can lead to overwhelming feelings of worry and stress. Many people with significant debt problems feel as though they lack any options to change their situation. Regardless of the cause of your distress, you deserve the chance to start over.
The Law Offices of Sandra Kresch is a Maryland law firm specializing in bankruptcy, loan modifications, tax problem relief and tax controversy issues. Attorney Sandra Kresch is dedicated to providing options for people experiencing financial trouble in these areas. She protects clients' rights and reviews all avenues for relief to determine the best process forward. She helps clients take steps toward achieving financial freedom and getting on track toward a better financial future.
With offices in Greenbelt and Rockville, she represents clients in suburban Maryland and throughout Montgomery, Prince George's and Frederick counties.
Bankruptcy Services
Sandra Kresch represents individuals in all phases of Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 bankruptcy proceedings. She guides her clients through each step, from the initial consultation and creating a sound strategy to gathering information, preparing the petition, completing the plan (for Chapter 13) and getting a discharge.
- Chapter 7 bankruptcy can give you a fresh start by freeing you from the excessive debt of credit cards, utility bills, homeowners association fees and medical bills. Most personal property is exempt and after the process is complete, most debts are discharged.
- Chapter 13 bankruptcy comes with many advantages, including consolidating certain debts into one payment, catching up on mortgage arrears and discharging many remaining debts after completion of the plan. Chapter 13 may also stop a foreclosure sale from taking place.
As part of her comprehensive bankruptcy practice, Sandra Kresch advises clients on all bankruptcy issues, including dischargeability of debts, the automatic stay, deficiency judgments for vehicles and homes, loan modifications, debt negotiation and all tax-related issues and controversies. She explains how filing for bankruptcy stops creditor harassment, including garnishments, repossessions, foreclosures and more. Armed with information and a strong advocate, you can free yourself from debt.
Tax Help Involving the IRS and Comptroller of Maryland
Attorney Sandra Kresch also counsels clients who face serious tax problems. Her extensive knowledge of tax law enables her to resolve all types of tax controversies.
Unfortunately, the IRS and Comptroller of Maryland will not go away if you ignore them. They are relentless. They can and will take drastic measures to reclaim the money they believe you owe.
Therefore, you must attack your tax problems head-on. If your situation involves unpaid taxes, un-filed returns, payroll taxes, garnishments, levies or innocent spouse issues, Sandra Kresch can help. You may need to first file past tax returns or amended returns. Then, depending on the circumstances, Ms. Kresch can negotiate a reduction of taxes owed, an installment agreement or reductions or waivers of penalties and fees. The goal is finding the best course of action and eliminating the tax debt.
Free Phone Consultations · Chapter 7 Bankruptcy Attorney Serving Prince George's County and Nearby Areas
The firm is dedicated to helping clients put their lives back together. Learn how to get a fresh start: call 301-200-0864 or 800-847-4603 or use the online contact form.
Ms. Sandra Kresch meets her clients by appointment only, at her Rockville or Greenbelt office, or at a mutually agreed upon location. She is available to meet weekdays, evenings and some weekends. Cash, check and money orders are accepted.
The firm is a debt relief agency that helps people file for bankruptcy relief under the Bankruptcy Code.


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The 2013 AACP Institute will be held at The National Conference Center in Leesburg, Virginia, just 12 miles from Washington Dulles International Airport and 45 minutes from Washington, DC. The hotel address is 18980 Upper Belmont Place, Leesburg, VA 20176.
Guest Amenities:
Please do not book your own hotel reservations; AACP will make all the hotel reservations for you and your team members. Hotel confirmation numbers will be e-mailed to each member of your team in early May.
Included in your meeting registration are hotel accommodations for up to three nights during the meeting, onsite breakfasts, lunches, dinners and refreshment breaks. For more information about what is included in your meeting registration, please visit the FAQ page of the Institute Web site.
If you have any questions about The National Conference Center amenities and features, please do not hesitate to contact the hotel concierge at 703-729-8000.
The National Conference Center offers a shuttle to and from Washington Dulles International Airport for a fee of $20 each way. Guests must call at least three days prior to their arrival to book this service based on their arrival and departure times. A taxi from Washington Dulles International Airport costs approximately $35.
Complimentary self-parking is available for guests who are driving to the Institute or renting cars from the airport.
Other transportation options can be found at the Washington Dulles International Airport Web site.
Last updated on: 2/20/2013 10:22 AM


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We should have just picked our own damn cotton, would've saved us alot of trouble.
Let's just hope that it this whole thing turns out better, and that Sean Bell really was the vic here. (I personally can see it going either way, based on what I "know" about this. He may have been a "bad guy", or he may not have been. He may have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time with the wrong people. One thing I do know is that the real victim here is the little girl who will grow up without a father.)
"Wow, way to stay neutral, I-A-B."
Oh, shut up. Him and the other "Reverend", Jackson, consistently look for any occasion to spread fear and hate across the nation whenever someone who is black gets messed with by someone who is white, even if it isn't true. They don't care about the crime, just the 15 minutes of fame and $$$$$$$$$.
"What a joke. He says that his job is to stop racism, yet all of his work and rallies are fueled by Racist people."
"Most black guys hate this guy and jesse jackson."
"50+ shots may have been a bit excessive,"
...MMMAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYY?! Although I have to admit, if someone was trying to kill me, I'd probably make sure they got a closed-casket funeral for it.
It's a never-ending cycle. No matter how many gains are made for equality, who is the first to pull the racist card?
I almost wish Obama would get elected. Then we could tell them all to shut up about equality. It doesn't get more equal than a black President.
(Not that I advocate White Supremacy either. Those guys are nuts.)
They are doing what they should do, appeal the decision to a higher court.
But Al Sharpton. Man, someone go back in time and tell the guy that shot MLK he's got the wrong target. Things would be so much better if King was still around. At least you'd have someone on the national scene who made sence and wasn't a total nutjob.
Also, The right to protest, actually drating IS one the the fundamentals of free speech. Where the hell are you people who have stood up for everyone else?
You've stood up for porn, racism, etc. Some of you even going on about "Nazis should be allowed to march through Jewish neighbourhoods", you've defended "NAMBLA" ffs, and where the hell are you now?
Nowhere to be drating seen. Maybe Al should be on a protest about Christian Cops, that'd probably get you all on his side and whining about freedom of speech.
If you want to say something about it, say it after the lead in. The only reason to do otherwise is if you know you can't argue for it worth a damn.
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My front porch view of last night's thunderstorms wasn't nearly as great as this.
Thing of the Week
Last Night's Lightning
2 years ago
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