text:
- Journey to the center of the earth: MentalFloss (a personal favorite of mine) ran an excellent article this week about air rights and underground rights for homeowners.
- Introducing "Generation Rent." HuffPo has a great article about the surge of young adults who are moving to/staying in the city and choosing convenience & renting over the suburban homeowner lifestyle. Faced with uncertain career prospects and rising energy costs, the foot-friendly cities are giving rise to a new generation with very different cultural values.
- Why yes, Realtors can help with Rentals. A recent "Real Estate Matters" column from the Tribune serves as a great reminder that Realtors are in the housing business, not just the home sales business.
- What's included in your mortgage's APR? I had a great conversation with one of our office's in-house mortgage lenders this week about the hidden fees that can be rolled into your mortgage. Sometimes those fees can mean the difference between a good loan and a great one. Find out what makes up the difference between your interest rate and your APR with some guidance from AmericanLoanSearch.com.
- Early property tax bills in the mail for Cook County. Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas has announced that 2nd installment property tax bills for 2011 will be in the mail this month and due August 1. In previous years the bills have always been late, with due dates sometime in the fall. The bills have been late for so long, in fact, that most bank have come to expect an October or November due date, as have most title companies. This sudden burst of punctuality will mean that most escrowed property tax accounts will come up short, and that any property tax prorations included in home sales for the first half of this year will have been incorrect. Stay tuned for StrawStickStone's take on the mess this coming Wednesday, but for now find out more at the Sun-Times article.
- Rowing for cancer survivors. A former tenant that I placed in two apartments is on a quest to fund her non-profit. Jenn Gibbons is founder and coach of Recovery on Water, a Chicago based not-for-profit rowing team for breast cancer survivors. Jenn formed the group in response to research that physical activity helps reduce the chance of breast cancer recurrence. This summer she is rowing the circumference of Lake Michigan solo to help raise money for ROW. Follow her adventure and make a contribution to the cause at Row4row.org.
Do you have a link to a real estate or Chicago-related item that you'd like me to share here? Let me know!


text:
Rue des Moines, Paris, France
Rue des Moines, 17th arrondissement, Paris, France. Date: 1909
Prints, Wall Art and Photo Gifts
From $8.99
In Stock - Available Now!
Professionally Printed
Photo Prints are in stock
Professional quality finish
Made with high-grade materials
Carefully packed to aid safe arrival
Rue des Moines, Paris, France
Rue des Moines, 17th arrondissement, Paris, France. Date: 1909
We are proud to offer this print in collaboration with Mary Evans Prints Online
Mary Evans Picture Library makes available wonderful images created for people to enjoy over the centuries
© Bubblepunk
Media ID 20152861
Arrondissement Moines Postmark Stamp
> Europe
> France
> Paris
> Related Images
> Mary Evans Prints Online
> New Images July 2020
Full Art Print Range
Our standard Photo Prints (ideal for framing) are sent same or next working day, with most other items shipped a few days later.
Photographic Print
Photo Prints on sturdy Archival Quality Photo Paper for vivid reproduction - Perfect for framing
Poster Print
Archival Quality Posters are ideal for larger pictures and suitable for framing
Framed Print
Contemporary Framed and Mounted Prints - Professionally Made and Ready to Hang
Jigsaw Puzzle
Jigsaw Puzzles are an ideal gift for any occasion
Canvas Print
Canvas Prints add colour, depth and texture to any space. Professionally Stretched Canvas over a hidden Wooden Box Frame and Ready to Hang
Fine Art Print
The next best thing to owning the original artwork, with a soft textured natural surface, our fine art reproduction prints meet the standard of the most critical museum curators
Mouse Mat
Archive quality photographic print in a durable wipe clean mouse mat with non slip backing. Works with all computer mice
Metal Print
Made with durable metal and luxurious printing techniques, metal prints bring images to life and add a modern touch to any space
Accessorise your space with decorative, soft pillows

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Extended-Body: Interview with Stelarc
Paolo Atzori and Kirk Woolford
Stelarc is an Australian performance artist, born in Limassol, island of Cyprus. Stelarc moved to Australia, where he studied Arts and Craft at T.S.T.C., Art and Technology at CAUTECH and M.R.I.T., Melbourne University. He taught Art and Sociology at Yokohama International School and Sculpture and Drawing at Ballarat University College.
Stelarc has been extending his body through performances since the late 1960s. His performances include attaching a "Third Hand" to his body, extending himself into virtual space with a "Virtual Hand", and over 25 "suspension" events where he hung his entire body from hooks piercing his skin. Stelarc's artistic strategy revolves around the idea of "enhancing the body" both in a physical and technical manner. It originates as a polarism between the "primal desire" to defeat the force of gravity with primitive rituals and a low- tech and the hi-tech performance with the third arm and the related cybersystem. His intention in both cases is to "express an idea with his direct experience."
Through Stelarc's work, we reach a second level of existence where the body becomes the object for physical and technical experiments in order to discover its limitations. When Stelarc speaks of the "obsolete body" he means that the body must overcome centuries of prejudices and begin to be considered as an extendible evolutionary structure enhanced with the most disparate technologies, which are more precise, accurate and powerful: "the body lacks of modular design," "Technology is what defines the meaning of being human, it's part of being human." Especially living in the information age, "the body is biologically inadequate."
For Stelarc, "Electronic space becomes a medium of action rather than information".
CTHEORY: When did you first decide to hang yourself between two different worlds - to place your body between two levels of existence...
Stelarc: Well you have to remember the suspension events weren't the initial, sort of primitive and physically difficult events and the technology ones were the more recent, more sophisticated ones. In fact, the third hand project begins a year after the first suspension event. These things were happening simultaneously. On the one hand you were discovering the psychological and physical limitations of the body. On the other you were developing strategies for extending and enhancing it through technology. I've always used technology in my performances. The very first things I made in art school were helmets and goggles that altered your binocular perception which stylistically has this connection with virtual reality head-mounted displays and compartments which were whole body pods that you sort of plugged you whole body into, and that was assaulted by electronic sounds and lights.
CTHEORY: When people see your suspension events, they immediately think of Hindu, American Indian, or other rituals. Which of these practices did you come into contact with first?
Stelarc: It was the Hindu Indian ones that I knew about, but one has to put this into the context that for 5 years I was doing suspension events with ropes and harnesses, with a lot of technology. Laser eyes were first used when the body was suspended, oh, '70, '71 that sort of time scale, but one of the sort of visual disadvantages of all this paraphernalia was that there was all this visual clutter: all the ropes and harnesses were seen more to support the body than to suspend it, so when I first came across the notion of piercing the skin, I thought, if you could suspend the body using techniques like these, then you would have a minimum of support, you'd have just the insertion and single cable. Mind you, I never hid, there was no desire to make the suspension a kind of image of levitation. For me the cables were lines of tension which were part of the visual design of the suspended body, and the stretched skin was a kind of gravitational landscape. This is what it took for a body to be suspended in a 1-G gravitational field. The other context is the primal desire for floating and flying. A lot of primal rituals have to do with suspending the body, but in the 20th century we have the reality of astronauts floating in zero-G. So the suspension event is between those sort of primal yearnings, and the contemporary reality. Of course, suspension means between two states, so I think there is an interesting linguistic meaning that fits in with the idea of suspending the body. For me there was no religious context, no shamanistic yearnings, no yogic conditioning that had to do with these performances. In fact, they occurred in the same kind of stream of consciousness. In mean, I don't take any anaesthetics, I don't chant or get into altered states. I think metaphysically, in the past, we've considered the skin as surface, as interface. The skin has been a boundary for the soul, for the self, and simultaneously, a beginning to the world. Once technology stretches and pierces the skin, the skin as a barrier is erased.
CTHEORY: Do you follow a very strict discipline to train your body for your performances?
Stelarc: In fact, there's never really been any discipline and when I start feeling the performances have become, in a sense predictable, because the techniques assume more importance than the creative impulses, then I stop doing them. I stopped doing the suspension events 4 years ago because having done 27 of them in various locations and different situations there seemed to be no more raison d'etre to continue doing them. The interest was really coupling the expression of an idea with the direct experience of it. That applies to all of these performances whether the suspension events, the stomach sculpture, the third hand performances, or the virtual arm event. These are all situations where the body is plugged into for direct experience. So it's not interesting for me to talk academically or theoretically about ideas of interface, the important thing for me is to plug in, extend the body with cyber-systems and see what it can actually do.
CTHEORY: So you've always been interested in enhancing the body?
Stelarc: Oh, absolutely. And the connection with VR systems is a very fundamental one with me because, as I said, the very first things I made at art school were these helmets which split your binocular vision and compartments which were sensory environments, multi-modal structures for experience with the body. So that was a primary concern, and really the suspensions are often taken out of context whereas they are part of a series of sensory deprivation and physically difficult events which include: making the 3 films of the inside of the body, where I had to film 3 meters of internal space, for example. All these actions occurred simultaneously. The agenda wasn't a stylistic one with a particular technology, it was a general one. A sort of probing and determining the parameters of physical and psychological interface.
CTHEORY: You always work with your body. Your body is your form of representation, your medium. How do you feel being both an artist and an artwork?
Stelarc: It's interesting you've pointed that out, I've never felt that I am the artwork. In fact the reason why my performances are focused on this particular body is that it is difficult for me to convince other bodies to undergo rather awkward, difficult and sometimes painful experiences. This body is just merely the convenient access to a body for particular events and actions. So I've really never been obsessed by the fact that somehow I am the artwork because I don't critique it in that way.
For me the body is an impersonal, evolutionary, objective structure. Having spent two thousand years prodding and poking the human psyche without any real discernible changes in our historical and human outlook, we perhaps need to take a more fundamental physiological and structural approach, and consider the fact that it's only through radically redesigning the body that we will end up having significantly different thoughts and philosophies. I think our philosophies are fundamentally bounded by our physiology; our peculiar kind of aesthetic orientation in the world; our peculiar five sensory modes of processing the world; and our particular kinds of technology that enhance these perceptions. I think a truly alien intelligence will occur from an alien body or from a machine structure. I don't think human beings will come up with fundamentally new philosophies. An alien species may not have the same notions about the universe at all. The desire for unity may well be the result of our rather fragmentary sensory system where we observe the world sensually in packets of discrete and different sensory modes. So our urge to merge, our urge to unify, that religious, spiritual, coming together might very well be due to an inadequacy or an incompleteness in our physiology.
CTHEORY: If such a philosophy is devised, it would not be a human philosophy. How would it be applicable to the human race?
Stelarc: Well of course one shouldn't consider the body or the human species as possessing a kind of absolute nature. The desire to locate the self simply within a particular biological body is no longer meaningful. What it means to be human is being constantly redefined. For me, this is not a dilemma at all.
CTHEORY: So a human is not this entity sitting here with these two arms and two legs, but something more beside?
Stelarc: Yes, of course, if you are sitting there with a heart pacemaker and an artificial hip and something to augment your liver and kidney functions, would I consider you less human? To be quite honest, most of your body might be made of mechanical, silicon, or chip parts and you behave in a socially acceptable way, you respond to me in a human-like fashion, to me that would make you a kind of human subject.
CTHEORY: You keep speaking about redesigning the human body. Who decides and how should it be redesigned ?
Stelarc: (Laughs) There is often misunderstanding about these notions, partly because they are critiqued with a kind of rear-vision mirror mentality of a fascist, dictatorial, Orwellian-big-brother scenario.
I don't have a utopian perfect body I'm designing a blueprint for, rather I'm speculating on ways that individuals are not forced to, but may want to, redesign their bodies - given that the body has become profoundly obsolete in the intense information environment it has created. It's had this mad, Aristotelian urge to accumulate more and more information. An individual now cannot hope to absorb and creatively process all this information. Humans have created technologies and machines which are much more precise and powerful than the body.
How can the body function within this landscape of machines? Technology has speeded up the body. The body now attains planetary-escape velocity, has to function in zero-G and in greater time-space continuums. For me this demonstrates the biological inadequacy of the body. Given that these things have occurred, perhaps an ergonomic approach is no longer meaningful. In other words, we can't continue designing technology for the body because that technology begins to usurp and outperform the body. Perhaps it's now time to design the body to match it's machines. We somehow have to turbo-drive the body-implant and augment the brain. We have to provide ways of connecting it to the cyber-network. At the moment this is not easily done, and it's done indirectly via keyboards and other devices. There's no way of directly jacking in. Mind you, I'm not talking here in terms of sci-fi speculation. For me, these possibilities are already apparent. What do we do when confronted with the situation where we discover the body is obsolete? We have to start thinking of strategies for redesigning the body.
CTHEORY: This recombinant body implies a widening of our sensibilities, of our perception. But our senses are linked to our brains, everything "happens" in our brain. So it's not enough to have, for example, X-ray vision. We need to change our synapses, the connections in our brains as well.
Stelarc: We shouldn't start making distinctions between the brain and the body. This particular biological entity with it's proprioceptive networks and spinal cord and muscles, it's the total kinesthetic orientation in the world, it's the body's mobility which contributes towards curiosity. The desire to isolate the brain is the result of a Cartesian dualism. It's not really productive any more to think in that sense. We have to think of the body plugged into a new technological terrain.
CTHEORY: We can see things that were previously invisible. We can go to the very little through nano-technology, see into infra-red and ultra violet spectrums, but this is not a direct perception. We get this through artificial systems...
Stelarc: Yes, and what will be interesting is when we can miniaturize these technologies and implant them into the body so that the body as total system becomes subjectively aware again. New technologies tend to generate new perceptions and paradigms of the world, and in turn, allow us to take further steps. If we consider technologies as intermediaries to the world, then, of course, we never have direct experiences. At the moment, we operate within a very thin electro-magnetic spectrum, and I would imagine that as we increasing operate in wider spheres of reality, then yes our perceptions and philosophies alter or adjust.
Technology has always been coupled with the evolutionary development of the body. Technology is what defines being human. It's not an antagonistic alien sort of object, it's part of our human nature. It constructs our human nature. We shouldn't have a Frankensteinian fear of incorporating technology into the body, and we shouldn't consider our relationship to technology in a Faustian way - that we're somehow selling our soul because we're using these forbidden energies. My attitude is that technology is, and always has been, an appendage of the body.
CTHEORY: Stelarc, your latest work centers around a sculpture you built for your stomach. What was the impetus for creating a sculpture to display inside your body?
Stelarc: I've moved beyond the skin as a barrier. Skin no longer signifies closure. I wanted to rupture the surface of the body, penetrate the skin. With the stomach sculpture, I position an artwork inside the body. The body becomes hollow with no meaningful distinction between public, private and physiological spaces. The hollow body becomes a host, not for a self or a soul, but simply for a sculpture.
CTHEORY: Funding any artwork is difficult, especially getting money for high tech equipment. Did you have trouble finding funding for the sculpture?
Stelarc: Actually no. One of the museums in Australia was preparing a show and asking for sculptures which explored alternative display spaces. I told them I had an alternative way and place to display a sculpture.
CTHEORY: Can you describe the stomach sculpture?
Stelarc: It's built of implant quality metals such as titanium, steel, silver, and gold. It is constructed as a domed capsule shell about the size of a fist. The shell contains a worm-screw and link mechanism and has a flexidrive cable connected to a servo motor controlled by a logic circuit. The capsule extends and retracts opening and closing in three sections. An embedded instrument array, light and piezo buzzer make the sculpture self-illuminating and sound-emitting.
CTHEORY: How did you insert it?
Stelarc: Very slowly. The stomach sculpture is actually the most dangerous performance I've done. We had to be within 5 minutes of a hospital in case we ruptured any internal organs. To insert the sculpture, the stomach was first emptied by withholding food for about 8 hours. Then the closed capsule, with beeping sound and flashing light activated, was swallowed and guided down tethered to it's flexidrive cable attached to the control box outside the body. Once inserted into the stomach, we used an endoscope to inflate the stomach and suck out the excess body fluids. The sculpture was then arrayed with switches on the control box. We documented the whole performance using video endoscopy equipment. Even with a stomach pump, we still had a problem with excess saliva. We had to hastily remove all the probes on several occasions.
CTHEORY: Now you've penetrated the body. You've hollowed it out, extended it, expanded it, hung it out a window, mapped out several miles of its interior. What is the next step?
Stelarc: It is time to recolonise the body with microminaturised robots to augment out bacterial population, to assist our immunological system, and to monitor the capillary and internal tracts of the body. We need to build an internal surveillance system for the body. We have to develop microbots whose behavior is not pre-programmed, but activated by temperature, blood chemistry, the softness or hardness of tissue and the presence of obstacles in tracts. These robots can then work autonomously on the body. The biocompatibility of technology is not due to its substance, but to its scale. Speck-sized robots are easily swallowed and may not even be sensed. At a nanotech level, machines will navigate and inhabit cellular spaces and manipulate molecular structures to extend the body from within.


text:
GeForce GTX 670 review -
The graphics architecture that is Kepler
The graphics architecture that is Kepler
As you can understand, the massive memory partitions, bus-width and combination of GDDR5 memory (quad data rate) allow the GPU to work with a very high framebuffer bandwidth (effective). Let's again put most of the data in a chart to get an idea and better overview of changes:
|Graphics card
|GeForce GTX 580
|GeForce GTX
|GeForce GTX 680
|GeForce GTX 690
|Fabrication node
|Shader processors
|Streaming Multiprocessors (SM)
|Texture Units
|ROP units
|Graphics Clock (Core)
|772 MHz
|915 / 980MHz
|Shader Processor Clock
|1544 MHz
|915 / 980MHz
|Memory Clock / Data rate MHz
|1000 / 4000
|1502 / 6008 MHz
|1502 / 6008 MHz
|1502 / 6008 MHz
|Graphics memory
|Memory interface
|Memory bandwidth
|192 GB/s
|192 GB/s
|192 GB/s
|192 GB/s
|Power connectors
|1x6-pin PEG, 1x8-pin PEG
|2x6-pin PEG
|2x6-pin PEG
|2x8-pin PEG
|Max board power (TDP)
|244 Watts
|170 Watts
|170 Watts
|300 Watts
|Recommended Power supply
|600 Watts
|550 Watts
|550 Watts
|750 Watts
|GPU Thermal Threshold
|97 degrees C
|98 degrees C
|98 degrees C
|98 degrees C
So we talked about the core clocks, specifications and memory partitions. Obviously there's a lot more to talk through the GPU architecture for example. To understand a graphics processor you simply need to break it down into pieces to better understand it.
Let's first look at the raw data that most of you can understand and grasp. This bit will be about the Kepler architecture, if you're not interested in g33k talk by all means please browse to the next page.
So above we see the GK104 block diagram that entails the Kepler architecture. Let's break it down into bits and pieces. A fully operating GK104 will have:
- 1536 CUDA processors (Shader cores)
- 192 CUDA core clusters (SM).
- 8 geometry units
- 4 raster Units
- 128 Texture Units
- 32 ROP engines
- 256-bit GDDR5 memory bus
- DirectX 11.1
Above thus a fully operating GK104 as used on the GTX 680. The GTX 670 uses the same chip, but has one SM (CUDA / Shader core cluster) disabled. So the more important thing to focus on are the SM (block of shader processors) clusters (or SMX as NVIDIA likes to call it for the GTX 680, which has 192 Shader processors. That's radically different from Fermi, the GeForce GTX 580 for example had 32 shader processors per SM cluster. 1536 : 192 = 8 Shader clusters (SMs). Let's blow up one such cluster:
Above the block diagram for a single Shader processor cluster, aka SM or SMX as NVIDIA now calls it. The new SMX has quite a bit more bite in terms of shader, texture and geometry processing. 192 CUDA cores, that's six times the number of cores per SM opposed to Fermi. Now, at the end of the pipeline we run into the ROP (Raster Operation) engine and the GTX 680 again has 32 engines for features like pixel blending and AA.
There's a total of 128 texture filtering units available for the GeForce GTX 680. The math is simple here, each SM has 16 texture units tied to it.
- GeForce GTX 580 has 16 SMs X 4 Texture units = 64
- GeForce GTX 670 has 7 SMs X 16 Texture units = 112
- GeForce GTX 680 has 8 SMs X 16 Texture units = 128
Above the GK104 host interface - The Gigathread engine, four GPCs, four memory controllers, the ROP partitions, a 768 KB L2 cache. Each GPC has eight polymorph engines - ROP partitions are nearby to the L2 cache, Each shader cluster then is tied to L1 and a shared L2 cache. Shading performance is going be increased quite bit, geometry performance will get a nice boost as well. NVIDIA is using 64KB Shared Memory/L1 per SMX please note that they have a 16/48 48/16 ratio here for graphics/compute, as before with Fermi. For L2, 128KB per 64-bit memory controller. So that adds up to 512KB L2
In regards to architectural changes, on top of the pipeline NVIDIA has now added new Polymorph 2.0 (world space processing) engines and raster (screen space processing) engines, they act like a mini CPU really.
The Palit GeForce RTX 4080 GamingPRO OC is a top-performing graphics card from the ADA Lovelace generation. It boasts a higher TGP (total graphics power), 16 GB of graphics memory, and a luxurious tri...
Palit GeForce RTX 4080 GamingPRO OC review
The Palit GeForce RTX 4080 GamingPRO OC is a powerful graphics card from the ADA Lovelace generation. It has been improved with a higher TGP, 16 GB of graphics memory, and luxurious triple fan cooling...
MSI GeForce RTX 4070 Ti Gaming X TRIO review
MSI has stepped up with their Gaming X TRIO GeForce RTX 4070 Ti. It is factory-tweaked (slightly) but looks great. It comes with whisper-quiet cooling, and is quite impressive in all respects....
ASUS GeForce RTX 4070 Ti STRIX OC review
We test the gorgeous ASUS ROG STRIX GeForce RTX 4070 Ti OC Gaming 12G, and that's quite a mouth full for a product. It has a fantastic appearance and does a good job of cooling down while maintaining...


text:
[Editor's note: This is total bullsh*t, the US Patent office should not be granting Microsoft patents for basic concepts that are already out in the market place as prior art and in fact invented / popularized by someone else, namely Edward Tufte. Shame on Microsoft and boo on lazy patent clerks! Thanks Melissa.]
Republished from Kottke and Tufte.
In an absurd twist, on their own Microsof blog, Tufte is credited as inventor:
For Excel 2010 we've implemented sparklines, "intense, simple, word-sized graphics", as their inventor Edward Tufte describes them in his book Beautiful Evidence.
Another way to read their patent application is regarding not just placement of a sparkline in an Excel spreadsheet but any digital document. Also a bizarre claim since other tools already do that as add ins, and you can even hack this work now in Google Docs with the charting API.
Someone should start a free the sparkline petition 😉


text:
One of the giants of games and internet in China has made a move into the West – Tencent has announced it will buy a minority stake in Epic Games.
Nothing much changes for the studio responsible for Unreal Engine and games including Gears of War. It will still be independent and and will focus on making games for all platforms.
But Tencent is a force to be reckoned with in its homeland, running social networks, web portals, e-commerce and MMO services.
It claims to have amost 650m active user accounts, giving it the world's largest online community.
Epic, which has been in business for 20 years, has not only created the billion-dollar Gears of War franchise but also the Unreal and Unreal Tournament series for PC, and the Infinity Blade games for iOS. It owns studios in the USA, China and Poland.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed and is expected to be signed off within a month.
"We've developed a huge amount of respect for the Epic team for many years now, as dedicated players of Epic's games and as licensees of Epic's Unreal Engine technology," said David Wallerstein, Senior EVP of Tencent.
"Epic's deep commitment to quality across all of its games and technologies inspires us. They've been raising expectations in gaming for two decades now and they're just getting started.
"We have a lot that we can learn from each other, and we look forward to supporting the Epic team as they embark on their next phase of gaming innovation across both emerging and familiar platforms."
Epic Games' president Dr. Michael Capps added: "Tencent's investment will empower Epic to help us do even more of what we do best, which is making great games and game technology.
"Their expertise in the global online gaming market is second-to-none, and the opportunity to work with them to bring richer experiences to players all over the world is irresistible.
"Epic is excited to be full steam ahead on all of its current plans for this generation of games and the next, with the support of a fantastic partner that believes in our strategy and shares our dream."


text:
Skin Minerals For Men Cleansing Cream
Ultra-purifying skincare enriched with essential moisturizing minerals, designed to instantly moisturize / purify the skin.
Active Ingredients
- Sodium and Potassium System: to preserve cutaneous hydration.
- Salicylic Acid and Hamamelis Extract: to tighten the pores and tone skin.
High Performances: the figures.
- leaves the skin clean 100%
- leaves the skin comfortable 93%
- leaves the skin smooth 95%
- skin complexion is uniform 89%
- skin texture is refined 80%
* use test: 60 men 20 -65 years old 4 weeks of self-assessment


text:
We're in the midst of the long local avocado harvest season, and farmers are bringing their delicious avocado bounty to our farmers' markets.
Avocados are native to Mexico and grow well in southern California. In fact, California farmers produce some 90 percent of the avocados we eat in the U.S. The Aztecs called them ahuacati, which means testicles, because of their appearance and their belief in its aphrodisiac, male-strengthening powers.
There are hundreds of varieties of avocados, but at the farmers' markets we see mostly the smooth, thin-skinned varieties – called Fuertes, Zutanos, and Bacon – and the pebbly, thicker-skinned Pinkerton, Reed, Hass, and Lamb Hass varieties. The Hass variety is most popular because of its rich flavor, and because the thick skin does a good job of cushioning its bumpy journey from farm to table.
Avocados get their rich, buttery flavor and texture from all the oil that accumulates in their flesh. The longer an avocado stays on the tree, the more it matures and the more oil it will have. But you can't tell an avocado's oil content by its appearance. To ensure that farmers don't prematurely pick their avocados before they get good and creamy, the California Avocado Commission issues an annual picking calendar of maturity release dates, which dictates the earliest picking date for each variety. Anyone who has ever eaten a watery, tasteless, immature avocado can appreciate that.
Avocados mature on the tree but they don't ripen until they're picked. Once mature fruit is picked, proper handling is important; if they're stored for too long or kept too cold they won't ripen well and their texture and flavor will disappoint. The avocados you see at the farmers' market generally were recently picked.
The maturity release dates determine the season for each variety, but avocados grown north of Santa Monica have a later season than those grown in or near San Diego County. Winter varieties like the Bacons and Zutanos usually hit the markets first, followed by the Fuertes and Pinkertons. "Our Pinkertons are at the end of the season so they have the highest oil content right now," said Robin Smith of Mud Creek Ranch, a certified organic farm in Santa Paula.
The Hass is harvested almost year round, while the Lamb Hass is a newer variety that is harvested in the summer. They're bigger, fattier, and creamier than the regular Hass, said Pedro Gallardo of Pedro's Certified Organic Avocados in Fallbrook. "When I bring Lamb Hass I sell them right away. People really like them," said Gallardo.
Supermarkets also sell avocados imported from Mexico, Chile, and Peru, so avocados are available year round, even when they're not in season here.
At the farmers markets you'll usually find avocados wherever you see citrus fruits. That's because avocados and citrus fruits both like a similar type of climate, and because citrus farmers often use avocados to diversify their crops for economic reasons. Avocados fetch a higher profit margin.
Because of their oil content, avocados are pretty high in calories – about 250 to 300 calories for a medium-sized avocado, according to the Hass Avocado Board. Some of the oil is saturated, but mostly it's heart-healthy monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fat, and the flesh is dense with lots of vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients, such as vitamins C, E, and K, riboflavin, folate, niacin, and lutein. In addition, avocados have more potassium than bananas.
Making guacamole is a common way to use avocados, and one way to start a contentious debate is to ask whose guacamole recipe is the best – with or without garlic or cilantro, lime or lemon, green, red or yellow onions – there are passionate camps on all sides. But avocados aren't just for making guacamole or for slicing into salads and sandwiches. They're widely used in other parts of the world in milkshakes, ice cream, and desserts. You can simply sprinkle salt and balsamic vinegar on a freshly cut avocado half and eat it straight out of the skin with a spoon. For something different, try a poor-man's sashimi: a perfectly ripe Hass avocado, sliced and dipped in soy sauce and wasabi horseradish, is just about on par with the marbled tuna belly you might find at a fine sushi restaurant in Tokyo.


text:
Traffic Ticket Paralegal Fighting Minor Charges Including Speeding, Fail to Stop, Improper Turn, etc.Page last modified: January 28 2022
Yes No
Share to Facebook
Does It Make Sense to Fight a Minor Speeding Ticket?
Fighting a Minor Traffic Ticket May Be a Significant Concern When a Driver Has Prior Convictions. When One More, Even Minor, Traffic Ticket May Result In License Suspension or Higher Insurance Rates, Among Other Things, Fighting the Charge May Be Prudent.
Understanding How Fighting Minor Traffic Ticket Charges Helps to Protect Your Driving Record and Insurance Rates
Individually, minor charges pose a relatively minor fine and little risk to a potential for significantly increased insurance rates or concern for a possible licence suspension for accumulating of too many demerit points. Accordingly, in most circumstances, drivers charged with a minor offence will forgo the trouble and effort to fight a minor charge; however, there are some circumstances where a strong defence to a minor charge is prudent and warranted.
Fighting the Charges
The circumstances, among others, that may warrant aggressively fighting minor charges include:
- When a driver was convicted within the past three years for other minor, major, or serious, charges and where another conviction, even for just a minor infraction, will result in significantly adverse affects;
- When a driver was charged within the past two years for other charges and the accumulation of demerit points now puts the driver at risk of a licence suspension, among other significant penalties; and
- When a driver is required to maintain a fully clear record as a condition of employment.
Although relatively minimal affects, generally, result upon conviction for a minor traffic ticket charge, a multitude of minor charges, or a single minor charge that will be combined with prior convictions, may result in significant adversity making a strongly mounted defence worthy in the effort to fight a minor charge. As when fighting all traffic tickets, the process involves:
Step One
The administrative court filing of a "not guilty" plea on your behalf.
Step Two
The development of case preparations including:
- The ordering and obtaining of disclosure including all relevant documents such as, among other things, the notes of the charging officer;
- The review of the evidence disclosure documents;
- The request for additional disclosure, if necessary; and
- The 'best likelihood for success' strategy planning
Step Three
The necessary court advocacy including;
- The representation at the early resolution meeting;
- The attendance at all motion hearings, if any;
- The questioning of witnesses at trial;
- The presenting of legal submissions; and
- The acting in your best interests so to achieve the most favourable outcome possible.
After your case is finished a written report summarizing your case will be provided to you.
Summary Comment
Traffic tickets of the minor charges type may still pose significant risk to a driver with potentially serious consequences whereas a minor charge in combination with prior convictions becomes 'the straw that breaks the camels back' resulting in substantially increased insurance rates including possible loss of standard insurance market and placement into the 'Facility Association', potential license suspension for accumulating too many demerit points, among other things. Accordingly, even for a minor charge, hiring a professional who knows how to question witnesses, including which questions to ask and which questions to avoid, and who knows the law and is ready to make persuasive arguments on the applicable legal principles, is highly important. For representation that puts your best interests first, contact SFG Paralegal Services LLP today.
SFG Paralegal Services LLPis an affordable Paralegal in:
Learn More About
Traffic Tickets:
Learn About:
Disobey Signage
How Serious is a Traffic Ticket For Disobeying a Sign? A Disobey Sign Charge Is a Relatively Minor Charge That May Involve Significant Concerns. The Fine...Learn More
Driving Too Slowly
Similarly to driving at an excessive rate of speed, driving unnecessarily slowly can also be dangerous and unlawful. Although less common that a traffic...Learn More
Failure to Report an Accident
After an accident, except for relatively minor incidents, the drivers involved in the accident are legally required to promptly report the accident to the...Learn More
Follow Too Closely
The charge of following too close is often based on the somewhat arbitrary interpretation of the distance that lacked reasonableness rather than any actual...Learn More
High Occupancy Lane
Many roadways now include a High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lane that provides limited access to vehicles with more than one occupant such as car pools, taxis,...Learn More
Passing of Bicycle
Bicyclists are highly vulnerable users of the road. The charge of passing too closely to a bicyclist reminds drivers of the importance to provide a safe...Learn More
Signalling Intentions
In addition to causing significant annoyance, failing to signal poses a danger to others who may be surprised by an unexpected move. Equally annoying may be...Learn More
Speeding, 1km to 29km over
Fighting a traffic ticket for speeding involves a strategy for poking holes in the case of the prosecution that is determined following a careful review of the...Learn More
Towing Trailer With Person...
Driving with a person onboard or inside a house trailer or boat trailer, or other trailer, poses a significant danger to that person. Accordingly, doing so is...Learn More


text:
Give your taste buds a whirl with this spicy slaw piled high on these Fried Zucchini Fritters.
Beverages March 16, 2023 7:04 pm
Food and Beer Pairing Guide: That Beer Goes Great With...
There are three general rules of thumb when matching food with beer or wine. First, the kind of beer or wine you like can help you choose (…)
Trends March 16, 2023 6:21 pm
Now Trending: Cakes that Look Like Classic Works of Art
Cake inspired by art is having a moment. True, it's never been hard to find ambitious pastry projects on TikTok or Instagram, but these (…)
Food & Drink March 15, 2023 9:59 pm
Margarita Cocktail Essentials: History and Trends
For National Margarita Day, Holden Ching, the U.S. Brand Ambassador for Tequila Herradura, gives us the essentials on this popular (…)
Food & Drink March 15, 2023 8:03 pm
Destination Hawaii: Food Channel On Location
The Flavor of Kaua'i Here's the thing about Kaua'i. All roads lead to some amazing food. It's an island that is working hard to (…)
Trends March 15, 2023 12:47 pm
34 Candles that Smell Like Food and Drink
Humans have been creating candles that smell like food for thousands of years. Some researchers say the Romans used tallow wax — derived (…)
Food & Drink March 14, 2023 10:01 pm
Cheesecake: Publisher's Perspective
Every cook and baker probably has an item or two that seems a bit insurmountable—to the point we simply avoid trying to make it. I (…)
Tips March 14, 2023 7:33 pm
How to Pick a Good Watermelon, Health Benefits and New Ways to Serve It
Watermelon is one of the sweetest, most delightful summertime treats–a wonderful choice for your Independence Day cookout. But (…)


text:
CRS: Pakistan's Capital Crisis: Implications for U.S. Policy, November 21, 2008
From WikiLeaks
About this CRS report
This document was obtained by Wikileaks from the United States Congressional Research Service.
The CRS is a Congressional "think tank" with a staff of around 700. Reports are commissioned by members of Congress on topics relevant to current political events. Despite CRS costs to the tax payer of over $100M a year, its electronic archives are, as a matter of policy, not made available to the public.
Individual members of Congress will release specific CRS reports if they believe it to assist them politically, but CRS archives as a whole are firewalled from public access.
This report was obtained by Wikileaks staff from CRS computers accessible only from Congressional offices.
For other CRS information see: Congressional Research Service.
For press enquiries, consult our media kit.
If you have other confidential material let us know!.
For previous editions of this report, try OpenCRS.
Wikileaks release: February 2, 2009
Publisher: United States Congressional Research Service
Title: Pakistan's Capital Crisis: Implications for U.S. Policy
CRS report number: RS22983
Author(s): Michael F. Martin and K. Alan Kronstadt, Foreign Affairs, Defense, and Trade Division
Date: November 21, 2008
- Abstract
- Pakistan - a key U.S. ally in global efforts to combat Islamist militancy - is in urgent need of an estimated $4 billion in capital to avoid defaulting on its sovereign debt. The elected government of President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gillani is seeking short-term financial assistance from a number of sources, including the International Monetary Fund (IMF), China, and an informal group of nations (including the United States) known as the "Friends of Pakistan." The Pakistani government reportedly has reservations about conditions on the assistance, expressing concerns that the conditions may create political and economic problems. The current crisis has placed some strain on U.S.-Pakistan relations.
- Download


text:
Hulu and Apple recently partnered up to bring the (paid) streaming TV service to Apple's set-top box. Though I poked some fun at the number of Hulu Pus subscribers who might take advantage of the service on Apple TV, there are quite a few subscribers who have chosen Hulu Plus over competing services like Netflix. Hulu Plus's $7.99 monthly service tends to focus more on new and current TV offerings than Netflix (which largely focuses on movies and older seasons of TV shows). As such, it makes sense for Hulu Plus to join Netflix on the Apple TV, even if its addition does seem a couple years late.
Hulu Plus is already available on a number of other devices, such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii, and even the Roku set-top box. But as many readers know, the interfaces between these devices can offer significant differences, so we thought we'd take a look at the Hulu Plus interface on the Apple TV. Below is our photo tour of Apple's implementation of Hulu Plus—it generally follows the same interface style as the rest of Apple's offerings, but with plenty of hooks into Hulu's Web service.
(Side note: apologies in advance for any reflections. The room where my TV is located is chock full of bouncing light.)
The new Hulu Plus "app" is located on the Apple TV's main screen next to Netflix and underneath "TV Shows" (which denotes Apple's TV shows offered through iTunes). The app was pushed to supported Apple TVs from Apple's servers, so an update of the Apple TV's firmware isn't necessary in order for it to show up. I used a second-generation (720p) Apple TV for this demo.
Upon first click, Hulu Plus doesn't know who you are—you must either log in with your existing account or create a new account, which comes with one free week of service.
Interestingly, even if you log in with your own existing Hulu account, Hulu Plus on the Apple TV will sign you up for billing through your Apple ID instead of through Hulu. I assume this was the case for me because my Hulu account wasn't previously paying for Hulu Plus. But if you're already a Hulu Plus subscriber, it's likely that your billing will remain through Hulu and not your Apple ID. Even logging into Hulu's website after the fact confirmed this:
Even though you're billed through your iTunes/Apple ID, you can still cancel your subscription through Hulu's website. The screen on the Apple TV also claims you can cancel your subscription through your iTunes account, though when I checked, I couldn't find Hulu anywhere within my subscription settings.
Once you've either signed in or signed up for Hulu Plus, you're kicked to the main Hulu Plus interface. If you're already familiar with the rest of the Apple TV, this won't look like anything new—art for the TV shows and movies scrolls by CoverFlow-style on the left side while your menu options are on the right.
The Popular and Recommended option shows you exactly that: what's most popular on Hulu, as well as what's recommended for you based on your past (or current) viewing habits. In this sense, it's very Netflix-like in functionality.
Favorites and Queue is where Hulu Plus brings in whatever you've already added from Hulu's website or another device. I haven't used Hulu in a long time myself, but I still had a few items in my favorites and my queue, which were all brought in on the Apple TV. You can also mark new shows/movies as favorites and add them to your Hulu queues right from the Apple TV as well. Just navigate your way to a TV show that you want to add in order to find these options:
When viewing a whole season of a show, you can see "Clips" and "Add to Favorites" at the top—the former allows you to watch the short clips that have become popular on Hulu's website, and the latter lets you add the whole season to your list of favorites. But if you click on an individual episode, you can add just that episode to your Hulu queue, which will then be synced back to Hulu's website and across any other devices where you can find Hulu Plus.
Again, Hulu Plus on the Apple TV hooks into its Web service by allowing you to access your viewing history, even if you viewed those shows on another device. They're categorized by show at the top, or individual videos below.
When it comes to TV viewing in particular, you can browse by either genre or network. Most regular TV watchers don't keep a running list of which shows belong to which networks, so I think the latter option is a little less useful than Hulu probably thinks it is. But if you are a die-hard fan of NBC Universal, then Hulu Plus makes it easy for you to navigate there and see what the peacock folks have to offer.
When you do browse by network, the Apple TV displays the offerings in a logical way: Most Popular, Recently Added, and alphabetically.
The movie interface is slightly different—there is no way to browse by movie studio (which I would argue makes more sense, for the reasons stated above). Instead, there's the option to browse by Popular and Recommended, Genres, alphabetically, or somewhat strangely, Criterion Collection.
Hulu Plus also allows you to browse through movie trailers, which is a nice addition even if you can already browse movie trailers through Apple's built-in offerings on the Apple TV.
In all, the interface is fairly straightforward. There aren't any surprises and things largely function as expected (aside from not being able to find how to cancel a Hulu Plus subscription through iTunes). It's possible that a new subscription might take a while to make its way through Apple's servers and show up on your iTunes account, but for now, it seems like the best way to manage your subscription is through Hulu's own website.
Have you been using the Hulu Plus app on Apple TV? If so, have you found any interesting easter eggs, or infuriating gotchas?


text:
Punjab, with its well-irrigated, fertile soil, a vast flat agricultural canvas in the plains, and a favourable climate, was the setting for some of humanity's earliest and most successful social, spiritual and agricultural experiments.
A rich source of man's most basic commodities led to the rapid development of an agrarian community and eventually into a highly developed market economy. Coupled with the avaricious nature of human life, the Punjab inevitably developed into a source of conflict and conquest.
When Alexander the Great burst through the Himalayan ranges and into the Punjab in 326 B.C., he was an early proponent of what became an established tradition of conquerors and marauders who entered from foreign lands to variously plunder, conquer, ravage, and then leave. The continuity, viciousness, and inevitability of these incursions made a profound impression on the indigenous people of this unique area, informing virtually every aspect of life in the Punjab. The consequence is a land of continual conquest, migration, and settlement and a people congruent with these hard facts of life.
This website uncovers some of the events and remarkable people that have defined the region of the Punjab.Please click here to explore the full Punjab History Timeline


text:
The Story of Guinness® Original
As deep as Guinness Original's colour is its taste. Crisp barley cuts through hops. A bite draws you in, bold flavours linger. Bitter marries sweet. A rich, refreshing taste. Brewed with skill. Built to last.
A direct descendant of our archival recipes, Guinness Original is based on a beer first brewed in 1821, when Arthur Guinness II set down precise instructions for brewing his Superior Porter. This beer has since become the precursor to every Guinness innovation you've ever enjoyed. Still brewed at our St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin, Guinness Original is crafted from finest quality malt, hops and Irish barley.
"We're blessed with over 250 years of brewing experience, and, as Guinness moves forward, history accompanies us in the bottle still enjoyed by people all over the world."
Sharp and crisp to the taste, it's an entirely different experience from the smooth, creamy Guinness Draught and punchier Foreign Extra Stout, but the trademark Guinness flavours preside. We've come a long way since this beer was first dreamt up in the 1800s, but we've stuck to our values. We're blessed with over 250 years of brewing experience, and as Guinness moves forward, history accompanies us in the bottle still enjoyed by people all over the world.
Did You Know?
Guinness was one of the first brewers to print and supply labels to its bottlers to ensure publicans couldn't mix various stouts together and try to pass them off as Guinness. Those who sold other stouts were not entitled to carry the standard Guinness label, and instead had to apply to the brewery for their own unique labels, which would then bear their name and address. This continued until 1862, when the famous buff Guinness trademark label was first introduced. The design has gone through many permutations over the years, but to this day all our labels are marked by three devices: Arthur's signature, our legendary harp symbol and a name now known the world over: Guinness.


text:
Welcome to the sports-business blog. The blog is replacing my sports-business notes column, which previously ran every other Sunday in the sports section. Instead of waiting for the column, the blog will allow me to write more frequently about sports-business news and items of interest. I expect this blog to be an evolving forum of news, commentary, and tidbits. I'll just have to see where it goes. Thanks, in advance, for joining me on the ride.
The Business of Sports Business


text:
A friend was driving me around last week and complained that the windows were taking too long to clear. So, I just pushed the button on his dash to use fresh air instead of recirculated air. He said that didn't make any sense because the defroster uses the air conditioning to dry out the air blowing onto the dash. And he maintained it would do a better job in Recirculate mode, rather than letting in lots of fresh, ultrahumid air from the rainstorm we were driving through. About the time he finished saying that, the windscreen cleared up almost by magic. So much for his theory.
On damp, rainy days there's probably enough moisture permeating the interior fabrics, the occupants' clothes and the carpets to keep the humidity in the car near 100 percent for a long time. But cool, fresh air, even at 100 percent relative humidity outside the car, will have far less relative humidity when it's heated up in the heater core and then cooled off in the a/c evaporator. Yes, the recirc air goes through the same heating, cooling and moisture-removal process in the heater, but it picks up plenty of moisture inside the car before it gets sucked back in for another round. That's why some cars automatically use fresh air in Defrost mode, giving you no choice.


text:
shopping bag: 0 items
sign in | register | my account
Product info
UK Delivery
Returns policy
Our all natural pomegranate spritz spray is used to refresh and condition coats leaving them smooth and silky with a delicate sweet scent. The incredible antioxidant, anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory properties of pomegranate encourages healthy skin and contain vitamin A and K, the hair friendly nutrients, which are very beneficial for the growth of hair and keeping the roots strong. Our gentle spritz formula can be used every day in between washes or as a perfect finishing touch to your groom after each wash, ensuring your dog looks good and smells beautiful.
Key FeaturesRemove odours instantlySweet scent of pomegranateUse every day in between washesGentle and naturalContents: 200ml / 6.76fl oz
Delivery United Kingdom:
£3.25 delivery fee or FREE if you spend over £30.00
Standard delivery 1-3 working days. Orders will be sent out via the most suitable carrier, depending
on destination & weight.
Special Delivery™ Royal Mail available as a shipping extra on the "Shopping Bag" page. Orders placed before 1pm
should arrive
next working day before 1pm
(supplement fee of £4.00 applies).
All items are dispatched from within the UK & include VAT.
click here to view international delivery rates.
We guarantee to replace or refund any item you are not completely happy
with when you return it to us by post, in a saleable condition within 14 days of receipt.
Items should be returned new, unused, and with all garment tags still
attached. Returns that are damaged or soiled may not be accepted and
may be sent back to the customer.
Refunds will be credited to your original method of payment and excludes
import duties / outside EU taxes.
click here for our complete Returns Policy.


text:
Study of the Efficiency of Esophageal Dilation on Patient With Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EOE)
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00880906
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : April 14, 2009
Results First Posted : May 26, 2014
Last Update Posted : November 6, 2017
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- Study Results
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
This study is for patients who have had a food impaction and/or difficulty swallowing, who are scheduled to have endoscopy, biopsy and possibly dilatation (stretching) of the esophagus.
Standard treatment for people who have food impaction and difficulty swallowing is endoscopy to view the esophagus, tissue biopsies of the lining of the esophagus for diagnosis, and drug therapy including steroids and drugs used to treat reflux disease. Early dilatation or stretching of the esophagus may be done at this time but not always. Some doctors prefer to wait and see if the drugs are affective.
It is not known if dilating the esophagus early in treatment adds benefit. Therefore, we are doing this study to compare the two methods of treatment. We will compare two groups: one group will have dilatation performed during the first endoscopy and one group will not have dilatation performed during endoscopy. We will see if dilatation helps prevent food impaction and improves swallowing.
Another purpose of this study is to learn more about the causes of swallowing problems, thus extra biopsies will be taken of the esophagus and store them for future research.
|Condition or disease
|Suspected Eosinophilic Esophagitis
|Procedure: Esophageal dilation Drug: Steroid and Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapy
|Not Applicable
Eosinophilic esophagitis (EE) is an inflammatory condition of the esophagus found in the pediatric and adult population. It is characterized by an intense eosinophilic infiltration of the surface lining of the esophagus. EE is becoming an increasingly recognized diagnosis in individuals presenting with food bolus impaction and dysphagia. A history of chronic solid food dysphagia, food impaction and young age have all been noted characteristics in those patients subsequently diagnosed with EE. Eosinophilic esophagitis can be suspected by clinical presentation but histologic confirmation is necessary for a definitive diagnosis. The finding of large numbers of eosinophils (>15 per high powered field) on biopsy specimens are needed to confirm EE. Endoscopic features such as mucosal rings, linear furrows, proximal strictures and white esophageal papules have all been described in patients with EE.
The underlying pathophysiology of EE is poorly understood but is thought to be associated with a TH2-type allergic inflammatory response. Other studies have also suggested that immune dysregulation may play a role in the underlying pathophysiology of this disorder.
The optimal treatment of EE has not been determined. There have been studies noting that swallowed fluticasone propionate (FP), an inhaled corticosteroid, has shown benefit in adult and pediatric patients with EE. Esophageal dilation has been used in patients with EE with persistent dysphagia and food impaction. No study has evaluated the improvement in dysphagia and incidence of future food bolus impaction in those patients treated with early esophageal dilation. Our aim is to determine if esophageal dilation and standard drug therapy improves symptoms of dysphagia. We also plan to obtain and store esophageal biopsy specimens for future immunologic assessment to help determine the underlying pathophysiology Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
|Study Type :
|Interventional (Clinical Trial)
|Actual Enrollment :
|50 participants
|Intervention Model:
|Parallel Assignment
|Single (Participant)
|Primary Purpose:
|Official Title:
|Prospective, Single-Blinded, Randomized Controlled Trial With Sham Comparing Standard Therapy With or Without Esophageal Dilatation in Patients With Eosinophilic Esophagitis
|Study Start Date :
|August 2008
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|December 2013
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|December 2013
Active Comparator: A
Group A receives steroids and PPI, (SOC) and esophageal dilation.
Procedure: Esophageal dilation
The esophagus is stretched during the upper endoscopy using Maloney dilators or balloon dilatation.
Other Name: esophageal stretching
Drug: Steroid and Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapy
Other Names:
Sham Comparator: B
Receives steroids and PPI only- Does not have esophageal dilation.
Drug: Steroid and Proton Pump Inhibitor Therapy
Other Names:
- Percent Change From Baseline in Dysphagia Score in Patients With Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EE) [ Time Frame: 60 days ]
Dysphagia Scores:
0 = able to eat normal diet / no dysphagia.
- = able to swallow some solid foods
- = able to swallow only semi solid foods
- = able to swallow liquids only
- = unable to swallow anything / total dysphagia
- Immunological Assessment Into the Etiology of Eosinophilic Esophagitis [ Time Frame: 60 days ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 75 Years (Adult, Older Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Male and female volunteers ≥18 years old.
- Patients with known or suspected Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
- Patients undergoing upper endoscopy for recent food impaction or complaint of dysphagia.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Use of oral corticosteroids.
- Significant medical conditions that in the investigator's judgment would compromise the subject's health and safety.
- Contraindication to esophageal dilation based on investigator's judgment.
- Esophageal motility abnormalities not thought to be related to Eosinophilic Esophagitis.
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00880906
|United States, Tennessee
|Vanderbilt Unversity Medical Center Department of Gastroenterology
|Nashville, Tennessee, United States, 37212
|Principal Investigator:
|Michael F Vaezi, MD,PhD, MS epi
|vanderbilt Universtiy Medical Center
|Responsible Party:
|Michael Vaezi, Professor of Medicine, Vanderbilt University
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|First Posted:
|April 14, 2009 Key Record Dates
|Results First Posted:
|May 26, 2014
|Last Update Posted:
|November 6, 2017
|Last Verified:
|October 2017
eosinophilic esophagitis
esophageal food impaction
Eosinophilic Esophagitis
Esophageal Diseases
Gastrointestinal Diseases
Digestive System Diseases
Leukocyte Disorders
Hematologic Diseases
Hypersensitivity, Immediate
Immune System Diseases
Proton Pump Inhibitors
Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Bronchodilator Agents
Autonomic Agents
Peripheral Nervous System Agents
Physiological Effects of Drugs
Anti-Asthmatic Agents
Respiratory System Agents
Dermatologic Agents
Anti-Allergic Agents
Enzyme Inhibitors
Molecular Mechanisms of Pharmacological Action


text:
True Colors Wedding Photography
Custom Portraits, framed prints.
We are a Wedding Photography company that is prompt, friendly, and professional. We put you at ease by anticipating the needs of your Event and listening to your special requests. We love customizing for each person!
Business Name:
True Colors Wedding Photography
2010 Breitwert AveBaltimore MD 21230US
+1 443 794 4691
About Baltimore
Baltimore ( BAWL-tim-or, locally: bawl-da-MOR or BAWL-mər) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, as well as the 30th most populous city in the United States, with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was designated an independent city by the Constitution of Maryland in 1851, and today is the most populous independent city in the United States. As of 2021, the population of the Baltimore metropolitan area was estimated to be 2,838,327, making it the 20th largest metropolitan area in the country. Baltimore is located about 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Washington, D.C., making it a principal city in the Washington–Baltimore combined statistical area (CSA), the fourth-largest CSA in the nation, with a calculated 2021 population of 9,946,526.Prior to European colonization, the Baltimore region was used as hunting grounds by the Susquehannock Native Americans, who were primarily settled further north than where the city was later built. Colonists from the Province of Maryland established the Port of Baltimore in 1706 to support the tobacco trade with Europe, and established the Town of Baltimore in 1729.
Neighborhoods in Baltimore, MD
Abell, Ashburton, Barclay, Barre Circle, Beechfield, Bellona - Gittings, Better Waverly, Broadway East, Brooklyn, Butchers Hill, Callaway-Garrison, Cherry Hill, Cheswolde, Coppin Heights, Druid Heights
Things to do in Baltimore, MD
Our Newest Profiles


text:
I recently had a paper published in Antarctic Science – I don't think that it'll set the world on fire but it was quite interesting in how it came about so I thought I'd write a blogpost about it.
The study
The measurements for the study were taken by a team who sailed across the Drake Passage and then then spent some time on and around the Antarctic Peninsula. They deployed a small "badge" each day that responds to sunlight in a way that allows you to subsequently work out how much UV radiation they were exposed to. From these measurements we concluded that the UV exposure experienced was comparable to temperate, mid-latitude locations in the spring/late summer. Obviously the team was very well covered as it's cold down there but this can nonetheless have impacts on the eyes and exposed skin.
This is quite important as the ozone "hole" over Antarctica is likely to be about as bad as it will get before recovering over the next few decades and exposure risk might increase in this region if there are significant environmental changes (e.g. further warming, ice sheet retreat). This paper represents something of a pilot study so I'd love to get a more rigorous experiment up-and-running one day.
The study's origins: networking on social media
The idea for the experiment and the paper first came about on twitter. Someone I'd never previously worked with (or met) invited me along to a planning meeting for the 2012 British Services Antarctic Expedition (BSAE) simply because I had a twitter account where I posted interesting stories about Antarctica.
I then cobbled together a tiny bit of money from the Royal Meteorological Society and the Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers) to get the badges produced and analysed at the University of Manchester.
I was quite impressed that we managed to get a relatively interesting bit of work done with so little resource. Which brings us on to…
…funding for Antarctic science
Budgets for science have not been increasing recently so perhaps it's time that we have to start thinking of less traditional ways of getting work done. My example might not be particularly useful as it all happened largely by accident! However, there's an interesting piece in The Conversation by Adrian McCallum about the role of private funding in Antarctic research that is probably more informed on this topic. Might be worth a read if you're thinking of this type of thing.
Russell, A., Gohlan, M., Smedley, A., & Densham, M. (2014). The ultraviolet radiation environment during an expedition across the Drake Passage and on the Antarctic Peninsula Antarctic Science DOI: 10.1017/S0954102014000790


text: Hello, I am interested in forcing encrypted authentication with Postfix. I am aware that in some countries, public ISPs and the like are forbidden from requiring encryption where email systems are concerned. I am also aware that this practice is discouraged in certain circles. According to the Postfix documentation ( http://www.postfix.org/TLS_README.html#server_tls_auth ), it may be useful to employ the following combination of directives. The idea is that authentication mechanisms will still be announced to older clients, and even though they won't be able to authenticate, they will receive some kind of error message. (The helpfulness of that error message is another issue altogether, as will become apparent.) Code: smtpd_tls_security_level = may smtpd_tls_auth_only = yes With this configuration, attempts to send mail are rejected, with a message like the following: Code: An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: 5.7.1 <your-hostname.your-isp.com[XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX]>: Client host rejected: Access denied. Please check the message recipient [email protected] and try again. Additionally, my email client (Thunderbird) displays something like this: Code: Sending of message failed. The message could not be sent because the connection to SMTP server example.com was lost in the middle of the transaction. Try again or contact your network administrator. If I enable STARTTLS for the SMTP connection, I am able to send mail without issue. So far, all is well, and these are the expected results. If I change the security level to "encrypt", the results when attempting to connect over an unencrypted connection are slightly different: Code: smtpd_tls_security_level = encrypt smtpd_tls_auth_only = yes Code: An error occurred while sending mail. The mail server responded: 5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first. Please verify that your email address is correct in your Mail preferences and try again. This message is much more useful to clients that understand how to receive it, which I appreciate. However, when I enable STARTTLS for the SMTP connection, mail is sent without issue, but it is always returned with the following message attached: Code: <[email protected]>: host 127.0.0.1[127.0.0.1] said: 530 5.7.0 Failed, id=01520-12, from MTA([127.0.0.1]:10025): 530 5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first (in reply to end of DATA command) Is this because the local, internal connection between Postfix and Amavis is also requiring encryption, given these directives? If so, is there a simple means by which to exempt local connections from this requirement? The fact that the first method works without issue seems to indicate that the "smtpd_tls_auth_only = yes" directive is ignored for local connections. I am okay with using the first set of directives, but I would like to understand why the second does not work. Thanks for any help!


text:
Atlantic City's Revel says it will close without buyer
Atlantic City's Revel Casino Hotel warned its staff Thursday that it will shut down this summer if a buyer can't be found in bankruptcy court.
In warning letters given to employees and obtained by The Associated Press, Revel said it is seeking a buyer for the struggling $2.4 billion casino, but can't guarantee one will be found. If not, employees could be terminated as soon as Aug. 18, Revel said in the letter.
"If Revel is unable to complete such a sale promptly, Revel expects to close its entire facility," the letters read. The company also said it plans to stay open while it searches for a buyer.
Shortly after distributing the letters, Revel filed a Chapter 11 petition in federal bankruptcy court, its second in as many years. Revel said it hopes to find a buyer quickly.
"We will work to reach an agreement with a new owner who will help ensure Revel's long-term financial stability and who shares our commitment to providing Revel's guests and players an exceptional experience," said Scott Kreeger, Revel's president and chief operating officer.
He said the casino has obtained a $125 million loan from one of its existing financiers so it can operate during its stay in bankruptcy court.
A judge in Camden will hear Revel's so-called first-day motions Friday, including requests to continue normal operations, pay employees and bills while under Chapter 11 protection.
Revel said the Aug. 18 date mentioned in the letter is not a deadline for a potential closure; rather it fulfills a legal requirement to give workers at least 60 days' notice of a potential layoff.
It could not be determined how much Revel might sell for in a bankruptcy auction, but it is sure to be a steep discount. Wall Street analysts and some casino executives said last month that $300 million was too high a price. A union that has been at odds with Revel since before it opened pegged its value in April at $25 million to $73 million, based on public filings.
Bob McDevitt, president of Local 54 of the Unite-HERE union, which won a representation election at Revel two weeks ago, pledged cooperation in the fight to save its workers' jobs.
"A sale of Revel to a buyer who wants to keep the property open and retain the employees is the best thing for the workers, for Atlantic City and for Revel, and Local 54 is committed to working with all parties to save the jobs," he said.
For much of the past year, Revel has sought a buyer for the property, which has remained eighth out of Atlantic City's 11 casinos in terms of the amount of money won from gamblers. But it also kept the option of a second bankruptcy filing as potential buyers expressed interest but failed to pursue a deal.
The casino is owned by investors who gained control of it during bankruptcy last year, swapping debt for equity in the property. The transaction wiped out 82 percent of Revel's $1.5 billion in debt.
But even with that breathing room, Revel continued to struggle. It acknowledged mistakes in marketing and operations, launching a massive campaign to try to win back patrons. But that backfired when a "You Can't Lose" promotion offering to refund slot losses angered many customers who thought their losses would be refunded in cash. Instead, they were gradually credited to a Revel account, with restrictions on when the credits could be used.
Since then, it opened a pool club and guest service on its beach, lowered the price of some restaurant items, booked free entertainment acts in a lounge and opened a new players' club.
All this occurred against a backdrop of increasing competition from casinos in neighboring states; four new casinos will soon open in New York. Atlantic City's casino revenue fell from a high of $5.2 billion in 2006 to $2.86 billion last year.
Revel has never been profitable since it opened in 2012. It posted a gross operating loss of $21.7 million in the first quarter this year. For all of 2013, it lost $130 million, up from the $110 million it lost during the nine months it was open in 2012.


text:
Fairfield Chair Company is a major U.S. manufacturer of fine upholstered seating for the Home, Office, Hospitality and Senior Living. Fairfield combines comfort, quality and value with unmatched customer service. Established in 1921, Fairfield Chair Company distributes its products throughout the U.S. and internationally. Quality control from frame to fabric, masterful craftsmanship and precise tailoring result in upholstered furnishings that are the Standard of Value and Excellence.
1331 Harper Ave., SW
Lenoir, NC 28681
(828) 758-5571
Booth 1747


text:
(CNN) – It's one version of the American dream: free McDonald's for life.
For Mitt Romney's father, the dream was reality - the one-time Michigan governor was granted free meals at the fast food chair by its founder.
- Follow the Ticker on Twitter: @PoliticalTicker
Speaking at a fund-raising event in Chicago, the presumptive GOP nominee relayed a story about finding a special coupon in his dad's drawer.
"I found a little paper card, a little pink card, and it said, 'This entitles George W. Romney to a lifetime of a hamburger, a shake and French fries at McDonald's.' It was signed by the hand of Ray Kroc. My dad had done a little training lesson or whatever for McDonald's when there was just a handful of restaurants and I saw this thing and was like, this is a gold mine, dad! What are you doing?"
Romney said he laminated the card for his father, who he said went "almost every day" to McDonald's for either a hamburger or a fish sandwich.
"He would present this little card and of course the person behind the counter would look and say, 'Well, what is that?' They'd never seen something like that, but he said it was never turned down. They always honored it," Romney said.
George Romney, who ran for the GOP presidential nomination ahead of the 1968 election, served as governor of Michigan from 1963-1969. He was also the secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development under President Richard Nixon.
- Check out the CNN Electoral Map and Calculator and game out your own strategy for November.
Before you vote, think carefully about the possible consequences: 4 years of hearing this man's laugh.
I ask you, is that something America should be subjected to?
Don't expect the filthy rich to pay for food....or pay taxes.
I Love ROMNEY everything he touches turns to GOLD – You can keep Your failed BO MOLD – I'll take the GOLD
That must mean Mitt is just like me and you!!! Happy with all the simple things in life.....free food. I guess it will be ok to be president now!!!! He is selling the average Joe as hard as he can
So, I'm working for 7$ an hour and this rich guy gets a (tax-free, no doubt) life-time benefit because he gave a couple of trainings?
Will this happen with the entire country when this rich guy's son becomes president, we working for low wages and these people taking all they can from us?
Good grief... way to connect with the 99%, Willard: tell them about every little privilege you've ever managed to get. "Daddy got for free what everybody else had to pay for" is especially effective - and making it something most everybody actually does pay for, so they can really relate to the story, is sheer genius.
With good judgement and interpersonal skills like this, Mitt would make a spectacular president, no question.


text:
Last March, during a visit to Moscow, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was made to look foolish when she presented her host, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, with a box festooned with a button marked "Reset" in English. The idea was to have a photo-op designed to symbolize President Obama's ambition to put U.S. relations with the Kremlin on a new, more positive footing after the bilateral strains of the George W. Bush years.
Unfortunately for the Secretary, her crack State Department team mistranslated the term and the word on the box in Russian meant "overcharge" not "reset." Based on the President's decision announced to scrap the planned deployment of a missile defense system in Poland and the Czech Republic, however, we now know, that Team Obama's version of resetting would best be translated as "capitulation."
Mr. Obama came to office evincing the reflexive hostility of many partisan Democrats to the idea of anti-missile protection for the United States. This bizarre, not to say dangerous, attitude has its roots in the theology of the Cold War during which the Left embraced arms control in general and, above all, the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. In practice, that accord precluded the United States from deploying any missile defense of its territory - a state of grace Democratic legislators and operatives were horrified to see President Bush abandon in December 2001 with the formal abrogation of the ABM Treaty and the subsequent installation of interceptors and radars at two sites, one in Alaska and the other in California.
In addition, to enhance the protection of American territory and to provide at least a modest defense of Europe against the growing threat of ballistic missile attack, Mr. Bush proposed a so-called "Third Site" in Eastern Europe. The Polish and Czech governments saw this collaborative effort as a means not only of contributing to their own security and that of their NATO allies (who voted twice unanimously for the Third Site) against Iranian missiles. These key post-Cold War allies also saw it as a tangible expression of the U.S. commitment to their security in the face of assiduous Russian efforts to reassert a sphere of influence that would turn the clock back, reestablishing in some form their unhappy status under the Kremlin's thumb.
It was precisely in the interests of advancing that ambition that the Russians assiduously opposed the deployment of the Third Site. They absurdly claimed the ten interceptors in Poland would threaten the deterrent power of the many hundreds of nuclear warheads they could rain down on Europe. Vladimir Putin even threatened thermonuclear attacks on the Poles and Czechs if they did not abandon the NATO-agreed plan.
Despite efforts by the then-Bush administration Defense Secretary Robert Gates and his Foggy Bottom counterpart, Condoleezza Rice, to try to find some programmatic accommodation with the Russians, in the end President Bush stood firm. And fierce opposition in certain quarters domestically did not preclude the Polish and Czech governments from doing the same.
Today, however, President Obama pulled the plug on the Bush Third Site. Although he professed an abiding commitment to the security of Poland and the Czech Republic and pledged "a new missile defense architecture in Europe will provide stronger, smarter, and swifter defenses of American forces and America's allies," no one should be under any illusion: With his capitulation to Russia, Barack Obama has just affirmed what I call the Obama Doctrine: Undermining our friends, emboldening our enemies and diminishing our country.
The claim made by the President and Bob Gates, still serving as the Pentagon chief, that revisions in the U.S. intelligence assessments justifies cancelling the Third Site is preposterous. Even if it were true that Iran's longer-range missiles are coming along more slowly than had previously been anticipated (which seems unlikely, given the intelligence community's past, politicized and erroneous judgments about Iranian weapons programs), no one should assume that such missiles will not be deployed and threaten our allies and us in due course. The idea that we would eliminate now our capability to deal with them down the road is transparently a political decision, not a national security-minded one.
The true nature of that political decision is also clear: Team Obama believes that by cancelling missile defenses we absolutely will need in the future and leaving our allies in the lurch, the United States will secure assistance from the Russians in minimizing the Iranian threat. There is, sadly, no reason to believe that such help will be forthcoming.
To the contrary, all the evidence suggests otherwise: Vladimir Putin is enabling that Iranian threat, with nuclear technology, anti-aircraft defenses and political protection against any effective international sanctions on Tehran. Worse yet, he has now been rewarded for such behavior by an act of naked appeasement with respect to the Third Site.
These strategically tectonic shifts will have far-reaching, if not entirely predictable, consequences. The U.S. deployment of additional sea-based defenses and ultimately the placing more ashore somewhere may help mitigate some of the near-term missile threats Iran is now posing to our allies and forces in the Mideast. But it is a safe bet that they will not begin to offset the damage that the Obama administration has done to our own security and to our relations with key allies worldwide by resetting" relations with Russia in a manner that amounts to rank capitulation.


text:
Jasmine Sambac Natural Mini Deodorant with Magnesium
Jasmine Sambac Natural Mini Deodorant with Magnesium
Softly scented with jasmine and ylang-ylang essential oils. Vegan, all-natural deodorant you can trust to keep odor away. Fresh, natural ingredients including magnesium keep you fresh all day. Our deodorants are also completely aluminum-free, plus we do not use any hydrogenated oils in our recipes (hydrogenated oils contain ingredients that are typically laden with GMOs). Only pure and natural ingredients are used in all of our deodorants - nothing synthetic.
We believe what is left out of our products is equally as important as what we put into them. Here at HELEKA, you will not find any phthalates, parabens, or petroleum. By ensuring that none of these harmful ingredients are used in our products, you can make confident, intelligent choices about your body care without compromising your health.
.35 oz (9g)
Ingredients: Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter)*, Simmondsia Chinensis (Jojoba) Seed Oil*, Maranta Arundinacea Root (Arrowroot Powder), Tapioca Starch, Magnesium Hydroxide, Euphorbia Cerifera (Candelilla) Wax, Cocos Nucifera (Coconut) Oil*, Jasminum Sambac (Jasmine) Oil, Tocopherol (Vitamin E)^, Canangaodorata (Ylang-Ylang) Oil, Vanilla Planifolia Oil.


text:
Details on a promising entry level HTC phone, the Primo have been leaked revealing a Beats Audio handset running the latest Android operating system, Ice Cream Sandwich (ICS) out of the box.
The rumour was passed to Stuff.tv from an anonymous tipster within the Taiwanese firm – who disclosed that the Primo would be toting the new HTC Sense 4.0 overlay on top of ICS.
Bearing in mind this is tipped to be a budget handset, the leaked specs are rather pleasing, with the Primo packing a 3.7-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, 1GHz dual-core processor, 512MB of RAM and a 5MP snapper capable of 720p HD video capture.
Beats on a budget
Add into the mix Dr. Dre inspired Beats Audio technology and the Primo could be one cool customer if it keeps to its entry-level price.
No word on whether those sweet sounding Beats Audio Headphones we saw bundled with the HTC Sensation XE will be included with the Primo, but we are keeping our fingers crossed.
Some renders of the Primo have been put together by Stuff.tv which suggest HTC may be ditching capacitive buttons, in favour of the new ICS system, which makes physical buttons redundant. Although we're unsure if the huge Beats logo plastered on the front is a good look - lets hope the finial design is a little less brash.
The HTC Primo is expected to land at Mobile World Congress 2012 at the end of February, as part of a range of new HTC devices including the HTC Ville and the quad-core HTC Edge.


text:
Jadeveon Clowneyunderwent hernia surgery earlier this month, a surprising setback for the No. 1 overall draft pick. It turns out that Clowney struggled with the injury longer than anyone realized.
Clowney told NFL Media's Gil Brandt this week that he played through the hernia injury for his entire final season at South Carolina. Clowney believed at the time it was just a groin injury that he could fight through. Clowney's production fell off as a junior, and there were many questions about his effort level. The injury provides some context to his lack of production, although it's surprising we didn't hear much about it during the pre-draft process.
Houston Texans coach Bill O'Brien has expressed confidence that Clowney will be ready for training camp. Clowney didn't sound quite as sure Thursday in comments to NFL Media's Alex Flanagan at the NFL Rookie Symposium.
"That's the goal," Clowney said of being ready for camp. "Right now, I'm doing good, going through the rehab, taking it day by day."
Clowney's ability to get on the field for camp is key because he's essentially learning a different position. The Texans will play Clowney at linebacker, and ask him to handle a few different responsibilities than just rushing the passer.
"I'm pretty much out in space. I got a lot of space to work with. It's different, but it's fun," Clowney told Flanagan. "You have to cover little slot receivers, tight ends and (running) backs flaring. It's just a lot going on ... motioning. You just have to be alert and listen. Listen and know your assignment."
*The latest "Around The League Podcast" ranks the league's top tight ends and debates Andrew Luck vs. Cam Newton. *


text:
Who Can I Contact to Obtain More Information?
If you have further questions about the program, you may contact us directly at any of our National Program Administrators offices by email.
Federal government launches $10-million National Recreation Trails Program - June 26, 2014
The Honourable Denis Lebel, Minister of Infrastructure, Communities and Intergovernmental Affairs and Minister of the Economic Development Agency of Canada for the Regions of Quebec, the Honourable Rob Moore, Regional Minister for New Brunswick and Minister of State (ACOA), and Jo-Anne Farquhar, President of the National Trails Coalition (NTC) today launched the National Recreational Trails Program. Read Press Release »
Flaherty Showcases NTC Recreational Trails in Budget Speech | Ottawa, Ontario (February 11, 2014) - Leaders of the National Trails Coalition (NTC) were pleased to learn in today's federal budget that its nation-wide trail infrastructure program aimed at improving and expanding recreational trails as well as creating jobs for Canadians, will receive $10 million over two years as part of Economic Action Plan 2014. Read Press Release »
NTC Canadian Trails Study News Release November 19, 2010 »
Join the dialogue! Make your voice heard! Complete the survey!
Banff National Trails Roundtable News Release 2011 »
2011 Summary Report – National Trails Roundtable »
What is the National
Trails Coalition
The National Trails Coalition (NTC) is the operating name for the Coalition of Canadian Trails Organizations, a federally incorporated not-for-profit organization. The NTC was formed in 2007 to bring the broad spectrum of trail-based activities together in a collaborative manner to build, maintain and promote trails and trail use across Canada. One of the founding principles of the Coalition is building new partnerships between trail disciplines; fostering more multiple-use trail development; and providing a trail-based platform on which private enterprise and volunteer groups alike can generate economic activity.web-dl.org
The umbrella organizations spearheading the coalition initiative are the Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations (CCSO), the Canadian Off-Highway Vehicle Distributors Council (COHV), and the Canadian Trails Federation (CTF). Through their affiliates across Canada, these parent bodies represent trail building, operating and maintenance organizations in every province and territory. Most importantly, they provide trail infrastructure and a tourism product that is used by millions of Canadians and visitors to Canada.
The coalition was formed out of the recognition that collaboration rather than exclusionary practices is where the future of trail development is headed. Coalition members cut across all disciplines of trail use and are working together to break down the old stereotypes. By working together, and with the Government of Canada as a key partner, the coalition members are confident that trails can rise to the level of a national icon worthy of promotion around the world. At the same time, a growing network of trails will provide Canadians with safe places to enjoy outdoor recreational activities, economic opportunities and an improved environment.
The members of the coalition look forward to a long and prosperous partnership with the Government of Canada to make "United for a Stronger Trail System" a reality.
Canada is blessed with an abundance of recreational trails that are utilized by the public for a wide variety of activities from healthy living and physical fitness to recreational pursuits; from economic development for local communities to transit from one destination to another. Trails are found in urban centres and rural areas. They range from paved pathways to machine-groomed corridors, from abandoned rail lines to simple dirt tracks. Trails are used by both Canadians and tourists to access some of the most remote and beautiful scenery this country has to offer.
Trails are built and maintained largely by the efforts of volunteer-driven, not-for-profit organizations with varying levels of historical support from all three levels of government. In some instances, municipal parks & recreation departments, conservation authorities or senior government agencies responsible for parks, are the caretakers of trails. Finally, trail development across much of Canada would not be possible without the generous support of private landowners who make their land available at no cost for others to enjoy.
Trail development and management in Canada is a working example of how good things happen when volunteers, landowners and supportive businesses work together with government.
The National Trails Coalition
The three leading trail groups are national-level groups whose membership is drawn from either subsidiary groups in each province and territory or from the private sector through the contributions of manufacturers and distributors of trails-related vehicles, products and services. They include:
Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations (CCSO) – The Canadian Council of Snowmobile Organizations (CCSO/CCOM) is dedicated to providing leadership and support to organized snowmobiling in Canada. It is a not-for-profit entity formed in 1974 to serve as the umbrella group for organized recreational snowmobile associations in Canada.
The CCSO/CCOM Board of Directors consist of representatives of the 13 provincial and territorial organized snowmobile associations. They meet three times a year to exchange ideas, identify and prioritize national issues and provide the CCSO/CCOM with mid to long term planning. One of the core objectives of the CCSO is to complete the Trans Canadian Snowmobile Trail and in so doing, contribute to the completion of the Trans Canada Trail.
Canadian Off-Highway Vehicle Distributors Council (COHV)
The Canadian Off-Highway Vehicle Distributors Council, originally founded in 1984, is a national, non-profit, trade association, which represents the responsible interests of the major manufacturers and distributors of all terrain vehicles and off road motorcycles, as well as the manufacturers, distributors and retail outlets of OHV related products and services. Member companies such as; Arctic Cat; BRP (Can-Am); Honda; Kawasaki; KTM; Polaris; Suzuki and Yamaha are committed to the integrity of the ATV & OHV industries.
The mission of the COHV is the ongoing education and training of the general public on the safe and responsible use of all-terrain vehicles and off-road motorcycles as well as to promote the responsible interests of riders and the industry. The COHV works closely with the All Terrain Quad Council of Canada (AQCC) and The Motorcyclists Confederation of Canada (MCC) and their member organizations across Canada. The COHV supports the organizational development of strong national and provincial rider federations.
Canadian Trails Federation (CTF) - The Canadian Trails Federation was incorporated federally in 2002. Its mission is to enhance the recreational trails network in Canada by sharing information; providing leadership and coordination; and building national and international consensus within the Canadian trails community. Each of the 13 provincial/territorial trail organizations in Canada nominates one director to sit on the Board of Directors of the CTF so that it represents the trails movement in Canada in the broadest sense.
The largest and most visible project for the CTF and its provincial/territorial members is the building of the Trans Canada Trail (TCT). There is a significant distinction to be made between the CTF and other national groups like the Trans Canada Trail (TCT). CTF and its member organizations are trail builders and managers. TCT relies on the infrastructure building capability of CTF members to build and maintain the trails that are part of the Trans Canada Trail.


text:
Much Ado About Nothing2013 Drama | Comedy
Leonato, the governor of Messina, is visited by his friend Don Pedro who is returning from a victorious campaign against his brother Don John. Accompanying Don Pedro are two of his officers: Benedick and Claudio. While in Messina, Claudio falls for Leonato's daughter Hero, while Benedick verbally spars with Beatrice, the governor's niece. The budding love between Claudio and Hero prompts Don Pedro to arrange with Leonato for a marriage.In the days leading up to the ceremony, Don Pedro attempts to sport with Benedick and Beatrice in an effort to trick the two into falling in love. Meanwhile, the villainous Don John plots against the happy couple, using his own form of trickery to try to destroy the marriage before it begins.