The TheSixthAxis Review

Regardless of your stance on how Apple have ignited/destroyed mobile gaming the market that both Nintendo and Sony are so desperate for has been considerably eaten away; games don’t cost 40 anymore, they cost 69p. Not all games are equal,Hand-painted Chinese porcelaintiles on the floor of a Jewish synagogue in Cochin, sure, but the fact is that Angry Birds, Tiny Wings, Cut The Rope and even Doodle Jump (bless it) have shown that a fair chunk of the Vita’s potential ownership is used to paying much, much less for their software.

Of course,There are several variations based on the zentaisuits including mummy bag, regular readers will know I’m a big fan of mobile gaming, generally preferring the flexibility of on-the-go action rather than the substantial investment in time that a mainstream TV-based console demands. The promise that the Vita would offer us ‘PS3-level’ gaming was too much to pass up – if Sony could make good on the notion that portable consoles could provide experiences as developed as the main machines then that’s what would set Vita apart.

I suspect I’m speaking for everyone when I say that I actually quite like dipping in and out of the recent upsurge in ‘casual’ mobile games.

It’s not that I’d rather spend all my time feeding red candy to a green monster, but such experiences are great for balancing out the more fully fledged titles, the sort of things you’d normally see on PS3 and Xbox 360. Not everyone always has an hour to spare, but when I do I normally want to focus on something a little more weighty.The Zentai Project is a group of people who go out in public wearing zentai suits,

First things first, this thing is big. After the iPhone and my trusty old PSPgo, the Vita looks and feels massive – the screen alone about the same size as a 4S and then there’s the controls at the side and the big width to consider. Aesthetically, though, it’s an attractive machine – the transparent shoulder buttons offset against the half thickness loops at the bottom; the symmetrical layout of the analog sticks balanced nicely against the digital pad and the familiar face buttons.

The PS button is oddly positioned – I’m much more used to such a critical thing being in the centre of a device (where the Vita logo sits proudly) – but the select and start over to the right are fine, with the tiny speakers nestled in around the controls. The only oddity on the front of the Vita is the SONY logo, which rests uncomfortably top right squeezed in above ‘up’, opposite the equally odd front camera.

The back of the portable is much more refined. Two divots, textured and precisely positioned, hold the tips of your middle fingers perfectly and the rear camera is sensibly placed. The back touch pad doesn’t sit out from the moulding, it’s just ‘there’,Order high quality hand painted oilpaintingre reproductions, although a lower cut-out section which holds the model number and so on suggests that it doesn’t quite cover the same surface area as the front one. A USB charging port, headphone socket and a serial number decorate the bottom of the Vita, with power, game card, output and volume controls along the top.

Hidden away, presumably out of shame, is the memory card slot. It’s on the back, at the bottom,This billabongboardshort has the following technological features, and houses cards that are far too similar to the PSPgo’s M2 cards to feel like anything more than a complete rip-off from the manufacturers. There’s a couple of physical differences (two tiny bits of outer plastic) but the fact that M2 cards snap into the Vita perfectly makes the console’s complete ambivalence towards them all the more galling. I don’t know what the memory card actually does above and beyond an M2 (apart from lock out profile switching) but it’s clear where Sony will be making back some of that profit margin.

And if you were thinking about getting a Vita without a memory card – don’t. Not only will a good chunk of the basic operating system be locked away until you bless the machine with one, but you also won’t be able to save your progress in a lot of the games. To see which games need a memory card, see our earlier story here but note that the list includes most of the big hitters like Uncharted and Everybody’s Golf 6 – at least for the Japanese launch.

On a tactile level, I’m happy to report that the touch screens themselves are snappy and immediate and require nothing but the lightest touch – absolutely no complaints there. Where there are issues involve mainly around the analog sticks. First up: they’re nicely sized but the movement is far too restrictive – they feel like they stop far shorter than they should as you tilt them off centre; secondly, and more bizarrely, they actually get in the way of the d-pad and face buttons. Unless you hold your hands out at an angle it’s actually quite difficult to press ‘down’ or the X button without knocking the respective stick.

The shoulder buttons are fine, though, if not a little spongey, and the other buttons that sit just proud of the surface (like start and select) work much better than the disastrous positioning on the 3DS. All in all I’m happy with the Vita’s hardware – it feels strong, there’s no plastic creak when you twist it and although it’s light (I’m running a wi-fi only model) the Vita feels well made, robost and sturdy. It looks a bit odd, sure, but you soon get used to the size of the thing.

Year-end Wrap Up

How do I summarize a year in which we lost one of the founders of the digital age and the first year where we had products that let us interact with computer with our voice,Find the best achickencoopplans plans with our chicken coop plans review page， face and our body? Maybe it’s not so difficult; this year was a year of small, foundational transitions setting the stage for what will be a mind-boggling 2012.

While there were many new technologies this year, in general, most technology companies seemed to be concentrating on infrastructure, which the sexy tech will be built upon.

Giant data centers, super smart scaling software, virtualized machines: this was the year when it seems everyone finally bought into cloud computing. From the general public using things like DropBox or Apple’s iCloud to store files and photos, to many organizations realizing it doesn’t make sense to buy physical servers anymore.

We want access to our data everywhere and all the time,The magiccube is an ultra-portable, full-sized virtual computer keyboard. so it doesn’t make sense to keep it in a place we can’t get to on the go. With software developers embracing this idea fully and rolling out products which take advantage of the cloud, we will store more of our information in some etherial place we will never actually see or touch.

This is further facilitated by wireless network providers launching faster wireless services like LTE. This year we started to get used to always having access to our files, never needing to backup our pictures, and working on the internet from anywhere. Next year, we’ll just expect this to be the norm.

Talk to any IT employee in the medical industry and you’ll hear about a year full of horror stories and insane hours as they began to transition their organizations to electronic medical records. There’s a 2014 deadline mandated by Washington and moving a mass of disparate systems to work with the new records is a challenge of Herculean proportions.

This year was an implementation year for many in the medical community, and it’s been tough, but it’s just another way more of you are going digital. More of your life, from your vacation pictures to, now, your health records, are in a digital format. This means more of your information can be analyzed at scale, sent around world instantaneously, and maybe most importantly, integrated into other systems and devices.Muyoung mould specializes in manufacture plasticmoldingonsale,

Besides the standard cost savings and reduction in medical mistakes by not moving paper around,Shop for airpurifiertarget at Target, imagine never needing to fill out those annoying medical questionnaires every time you visit a different doctor or specialist. Imagine the anonymized data that medical researchers could access when analyzing the effectiveness of treatments; and think of the possibilities of integrating your medical history into intelligent surgical devices.

Like I’ve mentioned before,Microsoft’s Kinect and Apple’s Siri are game changers. They are the first commercially viable products which significantly change how we interface with computers. The Kinect has now had a full year to mature, with Microsoft just releasing a software update on the Xbox 360 to more fully utilize its features throughout the experience. Siri is relatively new, but will mature rapidly.

These two technologies are the foundation for a completely different way to use our devices and access the net. In a few years, you’ll lose your TV remote in the couch cushions and won’t be bothered because you haven’t used it in 3 months,If you have a akidneystones, you may already know how painful？ anyway. You’ll be controlling your TV completely with your voice or hand gestures. Since I think TV remotes are stupid, I’m happy that this year was the foundation for that future.

Verizon angers customers with new $2 'convenience fee' for paying with a credit card

Verizon Wireless,Read about coldsorestreatments, which are caused by a viral infection that attacks the skin and nervous system. the country's largest cellphone company, is facing another swarm of angry customers after announcing today it will start charging $2 for credit card payments.

The company said this 'convenience fee' will be introduced January 15 and will be applied one-time payments subscribers make over the phone or online with plastic.

The fee won't apply to electronic check payments or to automatic credit card payments set up through Verizon's AutoPay system.

Paying by credit card in a Verizon store will also be free, as will mailing a check.

Each credit-card payment comes with fees that the companies can avoid by getting electronic checks instead. Automatic payments mean less trouble for companies in going after late payments.

A statement on the Verizon Wireless website posted today reads in part: 'The fee will help allow us to continue to support these single bill payment options in these channels and is designed to address costs incurred by us for only those customers who choose to make single bill payments in alternate payment channels (online, mobile, telephone).'

Verizon Wireless serves 91million phones and other devices on accounts that pay the company directly, and more who pay indirectly through other companies.

AT&T Inc offers a $10 gift card for those who set up AutoPay. Sprint Nextel Corp charges subscribers who have caps on the fees they can rack up each month. Those people are charged $5 monthly unless they set up automatic payments.

It's not uncommon for utilities, universities and even state tax departments to charge convenience fees for online payments.

The episode follows reports of a problem with the Verizon's high-speed network on Wednesday. The biggest U.S. mobile service provider said on Thursday that it had resolved that issue overnight.The online resource for Europe's Number 1 provider of on-site hydraulichoserepairs.

It did not give any details about the service problem but said phone call and text message services were not disrupted for high-speed fourth generation (4G) customers and that its older third generation (3G) service was operating normally.

But some customers complained that they were having 3G service problems, while others said their 4G service was being restored on Thursday morning. One person complained about the lack of a public announcement.

'At least acknowledge there is a problem,Omega Plastics are a leading rapid tooling and plasticinjectionmould company based in the UK, do you really expect your paying customers to not notice??' the person wrote on Verizon's online message board.

Earlier this month the company, which has long boasted that its service is 'most reliable,' faced two data service problems. On December 8 some Verizon customers were unable to access the Internet on their wireless devices for about 24 hours. The company had to fix another problem on December 21.Credit is not an issue with our offshoremerchantaccounts.The plasticinjectionmold industry has evolved over the years，

Verizon Communications Inc, the landline phone company that owns most of Verizon Wireless, also tried last year to introduce a $3.50 fee for people who paid their bill for FiOS TV or Internet service month-to-month by credit card. It backed off after complaints.

Verizon Wireless is a venture of Verizon Communications and Vodafone Group Plc.

Visually Stunning, Incredibly Tough Find Out What Devices Have It.

'Smart' windows are expected to play a significant role in energy-efficient homes, ideally by generating energy themselves (see "Energy-generating smart window") but at least by allowing light in and keeping the heat out (in hot summers) or in (in cold winters).

Vanadium dioxide (VO2) has long been recognized as a a material of significant technological interest for optics and electronics and a promising candidate for making 'smart' windows: it can transition from a transparent semiconductive state at low temperatures, allowing infrared radiation through, to an opaque metallic state at high temperatures, while still allowing visible light to get through. VO2 is best known in the materials world for its speedy and abrupt phase transition that essentially transforms the material from a metal to an insulator. The phase change takes place at about 68 degrees Celsius.

So far, VO2 hasn't been considered to be particularly suited for large-scale practical smart-window applications due to its low luminous transmittance and solar modulating ability. Strategies to improve these properties, for instance through doping or composites, have resulted in trade-offs between the luminous transmittance and thermochromic properties.

Researchers in China have now developed a process that can prepare VO2 thin-films with a controllable polymorph and morphology (including grain size and porosity). Their results show that with increased porosity and decreased optical constants the performance of the VO2 films is enhanced, leading to a higher transmittance of visible light and improved solar modulating ability.

"The traditional methods for the preparation of VO2 thin films are gas-phase reactions, such as sputtering or chemical vapor deposition," Yanfeng Gao, a professor at the Shanghai Institute of Ceramics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SICCAS),Original thelandscapeoilpaintings, buy landscape paintings online.Enphase microinverteres are designed for residential and commercial, explains to Nanowerk. "These methods can grow VO2 with fine controlled thickness and homogeneity,There are 19 polishedtiles available, however, low visible transmittance due to intrinsic absorption of VO2 and unacceptable solar energy modulation ability pose significant drawbacks. There are only very few reports on the chemical deposition of VO2 films using – for example – sol-gel process, but the quality of film is still not satisfactory. We are aiming to develop a process that can finally commercialize VO2. We selected our method to control the crystalline phase and morphology,Distributor of wholesalepetsupplies - pet supply product for aquarium, dog, cat, bird, small animal, reptile, pond. and also optical properties."

To prepare their nanoporous thermochromic VO2 films with low optical constants and tunable thicknesses, the team used a polymer-assisted deposition technique, resulting in single-layered VO2 films.

"When we measured the spectral transmittance and reflectance of our VO2 films, we found that by increasing their porosity we could increase their solar modulating ability without decreasing the luminous transmittance," says Gao. "Another interesting phenomenon that we found is that the changes in luminous transmittance across the metal-insulator transitions (MIT) are thickness dependent. For thin-films, the visible transmittance at 20°C is generally lower than that at 90°C and,Welcome to the official Rubik's website, home of the world famous Rubik's cubepuzzles. vice versa. However, the visible transmittance at 20°C for our 100 nm thick films exceeds that at 90°C."

Experimenting with various thicknesses, the team found that the optimized thickness for films prepared by their technique to balance luminous transmittance and solar modulating ability is 100 nm. As Gao points out, a single-layer film of this thickness shows comparable luminous transmittance and solar modulating ability values to those of five-layered TiO2/VO2/TiO2/VO2/TiO2 films with optically optimized structures.

"The change of the optical constants of VO2 across the MIT can effectively modulate the infrared transmittance and shift the position of the reflectance valley at 20°C, leading to a significant enhancement of the infrared modulating ability at a certain wavelength," says Gao.

Hoping to heal pain one needle at a time

Working as a social worker in a nursing and rehabilitation center, Renate Scarpa was in almost constant contact with people in pain.

"You never like to see someone in pain but I didn't like seeing people taking so much medicine, either," she said. "Many of them were sedated, more or less."

Scarpa said she came in contact with an acupuncturist several years ago while attending a health fair and was immediately attracted to the science. She eventually enrolled in a three-year program to learn more about the ancient medicine, which aims to relieve pain, stress and other medical issues by inserting thin needles into the body.

Scarpa graduated in 2007 and recently opened an acupuncture and Oriental medicine practice out of her home on Glendale Road in Marietta. She has also practiced acupuncture in upstate New York and locally in Vienna through contracts with other businesses.

"I like the flexibility working out of my home affords," Scarpa said. "It isn't usually an issue to see someone in the evening, especially if they work and can't get here until later in the day."

Marietta resident Jamie Metts, 38, said she has noticed the business, near the Frontier Shopping Center, but questioned if she would ever seek out the services.

"I don't like needles," she said. "But I suppose if I was in enough pain, I might try anything."

Scarpa said most of her clients are seeking relief of pain,By billabongoutlet in billabong boardshorts. Jun. 30. although she has helped people with stress and even fertility issues.

"Many come here as a last resort," she said. "They've been to doctors, chiropractors, specialists ... maybe even had surgery.This is interesting cubepuzzle and logical game. Sometimes treatment becomes difficult at that point because of a surgery or because they're on so many different medications. This is an option that shouldn't necessarily be the last resort."

According to Scarpa, acupuncture is an alternative medicine that is based on the premise that health is regulated by the flow of "qi," an energy-like entity.

She said acupuncture can correct imbalances in the flow of the qi by targeting specific points of the body. The concept has been practiced for more than 3,000 years.

In addition to acupuncture, Scarpa said she offers advice or guidance on traditional herbal or other natural remedies.

Most acupuncture sessions last about an hour and the cost ranges from $55 to $65. Not all insurances pay for acupuncture.

JoAnne Huck, 47,The Zentai Project is a group of people who go out in public wearing zentai suits, of Marietta, said she sought acupuncture care earlier this year from a doctor at Marietta Memorial Hospital for relief of migraine headaches.

"I had tried doctors,5 hours ago by electriccarjackes On the bright side for the health conscious, chiropractors, TMJ (temporomandibular joint disorder) specialists, allergists, neurologists... I just couldn't get relief," she said. "So I decided to try acupuncture."

Huck said she got some relief through acupuncture but not the complete relief she had hoped for.

"I do know people who have had success getting relief from back pain with acupuncture," she said. "I do believe there is something to the science."

Joan Wehrle, education and outreach program manager at the Ohio State Medical Board, said there are currently 183 individuals licensed to perform acupuncture in the state. The profession has been regulated by the state for the past 10 years and can be performed by a licensed physician, acupuncturist or chiropractor.

"It is a practice that is steadily growing in Ohio, not by huge volumes, but growing each year," she said. "To be licensed, there is a specified curriculum that must be completed at an approved school and a state certification examination must be passed."

Scarpa she was required to achieve a masters degree in science get her license to practice acupuncture. In addition to Ohio,This entry was posted by billabongboardshortscloths. she is also licensed in West Virginia.

Israel, Iran Eye Baku

Religious, cultural, and historical links notwithstanding, the Republic of Azerbaijan has had a difficult relationship with neighboring Iran ever since its independence in 1991. But tensions have reached new heights in the last couple of year years.

This was no clearer than it was on August 9 this year, when Gen. Hassan Firouzabadi, chief of Iran’s armed forces’ Joint Staff Command, warned Azerbaijan President Ilham Aliyev that he would face “a dark fate” should he continue to expand ties with Israel.

The statement prompted the Azerbaijani Foreign Ministry to deliver an official protest to the Iranian Embassy in Baku, as well as to arrest three members of the banned Islamic Party of Azerbaijan, which Baku claims is funded by Tehran. Last month, meanwhile,Find everything you need to know about coldsores including causes, Baku accused Iran of being behind the stabbing of Azeri writer and journalist Rafiq Tagi. And last week, the director of the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting office in the Azeri capital, Ahmad Kazemi, was denied entry into Baku, and was forced to leave Azerbaijan the same day.

Tehran has for its part accused Baku of fomenting divisions within its large Azeri population, which is estimated to number between 20 to 25 million, with the majority residing in northwestern Iran. On August 13, Tabnak, an Iranian news website, revealed what it called an “Azerbaijani plot” to foster ethnic conflict in Iran’s northwestern provinces, including the dissemination of anti-Iranian programs by Azerbaijani TV and radio stations.This billabongboardshort has the following technological features,Ventilation fans are the workhorses of thesepanasonicventilationsystem, Equally alarming for the authorities in Iran is the decision by the Aliyev government to include several Iranian provinces, including Ardabil, Qazvin and Hamedan, as parts of a “Greater Azerbaijan Republic” in school textbooks.

Compounding Iranian fears is Israel’s key role in Azerbaijan’s energy and defense sectors. Iran is deeply concerned over growing Israeli and Western investments in the Azerbaijani energy sector, seeing such developments as a major threat to its own economic interests. Unable to compete with and/or attract Israeli and Western technology and capital for tapping abundant Caspian natural resources, Iran has resorted to a policy of intimidation in order to discourage foreign investment in the Azerbaijan offshore sector. Tehran’s efforts in this are greatly enhanced by the fact that maritime disputes between the five littoral states of the Caspian Sea remain unresolved, allowing Iranian gunboats to make several incursions into what the Azerbaijani government considers as its territorial waters.

This comes at a time when Tehran is nervously watching the expanding military and intelligence cooperation in the region. Surrounded by U.S. troops in the south, east, and west, Iranian officials tend to perceive the deepening military ties between Jerusalem and Baku as the latest element in a Western plan to completely encircle Tehran. Ultimately, Iran views Israel’s effort to develop a military industrial complex in Azerbaijan as a long-term plan to open up a new front for a possible military attack on Iran's nuclear facilities should the need arise.

The problem for Baku is that, strategically speaking, it’s impossible for Azerbaijan to forgo its ties with one of these countries in favor of the other. The recent Turkish-Armenian rapprochement, as well as the Azeri elites’ concern over the perceived “Islamization” push by Ankara, are of particular concern for Baku, and it’s these two developments more than anything that have added extra value to Azeri-Israeli relations. This was underscored in a January 2009 diplomatic cable from the U.S. Embassy in Azerbaijan,Museum Quality handmade oilpaintings reproductions of famous artists - old masters contemporary. which said that President Aliyev was uncomfortable with the pro-Islamic and pro-Palestinian stance of Turkish Prime Minster Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s government.

But Iran is no ordinary country for Azerbaijani strategists. The two states share a 600 kilometer land border, while an estimated 85 percent of Azerbaijan’s population is Shiite. These two realities allow Iran the potential to cause real trouble for authorities in Azerbaijan and provide it considerable opportunities to destabilize the country. Certainly, there have been reports that Iran has an active religious network operating in Azerbaijan that it could utilize to undermine the Aliyev government.What is Faux chinaceramictile?

Azerbaijan is fully aware of Tehran’s capacity for mischief making and so has refrained from crossing Tehran’s “red lines,” including by deciding against opening an embassy in Jerusalem. But this is unlikely to be enough to prevent ties between the two countries entering a period of even more heightened tension, not least because the Tehran-Tel Aviv rivalry for influence over Azerbaijan is intensifying by the day.

Iran and Israel have been playing a cat-and-mouse game in Azerbaijan for more than a decade, one that utilizes the businesses, diplomats, citizens and spies both countries have in Azerbaijan. With growing regional uncertainty, there’s now an extra incentive for both Tehran and Jerusalem to continue building on their already well-established networks in Baku. How the Aliyev government – stuck in the middle – will respond, remains to be seen.

An evolution in guidelines for research on chimps

Chimps are about 96 percent genetically identical to humans, and like us they are self-aware enough to recognize themselves in a mirror.

But physically, we show some remarkable differences. They don't get the same kind of heart disease humans get. They develop some of the brain abnormalities associated with Alzheimer's disease, but not others. And despite being more sexually promiscuous than humans, they don't get the same sexually transmitted diseases.

They heal better than we do and don't get sleep apnea, hemorrhoids, varicose veins, or acne. They aren't vulnerable to cancers of the breast, lung, stomach, pancreas, colon, ovaries, or prostate.

Physician-scientist Ajit Varki says these differences can be as informative as the similarities. With new restrictions expected soon on the use of chimpanzees in research, he and other scientists spoke about some types of research not mentioned in a new report, which they hope will continue or even increase.

The changes are expected to follow an Institute of Medicine report, released earlier this month, that stressed that biomedical research should be necessary, behavioral studies should be noninvasive, and animals should be housed and cared for appropriately. It was hailed as a positive step by animal-welfare advocates, such as the American Anti-Vivisection Society in Jenkintown. (According to the society's Sue Leary, there are currently no research chimpanzees in Philadelphia.)

The report said that most current research on chimpanzees is unnecessary. In response, the National Institutes of Health has called for a moratorium on new grants for chimp research until the agency can implement IOM's recommendations. But the new guidelines are not specific enough for scientists to predict which research projects will get the ax.

Some types of research should actually increase, said Varki, including studies that monitor the health of chimpanzees in research centers and sanctuaries. These, he said, can be conducted as part of the chimps' health care and can potentially benefit chimps, since they suffer their own unique set of health problems.

His bottom line is that scientists shouldn't do anything to a chimp they wouldn't be able to do ethically to a human. Researchers, he said, should consider invasiveness as well as any potential benefit to the chimps. Those criteria were not mentioned with regard to biomedical studies.Enphase microinverteres are designed for residential and commercial,

Varki said there is also a great deal we can learn through autopsy, and yet many sanctuary-housed chimps are incinerated when they die. Sanctuaries are not funded for autopsies or providing samples taken during routine medical care. "It's a lost opportunity to learn about them and us," he said.

Our opportunity to study chimps is also winding down. They are no longer imported for government-funded research. Research chimps are not bred in captivity, and, according to one estimate, will die out by 2037. Chimps in the wild are endangered, and may disappear as well.

Until that time, there is much that can be learned about ourselves from studying chimp behavior,Distributor of wholesalepetsupplies - pet supply product for aquarium, dog, cat, bird, small animal, reptile, pond. said Emory University psychobiologist William Hopkins. Our evolutionary cousins are helping us understand the nature of our own language, culture, self-awareness, and social relationships. Studying chimps is helping us understand what makes us human.

"They exhibit abilities that other animals don't, so they occupy this unique niche in terms of information about how the brain works and how cognition evolved," Hopkins said.

He also sees no ethical problems with the behavioral work he is involved in at Yerkes National Primate Center, near Atlanta. Some of the studies involve brain scanning, but chimps can't sit still in a scanner without sedation. While darts are sometimes used to anesthetize dangerous animals, Hopkins said workers at Yerkes have trained chimps to accept getting a shot. That limits stress, which improves the accuracy of the scanning.

He is now investigating a form of nonverbal communication called joint attention, which happens when an individual looks at something and others follow his gaze. About 75 percent of chimps do this readily and the remaining 25 percent do not, he said. Genetic studies show those failing to follow another's gaze tend to have an altered form of a gene that codes for a hormone called vasopressin, implicated in bonding and social behaviors.

He also has found that chimps have varied and complex personalities. Some are more extroverted than others,Welcome to the official Rubik's website, home of the world famous Rubik's cubepuzzles.Original thelandscapeoilpaintings, buy landscape paintings online. some are more conscientious, and some are more neurotic, said Hopkins. "There are Woody Allens of the chimp world," he said.

He said he believed that the new guidelines might have little effect on behavioral research, and that they were more likely to restrict invasive biomedical studies.

Whether such studies will continue may hinge more on the potential benefit to human health. The IOM panelists were divided over the use of chimps to study Hepatitis C vaccines.There are 19 polishedtiles available, The disease kills people, and chimp research may advance the search for a vaccine. But the process - infecting healthy chimps and subjecting them to liver biopsies - is not something any scientist would do to humans.

Regardless of how NIH decides to go on this, there's an unmistakable trend away from invasive research. "Seventy years ago chimps were sent off into space, given lethal doses of radiation, or infected with leprosy or TB," Varki said. "That kind of thing is fading away."

Some of this change comes from our understanding of evolution. "Chimpanzees are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom," said NIH Director Francis Collins. The connection between evolution and animal rights was an underlying theme in the film Planet of the Apes, in which two chimp scientists became enlightened about human rights as they recognized an evolutionary relationship between themselves and human beings. Now we seem to be moving in the same direction.

Vigilance Bureau resumes cash-for-vote scam probe

The development has come after The Pioneer published a report on December 22 regarding delay in investigation into the case. The Vigilance Bureau has summoned the other five accused persons. One of the accused, Teklal Mahto, has passed away.

“After repeated requests,This entry was posted by billabongboardshortscloths. the complainants in the cash-for-vote scam have come up and have given their statements. They have also shown us the place where the sting operation was done,” said IG (Vigilance) M V Rao.This is interesting cubepuzzle and logical game.By billabongoutlet in billabong boardshorts. Jun. 30. He also added that earlier these people were reluctant to come because of security reasons.

Six legislators, Teklal Mahto, Umashankar Akela, Simon Marandi, Yogendra Sao, Sawna Lakra and Rajesh Ranjan were caught on camera in a sting operation conducted by the Kobra Post in association with CNN-IBN.

Talking about the scam in Jharkhand Public Service Commission, Rao said in a 200 hundred page report submitted to the Government the department has clearly outlined the irregularities committed during the second JPSC exam. He also said he recommended the dismissal of most of the candidates as they had exercised the fraudulent means to pass the examination.

Rao also revealed that the department had to go through more than 3 lakh answer sheets to come to the conclusion. Besides, 90,000 copies were sent to Forensic Science Laboratory, Ahmedabad. Rao also alleged some JPSC officials were not cooperating with the Vigilance Bureau.

“It was a hectic exercise. Only then have we reached a conclusion. As it is a case related to the administrative officers,5 hours ago by electriccarjackes On the bright side for the health conscious, you have to be doubly sure before pointing fingers at somebody,” said Rao.

He said bureau will now take it for granted that the evidences have been destroyed and will lodge a case against these persons.

Three charge-sheets have been filed as the accused have been categorised in three parts - office bearers of JPSC, who are already in jail, professors and members of interview boards and thirdly the beneficiaries or the candidates.

Rao also disclosed that Vigilance Bureau has succeeded in completing investigations in some of the cases which were pending for several years, such as Electric Insulator Factory Scam of 1983 in which three people have been chargesheeted and final reports have been submitted in favour of three persons.The Zentai Project is a group of people who go out in public wearing zentai suits, The bureau has also disposed off sixteen cases relating to the medicine scam of year ranging 2004-2005 and only two cases relating to this are pending now.

Enquiry related to the equipment purchase scam in the 34th National Games is still on and twelve firms have been marked which had supplied equipments in the National Games. “It will take three more months to investigate the case,” said Rao.

Reviewing the achievements in the year 2011, Rao said that out of 100 pending cases, 64 have been disposed off while out of 117 pending enquiries, 53 enquiries have been completed. Rao also said that despite an acute shortage of officers and staffs in the Bureau they had tried to do their best and will continue doing so in the future.

Household waste piles up during holiday season

The excesses of the holiday season not only sneak up on the waistline or drain the pocketbook; they carve out space at local landfills.Museum Quality handmade oilpaintings reproductions of famous artists - old masters contemporary.

Old toys replaced by the new. Boxes upon boxes. Food scraps from overflowing dinner plates or leftover potatoes that get old enough to raise the specter of food poisoning.

A report by an independent research organization based in Washington, D.C., said Americans generate an extra 5 million tons of household waste each year between Thanksgiving and New Year's, including three times as much food waste as other times of the year.

The study by Worldwatch Institute — which tracks energy, resource and environmental issues — said that one-third of food produced worldwide for human consumption, or an estimated 1.3 billion tons, is lost or wasted each year.

"I am not surprised that there is so much waste. It's part of our culture," said Nate Call, a food resource specialist with the Utah Food Bank. "We get whatever we can, whenever we can and discard it later if we do not need it or use it.Ventilation fans are the workhorses of thesepanasonicventilationsystem,"

A number of businesses and organizations in Utah are taking steps to do what is possible to decrease what would ultimately end up in the garbage. In many instances, otherwise landfill-destined products take on a new purpose, helping recipients and cutting costs for those who would have thrown it away.

Many restaurants, for example, compost food products on site or sell them for composting. Old cooking grease is bought by the barrel to turn into ethanol.

"Many of the restaurants are of the nature that they are recycling these things — and that helps the recyclers make their money,Find everything you need to know about coldsores including causes," said Melva Sine, president and chief executive officer of the Utah Restaurant Association.

Sine said the move to composting food scraps or disposing of grease for fuel has been gaining traction in Utah for some time.

"Environmentally, it is the right thing to do. At the same time, it is smart business because the waste that is being produced is being purchased for other things."

Sine said the food service component of Deer Valley Resort has long made it a practice to be as eco-friendly as possible with its waste. As an example, extra bread goes to an area Christian center for needy families and at one point, table scraps from the restaurants provided food fare for a herd of goats.

Since 2006, the Utah Food Bank has operated the grocery rescue program, a partnership that taps participation from stores across Utah — from rural Blanding to Salt Lake City.

The program retrieves meat, dairy, bread and produce products that are nearing their end-of-freshness dates. It also includes products such as shampoo or lotions that the stores need to cycle off the shelves.

By the latter part of 2006, Call said the program had collected more than 300,000 pounds of goods from 14 participating stores.

With 200 stores part of the program now, Call said grocery rescue is on target to collect as much as 11.5 million pounds of goods this year.

Those products, picked up six days a week from participating stores under a strict formula to protect end consumers, are then distributed via the Utah Food Bank's network of recipient agencies — more than 130 throughout the state.

The beauty of the program, Call adds,This billabongboardshort has the following technological features, is that the food and other products are put to good use, stay out of the landfill and help keep costs down for grocery stores.

"It saves not only the food, but there is the additional cost savings to the store for waste disposal," he said. "The average cost per 10-ton load of that food waste is about $400."

Bob Harmon, vice president for the customer at Harmons, said grocery rescue helped the company shuttle 146,000 pounds of food from the chain to area food banks or other distributors.

"We have tried to do what we can to minimize waste," he said, adding that the program not only has benefits for its charitable aspects, but for its environmentally friendly nature.

"These products are going to use, rather than to the landfill as waste," he said.What is Faux chinaceramictile? "We are very supportive of this program."

Richmond woman gives kidney to ailing former boss

This year, Susan Preston gave Bruce Dodds a Christmas gift that is changing his life.

Preston donated a kidney to Dodds.

"Her gift means a normal life again," Dodds said.

The living donor kidney transplant surgery took place Dec. 7 at IU Health University Hospital in Indianapolis. Dodds and Preston, both Richmond residents, are well on the mend.

For the first time in three years, food tastes good again to Dodds. His fluid intake is no longer restricted and he is free from dialysis.

"It's pretty amazing for someone not related to our family to make that gift," said Dodds' daughter, Lara Dodds.

Preston's husband, Roger Preston, and her daughters, Jessica McMorrow and Elise Chadwick,Customized imprinted and promotionalusbonsale flash drives. were not surprised by Preston's generosity.

"Susan is a make-a-difference kind of person," Roger Preston said.

"I would say my mom was unswerving in her decision (to donate) from Day One," McMorrow said.

Preston feels the Christmas season is the perfect time to celebrate Dodds' renewed life.

"The greatest gift given to us was Jesus," she said. "It almost seemed minuscule (in comparison) to give a kidney. It just seemed so right."

Preston and Dodds became acquainted eight years ago when he became her boss at Earlham College, where she is an administrative assistant. They each have three children and became grandparents at about the same time.

They worked together for five years before Dodds was blindsided by kidney failure from polycystic kidney disease, a genetic disorder causing cysts.This page describes the term usbmemorydrive flash drive and lists other pages on the Web where you can find additional information. It is the most common life-threatening genetic disease, one that often lies dormant for years.

Dodds had been treated for cancer not long before the kidney failure and believes that was his trigger.Get designer beddings comforter sets, modern comforter sets,

His life changed immediately.

The kidneys control about 80 to 85 percent of the body's operating systems, Dodds said. He couldn't work and had to have dialysis three days a week.

"It (dialysis) takes over your life," Dodds said.

Most people, he said, understand that dialysis cleanses the blood because the kidneys can no longer handle that function. What they don't realize, he said, is that dialysis also removes the excess fluid from the body because without working kidneys, urination is not possible.

Each dialysis treatment, Dodds said, is as hard on the body as running a marathon and that body is operating at just 30 percent of its normal energy level.

Roger Preston, who works at Reid Hospital, said there is a misconception that a person can handle dialysis indefinitely.Click to see more results for hemorrho.

"It's a Band-Aid on a gaping wound," he said.

"We had no idea it was such a physical hardship," Susan Preston said.The Tile Depot is the UK's largest independent floortiles retailer,

The past three years have been an emotional roller coaster for Dodds and his family. Initially, Dodds' wife, Marilyn, was deemed a match as his kidney donor. But when doctors discovered she had kidney stones, she became ineligible. Dodds said his wife literally cried for two weeks.

Other family members sought to be a match, but they were discovered to have the genetic predisposition to polycystic kidney disease. Dodds was listed as a transplant candidate on state and national databases. He had one near match.

"It's been three years of trying circumstances," Lara Dodds said. "(My father) has gotten through it with great courage and great strength."

‘Star Wars’ video game speaks for itself

It’s something that players of modern single-player video games such as “The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim” and “Batman: Arkham City” might take for granted, but an effect that die-hard fans of sprawling online role-playing games such as “World of Warcraft” and “Aion” will surely appreciate: The characters in “Star Wars: The Old Republic” can actually speak.

With more than 320 actors portraying more than 4,000 characters with 260,000 lines of dialogue, BioWare’s “The Old Republic” is poised to feature more voice acting than any other massively multiplayer online game in the galaxy, and that’s not even counting the thousands of beeps and boops sputtered by droids predating R2-D2.

BioWare, the Electronic Arts Inc. developer behind the “Mass Effect” and “Dragon Age” single- player franchises, has become synonymous with conversational gameplay that allows players to chat with other characters in the hope of unlocking missions, learning more about the plot, demonstrating morality and even forming virtual bonds — romantic or otherwise.

The developer is taking that virtual chatter online with “Old Republic,” which is set thousands of years before Luke Skywalker battled Darth Vader in a galaxy far, far away.

Unlike most other persistent multiplayer games, “Old Republic” is relying more on voices than written words to push its narrative forward with an unprecedented amount of spoken dialogue.

The highly anticipated “Old Republic” has already drawn comparisons to “World of Warcraft,Hand-painted Chinese porcelaintiles on the floor of a Jewish synagogue in Cochin,” the behemoth online fantasy game from Blizzard Entertainment that boasts more than 10 million subscribers but little voice work. (“Star Wars Galaxies,” a “Star Wars” online game from Sony Online Entertainment, ended last week after eight years in operation.)

At the start of “Old Republic,The Zentai Project is a group of people who go out in public wearing zentai suits,” players pledge allegiance to either the Republic or Empire and pick from eight character types: a bounty hunter like Boba Fett,Dimensional Mailingmagiccubes for Promotional Advertising,Reliable favoritebeddinges sofa-bed is practical and comfortable round the clock. a smuggler like Han Solo, a Jedi consular like Yoda,This is interesting cubepuzzle and logical game. a Sith inquisitor like Darth Maul, a Jedi knight like Obi-Wan Kenobi, a Sith warrior like Darth Vader, an Imperial agent like Grand Moff Tarkin or a trooper.

The possibility of 16 highly customizable protagonists — eight men, eight women — hyper-speeding through a virtual universe populated with thousands of talkative characters, as well as millions of other players online, presented “The Old Republic” developers at BioWare in Austin, Texas, and Lucas-Arts in San Francisco with several new challenges.

Unlike an animated film, the nonlinear nature of “The Old Republic” requires the voice actors to record several versions of dialogue, depending on whether players are moving along the light or dark sides of the Force, and because the game is ongoing, the developers are creating updates that will feature new content, including voiceovers.

“We tried to prepare the talent that this isn’t a normal voiceover gig,” said LucasArts voice producer Orion Kellogg. “Normally, actors come into the studio once or twice to record their audio. We’ve got 16 player characters alone doing tons of dialogue. They know they’re coming back. I think they like it because they’ve been able to grow into their role.”

The daunting amount of dialogue also technically tested “The Old Republic” developers.

They built a new system for organizing the audio, which was recorded in 17 studios spanning from Los Angeles to London, and created a method of compressing the audio so that it can be easily downloaded by players when they install and update the game.

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Technical problems delay Expo Line's debut

The opening date for the long-awaited Expo Line has been postponed several times, and a test ride last week showed how a spot of bad circuitry and a debate over six-letter words — "subway," "tunnel" and "trench" — continue to delay the system's operation.

While examining a 0.6-mile stretch of railway that dips below ground level near USC,We are porcelaintiles specialists and are passionate about our product - the most durable, transportation officials on Thursday argued over nomenclature.

"I think it's a subway, it's not a trench. There's special ventilation requirements on a subway," said Art Leahy, head of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

Rick Thorpe, head of the Exposition Construction Authority, insisted the feature was a trench.

"You say po-TAY-to, I say po-TAH-to," Leahy said. "When I look up and I see a roof and I'm on a train, I'm in a subway."

"But you can also look up and see the sky," Thorpe said.

"In certain places, that ..The Tile Depot is the UK's largest independent floortiles retailer,. would be a trench," Leahy said.

Ventilation in the trench — or tunnel — is one of a handful of technical issues that officials with Metro, the agency responsible for funding and operating the line, say need to be fixed before they can finish "pre-revenue operations": training operators and testing the line.

Officials with the Exposition Construction Authority, who announced Nov. 28 that they had turned the system over to Metro for those pre-revenue operations, are complying despite saying that some of the requested changes — like fans in the trench or tunnel — are unnecessary.

County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, who sits on the Metro board of directors, described the tension between Leahy and Thorpe as "sibling rivalry."

"The older child is giving the younger child a hard time," he said.

The two agencies do agree on some of the requested changes. One is to fix the line's primary technical problem at the junction where the Expo Line shares tracks with the Blue Line, which runs between Long Beach and downtown L.A.This profile page summarizes all known activity of the domain promotionalusbonsale.

Thorpe explained that rail operators receive signals from the track ensuring that the train is going the right speed, and in one area those signals were not going through.

Leahy said the junction is already tricky because trains will run frequently — minutes apart — in both directions, but the problems with the circuitry make full testing impossible.

"We can simulate service south of 23rd [Street]. We cannot simulate service north of 23rd because of the junction," Leahy said. "We can't get the trains through there fast enough. We've got to work out some signal system issues with the junction," he said.

"I think optimistically we're a few days away in solving it," Thorpe said Thursday.

Metro officials said they were working with the city Fire Department and are pushing for certain changes because the line can't open before the California Public Utilities Commission certifies it as safe. The first part of the line to open will go 7.9 miles, between the downtown 7th Street/Metro Center station and La Cienega Boulevard.

Leahy said that soon after problems at the junction are fixed, he'll be able to begin pre-revenue operations — which can take up to three months — and set an opening date shortly after.

Predictions for when the Expo line would begin service have repeatedly proved inaccurate. On Thursday, Leahy and Thorpe declined to specify a date.

The technical issues are the latest kink in a project that has faced numerous delays and cost increases, most often because of design enhancements, safety concerns and increases in construction prices.

Some officials said the problems occurred because of an initial bewilderment about funding sources and a disjointed process of construction, design and other contracts.

The first phase of the line originally carried a price tag of $640 million and was considered a cheap way to get rail into the Westside, but the cost grew to exceed $930 million.

When complete, the first phase will take commuters 8.6 miles between downtown Los Angeles and downtown Culver City at speeds of up to 55 mph.

But the 0.7-mile stretch into Culver City will not be ready for several months. Officials decided to first open the line as far as La Cienega, just east of Culver City.

The second phase of the project is budgeted at $1.5 billion. When fully built, the Expo Line will transport riders from downtown L.A. to Santa Monica in 46 minutes with 19 stops. It will be the first light rail line into the Westside since the days of the Red Car trolleys and is expected to become one of the most heavily used in the country.

Most of the line's first phase is complete.Serving Australia with a large range of decorative wallmirrorshop in our Sydney store. Each rail station will feature original artwork based on local history, including an interpretation of when the Baldwin Hills Reservoir dam burst in 1963.

At the above-ground La Cienega station, commuters will enjoy a 360-degree view of the region including the Hollywood sign, West L.A. and the Federal Building, Baldwin Hills and downtown L.Shop and save on blurayburners, Blu-Ray Burner,A.

'Giving Tree' makes wishes come true for several local families

A month ago, Zoe Quewon and six children, ages 18 months to 16 years, were living out of boxes and sleeping on the floor of a new apartment, after being displaced when the home they were renting was foreclosed on.

Today, the Air Force reservist and her family have beds, new clothes and dressers in which to keep them -- thanks to Reporter readers who contributed more than $14,000 in donations and gifts to the 2011 Mary Lou Wilson Memorial Giving Tree.

The Quewons aren't the only Giving Tree family to benefit from readers' contributions. The needs of each of the seven individuals and families profiled in The Reporter a month ago were met.

Eight families on the Giving Tree backup list also were taken care of, including a Dixon mom whose 5-year-old child's abscessed tooth required emergency extraction -- an expense she could not afford. Many of the other families' needs were met by employees from the Valero Refinery in Benicia.

After all of the bills are paid on behalf of the families and individuals, The Giving Tree also should be able to fulfill at least some monetary requests made by financially strapped social service agencies.

As those who deliver gifts and services know, recipients are grateful for the help. That gratitude was expressed by one woman whose Section 8 housing deposit is being covered by The Giving Tree, enabling her to have a home in which she can be reunited with her three children, who are now in foster care.

"Thank you for making me and my kids' dreams come true," she wrote. "It is a blessing to my family. Words can't express the joy you have brought to us this Christmas."

Her sentiments have been echoed by the Giving Tree families profiled last month. Here is an update on how they are faring:

Soon after the Quewon family's situation came to light, The Giving Tree began receiving calls from residents who wanted to help. Several offered furniture, including dressers and couches, and were put in touch with the family to make delivery arrangements. A Travis Air Force Base family who wishes to remain anonymous "adopted" the Quewons, providing not only needed clothing and bedding, but also a gift from each child's "wish" list. The Giving Tree purchased beds and arranged delivery of the gifts.

Quewon said her church also gave the family a Christmas tree and some presents as part of its "Go Without, So Others Don't" ministry.

"We have been tremendously blessed,By billabongoutlet in billabong boardshorts. Jun. 30." a grateful Quewon said in an e-mail. This is the "first Christmas ever that I have not bought a gift for my kids, but God had us covered. We are very fortunate. I am so astonished by this. It's unbelievable."

A broken water pipe thwarted the goal of getting Kory and Michelle Breiten out of the Opportunity House homeless shelter by Christmas and into their own Vacaville residence, where they could be reunited with their two sons. The repairs are being made and, when they are complete, the family can move in. When they do, they can use the new bedding and towels provided by The Giving Tree.

In the meantime,Welcome to the official Rubik's website, home of the world famous Rubik's cubepuzzles. both parents have found work and are still staying at the shelter. They plan to spend Christmas Day with Kory's sister, who has custody of the boys.

Nikita Range,This is interesting cubepuzzle and logical game. whose medical issues have kept her out of work for more than a year, didn't ask The Giving Tree for much: Beds and bedding for her 17-year-old son and 15-month-old grandson, of whom she has custody; clothes and jackets for the family; a vacuum cleaner and some groceries. Her wish list was fulfilled.

Anthony Poulos, 62, has been unable to work since 1994 because he suffers from a number of painful disabilities, including spinal steonsis and osteo arthritis. He gets around his Fairfield apartment with the help of a motorized wheelchair and uses crutches when he goes out, which isn't often. Because he is mostly homebound and living on a modest income, the Prevention and Early Access for Seniors Program requested a year's subscription for Internet and television services -- his main connection with the outside world. The Giving Tree arranged for that.

With five children ages 8 months to 12 years, Cobi and Vincent Rush would have their hands full. But Vincent has become disabled, diagnosed with schizophrenia, and Cobi, an Air Force veteran, has been out of work since giving birth to her youngest child. The family is struggling to pay bills and will likely lose their home to foreclosure. Several families from the Epiphany Episcopal Church Friday Night Dinner program stepped up to provide the Rushes with bedding, winter clothes and Christmas gifts. Another Vacaville family donated a bunk bed frame. The Giving Tree paid some of the family's bills and bought mattresses for the bunk bed, as well as new tires and windshield wipers for their car. Family Auto Care is providing a free oil change and inspection.

Maria Wiley, a 67-year-old Suisun City resident with numerous health issues, was taking part in a 12-week cardiac pulmonary rehabilitation class and wanted to be able to continue the workout when the program ended. Soon after her story was published, two offers came in from residents who had recumbent stationary bicycles they were no longer using. Wiley's therapist chose the one most similar to the equipment Wiley was using in the class. In addition, The Giving Tree supplied her with some hand weights so she can continue her exercises

Veronica Melchor, 20, lives with her parents and teenage brother in a Vacaville mobile home. Everyone in the family works, but money is tight. When their heater went out last year, they family did without. But after her son was born in October, Melchor sought help with getting it and a recently broken clothes dryer fixed.We offer lots of zentaisuits for sale. The day her story appeared,The Tile Depot is the UK's largest independent floortiles retailer, Vaca Appliance and Fitchhorn Heating called The Giving Tree to say they would take care of the problems -- and they did.

Mexican Festivals and Holidays: Keeping Traditions Alive

The El Paso-Ciudad Juarez borderland was hopping with activity in recent days. In downtown El Paso, lumbering city buses navigated between crowds of shoppers searching for a cheap, potential present made by Chinese or Vietnamese or Pakistani hands. Not far away, the piata and candy shops on gritty Alameda Avenue were festooned in green, blue, red and white, as a man stood in a median with a sign promoting a bargain buffet of seafood.This entry was posted by billabongboardshortscloths. A pair of Border Patrol agents strolled along the sidewalk.

In the reconverted quarters of an old garment plant now rechristened Mercado Mayapan, La Mujer Obrera (The Woman Worker) staged its annual Christmas posada. El Paso's Mariachi Gala entertained a crowd that enjoyed a corn and chocolate drink called champurrado and buuelos, sugary pastries, all for free.

An old tradition, the posada celebrates the wandering carpenter and his wife seeking shelter and sustenance. A group of singing, amateur actors reenacted the ageless saga, asking the celebrants for a helping hand. The attendees were then given a free gift bag,Read about coldsorestreatments, which are caused by a viral infection that attacks the skin and nervous system. or colación, which consisted of oranges, nuts and Mexican candy. Adults and children alike took turns swinging at what seemed like an unbreakable piata, which finally popped after a determined man landed a few furious blows.

"We feel it is symbolic for what Mercado Mayapan is in the community," said Rubi Orozco, spokesperson for La Mujer Obrera. "It is an alternative space for people to come to. It's a community refuge."

Founded by former garment workers who banded together to promote grassroots economic development, Mercado Mayapan is a place where residents and visitors can shop for fair trade-oriented holiday gifts while reaffirming traditional culture. "It's not about the consumerist aspect,With Payflowpaymentgateway," Orozco said in an interview with Frontera NorteSur. "It's more about the get-together."

Although the market recently ran up against serious financial challenges and was forced to drastically cut back its hours, rumors of Mercado Mayapan's imminent demise are exaggerated, Orozco insisted. While La Mujer Obrera attempts to renegotiate its lease, the market space is available for both community gatherings and private events like quinceaeras; food workers are mulling alternatives such as a catering business, she said. In November and December,Manufacturer of industrial coatedabrasive rolls, Mercado Mayapan's kitchen offers seasonal tamales on order.

Orozco said her group is reviving another tradition that counters the prevailing commercialism of the age. On the morning of the posada, Orozco and several friends did a trial run of a bartering exchange they want to do on a regular basis. For their first barter, the friends traded body care products and natural foods including oatmeal, fresh mint and chiles curtidos, chiles in vinegar.

"We're trying to create that alternative space so we can support each other, even though we are all struggling," Orozco said. "Everyone's feedback is, ‘let's definitely do this again.'"

Ana Gomez, Mercado Mayapan manager, said the Christmas posada is just one of many festivities that her organization organizes every year. Among the list of celebrations is December 12, Virgin of Guadalupe Day. This year, Gomez and seven other women walked from the market to the Cathedral in downtown Ciudad Juarez in an annual pilgrimage honoring the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The different activities, Gomez added, create "community" and help maintain a Mexican culture that gets diluted on this side of the border. "We are always planning," said Gomez, who worked in a laundry that washed jeans for Levi Strauss before the company relocated its operations across the border in 1999.

"This has been a learning experience for me," said Gomez of her involvement in La Mujer Obrera's cultural and economic projects. "I only attended elementary school. In a factory you only do one thing, but when I got here they told me I was going to learn how to plan events. It's been an incredible experience for me."

Hailing from a younger generation than Gomez, Orozco has her own experiences with migration and multicultural holiday celebrations. Born in southern California, Orozco was taken back to Mexico as a baby and grew up speaking Spanish. Later, she moved back to the country of her birth, learned English and attended UC-Berkeley. While living in the Bay Area, the public health specialist participated in the indigenous, alternative Thanksgiving Day ceremony at Alcatraz Island.

Increasingly, Mexican and US holiday traditions are celebrated in both nations. For example, the presence of a large US expatriate and snowbird community in Puerto Vallarta has turned Thanksgiving into a visible celebration in the Mexican port city. Some restaurants advertise Thanksgiving meal specials. A buffet at El Torito restaurant/sports bar featured an all-you-can eat feast of turkey, ham, typical trimmings and, to throw in a Mexican-flavor, tamales. This year's huge meal drew a mixed crowd of US and Canadian expatriates, tourists and Mexican nationals.

Cross-border influences are wildly evident in the growth of Day of the Dead celebrations in the US as well as the grafting of Halloween traditions onto the same festivities in Mexico. In Aguascalientes, the presence of young people dressed up in scary, Halloween-like costumes during this year's Day of the Dead festivities was striking.

Guillermo Saucedo, director of Aguascalientes' Posada Museum, said the fusion of Halloween/Day of the Dead rituals represents "transculturalization with peculiar results."

According to the cultural scholar, the legendary artist Jose Guadalupe Posada's skeleton-like La Catrina cartoon character - which is now an icon of the Day of the Dead - has leaped across borders and oceans. Saucedo said he was even surprised to see a German horse festival using a Posada image. Closer to home, the spirit of La Catrina was present in a Mexico City demonstration against violence that was convened via Facebook and Twitter last month.

Next year, two major anniversaries will honor the "new diva of Mexico," Saucedo said. 2012 marks the 100th anniversary of La Catrina's appearance in this world, and the 160th birthday of her creator, he said. Unfortunately, there is little state support for either the museum or the upcoming anniversaries, Saucedo grumbled.

A recognized poet and writer from Aguascalientes, Claudia Santa-Ana said the very act of the festival is "integral" to Mexican identity and strongly implanted in a land where nature, animals and death are powerful forces.We parkingguidancesystem , vehicle location system and urban area parking management system, Santa-Ana contended that mixing Halloween and Day of the Dead symbols is not necessarily a bad thing, but that a need exists to transmit authentic Mexican Day of the Dead traditions to the next generation.

Bata: Best foot forward

Stock’s re-rating likely to continue as the company grows through store expansion, volume growth and higher realisations.

The Bata India stock has gained 40 per cent in 2011, one of the biggest gainers among BS 200 companies. Despite the fireworks on the bourses, the stock looks cheap at 17 times calendar year (CY) 2012 estimated earnings, according to analysts, as the high growth momentum is expected to continue. Says an analyst from Sharekhan, “Bata remains undervalued, as it is trading at a PEG (the ratio of price-earnings to earnings per share growth) of 0.63 CY2012 estimated earnings.”

In the nine months ended September,Shop for billabongboardshort. sales grew 23 per cent year on year (y-o-y) on account of retail expansion and strong same-store sales growth. Analysts expect sales growth of around 21 per cent between CY2010 and 2012. Says Jignesh Kamani, analyst at Nirmal Bang, “The sales growth is expected to be strong on the back of higher penetration through aggressive store expansion and increasing volumes from existing stores.” Varun Lohchab,No more guessing at which is the best hemorrhoidstreatmentsproducts for you, analyst at Religare Securities, maintains his view as in a September 30 report: “Bata, the leader in India’s branded footwear market, is likely to see its top line growth trajectory improve over the next two–three years, led by a mix of higher volumes and realisations.Choose from our large selection of cableties,”

More than sales growth, margin improvement is the key bigger favourable investment argument for investing in the company. Adds Lohchab, “After the 800-basis point jump in operating margins over CY04-10 on account of all-round business restructuring, margins could see another 300 bps expansion over CY10-13 (from 14 per cent levels in CY10).”

Operating profit margin and net profit margin jumped 280 bps and 260 bps (adjusted for an extraordinary item), respectively,A glassbottles is a bottle created from glass. in the nine months ended September, due to improved product mix and lower employee costs.In quicksilver, the first volume of the "Baroque Cycle," Employee costs as a percentage to sales were at a decadal high of 28.5 per cent in CY2003. However, due to restructuring between CY2004 and 2008, these almost halved in CY2010 and came further down to 12.4 per cent in the nine months of CY2011.

Analysts expect margins to consistently improve in the next few years, due to operating leverage on the back of robust sales growth, increasing share of high-margin leather footwear (49 per cent and 72 per cent in terms of volume and value, respectively, for CY2010), continued lower employee costs, higher outsourcing (of rubber/canvas and plastic shoes) at 46 per cent of sales in the September quarter, working capital efficiency and a debt-free balance sheet.

Bata plans to expand its 1,300 retail stores aggressively over the next few years. The estimate is 100 more stores every year, with a minimum area of 3,000 sq ft (called big format). It opened 68 stores in the first half of CY2011, compared to 108 in CY2010.

The company intends to extend its reach in tier-2 and tier-3 cities. Also, most of the stores in future will be K-stores (20 per cent of the current network), wherein the company appoints an agent who runs the store and bears all employee costs associated with it, while the company bears all other costs such as store rent, furniture, etc. In return, the K-store agent gets a commission of six to eight per cent, depending on the turnover.

However, high rental is a key risk, as tier-2 and tier-3 cities have been relatively less affected by the overall slump in the real estate market and economic slowdown. The company plans to focus on ladies footwear, a highly untapped category in the organised space (14 per cent penetration). The stock is down 25 per cent from its 52-week high of Rs 741 in August to around Rs 550. Analysts advise investors to buy at current levels, as they feel there is a lot of steam in the stock.

Perfecting panettone for the holidays

Christmas baking traditions die hard. Take my annual December output of stollen, that German holiday bread full of walnutThis page describes the term usbmemorydrive flash drive and lists other pages on the Web where you can find additional information.s and raisins and drizzled with a confectioners' sugar glaze.

After nearly 30 years of dragging home pounds of nuts and golden raisins from the Strip, bags of powdered sugar from the grocery and staying up late waiting for the stollens to finally be done, I needed something new to bake for the holidays, and discovered it in the Italian tradition from Milan -- panettone.

When I acquired two new bread books this year -- "The Italian Baker (Revised)" by Carol Field and Ed Anderson (Ten Speed Press, $35) and "The Fundamental Techniques of Classic Bread Baking" by the French Culinary Institute (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, $65) -- I found the inspiration to refine my original recipe and turn out exceptional panettoni, fresher and more sophisticated than those imported from Italy in cardboard boxes.

My initial recipe was created by Jim Lahey for the December 2008 issue of the late and still-mourned Gourmet magazine. At the time,Credit is not an issue with our offshoremerchantaccounts. Mr. Lahey, owner of The Sullivan St. Bakery, was the darling of New York food writers. Gourmet embraced his celebrity as well and reproduced his panettone.

The gimmick to his panettone was the use of a tiny ( 1/2 teaspoon) amount of yeast and exceptionally long (12 to 15 hours) rising or initial fermentation stage. The Gourmet recipe directed you to place the dough in a cold oven for that time, assuming, I guess, that we all had more than one oven and could afford to tie one up for that long.

I found that the effects of this technique resulted in a flavorful, but dense bread that rose only slightly even after 15 hours and needed almost two hours to bake.

I changed the recipe by using bread flour instead of all-purpose and 1 1/2 teaspoons of SAF Gold instant yeast that works best with sweet doughs. It's called "osmotolerant." I kneaded the dough in a stand mixer for 15 minutes using a dough hook to develop more gluten.

The changes improved the bread considerably. It was easier to handle, rose faster without imprisonment in a cold oven and baked in just over an hour. The panettone was airy, moist and redolent of vanilla.

The recent baking books led to more upgrades in the panettone production. Their recipes were more complex and challenging than Mr. Lahey's recipe, and the breads were worth the work, both head and shoulders above the Lahey product even after my improvements.This is interesting cubepuzzle and logical game.

These recipes are not for casual bakers; they are advised to use the Lahey recipe with my refinements. The recipes also call for panettone baking molds made of lined paper. I found mine at Pennsylvania Macaroni in the area where bread is sold.

Traditional panettone is a yeast bread full of eggs, sugar and butter -- really a brioche with dried fruit and citrus flavoring.The Zentai Project is a group of people who go out in public wearing zentai suits, It has a long shelf life. Ms. Field says the Italians save a few slices from Christmas to eat on Feb. 3, the feast day of St. Biagio, the protector of the throat.

The Italians consume more than 100 million panettoni, adds Ms. Field, who has traced its origins to the 15th century when a poor baker named Antonio created the bread, hence the name, pan di Tonio. Apocrophal, maybe, but panettone is a Christmas standard no matter how it earned its name.

I baked four different panettoni this month in search of the best version, then offered samples to three tasters, two of whom are experienced bakers and the third who is an eager consumer of their baked goods. The winner was the recipe from the French Culinary Institute, with Ms. Field's a close second.

My fourth -- from the Wild Yeast blog -- was a serious effort that required two days in the making.Get designer beddings comforter sets, modern comforter sets, Like the French Culinary Institute's, it calls for a mature "levain" or naturally created leavener that takes a week or so to make and regular "feedings" of flour and water to maintain.

Ban on rip-off hidden credit card charges

CREDIT card users are set to save more than 500million a year after greedy firms were ordered to end a rip-off charging scandal.

The Treasury will today announce a ban on excessive fees for paying for goods and services with plastic.

The move marks a major victory for customers who for years have been forced to fork out extra just for the privilege of giving companies their money.

It comes days after banks were shamed into scrapping a similar racket for buying foreign currency in the UK.

The decision will prevent companies charging more for card transactions than it costs them to process the payment.

Industry data suggests the average debit card handling cost is less than 10p, while for credit cards it is between 1% and 2% of the total transaction.Reliable favoritebeddinges sofa-bed is practical and comfortable round the clock.

But an investigation by consumer body Which? found firms routinely charge far more – a rip-off that we highlighted in YourMoney two months ago.

Cineworld demands a 70p booking fee, easycar 3.99 and airline Ryanair 6 per passenger each way.Offers antique glassinsulator and supplies for collectors.

Travelodge and Interflora both charge up to 2 for online credit card transactions, BT adds a 1.80 fee a month and theme park Alton Towers has a 1.50 levy for online debit card payments and 2.50 for credit cards.

Local authorities are also guilty of imposing charges and the DVLA has a 2.50 credit card fee.

Even the taxman is in on the act with the HMRC’s credit card fee calculated as 1.4% of how much you are handing over. The travel sector is the worst culprit with some companies accused of hiding charges until late in the booking process.

Firms will now have to absorb the card transaction cost or, if they pass it on,There are 19 polishedtiles available, include it in the advertised price.

The Treasury is aiming to fast-track the changes to ensure the ban comes into force by the end of 2012. But critics have accused ministers of dragging their feet as the Office of Fair Trading asked them to outlaw hidden fees in June.Enphase microinverteres are designed for residential and commercial,

Mark Hoban, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said: “The Government remains committed to helping consumers get a good deal in these difficult times.”

Which? boss Richard Lloyd said: “The Government’s decision to ban rip-off debit and credit card surcharges is a huge victory for consumers.

“This announcement goes further than the Office of Fair Trading’s proposals, finally putting an end to these unfair and excessive charges. Over 50,000 people supported Which?’s campaign to see these fees stamped out.

"Given that airline passengers alone pay more than 265,000 a day in card surcharges,Find everything you need to know about coldsores including causes, businesses shouldn’t drag their feet over this.

“While the law will come into force at the end of 2012, we want companies to be upfront over card charges today.”

Noche Buena traditions through generations

Filipino Noche Buena traditions have evolved through the years, just as the country underwent socio-political changes in the various eras since the start of the 20th century, when the Philippines went through peacetime (before WWII), wartime (the Japanese occupation), liberation (the Commonwealth era under the Americans),What can you tell me about thequicksilverscreen stuff on the internet, independence (1946-1972), martial law, EDSA1 and EDSA2.

My maternal grandfather, a very nationalistic Caviteo, hated foreigners and all forms of foreign influences, to the extent of having his children all baptized in the Aglipayan church of Bacoor and picking the Aglipayan cemetery for his parents’ final resting place.

Christmas traditions were pronouncedly anti-Hispanic and very native. Instead of imported fruits, ham and cheese, his dinner table was laden with banana leaf-wrapped suman sa lihiya, bowls of purple haleya, metal molds of leche flan, pots of salty-sweet antala and baskets of warm, freshly-steamed tamales. All were made by his wife, Lola Tina, who learned from her mother that the malagkit (sticky rice) was to keep the family together, while sugar meant a harmonious relationship.

As there was no refrigeration, all the food was prepared the same day; we had to start grinding the rice for tamales before dawn as the ube (purple yam) was boiled, peeled and grated for the haleya. The whole day was spent wrapping and tying the suman and tamales which had to steam for hours. Last were the antala (malagkit stewed in coconut cream) and the haleya, both of which required hours of non-stop mixing and stirring in shallow carajay (copper-bottomed pans).

Our family’s Christmas Eve meal changed after my aunts started studying at the University of Sto. Tomas. As the first in the family to go to college, they were allowed to introduce new items which, they explained, were what everyone else was serving in the city.

It was Christmas Eve in the late 1940s when I first tasted apples; they were Red and Golden Delicious, quite large and elongated in shape, crunchy and juicy. There were also grapes and Sunkist oranges, which tasted so different from the grape-flavored juices and orange sodas we were served in our few visits to the city.

By the early 1950s, my grandfather’s jeepney factory, the first in the country, was doing well. Christmastime meant gifts from his suppliers: red balls of aged Edam cheese from the lumber yard, whole legs of moldy Chinese ham from the Binondo shop that provided his Dupont lacquers and enamels, boxes of sliced bread and crates of imported fruit from bus company owners whose fleets were built on credit.

Chinese suppliers taught Lola Tina (and she in turn showed me) how to simmer the ham leg in large cooking oil cans in three changes of water before scraping the harmless mold off.

The final three-hour simmer, with the ham’s skin still on, involved clavos de comer (whole cloves), laurel (bay leaves), cinnamon sticks, crushed garlic, whole peppercorns, and various liquid flavorings that included, according to availability: Syoktong (Chinese wine), dark beer, 7-Up, pineapple juice.

The last steps in the ham ritual were the removal, in one piece, of the ham skin and the scorching of the brown sugar-sprinkled fat with a red-hot siyanse (flat iron spatula) to produce a crunchy enamel crust. Thin slices of ham, paired with triangular slices of keso de bola, easily became our holiday favorite sandwich fillings.

To wake up the town in time for the 4:00 a.Get designer beddings comforter sets, modern comforter sets,m.Reliable favoritebeddinges sofa-bed is practical and comfortable round the clock. Simbang Gabi, the barrio’s brass band marched up and down the main road starting at 3:30. We all went in groups, walking the two-kilometer distance to the Las Pinas Bamboo Organ Church for nine nights. After mass, we would pool our coins and stop at a pondahan (makeshift food stall) to eat puto bumbong or bibingka,This entry was posted by billabongboardshortscloths. served with free tea brewed from young mango leaves and mature avocado leaves.

My own Noche Buena tradition started after marriage to farm-raised American journalist. Our five children grew up on Christmas meals of potatoes, pot roast, smoked ham, roast chicken,Shop and save on blurayburners, Blu-Ray Burner, homemade bread and gravy. Our concession to Pinoy Noche Buena was store-bought leche flan and ice cream.

I tried to carry on with the Yankee yuletide meals after Vic’s death six years ago, but my grandchildren prefer an entirely new menu of what they perceive to be celebration food: pasta, pizza, battered fried chicken and French fries.

The spaghetti they prefer on the sweet and sticky side. Tons of melty cheese should top the pizza. The chicken drumsticks need to be buried under layers of crunchy breading, and they prefer French fries sprinkled with powdered barbecue flavoring.

The traditional Filipino kakanin, which we now buy from Divisoria, have also gone through major changes. Instead of plate-sized aluminum molds, the haleya are now sold in ruffled paper muffin liners, sometimes with a layer of leche flan on top.

Tamales is hardly sold by street vendors; to find them one has to go to specialty shops at malls and no one even knows what antala is.

For the nostalgic: Chinese ham cooked the old way, is still available from Adelina’s in Mandaluyong and at Excellente Hams along Echague St. in Quiapo, for those who can afford the price. Perfect with the ham is Pan Bonete, the crusty bread cooked with lard sold at Vienna Bakery next door to Excellente.

Christmas asthma risks

The Asthma Society is warning people with asthma to be aware of hidden triggers over the Christmas period

Hidden asthma triggers at Christmas and severe weather can make keeping asthma controlled over the Christmas period challenging for many people with asthma and for parents of children with asthma in Ireland.

The Asthma Society of Ireland runs its ‘Control Asthma at Christmas’ awareness campaign in the lead up to Christmas to highlight the important message that this time of year can cause many problems for people with asthma.

It is especially important to follow your doctor’s medical advice if you notice your asthma symptoms worsening and to always make sure you or your child takes their asthma medication as prescribed.Selecting thebestipodnano5thonsale in Comfort Environments.

The Asthma Society of Ireland recommends asthma sufferers to take the following steps to minimise exposure to triggers and maintain asthma control over the festive season:

Christmas trees gather mould from being outdoors in wet weather. Mould spores are common asthma triggers. Ideally, buy an artificial tree for the home and wipe it down to remove any dust particles. If you are intent on having a real tree, allow your tree to dry fully before bringing it into the home.

If you are using an artificial tree, which has not been stored in a sealed bag, it may be harbouring dust, it is advisable to vacuum artificial trees before use, to remove all dust particles.

Avoid artificial snow sprays and fragrance sprays which can all induce asthma symptoms.

Wash fabric decorations in hot water before displaying; this will get rid of any dust that has been gathered while in storage.We are one of the leading italian solar panels manufacturers.Buy good quality solarpanel from Italy today! Plastic, glass or metal decorations should be used in order to prevent them gathering dust mites. Put artificial trees in a closed or sealed bag for storing.

Always carry your reliever inhaler with you at all times.

Always take your asthma medication as prescribed by your doctor or health care professional.

If you know that cold air triggers your asthma, take two puffs of your reliever inhaler before venturing outside in the cold air. Remember to carry your Asthma Attack Card with you.

In freezing conditions, prescribed inhalers may not work properly. They should be warmed before use.

“Christmas and the festive season can be a difficult time for people with asthma for whom smoke fires, candles and New Year fireworks is a trigger,” says Asthma Society of Ireland Asthma Nurse Specialist Frances Guiney.

“It is recommended for asthma sufferers to avoid smoky situations wherever possible and to admire fireworks from indoors. Having a good asthma management plan is one of the best ways to control your asthma, so speak to your health care professional to make sure your plan is working to control your asthma.”

Christmas time can create additional pressures and the Asthma Society recommends people with asthma to try and avoid unnecessary stress. “If stress is a trigger for your asthma, monitoring your condition and taking your medicine regularly should help to minimise symptoms.Read about coldsorestreatments, which are caused by a viral infection that attacks the skin and nervous system. Speak to your doctor or call the Asthma Helpline if you are going through a difficult time and feel you need more support,This article refers to electrical projectorlampproducer .” says Ms Guiney.

By following these simple steps,This is interesting cubepuzzle and logical game. people with asthma and parents of children with asthma can help to ensure they stay healthy and enjoy optimal asthma control over the Christmas period.