text:
Samuel Cowan
b.c.1816 Wythe, Virginia
Family tree▼
Facts and Events
Ancestry has a number of family trees for the line of Samuel Thomas Cowan b. 1816 in Wythe. These include the following vita (Obvious duplicate tree's deleted). Data extracted 4 October 2013.
Samuel Cowan married in Wythe on May 9, 1839 to Margaret Maria Halsey daughter of Stephen Halsey. Margaret is listed in her father's will as Margaret Maria Cowan.
Samuel was born in Wytheville in 1816 or 1817. A James Cowan is present in early census records for Wythe County, and may be his father. Wythe County marriage records for
Lucinda and Rebecca may be Samuel T's sisters.
James Cowan, from Wythe County, was born about 1781 and died just prior to 1850 in Washington County, Virginia. John M. Cowan in Wythe County, 1810 may be his father.
James and wife, Margaret buried in the Hagy Cemetery north of Abingdon . He was in Wythe County 1810, 1820 and 1830; census Washington County 1840; and widow was in Washington County, 1850).
Males: 1 (born between 1800-1810),
Son Isaac Cowan born about 1827 married Elizabeth Carroll. Possible son Andrew Jackson Cowan moved to Claiborne County, TN. Possible son Samuel T.
Sarah Cowan (b. 1824) married Daniel Brooks; Nancy (b. 1825); Margaret Helen Cowan (b. 1832) married Granville Forkner; Mary J. Cowan (b. 1836).
On September 2, 1818, Jno [John] and Sally Hounshell sold 200 acres of land to James Cowan and Joshua Hammonds for $350. The land was located on the North Fork of the Holston River in Rich Valley and cornered to Jacob Spangler. (Book 7, p. 242).
On February 10, 1820, James Cowan and wife Peggy conveyed their interest in the above named tract to Joshua Hammonds. Both of them signed the deed and both were of Wythe County (Book 8, p. 2). Both signed their names.
On March 21, 1829, James Cowan was indebted to William Hounshell for $20. He placed a deed of trust on "one bay mare colt two years old this spring." Hugh Spence held the mortgage. [If it was paid on time, he kept the mare, otherwise it was to be sold]. Witnesses were Denison Baldwin and Adam McKee, Jr. [Spence, Baldwin and McKee were merchants in Evansham [now called Wytheville]. Book 11, p. 89).
On June 12, 1829, James Cowan owed Adam McKee $8.25. Denison Baldwin held the mortgage. Cowan secured the note by putting a deed of trust (mortgage) on "a dark bay mare, 6 months old this spring." If it was paid he kept the mare, if not it was to be sold to pay the debt. (Book 11, p. 220.
MARRIAGES: Marriage of Samuel Cowan to Margaret, daughter of Stephen Halsey, May 9, 1839. The bond, dated two days earlier gives her father's name (Marriage Book 1, p. 133).
James Cowan's marriage bond dated August 28, 1806, was for his marriage to Nancy daughter of William Hays. Archibald Haslerig and Jacob Hays were securities on the bond. (page 34)
Farney Jones and Rebecca Cowan, Feb. 22, 1831, and Meradith Hurt and Lucinda March 22, 1833 (pp. 102 and 109).
Samuel Cowan, died March __, 1866. Age 50 of dropsy, Place of birth and death Wythe County. He was a farmer. Dr. Gleaves gave the information.
_____ [unnamed] Cowan died March __, 1866, male, age unknown, of inflammation of the brain, born and died in Wythe County. Parents Sam Cowan and wife. Informant S.G. Gleaves, physician.
_____ [unnamed] Cowan, died March 1866, male, age unknown. Parents Sam Cowan and wife, Dr. Gleaves informant.
These three deaths appear on


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88-year-old still in love with words
By K P Vishnuprasad | ENS | Published: 01st October 2013 01:04 PM |
Last Updated: 01st October 2013 01:05 PM | A+A A- |
His 88-year-old hands and mind are firm and sharp when he is indulging in his passion. For Antony Elevumkudy, the vicar of St Mary's Forane Church, Tripunithura, writing rejuvenates him. Taking inspiration from his eventful career as a priest and knowledge acquired through wide reading, he has so far written 72 books. The senior most priest in Ernakulam archdiocese is now working on his next book. Though he does not want to reveal the suspense in it, he says the book would give an insight into the values of life.
Born in a village in Perumbavoor to Devassy Elevumkudy and Mariam Sankoorickal, he was ordained priest in 1955. That was the time when he took his pen more seriously. His first book, Kannukal Thurakkuvin, a Malayalam translation of Light Your Lamps by Fulton J Sheen, the American archbishop of the Roman Catholic Church, was well received.
"The thoughts of the famous writer inspired me and I decided to pass on his ideals to all. So I translated the book into Malayalam," he said.
"I took the advice of John Kunnapilli, my professor at St Joseph Seminary, Aluva, which helped me in a great way to hone my skills. He extended his support for my first venture. He taught me to keep the language simple and reminded me that the success of a writer depends on how fast a reader can grasp the idea from the writer's diction. I have always taken note of all the invaluable tips and believe that they are reflected in my works." he elaborates.
He adds that the translation gave him command over the language. "Though my first copy had to be edited by my professor, the rest were fully done by me," he said.
He had written several books in both Malayalam and English. But readers picked up Sanmargasastram Prasangavedhiyil as their favourite which is about his thoughts and knowledge gained from experiences in life.
"I had to deliver speeches on various subjects both inside and outside the churches. To make the speeches perfect, I had also gone through a lot of books. After I presented each speech at various ceremonies, I obtained mastery in the particular subject. This knowledge inspired me to write the book which my readers term as my masterpiece."
He also suggests that the youngsters have to read a lot to be inspired to write books. "People of my generation used to read and reread the same books, but the younger generation hardly bothers to leaf through the old books after they pass out from school or college. This attitude should change. Whatever one studies should be revised periodically to achieve mastery on the subject so as to be inspired to write," he said.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Interview with AMD's Fred Weber - The Future of AMD Microprocessorsby Anand Lal Shimpi on March 31, 2005 12:00 AM EST
- Posted in
- CPUs
Weber's Thoughts on CellEver since its official introduction, we've been going around asking everyone we ran into about their thoughts on IBM/Sony/Toshiba's Cell microprocessor, and Fred Weber was no different. Surprisingly enough, Weber's response to the Cell question was quite similar to Justin Rattner's take on Cell. Weber saw two problems with Cell:
As we concluded in our Cell investigation, the approach to microprocessor design of having one general purpose core surrounded by several smaller cores is not one that is unique to Cell. Intel has now publicly stated that this heterogeneous multi-core approach is, at a high level, something that they will be pursuing in the next decade. The problem is that to be produced on a 90nm process, the individual cores that make up Cell has to be significantly reduced in complexity, which Weber saw as an unreasonable sacrifice at the current stage.
- Cell is too far ahead of its time in terms of manufacturing, and
- Cell is a bit too heterogeneous in its programming model, referring to Cell's approach as both asymmetric and heterogeneous (we'll explain this in a bit).
The next problem that Weber touched on was the Cell approach to a heterogeneous multi-core microprocessor. To Fred Weber, a heterogeneous multi-core microprocessor is one that has a collection of cores, each one of which can execute the same code, but some can do so better than others - the decision of which to use being determined by the compiler. Weber referred to his version of heterogeneous multi-core as symmetric in this sense. Cell does not have this symmetric luxury; instead, all of their cores are not equally capable and thus, in Weber's opinion, Cell requires that the software needs to know too much about its architecture to perform well. The move to a more general purpose, symmetric yet heterogeneous array of cores would require that each core on Cell must get bigger and more complex, which directly relates back to Weber (and our) first problem with Cell that it is too far ahead of its time from a manufacturing standpoint.
35 Comments
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bersl2 - Thursday, March 31, 2005 - link#1: Thank you for the paralepsis. Reply
Googer - Thursday, March 31, 2005 - linkI have set up the OFFICIAL SOVIET RUSSIA thread in the forums section, so we can keep this garbage out of the news section.
Let the bad humor fly here:
oupei - Thursday, March 31, 2005 - linkshould be:
"it's clear that sacrificing hardware complexity isn't a sacrifice that EITHER amd OR intel are (IS?) willing make"
"it's clear that sacrificing hardware complexity IS a sacrifice that neither amd nor intel are (IS?) willing make"
or how about just writing a sentence that is easier to understand... Reply
ksherman - Thursday, March 31, 2005 - link"It's clear that sacrificing hardware complexity isn't a sacrifice that neither AMD nor Intel are willing to make..."
Or not so clear... what exactly does this mean? Reply
Bonesdad - Thursday, March 31, 2005 - linkI was going to say "first post" but i won't Reply


text:
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- U.S. stock index futures were rallying Thursday after the European Central Bank fulfilled the market's hope for further economic stimulus measures.
ECB President Mario Draghi announced on Thursday that the bank would launch an asset-backed securities purchase program to help boost liquidity in the financial markets and stimulate lending. His statement came after the ECB cuts its benchmark interest rate to 0.05% from 0.15% and deposit rate to -0.2% from -0.1%. Draghi had fueled hopes last month of more action to combat deflationary risks in the slowing eurozone economy during a speech in Jackson Hole, Wyo.
Dow Jones Industrial Average
The Bank of Japan decided after its two-day meeting to maintain its massive monetary stimulus program. The Bank of England kept its main interest rate at a record low of 0.5% and the size of its stimulus program unchanged at 375 billion pounds ($617 billion).
The ADP private payroll employment report for August said 204,000 jobs were added last month vs. the expectation of 220,000. That's down from July's 212,000 rise, but still suggests strong job growth, according to economists. The Labor Department said U.S. weekly initial jobless claims rose 4,000 to 302,000 last week vs. the average estimate of 300,000. While the four-week moving average increased by 3,000 to 302,750, claim levels stayed low.


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The exact origins of the Aiki Jo remain somewhat of a mystery. Some have found traces of Morihei Ueshiba's jo movements in the "juken" or rifle with bayonet he practiced as a young soldier. Others point to the influence in the Aiki Jo of the "yari" or spear that he studied with intensity during the Ayabe period. It might also be noted that the Founder was exposed to many classical systems due to his wide network of associations in martial arts circles. Whatever the sources of his jo may be, by the 1950s in Iwama Morihei had elaborated a rather extensive array of jo exercises and katas that enhanced his empty-handed forms, and his ability to adopt the perfect stance, distancing, thrusting and striking skills when executing aikido. Click here to view Morihiro Saito's video on the Aiki Jo
Click here to view Morihiro Saito's video on the Aiki Jo


text:
The recording of holographic reflection gratings with a spatial frequency higher than in photopolymerizable solgel materials is experimentally demonstrated. Diffraction efficiencies near 60% and a FWHM of centered at are achieved. Moreover, the effect of the energetic exposure is characterized at different recording intensities.
© 2006 Optical Society of AmericaFull Article | PDF Article


text:
On Jan 31, 2008 5:29 PM, Tom Lane <tgl(at)sss(dot)pgh(dot)pa(dot)us> wrote: > "Christopher Browne" <cbbrowne(at)gmail(dot)com> writes: > > Attached is a patch. > > > I have changed the discussion to focus on the buildfarm process, and > > it should be recognized that this does change the "shape" of how this > > section recognizes platforms as being "supported." > > This is exactly *not* what I wanted to do, as it removes all traces > of knowledge about which platforms are likely to work (or not work) > despite not being represented in the current buildfarm. It also > seems a bit silly to copy-and-paste today's buildfarm roster into > static documentation. > > I think citing the buildfarm as the latest authority, and encouraging > people to join it, is a fine thing. But a mass delete of older info > doesn't seem appropriate IMHO. Fair enough. I took the "most extreme" position, and explained as such, to ensure that that sort of issue wouldn't be missed :-). I'll see about adding a secondary table (possibly simply merged with the "supported in the past" one) which lists those platforms that seem underrepresented. I disagree on the matter of it being silly to include a temporal roster in static documentation. If we *DO* intend to have some sort of "list of supported platforms," it is, by necessity, a temporal list, whatever our data source may be. I see no problem in "mining" temporal information from the buildfarm at release time - the list of active animals generally represents nodes that have been actively testing PostgreSQL during the release cycle, which is NOT an irrelevant correlation. Those nodes have absolutely influenced how bugs and incompatibilities have been discovered and "stomped" throughout the cycle. I have some other writing to do today (some bid/proposal rework that tends to sap the will to live), so I'll have to pick this back up tomorrow. I'll be happy to look at any further suggestions that come in as input for the next "patch proposal." (Contrast: I won't be thinking much about the merits or demerits of Slackware tonight... :-) ) -- http://linuxfinances.info/info/linuxdistributions.html "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." -- assortedly attributed to Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Rita Mae Brown, and Rudyard Kipling
Next: From: Tom Lane Date: 2008-01-31 20:33:02 Subject: Re: Supported platforms list Previous: From: Dave Page Date: 2008-01-31 19:16:18 Subject: Re: Supported platforms list


text: The Bill Snyder Radio Show debuts at 7 tonight live on 32 stations across the K-State Sports Network, including KQTP (102.9) and KTOP (1490) in Topeka. Hosted by Wyatt Thompson, the voice of the Wildcats, the show will air weekly and fans are invited to call 1-866-577-8228 to ask questions of coach Snyder. K-State opens the season against Massachusetts at 6:10 p.m. Saturday in Manhattan.


text:
Superstorm Sandy painted a grim picture for Atlantic Coast residents as it pushed storm surge into places that have never seen saltwater, killing at least 132 people and causing an estimated $25 billion in losses to commercial and homeowners insurance, second only to Hurricane Katrina.
But the storm's unusual area of impact proved particularly costly to an industry rarely associated with Red Cross shelters and soup lines: the tony New York art scene.
Insurance Journal reports that fine art insurers face their largest single payout ever, a whopping $500 million, as the result of art gallery flooding in the Chelsea district of Manhattan and storm-damaged art warehouses across the Hudson River in New Jersey.
Hardest hit was a collection of work by 1960s psychedelic graphic artist and illustrator Peter Max that could cost art insurance firm Catlin some $300 million, according to an industry source. Catlin declined to comment, but Axa, the world's largest insurer of fine art, said it expects to pay out $40 million to its clients.
Sandy's art losses far exceed previous record payouts, including a $40 million loss when Las Vegas casino owner Steve Wynn accidentally put his elbow through one of his Picassos in 2006, and a $33 million loss from a 2004 warehouse fire in east London that destroyed works by British artists Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst.
"This will be the largest single art loss to the market," according to Filippo Guerrini-Maraldi, head of fine art at insurance broker RK Harrison.
Art insurers have long been uneasy that art warehouses were storing too much valuable artwork in one location, leaving insurers vulnerable to the type of devastating claims that result from fire, floods and named storms.
The fact that Sandy didn't even rate a Category 1 hurricane designation only increases their anxiety. One source told Insurance Journal that rates to insure artwork could spike by as much as 25 percent and some underwriters may refuse to insure high-ticket art in low-lying areas such as Chelsea.
"Some underwriters will lose appetite for writing fine art business after Sandy, the global capacity for fine art business will shrink, and as a result rates will go up," Guerrini-Maraldi predicts.
Further consolidation in a market that is already both fiercely competitive and increasingly reticent to roll the dice on Renoirs and Monets suggests that future art insurance rates won't be a pretty picture.
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text:
Press release
from West Asheville Watch
Residents, Property Owners, Stakeholders of neighborhood streets around Malvern Hills. EVERYONE invited and encouraged to come!
WHO's Invited: Residents, property owners and stakeholders of neighborhood streets in the area around Malvern Hills Park
WHAT: A meeting with representatives of City of Asheville Transportation, Police, and Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Departments to share the results of traffic studies and review potential alternatives to address traffic concerns for this area
WHEN: Wednesday January 16, 2013 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM
WHERE: Vance Elementary School at 98 Sulphur Springs Road
Please join residents, property owners, and other stakeholders from your area and representatives from the City of Asheville Transportation, Police and Parks, Recreation and Cultural Arts Department to learn about traffic study results and strategies identified


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Pathway Description |Top 10 Tips | Fast Facts | Standards Alignment | Sample Action Plan | Water Audit | Lesson Links
Water Pathway
Introduce your K-4 students to Earth Systems Science using the weather, hydrology, phenology, and soils modules.
For examples of other activities, check out these suggested actions from the Texas Green Ribbon Schools that align with our pathways. Activities under the Texas Green Ribbon program can be used for meeting many of the Eco-Schools USA seven step requirements!


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The Oregon Ducks are continuing to scour the nation for talent. Four star quarterback Jordan Reed (6'3", 230, 4.6) of New London High school in New London, Connecticut is one of the most recent Du...
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Getting into the Spirit
December 3, 2012
Hello Monday! I'm off to work at the shop today but thought I'd share a few Instagram pics of our weekend. The rain poured down but held off long enough for us to make a beeline to our favourite tree farm yesterday, hooray! We overestimated the size of our living room and chose the biggest tree ever, whoops! I had to get a little creative with our furniture layout this time 'round but I'm really happy with how it all turned out. And the fresh cut fir smells so amazing when we walk into the house…nothing compares! Here's a little peek from some shots I snapped along the way…
Tags made at Spruce Collective
Hope that your weekend was as festive as ours was! Have a great start to your week :)
6 comments
- 1 Sara @ LiteraryLima { 12.03.12 at 7:49 am }
The tree farm looks like so much fun, and your vintage decor pieces all work together so beautifully! Do you carry that white and gold fox/wolf at your store by chance? :)
Sara @ LiteraryLima recently posted..Great Ideas for DIY Holiday Decor
- 3 Tracey { 12.03.12 at 6:06 pm }
I'm thinking that your house is the best pine smelling home on the block! Can't wait to see magnitude of your tree.
Tracey recently posted..Really good weekend.
- 4 Heather { 12.03.12 at 8:18 pm }
sounds very much like our weekend. Tree farms and decorating.
Heather recently posted..Creepy Christmas Contest…
- 5 Nicole Scott { 12.04.12 at 8:22 am }
I envision the national lampoons scene where it busts through the windows:) I love Christmas.
Nicole Scott recently posted..Pop Up Shop – Industrial Treasures
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Suffolk FA has been over whelmed with the response from everyone involved within Grassroots Football in Suffolk and recognise that everyone who wanted to attend were not able to attend we are postponing the forums to later in the year.
Very many thanks for your interest in attending the Area Forums. In fact we've received a tremendous amount of interest from people from across the football family in developing the service we provide but we now recognise that the Area Forums will not meet the expectations of those wishing to contribute.
We have therefore decided to postpone these events and look to create different opportunities; most probably in the summer close season months in order for everyone who wants to attend to come along.
Even-so, if you would be interested in contributing to the development of future events, or have ideas that you'd like to communicate at this time Laura Smith, Chief Executive is happy to come along to a club meeting for a chat or please do email us at email@example.com.


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I?ve never been one for sticking to a certain variety of shampoo even though I have sensitive skin that can sometimes react very badly to new products. Over the years I have found a few products that are kind to my skin and give my hair a pleasant smell and texture, although I can honestly say nothing has ever wowed me completely and made me want to sing from the rooftops and extol its virtues as much as the shampoo I?m reviewing today. I have read about some fabulous hair products yet it always makes me angry that the majority of the really wonderful products can cost anything from £5 to £8. Having two children living at home and another son to support, I could not possibly justify spending this amount of money on a shampoo so have always resigned myself to a life of using normal shampoos from the supermarket shelves. However Lady Luck shone on me recently and I have received a bumper package of ghd hair care products without having to pay a penny. Ghd have long been known for their range of hair straighteners and the company pride themselves on producing hair care products that guarantee the purchaser to achieve wonderful results and have the smoothest silky looking hair ever. After using these for the last week I can honestly say that if I had the money I would never buy anything else for my hair, yet I still fail to see how these products can be so extravagantly priced as they are way beyond the means of the majority of people in the country. Enclosed in my pack of goodies was a bottle of ghd Professional Invigoration Shampoo and over the past week I have fallen in love with this white pump action bottle or miracle working shampoo. After scouring the internet I?ve discovered that the shampoo can be purchased from sites such as www.missgroovy.co.uk for £10.75 or from the ghd site itself at www.ghdhair.com for the same price but with t
he added extra of a free vent brush. Of course postage and packing will apply from these sites too but I?ve yet to find a high street store selling the products apart from hairdressing wholesalers but you will need to know a hairdresser who can purchase the items for you. When I tell you that a bottle of the shampoo only contains 250ml of product, it?s easy to see what I mean about extortionate prices. Is anyone really going to pay nearly £11 for a bottle of shampoo? The shampoo is presented in a white bottle with some snazzy gold and brown splashes of colour. At first glance the bottle looks to be the same as many of the hair mousse tins and has a black pump action dispenser on the top. Closer inspection reveals that this is no tin, instead the bottle is made squeezable plastic. The smell of the shampoo is not going to win any prizes either. There are no flowery fragrances added to make it smell pleasant and the lightly bronzed shampoo has a rather medicinal aroma to it, similar to the old Lifebuoy soap bars. The consistency is nice enough though, and it?s easy to imagine I?ve bought a tub of honey instead of something to put on my hair as the colouring is the same as runny honey or maple syrup. A word about my hair before we go any further. It?s highlighted ? not excessively so but as hair colouring dries the hair out I always have to use plenty of conditioner as it has a tendency to become fly away if I just use a shampoo. Although I have it cut regularly at six week intervals anyone who has colour on their hair will know the process does dry the hair out and any heated appliance does the same even if it is just a quick blow dry each morning. The first time I used the shampoo I decided to use it without any conditioner to see if it really lived up to its claims of getting rid of any excess hair products in the hair such as gels or waxes while st
ill leaving it manageable and shiny. As this was the first pump action shampoo I?ve ever used I did have reservations as to how the shampoo would emerge from the bottle. No worries there as a gentle push on the top a couple of times is all that?s needed to dispense a dollop of the brown shampoo onto my hair. The smell still isn?t wonderful although it does smell slightly less harsh when it is massaged into the hair and it does give off a menthol aroma similar to Vicks chest rub. As the instructions advise to shampoo the hair then leave the shampoo to do its business for 2 minutes or so I followed the instructions to the letter and laid back in the bath waiting for the magic to work. The shampoo lathers really well with a pure white froth and a couple of small squirts is more than enough to wash my short hair so the bottle will last a considerable amount of time if it?s only used by myself. I was expecting the lather to be brown because of the colour of the shampoo so was most surprised when it was a virginal white colour and smelled of a chest rub! After leaving the shampoo for two minutes my hair has a softness that it?s never had before as well as smelling gorgeous. Yes I know I?ve said the smell of the shampoo is strange but the menthol smell is quite invigorating and leaves my scalp feeling refreshed after the shampoo has been allowed to rest on my hair for the required amount of time. Not only that but my hair doesn?t feel dry or coarse as it normally does before I smother it with conditioner or an intensive hair pack and it smells and feels deliciously clean. After blow drying my hair feels luxurious. There?s certainly no flyaway ends and it has a fuller appearance as well as being soft and silky to the touch. All this from a couple of squirts of shampoo and no conditioner? I?m impressed enough to have used it this way for the past week but am going to pr
ogress to the using it in conjunction with the other products in the box, although I really can?t see how the results can be any better. Yes it?s expensive and no I won?t be spending my own money on this in the future but I will definitely be asking for some bottles for Christmas and birthdays in the future. It really is the best shampoo I have ever used and leaves my hair smelling and looking good for up to four days before it needs washing again. If you?re Baroness Rothschild the chances are you can afford to buy this as part of your weekly shopping. I can?t but I?m going to make damn sure this isn?t the one and only bottle I ever have in my bathroom.


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Thumbs Up/Thumbs Down: Views by the Echo Press
Thumbs Down: It's understandable to be concerned about recent crimes in the area – two armed robberies and a burglary connected to an officer-involved shooting that ended in murder-suicide. But the incidents shouldn't spur overblown reactions of panic, fear or claims that our area is going to heck in a hand-basket. Instead, the crimes should unite the community to be on the lookout for crime and to help law enforcement by providing tips and reporting suspicious behavior. It's also constructive to realize that most criminal behavior is fueled by drug or alcohol abuse and preventing those addictions from taking root are a key part of addressing crime. Now is not the time to cower in fear, give up, lose faith or distrust any stranger you see. Let's stay focused, vigilant and do everything we can to help law enforcement do their job.
Thumbs Up/Down: An item in the last Thumbs Up/Down, "Why not use the bus?" triggered a good response from readers who explained why they use their own vehicles to transport their children to and from schools. One parent told us that her children live less than six blocks away from St. Mary's School. "For them to take the bus each morning/afternoon, they would be on the bus for more than two hours each day," she said. "They can get extra sleep in the morning and get school work done after school with the amount of time spent on the bus…Yes, we are paying to transport our kids through school taxes and also paying for gas for our vehicles, but that is our choice." Another parent agreed with the person who submitted the thumbs down. Her three children have been riding the school buses for the last 17 years. "When the two oldest could drive they did, but only because of after-school activities or work obligations," she said. "Otherwise, they rode the bus and were almost always the only older students to do so. They were aware that riding the bus reduced our family carbon footprint and helped reduce our monthly gas bill." A grandmother with a Buick defended picking up her grandson after school, three days a week. "I live in town and he lives seven miles out of town, so it makes sense," she said. "He spends quality time with me after school at my home…His mother brings him to school in the morning on her way to work, therefore more quality time spent with mom instead of one and a half hours on the bus. That makes sense to me too. I'm not against school buses. My husband drove one for three and a half years. I like the option of being able to choose."
Thumbs Down: An Alexandria woman received a mailing that had scam written all over it, starting with the envelope. It contained five foreign stamps sloppily placed in the lower left corner. Inside was a check from "TS Mart Stores," typed out in her name, for $1,997.50. It was accompanied by an official-looking "acceptance letter," informing her that based on a previous survey by Consumer Survey and Quality Control Specialists, she had indicated an interest in earning extra income on a part-time basis by participating in a "Quality Control Program." The woman, of course, had never taken any such survey. It was a detailed pitch, explaining how she could go to a website to "activate" her check and receive her "survey assignments" to shop at big-name retail stores. She was told she could even keep any items she bought as a bonus. It's all baloney, of course, an attempt to get personalized banking information and real money in place of the bogus check. The woman was smart enough not to fall for it. You shouldn't either. And check to make sure your elderly relatives aren't being targeted.


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Volume 2011 (2011), Article ID 849038, 5 pages
Immune Response of Mormon Crickets That Survived Infection by Beauveria Bassiana
USDA-Agricultural Research Service, Northern Plains Agricultural Research Laboratory, 1500 N. Central Avenue, Sidney, MT 59270, USA
Received 1 June 2010; Accepted 29 July 2010
Academic Editor: Michel Lecoq
Copyright © 2011 Robert B. Srygley and Stefan T. Jaronski. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
Beauveria bassiana (Fungi: Ascomycota) is an entomopathogenic fungus that serves as a biological control agent of Mormon crickets Anabrus simplex Haldeman (Orthoptera: Tettigoniidae) and other grasshopper pests. To measure the dose-dependent response of Mormon crickets to fungal attack, we applied B. bassiana strain GHA topically to adults using doses of 5.13 × to 1.75 × conidia in sunflower oil, with oil only as a control. After three weeks, we assessed the survivors' hemolymph for fungal cells, active phenoloxidase (PO), and lysozyme. Mortality increased and body mass of survivors decreased with conidial dose. survivors' PO activity was elevated to the same level independent of dose. Those with fungal cells visible in their hemolymph did not differ in PO activity from those with clear hemolymph. We conclude that circulating PO may be an important enzymatic defense against Beauveria infection and that it is associated with attempted clearing of Beauveria blastospores and hyphae from Mormon cricket hemolymph.
1. Introduction
Nomadic insects risk contact with fungal pathogens [1]. Mormon crickets, a long-horned grasshopper or katydid, form bands and march across western United States grasslands seeking food, salt, and oviposition sites (Figure 1, [2, 3]). Wingless, they must walk, which increases the risk of contacting insect-pathogenic ascomycetous fungi, such as Beauveria spp. and Metarhizium spp., on plants or soil [4]. These fungal pathogens occur naturally, but some strains, such as the commercial Beauveria bassiana GHA, may be applied artificially as control agents.
The ability of the fungus to infect an insect depends on its ability to adhere and penetrate the exoskeleton, resist the insect's hemolymph-borne defenses, and grow rapidly [5]. The conidium adheres to the cuticle and germinates to penetrate the exoskeleton with a combination of mechanical pressure and a cocktail of lytic enzymes. The insect may respond to the wounding with local induction of the phenoloxidase (PO) cascade, resulting in production of toxic quinones and cuticular melanization. Following penetration into the hemolymph, the fungus grows as a yeast-like blastospore or as short lengths of vegetative hyphae. Insect defenses include encapsulation of the fungus by granulocytes and plasmatocytes (both circulating hemocytes) and formation of a nodule that may be melanized [6]. Grasshoppers may also respond with behavioral fevers, elevating body temperature to inhibit fungal growth [7, 8]. Mormon crickets do not demonstrate behavioral fever per se; their preferred body temperatures are 34–3C [9], above the upper thermal limit for most entomopathogenic Ascomycetes. Death of the host may result from competition with the pathogen for nutrients, mechanical damage resulting from hyphal growth, and fungal toxins [5].
The humoral defenses of insects to pathogenic fungi have only been investigated in a handful of species. Metarhizium infection may result in declining hemolymph protein and PO titres over the course of the infection until death (Schistocerca gregaria [10], Locusta migratoria [6]) whereas Beauveria infection increases active PO levels (Melanoplus sanguinipes [11], Spodoptera exigua [12]). Lysozyme activity may decline (Schistocerca gregaria [10]) or remain unchanged (Spodoptera exigua [13]). In this paper, we investigate circulating PO and lysozyme titres in adult Mormon crickets that have successfully defended themselves against invasion from topically applied Beauveria bassiana strain GHA. On rangeland and crops, control agents are frequently not applied until Mormon crickets have reached the adult stage because the public demand for control is greatest when Mormon crickets have banded together and migrated from natal sites into habitats where they interfere with human activities.
2. Materials and Methods
2.1. Fungal Conidia
The B. bassiana conidia were obtained from Laverlam International (Butte, Montana, USA.) as a dry technical grade conidial powder. Conidial viability was determined by plating aqueous conidial suspensions onto quarter-strength potato dextrose agar, incubating the fungi at 2C for 18–20 hr, then examining with 400x phase-contrast microscopy for germination. A conidium was considered germinated and thus viable if a germination peg was visible. A concentrated stock suspension in sunflower oil was prepared from the dry conidia, and the concentration was determined by hemocytometer counts of kerosene-diluted samples and adjusted for conidial viability. Working dilutions were prepared from the two concentrates using positive displacement pipettes, and the exact concentrations were determined by hemocytometer counts of kerosene-diluted samples. All conidia concentrations are viable conidia per unit volume.
2.2. B. Bassiana Dose Response
Adult Mormon crickets were collected at Lodge Grass, Montana on July 17, 2007, and fungal treatments were topically applied on July 24 (1st replicate) and July 25 (2nd replicate) to the base of the first leg, including the following fungal doses suspended in 1 l sunflower oil: , , , , or conidia/l B. bassiana strain GHA or a control treatment of only sunflower oil. Survivorship was measured over 21 days at 2C.
2.3. Immunity Assays and Total Protein
After three weeks, we drew hemolymph from the surviving adults (five males and five females for each treatment, fewer if there were not enough survivors) to assess spontaneously active PO, lysozyme-like activity, and total hemolymph protein. We measured the body mass of each cricket to the nearest mg with an Ohaus microbalance (model AV53) and then punctured the arthrodial membrane at the base of the hind leg of each insect with a 26 gauge hypodermic needle so that it exuded hemolymph. A total of 14 L of hemolymph was collected into a capillary tube, with a second puncture performed when necessary. For assays of PO activity and total hemolymph protein, the hemolymph was diluted 1 : 50 with phosphate buffered saline (PBS) solution and frozen at −2C. An additional 10 L hemolymph diluted 1 : 10 with PBS was stored at −2C for subsequent measuring of lysozyme activity. For ten insects, we did not collect sufficient blood for all of the tests.
To measure PO activity, we followed the protocol of Wilson et al. [8]. Samples of thawed hemolymph diluted in PBS were centrifuged (C, 10,300 rpm for 10 minutes) and activated with 10 mM dopamine solution. The plate was loaded into a temperature-controlled BioTek microplate reader (2C), and absorbance at 492 nm was read between 5 and 15 minutes. If sample absorbance was linearly related with time, we calculated mean V (change in absorbance min−1). One unit PO activity per ml hemolymph is defined as the amount of enzyme resulting in a 0.001 increase in absorbance.
To measure lysozyme-like antibacterial activity, a turbidimetric method was used, following the protocol of de Azambuja et al. [14]. Thawed and PBS-diluted hemolymph was added to a well with suspended gram-positive bacteria cells Micrococcus lysodeikticus (Worthington). Clearing of the well was compared to a serial dilution of egg-white lysozyme (Sigma) added to the bacteria suspension. The plate was loaded into a temperature-controlled Biotek microplate reader (2C), and absorbance at 450 nm was read between 10 and 30 minutes. If the sample absorbance was linearly related with time, we would calculate mean V. When sample activity fell below 6.5 g ml−1, the sample was excluded because the standards showed that the data were unreliable when samples were this weak.
We measured total hemolymph protein in mg protein ml−1 hemolymph with a Total Protein Kit, Micro (Sigma) compared to a serial dilution of the human albumin standard.
2.4. Verifying Infection
An additional 10 L of hemolymph collected as described above was smeared on a slide and stained with a drop of lactofuchsin. Hemolymph samples were scanned at 400x, using dark-field, phase-contrast microscopy, for hyphae and blastospores.
2.5. Statistical Analyses
To analyze the B. bassiana dose response data, we combined the data from both replicates because Fisher's Exact Tests indicated no significant differences between the replicates at each dose. The combined data were then subjected to probit analysis using LDP Line (LdP Line, 2000 by Ehab Mostofa Bakr, Cairo, Egypt). Lysozyme and log10-transformed PO were normally distributed. Applying ANCOVA, we covaried the dependent variables with body mass and tested them for effects of replicate, sex and fungal dose (sample sizes in order of dosage from highest to lowest: , 8, 9, 10, 10, and 10 for the 1st replicate and , 5, 8, 6, 9, and 10 for the 2nd). Body mass was not a significant covariate, and so here we report the results from the three-way ANOVA's. Only for the males did the total protein meet the assumptions for parametric statistical analyses, and so we applied nonparametric statistics to data for the females.
Data for PO and total protein were normally distributed after log10 transformations. Lysozyme activity was normally distributed after squaring the data. Applying ANCOVA, we covaried the dependent variables with body mass and tested them for effects of sex and fungal treatment. However, body mass was not a significant covariate, and so we simplified the analysis and reported the two-way ANOVA's.
3. Results
Mortality at 21 days ranged from 22% to 80% and increased with the dose of B. bassiana applied to the cuticle (Table 1) with an LD50 estimate of conidia per insect.
For survivors, mean body masses of replicates were significantly different (), and those for all treatments except one were significantly less than that for controls, but there was no difference in body mass among B. bassiana doses (Figure 2(a)). Log PO differed significantly between replicates and dose ( and , resp.) whereas it did not differ between the sexes (). In a post hoc comparison among the means, Mormon crickets treated with B. bassiana had greater PO activity than uninfected controls, but none of the fungal treatments differed from one another (Figure 2(b)). The second replicate also had significantly greater lysozyme activity than the first () whereas sex and dose did not have significant effects ( and , resp.). Within males, total protein was proportional to body mass (), and insects in the second replicate had significantly greater total protein than those in the first (, resp.), but fungal treatment was not a significant factor affecting total protein (). Females in the second replicate also had significantly greater total protein than those in the first replicate (Wilcoxon test, , , ), but fungal treatment was not a significant factor affecting total protein within replicates ().
4. Discussion
Mormon crickets responded to B. bassiana infection with an increase in PO. Beauveria infection also increased active PO levels in the grasshopper Melanoplus sanguinipes and the army cutworm Spodoptera exigua [12]. Gillespie and Khachatourians [11] found that after topical application of 108 conidia to M. sanguinipes, PO levels increased 3.8 times in males peaking at 3 days postinfection and 8.3 times in females peaking on the first day postinfection. In M. sanguinipes after 5 days, PO levels had returned to near control levels in males, but in females remained more than twice that of controls. Our applied doses were lower, and more of the Mormon crickets survived the application. At 21 days, PO levels remained higher in Beauveria-treated Mormon crickets relative to controls. We did not observe a difference in PO levels between the sexes for either controls or those that survived fungal application. Surprisingly, PO titres of Beauveria-treated survivors were independent of the dose applied.
Total circulating protein concentrations did not differ between treatments in males or females. In Melanoplus sanguinipes, protein concentrations of males and females peaked 30% above that of controls within three days of infection, but returned to the same level as controls by day five post infection [11].
The second replicate had higher PO, lysozyme, and total protein titers than the first. Adults were collected from the same location on the same day and treated only a day apart to make replicates as similar as possible, and thus the reason for these differences is not known. Body mass of individuals did not differ significantly between control groups (, ), and so individuals in the second replicate were probably in no better overall condition to defend against the fungus than the first. Indeed, the average mass of the first replicate was 6% greater than that of the second replicate—the opposite of what one would expect if condition were a factor.
Beauveria-treated individuals lost on average 17% of their mass relative to controls. Reduced food consumption is the most likely cause. Schistocerca gregaria eats less when infected with Metarhizium [15], and Manduca sexta stops feeding altogether [16]. However, an increase in metabolism with infection could also increase mass loss. Metabolic rate might increase because the Mormon cricket is fending off the infection or as a result of the contribution of the growing fungus. Reduced nutrient absorption from the gut or greater water loss might also contribute to mass loss and warrant further study.
PO activity of survivors with fungal cells visible in their hemolymph did not differ significantly from those with clear hemolymph ( fungus absent, fungus present, Welch ANOVA , , 9, , Figure 3). We conclude that circulating PO may be an important enzymatic defense against Beauveria infection and that it is associated with attempted clearing of Beauveria blastospores and hyphae from the hemolymph of Mormon crickets.
Beauveria bassiana infection did not affect lysozyme activity in the Mormon crickets. Hence, elevation of PO did not result in an elevation of antibacterial activity in an all-or-none manner. Lysozyme activity declined with Beauveria infection in the desert locust Schistocerca gregaria [10] but remained unchanged in the army cutworm Spodoptera exigua [13].
In some Mormon cricket bands, migrating individuals seek protein [3], and protein ingestion is associated with an increase in PO activity [17]. Thus, protein deficiency evident in migratory bands is also likely to result in greater susceptibility to and more efficacious application of B. bassiana GHA.
The authors thank Rob Schlothauser, USDA-Agricultural Research Services, for help with fungal infections and Laura Senior, USDA-Agricultural Research Services, for assistance with immunity assays.
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Proceeds of $23 million were received upon the closing of this transaction, through the sale of preferred stock to both Paul Capital and Essex. Additional amounts of up to $45 million, comprised of both equity and a revenue interest financing, will be funded based on the satisfaction of certain predetermined milestones.
Concurrent with the financing, Prism also announced that Todd Davis and Clarke Futch of Paul Capital have joined the Prism board of directors, which also include James Currie and Petri Vainio of Essex and Warren Cooper, Prism's CEO.
"In order to accomplish our goal of becoming a leading specialty pharmaceutical company in the acute care space, we needed the support and funding from the investment community," said Warren Cooper, President and CEO of Prism. "We are pleased that Paul Capital has recognized our vision and understands our growth opportunities as we move closer to establishing a robust portfolio through the licensing of products and compounds in various stages of development. This funding allows us to move more rapidly towards creating unique and valid development pathways shaped by medical need and market opportunity."
"We believe Prism's product portfolio shows tremendous promise and we are confident in the ability of the company's strong management team to further develop and commercialize these products," said Todd Davis, Partner, Paul Capital Partners. "This transaction epitomizes the types of financing agreements we structure for growing companies in need of capital to fund their development and commercialization programs."
About Prism Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Prism, founded in September 2004 and based in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, is a specialty pharmaceutical company committed to developing and commercializing acute care cardiovascular products. For further information, visit http://www.prismpharma.com.
About Essex Woodlands Health Ventures
Essex Woodlands Health Ventures is one of the United States' premiere venture capital firms focusing exclusively on the healthcare industry. Essex Woodlands recently raised their seventh fund of $600 million. The firm has offices in California, Texas, New York and London. The Essex Woodlands team has been involved in the founding, investing, and/or management of over 100 healthcare companies ranging across all sectors, stages and geography. For more information, visit http://www.ewhv.com.
About Paul Capital Partners and Paul Royalty Fund
Paul Capital Partners manages nearly $5 billion in equity capital commitments for its three investment platforms that include Healthcare Royalty and Revenue Interests, Private Equity Secondaries and Top Tier Fund-of-Funds. The firm has offices in New York, San Francisco, Paris, London and Toronto. The Paul Royalty Fund is one of the largest dedicated healthcare funds globally, with approximately $1 billion in equity capital commitments. The Paul Royalty Fund has made investments in the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device sectors valued at more than $850 million. These investments are focused on commercial stage companies and products, and consist of investments in the form of royalties, revenue interests and equity. For more information, visit http://www.paulcapital.com.
Source: Prism Pharmaceuticals, Inc
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Gunasekar emotional speech at Rudhramadevi audio launch - NTv
Sat, Mar 21, 2015, 10:18 PM
Rudramadevi movie audio is being launched today and director of this movie Gunasekhar addressing the gathering at the event, stated that heroine Anushka who is playing the title role has worked hard like heroes NTR, Mahesh Babu , Rana etc. Gunasekhar further told that she gave all the support in getting the best on the screen. Listen to Gunasekhar . . . .


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For years, they have been one of the most formidable lobbying forces in Washington: the elite band of former members of Congress, former diplomats and power brokers who have helped Middle Eastern nations navigate diplomatic waters on delicate issues like arms deals, terrorism, oil and trade restrictions.
Just last year, three of the biggest names in the lobbying club – Tony Podesta, Robert Livingston and Toby Moffett – pulled off a coup for one of their clients, Egypt. They met with dozens of lawmakers and helped stall a Senate bill that called on Egypt to curtail human rights abuses. Ultimately, those abuses helped bring the government down.
Moffett, a former congressman from Connecticut, told his old colleagues that the bill "would be viewed as an insult" by an important ally. "We were just saying to them, 'Don't do this now to our friends in Egypt'," he recounted.
Now the Washington lobbyists for Arab nations find themselves in a precarious spot, as they try to stay a step ahead of the fast-changing events without being seen as aiding despots and dictators. In Libya, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen, Egypt and other countries in the region, leaders have relied increasingly on Washington's top lobbyists and lawyers, paying them tens of millions of dollars. Some consultants are tacking towards a more progressive stance in light of pro-democracy protests, while others are dropping their clients altogether because of the tumult.
In Tunisia, where the earliest revolts energised the regional upheaval in January, the Washington Media Group, a public relations firm, ended its $US420,000 image-building contract with Tunis on January 6, soon after reports emerged of violent government crackdowns on demonstrators.
"We basically decided on principle that we couldn't work for a country that was using snipers on rooftops to pick off its citizens," said Gregory Vistica, the firm's president, who first announced the decision on Facebook.
Others have stayed the course, at least for now. Moffett, Livingston and Podesta, who have a joint, multimillion-dollar contract with Egypt, have stepped up the pace of their meetings and phone conferences with Egyptian Embassy officials after the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. One of the chief aims, the lobbyists say, is to help the military officials now running the country move towards elections that will be regarded as free and fair outside Egypt.
"What we have done for them in the past is what we will continue to do for them in the future – everything in our power to build good relations between the Egypt of today and the United States," said Livingston, the former House speaker who is one of Egypt's Washington lobbyists.
At the same time, Livingston acknowledged that he was closely watching the situation in the region. "Is there a danger that the whole area might become Islamist and radical and totally opposed to the interests of the United States?" he asked. "Certainly there's that risk."
At Qorvis, a global public relations firm that has represented numerous countries in the region, including Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Yemen and Cyprus, executives from the firm's Washington office were visiting the Middle East recently with a business-as-usual attitude.
"Our clients are facing some challenges now," Seth Thomas Pietras, senior vice president of Qorvis Geopolitical Solutions, said in a telephone interview from Dubai. "But our long-term goals – to bridge the differences between our clients and the United States – haven't changed. We stand by them."
As a rule, leaders in the Middle East have paid consultants generously, even by Washington lobbying standards, with monthly retainers commonly reaching $US50,000 or more, according to federal filings.
(The law firm of White & Case promised Libya "a special 15 per cent discount off of our standard rates" in light of the "significant relationship" it hoped to forge with Muammar Gaddafi's country in 2008.)
The United Arab Emirates spent $US5.3 million in 2009 for lobbying American officials – second only to the Cayman Islands, which has lobbied to retain its status as a tax haven, according to an analysis by Sunlight Foundation, a non-profit research group. Working through DLA Piper and other Washington-based firms, the U A E has sought greater access to American nuclear technology.
Morocco spent more than $US3 million on Washington lobbyists, much of it aimed at gaining an edge in its border dispute with Algeria; Algeria countered by spending $US600,000 itself.
Turkey, which shares some interests with the Middle East countries, spent nearly $US1.7 million in 2009 to lobby American officials on Turkish and Middle Eastern policy through the firms of the former House leader Richard Gephardt, Livingston and other prominent lobbyists.
And Saudi Arabia, one of the most powerful foreign interests here, spent about $US1.5 million in 2009 on Washington firms, and it has a $US600,000 annual contract with Hogan Lovells aimed partly at fighting legislation and litigation that would challenge OPEC's influence over oil prices.
"These kinds of regimes have a lot of money at their disposal, and that's a great attraction," said Howard Marlowe, president of the American League of Lobbyists.
Still, he said, "a number of lobbyists will stay away from international clients – period." To work with dictators in Middle Eastern nations with policies that many Americans find unsavoury, he said, "you have to have a strong stomach".
Livingston, the former congressman lobbying for Egypt, has also done work for Libya in seeking to resolve legal claims arising from Libya's role in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 and normalise the country's relations with the US.
But he said he reached a tipping point in 2009 when Libya welcomed back with open arms a bomber convicted in the Pan Am case.
"Those two incidents were just more than we could handle," Livingston said. Soon after, his firm ended its work for Libya – with "no regrets", he said.
Other major Washington firms, including White & Case and Blank Rome, a legal and lobbying shop, have also ended their work for Libya, which spent about $US850,000 on lobbying in Washington in 2009.
As demonstrations were taking place in Egypt last month, Moffett said a friend suggested to him that his lobbying work for the Mubarak government put him "on the wrong side of the Egyptian thing".
Moffett demurred. "I don't feel that way at all," he said. "We feel honoured to be on the scene while all this is happening."
The New York Times


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WASHINGTON – In a 10-8 party line vote with both of Minnesota's Democratic senators voting with the majority, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee approved the final elements of the most broad-ranging gun control proposals to receive congressional attention in nearly 20 years.
The bill approved on Thursday includes a ban on many assault-style weapons and would also limit ammunition magazines for semiautomatic weapons to 10 rounds.
"I think that what we've seen in these mass murders of late is the use of these assault weapons, and I think that this will save lives," said DFL U.S. Sen. Al Franken after the vote.
Franken said he didn't "disparage" owners of those weapons, many of whom he described as veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan who were simply comfortable with the guns, but "this is about going forward" to prevent gun massacres such as the December shooting at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut last December in which 26 students and teachers were killed.
While the legislation would ban the sale, manufacture and importation of assault-style semiautomic weapons and large ammunition clips, those currently in possession of those weapons and clips could still keep theirs.
Franken conceded that with so many weapons in circulation, future mass shootings were still possible.
"Are we going to see these mass murders go to zero? No, we're not. But I think if we can save one life or a few lives by doing this, then I think it's worth it," said Franken.
The bill now heads to the Senate floor along with a set of other gun control bills the committee approved in the past two weeks to expand background checks, make it a federal crime to traffic guns and expand school safety programs. No time has yet been scheduled for the full chamber to debate the legislation, which is likely to face stiff opposition from many Republican lawmakers.
Should the bills pass the Senate, the Republican-controlled House will also have to take them up. Franken believed the House might approve the expanded background checks, gun trafficking and school safety bills but said that the assault weapons ban would face "a very difficult uphill climb" in the House.


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When it comes to your skin, there are numerous precautions you should take to keep skin healthy. While cleaning and moisturizing the skin are ways to make the skin look better, you should also be aware of the things that can harm your skin as well. Being aware of some of the biggest threats to your skin will help you keep your skin healthy, beautiful and protected from harm. Here are some of the six biggest threats that your skin can face.
Tanning and Sun Damage
Tanning booths are one of the biggest threats to your skin. Many people decide to tan in a tanning booth prior to heading to the beach or a vacation where they will be in the sun a lot, so their skin doesn't burn when they are outside. Although this is a preventative measure designed to keep skin healthy it is actually horrible for your skin. The concentrated amount of UV lights can burn skin and lead to premature age spots, wrinkles or sagging.
Smoking Skin Damage and Preventing Wrinkles From Smoking
It may comes as no surprise that smoking is extremely bad for your lungs and heart. However, many people don't realize that smoking is also very bad for the skin. Smoking can cause the skin to become discolored, age prematurely and wrinkle much faster. Smoking also destroys the vitamin C in your body which prevents the body from producing the elastin that keeps skin tight. The nicotine in cigarettes can also prevent healthy blood circulation to the skin, causing skin to look dull, and preventing the skin's cells from getting the oxygen they need to stay replenished and stay looking young and healthy and vibrant.
The Sun – Causes Age Spots, Wrinkles and Dry Skin
The uv light from the tanning booth isn't the only type of light that will damage the skin. Too much sun will not only make your skin look aged and wrinkled, but it can also lead to age spots or skin cancer later on. It is important to always apply sunscreen or a lotion with at least SPF 15 in it every time you go out in the sun.
Soda and Coffee – The Effects On Your Skin
Drinking too much soda or coffee for the caffeine can actually cause major problems with the skin. Loading up on these types of beverages will dehydrate the body. When skin doesn't have enough water it not only appears dull and dry but it is more likely to break out with acne. Water helps eliminate waste in the body and from the skin, without enough water to do this, that waste and bacteria will build up and cause acne to form.
Alcohol Skin Damage
Alcohol, like coffee and soda can dehydrate the skin and cause dryness and other problems. However, alcohol can expand the blood vessels in the body to a point where it can cause problems. This will cause red spots to appear on the skin, for the skin to become discolored and for itchiness to occur.
While you can do a number of things to keep the skin healthy, you can also serve as one of the biggest threats to your skin. Many people allow themselves to pop, pick or squeeze their pimples. While many people believe it is necessary to pop large zits, its actually quite bad for the skin. Popping a large pimple will generally make the puss and bacteria that fills the zit spread to more areas of the skin. Popping zits can also lead to scarring. The best option for active acne, would be the Cleane Acne Therapy Device, which improves the appearance of acne by up to 90% in just 24 hours!


text: Learn how to use price and promotion analytics to effectively allocate your marketing budget to maximize profits. In this marketing course, you will learn how to price your offerings, as well as how to allocate your scarce marketing budget among different promotion vehicles to maximize their overall impact in the organization. You will also learn how to select prices to maximize profits or fulfill other specific company objectives.


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Talk about being a victim of your own success! That Roberto Mancini should even have to defend his own record and explain why he doesn't deserve the sack, is a sure sign of the madness of modern football.
There are managers who have achieved less than the City boss who have statues erected to their memory outside English football grounds.
And yet Mancini has won a major trophy in each of his full seasons with the club, has his team tucked in second place in the Premier League – with the promise of Champions League football for a third successive season – and in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup.
Last year's title triumph probably came a year too soon for Mancini in terms of keeping expectations within the realms of sanity.
There was wild talk that Mancini would get the push if City did not win the title but it would seem ridiculous to think that men as business-like and thoughtful as Sheikh Mansour and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak would work to such fine margins.
That the swish of Sergio Aguero's right foot stood between Mancini and his P45 does not make sense.
And the notion that he went from dead man walking three minutes into added time in the last day of the season, to a manager with a lucrative new five-year contract, would make City's top brass appear as reeds swaying in the stiff wind of public opinion – something they are not.
No-one outside a small coterie of top people at City truly knows what the long-term holds but to suggest that one late, late goal made the difference between oblivion and a big new deal, does not make sense.
By winning the title, Mancini set a high bar for himself.
Sir Alex Ferguson is undoubtedly the most successful manager in English football history but it took him three and a half seasons to win anything at all, another three to win the league, and 13 years to win the Champions League.
City's owners are not stupid enough to think their wealth would bring instant success, which would then lead to utter dominance, year on year.
Questions about Mancini will be posed at the end of the season.
If his team wins the FA Cup, secures Champions League football and finishes strongly in the league, there should be little cause for him to be concerned.


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CONCENTRATION on fluctuations in oil prices has detracted attention from the fundamental changes occurring in world oil and gas markets. Let's start with President Bush's inaugural address, in which he promised to support democratic reformers in the Middle East.
"Very brave, Mr President," America's Sir Humphrey Appleby might be telling Bush, whose country depends heavily on oil from hardly democratic Saudi Arabia.
The policy shift comes at a time when dependence on imported oil leaves America more vulnerable than ever to changes in world energy markets. Increasingly powerful state-owned players are putting America not only at an increasing economic disadvantage, but at risk of losing a good deal of diplomatic leverage in Asia, Europe and the western hemisphere.
We are witnessing nothing less than the geopoliticalisation of the world's oil and gas industry. Governments rather than traditional commercial enterprises are taking control. And those governments have interests hostile to America's.
China is forging closer economic and political ties in the Middle East, and not only because it needs more oil. Its rapidly increasing trade with Iran is not the ordinary buying and selling of profit-driven companies.
China can and, according to reliable sources, does pay not only with cash but with ballistic-missile components and components for nuclear weapons. A new supply of oil and a chance to thumb its nose at the American embargo are an irresistible combination for this emerging superpower.
China is not confining the extension of its influence to the Middle East. The western hemisphere is also in its sights. Canadian prime minister Paul Martin came away from a visit to Beijing with an agreement to co-operate in a wide variety of energy projects, including plans for a pipeline and ports that would allow oil from Alberta's tar sands to move to Canada's west coast for export to China, rather than to America.
As always, there was more to the deal than a mere commercial transaction. A joint communiqué by the strategic working group set up by Canada and China had what can only be a shot at America: "Canada and China share the view that the United Nations and other multilateral institutions have an essential role to play in the development of a peaceful, prosperous and sustainable world."
In Latin America, China is investing $100 billion in a series of energy deals to extend its influence. Most threatening is a $400m investment in Venezuela's oil and gas industry, strengthening the hand of president Hugo Chávez, who says his country is under "a new US imperialist attack". Flush with Chinese cash and emboldened by his new friendship, Chávez has suspended the operations of the American companies Conoco Phillips, Harvest Oil and Chevron T exaco, hammering their share prices.
Meanwhile, Vladimir Putin has been developing what columnist Roger Boyes of The Times calls "a new policy instrument" to reassert Russian power. That instrument is "Russian gas and oil-exporting companies that already all but dominate Europe's energy supplies . . . Gazprom has woven a web of energy dependencies from Turkey to Turkmenistan, from Berlin to Baku."
According to the International Energy Agency, by 2020 natural gas will account for 62% of Europe's energy consumption, and Russia will supply two-thirds of that gas.
This has more than commercial consequences. When Gerhard Schröder told a television audience that Putin was a "dyed-in-the-wool democrat", the German chancellor was indicating he was not prepared to bite the hand that controlled the valves of the pipelines that warmed his country.
Germany already gets 35% of its oil and 40% of its gas from Russia, figures that will increase as it pursues its policy of winding down its nuclear power industry.
Russia also plans to use its ample reserves of oil and gas to extend its influence in Asia. It has agreed to allow Japan to finance an $11.5 billion (some say $18 billion) oil pipeline from eastern Siberia whence oil can be transported to Japan and other Asian nations.
This was no mere commercial transaction: Japan's prime minister Junichiro Koizumi led the lobbying team that persuaded Putin to select the route that the country favoured. Putin knows how to accumulate IOUs.
Perhaps most important is Russia's use of oil to cement relations with China. A few weeks ago energy minister Viktor Khristenko visited Beijing amid signs that Russian fuel is starting to warm historically chilly Sino- Russian relations.
Putin has offered China's National Petroleum Corporation a piece of Yukos, the Russian oil giant that produces 1% of the world's crude oil, which he effectively renationalised by slapping on a bankrupting demand for back taxes.
Since American companies would have loved to have had a crack at an interest in Yukos, Putin's decision to freeze them out is widely seen as an expression of his unhappiness with American criticism of his power grabs, as well as an opportunity to cement relations with China, with which Gazprom has already signed agreements to cooperate in oil and gas markets.
So America finds that supplies from Canada, its largest supplier, and Venezuela, which sells it the light, sweet crude oil that its refineries are best equipped to handle, will now be shared with China.
Meanwhile, Russia dominates the European energy market, giving Germany and France still another reason to side with it in any dispute with the United States, just as China can rely on Latin American countries that benefit from its billions of investment to give that some weight in formulating their foreign policies.
Add the emerging relationship of China and Russia, and you have something for American planners to worry about.
Irwin Stelzer is a business adviser and director of economic policy studies at the Hudson Institute


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May 25, 2012 at 6:30 am
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - Legislation to ban some synthetic drugs has passed the U.S. Senate as part of a broader bill covering several pharmaceutical and medical issues.
The legislation would ban a substance known as 2C-E and eight similar substances. It also takes aim at some chemicals found in synthetic marijuana and synthetics marketed as bath salts.
Efforts to tighten regulation of synthetics follow the 2011 death of a Blaine man, Trevor Robinson, who was among 11 partygoers sickened by using the substance 2C-E.
U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar is a sponsor of the legislation. A similar version of the legislation has already passed the House.
Temp: 43°F (6°C)
Dewpoint: 43
Wind: Calm N
Weather: Clear


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Dermatology Questions? Ask an Online Dermatologist.
The last one said its probably from shaving, which I have been doing for a long time, i did stop to see if that helped but i found keeping the area shaved was better for the situation. If it is that syndrome what do i do?
I am not sure if it is a form of eczema, if it has any relationship to stress or herpes because I never had any issues prior to getting that phone call from my ex, if it is a reaction to all the topical steriods i tried, if it is that one syndrome, I just need to find a cure/solution
No but i tried oral fluconazole, no changes. I read somewhere that acquired acutaneous syndrome has been linked to ketoconazole though.


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Animal Species:Spotted Handfish, Brachionichthys hirsutus (Lacepède, 1804)
The Spotted Handfish is a critically endangered species that lives in Tasmania. It has an extremely restricted distribution due partially to its unusual life cycle.
Standard Common Name
Spotted Handfish
Alternative Name/s
The species has also been called the Prickly-skinned Handfish and Tortoiseshell Fish.
The Spotted Handfish is pinkish above and white below, with darker orange, brown or blackish spots. It has a high first dorsal fin originating on the snout and a long based soft rayed dorsal fin. There is a long illicium on the snout.
Size range
The species grows to about 12 cm in standard length.
The Spotted Handfish is endemic to south-eastern Australia, occurring in the lower Derwent River estuary, Frederick Henry Bay, D'Entrecasteaux Channel and the northern regions of Storm Bay.
The map below shows the Australian distribution of the species based on public sightings and specimens in Australian Museums. Source: Atlas of Living Australia.
Distribution by collection data
Ozcam map of Spotted Handfish specimens in the Australian Museums.
It is a benthic species, usually found on sandy bottoms in depths from 5 m to 40 m, although more commonly at 5 m to 10 m.
Feeding and Diet
The Spotted Handfish eats crustaceans, polychaete worms and small shells.
Life cycle
Spawning occurs in September and October . Females lay egg masses on vertical objects such as stalked ascidians, sponges and seagrasses. The female guards the egg masses. After 7 to 8 weeks, fully formed juveniles (6 mm to 7 mm long) hatch from the eggs and drop to the substrate below.
Conservation Status
The species is listed as critically endangered on both the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species and the ASFB Threatened Fishes Committee listings. Its decline has been attributed to a number of factors including predation by the Northern Pacific Seastar (Asterias amurensis), habitat modification and heavy metal contamination.
Conservation Status (IUCN):
- Species:
- hirsutus
- Genus:
- Brachionichthys
- Family:
- Brachionichthyidae
- Order:
- Lophiiformes
- Class:
- Actinopterygii
- Bruce, B.D., Green, M.A. & P.R. Last. 1999. Aspects of the biology of the endangered spotted handfish, Brachionichthys hirsutus (Lophiiformes: Brachionichthyidae) off southern Australia. pp. 369-380 in Séret B. & J.-Y. Sire, (eds) Proceedings of the 5th Indo-Pacific Fish Conference,Noumea, New Caledonia, 3-8 November 1997. Paris :Societe Française d'Ichtyologie. Pp. 888.
- Hoese, D.F., Bray, D.J., Paxton, J.R. & G.R. Allen. 2006. Fishes. In Beesley, P.L. & A. Wells. (eds) Zoological Catalogue of Australia. Volume 35. ABRS & CSIRO Publishing: Australia. parts 1-3, pages 1-2178.
- Hutchins, B. & R. Swainston. 1986. Sea Fishes of Southern Australia. Complete Field Guide for Anglers and Divers. Swainston Publishing. Pp. 180.
- Kuiter, R.H. 1996. Guide to Sea Fishes of Australia. New Holland. Pp. 433.
- Pogonoski, J.J., Pollard, D.A. & J.R. Paxton. 2002. Conservation Overview and Action Plan for Australian Threatened and Potentially Threatened Marine and Estuarine Fishes. Canberra: Environment Australia. Pp. 375.
Mark McGrouther , Collection Manager, Ichthyology
Last Updated:
Tags fish, fishes, ichthyology, Spotted Handfish, Brachionichthys hirsutus, critically endangered, unusual life cycle, Prickly-skinned Handfish, Tortoiseshell Fish, pink, white underside, dots/spots, orange spots, long illicium, 10 cm - 30 cm, endemic to Australia, estuary, benthic species, sandy bottom, marine,


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Object Details
The Adoration of the Magi
Georges Trubert (French, active Provence, France 1469 - 1508)
Provence, France (Place created)
about 1480 - 1490
Tempera colors, gold leaf, gold and silver paint, and ink on parchment
Leaf: 11.4 x 8.6 cm (4 1/2 x 3 3/8 in.)
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In this
Each of the gifts offered to Christ had symbolic value in the Middle Ages: gold in homage to Christ's kingship; frankincense, an oil used in worship in ancient times, in honor of his divinity; and myrrh, used in embalming, foreshadowing his death. In the later Middle Ages, the
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