text:
New York Newsday: Christian right exhorts consumer crusades
The mere mention of the Rev. Donald Wildmon's name sends ripples of anxiety through corporate boardrooms.
A sort of César Chávez of the religious right, the United Methodist
minister from Tupelo, Miss., has championed consumer crusades against
Sears Roebuck, Ford, Lowe's, Reader's Digest, Kraft and Disney, to name
just a few, for dissing Christmas or supporting gay rights and
abortion. Just last week, his group's threatened boycott against Ford
for its "homosexual agenda" appears to have prompted the automaker to
pull its ads from gay magazines, although Ford has denied that was the
There was a time when even Wildmon thought boycotts might be beyond the pale for conservative Christians.
"At first, I felt very strange carrying a placard which screamed,
'Boycott Sears,'" he confessed in his autobiography about his first
boycott against Sears in 1978 for advertising on the sexually charged
"Charlie's Angels."
"When I had watched civil rights and
Vietnam War demonstrations on television, I had never envisioned that I
would one day be doing the same thing. In my mind, carrying a sign
conjured up images of rebellion, disrespect for authority and even
violence. That's something good Christians just didn't do."
Using boycott as a strategy
But ever since that boycott achieved its goal in less than an hour,
conservative Christian groups have been following the playbooks of the
civil rights and labor movements. What began with Wildmon and a few
others as a fringe effort in the late 1970s has become the strategy of
choice of dozens of conservative Christian organizations, which now
boast Internet databanks with millions of addresses and full-time
advocacy staffs.
Today, Wildmon's American Family Association,
the New York-based Catholic League and the Colorado Springs-based Focus
on the Family, to name a few, use techniques such as boycotts, investor
resolutions and e-mail campaigns to "promote the Biblical ethic of
decency in American society," as Wildmon's group puts it.
While analysts say that such efforts often have just a small effect on
companies' bottom lines, the negative publicity is often enough to spur
quick action from corporate executives - especially if the company is
already financially beleaguered like Ford.
"Don't forget that
corporations, large and small, are spending significant sums of money
to create and to nurture a brand image, and these actions chip away at
the foundation of that image," said Jeff Stoltman, a Wayne State
University marketing professor. "So all the equity they built up in the
Ford name or the Disney name is put at risk."
Major retailers targeted
In the last few weeks, major retailers including Sears, Target, Lowe's,
Nordstrom and Wal-Mart have been caught in the crosshairs for
substituting "Happy Holidays" for "Merry Christmas" in promotions. Most
have changed in response.
Wells Fargo abruptly lost its
contract with Focus on the Family because the San Francisco bank
contributed to a gay rights group. Kraft, Walgreens and Harris Bank are
being threatened with boycotts for giving money to the 2006 Gay Games,
slated for Chicago next summer.
American Girl, which
manufactures dolls and books, is being boycotted because the company
donated proceeds from the sale of a special "I Can" wristband to Girls
Inc., a nonprofit group that supports girls' education programs,
including those that promote the right to abortion.
Microsoft, a leader in offering domestic partner benefits, dropped its
support for a gay rights bill in the state of Washington this spring
after a local minister threatened a boycott. After a public outcry, the
company reversed its position.
"I think what you're seeing is
certain groups on the Christian right more openly embracing what's been
called the culture wars and demanding litmus tests over issues that are
important to them," said Chip Berlet of Political Research Associates,
a Somerville, Mass., group that researches the religious right.
To Randy Sharp, director of special projects for the American Family
Association, it's just common sense to put your money where your mouth
is - especially if you believe your values are under assault.
"Just about any poll today shows that a great majority of Americans are
concerned about the moral direction of our country," Sharp said.
"They're fed up with political correctness. They're fed up with
anti-Christian bias. And they want their voices to be heard. We simply
provide a tool for them to make their voices heard."
of course, are nothing new in a nation that cut its teeth on the Boston
Tea Party. The country's most famous boycott was the Montgomery, Ala.,
protest in 1955, when blacks refused to ride city buses in a protest
that helped end legal segregation.
And plenty of left-leaning
religious groups still use economic pressure to advance their own
agendas, from the recently ended boycott of Taco Bell over its pay of
tomato pickers, to the Presbyterian church's call for divesting from
companies that supply the Israeli military.
What has changed is
both the upsurge in conservatives' use of such tactics and a track
record that includes some high-profile, if often indirect, successes -
from getting companies to restore "Merry Christmas" to ad campaigns to
pressuring them to ax their support for Planned Parenthood, said Pratap
Chatterjee of Corpwatch, a corporate watchdog group in Oakland, Calif.
Others, however, are skeptical, suggesting the tactics are most effective at building the groups' membership and donations.
"If you measure success in terms of framing an issue, doing education
and outreach, raising money and raising awareness, then these efforts
have been wildly successful," Berlet said.
"But if you measure it as whether the group achieves the stated goal of the boycott, then most of them are not successful."
Success of tactic debated
Doubters cite the example of Disney, which endured nine years of
conservative boycotts but never backed off its gay-friendly policies,
including offering benefits to same-sex partners.
dropped that boycott because it wasn't successful," said Brad Luna, a
spokesman for the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest gay
rights organization. "When companies don't cave, they suffer no
Sharp, however, calls the effort a success,
citing the September resignation of chief executive Michael Eisner, the
company's split with Miramax, which had produced some of its most
controversial films, and the company's support of more family-friendly
fare, such as the newly released "The Chronicles of Narnia."
"Is there more to do?" he asked. "Yes, of course. But there always is."


text:
Image credit: Flickr
On October 1st, I slapped up a post on a whim, announcing that I'd decided to just write something every day for the entire month. I suspected I'd be sorry I took on the challenge, and I'll be honest - I've been looking forward to the 31st. A lot.
I don't really know if I accomplished my goal of really writing every day. Some days it felt more like I was just reaching to get anything at all entered into this space in order to hit "Publish" before midnight. But I think what October did for me was to prove that I can write more frequently than I do. I really do want to. And I learned that I'll survive if I post something that isn't even close to meeting the overly-harsh judgment that I reserve only for myself. That was really good for me.
Now I'm done, and I'm glad. But I hope the little lessons and habits developed during this month will stick. I'd like to be a little more fearless. And I have some ideas for what that could look like. Will I venture there?
Time will tell.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Helena students reap the benefits of union-district collaboration
Montana district to share ideas on recruiting, retaining quality teachers at national conference
WASHINGTON - February 08, 2011 -
With more than half of the teaching force nearing retirement, teachers and administrators in Helena, Mont., have joined forces to address staffing issues and ensure their schools are not only competitive but attractive to job seekers. The Helena School District and the Helena Education Association (HEA) have developed an alternative compensation plan to draw more qualified teachers to the district. The two groups will share details on their partnership during a national education conference on labor-management collaboration set for Feb. 15-16 in Denver.
"Identifying and agreeing on mutual goals is critical, as the folks in Helena have learned," said Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association. "Putting aside differences and working collaboratively to improve teacher quality will directly benefit students in their district. Others can learn from the success of this partnership."
Innovative Union-District Approach
The joint venture shows how labor and administrators can work together when they share a common goal – in this case, attracting and retaining quality teachers. The new compensation plan, dubbed the Helena Professional Compensation Alternative Plan or PCAP, empowers teachers to make decisions about their own professional development in an environment of collaboration and shared responsibility. Under PCAP, educators who want to move up the salary scale must develop and complete a Career Development Plan (CDP), perform professional service and receive a positive evaluation. To help teachers meet these requirements, the district includes professional development time within the school day, offers mentors for new teachers and relies on a joint committee to make decisions about funding and which professional development programs to support.
HEA President Tammy Pilcher is pleased with the result. "We haven't had any hiccups, surprises or negatives with PCAP," she says. "It has been very smooth—primarily because the union and management worked together to create it through trust and consensus."
PCAP gives union members options to consider and fosters collaboration among teachers. And the new approach is addressing the staffing issue that concerned teachers and administrators. Before the plan was implemented in 2004, some 100 to 200 teachers applied for positions every year. The first year PCAP was implemented, the district received 1,000 applications.
Historic National Conference
Helena is one of the 13 school districts that will share details of union-management collaboration during the upcoming labor management conference in Denver. The event is sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education in partnership with NEA, American Federation of Teachers and other education organizations.
"We applaud the Department of Education for bringing together districts to facilitate such learning," said Van Roekel. "NEA is committed to supporting the 150 districts attending the labor-management conference in Denver and other districts where partnerships can be forged that promote the best interests of students."
Learn more about NEA's effort to ensure teacher quality:
Follow us on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/NEAMedia
# # #
The National Education Association is the nation's largest professional employee organization, representing
3.2 million elementary and secondary teachers, higher education faculty, education support professionals, school administrators, retired educators and students preparing to become teachers.
CONTACT: Michelle Hudgins (202) 822-7823, firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Search for courses based on delivery type, program area, or topic below, or find upcoming trainings in your state or territory.
For more information on trainings from the National Highway Institute, contact us.
TRAINING LEVEL: Intermediate
CLASS SIZE: Minimum: 1 Maximum: 1
This training was prepared by the Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council (TCCC) in partnership with NHI to introduce the basics of structural bolted connections. The information presented is useful for non-structural applications as well. Bolting is a common method of making connections, care should be exercised both in their design, installation and maintenance. For the purposes of this course, we are focusing on the installation of bolts. This training is recommended for the Transportation Curriculum Coordination Council levels II through IV. This course is primarily intended for inspectors and technicians.
This module consists of three lessons:
Bolted joints reviews the basic connection types, types of holes, faying/contact surfaces, use of washers, tightening patterns, and fastener documentation.
Installation procedures explain how important it is to protect the fastener assemblies and surfaces during construction. We will review fastener assemblies' pre-installation verification and explain the rotational-capacity testing.
Installation methods discuss basic guidelines to achieve quality fastener installations. There are several accepted methods for installing structural bolts. The methods covered in this training are turn-of-nut, calibrated wrench, direct tension indicator, twist-off bolt, and lock pin and collar.
Upon completion of the course, participants will be able to:
This training is designed for FHWA, State, and local agencies and their industry counterparts involved in the installation and inspection of bolts and bolted connections on construction projects.
If you have questions about this NHI training, please contact NHI at firstname.lastname@example.com or 877.558.6873.
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Eagle Eye (2008) RUS
On this page you can download the audio track for the movie Eagle Eye russian language. Russian dubbing audio track will allow you to fully enjoy movies Eagle Eye 2008 year. Download audio track Eagle Eye for movie for free and see the detailed characteristics of track can be below.
Year: 2008
Duration: 01:57:35
Voice: Dubbing
Language: Russian
Audio fileCodec: AC3 Dolby Digital
Bit rate: 384 kbps
Rate frequency: 48 kHz
Channels: 6 channels (L, C, R, Ls, Rs + LFE)
Frame rate: NTSC (23.976 fps)
Size: 323 MB
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I'm going to preface everything I say about this 2006 C6 Corvette with unadulterated, overly-critical speculation about its previous owner. Whoever that person was is most likely a moron. How do I know? I saw why it has a salvage title, issued by the State of Florida, naturally.
Somehow, this car — which is now for sale on eBay — suffered a front end collision and some sort of flood. That could mean any number of things in most places: The car was in a storm; someone crashed it into a fire hydrant; its owner got drunk and crashed it into a golf course lake. All of the normal things you would assume about a car with collision and flood damage.
But this 'Vette has dragons and vampires painted on it, and its from Florida, so the range possibilities of how it ended up in such a pitiable state instantly becomes more robust. If I were a Floridian with a dragon and vampire festooned C6, what would I do with it? For starters, I'd ingest a brimming cocktail of mind-altering substances, then I'd probably turn the car into a rolling meth lab. Somewhere about midway through my detached-from-reality fantasies, I'd most likely end up crashing the car into a holding tank for farm-raised baby gators, then run naked around the wreckage, pulling the stuffing from the pile of pillows I'd just stolen from Walmart while screaming hoarsely about my baptism by lawn sprinkler with Ronnie Van Zant's ghost.
But I'm not from Florida, and I don't own a dragon/vampire-themed 'Vette with a scantly explained salvage title. I could, and so could you if you can fork over $17,500 to the car's current owner. But why would you do that? Dragons and vampires don't match. Even the vampire woman in the portrait plastered on the car's hood is crying tears of blood over how ugly it is.
Photo credit: eBay


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Season Launches with Live Pre-Show and Post-Show Hosted by Chris Hardwick on BBC AMERICA on August 23
12 Midnight Theatrical Events in 12 Cities on August 23
Theatrical Events in Over 550 Theaters Across the U.S. on August 25
New York - July 31, 2014 - It's a new beginning for the iconic series that explores all of space and time, as award-winning actor Peter Capaldi takes on the role of the mysterious time traveler, the Doctor. BBC AMERICA will launch Peter Capaldi's first season of Doctor Who with special programming on the channel and theatrical events across the country with Fathom Events. The new season of Doctor Who premieres Saturday, August 23, 8:00pm ET on BBC AMERICA. (Trailer, Photos)
Announced today, comedian and Doctor Who superfan Chris Hardwick will host Doctor Who: Live Pre-Show at 7:30pm ET and Doctor Who: After Who Live at 11:00pm ET following the premiere of Intruders on August 23. The pre-show and post-show will feature an array of guests in the studio including writer and actor Mark Gatiss along with exclusive behind-the-scenes footage.
Doctor Who's feature-length season premiere episode, Deep Breath, is a pulse-racing adventure through Victorian London. Directed by Ben Wheatley and written by Steven Moffat, the episode stars Peter Capaldi as the Doctor, Jenna Coleman as his companion Clara Oswald, Neve McIntosh as Madame Vastra, Catrin Stewart as Jenny Flint and Dan Starkey as Strax.
In the lead up to Doctor Who's new season, BBC AMERICA will premiere a series of specials including Doctor Who: The Ultimate Companion on Saturday, August 16, 9:00pm ET followed by The Real History of Science Fiction: Time at 10:00pm ET and Doctor Who: The Ultimate Time Lord on Monday, August 18, 10:00pm ET. The Doctor Who Takeover Week marathon will kick off Monday, August 18, 8:00am ET. Starting August 6, BBCAmerica.com will give fans a chance to vote for their favorite Doctor Who episodes - the top selections of this "Make Your Own Sunday" poll will run in a BBC AMERICA marathon on Sunday, August 24.
Theatrical Events Across the U.S. - August 23 and August 25
Announced today, BBC AMERICA and Fathom Events are teaming up again for two days of theatrical screening events of Doctor Who Season Premiere: Deep Breath in the U.S. This electrifying episode will be shown in select cinemas across the U.S. and will also include 15 minutes of cinema exclusive bonus content.
On Saturday, August 23 at midnight, there will be 12 theatrical events in 12 cities at 12am/midnight to celebrate the launch of the new season. More information will be announced on August 5 at www.FathomEvents.com.
On Monday, August 25, the celebration goes nationwide with two showings at 7:00pm and 9:30pm (local time). The event will be presented in more than 550 select movie theaters around the country through Fathom's Digital Broadcast Network. Tickets are now available for Doctor Who Season Premiere: Deep Breath at participating theater box offices and online at www.FathomEvents.com.
For a complete list of theater locations and prices, visit the Fathom Events website (theaters and participants are subject to change).
About Doctor Who:
Ahead of the new season premiere, Doctor Who: The World Tour will see the stars visiting seven cities across five continents in 12 days to publicize the upcoming season. Details about the New York visit on August 14 will be announced in the coming days. More information on the itinerary for Cardiff (UK), London (UK), Seoul (South Korea), Sydney (Australia), Mexico City (Mexico) and Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) is available on www.doctorwho.tv/worldtour.
Doctor Who is BBC AMERICA's highest-rated series, has set social media records and received numerous awards including last year's Institutional Peabody Award. The series has enjoyed success off-air with more than 10 million DVDs and 8 million action figures sold globally and is the BBC's top series on iTunes in the U.S. and UK. Doctor Who is a BBC Wales production for BBC One and distributed by BBC Worldwide.
BBC AMERICA delivers U.S. audiences high-quality, innovative and intelligent programming. Established in 1998, it has been the launch pad for talent embraced by American mainstream pop culture, including Ricky Gervais, Gordon Ramsay, Graham Norton, and successful programming formats including ground-breaking non-scripted television like Top Gear and top-rated science-fiction like Doctor Who. Owned by BBC Worldwide, the commercial arm of the BBC, BBC AMERICA has attracted both critical acclaim and major awards including two Emmy(R) Awards, five Golden Globes(R) and eleven Peabody Awards. The channel attracts one of cable's most affluent and educated audiences and is available on cable and satellite TV in 80 million homes. It broadcasts in both standard and high-definition, with content available On Demand across all major digital platforms. Online, www.BBCAmerica.com is the place to go to dig deeper into pop culture with a British twist.
Fathom Events is owned by a newly formed entity called AC JV, LLC. Fathom is the recognized leader in the alternative entertainment industry, offering a variety of one-of-a-kind entertainment events in movie theaters nationwide that include live, high-definition performances of the Metropolitan Opera, the performing arts, major sporting events, music concerts, comedy series, Broadway shows, original programming featuring entertainment's biggest stars, socially relevant documentaries with audience Q&A and much more. Additionally, Fathom events take audiences behind-the-scenes and offer unique extras - creating the ultimate entertainment experience for fans of all ages. Co-owned by the three largest movie theater circuits in the United States, AMC Entertainment Inc. (NYSE: AMC), Cinemark Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: CNK) and Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC), Fathom's live digital broadcast network ("DBN") is the largest cinema broadcast network in North America, bringing live events to more than 750 locations in 171 Designated Market Areas(R) (including all of the top 50). For more information, visit www.fathomevents.com.
BBC Worldwide is the main commercial arm and a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Its vision is to build the BBC's brands, audiences, commercial returns and reputation across the world. This is achieved through investing in, commercialising and showcasing content from the BBC around the world, in a way that is consistent with BBC standards and values. The business also champions British creativity globally. In 2013/14, BBC Worldwide generated headline profits of �157.4m and headline sales of �1,042.3m and returned �173.8m to the BBC. For more detailed performance information please see our Annual Review website: http://www.bbcworldwide.com/annualreview


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[COMPLETED] An 11 year old boy Bryce receives a letter...
Amy Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone35701910
- by RainbowDashicorn & pastel_potato
- Rating:
- Published: 18 Jan 2014
- Updated: 23 Jun 2014
- Status: In Progress
Amy Harn is the twin sister of Harry Potter. Well, technically she is Amy Potter, but she was adopted, so her surname would be Harn, but she's still a Potter, 100%. She is almost more famous than her brother, Harry. She was the lost twin. The one they think died. But there are still wizards, such as Dumbledore, or even Snape, who think otherwise. Who KNOWS otherwise. And Amy will face challenges that not even Harry could imagine.
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Imagine that you walk into a restaurant and there's no one there to take your order. You can't even find anyone working in the place. Or you are waited on and place your order, but have to repeat it to three different people, because the servers won't talk to each other. Or you're told shortly after placing your order that you'll need to choose a different item, because the menu has changed in the last five minutes. Twice.
You'd probably rip the place on every review site you can think of and then never return to that establishment. Yet we tolerate exactly that type of behavior from leading search and social media sites every day, and even reward them with growing traffic and more of our precious time. Why?
A potential Google killer, Facebook killer or even Twitter killer may not do it with superior technology, but simply with a better user experience.
One of the biggest complaints about Facebook is of course its constantly changing interface, and its convoluted privacy settings have also repeatedly come under fire (as have changes to its privacy settings). The constant changes are a problem for brands not only due to the expense of keeping up to date, but also because the newest (Timeline) layout has reduced tab engagement.But the most appalling shortcoming of the world's most popular social network may be how un-social it is.
Granted, even with its never-ending UI changes, Facebook is easy enough to use even for technophobic grandmas. But imagine that you did have a question, or something wasn't working quite right, and you wanted to contact Facebook for assistance. Try this: go to Facebook and see how long it takes you to find any way to contact the company: phone number, email address, even a fax number. I'll wait. Let us know in the comments below how long it took.
Given these issues, it's little wonder that Facebook has the lowest user satisfaction rating of all the major social media sites. And Facebook's size may be no defense against ultimate demise; it wasn't all that long ago the MySpace was the largest social network, and the experience of social news site Digg—once valued at $100 million but sold recently for just 5% of that—is a cautionary tale.
Google not only accounts for 85% of all web searches but controls an astounding 44% of the global online advertising market. It's the 800-pound gorilla of the web, and acts like it with increasing frequency.
The search giant has annoyed everyday users with moves like dropping popular tools (Picnik, Knol, Gears) and presenting search challenges when it sees an "excessive" volume of searches from a single IP address (yes, this was designed to thwart automated rank-checking tools—though it isn't clear why those are a problem—but can be triggered by a much lower volume of searches; my daughter has had these thrown up while doing research for high school English papers).
Google has thumbed its nose at businesses, advertisers and SEO professionals as well through a series of recent moves like hiding a significant share of keyword data in the "not provided" category within Google Analytics, eliminating the Website Optimizer tool in AdWords, and the recent Panda and Penguin algorithm updates, which were designed to eliminate webspam but caught a lot of innocent sites in their wake.
The leading micro-blogging tool isn't as friendly to other web services as its cute little bluebird icon would make it appear. Last year it stopped sharing tweet data with Google (bad for the SEO results of Twitter users) and more recently the company eliminated the ability to automatically share tweets on LinkedIn. And after six years, the platform still doesn't offer simple and obvious functions like the ability to download one's followers and tweet history.
These web giants are assuming we're so addicted to their services that we won't quit or go elsewhere, no matter what they do, change, or eliminate. But the next Google killer or Facebook killer may very well not be a better search engine or social network, but simply one that treats its users with respect. And listens.


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Videos | October 31, 2008
Rover Flight Director Report
The Mars Exploration Rovers are moving ahead to study a hill, a depression and a very large crater.
Transcript:Hi, I'm Ashley Stroupe, one of the rover drivers for Spirit and Opportunity. I'm here in the Surface Mission Support Area, where we do all of our analysis of the data that the rovers send back everyday, and I'm here to give you an update on our rovers.
Now that Spirit has completed her studies of Home Plate and Silica Valley, and survived the long cold winter, the scientists want her to travel on to two interesting science features in the south. They're called von Braun Hill and the depression, Goddard.
They're thought to be remnants of ancient volcanic activities. The shortest distance to these features is due south across the top of Home Plate. But, that is requiring Spirit to do the very difficult task of climbing up the 30-degree hill that she's parked on.
We weren't sure that Spirit would be able to make this difficult climb. But, in hopes that the rover would once again surprise us, we made the first attempt on October 22nd (sol 1709). Spirit, in fact, defied the odds and climbed 8 centimeters up that hill, on her very first try.
Meanwhile, Opportunity has completed an amazing two-year campaign at Victoria crater. Her next goal, Endeavor crater is twelve kilometers to the southeast and that journey will take her more than one year to complete. She had begun this journey in earnest, when we had our last view of Victoria crater, about two weeks ago, on sol 1683. Wind has helped keep Opportunity's solar panels relatively clean, that with an increase in power that we're getting from the sun, is enabling her to make long drives each day. We're averaging more than 60 meters and sometimes getting more than 200 meters. This greatly improves her chances of getting to Endeavor.
Now, with Victoria far out of sight, Opportunity is driving through some amazing etched terrain and is now surrounded by beautiful sand ripples.
So, for the near future, both Spirit and Opportunity are going to be concentrating on driving toward their next science goals. Of course we will stop here and there as we find interesting science targets along the way. I'm Ashley Stroupe and this is your Mars Rover Report.


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Store Manager
Memphis, Tennessee
As a Store Manager, you will be the second-in-command of a team dedicated to making a difference. Our SMs know that effective teams need leadership, and strive to coach and develop their team members to success. Whether it's building customer relationships or demonstrating new sales techniques, you'll work every day to be an example while also participating in achieving your store's business objectives. And while you're helping your team grow, we'll help you reach the next step in your career by providing an ongoing and comprehensive training and development program that will help you truly shine.
Essential Duties & Responsibilities:
D45, R11, Memphis-18-TM-15986, 15986, SMA15986-Store Manager
Minimum Qualifications
Preferred Qualifications
Our Business
The SM is a member of the Store Operations team, a group of diverse and talented individuals across the country aligned with and committed to our company's mission and values. The face of our company, our store operators work in a fast-paced, dynamic, and energetic environment and consistently produce superior results. Responsible for managing our stores, generating revenue, and being an integral part of their communities, they use their love for business, people, and service to build relationships with our customers and help people every day.
The TMX Finance® Family of Companies ('the Company') is one of the largest consumer specialty finance organizations in the United States. With companies that include TitleMax®, TitleBucks®, and InstaLoan®, the Company provides a diversified product offering. These companies are represented nationwide and their growth has created a wealth of career opportunities in both our stores and at our corporate offices. If you are looking for a dynamic career with significant earning potential and advancement opportunities, you've come to the right place.
Standing, walking, sitting, repetitive movements and use of mechanical controls, such as keyboard, are frequently required.
All TMX Finance Family of Companies® Are Equal Opportunity Employers.


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I am on a countdown to a little minor surgery tomorrow. I've opted to have an endometrial ablation so my never ending monthly torment can finally go away. My other option was hysterectomy and I wasn't feeling the surgery, the three weeks off work, the hospital stay, etc.
This is outpatient and they'll give me xanax and percocet and other stuff and apparently it's like ten minutes of really not so good and then yay done except for three weeks of what they describe as "weeping" out of my uterus.
I am told to think of it like a blister on your finger. That's what they are going to do to my uterus. Basically, they're going to kill it with fire.
I'm not sure what medieval medical school this idea came from, I mean, "lets boil the inside of the uterus until it's dead" that just seems like something more at home in the Inquisition than at one of the best OBs in the metro BUT....I signed up for it so apparently I'm crazy too.
I'm doing a regimen of high dose ibuprofen and then start the good stuff tonight.
But I can say that as a woman who had her period for 33 years, and four kids, I could be done with this. I really could. And hey my husband will still get to enjoy all of my mood swings from PMS so it's not like I'll be losing any of my girly appeal (snark).
I'd say I'm nervous and I am a little, I know it's going to feel NOT GOOD but on the other hand, I feel relieved. I get to quit doing this FINALLY.
And I get to quit doing it without getting cut open AGAIN.
I'm hoping I made the right choice. I'll let you know.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Post Pre-Op
Posted by Gidge Uriza at 8:09 AM
Labels: endometrial ablation, girliness, surgery


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Heli-hiking on Franz Josef Glacier, New Zealand
After the thwump-thwump sound of the helicopter has receded down the glacier, I'm left standing in a beautiful white silence. With half a dozen others and a guide I've got the next couple of hours to explore the upper reaches of Franz Josef Glacier, one of a pair of blinding rivers of ice that cascade almost to sea level on the western side of the South Island's Southern Alps. In Maori legend these are Ka Riomata o Hinehukatere – "The Tears of the Avalanche Girl". The story goes that the beautiful Hinehukatere so loved the mountains that she encouraged her lover, Tawe, to climb alongside her. He fell to his death and Hinehukatere cried so copiously that her tears formed the glaciers.
The guide checks everyone has put on their crampons correctly, and, stout stick in hand, we set off slowly working our way through a labyrinth of seracs (ice towers) and crevasses. It is a bit of a shock to the system and initially nerve-wracking but the guide seems to know what he's doing, continually assessing the changes on this fast-moving glacier. The ridge leads to a series of ice caves, features you couldn't hope to experience on hikes lower down the glacier. Deep blue and gently sculpted, they're wonderfully enticing.
Franz Josef Glacier Guides (www.franzjosefglacier.com) offers a range of guided hikes including heli-hiking.
Mountain biking the world's most dangerous road, Bolivia
The reputation of the road linking La Paz with the tropical lowlands of Bolivia is enough to put most travellers off. But for downhill mountain bikers and all-round thrill-lovers, it's an irresistible challenge. The World's Most Dangerous Road, as this byway is colloquially known, is a stunning ride through some of the most dramatic scenery South America has to offer, and with a vertical descent of around 3500m over just 64km, it's one of the longest continuous downhill rides on Earth.
Starting amid the icebound peaks of the Andes at over 4000m above sea level, the road plunges through the clouds into the humid valleys of the Upper Amazon basin, winding along deep, narrow gorges where dense cloudforest clings to even the steepest of slopes. The descent is an intense, white-knuckle experience, not made easier by the sight of so many stone crosses marking where buses and trucks have left the road. The surface is so bad that in most countries it wouldn't even be classified as a road.
One-day bike trips are easy to arrange with operators in La Paz; the original and best is Gravity Assisted Mountain Biking (www.gravitybolivia.com).
© StudioMB/Shutterstock
Trekking across the Arctic Circle, Canada
Bouncing along in a wooden kamotik, a traditional Inuit sled pulled by a snowmobile, you might have serious doubts as you think of what lies ahead: polar bears, hypothermia, avalanches and blizzards. You may question your sanity about trekking all the way to the Arctic Circle Marker in Auyuittuq National Park on Baffin Island. But in the end, you won't regret it for a moment.
Home to ten-thousand-year-old glaciers, towering granite mountains and awesome icy landscapes, Auyuittuq (pronounced "I-you-we-took") is an extraordinary place to explore on foot. Most visitors come during the summer to trek 97km through the scenic Akshayuk Pass, a corridor used by Inuit for thousands of years. The guide drops you on the frozen shores at the Overlord Warden Station, the southern gateway to the park. Adrenaline pumping, you begin the 15km trek to the Arctic Circle, along the glacier-scoured terrain of the Weasel River Valley.
Guided by inuksuit, stone markers built by Inuit to navigate the land, you cross the turquoise-blue ice of braided streams, along the base of sheer cliffs a kilometre high and over boulders of every shape and size conceivable. Nearly five hours after starting out, you'll catch the first glimpse of the holy grail in the distance atop a gravel bed: a lonely inukshuk bearing a simple sign with the words "Arctic Circle" written in English, French and Inuktitut.
You can get more information on the Auyuittuq National Park at www.pc.gc.ca. All visitors must register with Parks Canada.
Walking the ice: the Perito Moreno Glacier, Argentina
© Bluesnaps/Shutterstock
Fed by one of the planet's largest freshwater reserves – the Southern Patagonian Icecap – the Perito Moreno Glacier is the world's biggest ice-cube dispenser. It looks like a gigantic frozen Blue Lady, thanks to centuries of compression which has turned the deepest ice a deep shade of curaçao, whose sapphire veins can be tantalizingly glimpsed through plunging fissures. One of the few advancing glaciers in the world, it does move, but at, well, glacial speed. It's noisy, too, squeaking and whining and sporadically exploding, as every few minutes a wardrobe-sized chunk splashes into the lake's chilly waters and bobs away as an iceberg.
A great way of getting to know this icy beast is to go for a walk on it. Standing on the glacier, you can see every crack and crevice, every tiny pinnacle. The ice can be slippery, but it's not dangerous as long as you stick to sensible footwear and snap on the crampons issued by all the tour companies offering glacier-treks. And when you've walked far enough, you'll be glad to know that most treks end up with a tumbler of whisky on the rocks, made with ice-cubes chipped out of the glacier, of course.
The nearest town to the glacier is El Calafate; the official website www.elcalafate.gov.ar is a useful resource.
Walking on the ice cap, Greenland
Now get your head round this: the Greenland ice cap (also called the inland ice) is 2400km long – that's to say, it's the length of the journey from Greenland's east coast to London. It contains 2.85 million cubic km of ice (more than a billion Olympic swimming pools to you and me); if the whole lot were to melt most of the world's coastal cities would vanish under water, and several island nations would be wiped out. It covers a land area more than three times the size of France; and the oldest bits of ice are a staggering 250,000 years old.
The super-hardy like to ski from one side to the other, but for the rest of us, a simple summer stroll out onto the ice will do, for the ice cap is astonishingly accessible. Its edge lies just a 25km drive from Greenland's international airport at Kangerlussuaq. And there's a road that leads right there.
You leave the huddle of squat buildings that makes up Kangerlussuaq and drive out through spectacular rolling tundra. Small groups of musk oxen, with their stooped posture and strangely cute upturned horns, stand a short distance away and stare; occasionally a reindeer grazes, or an Arctic fox trots out in search of smaller fare. Then, rounding a bend in the road, you see it: a cliff of bluish-white ice in the distance soaring ever upwards. Drawing closer, you discern its spiralling peaks and diving crevasses, and the streaks of grey that smear the surface. And then you're there, walking out over this rugged, frozen mass of ice.
Air Greenland flies six days a week from Copenhagen to Kangerlussuaq in summer. From Kangerlussuaq, you can take a guided tour to the ice cap with Albatros Travel Greenland (www.albatros-travel.dk). Visit www.greenland.com for more information.
Trekking to the source of the Ganges, India
© Vasily Gureev/Shutterstock
Of all India's holy rivers, the Ganges – or "Ganga" as it's known in Sanskrit – is considered by Hindus to be the holiest. And of all the sacred sites along its course, the most sacred is the spot, high in the Garhwal Himalaya, where its waters first see the light of day.
Aside from bringing you much spiritual merit (a mere wind-borne droplet of Ganga water is believed to purge the body of a hundred lifetimes of sin), the pilgrimage to the river's source provides the fastest possible route into the heart of the world's highest mountain range. Winding through rhododendron and deodar cedar forests, a paved road runs nearly all the way from the Indian plains to Gangotri, at an altitude of 3200m.
From here on, you have to join the ragged procession of pilgrims and ash-smeared sadhus as they cover the final 20km leg: a long day's walk over a moonscape of grey dust and scree. Laden with sacks of offerings and supplies, many chant the 108 honorific titles of the river as they walk: "Imperishable", "A Sun Among the Darkness and Ignorance" or "Cow Which Gives Much Milk". And for once, the earthly splendour of the surroundings still lives up to its mythology.
Having crossed a rise on the valley floor, the full glory of the Gangotri Glacier is suddenly revealed, snaking away to a skyline of snow peaks. A 400m vertical wall, grey-blue and encrusted with stones, forms the awesome snout of the ice floe – Gau Mukh, the "Cow's Mouth". For the community of sadhus who live semi-naked in this freezing spot year-round, nearly 4000m above sea level, there's nowhere on Earth more uplifting. Come here at dawn, and you'll see them plunging into the icy water surging from the foot of the glacier, wringing it out of their long dreadlocks and settling down on the eroded rocks of the river bank to meditate or practise yoga. Even without the magnificent mountain backdrop the source would be one of the most enthralling places on Earth. But with the crystal-clear mountain light, the rituals and the vast amphitheatre of rock and ice rising on all sides, the atmosphere is nothing short of transcendental.
Gangotri is accessible from May to October. Most visitors stay in the dorm of the state-run Tourist Bungalow (no phone), in Bhojbasa, 5km from the glacier.
Top image © Stas Tolstnev/Shutterstock
For hundreds more ultimate travel experiences, get Rough Guides' Make The Most Of Your Time On Earth.


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All 24 fighters from this weekend's "UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch" event hit the scales today to make their bouts official, and headliners B.J. Penn (167.2 lbs. – in blue jeans) and Jon Fitch (169.8 lbs.) each made weight without issue.
Both fighters engaged in a brief staredown that brought a raucous crowd to a fever pitch, but it was hardly the most intense moment of the proceedings. That belonged to co-main event fighters Michael Bisping and Jorge Rivera, who each continued their recent war of words after stepping off the scale.
Today's festivities took place at Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia. The same venue hosts Saturday's pay-per-view event.
After making his contest official, Fitch was respectful toward his opponent but remained confident in his chances at victory.
"I'm pumped to be fighting B.J. Penn," Fitch told event emcee Joe Rogan. "He's a legend, and I respect him, but I've got to beat him. He has what I want."
Penn was less vocal but just as confident.
"I'll do my talking in the ring tomorrow," Penn said.
As expected, the Australian fighters on the card received the warmest ovations, and it was especially evident when lightweight contender Goerge Sotiropoulos stepped on the scale. His opponent, Dennis Siver, was the only fighter who struggled to make weight at the ceremony, registering 71.2 kg/156.6 lbs on his first attempt. He was given an additional hour and made weight on his second attempt.
The full weigh-in results included:
MAIN CARD (pay-per-view)
- Jon Fitch (77.2 kg/169.8 lbs.) vs. B.J. Penn (76 kg/167.2 lbs.)
- Michael Bisping (84.2 kg/185.2 lbs.) vs. Jorge Rivera (84 kg/184.8 lbs.)
- Dennis Siver (70.9 kg/156 lbs.)* vs. George Sotiropoulos (70.8 kg/155.8 lbs.)
- Chris Lytle (77.2 kg/169.8 lbs.) vs. Brian Ebersole (77.2 kg/169.8 lbs.)
- Chris Camozzi (84.2 kg/185.2 lbs.) vs. Kyle Noke (83.6 kg/183.9 lbs.)
(ION Television)
- Spencer Fisher (70.2 kg/154.4 lbs.) vs. Ross Pearson (70.6 kg/155.3 lbs.)
- Alexander Gustafsson (93.2 kg/205 lbs.) vs. James Te Huna (93 kg/204.6 lbs.)
- Riki Fukuda (84 kg/184.8 lbs.) vs. Nick Ring (84 kg/184.8 lbs.)
- Tom Blackledge (93.2 kg/205.2 lbs.) vs. Anthony Perosh (93 kg/204.6 lbs.)
- Jason Reinhardt (66 kg/145.2 lbs.) vs. Tiequan Zhang (66.2 kg/145.6 lbs.)
- Mark Hunt (119.2 kg/262.2 lbs.) vs. Chris Tuchscherer (118.6 kg/260.9 lbs.)
- Maciej Jewtuszko (70.2 kg/154.4 lbs.) vs. Curt Warburton (70.8 kg/155.8 lbs.)
* – Siver missed weight at 71.2 kg/156.6 lbs. on his first attempt but was given additional hour and hit the mark on his second attempt
For more on UFC 127, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.
(Pictured: Jon Fitch)


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If you want to be a good photographer, develop the habit of getting up early in morning. Its the best time to shoot outdoors. I had this particular shot envisioned & I got up early today to shoot it. The result? I not only got the shot I wanted but much more.
I got up early even though the weather was chilly. Its a good time to cuddle under your blanket & sleep for some more hours but one should not take the excuse of bad weather for not getting up early. It just takes a small push at the beginning & once you do that, you will be on a roll. So I get up & once I'm done with my preliminaries, I leave home with my tripod & off-course the camera. The shot I wish to make today, is that of the Ganesha Temple at Shivaji Park. I had seen once how magnificent the marble shines in the darkness of the night. Its a spectacle.


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To the editor:
On behalf of everyone in the Shrewsbury Public Schools, I want to thank the entire Shrewsbury community for supporting the building of the new Sherwood Middle School.? I am pleased to report that the school opened on January 23, seven months ahead of schedule, and that the project is currently projected to be more than $6 million under budget.
It is difficult to express just how big of an improvement the new Sherwood Middle School provides for the education of our town's almost 1,000 fifth and sixth graders. The architecture and construction of the building are of the highest quality, and its innovative design ensures that all spaces are structured to foster an effective, flexible learning environment that will support students" instructional needs both today and in the future.
I would like to thank everyone whose support, skill, and hard work contributed to this outstanding project, including the School Committee, Board of Selectmen, and Finance Committee; the Community Supporters for Sherwood; the Sherwood Building Committee; the Town Manager's Office; the Public Buildings Department; the Sherwood Middle School administration and staff; the School Department administration and staff; Lamoureux Pagano Associates, architects; PMA Consultants, owner's project manager; Gilbane Building Company, construction manager, and all of its subcontractors; Blue Line Design, furniture and equipment consultant; and the Massachusetts State Building Authority.
This was a first class, fiscally responsible project that will provide great value to the community for decades to come.? Our students, educators, and parents are extremely grateful.? Thank you, Shrewsbury!
Joseph M. Sawyer, Ed.D.
Superintendent of Schools


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Knot news
All items from January 2012
29 Jan 2012 : More Celtic Entanglement #
Added a couple of new Celtic Knot models to my Shapeways shop. They're a 2D (square) and 3D (cube) version both generated from the same seed. There's more info about how they were generated on the 3D printing and Celtic Knot pages.


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You want to list Jack Morris on your Hall of Fame ballot? Fine. You want to vote for Jack Morris and not offer a public explanation? Go for it, it's your vote! But when a BBWAA member announces his vote for Jack Morris, citing as a sabermetrics flaw a specific thing that sabermetrics do very well, that's worth a shaming. Stupidity has never been a market inefficiency.
Today's voter is Pat Caputo of the Oakland Press, and he's here to tell you why Jack Morris belongs in Cooperstown. The usual arguments are here: longevity, counting stats, postseason success (even though Morris's career postseason performance wasn't any better than his regular season performance). But then we get to this:
Sabermetrics have greatly benefitted the game. The advanced math should count in matters of evaluation, whether it be an organization accessing talent, or media and fans ranking player performance.
But Sabermetrics has its flaws. One of them, for evaluation purposes regarding the Hall, is not accounting enough for statistics era to era.
This is insane. More than that, it's simply, obviously not true. Accounting for statistics from era to era is indisputably one of sabermetrics' greatest strengths. Joe Posnanski, who has already demolished Caputo's argument, goes so far to say that park- and era-adjusted statistics that give historical context to the familiar numbers "is at the very heart of what sabermetrics try to do....This is why we have such things as OPS+ and ERA+ and a hundred other context-driven baseball statistics. They try to remove layers of nonsense and get closer to the heart of things."
Yet Caputo doubles down:
A 3.00 ERA in 1968 didn't mean nearly as much as a 3.00 ERA in 1995, for example.
What an odd example, considering a) Jack Morris never had a ERA of 3.00 or better, and b) Jack Morris had retired by 1995. Caputo is trying to make the point that Morris played in a more offensive era than those he's being compared to. He doesn't just try—he outright says "much of [Morris's] career took place during the height of the so-called steroids era." This, again, is demonstrably false. Posnanski blows it up by looking at the runs per game of every season in which Morris pitched. Only his final two—1993 and 1994—did the curve start to trend upward. (And in those two seasons, an aged Morris posted ERAs of 6.19 and 5.60.)
Let's recap. Pat Caputo admits that traditional stats don't make much of a case for Morris. He then says advanced stats are insufficient because they also don't make a case for Morris. He then invokes a concept that advanced stats already cover, era-adjustment, and claims that if advanced stats did take that into account, they'd say Morris is great, even though they already say he's not. Caputometrics suck.
Everyone knows that Jack Morris would have the worst ERA of any Hall of Famer. The nicest thing Sabermetrics can say about him as that he'd have only the third-worst ERA+ in Cooperstown.
Correction, Jan. 6: An email from Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun editor Jim Lahde:,
Deadspin needs to check its facts
You attributed this column by Pat Caputo http://deadspin.com/jack-morris-vo… as coming from The Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun.
Pat Caputo doesn't work for the Mt. Pleasant Morning Sun and never has. Caputo works for The Oakland Press out of Pontiac, a sister paper of ours.
Barry needs to do some fact checking because that's terrible journalism.
We've corrected the sentence.
By any standard, Morris and Trammell belong in Baseball Hall of Fame [Morning Sun]
Sabermetrics vs. (Uh) Sabermetrics? [Joe Blogs]


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DNA: A winding string of achievements
June 2013
Alicia Keys croons into a studio microphone, headphones firmly in place. Elsewhere, a rapper beats about the unfairness of the world in a smackdown with another rap artist. Two hardhats stand at a construction site, reviewing plans for the building that is growing around them, while a scene that smacks of the movie Tron touts the next-generation wonders of a new cell phone.
What do all of these events have in common? DNA.
DNA headphones. The rapper DNA. The DNA3 condominium complex rising in Toronto. The Droid DNA cellphone from HTC.
Walking down the main drag of Alexandria, Va., one is met with the usual signs. A drugstore. A Starbucks. An antiques shop. A Starbucks. A carpeting center. A Starbucks. And the letters D-N-A. Salon DNA, which not only has the name, but also offers a logo design reminiscent of a sequencing gel.
The new world
Crick, Franklin, Watson and Wilkins could not have imagined any of this when they were generating and analyzing the crystallography data that led to the elucidation of the structure of DNA, work that put a face on what was already known as the core of life: A simple, elegant biochemical staircase that scientists and now laypeople have climbed for six decades to see worlds well beyond the vistas imagined by the intrepid, and often conflicting, quartet.
In his 1962 speech at the Nobel Banquet on behalf of himself, Crick and Wilkins (Franklin passed away in 1958 and was therefore ineligible to be recognized by the Nobel committee), James Watson openly recognized the significance of their work in the broadest of terms.
"At that time, we knew that a new world had been opened, and that an old world which seemed rather mystical was gone," he said.
It is important to remember that the quartet didn't discover DNA, as has commonly been misreported by the media. To be completely frank, much of what was technologically accomplished in the decades since could have been achieved in the absence of a known structureyou didn't need to know what insulin looked like to understand how it works.
The structure elucidation clearly established a visual frame of reference, however, that facilitated an understanding of the genetic landscape and perhaps more importantly, a conceptual framework upon which generations of future scientists could dream.
And dream they did, as shown by the timeline "60 years of DNA milestones," (see table at the bottom of this screen) which highlights just a few of the seminal achievements that followed the structure determination and formed the foundation of the biotechnological era in which we now live and work.
Sequence of events
From its humblest beginnings as a multistep process performed by hand, through its first awkward steps of automation, to its dramatic transition into a high-throughput science, DNA sequencing has become the cornerstone of the genetic era, as all other technological advancements are moot without the understanding of what those sequences do and for what they code.
In a recent interview for the 10th anniversary of the completion of the Human Genome Project, Eric D. Green, director of the National Human Genome Research Institute, gave his perspectives on a decade of technological advances.
"What's happened in the arena of DNA sequencing technology development in the last 10 years has been truly spectacular," he opines. "Go back 10 years. We had just generated that first sequence of the human genome, and the active sequencing part took about six to eight years, consumed about $1 billionthat was about the cost for organizing of the sequencing and actually doing the sequencing.
"Fast-forward 10 years, after these spectacular new technologies have been developed, and we're well under $10,000," he continues. "In fact, the current estimates for getting the sequence of a human genome are something on the order of $3,000 to $5,000 and down to $1,000, I think, within a year or two. And remarkably, today, you could do it in a couple of days, and probably by the end of this calendar year, I am being told, within a day."
For Green, though, the real success of these efforts will come with an improved understanding of the genomic basis for human disease. Until recently, he suggests, this understanding has been limited to rare diseases that center around simple genetic paradigms, rather than more complex diseases with multiple genetic components.
Before the Human Genome Project, he says, we knew the genetic basis of about 60 genes involved in rare diseases. By the end of the project, that number exploded to about 2,200. In the 10 years since then, that number has more than doubled up to almost 5,000.
Not wishing to underplay the rare disease efforts, however, he adds, "what's going on with rare genetic diseases has been truly remarkable."
As Green's comments allude, early efforts to improve sequencing technologies focused on increasing throughput to maximize the amount of samples that could be processed in a single run, as the focus of initiatives like the Human Genome Project was to simply catalogue the broadest spray of genomic sequences.
Now that this has been doneor is at least well on its waythe needs within the industry and in medicine have become more refined and more focused on individuals rather than on populations. To that end, companies such as Illumina have adjusted their next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies to suit not just genomics centers, but also hospital clinics and smaller field laboratories.
"From a clinical perspective, there is great potential for NGS in the management and treatment of human health," said Richard Tothill and colleagues at Melbourne's Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, in a 2011 review examining the clinical applications of NGS systems from Illumina, Roche and Life Technologies.
"It is easy to imagine that soon every patient will have both their constitutional and cancer genomes sequenced, the latter perhaps multiple times in order to monitor disease progression, thus enabling an accurate molecular subtyping of disease and the rational use of molecularly guided therapies," the authors added.
As suggested in previous articles in DDNEWS, however, and echoed here by Tothill, the new technologies and data streams will require a re-education of clinician who are currently ill-prepared to act upon the NGS results.
"Protocols for dealing with NGS data that guide what and how particular information will be reported and conveyed to the clinician will need to be established," Tothill says.
While applauding the improvements made in speed, throughput and cost, Barrett Bready, CEO of positional sequencing company Nabsys, suggests still more is required to see NGS reach maximal utility.
"While these advances have been impressive and important, many applications of sequence datain medicine, as well as in basic biological research and agriculturerequire similar levels of improvement in data accuracy, information content, reduced data and computational burden and simplified workflow," he said while he prepared for presentations at the Annual Advances in Genome Biology and Technology meeting held in Florida last year.
Many human diseases are the result of large-scale genomic insertions, deletions or duplications, according to John Thompson, Nabsys' director of assay development, information that can be critical to diagnosing and treating patients. Many such variants, however, can be difficult to detect using standard or next-generation sequencing methodologies.
The Nabsys platform uses nanoscale detectors and specific hybridization probes to generate not only sequence information, but also provide a positional reference for the sequence within the genome. Thus, over scales of hundreds of kilobases to megabases, the sequences can be examined within the context of other DNA segments, allowing for an accelerated assembly of de-novo sequences.
Detection and diagnosis
Aside from efforts to sequence entire genomes at increasingly shrinking costs, there has also been a strong effort in the idea of sequencing genomes at increasingly shrinking scalesperhaps even down to the genome of a single cell.
In the April edition of Genome Research, scientists at the J. Craig Venter Institute published their efforts to recover and sequence the genome from a single cell of Porphyomonas gingivalis, a periodontal pathogen they isolated from a biofilm in a hospital sink. Without culturing and within a biofilm population that included 25 different types of bacteria, the researchers were able to sequence and assemble the genome of one literally microbe. Comparing that sequence to cultured strains, the researchers noted 524 unique genes in the biofilm exemplar, some of which may be involved in virulence.
"A vast majority of bacteria in the environment, as well as those associated with the human microbiome, have eluded standard culturing approaches, and therefore, their physiology and gene content are unknown," the authors write. "This leaves a large gap in our knowledge of the potential roles for these organisms in the environment, and also in human health and disease."
As the recent spate of highly publicized hospital-acquired infections indicates, biofilm research is becoming increasingly important as clinicians and scientists attempt to expand their understanding of how these microbes change in becoming part of a biofilm. This knowledge will hopefully lead to insights on how best to fight both biofilm formation on surfaces such as catheters, sinks and medical instruments, and kill the organisms once part of a biofilm.
"Capturing genomes from environmental samples using single-cell approaches could support studies on the prevalence and genotype of pathogens from environmental sources and may ultimately help reveal their possible modes of transmission between the host and environment," the authors conclude.
Sequencing isn't the only DNA technology that is moving clinical research forward. With increasing pressure to provide companion diagnostics with new therapies, several other molecular workhorses continue to ply their trade, including fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) and PCR.
In January, Epizyme announced its collaboration with Roche to develop a PCR-based companion diagnostic to support its efforts with Eisai to progress its EZH2 target for lymphoma. The goal is to identify patients who carry a mutant form of the enzyme involved in cancer proliferation and then treat those patients with their selective inhibitor.
In announcing the effort, Epizyme President and CEO Robert Gould said, "Epizyme is committed to the creation and commercialization of personalized therapeutics and companion diagnostics for patients with genetically defined cancers."
Following through on that pitch, Epizyme in April announced a partnership agreement with Abbott to develop a companion diagnostic for its mixed lineage leukemia candidate EPZ-5676, an inhibitor targeting the DOT1L histone methyltransferase. Under the agreement, Abbott will develop FISH assays to identify patient samples that include oncogenic mutations of DOT1L and identify eligible patients for the inhibitor.
Meanwhile, Dako in March announced it received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for its HER2 IQFISH pharmDx platform as a companion diagnostic for Genentech's HER-2 positive metastatic breast cancer treatment Kadcyla, an antibody-drug conjugate derivative of Herceptin.
In discussing personalized medicine with DDNEWS last year, Henrik Winther, Dako's vice president of corporate business development, said, "in my personal opinion, I could easily foresee that in seven to eight years' time, you will see no oncology drug being prescribed without having a companion diagnostic attached to it. Looking at the flow of diagnostics tests performed in a pathology lab today, I could also foresee a significant change in favor of companion diagnostics. More and more patient cases are being referred to prognostic and predictive assays simply because you want to be able to provide better treatment and prognosis to the patients."
Spell me a solution
Of course, from a human health perspective, the holy grail of the genomic revolution remains the ability to go into the human body and correct disease-causing errors at their roots: gene therapy.
After some modest successes and high-profile failures in the 1990sthe most famous of the latter being the death of Jesse Gelsinger in 1999gene therapy research efforts continued, but largely took a back seat to other therapy development efforts. As our understanding of therapy vectors has improved over the intervening years, however, gene therapy is looking at something of a renaissance.
Last November, uniQure's Glybera became the first gene therapy product to be approved by the European Commission. Designed as a treatment for lipoprotein lipase deficiency, Glybera uses an adenoviral vector to introduce a variant of the human lipoprotein lipase gene into patients, facilitating the metabolism of fat-carrying particles in the bloodstream that might otherwise obstruct small blood vessels and can cause acute pancreatitis.
"This therapy will have a dramatic impact on the lives of these patients," said Glybera researcher John Kastelein of the University of Amsterdam. "Currently, their only recourse is to severely restrict the amount of fat they consume. By helping to normalize the metabolism of fat, Glybera prevents inflammation of the pancreas, thereby averting the associated pain and suffering, and if administered early enough, the associated co-morbidities [early-onset diabetes and cardiovascular complications]."
Although the initial push for gene therapy was largely limited to orphan conditions that offered few other treatment options, it is also starting to make clinical progress in the treatment of more widespread conditions.
In March, Japan's AnGes MG announced it received FDA approval on its Special Protocol Assessment (SPA) for its global Phase III study of Collategene, a gene therapy product developed in collaboration with Vical. The agreement hopefully paves the way for success of the trial in critical limb ischemia and thereby opens the door for future regulatory approval.
A month later, researchers at Celladon and Imperial College London announced the initiation of the CUPID2 trial of Celladon's Mydicar gene therapy, an AVV-mediated delivery of the gene for SERCA2A directly into the heart to reverse heart failure and improve heart function.
According to Alexander Lyon, consulting cardiologist from Royal Brompton Hospital and an Imperial College lecturer, "Heart failure affects more than three-quarters of a million people across the U.K. Once heart failure starts, it progresses into a vicious cycle where the pumping becomes weaker and weaker as each heart cell simply cannot respond to the increased demand. Our goal is to fight back against heart failure by targeting and reversing some of the critical molecular changes arising in the heart when it fails."
A legacy of vision
The ripples of the DNA revolution continue to be felt down the biological stream with an 'omics for every biomolecule available, providing ready fodder for publications such as DDNEWS.
Outside of the lab and outside of the clinic, however, the democratization of DNA continues as wider swathes of society embrace its potential, both real and metaphoric.
"We must continue to work in the humane spirit in which we were fortunate to grow up," Watson concluded his Nobel speech. "If so, we shall help insure that our science continues and that our civilization will prevail."
This was clearly an understatement as their science has not only prevailed, it has flourished and evolved in ways the original quartet could never have realized.
(click here for the rest of this Special Report on the history of DNA and a look toward the next 60 years...)
Code: E061328
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Carol's Daughter New Jersey
Project Summary
A leader of ethnic beauty, Carol's Daughter came to RPG to create a full retail environment that reflects their mission to fulfill the beauty needs of all women by creating high–quality hair, body and skincare products made with natural ingredients. RPG rose to the challenge to design a store that used recycled material, that reinforced the trial of the product and that organized the product while still providing a sense of discovery and interactivity. Using stained bamboo and glass fixtures along with natural river stones, illuminated light boxes and a ceramic floor, RPG created an enticing and warm, nature –inspired escape for customers to experience the brand.


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Shop Announcement:
Due to the ongoing situation our delivery times are presently 3-5 working days.
Thank you for your understanding.
Cat print - Black Cat - Original Hand Pulled Linocut Print
'Black Cat' - Original, hand printed linocut, printed on hand press in black ink. Signed and titled in pencil by the artist.
Supplied in a cream mount.
Gary can replace the title on the print with your own cats name if you so wish.
And as we love the people who love our work - THERE IS NO EXTRA CHARGE!
Contact us with your cats name once you have made your purchase.
Making art through the medium of lino is one where surprises are a daily occurrence.
Every time an image is hand pressed the anticipation of the reveal when pulling back the paper can make for some wonderful, unique images. The weight of the press, amount of ink and paper used means every single print is different, such a refreshing change in this digital age. The evolution of each print puts the owner in direct contact with the artist.
Open ended edition.
Supplied in a cream mount.
Mount size: to fit frame 24 x 30cms.
Printed on archival quality printing paper using water based inks.
Colour may vary from digital image.
Picture frame not included.
NOTE: This is Original Artwork - NOT a digital Print.
Artist retains all reproduction rights and copyrights.
Sale does not reflect transfer of copyright.
Posted in protective packaging.
One of our little friends. She was a rescue cat and was always so grateful that we had found her and in turn we were glad she'd found us!
Shipping & delivery
This item will be posted to you by littleRamstudio within 3 days of receiving payment.
|Shipping destination
|Additional items
|United Kingdom
Italy, Greece, Cyprus, Germany, France, Spain, Finland, Belgium, Portugal, Poland, Ireland, Sweden, Denmark, Netherlands, Austria, Latvia, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar
|United States
|Rest of the World
Returns Policy
You have 14 days, from receipt, to notify the seller if you wish to cancel your order or exchange an item.
Unless faulty, the following types of items are non-refundable: items that are personalised, bespoke or made-to-order to your specific requirements; items which deteriorate quickly (e.g. food), personal items sold with a hygiene seal (cosmetics, underwear) in instances where the seal is broken.


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English Umpires Match Fixing Against Pakistan
September 24, 2010 2 Comments
Pak team up against 13 players!!!
Watch English Umpires Match Fixing Videos Against Pakistan. Horrible decisions being made against Pakistan and mistakes aren't done with so much frequency at this highest level. Must Watch Videos.
Share this with Friends and everyone so the true face of the English Cricket Board and their Umpires is revealed. Will there be any inquire into this one? I am afraid not and it will just go into the history as another Umpiring Error(s) and will be burried in the pages of the history. Very Sad when we see discrimination at this highest level and in a game which is called a "Gentlemen's Game".


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Our lesson plans are written and reviewed by educators using current research and the best instructional practices and are aligned to state and national standards. Choose from hundreds of topics and strategies.
Find the latest in professional publications, learn new techniques and strategies, and find out how you can connect with other literacy professionals.
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Home › Professional Development › Strategy Guides
Strategy Guide
Implementing the Writing Process
|Strategy Guide Series
|Teaching Writing
This strategy guide explains the writing process and offers practical methods for applying it in your classroom to help students become proficient writers.
Research Basis
The writing processprewriting, drafting, revising and editing, rewriting, publishingmirrors the way proficient writers write. In using the writing process, your students will be able to break writing into manageable chunks and focus on producing quality material. The final stage, publishing, ensures that students have an audience. Students can even coach each other during various stages of the process for further emphasis on audience and greater collaboration during editing.
Studies show that students who learn the writing process score better on state writing tests than those who receive only specific instruction in the skills assessed on the test. This type of authentic writing produces lifelong learners and allows students to apply their writing skills to all subjects.
Success in writing greatly depends on a students attitude, motivation, and engagement. The writing process takes these elements into account by allowing students to plan their writing and create a publishable, final draft of their work of which they can be proud. It addresses students need for a real audience and to take the time to draft and redraft their work. You can help your students think carefully about each stage of their writing by guiding them through the writing process repeatedly throughout the year and across various content areas.
Strategy in Practice
The writing process involves teaching students to write in a variety of genres, encouraging creativity, and incorporating writing conventions. This process can be used in all areas of the curriculum and provides an excellent way to connect instruction with state writing standards.
The following are ways to implement each step of the writing process:
- PrewritingThis step involves brainstorming, considering purpose and goals for writing, using graphic organizers to connect ideas, and designing a coherent structure for a writing piece. For kindergarten students, scribbling and invented spelling are legitimate stages of writing development; the role of drawing as a prewriting tool becomes progressively less important as writers develop. Have young students engage in whole-class brainstorming to decide topics on which to write. For students in grades 3-5, have them brainstorm individually or in small groups with a specific prompt, such as, Make a list of important people in your life, for example. Online graphic organizers might help upper elementary students to organize their ideas for specific writing genres during the prewriting stage. Examples are the Essay Map, Notetaker, or Persuasion Map.
- DraftingHave students work independently at this stage. Confer with students individually as they write, offering praise and suggestions while observing areas with which students might be struggling and which might warrant separate conference time or minilessons.
- Revising and EditingShow students how to revise specific aspects of their writing to make it more coherent and clear during minilessons. You can model reading your own writing and do a think aloud about how you could add more details and make it clearer. Teach students to reread their own work more than once as they think about whether it really conveys what they want to their reader. Reading their work aloud to classmates and other adults helps them to understand what revisions are needed. Your ELLs will develop greater language proficiency as they collaborate with their peers when revising.
- RewritingHave students incorporate changes as they carefully write or type their final drafts.
- PublishingEncourage students to publish their works in a variety of ways, such as a class book, bulletin board, letters to the editor, school newsletter, or website. The ReadWriteThink Printing Press tool is useful for creating newspapers, brochures, flyers and booklets. Having an authentic audience beyond the classroom gives student writing more importance and helps students to see a direct connection between their lives and their literacy development.
Rubrics help to make expectations and grading procedures clear, and provide a formative assessment to guide and improve your instruction. The Sample Writing Rubric, for example, can be used for upper elementary students.
As you work with your students to implement the writing process, they will begin to master writing and take it into all aspects of life.
Peer review, with clear guidelines for students to give feedback on each others work, motivates students, allows them to discuss their writing with their peers, and makes the work load a little lighter for you. The Peer Edit with Perfection! PowerPoint Tutorial is a useful tool to teach students how to peer review and edit.
You can also have students can edit their own work using a checklist, such as the Editing Checklist. Editing is when students have already revised content but need to correct mistakes in terms of spelling, grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and word choice.
Use minilessons, small-group lessons, or individual conferencing if necessary to make sure that students have made thoughtful changes to their writing content before moving on to the final draft.
Related Resources
Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
How-To Writing: Motivating Students to Write for a Real Purpose
It's not easy surviving fourth grade (or third or fifth)! In this lesson, students brainstorm survival tips for future fourth graders and incorporate those tips into an essay.
Grades K – 2 | Lesson Plan | Unit
Reading and Writing About Whales Using Fiction and Nonfiction Texts
Students will have a whale of a good time in this lesson in which they use fiction and nonfiction texts to write a letter to an online scientist.
Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Prompting Revision through Modeling and Written Conversations
Students create a checklist outlining what effective writers do, revise his or her own writing, and engage in a written conversation to help peers with the revision process.
Grades 6 – 8 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Cut up, Cover up, and Come Away with Ideas for Writing!
Students rework their forgotten/abandoned drafts by cutting and covering up selected words. By creatively manipulating text, they explore portal writing, a strategy for envisioning a new story or story direction.
Grades 6 – 9 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Writing for Audience: The Revision Process in The Diary of Anne Frank
After reading or viewing The Diary of Anne Frank, students will make connections between audience and purpose and revise a journal entry with an outside audience in mind.
Grades 3 – 6 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
The Houdini Box: What Did Houdini Hide? Writing Creative Endings
Students are encouraged to understand a book that the teacher reads aloud to create a new ending for it using the writing process.
Grades K – 2 | Lesson Plan | Unit
Teaching Audience Through Interactive Writing
Through interactive writing, students work together and then independently to create invitation letters for a group of their peers and their families.
Grades 7 – 10 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
A Picture IS Worth a Thousand Words: Using Infographics to Illustrate How-to Writing
Students write step-by-step instructions on topics of their own choosing. Then using Piktochart, students create their own infographics to illustrate their instructions.
Grades K – 2 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Writing Workshop: Helping Writers Choose and Focus on a Topic
Students engage in writing workshop, using a timeline to focus in on and write about a specific event.
Grades 9 – 12 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
And in Conclusion: Inquiring into Strategies for Writing Effective Conclusions
While drafting a literary analysis essay (or another type of argument) of their own, students work in pairs to investigate advice for writing conclusions and to analyze conclusions of sample essays. They then draft two conclusions for their essay, select one, and reflect on what they have learned through the process.
Grades 3 – 5 | Lesson Plan | Standard Lesson
Peer Edit With Perfection: Effective Strategies
Students take a fresh look at the revision process and help one another polish their written work through a peer-editing strategy that is simple, systematic, and constructive.
Grades K – 2 | Lesson Plan | Recurring Lesson
Weekend News! A Weekly Writing Activity
On Monday mornings, you're likely to be asked, "What did you do this weekend?" In this lesson, students respond to this question in a self-assessed writing assignment about their weekend adventures.


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As we move forward with our product lines I hope to be always optimizing, growing quality, and tightening price points to increase affordability. I can only thank profusely the kind and patient customers that have seen us through these years. Cheers to you and I hope we can always prove deserving of your loyalty. If you would like to email us, please use form below:
Please remember, you can always contact us via telephone or postal mail as well using the following information:
The Collectors Showcase
777 #9 Shady Lane
Austin, Texas 78702
United States
Telephone: 1-888-886-1103


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Hide Forgot
Please have a look at the wikipage
and change your initscripts to comply with the LSB standard.
Especially check the exit status and add a LSB Header.
E.g. starting a service should return with 0, if the service is already running and stopping a stopped service should also return with 0.
Also check, if your service has to be _on_ per default, and turn it off in the old chkconfig line, if not.
Thank you.
*** This bug has been marked as a duplicate of 242468 ***


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The United Nations agency leading the response to the AIDS epidemic is calling for an end to gender-based violence, which is not only a serious human rights violation but also increases the risk of HIV infection.
Recent research has established a clear association between intimate partner violence and HIV, with women experiencing such violence facing a 50 per cent increased risk of acquiring the virus, according to the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
"Every hour 50 young women become newly infected with HIV," UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé said in a message ahead of Monday's International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
"Women and girls have the right to live free of violence and inequities and to protect themselves against HIV," he said.
About one in three women globally experience physical and/or sexual violence by a partner or sexual violence by a non-partner, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) has said.
Around 150 million girls under the age of 18 have experienced some form of sexual violence, according to agency, with many never disclosing their traumatic experience.
Responding to gender-based violence and HIV is "a matter of shared global responsibility for social justice," UNAIDS said in its news release.
In the 2011 Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS, UN Member States pledged to eliminate gender inequalities, gender-based abuse and violence, and to protect women from the risk of HIV infection.
Yet gender-based violence is a pervasive reality across the globe, noted UNAIDS. It affects women and men around the world. In particular, women who inject drugs, female sex workers and transgender people are most affected.