text:
tational impact of non-delivery is huge."As they created the ini-tial plan, Mr. Novogrod-sky and his team workedto ensure two thingsabove all—that the finan-cial burden of the gameswouldn't fall entirely onToronto and that all newor renovated athleticfacilities would serve thecommunity long after theclosing ceremony.
"If you're going to host
an event of provincial or
national significance, it
shouldn't fall to local property taxpayers to bear that financial risk. That's what has happened time and again in other jurisdictions," says Mr. Novogrodsky, who oversaw the
city's CA$96.5 million program of 11 new or upgraded facilities for the games. (Another
19 athletic venues built or renovated for the games are outside of Toronto in 15 southern Ontario municipalities.)
Mr. Novogrodsky points to two debt-laden Canadian
examples that helped spur the team's proactive planning:
the 1976 Olympic Games hosted by Montreal, which
resulted in CA$1.5 billion in debt that took the city three
decades to pay off, and the 2010 Winter Olympics hosted
by Vancouver, which had to pay down a CA$630 million
debt incurred to complete the athletes' village.
To avoid such outcomes, the governments of Toronto,
Ontario and Canada agreed on a plan that split infrastructure costs among the federal, provincial and municipal
governments, and named the province of Ontario as
the games' financial guarantor. In return, the province
required that its own infrastructure agency, Infrastructure
Ontario, manage the project.
The plan of shared risk and responsibility paid off.
Except for one of the smaller athletic facilities, the budget
of which increased due to a scope shift from a temporary
to a permanent structure, all of the city's projects have
come in on time and on budget, Mr. Novogrodsky says.
The Finish Line
Given the program's shared funding structure, clear communication was crucial for executing the games' CA$700
million capital program of new and renovated facility projects.
To streamline collaboration among myriad stakeholders—including the organizingcommittee, the facilities' owners, the contractors and government officials—Mr. Fellen's
When it comes to outsourcing destinations, one region continues to reign
supreme: Asia Pacific. Of the top 20
destinations, just four are in other parts
of the world, according to Tholons' 2015
Top 100 Outsourcing Destinations report.
With Dublin, Ireland pushed to the 12th
position, just one non-Asian city remains
in the top 10: Krakow, Poland, known for
its ability to handle business analytics,
accounting and human resources projects.
India and the Philippines—go-to countries
for software development projects and call
center operations, respectively—continue
to dominate the very top of the list.
That doesn't mean nothing has changed
across the outsourcing landscape during
the last year, however. This year, Hanoi,
Vietnam broke into the top 20, thanks to
its growing software development capabilities and competitive pricing. Colombo, Sri
Lanka jumped up three spots to the 16th
position, powered by organizations with
expertise in accounting. —Imani Mixon
2. Manila, Philippines ( 2)
3. Mumbai, India ( 3)
4. Delhi, India ( 4)
5. Chennai, India ( 5)
6. Hyderabad, India ( 6)
7. Pune, India ( 7)
8. Cebu City, Philippines (8)
9. Krakow, Poland ( 9)
10. Shanghai, China ( 11)
11. San Jose, Costa Rica ( 13)
12. Dublin, Ireland ( 10)
13. Beijing, China ( 12)
14. Dalian (Dairen), China ( 14)
15. Prague, Czech Republic ( 16)
16. Colombo, Sri Lanka ( 19)
17. Shenzhen, China ( 15)
18. Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam ( 17)
19. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia ( 18)
20. Hanoi, Vietnam ( 22)
*Each city's position on Tholons' 2014 list is in parentheses.
The CA$205 million aquatic center and
field house in Scarborough, Ontario will
also serve the local community's needs.


text:
Southern Responses to Fair Trade Gold: Cooperation, Competition, Supplementation
Keywords: eco-labeling; extractive industries; emerging economies; Fair Trade; Environmental Sustainability; Standards; Programs; Governance Compliance; Competition; Adaptation; Mining Industry;
Citation:Sippl, Kristin. "Southern Responses to Fair Trade Gold: Cooperation, Competition, Supplementation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 19-055, November 2018. (Forthcoming in Ecological Economics.) View Details

subset: commoncrawl


text: Activity & Fun SWEETHAVEN - POPEYE VILLAGE Anchor Bay, limits of Mellieħa, Malta The film set of the 1980 musical production "Popeye", also known as 'POPEYE VILLAGE', was constructed in Anchor Bay during the last 7 months of 1979. Today the "village" has grown into a family attraction featuring a number of colorful fun activities for all young at heart. Here you will meet famous cartoon characters to greet and entertain your kids. Grownups can be part of a filming experience with the animation crew, and enjoy a number of attractions such as boat rides, water trampolines, sun bathing decks, beach lido, food outlets, winery offering free wine tasting, mini golf and Santa's toy town. There is also Malta's largest jump around and a fun park with numerous rides for kids. Informacje kontaktowe Telefon: +356 21524782 E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com Strona internetowa: http://www.popeyemalta.com Obiekty i usługi Umiejscowienie nad morzem Pokaż na mapie


text:
- IOCL Vacancy 2016
- Vacancy - Jr. Quality Control Analyst, Junior Engineering Assistant Posts
- Total no. of Posts - 29 Posts
- Last Date - 28 Mar, 2016
- Requirement - B.Sc, Diploma
- Pay Scale - Rs. 11900-32000/-
- Place of Posting - Assam
Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) has invited application for the posts of Jr. Quality Control Analyst, Junior Engineering Assistant on its official website http://www.iocl.com for B.sc, Diploma. Candidates who want to get a job in IOCL can apply for this notification. After qualifying you will be posted in Assam. The last date for applying is 28-03-2016. For more details like eligibility criteria, age limit and salary read further.
|Name of Post
|No. of Vacancy
|Age Limit
|Jr. Quality Control Analyst
|06 Posts
|18 to 26 years
|Rs. 11900-32000/-
|B.Sc. with Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics
|Junior Engineering Assistant
|23 Posts
|18 to 26 years
|Rs. 11900-32000/-
|Diploma in Mechanical or Electrical Engg.
Note: The Determining date for age calculation is 25.02.2016
Selection criteria : - Selection of the candidates will be based on Written Test & Skill/ Proficiency/ Physical Test.
Fee :- The Examination fee for this recruitment is Rs. 100/- through Demand Draft in favour of Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Bongaigaon Refinery payable at State Bank of India, BRPL Complex Branch (Branch Code: 7171, IFSC Code : SBIN0007171)..
- Applying Process :- offline
- Advertisement No. for the Vacancy - BGR/01/2016
Address: Chief Human Resource Manager, IOCL (Bongaigaon Refinery), Post Office – Dhaligaon, District – Chirang, Pin code – 783385, Assam.
Application Procedure :-Interested aspirants should print the application form downloaded from official website http://www.iocl.com,fill the prescribed application form giving out his details and pasting a recent photo as suggested in the advertisement and send the filled form to aforesaid address , so that it reaches before 28-03-2016.
Last Date for this recruitment:
- Last date - 28-03-2016
Important Links:-
- For full Details click here- Click here for IOCL Advertisement and Application form


text:
Dr. Khurshid Khan reelected as ICNA's President
12 29 06
The ICNA election committee has announced the results of the ICNA Ameer election:
"Alhamdulillah, the Election Committee has completed the counting of the ballots, hereby announces that Br. Dr. Khurshid Khan from NY has been elected Ameer of ICNA for the years – 2007 & 2008."
May Allah (S) put Barakah (blessings) in our work and accept our efforts. Ameen.
The Islamic Circle of North America is a leading American Muslim organization dedicated to the betterment of society through the application of Islamic values. Since 1968, ICNA has worked to build relations between communities by devoting itself to education, outreach, social services and relief efforts.
Islamic Circle of North America
Office: (718) 658-1199


text:
30% Off True Cotton, Curly Girl, Field Guide, Buzz Off, and Bird Song Felt Ornaments!Shop The Sale
A Studio M exclusive, Mini Art Poles™ are created similarly to our popular standard-sized poles, but are the perfect size for gifting. Whether for a friend who needs a smile or a pot that needs a pop of color, Mini Art Poles will do the trick! A stake is included for easy planting. Proudly made in the USA.
U.S. Patent No. 9,058,756
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Thanks for stopping by Studio M! If you don't know much about us, here's a crash course: We've been creating decorative products for the home and garden for over 28 years, and we truly love what we do. We're a company made up of family, friends, and neighbors who are passionate about creating innovative, artful outdoor décor. Whether you're shopping for yourself or looking for a unique gift for the gardener in your life, we hope our products help you express your creativity and add a little color to your world. Learn more about our roots, our community, our artists, and more here.


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Search the Community
Showing results for tags 'caching'.
Found 14 results
vdb directly to arnold volume instread of caching?
squardis posted a topic in EffectsHi, Im new to arnold for Houdini and want to know if there is a way to directly specify a vdb volume in the string path instead of a file on disc. for e.g.: I tried: /obj/cloud/OUT op:`opfullpath("/obj/cloud/OUT")` op: /obj/cloud/OUT ( without any luck) thnx for the help!
houdini Problem: Caching Houdini Engine Particles in Maya
mwillustrations posted a topic in EffectsSo I cached my nparticles that were imported via houdini engine into maya. When I import them back into the scene via nCache > attach cache it makes a cacheblend input on the nparticles. Great, but when I open the scene on another computer on the network that does not have Houdini the cached particles do not load at all. I need to render this on a farm and be able to load the scene on any machine and see the particles.
HQueue Substep caching of geometry NOT WORKING
Poetsofthefall posted a topic in General Houdini QuestionsHowdy there!! Having an issue here. I'm caching geometry to be prepped for Custom Flip SIMMs. And I need sub-frames as Flip needs sub-frames for VDB volumes and caches of Geometry. I'm putting on LOCAL system and it works. But when I send them to server using HQueue it only replies the Frames and doesnot include any sub-frames. I've checked with all the available options but still nothing. Screenshots are here................... These two things I've tried in HQueue.... Any IDEAS... Thanks.
Caching out Water Simulations
Stannojj posted a topic in EffectsSo i'm trying to Cache out my water simulation, I've cached it out previously as a VDB, yet my file sizes are just below 800KB. It's a rather small simulation but i assume that's wrong. How do i go around fixing this issue? WhiteWaterSim.hipnc
Issue with playback simulation on low ram (32gb) pc
Lucy Coleclough posted a topic in General Houdini QuestionsHi Guys I have a fairly high res flip sim (by student standards, about 3 gig per frame) and I needed to cache it out as a .sim to utilise checkpoints I need to read this simulation in using playback simulation on the dopnet and a dop IO node with the flip presets in order to pull in the velocity fields for a whitewater sim, however when I do this the computer gets stuck on the first frame I load in. My only current solution is to go through every frame, unticking and reticking the playback simulation button which would take me 2 minutes of load time per frame for 432 frames. An alternative I've considered is the Houdini python module however I am not familiar with this and don't know if the required functions exist. Please could someone with more knowledge on this tell me if this is possible in the python module or whether there is an alternate solution such as a way to pull velocity fields from a .sim cache Thanks George
Deadline & Houdini File Path
zinogino posted a topic in PipelineHey everyone, So just started deadline for Houdini and I've managed to send my rop output to deadline for rendering but when I explore the output file path, it shows file does not exist. However, when selecting the explore file path, it opens the correct pointed file directory where I want my caches & renders to be at. It does work if I copy & paste the output file path I'm using $JOB for all my files since I'm working, rendering, caching off our servers. Our IT guy have no clue on why it's behaving like this as well therefore would be best if anyone can guide me in setting up deadline? Screenshots attached H16.0.633 | Deadline 10.0.19.0
How to offset cache start time onto copied points?
ForeverMovement posted a topic in General Houdini QuestionsHello all, I've run into a problem that's been making me go in 6 directions and I can't seem to get any of them straight in my head. I have one cache that I want to copy to points that show up over time, I'm basically doing a running explosion like this https://gfycat.com/shinyhardanaconda When I copy the packed and cached sim onto the points the cache doesn't play with the offset of the points on the copied caches, so how would I go about offsetting each new sim on the new point. I've created a point attribute that marks the frame that each point gets created but I don't know how to connect that to a time offset or shift that would make it work on each point. Am I even doing this the right way? Anything helps, thanks.
Houdini For The New Artist
tbay312 posted a topic in EducationDownload the Course Files & Watch for Free at CG Circuit https://www.cgcircuit.com/tutorial/houdini-for-the-new-artist Hello ODFORCE! I'm very excited to share my first Houdini course titled: Houdini For the New Artist Houdini for The New Artist is perfect for anyone interested in learning Houdini for the first time. To keep things interesting, we learn about the basics while building "Alfred the Rhino" from scratch. If you're looking for an intro tutorial that gives you a bit of everything, fun to work with, and straight to the point - this is for you. Be sure to check out the full course and download the course files and practice along. Thank you for watching! Course Outline Intro 42s The Interface 12m 26s Setting up Our Project 12m 53s Utilizing Attributes 10m 47s Caching 8m 23s Applying Materials 9m 55s Adding the Backdrop 6m 41s Basic Shading Parameters 5m 36s Lighting 9m 30s Rendering 12m 29s
Flip Sim Randomly Stops Caching
ejr32123 posted a topic in EffectsHey, I am using the the output of my flip sim to save the simulation to disk. I told it to do 600 frames. It does around 120 then randomly stops. It gives no error. Houdini has not crashed. What would cause this? Thanks
cache a sequence per processor
Omegaroth posted a topic in General Houdini QuestionsHello, I am currently caching 240 frames of 2 mil points a frame and my cpus are only using 10% to cache this thing, but it is taking several hours to cache the full frame range. I was wondering if there are any workarounds or scripts where I can specify each cpu (i have 20 cpus 40 threads) to batch a certain range per cpu (maybe 12 frames a core over 20 cores) Any tips or resources references would be greatly appreciated! Thanks all
caching ocean question
ejr32123 posted a topic in EffectsHey, I was trying to save a compressed cache of my beach simulation. Over time, my ram kept filling up untill houdini crashed (not very far in). My work stations at school have 64 gigs and I have seen vimeo/youtube videos of people getting twice my resolution with half my ram. Also, why would my ram keep filling up if I am caching to disk and not ram? Does it actually cache directly to disk or cache each frame to ram then move it to disk, thus filling up ram? Thanks.
DOP Checkpoints disable simulation
Kaprolactam posted a topic in EffectsHello everyone, so we finally got the full FX license for Houdini and I merrily went about rebuilding a setup that I built in the apprentice version, some FLIP shenanigans. The apprentice version wouldn't simulate when I enabled checkpoints, I thought that was so you can't simulate in apprentice and use the cache in the full version. But now I've got the paid license and the problem persists. I set up the checkpoint file name but no matter what interval or trail length I set, all it ever does is simulate frame 1 and write it to disk, then stop simulating the DOP network, showing me memory cache blue in the playbar and just playing the animation. I'm stumped. Is there anything I'm missing or is it a bug in H16? Any help is appreciated. Thanks in advance Paul
Houdini caching large OBJ geo files
charliejh posted a topic in General Houdini QuestionsHi, Im working with a pretty complex OBJ file which I'm going to be running some dust and smoke effect over. (theres rocks and signs etc). However the file is really slowing down the sim and its impossible to work with. I've read that you can change 'File Mode' to Automatic and it will cache the geometry permanently to disc, but it will not let me change it as it is greyed out. What is the best way to use my geometry but not let it slow down my dust sim after changing it to a static object. New_desert_geo_edited_v002.obj
Cached out geometry jumps around
JP Shep posted a topic in General Houdini QuestionsHey all, I've cached out a cloth sim that's was attached to a static object but when I read it back in with a file node the geometry jumps around in some frames. In the sim in the DOP net it's fine but in the cache it jumps around. Anyone know what's happening?


text:
Why God commanded animal sacrifices for forgiveness of His people in the Old Testament.
Jesus killed the first animals in the Garden of Eden.
Killing innocent animals was the "first edition" of God's plan of salvation. The Father viewed the killing of animals (done rightly) as a sort of down payment for the future and real sacrifice of Jesus to cover our sins.
Old Testament people found God's forgiveness in the sacrifices, though only Jesus' blood had the power to bring real atonement. We should not be ashamed of the Old Testament sacrifices.


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Contractility and Ventricular Systolic Stiffening in Hypertensive Heart DiseaseInsights Into the Pathogenesis of Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction
Author + information
- Received February 14, 2009
- Revision received April 9, 2009
- Accepted May 5, 2009
- Published online July 28, 2009.
Author Information
- Barry A. Borlaug, MD,
- Carolyn S.P. Lam, MBBS,
- Véronique L. Roger, MD, MPH,
- Richard J. Rodeheffer, MD and
- Margaret M. Redfield, MD⁎ (redfield.margaret{at}mayo.edu)
- ↵⁎Reprint requests and correspondence
: Dr. Margaret M. Redfield, Mayo Clinic and Foundation, 200 First Street SW, Rochester, Minnesota 55905
Objectives We sought to compare left ventricular (LV) systolic stiffness and contractility in normal subjects, hypertensive patients without heart failure, and patients with heart failure and preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and to determine whether LV systolic stiffness or myocardial contractility is associated with the rate of mortality in patients with HFpEF.
Background Arterial load is increased in patients with hypertension and is matched by increased end-systolic LV stiffness (ventricular-arterial coupling). Increased end-systolic LV stiffness may be mediated by enhanced myocardial contractility or processes that increase passive myocardial stiffness.
Methods Healthy control patients (n = 617), hypertensive patients (no heart failure, n = 719), and patients with HFpEF (n = 244, 96% hypertensive) underwent echo-Doppler characterization of arterial (Ea) and LV end-systolic (Ees) stiffness (elastance), ventricular-arterial coupling (Ea/Ees ratio), and chamber-level and myocardial contractility (stress-corrected midwall shortening).
Results We found that Ea and Ees were similarly increased in hypertensive patients with or without HFpEF compared with control patients, but ventricular-arterial coupling was similar across groups. In hypertensive patients, increased Ees was associated with enhanced chamber-level and myocardial contractility, whereas in patients with HFpEF, chamber and myocardial contractility were depressed compared with both hypertensive and control patients. Group differences persisted after adjusting for geometry. In patients with HFpEF, impaired myocardial contractility (but not Ees) was associated with increased age-adjusted mortality.
Conclusions Although arterial load is increased and matched by increased LV systolic stiffness in hypertensive patients with or without HFpEF, the mechanisms of systolic LV stiffening differ substantially. These data suggest that myocardial contractility increases to match arterial load in asymptomatic hypertensive heart disease, but that progression to HFpEF may be mediated by processes that simultaneously impair myocardial contractility and increase passive myocardial stiffness.
One-half of patients with heart failure (HF) have a preserved ejection fraction (i.e., heart failure with preserved ejection fraction [HFpEF]) (1–4). Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction predominantly afflicts elderly, hypertensive patients (1,3,4). Vascular stiffness increases with age, promoting systolic hypertension and increased effective arterial elastance (Ea) (5,6). Left ventricular (LV) end-systolic stiffness (elastance) (Ees) increases in tandem (5–7), such that the relationship between ventricular and arterial elastance (ventricular-arterial coupling) remains relatively constant (8–10).
End-systolic LV elastance is a measure of contractility, but it is also influenced by chamber geometry and passive myocardial stiffening (8,11). Ees is increased in patients with HFpEF (7,10), yet many studies (12–14), though not all (15), have reported that various systolic function indices are mildly depressed in patients with HFpEF. Indeed, it is well recognized that impairments in myocardial contractility may coexist with preserved ejection fraction (EF) in hypertensive patients with concentric remodeling (16–20). This phenomenon allows the preservation of endocardial motion despite reduced shortening of individual myofibers, such that the EF remains normal (19,21).
We sought to compare and contrast chamber and myocardial contractility, LV Ees, and ventricular-arterial coupling in 3 groups, healthy control patients without cardiovascular disease, hypertensive patients without HF, and patients with HFpEF, by using multiple load-independent measures of chamber and myocardial contractility. All participants were drawn from a large-scale, nonselected, population-based sample. To account for differences in ventricular geometry, contractile indices were contrasted within each pattern of chronic chamber remodeling. To determine the clinical significance of these findings, the relationships between contractility or LV systolic stiffness and mortality were examined.
Study population and setting
The unique aspects of the Rochester Epidemiology Project for population-based research have been described (2,3). The study was approved by the Mayo Institutional Review Board. A random sample (n = 2,042) of the Olmsted County, Minnesota, population age ≥45 years underwent echocardiography and record review. From this cohort, 2 control groups were identified (2,3,10): healthy, non-obese control patients without cardiovascular disease or diabetes, and hypertensive control patients without HF. From the same community, consecutive patients with HFpEF and no significant valvular disease were identified by use of the Framingham criteria (2,3). Vital status through March 2008 was determined from the Mayo Clinic registration database and the Rochester Epidemiology Project death database (2,3). Mortality data were ascertained from medical records, death certificates for Olmsted County residents, obituaries, and notices of death in the local newspapers. Data on all Minnesota deaths were obtained from the State of Minnesota annually. Some clinical characteristics and ventricular function parameters from subjects in this study have previously been published (1–3,10), but most of the systolic indices and their associations with outcomes have not.
Comprehensive echocardiographic assessment was performed by registered diagnostic cardiac sonographers by the use of standardized instruments and techniques, with studies interpreted in a blinded fashion (10). Ventricular dimensions, wall thickness, chamber volumes, and stroke volume were determined in triplicate from 2-dimensional, M-mode echocardiography, and Doppler spectra with the use of standard methods (10). Sex-specific definitions for ventricular hypertrophy and geometry patterns based on LV mass index and relative wall thickness (normal, concentric remodeling, concentric hypertrophy, and eccentric hypertrophy) were used (10). Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was estimated from echo-Doppler and tissue-Doppler (10). Brachial blood pressure was determined by sphygmomanometry. End-systolic pressure was determined from the product of: 0.9 × systolic blood pressure (8). Effective arterial elastance (Ea = end-systolic pressure/stroke volume) and circumferential end-systolic wall stress (cESS) were determined as measures of ventricular afterload (8,19).
Assessment of LV systolic chamber and arterial properties
Endocardial fractional shortening (eFS) was determined from 2-dimensional systolic and diastolic dimensions. Left ventricular Ees was determined by the single-beat technique (22). Ventricular-arterial interaction was quantified by the coupling ratio (Ea/Ees). To account for both afterload and preload, 2 additional load-independent measures of chamber contractility were examined: 1) wall-stress-corrected endocardial fractional shortening (sc-eFS), which was determined by expressing observed eFS as a percentage of that predicted for any given wall stress, based upon the regression equation derived in the healthy control patients (18); and 2) pre-load recruitable stroke work (PRSW), which was determined by the use of a validated single-beat technique (23).
Assessment of myocardial contractility
Measures of chamber-level contractility do not necessarily reflect myocardial contractility (16–19,21) because motion at the endocardial surface is greater than predicted by sarcomere shortening alone as the result of the phenomenon of cross-fiber shortening. Shortening of muscle fibers oriented in orthogonal directions at the inner and outer surfaces of the heart causes marked thickening in the radial axis (21). This effect is enhanced in the setting of concentric remodeling, allowing individual reductions in myofiber contraction to achieve the same net displacement of endocardium, preserving endocardial-based parameters such as EF (16,18,19,21). To assess myocardial contractility, circumferential midwall fractional shortening (mFS) was assessed by use of the 2-shell method of Shimizu and others (16–19). To minimize afterload dependence, stress-corrected midwall fractional shortening (sc-mFS) was determined as a percentage of that predicted for any given wall stress using the regression equation derived from the healthy control population (18).
Statistical methods
Categorical variables were compared by the chi-square test, and continuous variables were compared by the use of 1-way analysis of variance with Bonferroni correction. Regression analysis was used to adjust for age, sex, body size, chamber size and morphology, or the presence of other diseases, where the dependent variable was the normally distributed continuous (linear least-squares regression) or categorical (logistic regression) outcome variable of interest. Any interaction between these variables also was evaluated and accounted for as appropriate. The Kaplan-Meier method tested for differences in survival between groups by the log-rank test. Cox proportional-hazards regression was used to adjust for the effect of differences in baseline characteristics on survival.
Subject characteristics
Of 2,042 randomly selected community residents, 617 met the criteria for the healthy control group, and 719 subjects met the criteria for the hypertension without HF group. A total of 244 patients constituted the HFpEF group. Nearly all patients with HFpEF had a history of hypertension and were older, more obese, and had a greater prevalence of coronary artery disease and diabetes than hypertensive or control patients (Table 1).
Ventricular-arterial stiffness and coupling
Hypertensive patients and patients with HFpEF displayed increased afterload (Ea and cESS) compared with control patients (Table 2).Although Ea was similarly increased in hypertensive patients and patients with HFpEF, cESS was greater in patients with HFpEF. As previously reported in this population (10), Ees was similarly increased in hypertensive and HFpEF patients compared with control patients (Table 2). Overall, Ees was strongly correlated with Ea (Fig. 1A),and both this relationship and the mean coupling ratios (Ea/Ees) were similar in all 3 groups (Table 2), indicating preserved ventricular-arterial coupling.
Left ventricular chamber and myocardial systolic properties
As compared with control patients, EF was similar but eFS and mFS were greater in the hypertensive group. In contrast, in patients with HFpEF, EF, eFS, and mFS were reduced as compared with hypertensive or control patients (Table 2). Similarly, load-independent measures of chamber contractility (PRSW and sc-eFS) were greater in hypertensive patients as compared with control patients and lower in HFpEF compared with hypertensive or control patients (Table 2, Fig. 1). Adjusting for wall stress (cESS), mFS was greater in hypertensive patients compared with control patients (Fig. 2A)and lower in patients with HFpEF compared with control patients (Fig. 2B) and hypertensive patients (Fig. 2C). Patients with HFpEF displayed lower sc-mFS than hypertensive or control patients (Table 2, Fig. 1), even after adjusting for age, sex, body size, renal function, beta-blocker use, history of coronary disease, and diabetes (p < 0.0001). The cumulative distribution of sc-mFS was shifted rightward from control patients in hypertension and leftward in HFpEF (Fig. 2D), indicating that myocardial contractility was systematically enhanced in hypertensive and impaired in HFpEF patients.
Relationships of geometry to contractility
As previously described in this cohort (3,10), relative wall thickness increased from control patients to hypertension to HFpEF (Table 1). The prevalence of LV hypertrophy was similarly increased in hypertensive and HFpEF patients. The distribution of geometry among hypertensives and HFpEF patients was different from that of control patients (Fig. 3A)and tended to be different in HFpEF versus hypertensive patients (p = 0.045).
In healthy control patients, Ees (Fig. 3B) and most contractile indices (Fig. 3C) were systematically elevated or reduced as a function of chamber geometry alone. To adjust for confounding effects of chamber remodeling between the groups, we compared Ees and each contractile index within each geometry pattern. Figure 4shows that, regardless of geometry, Ees was consistently increased in hypertensive patients and patients with HFpEF as compared with control patients, whereas PRSW, sc-eFS, and sc-mFS were each consistently greater in hypertensive patients as compared with control patients and lower in HFpEF as compared with both hypertensive and control patients.
Myocardial contractility and outcomes
Median follow-up was 3.1 years (mean 3.1 ± 0.6 years) in the HFpEF group. Mortality at 3 years was 36.4% in patients with HFpEF, 3.1% in patients with hypertension, and 0.8% in control patients. In the HFpEF group, survival decreased with greater impairment of myocardial contractility (Fig. 5).After adjusting for age, sc-mFS below the median was associated with a 33% increase in mortality (p = 0.013). Impaired sc-mFS remained a significant predictor of mortality after adjusting for age, body mass index, coronary disease, hypertension, and diabetes mellitus (p = 0.01). In contrast, EF, Ees, Ea, and geometry pattern were not associated with age-adjusted mortality (p > 0.05).
This is the largest population-based study to date examining LV systolic properties in patients with HFpEF, exploring the mechanisms underlying ventricular-arterial coupling in hypertensive heart disease according to the presence or absence of HFpEF. Among hypertensive patients, increases in end-systolic LV stiffness were associated with increased chamber and myocardial contractility. In contrast, similar increases in HFpEF patients were associated with impaired contractility, suggesting that increased Ees may be related to passive myocardial stiffening to a greater extent in this group. Disparities in contractile function were not due to differences in chamber geometry, and impaired myocardial contractility in HFpEF was associated with increased rates of mortality. We speculate that, over time, patients with hypertensive heart disease who develop HFpEF acquire structural or functional perturbations that impair myocardial contractility, and that these perturbations contribute to the transition to and progression of overt HF, despite preserved EF.
Ventricular-arterial coupling
The interaction of the heart with the arterial system (ventricular-arterial coupling) is a key determinant of cardiovascular performance (8,9). Ea is a lumped parameter reflecting total arterial afterload, incorporating mean and pulsatile components. Ees is determined invasively from the slope and intercept of the end-systolic pressure/volume relationship but may also be measured noninvasively (22), allowing Ees to be determined in larger patient populations. Ventricular-arterial coupling is expressed by the Ea/Ees ratio (8).
Although EF is the most commonly used measure of systolic function in clinical practice, it is potently influenced by loading conditions and chamber remodeling (24,25). Ejection fraction is more accurately conceptualized as a measure of ventricular-arterial coupling. Under normal circumstances, the Ea/Ees ratio varies from 0.5 to 1.0, a range in which cardiac work and efficiency are optimized (8,9). Although normal ventricular-arterial coupling ratios (and EF) were observed in each patient group, there were dramatic differences in the ways in which coupling was maintained—enhanced contractility in hypertensive patients without HF but impaired contractility in patients with HFpEF.
It is well recognized that changes in contractile performance alter Ees (22,24), but Ees is also influenced by chamber geometry and by factors that alter the passive stiffness of the myocardium (8,11). With aging, increases in arterial stiffness are associated with tandem increases in both systolic and diastolic LV stiffness (5,6,8). Indeed, in this study population, we have previously reported that diastolic ventricular stiffness is increased in both hypertensive and HFpEF patients compared with healthy control patients but is greatest in patients with HFpEF (10). Taken together with the current findings of impaired contractility despite increased Ees in patients with HFpEF, we speculate that the processes that contribute to diastolic stiffening in HFpEF influence systolic stiffness as well.
Contractility and coupling in patients with HFpEF
Seminal reports from the 1980s and 1990s (16–19,21) demonstrated that abnormal myocardial contractility may coexist with a normal EF because concentric geometric chamber remodeling preserves the extent of endocardial motion relative to the diastolic cavity. A number of studies (12,26–29) have reported abnormalities in regional systolic function in patients with HFpEF, particularly shortening in the longitudinal axis. However, the significance of these findings has been questioned (30) because systolic velocities vary inversely with afterload (31), typically increased in HFpEF patients (8,10), and because longitudinal shortening does not fully reflect chamber-level contractility (30). By examining load-independent parameters of chamber and myocardial contractility in a large, population-based study, we show that patients with HFpEF indeed do display systolic dysfunction compared with both hypertensive patients without HF and healthy control patients.
The authors of 2 important but smaller-sized studies (14,15) also found that roughly one-third of patients with HFpEF were below the 95% prediction bands for the relationship between mFS and cESS observed in healthy control patients. More important, >90% of patients with HFpEF fell below the mean regression line describing healthy control patients. This finding is consistent with the systematic shift in the distribution of myocardial contractility in HFpEF observed in the current study. However, previous studies did not compare HFpEF with hypertensive control patients, HFpEF subjects were highly selected, there were no adjustments for differences in LV geometry, and the impact of impaired myocardial contractility on survival was not examined (12,15,26–28).
Ees increases with decreasing LV size, yet even after adjusting for differences in geometry, Ees remained significantly increased in patients HFpEF, whereas each additional load-independent index of chamber-level and myocardial contractility was impaired. This "disconnect" between Ees and other measures of contractility has been observed in animal models of pressure overload HF, where increased Ees coexists with impaired chamber, myocardial, and myocyte contractility; fibrosis; diastolic dysfunction; and impaired beta-adrenergic signaling (32). The association of resting contractile dysfunction with increased mortality in patients with HFpEF, viewed in light of these animal studies and recent studies demonstrating abnormal contractile reserve with stress in HFpEF (33–35), indicates that impaired contractility, however mild at rest, may not simply be an innocuous bystander in HFpEF but rather may reflect processes that mediate progression to overt HF.
Contractility and coupling in hypertension without HF
Hypertension is a dominant risk factor for patients with HFpEF (1,4), and many of the cardiovascular features in HFpEF are also found in asymptomatic hypertensive patients (13,33). As such, comparisons between these 2 groups provide valuable mechanistic insight into what specifically distinguishes the HFpEF phenotype. Although increased Ees in patients with HFpEF coexisted with impaired contractility, increased Ees was associated with enhanced contractility in hypertensives. Earlier studies have reported reduced myocardial contractility in hypertension, and that the presence of impaired myocardial contractility is associated with greater rates of cardiovascular events (13,16,18,19,36). However, the patient groups populating these earlier referral-based studies were often pre-selected for the presence of hypertrophy and had more extreme levels of concentric remodeling (13,16,18,19). We also found that sc-mFS was categorically impaired in the presence of concentric relative to normal geometry—regardless of patient group (Figs. 3 and 4).
However, within each geometry pattern, contractility was consistently enhanced in hypertensive patients without HF. The hypertensive patients in the current study were younger than the patients with HFpEF, and it may be that most of the hypertensive control patients in this population-based study were at an "earlier" stage of disease, where enhanced contractility may be observed as has been reported in human (37,38) and animal studies (39).
Alternatively, hypertensives in this more contemporary, population-based study may have been more optimally treated (40) because the extent of concentric remodeling was not as extreme as witnessed in earlier referral-based studies. If hypertensive heart disease and HFpEF exist in a continuum as has been suggested (10), it may be that the processes leading to concomitant loss of contractile hyperfunction and passive stiffening play a role in the transition from hypertension to clinically evident HFpEF. Alternatively, the myocardial response to pressure overload may differ in patients predisposed to develop HFpEF. These concepts merit future study in chronic longitudinal studies.
Study limitations
The methods used to assess systolic function are validated against gold standard techniques (10,22,23), but echo-Doppler data inherently have greater variability compared with invasive measurements. Although sampling bias was minimal in this population-based study, our study cohort comprised almost exclusively white patients, and these results may not be applicable to other ethnic groups. Cause-of-death data are not available from this population, and we are unable to determine how impaired contractility might be related to mode of death. These data are observational in nature and therefore cannot prove causality or temporal progression.
Although EF and ventricular-arterial coupling are similarly "normal" in hypertensive patients with or without HFpEF, the mechanisms whereby LV systolic elastance increase to match arterial load differs according to the presence of HF. Patients with hypertension without HF display enhanced Ees and contractility, whereas the Ees in patients with HFpEF is increased despite impaired contractility at both the chamber and myocardial levels. These differences are independent of geometry, and myocardial contractile dysfunction is associated with increased mortality in HFpEF, emphasizing its clinical importance. Therapies targeting processes that mediate concomitant contractile dysfunction and passive stiffening may prove useful in the treatment of patients with HFpEF.
Supported by NIH HL 63281, HL 72435, HL 55502, and the Marie Ingalls Career Development Award in Cardiovascular Research. Drs. Borlaug and Lam contributed equally to this work.
- Abbreviations and Acronyms
- cESS
- circumferential end-systolic stress
- Ea
- effective arterial elastance (stiffness)
- Ees
- end-systolic elastance (stiffness)
- ejection fraction
- heart failure
- HFpEF
- heart failure with preserved ejection fraction
- left ventricle
- pre-load recruitable stroke work
- sc-eFS
- stress-corrected endocardial fractional shortening
- sc-mFS
- stress-corrected midwall fractional shortening
- Received February 14, 2009.
- Revision received April 9, 2009.
- Accepted May 5, 2009.
- American College of Cardiology Foundation
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text:
ITCM reports on a visit to Rosewood London, the group's first hotel in EuropeRosewood has arrived in Europe and it is making its presence felt.
Rosewood London Hotel is a better-than-5-star Grade-II listed property on High Holborn where the West End merges with the City. It is a hotel that impresses from the moment a guest enters the property's own courtyards, a true luxury in an otherwise heavily congested area.
Rosewood means to do business at a high level in Europe. This can be assumed from the fact that the next Rosewood scheduled to open on this side of the Atlantic in 2015 is in the Place de la Concorde in Paris. Rosewood has added the Hôtel de Crillon to its portfolio.
There are 18 Rosewoods in the Americas and a further dozen in the pipeline to appear in strategic locations in the Middle East and Asia. They are all aimed at meeting the expectations of the most discriminating of clients who know what they want and who know they can pay for it.
ITCM explored every nook and cranny of the suite we occupied at the Rosewood London and came to the conclusion that it had everything a guest can require without the need to ask for it. Not only are there tea and coffee facilities, complete with fresh milk, but the minibars are stocked with complimentary whisky and a choice of gins.
Every room is like a suite and some of the suites have earned the right to be called houses. Top of the range is the Manor House Suite which provides 2,238sqft (208sqm) of the 'quintessence of luxurious hospitality'. It is no surprise that the master bathroom features Italian marble, because the interior of the property is marble-clad. The walls and ceilings of the whole hotel are in themselves a visitor attraction, pleasing the eye with marble estimated at being worth over £50m.
It is interesting to note that the one-bedroom Manor House Suite can be booked with five connecting rooms to become a self-contained Grand Manor House Wing with not only a private entrance and its own lift, but its own postcode.
The property makes the most of its self-contained spacious Edwardian inner courtyard, because, a boon in central London, so many of the guestrooms can have large windows looking out onto a peaceful and quiet open area. There is also a courtyard Terrace Restaurant that will be a big attraction in good weather.
Scarfes Bar, with a décor of giant-sized Gerald Scarfe caricature figures, provides an unexpectedly informal setting of armchairs and sofas and an open fire. Its menu encompasses bar snacks and Indian curries. The hotel's Mirror Room is an elegant location where guests can choose to dine on fine cuisine served with Limoges china, crystal glasses and silverware to match. We recommend it for a calm breakfast before facing the hubbub of the London traffic.
- Holborn Dining room Holborn Dining room
- Mirror Room Mirror Room
- Entrance Entrance
- Grand Premier Suite Grand Premier Suite
- Scarfes Bar Scarfes Bar
- Spa Spa
However, ITCM would recommend in-room service or a private dining area if guests were thinking of inviting their own business visitors for a dinner they expect to be the occasion for quiet discussion. The Rosewood does have a 20-seat private dining space with its own show kitchen.
The property offers a choice of 15 splendid meeting rooms and break-out spaces as well as The Grand Ballroom that can cater for a reception for up to 550 people. This space is also divisible into three.
The location of Rosewood London, of course, could not be bettered as a base for an incentive or leisure programme focussed on the attractions of London.


text:
Originally published on the Internet by Gabriel Thy, writing for the Scenewash Project in 1997.
AFTER FORTY YEARS OF STUMBLING around like a drunken beggar among the same strategies and tactics this American desert of cultural chaos has subjected its entire population to more or less under the guise of truth and consequences when from a minority perspective (that is to say, of one man, one vote) I must admit in writing that I comprehend this ruthless subjection of the populations to seem more provisionally suggestive of an insane carte blanche rape of both the individual genius and the collective cause by the well-entrenched intellectual forces that be, and so, acknowledging that no idea can set men free when driven by anti-individual political forces in means and ends against populations differing in collective character and individual resolve, I break with them all, and call into organization my own perspective Librahausen.
Understanding that a few paragraphs here will never contain these issues, I nevertheless am occasioned to attempt an hypothesis upon that language which we here in these United States call the Freedom of Speech clause of the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution penned by the founding fathers as good and necessary in the struggle against the long grievous dynamic of official oppression, and its effect on the human spirit.
I am neither trained in law or literature, religion or government, and have no special accommodations in any field save my blue collar, thank God. I am a working man working, working without bail, prestige, or grandiose financial compensation, working with my own feeble hands, working from my own knotted gut, and have little choice as a willing slave to the only mind I can bring to this argument rolling on past the damp eyes of disenchanted generations lost in the fraud, treachery, and deception of free speech as we have learned to practice it, than to argue from that simple perspective only the powerless can argue.
The strong in this country place great faith in their own ability to interpret the past, the present, and the future in terms of what they want to achieve and how they want to achieve it. Despite all pretensions to the contrary the United States Supreme Court seems to operate as the highbrow puppetshow of these antagonistic political bands of strong movers and shakers, legitimizing or muddying each line drawn in the sand of an issue, a court consisting of mere flesh and blood, millions of musty words ratioed by changing tides of popular opinion impetuously tempered with an almost predictable jurisprudence as evidenced by the political cat and mouse games played with the court's occasional vacancies in the way of highly controversial party-line presidential appointments.
The First Amendment is the intimate friend of far left wingers and far right wingers alike. But of course they each find it within their own stormy projected biases the urgency to define both their own and their opponent's objectives, each accusing the other of evil, usually one of perpetuating evil via filth, the other of perpetuating evil via oppression.
Having recently sought insight in a 700-page hardcover called "Girls Lean Back Everywhere, The Law of Obscenity and the Assault on Genius" beautifully researched and compiled by Edward de Grazia, an attorney practicing communications and First Amendment law here in Washington, DC, I am still nevertheless profanely distressed by the situation on both sides of this political equation. Mr. de Grazia comes with many prestigious credentials, was victoriously integral in the landmark Henry Miller and William S. Burroughs literary publishing cases, as well as the "I am CuriousYellow" Swedish film breakthrough. The title of his book is drawn from a quote a small magazine editor named Jane Heap made at the James Joyce/Ulysses judicial hearing concerning some text in question. Her publication, "The Little Review" was the first to publish excerpts from what she sensed was the first 20th century literary novel masterpiece, and as such immediately felt the strong arm of the public decency law bearers reach out in fierce rebuttal in an attempt to smack down her own artistic sensibilities. The book thoroughly covers all of the major court battles from Zola in 1868 England to all the 20th century debates including Joyce, Lawrence, Nabakov, Miller, Burroughs, Karen Finley, 2 Live Crew, Playboy, Penthouse, and the Seven-Eleven Wars, and right on up through Mapplethorpe and Serrano in an exquisite commentary bulked up by full first hand accounts of the noted judiciary principals, and their hodge-podge of so-called principles. And yet I am still unsure how to approach this position paper.
While I believe in an artist's rights to exploit the tools of language and all media according to her own peculiar vision, I am also dead set against the public funding of this area of life. Zilch. Rock music and stand-up comedy get along without public grants. So can photographers, writers, and painters. If not prepared to give it all, or convince a private source for sustenance, then sorry charlie, tastes good, less filling. A paradigm shift of the ways in which we view both art and its marketplace may be required, but public funding is a sham and a scandal to both artlover and artloather. And while I believe that the artist should be as free to draw from real life as he sees fit, I am also certain that the media, specifically films, TV, and music have detrimentally contributed to the chaos of the past several generations with the sickening decline of the individual consciousness in regards to morals as they pertain to the rights and responsibilities of each human taking part in the great plan America once proclaimed to be, despite all the tax dollars thrown at so-called studies which deliver nothing but party line after party line of inconclusive evidence. Idealistic art is no better.
Jealousy and envy are perpetuated on a very large scale now due to the proliferation of a media which shows how others however mythically portrayed are living better off than they perceive themselves to be living. I would suggest that this everpresent barrage of images, advertisements, storylines, handsome bodies, has made us a very unhappy population, malcontented, bored, and yearning for something more, when in fact even the poorest among us live far better than most throughout the long rattling chains of history.
Understanding that I am adamantly against the right wing pontifications and falsifications with their feeble interpretations of Man, and God, and Law, the issue is not easily thumbnailed. Every thought I render butchers another one a few minutes later. For all the threading of the needle that the Supreme Court has managed through such definitive principles (protections on speech vs. what is not speech, universally obscene and utterly without redeeming social value vs. the community standards or the greatest good test, the unabridged rights of an adult vs.the protection of children), it has proven nothing but its own profound confusion and yet the fear of government reprisal remains as an omnipresent suffocating blanket on artists who have given up on the phoney Walt Disney approach to improving intellectual and political conditions eons ago. Cliches only soothe the uninspired. Every mythshattering inspiration is punished by the authorities of the hour. Wasn't Jesus the Nazarene a mythbreaker, poking fun at the puffed up morality of the religious establishment of his day? And look how he was paid for his efforts.
No, Jesus did not advocate unbridled degeneracy. Quite the contrary. But he held hypocrisy to tough standards. And he knew how to prick a stuffed shirt, and he did so with great strides and quiet enthusiasm. American novelist Norman Mailer is quoted by de Grazia:
Every gain of freedom carries its price. There's a wonderful moment when you go from oppression to freedom, there in the middle, when one's still oppressed but one's achieved the first freedoms. There's an extraordinary period that goes from there until the freedoms begin to outweigh the oppression. By the time you get over to complete freedom, you begin to look back almost nostalgically on the days of oppression, because in those days you were ready to become a martyr, you had a sense of importance, you could take yourself seriously, and you were fighting the good fight. Now, you get to the point where people don't even know what these freedoms are worth, are using them and abusing them. You've gotten older. You've gotten more conservative. You're not using your freedoms. And there's a comedy in that, in the long swing of the pendulum…
And a second excerpt I found fascinating, enigmatically similar while certainly not wholly congruent with my own beliefs on this topic came from none other than President Richard M. Nixon who had this to say after reading the controversial Lockhart National Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, which he had commisioned:
The Commission contends that the proliferation of filthy books and plays has no lasting effect on a man's character. If that were true, it must be also true that great books, great paintings, and great plays have no ennobling effect on a man's conduct . . . The commission calls for the repeal of laws controlling smut for adultswhile recommending continued restrictions on smut for children. In an open society this proposal is untenable. If the level of filth rises in the adult community, the young . . . cannot help but also be inundated. The warped and brutal portrayals of sex . . . could poison the wellsprings of American and Western culture and civilization…the pollution of our civilization with smut and filth is as serious a situation as the pollution of our once pure air and water . . . if an attitude of permissiveness were to be adopted regarding pornography, this would contribute to an atmosphere condoning anarchy in every other field.
Where does this inexplicable conundrum leave this discussion? As a law and order advocate how can I distinguish between what is allowable in a free society and what should be strictly and swiftly squashed or punished to the full extent a civil society has availed itself? I think for most civil libertarians, and I count myself intellectually among this group with a few notable reservations while refraining from membership or advocacy of any political party, public or private organization or sect, perhaps these distinctions are easier to make than for those who abide within religious and political cages vying for prestige and jobs, laboring for some ill-conceived hand-me-down god, or worse, such a restrictive a code of ethics hoisted in the name of freedom as to leave the modern psyche atrophied and floating off unattentive in a thoroughly pathetic and bewitched masquerade of what is known in this country as liberty and justice for all. We wish merely to embrace the unquestionable truth of reality and the unanswerable reality of truth. Freedom of expression is not about simple solutions. It is about the struggle to ask the most expressive questions.
Another angle of aproaching this nation's sticky and intricate questions of freedom and censorship might be useful. Let's consider recent moves to introduce into the American jurisprudence the concept of hate crimes. While the printed word on the heels of the William S. Burroughs/Naked Lunch decision has been effectively freed from judicial interference, a new spin by the liberal lobby with their eagerness to please legislators has cast another dark shadow upon the common sense and equal protection of the law wings of the American populations. In an opposition article published in a small press magazine called "Gauntlet" (no.6), Barbara Beebe, a self-professed "bald-headed, butch, leather jacket-bearing dyke" takes to task this recent wave of anti-crime legislation. Ms. Beebe is also black, and has been a victim of gay-bashing, and so is no stranger to the unfathomable wiles of law enforcement. Noting that everything from cross-burning to verbal bigotry uttered during the commission of a real crime can be and already has entered into various court histories, she nevertheless recognizes a faulty premise when she is confronted by one.
While several higher courts have struck down some of these laws in certain jurisdictions as ordinances "violating free speech because it sought to ban certain viewpoints", the perspective Beebe, a freelance writer with a B.S. in Criminal Justice, brings to this issue is both clarifying and in this author's humble opinion, quite on target. By dubbing this recent wave of hate crime legislation a typical, liberal cover-up, she suspects misplaced motives and simply poor judgement by those who seek to assuage their own consciences or real ability to change the social and economic fabric of the oppressed, but by attempting to placate the masses with more laws in an already over-litigated society, the waters of true freedom only become murkier. She writes:
"Proponents of hate crime legislation assume that one can actually attest and lay claim to hatred or bias by words expressed during the commission of a crime. The fact of the matter is, all crimes are motivated (whether expressed or not) by a form of bias, prejudice or hatred. Dr. Patricia J. Williams is correct when she states that the "attempt to split bias from violence has been society's most enduring and fatal rationalization." What else could motivate crime? What is greed, but the bias toward those who have what you want? There is the well-known modus operandi of robbing the old. They are perceived (as a group) as being physically weak and not well-sighted. If some young punk robs an old lady, in the process calling her an old decrpit hag, is he guilty of a hate crime?
Is something wrong with simply charging him with robbery and calling him the creep he is? Rapists generally rape women they perceive as weak…we're already aware of the possible lurid profanities expressed during a rape. Does what rapists say matter as much as what they've done? Hate crime legislation attempts to punish the motivations and not the crime. The St. Paul, Minnesota case in point: a white kid burns a cross in the yard of the only black people in the neighborhood. What is he charged with? Not trespassing, vandalism, or destruction of property. The poor fool is charged with a hate crime. Fortunately the Supreme Court ruled the ordinance unconstitutional. However, to now charge that same fool with vandalism or trespassing reeks of double jeopardy."
This St. Paul, MN example of the complete absence of social insight in the courts is further exposed to ridicule by the ruling that people who commit "hate crimes" motivated by bigotry may be sentenced to extra punishment without violating their free-speech rights, rendering a foul logic that you can say what you want, but not while committing a crime! Ms. Beebe:
"As ethnic minorities, women, and gay groups scramble to support such legislation, they assumed that they were above reproach due to their status as the oppressed. However, hate crime legislation is being applied to Afrro-Americans, artists, and the poor with a fervor that is frightening. Nineteen-year-old Todd Mitchell, who is black, received a double sentence for inciting the beating of a 14-year-old white youth. The ordinance he was convicted under permits longer prison terms for crimes motivated by racial or other bias. So, what has our fellow learned? The next time you beat whitey, just beat himdon't say a damn thing to him! This is not a viable solution to racial antagonisms."
Barbara Beebe sums up her analysis of these bogus laws by declaring her desire for a judicial system that does not pander to some "high-faluting, legal mumbo-jumbo that requires people to call me a nigger dyke while they kick my ass before I can get some justice." Too often the police merely look the other way when minorities or any disfavored class of crime victim has been assaulted or had a well-legislated crime perpetrated against them. This undoubtedly needs to stop, bringing sense to the laws we already have, and removing the clutter from our system which only confuses the issue, which always remains, liberty and justice for all. Can we use these arguments against hate crime legislation in the discussion against artistic censorship? I believe we can. Just as any man may be thinking to himself while standing on a crowded streetcorner, in an elevator, or strolling down a beach, that "Man what wouldn't I give to fuck the brains out of that good-looking woman over there?", he has committed nothing more than what is at worst a lamentable lust in his heart, and other than an unwelcomed, or depending on the very real physical and psychological features of both parties, the welcomed leer, nothing has transpired. His reaction to that beautiful woman may however work in such a fashion that he is prompted to meet and later marry this wonderful specimen of feminine grace. A verbal rendering of those same thoughts while to a greater degree opens both parties to any number of physical or psychological repercussions, one cannot expect to live in a vacuum created in our own likeness.
Invariably we encounter disagreeable notions perpetrated by the natures of things and the natures of people. The sheer variety of these notions precludes anything but a generalized mechanism for maintaining civic and personal freedoms and responsibilities. Mere legislation, particularly ill conceived legislation does not automatically create serendipity in a hostile environment preserved alone by magistrates and billy clubs without the consent of the governed. Into today's rapidly changing cultural environment, fragmented and aggregate powerful new subcultures are emerging, and it is inevitable that clashes of faith where new sensibilities show themselves laden with conflict should inflict themselves upon the whole.
But aside from the recent pendulum swing of the hate crime movement, and one glaring exception which I shall discuss later, the First Amendment ultilities of free artistic, political, and personal freedom of expression, go unchallenged and its debate has almost been completely removed from the whittling and hairsplitting of censorship judges and lawyers. Almost, as witnessed by the piercing of the envelope on cable television and the recent spate of ideology skirmishes concerning risk-free transmission of information over the Internet, but not so fast!
The Conservatives refuse to rollover and accept the erosion and ultimate loss of what they consider their eminent domain, that is to say, the constitutional power of the government to take private property for government use. In this case I refer to things of the mind. National defense is a ruthless job. Somebody's got to do it. The conservatives are not only willing, but demand to step up to the plate in this matter. As any schoolchild will tell you, war is hell. Bad things happen in war. Even the good guys do bad things. And yet very little is made by these conservatives concerning atrosities, real or imagined, great or small, by these same exact well-positioned conservatives right down to their name, rank, and serial number, of mind, body, and spirit perpetrated in the unimpeachable war for capitalism, or the frigging' holy war in the name of strategic land, mining rights, and oil reserves. Only when that free man, that soldier and those he has fought to protect is living on home soil enjoying his so-called freedoms of mind, body, and spirit, do the conservatives step in to control the vulgar tongues and impulses, purported unnatural and lascivious inner urges, rapacious and murderous options a soldier is trained, daypassed, and for survival ordered to swiftly accomplish, all with highest skill and toughest discipline on the planet marking him for distinction and honor. Is there any wonder we are a confused and nearly hapless society when it comes to knowing ourselves and our special birthrights as free citizens of a free nation?
The fact that the Conservatives act in one direction calls the liberals to the front lines to act in an opposite and equal reaction. The First Amendment suffers when one side seeks nothing but to uphold a basketful of Pollyanna fairy tale criteria as the watermark of what art is supposed to be, and the other side thrives merely by mocking all restraint and traditional standards armed only with flimsy transparent concoctions nearly always presented as art theory while stroking themselves as great liberators of the soul. Am I advocating a watered-down compromise of artistic integrity? No I am not. Integrity must exist before it can be compromised. Two paramount questions come to mind which I must answer with a full dose of integrity in order to resolve this issue within the framework of my own artistic yearnings. By what criteria do I suggest art be judged, and how would I define obscenity as the measure by which a work of art should be rejected?
© 2008, Gabriel Thy. All rights reserved.
Tags: Beebe, censorship, first amendment, freedom of speech, God, hate crime, Henry Miller, humiliation, insult, Librahausen, Nixon, Too Live Crew, US Constitution, William S. Burroughs
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September 07, 2015 – SJB Millinery will present its newest head wear collection in The New York Collections fashion show at The High Line Hotel Sept. 12 at 3 p.m. during New York Fashion Week.
SJB Millinery is a North American millinery studio which specializes in women's couture hats and head pieces in traditional and contemporary styles. Head milliner and owner SJ Brown creatively adorns the heads of irreplaceable women in her quaint Virginia studio.
"I truly believe that quote by Coco Chanel, 'to be irreplaceable one must always be different'," said Brown. "I think my hats make women feel beautifully different enough to be irreplaceable without taking them too far out of their fashion comfort zone. So, I am ecstatic to be showing my new line, The Minnie Collection, at NYFW with Oxford Fashion Studios."
Brown will be one of 27 designers from 16 countries to show designs at The New York Collections.
"I'm really excited about The New York Collections 2015," said Tiffany Saunders, Oxford Fashion Studios creative director. "From graceful designs to theatrical pieces I believe design has no boundaries and no limits. My team and I have sourced designers from Europe and around the world who are wonderfully unique and whose creations are individually innovative, brilliant and creative."
You can obtain tickets to see SJB Millinery's Minnie Collection at the OFS website: www.oxfordfashionstudio.com
To see more of Brown's creative head pieces visit the milliner's website at www.sjbmillinery.com
Lydie Horgan | PR Director | email@example.com | 07772 994489
Tiffany Saunders | Runway Director | firstname.lastname@example.com | 07712 427590
Carl Anglim | Director | firstname.lastname@example.com | 07540 058742
Full News Story: https://pressreleasejet.com/newsreleases/2015/sjb-millinery-confirmed-for-the-new-york-collections-show-during-nyfw/
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Company Name: SJB Millinery
Contact Person: Lydie Horgan
Email: email@example.com
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Country: United States
Website: http://www.sjbmillinery.com


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The Board of Global Entrepreneurship Week-Qatar (GEW-Qatar) announced today that Qatar Shell has joined as Gold Sponsor for GEW 2014, to be held November 17-23 this year.
This is the third year of GEW-Qatar, which in 2013 included over 60 separate events drawing almost 3000 attendees. Global Entrepreneurship Week-Qatar aims to build on the ambition of the country's youth by providing aspiring entrepreneurs with the tools and knowledge they need, by linking them with relevant organizations and mentors, by convening recognized local entrepreneurs to discuss regulatory and financial policies, and by fostering awareness of the rewards of entrepreneurship among the country's youth.
This year, GEW-Qatar is being held under the patronage of HE Sheikh Ahmed bin Jassim Al Thani, Minister of Economy and Commerce. In addition to sponsoring GEW-Qatar, Qatar Shell in partnership with Bedaya Center launched 'The Enterprise Challenge Qatar' (ECQ) in 2012. 'The Enterprise Challenge Qatar' is a competition that promotes the spirit of entrepreneurship and business knowledge among young people. More than 700 students from nine universities and 15 schools across Qatar participated in the competition this year. Over 100 volunteer mentors, the vast majority of whom are Qataris, have delivered the coaching sessions for the student participants.
Winners of the competition will be announced at The GEW Gala Dinner to be held on the evening of November 16. Mr. Wael Sawan, Chairman and Managing Director of Qatar Shell companies said, "At Qatar Shell, we recognise that cultivating entrepreneurship begins with investing in young minds. We are delighted to be the Gold Sponsor of Global Entrepreneurship Week for the third consecutive year." "We are proud to continue working closely with our partner Bedaya to widen the horizons of young people to appreciate and consider the value of entrepreneurial endeavours. Seeking to help nurture the business leaders of the future, 'The Enterprise Challenge Qatar' is part of our investment in Qatar's future and in a sustainable economy,"added Sawan.
"Qatar Shell has a strong history of supporting entrepreneurship in Qatar, and we are very happy to have them on board as Gold Sponsor of GEW-Qatar this year," said Silatech CEO Dr. Tarik M. Yousef. "Qatar Shell is providing both financial support as well as substantive programmatic content, such as the Enterprise Challenge Qatar, benefiting young entrepreneurs in the country," he added. Qatar Development Bank (QDB) is Entrepreneurship Partner for GEW-2014, while the Qatar Financial Center Authority (QFC) has been named Growth Platform Partner. Silatech, a Qatar-based social initiative focused on youth employment and entrepreneurship, is the official Country Host for GEW-Qatar. I Love Qatar is the Official Online Partner, while The Edge is the Official Business Magazine Partner.
The Board of Global Entrepreneurship Week-Qatar consists of a variety of local organizations, including Silatech, the Bedaya Center, Enterprise Qatar, Qatar Shell, Entrepreneurs' Organisation, the Qatar Chamber of Commerce & Industry, Qatar University, Qatar Development Bank, Qatar Science and Technology Park, 7ayak Hub, Qatar Business Incubation Center, and How Women Work. For more information about GEW-Qatar, see www.gew-qatar.com.


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Were you also thousands of miles away from the Susquehannock Trail Performance Rally and therefore unable to go? Thank goodness the internet is here to fulfill our need to see cars send it with a big jump megacut, then.
Short of actually being in the car, this view of STPR's big Waste Management Jump looks like the perfect place to be. While the jump may be named after garbage as the rally takes place on Waste Management's land, the amount of air some of these cars get is anything but.
Some look like low-flying hovercrafts. Others bounce back up on landing. Anyone who keeps their foot in it puts on a good show. I especially love seeing all of the older cars still catching air after all these years, and appreciate anyone who thinks to honk as they fly over. The variety of cars—including everything from old Escorts to a New Beetle and an RX-7—is fantastic.
If any one car is the Sultan of Send, however, it has to be the little Ford Fiesta at around 7:25 in the video. Loose hatch? Ain't care!


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These thirty-one men voted against the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011 tonight, ostensibly because the bill includes protections for people in same gender relationships, visas for undocumented workers, and gives more authority to Native American tribes to address domestic violence. These are apparently bad things.
Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Roy Blunt (R-MO), John Boozman (R-AR), Richard Burr (R-NC), Saxby Chambliss (R-GA), Tom Coburn (R-OK), Thad Cochran (R-MS), John Cornyn (R-TX), Jim DeMint (R-SC), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Lindsey Graham (R-SC), Chuck Grassley (R-IA), Orrin Hatch (R-UT), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Mike Johanns (R-NE), Rob Johnson (R-WI), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), Mike Lee (R-UT), Dick Lugar (R-IN), Mitch McConnell (R-KY), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rand Paul (R-KY), Jim Risch (R-ID), Pat Roberts (R-KS), Marco Rubio (R-FL), Jeff Sessions (R-AL), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Jim Thune (R-SD), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Roger Wicker (R-MS)
You know the Republican base opposes protecting woman and gays from acts of violence because members in tough primaries like Orrin Hatch and Dick Lugar voted against protecting women and gays. As for Marco Rubio, he decided it wouldn't hurt his chances of being Romney's running mate if he voted against protecting women and gays from violence. Sen. Rob Portman of Ohio wasn't that stupid. Maybe that's why Rubio immediately made frantic attempts to explain himself. He actually said he voted against the bill because it diverts money earmarked for domestic violence to a fund devoted to dealing with sexual assault. So, he voted 'no' because he hates beatings more than rape?
I swear I might go crazy if I don't stop reading about Republican rhetoric.


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By Michael W. Chapman
(Johns Hopkins Medicine)
Dr. Paul R. McHugh, the Distinguished Service Professor of Psychiatry at Johns Hopkins University and former psychiatrist–in-chief for Johns Hopkins Hospital, who has studied transgendered people for 40 years, said it is a scientific fact that "transgendered men do not become women, nor do transgendered women become men."
All such people, he explained in an article for The Witherspoon Institute, "become feminized men or masculinized women, counterfeits or impersonators of the sex with which they 'identify.'"
Dr. McHugh, who was psychiatrist-in-chief at Johns Hopkins Hospital for 26 years, the medical institute that had initially pioneered sex-change surgery – and later ceased the practice – stressed that the cultural meme, or idea that "one's sex is fluid and a matter of choice" is extremely damaging, especially to young people.
The idea that one's sexuality is a feeling and not a biological fact "is doing much damage to families, adolescents, and children and should be confronted as an opinion without biological foundation wherever it emerges," said Dr. McHugh in his article, Transgenderism: A Pathogenic Meme.
"I am ever trying to be the boy among the bystanders who points to what's real," said Dr. McHugh, who is also professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Johns Hopkins. "I do so not only because truth matters, but also because overlooked amid the hoopla—enhanced now by Bruce Jenner's celebrity and Annie Leibovitz's photography—stand many victims."
"Think, for example, of the parents whom no one—not doctors, schools, nor even churches—will help to rescue their children from these strange notions of being transgendered and the problematic lives these notions herald," warned McHugh.
They rarely find therapists who are willing to help them "work out their conflicts and correct their assumptions," said McHugh. "Rather, they and their families find only 'gender counselors' who encourage them in their sexual misassumptions."
In addition, he said, "both the state and federal governments are actively seeking to block any treatments that can be construed as challenging the assumptions and choices of transgendered youngsters."
"As part of our dedication to protecting America's youth, this administration supports efforts to ban the use of conversion therapy for minors," said Valerie Jarrett, a senior advisor to President Obama, as quoted by Dr. McHugh in his article.
However, there is plenty of evidence showing that "transgendering" is a "psychological rather than a biological matter," said Dr. McHugh.


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George GormanWeisberg & Weisberg PLLC
- Business Law, Estate Planning, Construction Law ...
George Gorman is a seasoned corporate attorney with substantial experience in a wide variety of legal matters. He has practiced in both state and federal courts, including the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, and has also successfully handled numerous arbitrations and mediations. George has had the privilege of representing large corporations and international businesses in multi-million dollar cases as well as small companies, entrepreneurs, and other individuals facing a variety of complex legal issues. George's experience includes complex civil litigation, corporate law, wills, trusts, and estates. He has successfully represented large and small companies and individuals in connection with issues involving business contracts, internal business disputes, business entity formation, trademarks and copyrights, trade secrets, defamation claims, fraud and breach of fiduciary duty allegations, public and private construction projects, landlord-tenant disputes, employment law, insurance coverage, judgment enforcement, real estate, and products liability. Although George is equipped to assist you with a wide variety of legal matters, his practice primarily focuses on civil litigation, business law, and wills, trusts, and estates planning and litigation.
- Business Law
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- Member
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Content is still the king, be it feature films or short films. In the digital age, you need to catch the audiences' attention in seconds or you lose them. It is the ability to focus on telling a story and engaging the audience that has led to the popularity of short films.
Recently, in a special event, a few selected short films were felicitated amongst them was TEST DRIVE, written and directed Sameer Chand. This felicitation was followed by a discussion on the films, which was moderated by Anupama Chopra, the well-known Indian author, journalist, and film critic.
As we know, TEST DRIVE is the story of a struggling theater actor and ace actor Ashutosh Rana has delivered an outstanding portrayal playing the character of Shantanu Srivastava.
Talking about this experience of being part of the event, Director of TEST DRIVE, Sameer Chand told us, "For a debut film maker like me to share the platform with Pankaj Parashar, Anupama Chopra, Tisca Chopra and Dr Palaash was quite humbling. At this event we were discussing short films and my film was one among them and I was very excited to be on the panel sharing my film and my experience. But the most gratifying moment for me was when people started applauding my film. It's a feeling I can't describe. The audience and the panel liked my film and were very touched with the dialogues and Ashutosh Ranaji's performance. Anupama Chopra was such a good moderator as she made all of us feel so comfortable. Over all it was a great experience. Really looking forward to seeing this event on NDTV."
This special event will be telecasted on NDTV 24X7, on Saturday December 23rdat 7.30 pm
Sameer Chand's TEST DRIVE short film, released on YouTube recently, with over 2 million views across Face Book & YouTube, in just 6 days and is getting great reviews from all sections.
Kudos for the good work, Team TEST DRIVE!!


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The objectives of the Jobs and Training Compact were to:
- reduce the unemployment duration of retrenched workers
- assist the job retention and employment viability among disadvantaged groups and regions
- build the national skills and capacity base for all Australians and improve transitions into further education, training and employment
- ensure support for individuals and regions particularly vulnerable during economic downturns.
The Jobs and Training Compact evaluation examined the overall performance of the Jobs and Training Compact in meeting its objectives and the performance of its major elements. The evaluation assessed performance through the extent to which it was used by the groups it was targeted to and its effectiveness and efficiency as an integrated response to the global economic downturn.
The strategy which outlines how the department planned to evaluate the Jobs and Training Compact is available.
The final Jobs and Training Compact evaluation report is avialable.


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Nobody likes getting struck down by the flu. But, would you take methamphetamine to fight the flu, as opposed to, natural or over-the-counter drugs or remedies?
According to a study that was published online Nov. 6 in the journal PLoS ONE, and reported via LiveScience, meth may surprisingly contain flu-fighting properties. The study, which was conducted at the National Health Research Institutes in Taiwan, began by exposing human lung epithelial cells to meth at different concentrations and infected them with human influenza A/WSN/33 (H1N1) virus. Researchers discovered that the more meth, the less the virus reproduced. Lead researcher Yun-Hsiang Chen stated:
We report the first evidence that meth significantly reduces, rather than increases, virus propagation and the susceptibility to influenza infection in the human lung epithelial cell line"
Obviously, no sane doctor would recommend that you begin taking meth to fight the flu, and most people would probably rather suffer through the flu than take meth. After all, the world's second most abused drug after cannabis, has been proven to kill "brain cells, fuel tooth decay, load the body with toxins, and weaken the heart, muscles and immune system." In fact, previous research found that chronic meth abusers became more susceptible to pathogens such as HIV, which is why this recent study is so shocking. So, why did researchers even attempt such a seemingly "ludacrious" study? They wrote:
This finding strongly encourages future work to investigate whether other compounds, structurally similar to meth, can inhibit influenza A virus production and be used to prevent or alleviate influenza A virus infection."


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Marrying the talent of budding fashion designers with the needs of the underserved, the unique iM4U fm Fabrik Kasih bersama Sunway 2017 initiative turned three this year, with Sunway on board for the second year running.
Organised annually in conjunction with Ramadhan and Hari Raya Aidilftri, the Fabrik Kasih programme looks to spread joy during the festive season via a mentorship initiative involving local fashion designers who coach fashion design students from GIATMARA Malaysia and Kolej Vokasional on tailoring a Hari Raya collection for the beneficiaries.
Following a month of measurement and fitting sessions in May, a Gala Night was held at each of the three locations, with the recipients from children's homes, old folks' homes and autism centres participating in a fashion show to showcase their new Raya outfits.
This year, Sunway Property and Sunway Construction also conducted home refurbishment works at the beneficiaries' homes, including painting, installation of awning, canopies and drainage, replacement and repair of old fixtures and leakages, servicing of air conditioners, garden maintenance and roofing works.
PKNS Real Estate Company sponsored textiles and accessories for the Hari Raya collection while the National Kidney Foundation organised a school outreach programme for the children.
"As Fabrik Kasih has grown in size and scope, from one location to three locations this year, we have been able to create an even greater impact on our communities across the nation. Sunway is glad to have been part of this meaningful initiative that has benefitted many through the spirit of volunteerism and compassion in the holy month of Ramadhan,"
– Tan Sri Razman M Hashim, Deputy Executive Chairman of Sunway Group.
Klang Valley:
Pusat Jagaan Harian Warga Tua Cheras Baru, Kompleks Pendidikan Anak-Anak Yatim Darul Kifayah and Persatuan Kebangsaan Autisme Malaysia (NASOM KL)
Pertubuhan Kebajikan Rumah Orang-orang Tua Islam Titian Abadi (PEKITA), Pertubuhan Kebajikan Anak-Anak Yatim dan Warga Miskin Parit (Bait Al-Amin) and NASOM Ipoh
Wisma Yatim Lelaki & Perempuan Islam Pulau Pinang, Darul Hanan Pulau Pinang and NASOM Penang


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Article provided by: Law Offices of David S. Chesley, Inc
A quick Google search for "Criminal defense lawyer near me" will bear hundreds and hundreds of results in the Los Angeles area alone. You may be enticed to choose one quickly, but we kindly recommend that you take a little more time and do your research. This way, you can choose a law firm that will best represent you. You should make sure that your prospective attorney is competent and qualified to do the job you need them to do. You should make sure that the attorney has an excellent, winning track record and can formulate a defense to keep you out of jail and or get you the best sentence possible. At the Law Offices of David S. Chesley, INC, we can do just that.
Let's Clear Up a Common Misconception
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We Regularly Get our Clients Favorable Courtroom Results
Interestingly, even when the truth is not favorable for a defendant, a great defense attorney can often find technical points and holes in the prosecution to get their clients off of the hook or an otherwise desirable result. Whether it involves getting a case thrown out, getting a defendant a suspended sentence, getting the defendant a minimum sentence, or getting the best possible plea bargain for the defendant that the defendant would never got on his or her own, the Law Offices of David S. Chesley, INC are second-to-none.
Don't DIY!
When it comes to many things in life, you can comfortably and safely do it yourself. For example, you can mow your own grass, perform your own oil changes, and even build your own website. However, when it comes to defending yourself in a court of law, the Law Offices of David S. Chesley, INC strongly advise that you do not DIY!
You Need a Quality Defense Attorney
If you have been charged with a crime, you need a criminal defense lawyer near you who knows the courts well and can represent you and advocate for your best interests. Particularly, you need a defense attorney, not an attorney who handles criminal cases. What's the difference? For example, if you have a heart problem, you wouldn't go to a general practitioner for treatment. You would go to a heart specialist. The same principle applies in law. At the Law Offices of David S. Chesley, INC, we only handle criminal cases.
To find a high-quality and affordable lawyer to represent you, search "Criminal defense lawyer near me," and select the Law Offices of David S. Chesley, INC.
Los Angeles


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New Batman: Arkham game being developed by Rocksteady Studios
A brand new Batman: Arkham video game is being developed by Rocksteady Studios, the latest issue of Game Informer revealed today.
Late last week rumours began flying around that a new instalment in the Batman: Arkham series was on it's way after Kotaku reported that promotional materials had been shipped out to GameStop stores.
A picture featuring the Batman logo was leaked online also, fuelling the rumours.
Before today's official announcement, Video Gamer also spotted a listing on UK retailer Game's website which pointed to new instalment.
Just hours ago, Game Informer released their April cover which featured the first shots of Batman: Arkham Knight, currently set for release later this year on PS4, Xbox One and PC.
Rocksteady Studios were the previous developers of the 2010 critically acclaimed Batman: Arkham Asylum and it's 2011 follow-up Batman: Arkham City.
The latest instalment in the series, Batman: Arkham Origins released in October, which was the first in the series to not be developed by Rocksteady Studios, with Warner Brothers Games Montreal taking the helm.
Since Arkham City, Rocksteady hasn't developed any other game since.
Now the highly acclaimed developers are back with Batman: Arkham Knight which will end the Batman: Arkham series.
The game follows Batman as he faces the ultimate threat against the city he is sworn to protect. The Scarecrow returns to unite an impressive roster of super villains, including Penguin, Two-Face and Harley Quinn, to destroy The Dark Knight forever.
The magazine also revealed that the Batmobile will be a core element in the game with an entirely new area of Gotham City to explore.
An official trailer was also just released by Warner Brothers, shown above.
Make sure to pick up your April copy of Game Informer which sees 14 pages dedicated to the game featuring the first details.