text:
Shanghai – By Les Lothringer
There is nothing special about the street I live in, here in Shanghai. Once you move off the glitzy streets like HuaiHai Road or NanJing Road, Shanghai resembles most other "modern" Chinese cities with their concrete block buildings ?endless, featureless and overbuilt.
My small street is a typical Chinese street. Not too far from the police complex and police cars and motorbikes sometimes patrol it. Here few people speak any English. There are no other Westerners. We have some cheap sidewalk cafes, three hairdressers [legitimate], three fruit stalls, a few traders in copy DVD's [mostly from Russia], one legitimate massage salon and seven brothels. As I said, it is a typical Chinese street.
I'm alone at a small table by one sidewalk cafe eating. A mid-20's Chinese girl with pretensions about her sits down opposite avoiding face contact. I think – now why don't you just go and sit inside. You do learn to pick them.
Many Chinese come to this sidewalk cafe, including young girl students from the high school near by, all so chatty. This one is different. She has that irritable, bitchy, condescending air about her that you do see here – girls with issues. In two minds about it, I eventually say in Mandarin, do you speak English? She indicates no with minimum effort.
Some time later her friend comes along and sits down, next to me. The table is so typically quite small and we are seated very close to each other. She acts far more pleasantly. She does speak some English. So we chat. She works in a bank. When my English gets too hard for her, she checks with her friend, who speaks better English! Now she is talking too and there is no stopping her.
The issues one asks me which hotel I live in. I said I lived right here. She repeats the question. Eventually she gets it. Other questions follow about how long I've been in China.
Miss Issues seems intent on educating me now. I am already far too over-educated for my own good. She will have to try hard and I am quite keen. I established that both girls are aged 25 and work in the same Chinese bank nearby. She says some very interesting things.
Chinese people are very complex. VERY COMPLEX! OK ?got it. She adds- they are very difficult to understand. Got that too. I say they are not so complex, in fact, quite easy to understand. I think – whenever I hear that a group of people are "complex", I imagine how neurotic they well could be. No point trying to explain that concept.
She says that foreigners are unable to understand Chinese. This is a telling point from one so basically naive and "young". I said you are right; most do not. But I do understand Chinese, as I live amongst them and have made an effort to understand them. She is none too keen to accept this.
She raises the conversation stakes. She says that when a Chinese compliments a Westerner, at the bottom of their heart, right at the very bottom, they think the opposite. I say I know this [even though not strictly true of everyone] and what's more, this means that you are saying that all Chinese are liars. Silence ensues.
It looks like my education lesson is over. A while after she asks me if I could explain to her what a treasury note is. The question comes as no surprise, but then I did say Chinese are not complex.
Both these women live with their parents [= enmeshed, controlling families who infantilize their daughters and more]. They expect to remain there until they marry. They have no boyfriends and never had. I appreciate being instructed by unworldly virgins. She must have read my face. My instructor starts the lesson again. Miss Issues tells me that this is how Chinese live. I point out that this is how some Chinese live and that it is changing. Just last Sunday, a young unmarried couple was sitting with me here at the same table and they were quite open about living together, even though it is strictly illegal. She grudgingly admits that, yes, things are changing in Shanghai.
I just couldn't resist it. I say ?You know, you two girls must both move out of home, shack up with some Western guys [ideally weight trained alpha-males], learn how to live, stand up to your parents [who will turn on one of their well practiced and most definitely biggest tantrums] and stop them interfering in your lives. Lost in translation.
PS: The chances of these two girls attracting any guys like that are, well, frankly zero.


text:
Project Description
Aluminium Casting Custom Manufacturing
Inquiry Similar Products For Free
Aluminum Die casting parts:
1.Aluminum Die Casting is made of aluminum alloy,also can be produced according your requirements.
2.We are professional manufacture and exporter for different kinds of castings.we are die casting,forging,machining parts with different materials,such as aluminum alloy,zinc alloy.
3.our strong R&D and QC department can control the products to meet your strict requirement.No matter you have a drawing or a samlple,we can give you the quotation within 24 hours.
4.Different kinds of finish available,like anodized,power coating,painting,polishing,electrophoress,plating ect
5.Different dimensions according to the client's request
6.Can provide various sizes and packing according to your requirements
7.We offer the engineer consultation to your design for production improvement and cost saving
8.Customized and tailored order are welcome
9.High quality and delivery in time
1O.OEM and ODM
11.Inspection report and material test certificates are available .
General Die Casting Mould For Reference
|1. Aluminum alloy die casting: A360/A380/A390D/ADC10/ADC12/ZL110, ZL101,102,114, etc.
|2. Zinc alloy die casting: ZDC1/ZDC2/Zamak 3/Zamak5/ZA8/ZL4-1, etc.
|3.CNC machining: 6061 6063
|4. MOLD MANUFACTURING: from designing to mould making to qualified samples supplying.
|1. Cold chamber die casting machines:180T/280T/500T/800T/1250T
|2. Hot chamber die casting machines: 58T/88T/168T
|3. CNC centers, CNC turnings, CNC lathes, Electronic pulse, Wire EDM, milling, drilling, grinding.
|Surface Treatment
|Polishing, shot blasting, sandblasting, painting, powder coating, anodizing, Plating chrome, Plating nickel, Plating zinc, Electrophoresis, Passivation, Chemical coating film, etc.
|Pro/E, UG, Solidworks, Auto CAD, PDF
|Products Application
|1.Automobile and motorcycle parts: engine cover, cylinder head, brake pad, shaft, clutch, etc.
|2.Lights & lamps parts: heatsink, lamp cup, light housing, LED/street/down lamp spares, etc.
|3.Doors and windows parts: door(window)handle/hinge/lock, door stop, glass clamp, etc.
|4.Electrical appliance parts: connector, telephone junction box, waterproof terminal box, etc.
|5.Furniture hardware fittings: sofa legs, furniture brackets, staircase fitting, decorations, etc.
|6.Industrial hardware: control valve housing, air tools, engine cover, instrument parts, etc.
|7.Machine spare parts: machine valve, base plate, end plate, propeller parts, etc.
1)Your inquiry will be replied within 24 hours.
2)Well-traind&experienced sales can reply your inquiries in English.
3)During working time, E-mail will be replied to you within 6 hours.
4)OEM&ODM projects are highly welcomed ,we have strong R&D team, can help modify drawings
5)The order will be produced exactly according to order details and proofed samples, our QC will submit inspection report before shipment.
6)Your business relationship with us will be confidential to any third party.
7)Good after-sale service.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
|Branch Name
|IFSC Code
|SBIN0012875 (used for RTGS, IMPS and NEFT transactions)
|MICR Code
|Swift Code
|ERNAKULAM (Click here for all the branches of "STATE BANK OF INDIA" in "ERNAKULAM" District)
|ZIP Code
|Contact Number
|[email protected]
STATE BANK OF INDIA NERIAMANGALAM IFSC: SBIN0012875 and MICR Code: 682002080; STATE BANK OF INDIA KERALA NERIAMANGALAM Address: PERIYAR TOWERS, TELEPHONE EXCHANGE, NERIAMANGALAM, ERNAKULAM, KERALA; Contact Number: 1800112211 and Email: [email protected]; STATE BANK OF INDIA NERIAMANGALAM Timings: Monday - Friday (Weekdays): 10 AM - 4 PM, Saturday (Weekend): 10 AM - 4 PM (Except 2nd & 4th Saturday).
IFSC codes, MICR codes and SWIFT codes all play key roles in facilitating digital transfers of funds between banks or account-holders in India. Since their respective introductions, these simple-yet-effective codes have significantly simplified the process of making payments and transfers - domestically and internationally - for millions of consumers and businesses alike.
STATE BANK OF INDIA uses IFSC codes, MICR codes and SWIFT codes to offer its private and business customers with a variety of fast, secure and economic fund transfer options. These unique codes are used to identify key information, like the bank and the location of the respective branch.
Customers of STATE BANK OF INDIA must provide the required information to execute bank transfers and digital transactions, including their name, account number, account type and the IFSC code, MICR code and/or SWIFT code of their branch and that of the recipient.
It's quick and easy to locate STATE BANK OF INDIA's IFSC code, MICR code and SWIFT code, either by going online or by consulting your cheque book provided by the bank.
Take a look at your cheque book and you'll see that every page features the relevant IFSC code of the respective branch of the bank. You can also use the convenient search facility provided by findyourbank.in, in order to find the IFSC code, MICR code or SWIFT code of any bank branch in India.
You'll find a search button at the top of our website labelled 'Search, which will take you to a separate page where you can search for the information you require instantly. Simply enter the details of the bank branch you're looking for and its IFSC code, MICR code and SWIFT code will be displayed immediately.
The service is free to use and covers all 871 computerized banks in India, incorporating thousands of branches across the country.
For the convenience of its customers, STATE BANK OF INDIA allows money transfers to be made using both NEFT and RTGS. These two hassle-free electronic currency transfer standards use IFSC codes to quickly and securely transfer money from one account to another.
The National Electronic Fund Transfer standard - most commonly referred to as NEFT - was created and rolled out by the RBI to both facilitate and simplify retail transactions for customers. The protocol itself bears many similarities to RTGS, though in the case of NEFT, money is transferred between accounts in daily batches. NEFT makes it quick and easy for customers and businesses alike to transfer money to any account or any branch located anywhere in the country, just as long as it is a member of the NEFT network.
At the time of writing, there are more than 82,000 branches of 100+ banks in India taking part in the NEFT network. Operations at STATE BANK OF INDIA involve 11 batches of NEFT transactions being carried out on weekdays, along with a further five batches every working Saturday. STATE BANK OF INDIA joined the NEFT network to make it as easy, convenient and safe as possible for its customers to make monetary transfers and payments to other accounts in banks to the NEFT network.
Customers looking to initiate an NEFT transaction are required to first complete a Fund Transfer Instruction Form, which can be picked up from any branch of the bank. Information required includes the name of the beneficiary, the bank and specific branch of the beneficiary, the account type held, account number of the beneficiary and the IFSC code of the beneficiary's branch and bank.
In terms of the sender, the bank and respective branch's IFSC code must be provided, along with the account number, type of account and so on. In the absence of any of these details, it is not possible to make an NEFT transfer with STATE BANK OF INDIA or any bank taking part in this scheme.
As mentioned above, STATE BANK OF INDIA executes NEFT transactions on weekdays (9AM until 6PM) and on working Saturdays 9AM until 12:30PM.
Certain charges are payable in accordance with the amount of the transaction, which at the time of writing are as follows:
These fees and timings are, of course subject to change, so please consult your local branch directly for more information.
Real Time Gross Settlement - more commonly referred to as RTGS - is another example of a standardised system for making and receiving electronic payments in India. Devised and introduced by the Reserve Bank of India, RTGS operates as a convenient and secure alternative to personal cheques, enabling banks taking part in the scheme to make transfers using online messages directed through the official RTGS Payment Gateway.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of RTGS is how it eliminates manual cheque-clearing processes and waiting times from the equation. Transactions using RTGS are more or less instantaneous, making it much quicker and easier for payments to be settled and funds credited to their intended accounts - typically within 2 hours.
What's also great about RTGS is its uniquely economical nature when carrying out comparatively large transfers. Unlike other examples of digital transfer standards, the minimum transactions sum to qualify for an RTGS transfer is set at Rs 2 lakh. There are more than 80,000 branches of 100+ banks across India who currently take part in the RTG program.
In order to initiate a transaction using RTGS, the remitter or payer instructs his or her bank to debit the respective account and credit the funds to the account of the beneficiary respectively. The bank then takes over the process of crediting the beneficiary's account with the specified funds from the remitter - the process taking place via the official RBI RTGS Payment Gateway.
As with many other digital transactions standards, the remitter must provide the required information by filling out an Electronic Fund Transfer Request Form, which can be collected in person at any branch of the bank.
In terms of the required information, the sender of the funds must complete all fields including the name of the beneficiary, the name of their bank and the respective branch, account number, the type of account they hold and the IFSC code of the recipient's bank.
The recipient must be able to provide the IFSC code of their branch for an RTGS transaction to be actioned, while the person remitting the money must likewise provide their name, account type, account number and so on. All of these details must be clearly and accurately communicated for an RTGS transaction to take place.
Requests for transfers using the RTGS protocol are carried out weekdays (8AM to 4PM) and working Saturdays (8AM to 1PM).
More commonly referred to as IMPS, the Immediate Payment Service protocol is another example of an electronic payment platform used to crossed India for executing independent retail payments. This banking and financial standard was introduced by the National Payment Corporation of India, making it swift and secure to transfer funds to any business or beneficiary in real-time for commercial purposes.
Transactions using the IMPS protocol can be requested and actioned on a 24/7 basis, 365 days a year. This means that payments can be sent and received at any time, irrespective of standard bank opening times and/or operational hours.
In this instance, customers using IMPS are required to provide either a combination of their MMID (Mobile Money Identifier) and their mobile number, or the IFSC code of their respective bank branch and their account number.
The largest bank in India and one of the biggest corporations in the entire world, the State Bank of India (SBI) is an enormous multinational bank and financial service provider, operated by the Government of India. Originally founded in 1806, the State Bank of India now occupies an impressive 23% share of the total market in India by way of assets. The State Bank of India has acquired countless smaller banks and financial organisations over the decades, resulting in the continuous growth of an enormously powerful and prosperous institution. Just a few of the services provided by the State Bank of India today include corporate banking, savings, consumer banking, insurance and investment banking, finance, private banking, private equity, mortgage loans, asset management, securities, credit cards, wealth management and many more besides.


text:
Our modern lifestyles have impacted our cats. Around 50% of our cat population shows some signs of obesity. In order to prevent and control obesity, it is advisable to ration your cat's portions and provide him with some form of physical activity. Interactive feeding toys including SlimCat and our FunKitty toys will do just that. They help your cat fight obesity and maintain a healthy weight by encouraging your cat to work for his food and by rationing his food.Close
Talk to your veterinarian if you think your cat has a weight problem. The general signs of obesity include:


text:
Thoughts of a progressive urbanist
October 29, 2013 7 Comments
When Citibike debuted in NYC in May of this year I happened to be visiting while on tour with a choir I sing in. As a pro-bicycle, three-year car-free San Franciscan I was giddy about the Citibike launch, I even posed for a photo on one out of sheer exuberance on the day before they were made available.
The Citibike launch is now history and the prediction of the streets of NYC running with the blood of neophyte bikers turned out to be overblown but one impression from that weekend has stayed with me: two of my friends there, both life-long New Yorkers, one progressive, one conservative, agreed: they hated Citibike.
The conservative friend parroted the Murdoch papers' complaints: it will be a bloodbath, old ladies will be knocked over willy-nilly, cyclists are lawless, non-taxpaying "hipsters" and clueless liberals heedless to the safety of themselves and others. The progressive friend, equally scornful, rattled off the progressive objections; Citibank is the Great Satan; why are we plastering our city with ads to these robber barons? Why is this program confined to wealthy white neighborhoods?
These positions illustrate the extreme political poles of the urbanism debate Jason Henderson so brilliantly frames in his great book, Street Fight: The Politics of Mobility in San Francisco. The middle position or "third way " not depicted in my representation of the Citibike debate is the neo-liberal position (pro-Citibike), with which I think most self-described urbanists would identify. David Edmondson [ed. – founder of this blog] is an example.
It's doubtful conservatives in the US can be won over to some of the core tenants of urbanism. Automobility is a defining characteristic of American conservatism. Fears of Agenda 21 and "one world government," hostility towards the nanny state, and climate change skepticism make urbanism anathema to even mainstream conservatives.
Progressives however, can and should be persuaded to support urbanism's goals. While progressives and urbanists often clash, recently and most visibly in the Bay Area over the question of gentrification (the Google Bus phenomenon) and labor issues (the BART strike), I believe these two groups have much more in common than they have in conflict.
Progressives and urbanists are united over the urgency of climate change and environmental degradation. In general, progressives and urbanists can agree on the need for revitalized cities as a solution, but they often part company with how to get there.
Neo-liberal urbanists offer market solutions to these problems, and view "livability" as an urban quality best viewed as a commodity. Progressives stress state solutions and social justice as integral to the project of urbanism.
Many progressives perceive "livability" as synonymous with gentrification. These progressives see parklets, bike lanes, bike share and events like Sunday Streets in San Francisco as part of an insidious march towards a city of privilege, for the rich only. I have even encountered progressives who defend access to cheap parking and automobility for the poor and working classes as a social justice issue.
My experience with these issues comes from my perspective as a resident of San Francisco. As a progressive sympathetic to urbanist goals, my desire is to appeal to both sides in this debate and harness the energy of both groups to drive a move towards dense, low-carbon, livable cities. If I could talk to both sides in this debate in this moment I would say this:
To urbanists
Stop focusing your support on high-end development and be more sensitive to the problems caused by gentrification. Gentrification reduces economic and class diversity and decreases a city's cultural capital by displacing the creative class that makes the city attractive to begin with.
As well, it displaces the poor and working class folks who are the perfect constituency for public transit. These people end up moving to the outer urban core and contribute to increased automobility as a result. Likewise, high-income folks are generally wedded to automobility, their injection into the urban fabric in parking intensive developments increases automobility in the city.
The optics of luxury developments, like San Francisco's 8 Washington, further drive a wedge between progressives and urbanists.
Urbanists are part of a professional class (architects, planners) who are by their nature and training data-driven thinkers. This fact blinds urbanists to the importance and validity of emotional responses to the use of urban space. Nothing could be more emotional in some ways than an individual's identification with the place they live.
Urbanists should be wary of their own predilection to dismiss and belittle emotional reactions to development and gentrification particularly when they enter the political realm (as through Proposition B, which would approve 8 Washington) to further their goals.
To progressives
Livability is not gentrification, and anti-growth is not anti-gentrification.
Improvements to livability in the public space benefit all classes. Stop singling out parklets and bike lanes as evil, and learn to support increased density near transit. Dense development will increase housing stock and drive down displacement, reducing dependence on automobility among the poor and working class by providing a more robust (and yes, partially higher-end) constituency for public transit.
Acknowledge that dense development is inevitable, and that some of it will be luxury. As Edmondson has written before, luxury developments can and do take pressure off the housing market by shifting demand from existing "low-end" housing stock, thereby easing the market and slowing displacement.
Opposition to automobility should be a progressive social justice issue. The primacy of cars in the city places undue strain on poor and working class folks. It clogs our streets and slows public transit. A bifurcated, inequitable system, where the poor depend on transit slowed and made unreliable by the rich driving around them, is the result. The costs of car ownership – insurance, maintenance, and parking fines – are all borne disproportionately by working folks. Freeing them from automobility will engender increased social mobility.
Poor and working class neighborhoods near freeways and high-traffic city streets disproportionately suffer the worst health effects of automobility's pollution. High rates of cancer and respiratory problems are the result. Globally, the effects of climate change brought about largely by car- and carbon-intensive cities will hit the world's poor hardest.
Mostly, let's all break free of the zero-sum tenor of internet discourse. Stop yelling past one another and listen. If we agree to do that, progressives and urbanists working together can achieve the common goal of sustainable cities. The time to make history is now. Let's be the change we want to see.
Cross-posted with Vibrant Bay Area.


text:
Jonathan Seib/Times
Jonathan Seib/Times
The Brush Lady Beetdiggers may not have gotten the win in their homecoming game, but that didn't stop coach Tom Odle from being proud of his team. Brush lost 3-2 to Sterling on Thursday afternoon at Joslin Field.
"It really was a moral victory. For the girls it may not feel like it now, but they played a great game," said Odle. "We didn't do anything in that game that lost it for us."
The Lady 'Diggers started the game off hitting well. The Beetdiggers scored two runs to start off the game. The first run came in as Maggie Christensen reach on an error and stole second base before Kristen Berg would take the plate with one out and connect on a double to bring Christensen home.
Brush pitcher Christina Frick would then connect on a single that turned into a triple on an error and Berg would come home.
Brush would lead 2-0.
After that, the Beetdiggers would have only three more hits in the game with Kristen Berg hitting a single in the sixth and Lauren Berg hitting singles in the 5th and 7th inning.
"Yeah we could have hit the ball better in some key situations. But we got some hits on one of the best pitchers in the state. But overall it was good and defensively we played a great game. We were almost flawless on defense," commented Odle.
Sterling would score its first run in the second inning when Jordan Nelson would reach on a fielder's choice and would come home on an RBI single from Heather Petarde.
Kylie Ross would tie the game up for Sterling after getting walked on and then having Nelson bring her home on a single.
The winning run would come across in the 5th inning when Jenna Knudson would connect on a double and then Lauren Szabo would drive her in.
Frick would pitch the entire game, giving up two earned runs, walking two and striking out three while giving up 11 hits.
"Christina Frick threw a great game. When you have a pitcher walk just two players in a game like that, you know it was a good game," said Odle.
"Hopefully this level of effort will carry over. If you look at the schedule, we have a ton of games coming up," said Odle.
Brush is on the road against Valley on Saturday and then comes home for three games, playing Strasburg on Monday, Eaton on Tuesday, Platte Valley on Thursday and then going back on the road to face Eaton on Friday. That will wrap up the regular season for the Beetdiggers.
Brush is 6-8 overall and 2-5 in conference play. They are currently ranked 9th in the state.
Sterling is 13-2 overall and 7-1 in the Patriot League. They are currently ranked 3rd in the state.


text:
Journal of Mormom Thought
Dialogue Foundation
Dialogue Foundation Website
Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought publishes award winning, peer-reviewed articles from Mormon scholars and writers on sensitive issues in LDS history and doctrine, and topics in Science, Religion, and Politics. It maintains a level of editorial independence that distinguishes it as the premier scholarly journal in the emerging academic field of Mormon Studies.
Browse all records from Dialogue Foundation


text:
Heritage Backgrounds
Viewer Comments
I have scrapped several layouts with these heritage papers and my family is so impressed. Thank you for such beautiful ideas.
Love your webisodes and your products.
Love this!! The Heritage Dazzles are beautiful...thanks so much for the inspiring ideas!!
Absolutely loved the Heritage episode! I'm so happy to see the Heritage Dazzles that complimented the Heritage papers . . . I'm always looking for new elements and papers to use with my heritage photos. Thank you for continuing to explore new techniques and ideas for heritage photographs. They're greatly appreciated!
Love it, love it, love it
Thank you for sharing so many beautiful techniques.
Thank you for so many ideas! I am going to do my family story and now see even though my story doesnt go 75 years back I can use that beautiful paper!
Loved this week's heritage video. The samples are so inspiring. Thanks!
Beautiful! thank you for such a lovely webisode.
Thank you ladies, this is the episode I have been impatiently waiting for. I have the dazzles already and now have a better idea how I will be using them. They are understated & tasteful for use w/those dignified ancestor photos I have.
Paper Wishes Weekly Webisodes feature free scrapbooking video classes and card making video classes! Every week Paulette and LeNae bring you new online scrapbooking or card making classes demonstrating the very latest paper craft and scrapbooking techniques. Each of our free card making and scrapbooking classes also gives you unique project ideas and tips from Paper Wishes' Design Team. Come back often so you don't miss any of the fun in our card making and scrapbooking classes! You are sure to be inspired! Also watch for our "Week of Webisodes" events where we feature new scrapbooking video classes daily!


text:
Senior officials of banks that were impacted due to the ₹11,500-crore fraud in Punjab National Bank had a face-off when they met on Saturday to discuss about who should bear the liability.
According to sources close to the development, PNB has taken a stand of not paying its dues to others banks till the investigations are over.
If PNB does not pay in time, bad loans arising out of the scam will increase since other banks that have extended loans to PNB would have to classify their exposure as "non-performing."
However, other banks did not agree with PNB's stand and said since the Letters of Undertaking (LoUs) were issued by PNB to the buyers, the onus was on PNB. "In our books, we have extended the loan to PNB. So, if PNB do not pay in time, our exposure to PNB will have to classified as NPA."
In case PNB does not pay other banks on time, the impaired loan amount could rise to ₹20,000 crore. PNB, however, blamed the other banks by saying that the LoUs were opened in favour of overseas branches of Indian banks for a period of one year. But RBI norms say that the total time period allowed is 90 days from the date of shipment. This stipulation had been overlooked.
RBI, in a statement, attributed the failure of the internal control of PNB for the fraud. The central bank had said that it was assessing the situation and would take appropriate supervisory action. The banking regulator said it had already undertaken a supervisory assessment of control systems in PNB and would take appropriate supervisory action.
PNB MD & CEO Sunil Mehta had said that PNB's liability would be worked out after the investigation is over.
On Wednesday, PNB informed the stock exchanges about the detection of $1.77 billion (₹11,500 crore) unauthorised transactions, where fraudulent letters of undertaking (LoUs) were issued from a branch in Mumbai to secure overseas credit.
Govt. to buy PNB shares
The government will infuse capital in PNB on a preferential basis by buying shares at ₹161.38 per share of ₹2 each, which would be 28.43% more than its closing share price on Friday, according to an EGM notice.
The government will infuse a total of ₹5,473 crore. In the last three trading sessions, shares of the lender slumped by 22.3%.


text:
"Black Hawk watch" CC image on flickr by The U.S. Army
Wow. Can't believe how long it has been since I've been able to find enough free time to do do a forensic focused link-fest post.
Rest assured, I've been hard at work in the trenches, ever vigilant for tips and tricks to help both forensic pros and sysadmins find common ground in responding to Windows system incidents.
I hope you won't leave disappointed…
QCC Information Security "CaseNotes" Updated
I've been using QCC's CaseNotes for some time and find it really does an excellent job fitting my needs. The Digital Standard: Case Notes had a recent post that highlighted many of the best features of this freeware tool and that got me thinking. Has it been updated lately?
Yep. Pleasantly so!
- More CaseNotes Updates – QCC blog post on the latest (June 8, 2010 ish) version of this application..
- CaseNotes Updated! – and the QCC blog post from May 2010 that had some earlier fixes with in-depth explanations.
Major fixes include:
- Case file backups only made during explicit user initiated saves
- Backup copies now stored in a dedicated sub-folder
- Number of case file backups increased from 3 to 10
- Greater assistance for the corrupt case file 'password' issue
- New menu item to reset screen position data to fix maximised windows
- Fix for Open File dialog not recognising .Notes files in Windows 7
- New dedicated 32 & 64 bit versions (emphasis mine! Woot!)
- Supporting documentation still needs to be updated - coming soon.
I've found it challenging to keep up with updates on many such tools and utilities, fortunately, I was able to find RSS/Atom feed links this time so if you RSS feed-read, take these down:
- ATOM feed for CaseNotes posts.
- ATOM feed for (QCC) Free Tools posts.
MANDIANT Update Madness!
- M-unition » Blog Archive » Web Historian: Reloaded. Yep. MANDIANT has gone wacky and updated their already wonderful Web-Historian application and taken it to a whole new level! So far I've been using it in full "installed" mode. But I suspect that with some tweaking of the custom/advanced path settings it might be supported in a "portable" mode. New version supports FF2/3+, Chrome, and IE 5-8. Man! The GUI has been majorly re-worked and can scan both local and "off-line" sources. Thumbnail previews are supported on compatible browsers. It also can export a "sanitized" version of history usage for sharing. This is a really advanced tool now and worth of checking out. Did I mention it was free? Tip: Read the PDF that comes with it. Saves a lot of of time on the learning curve. From the blog post….
- Collects web history, cookie history, file download history, and form history into data sets
- Perform a live artifact scan of the local system
- Perform an artifact scan of one or more arbitrary history files from all supported browsers
- Data displayed in gridview style with full search, sort, and filter capabilities
- Export data sets to XML, HTML or CSV
- Extract and export history files used in live artifact scan
- Customizable scan settings can tweak the scan to target specific browsers and data sets
- View page thumbnails and indexed content
- Export sanitized version of history results to distribute to others
- Website Analyzer provides visualization of datasets using bar graphs, pie charts and timelines
- Website Profiler shows a quick "report card" of artifacts for various websites
- Web Historian 2.0 – download – register if you wish or just click the "Download Now" arrow at the bottom.
- M-unition » Blog Archive » New Memoryze, Audit Viewer, and Training. Yep. Memorize and Audit Viewer also got updated! Lots of new features and stuff. From the post….
So what is included in Memoryze and Audit Viewer 1.4? Well, here is the short of it.
- Support for Windows 2003 x64 SP2
- Improved support of Vista SP1 and SP2 including port enumeration and a better installer
- Enumeration of digital signatures for all loaded modules in a processes' address space, hooked and hooking drivers, and all drivers found by driver signature scans
- Enumeration of MD5/SHA1/SHA256 hash on disk for all loaded modules in a process' address space and all drivers found by driver signature scans
- Updated documentation
- Single installer for 64-bit and 32-bit versions
Audit Viewer:
- Improvements to the Malware Rating Index (MRI)
- Report visualization of MRI results
- MRI rule editors that will allow users to graphically edit the MRI rule file
- Handle Trust view to help identify suspicious handles
- Ability to search results within a specific process
- Multi-select with copy
- Multi-select and export to a CSV file
- Memoryze – download link.
- Audit Viewer – download link.
I also see tantalizing teases about possible future public releases of MANDIANT tools for Memoryze/Audit Viewer for x64-bit Windows, and free tools to analyze Windows Vista/2003 (64-bit)
Forensic LiveCD Updates
- DEFT Linux 5.1 is ready for download -- DEFT Linux - Computer Forensics live cd.
What's new?
- Update: Sleuthkit 3.1.1 and Autopsy 2.24
- Update: Xplico to 0.5.7 (100% support of SIP – RTP codec g711, g729, g722, g723 and g726, SDP and RTCP)
- Update: Initrd
- Bug fix: Dhash report (reports were not generated)
- Bug fix: DEFT Extra bug fix (a few tools did not work if the operator click on their icons, added the dd tool for x64 machines)
- CAINE 1.5 – CAINE forensic LiveCD is out. See this Release page for details.
- CAINE 2.0 (code name "NewLight") is cooking – CAINE news blog.
WinFE Developments
WinFE is not my primary forensic LiveCD. I've got a few others that come first in point-rotation. However, it still has a very warm and dear place in my heart.
So I was excited to see the hard work Brett Shavers has done in keeping this tool not only active, but expanding the knowledgebase and ability of others to use and build this WinPE kissing-cousin. Provided below is the main page as well as great WinFE resources and posts to peruse.
Well done, Brett!
- Windows Forensic Enviroment Blog – Brett Shavers.
- More Windows FE and triage notes (WindowsRipper?) – video on using RegistryRipper/WindowsRipper to triage a PC with WinFE.
- Current and Future Development of Windows FE.
- Batch File – Brett's project to help automate the process of rolling your own WinFE build. It's not rocket-science but this really can help for the more non-technical users.
- Using WinFE – Brett's tips and tricks for using WinFE. See also this WinFE - Guide (PDF) Brett prepared.
- Videos – Yep. Brett's got-em.
- Posts (Atom) – Again because I'm having a hard time finding the site feed links. Here you go! .
Also, though not part of Brett's project, the following Praetorian Prefect post is a great and fresh primer on WinPE and forensic work. I particularly found useful the tips on DiskPart with read-only mounting of the off-line mounted volumes/drives.
Kon-Boot News
While Kon-Boot might not be a tool for most forensic folks, sysadmins could have great use for it. I've mentioned it a bit here on GSD and have been quite fascinated with the tricks it can perform as a bootkit.
- Kon Boot – Kryptos Logic – This latest version is fully commercial and (reasonably so) you now need to pay-to-play, though a 1-user personal license is just $15.99 and a 1 year 1 user commercial license is just $60 more.
- What's My Pass? » Kon Boot 1.1 – What's MY Pass blog has a roundup of some of the newer features in the commercial version.
- All this said, the original KON-BOOT - ULTIMATE WINDOWS/LINUX HACKING UTILITY is still offering up free downloads of that earlier build so go grab them while they are still kickin' free.
Windows Incident Response Blog: Link Madness!
I sometimes feel guilty for cross-linking to Harlan's most-excellent adventuring forensics blog, who in turns cross links back here to the humble GSD blog but hey, good things often go full circle!
Here are some of the wonderful posts I've found extremely resourceful in content.
- Some more stuff....
- Timelines.
- Stuffz – particularly juicy post with tool and utility updates.
- Anti-forensics - musings.
And though not a Windowsir blog post, this seemed the best place to put this quick-reference gem from Tim Mugherini…
Rolling on with RegRipper…
Since I'm still exhaling from Harlan's site…seems worth-while to drop these links on morphing the incredible RegRipper (which got a site design refresh as well).
- Turning RegRipper into WindowsRipper -- SANS Computer Forensic Investigations and Incident Response blog. Basically this explains how to set up RegRipper into a Windows system triage tool. Any sysadmins besides me find how useful this capability could be…especially when now able to be used to work against a mounted drive?
- YouTube - From RegRipper to WindowsRipper – see the process in action in this sub-5-minute video including integration with a NirSoft tool for IE history reporting for each system user. I suspect this be the tip o the iceberg!
- RegRipper Program File Downloads.
- RegRipper against a mounted drive -- (DOC file) Adam James's documentation.
There is a whole lot to find and examine on the new RegRipper site so put some time in there.
- RSS Feed – RegRipper site. New as well the ability to RSS feed news and updates. Sweet step-mother of baby Jebus! .
Please forgive me while I pause to get a fresh cool minty beverage and recover for a moment.
Command Line Goodness Series
CLI tips and tricks from cepogue on The Digital Standard blog that can't be ignored.
- Command Line Goodness Part 1 – The hunt begins with sample searches for credit card numbers, IP addresses, email addies, URL's. The stage is set.
- Command Line Goodness Part II. – A case is on!
- Command Line Goodness Part III – Moving on to web-work.
- Command Line Goodness Part IV – CLI utilities can be your friend.
A Big TinyApps way…
Not to be out-done, TinyApps bloggist is laying down the whack of his own.
- Extract strings from raw disk device or image.
- Hard drive enclosure with write protect switch which would be the ACP-2127 at around $20 or so depending on source.
And in case you missed in embedded in the the previous GSD post…
- TinyApps.Org Blog : Boot any and all ISO images from USB drive. Seriously! Now pause for just a minute and image having a tool (with write-protect switch) that you could jog-select any ISO boot image file you have on board, and then boot the system with. CAINE, DEFT, HELIX, RAPTOR, WinFE, WinPE, etc and so forth. All on in a single enclosure. Yummy indeed! See below….
- The iodd 2501 External HDD. Product page. Seed with your ISO's and you can select any of them to boot from. Oh yeah, it also comes with a write-protect switch. Sounds like the perfect tool for sysadmins and forensic experts with more boot images in ISO format than they know what to do with! Discard the disks! Resellers that were noted (not meant as endorsements of any kind) : LinITX.com - iodd 2501 Portable Virtual ROM – Silver , Amazon.com: iodd 2501 Portable Virtual Rom: Electronics, and Welcome to I-Odd USA.
SANS Computer Forensic Investigations and Incident Response blog
Yet another source of amazing tips and linkage. Oh my.
- First forensics work – Part 1: Organized chaos and panic – Touch n Go on image acquisition.
- First forensics work – Part 2: Sure it's big enough … but look at the location. – Using Sysinternals PsExec with remote image capture. Please read the excellent discussion in the comments below the post on the challenges and issues with network-based captures.
- WMIC for incident response – Another alternative to PsExec.
- Timestamped Registry & NTFS Artifacts from Unallocated Space.
- Digital Forensic Case Leads: Forensic 4Cast Voting is Open – Lots of tips, tools, and material to read at leisure.
- Windows 7 MFT Entry Timestamp Properties
And because I can't remember if I found it on WindowsIR blog or here at SANS…
- nabiy.sdf1.org offers a great tool (USB History Dump) and article about extracting USB Trace Evidence from the Windows registry. See also the NirSoft tool USBDeview and the Woanware tool USBDeviceForensics.
Security/Response Checklists
- Log Review Checklist For Responders Under Fire - Evil Bytes Blog - Dark Reading. I'm a sucker for good cheat-sheets and checklists.
John mentions these Lenny Zeltser productions in particular and encourages tweaking these CC v3 licensed works to fit your own needs.
- Information and Security Cheat Sheet and Checklist References by Lenny Zeltser.
- Critical Log Review Checklist for Security Incidents.
Who's been cooking Sausage?!!
Why it's DC1743 of course over in the Forensics from the Sausage Factory blog!
- Prefetch and User Assist.
- Safari browser cache - examination of Cache.db.
- Recovering Safari browser history from unallocated.
- Safari History - spotlight webhistory artefacts.
Alvis and I prefer a pork/venison mix, steamed. Go figure.
The Final Four
Yep four more links to go.
- NTPWEdit – Reset Windows password – 4sysops blog – Tool that works very well in WinPE/FE builds. Not that any of you forensic guys would be making such changes to a suspect system. However syadmins may need to if malware or sheer local-user maliciousness boggled out the Admin password.
- Forensic Pagefile: SAM Cracking using Ophcrack and Encase – I've not used Encase to do so, but I have followed a modified method to extract SAM files from an off-lined system, brought them over into a VM running the installed version of Ophcrack, then cracked dem profile passwords to accomplish my l33t sysadmin needs (…self-mocking there guys…).
- Tableau Revision History – TIM. In case you didn't get the email, Tableau's Imager (TIM) software product has had a few updates that are pretty important to get and upgrade to; involving both critical bug fix as well as minor ones.
- (IN)SECURE Magazine issue 26 released – Chock full of security tips, news, and other goodness. Related: Harlan offers this free new issue link (PDF) to Hakin9 magazine. Get the read on!
Be safe, be thorough, be fair and objective. Be ever vigilant.
--Claus V.


text:
Many people who have psoriasis have nail changes. This can involve:
Nail changes rarely happen without other signs of psoriasis. And sometimes changes in the nails can confirm a diagnosis of psoriasis. Nail problems happen most often in people with psoriatic arthritis.
Psoriasis of the nail can be very hard to treat, and
treatment is not always successful. Treatment is aimed at the white
half-moon–shaped root of the nail (the matrix).
Treatments include some of the same topical and systemic therapies that are used to treat psoriasis that affects the skin. In some cases, medicines can be injected into the nail bed.
Treatments take time to work, and you may not see improvement for months. New, healthy nails may need up to a year to grow.
Next Section:
Previous Section:
Last Revised:
January 9, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
Adam Husney, MD - Family Medicine & Amy McMichael, MD - Dermatology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


text:
Food Journal – Free Download
This week my friend Kristy & I started a "boot camp" of sorts. Kristy was planning on starting a food journal and so I thought I would join in. I have read that keeping a food journal can really help with weightloss. So I put together this cute template. Its a 1 week journal with spots for 3 meals and 3 snacks — also known as 6 small meals a day. It also has a spot for counting water. I like it because its just simple and straightforward. Also with a whole week view, there is a bit of accountability for what you've eaten over the course of a week! Happy food journaling!
Download my food journal and enjoy (for personal use only ). Please tell your friends to come visit the site and download their own journal. I would love a comment if you do download!


text:
Detail Page
written by David Stern
This is a proposed set of standards for science teaching in Maryland. It includes a short list of guiding principles and goals for grades K-3, 4-5, 6-8 and 9-12, in each of the following areas: mechanics, heat, electricity and magnetism, light and sound, space, geology, weather and climate, and modern physics/nuclear power.
ComPADRE is beta testing Citation Styles!
Record Link
Stern, David. Proposed K-12 Science Standards. November 25, 2001.
AIP Format
D. Stern, (1998), WWW Document, (http://www.phy6.org/outreach/edu/standard.htm).
D. Stern, Proposed K-12 Science Standards, (1998), <http://www.phy6.org/outreach/edu/standard.htm>.
APA Format
Stern, D. (2001, November 25). Proposed K-12 Science Standards. Retrieved July 10, 2020, from http://www.phy6.org/outreach/edu/standard.htm
Chicago Format
Stern, David. Proposed K-12 Science Standards. November 25, 2001. http://www.phy6.org/outreach/edu/standard.htm (accessed 10 July 2020).
MLA Format
Stern, David. Proposed K-12 Science Standards. 1998. 25 Nov. 2001. 10 July 2020 <http://www.phy6.org/outreach/edu/standard.htm>.
BibTeX Export Format
@misc{ Author = "David Stern", Title = {Proposed K-12 Science Standards}, Volume = {2020}, Number = {10 July 2020}, Month = {November 25, 2001}, Year = {1998} }
Refer Export Format
%A David Stern
EndNote Export Format
%0 Electronic Source
Disclaimer: ComPADRE offers citation styles as a guide only. We cannot offer interpretations about citations as this is an automated procedure. Please refer to the style manuals in the Citation Source Information area for clarifications.
Citation Source Information
The AIP Style presented is based on information from the AIP Style Manual.
The APA Style presented is based on information from APA Style.org: Electronic References.
The Chicago Style presented is based on information from Examples of Chicago-Style Documentation.
The MLA Style presented is based on information from the MLA FAQ.
Similar Materials


text:
Jim wrote:You spelled "Marapfhont" wrong.
ChristTrekker wrote:...fiddle faddle...
effigy wrote:It's kinda hard to judge, though, given the size of the characters. Would FontForge let you use MARATHON 2 as the example sentence?
edit: Hey, speaking of FontForge, would you happen to know about a native Windows version? I hate Cygwin.
effigy wrote:Um...in Windows (I thought in Mac, too) you are able to open the TTF and see a preview with out installing:
ChristTrekker wrote:...Try grabbing the new 0.2 version.
ChristTrekker wrote:BTW, Windows will think the font is installed as long as that preview window is open. So you can preview, open a WP, type some text, and set it in that font.
effigy wrote:Are you posting that here?
Fobo: I find it hard to keep a sentence down under two paragraphs.
tehWastedJamacan wrote:/bankgthd.ttf?
Where did you get the Marathon font you have on your page?
The "Marathon font" is in fact call Modula Tall. It is a commercial font sold by Emigre Inc. The font comes as part of a Tall Pack.
As the Modula Tall font is a commercial font please don't ask me to send you a copy. Thanks.
The font used in the Marathon manuals is Bank Gothic. Again this is a commercial font available from Bitstream on their Bitstream Collection 250 Font CD. Rumor has it that the font was also available with some Mac Performa models. If you know which ones let me know. Thanks.
HunterOfShadows wrote:404 error...can anyone re upload it?
President People wrote:There's this old Mac game called Troubled Souls that uses Modula Tall. What's interesting is that the creator was Randy Reddig, who was on the Marathon Infinity team.
ChristTrekker wrote:The new Unicode 6.0 standard adds official codepoints for symbols to represent an alien, and a gun. I'm very tempted to try to convert a S'pht and the MA-75 or Magnum into dingbats also.
Users browsing this forum: No registered users


text:
Yesterday, Ida Gronkvist posted a very powerful message about her perception of how women are treated in bridge on facebook. She gave me permission to repost it here:
"Dear fellow bridge players,
This is a message to the vast majority of men who think themselves superior to female bridge players (if they at all consider women to be bridge players). This is also a message to those of you who are convinced that you treat every bridge player as an individual but all female players happen to be individually worse players than you. I'm not going to debate with you about wether you are right or wrong in your analysis. However, I will say this:
Being a better bridge player does not by any means make you a better person. Bridge-playing qualities simply have nothing to do with your value as a human being. No matter how great a player you are it does not give you the right to pass judgements or behave towards other people as you prefer.
Please try to treat all female bridge players with the respect they deserve. Rest assure that we are here because of our love to the game just as much as you are. Rest assure that we too have dreams and aspirations with our game and goals that we want to achieve. Respect our minds. Respect our bodies. Respect our abilities.
Here are some examples for those of you who feel confused:- If you are making a video covering of a big international pairs tournament for women, do NOT make a three minute video about the handbags the participants have with them to the table.- If you want to make videos of female bridge players talking/comparing/hanging out at a bridge tournament, try to focus on their faces and what they are saying to each other and put LESS focus on their legs, behinds and breasts.- Remember in conversations that female bridge players too can talk about bridge and not only listen. They might even have played the same hands as you and have an interesting comment to contribute with!With just a little bit more consideration we could make the bridge world so much more pleasant for the non-majority who feel they have to defend their seriousness in competitive bridge in every possible situation.I assure you that it would make you better people at the same time.
Thank you."
Ida is one of the top young talents in the game, having already represented Sweden multiple times and won a national championship in the US. She is not the first woman I've heard talk about the sexism inherent in bridge (though she is the first I've seen discuss it so openly). What was also striking was how many women bridge players liked and supported her message.
Bridge has a problem. The culture of the game has a problem. When I first started playing bridge my mom stressed to me how sexist the world was, and to not follow my role models into that way of thinking. Of course I thought she was just a crazy mom! But when one of the best young players is posting letters like that, and being widely supported by other women, it is time to acknowledge a problem and change the culture. The game is already disproportionately represented at the top by men, and there might be many reasons for this but I think that sexist attitudes definitely contribute more than I thought it did.
Thanks Ida for starting this discussion, hopefully we men are listening!
How does this violate our Community Guidelines?
Benefits include:
Plus... it's free!


text:
- News
- Business
- Sports
- Entertainment
- Lifestyle
- Health
- Travel
- Technology
A mysterious and controversial set of nine Renaissance sculptures, owned for decades by a Canadian family and now held by a Vancouver museum, will finally be sold this month at a major auction in New York — not as multimillion-dollar models made by Michelangelo, as the pieces were long thought to be, but as imitative artworks created during the Italian master's lifetime by a notable Dutch follower.
It's a reversal of fortune that deprives the municipally-funded Museum of Vancouver of what its CEO says could have been "an enormous windfall" in exhibition revenues had the pieces proven to be Michelangelo's creations.
But the re-attribution also represents millions of dollars in forgone revenues for the Canadian government, which issued huge tax credits to donors when the 450-year-old sculptures — along with a second set of nine associated models — were acquired by the museum in 1997 and 2006 as possible works by one of history's most renowned artists.
"This is a story about attribution and how sometimes attribution can change," Museum of Vancouver chief executive Nancy Noble told Postmedia News. "I don't think anyone's to blame for the thought that they might have been from Michelangelo's studio. I think there were legitimate reasons why earlier scholars may have thought that. But I think people need to understand it's not a science — it's an art to attribute things to different artists."
The nine fired-clay objects to be auctioned this month — a stand-alone torso, limbs and other body parts, several of them matching elements from some of Michelango's most famous sculptures — have now been attributed to one of his 16th-century contemporaries, the "Netherlandish" artist Johann Gregor van der Schardt, and valued at just $200,000 to $300,000 ahead of Sotheby's Jan. 31 sale of important art by European masters.
The terracotta sculptures are still considered historically significant, described by Sotheby's as "rare examples of study-models of Michelangelo's work by a talented younger artist."
Still, the planned auction of the collection represents a financially disappointing and anti-climactic ending to a long-running saga that saw the so-called bozzetti — models used in planning full-scale sculptures — taken across Canada in 1972 in a high-profile exhibition that showcased them as universal cultural treasures made by Michelangelo's own hand.
In recent months, after a series of scholarly studies and scientific tests commissioned by the Vancouver museum, that tentative attribution of the models to Michelangelo was ruled out by international experts, who concluded that van der Schardt was the likely sculptor.
"I wouldn't use the word 'definitive' ever when it comes to attributing art – particularly Renaissance art," said Noble. "They've been re-examined and, yes, now they're being attributed to van der Schardt. They had been attributed in the past to Michelangelo… but that's turned out not to be the case, based on modern scholarship."
While much of the monetary value of the bozzetti was erased by the new attribution, the pieces continue to possess significant financial and cultural value as Renaissance artworks, according to both Noble and Sotheby's curator of "old masters" artworks, Margaret Schwartz.
"Their indisputable association with famous works by Michelangelo has on occasion been the source of historical confusion; the unsustainable notion that these were in fact preparatory studies by Michelangelo himself has been proposed and disproven," Schwartz states in Sotheby's catalogue entry for the Vancouver bozzetti. "Recent scholarship on van der Schardt, a close follower of Michelangelo and an accomplished sculptor in his own right, has clarified their place in the history of sculpture and has given us a rare window into the methods of a student of the greatest Renaissance master. "
During their 75 years in Canada, the sculptures have been the subject of a book, a lawsuit, a wrenching family feud and lingering doubts — now proven to be justified — about their true origins.
Yet there is no disputing their authenticity as original pieces from the famous collection of 16th-century German art connoisseur Paul von Praun. And that sterling provenance can be traced all the way to a Christie's auction in 1938, when Montreal businessman Percival Wolfe acquired the objects amid tantalizing speculation that they'd been crafted by the Renaissance's greatest sculptor, Michelangelo, the maker of David and other artistic masterpieces.
The disembodied bits of human anatomy purchased by Wolfe "enjoyed the attentions of ambitious scholars in the 19th and 20th centuries," Schwartz observed. And while "six of the nine models offered here are recognizable as studies after anatomical elements seen in famous monuments sculpted by Michelangelo Buonarotti," the models now credited to van der Schardt remain significant examples of how such artists "learned by copying their immediate predecessors and contemporaries, particularly the works of great masters."
The nine models to be sold by Sotheby's were once part of an 18-sculpture set bequeathed by Wolfe to his sons, Vancouver twins Paul and Peter LeBrooy. In the late 1980s, Paul brokered a $14-million agreement to sell the collection to an unidentified Vancouver businessman, but the deal collapsed amid legal wrangling over proposed authenticity tests.
"Paul devoted much of his life to ascertaining the true provenance of these models," Peter LeBrooy told the Vancouver Sun in 2001. "We went through 10 years of legal trouble and by the time it was all over, my brother was bled dry. It was always another lawyer, another year in the undoing."
The models eventually wound up at the centre of a bitter dispute between Paul and Peter themselves, prompting the collection to be evenly divided in the years prior to their deaths in 1999 and 2003 respectively.
The pieces that had belonged to Paul LeBrooy — whose 1972 book about the sculptures, Michelangelo Models Formerly in the Paul von Praun Collection, was published at the time of their Canada-wide tour — were purchased by a consortium of 66 B.C. art investors and donated to the Museum of Vancouver in 1997.
Although Noble won't disclose details of the 1997 acquisition, the deal would have seen millions of dollars in federal tax credits granted to the donors through the Canadian Cultural Property Export Review Board, a federal agency that supports the public acquisition and retention of important works of art.
"The museum used the value determined by two experts at the time of the application to (the federal review board) to certify the collection. That was and continues to be a requirement in all of these applications and was accepted by the (board)," said Noble. "All I am willing to say about the original valuation is that is was substantially more than the estimate Sotheby's has put on the collection today due to the change in attribution."
A similar deal was struck in 2006 when the museum acquired the other nine models that had been owned by Peter LeBrooy, reuniting the collection. But because 10 years haven't yet elapsed since that acquisition, said Noble, the MOV would have incurred significant tax penalties under federal rules if it had tried to sell the entire 18-sculpture set at this month's Sotheby's sale.
She expects the remaining study-models to be sold when the 10-year, post-donation period ends in 2016.
"They are Renaissance objects, and that makes them significant, (but) they don't have significance to our museum particularly," said Noble, who recently oversaw a review that refocused the MOV's mandate more sharply on Vancouver's own cultural history.
"For us, obviously, if they were Michelangelo's (models) it would be an enormous windfall. But that is the way it works. We're resigned to that," she said, noting that income generated by the auction will be re-invested in the museum's holdings. "We're hopeful they'll end up in a public collection — in a collection that makes sense."
What's On Tonight for


text:
Taylor Swift Wears Kanye West Top From First Collection
The beef between Taylor Swift and Kanye West has long been squashed. He made amends, but there's further proof that she is a class act who has forgiven and forgotten his embarrassing antics where he basically said that Beyonce deserved her 2009 VMA instead.
The 'Mean' singer did West a favor, so to speak, and wore a top from the first collection of his fledgling fashion line in her cover spread for the Aussie edition of Harper's Bazaar.
While West hasn't exactly won the fashion world over yet with his designs, Swift donning the shirt certainly gives him a boost of cred. Fashion houses are dying to dress her or to get their clothes on her back, so this is a serious coup for the rapper and budding designer.
That colorful pink, red, blue and black wrap draped over Swift's shoulders is not the West creation. In fact, it's a Maison Martin Margiela design. West's top is worn underneath. While the garment is somewhat obscured, his name is still listed in the shot credits, which is crucial. He should send Swift a pair of those pricey Zanotti heels he's selling as a "thank you" for wearing one of his pieces in a major fashion mag.


text:
In the United States over the past decade, the rate of suicide has risen sharply. Although it rose among all age groups during this period, it shot up dramatically in two groups:
- in the 35-64 age group, suicide increased 30 percent, and
- among men in their fifties, it increased 50 percent.
Today, suicide deaths per year (38,364) exceed deaths per year due to auto accidents (33,687). (1)


text:
So I didn't understand the whole, "chafe" while you run thing up until I started to put in longer distances and now I know how horrible it is! I am a big fan of Body Glide and that is why it's also on my 26.2 Christmas list!
They have many different types of Body Glide, and I always opt for the Original Anti-Chafe Balm. It works really well against friction and moisture and feels dry to the touch. They also have an Anti-Chafe with SPF 25 which is great in summertime for a long run.
They have a newer liquefied powder. It claims to be the same as body glide sticks because it is a cream base that keeps friction at bay.
I also like the Warm FX Anti-Pain Balm because it stays in one place and is applied easily in the "stick" form as well. It's like a type of bengay.
You can find where to buy here, or here are some options:
Running Expo has the Anti-Chafing Stick for $4.95 (.45 oz) and $7.95 (1.3oz) they also have the Anti-Pain Stick here for the same prices as above.
Stop the chafe and keep on running!


text:
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
i said yes
robert came home from work early on monday. he said he had some ideas, and i am always interested in his ideas, so i was listening closely. he started with, "well, first we would get married." and i honestly didn't pause because we have been talking about getting married. he paused, then he said, "i am officially asking, will you marry me?" big smile! ring on finger! and of course, i said, "yes!"
Posted by calondra at Wednesday, August 12, 2009 1 comments
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)


text:
Before the SoSZ server crashed on the 22nd of July, I had made this topic and since it was strangely (conspiracy:lol: ) lost once the server is back up again, I restarted this topic so give other people the truth about ChiBi. Here is the event I wrote up following my research. Note that my version of ChiBi is solely base on SGZ (book of Wei, Wu and Shu). Since this is a serious forum, I post the serious version so most of fanatic Shu supporters like Kongming, Dragon, and etc or extreme anti-Wu people like Great Deer could read and attack the truth of ChiBi.
ChiBi - SGZ Chen Shou orginal, HuaiYin Hou's version
In 208AD after destroying his rival in the north, Cao Cao already eyeing on the south made a sweep move for JingZhou. Setting out from XuChang with more than 200,000 foots and cavalries, Cao Cao determined to force Liu Bei out of Xin Ye. Seeing that his force were severely outnumbered, Liu Bei decided to abandon Xin Ye and force the good people of Xin Ye to go with him to act as a mobile human shield for his troops. With the fast pace of Cao Cao's army, Liu Zong, the governor of JingZhou decided to surrender to Cao Cao. Without any remaining place to go, Liu Bei was force to seek refuge in Liu Qi remaining enclave in the prefecture of JiangXia.
Feeling that he had gained the entire land of JingZhou relatively easy, Cao Cao felt very confident of doing the same to Sun Quan's controlled Yang and personally wrote a letter to Sun Quan to seek Sun Quan submission. While at Liu Qi's camped at JiangXia, Liu Bei realized that without the help of Sun Quan, Cao Cao would soon have the entire empire under his hand so Liu Bei send his chief advisor, Zhuge Liang, to ChaiSang to seek an alliance with Sun Quan.
At Sun Quan's power base in ChaiSang, a letter arrived from Cao Cao. After reading the contents of Cao Cao's letter, Sun Quan was very worry about opposing Cao Cao and asked his military and civil officers for suggestion on what to do. Many of Sun Quan's civil officers suggested Sun Quan to submit to Cao Cao to save the land of JiangDong from bloodshed. Sun Quan was very disheartened and does not know what he should do. One of his servant told him that an officer of Liu Bei by the name of Zhuge Liang had arrived at ChaiSang and wished to seek an audience with Sun Quan. Sun Quan agreed and invited Zhuge Liang in.
Zhuge Liang used words to provoke Sun Quan into war against Cao Cao, however, knowing this was a trick Sun Quan decided to wait for his most trusted general by the name of Zhou Yu to return from the naval camp. Zhou Yu arrived at ChaiSang and quickly seek an audience from Sun Quan. Zhou Yu advice Sun Quan to opposed Cao Cao and after a detailed analytical report on Cao Cao's troops strength and weakness, Sun Quan was very confident that Zhou Yu could beat Cao Cao and made Zhou Yu the Chief commander of his army. Sun Quan also made Cheng Pu the second in command and told Zhou Yu, Cheng Pu and Lu Su to followed Zhuge Liang back to Liu Bei's camp. Zhuge Liang believing that it was he that persuaded Sun Quan to fight Cao Cao start to fell that he was the greatest genius of all time.
Liu Bei greeted Zhou Yu and Cheng Pu warmly when they arrived to pay their respect at his camp. Not really confident that Zhou Yu could beat Cao Cao, Liu Bei asked Zhou Yu "To resist Cao Cao, we need strategies. How many troops do you have?"
Zhou Yu replied "30,000 infantry and marine in total"
Liu Bei sighted "I regret that it too few"
Zhou Yu then said confidently "30,000 are more than sufficient, YuZhou (Liu Bei's other name) could observed how I overcome such odd."
Even with the assurance from Zhou Yu, Liu Bei still felt very uncertain so he suggested to Zhou Yu to station his own troops at the bank of the river, and Liu Bei would act as a re-enforcement force and camp further inland. Knowing that Liu Bei did not have the confident in the alliance beating Cao Cao and only try to make up an excuse to avoid engaging in battle, Zhou Yu was still happy to follow Liu Bei suggestion. Liu Bei took all of his force and set up camp more than 30km south of the YangXi River.
Zhou Yu realized that Cao Cao's troops are from the north and they are exhausted after many years of constant warfare so he decided to use attrition tactics to wear down the morale of Cao Cao's men.
Knowing that his force were mainly from the north and not use to naval warfare, Cao Cao decided to link his ship together to make all his ship more stable so his soldiers would not get sick. Knowing this Huang Gai, a general who followed the Sun family for three generation, suggested using fire to burn the entire northern fleet. Zhou Yu believe that a fire attack without any co-ordinate raid on the northern camp would not be decisive and that winter is a season of unfavorable wind so he initially rejected Huang Gai's plan of fire attack.
However one day while strolling on the bank of the YangXi, Zhou Yu saw an old fisherman and started a casual conversation with him. After a short period, the old fisherman realized that Zhou Yu was a humble person and that Sun Quan was a generous and benevolent ruler so the fisherman decided to help Zhou Yu. The fisherman told Zhou Yu that favorable wind would blow for 3 days in winter without fail and told Zhou Yu the exact date that the wind would start blowing.
Knowing that there would be a favorable wind, Zhou Yu summoned Huang Gai and told him to go ahead with his plan to set fire to Cao Cao's fleet and that he, Cheng Pu, and the other generals would lead coordinated raid against Cao Cao's camp on land. The plan succeeds and within one night, Cao Cao's northern fleet was burn to ashes. Large number of Cao Cao's troops on water was either drowns or burn alive, Cao Cao's camp was also thrown into confusion and seeing that the opportunity arrived, Zhou Yu and his men raided the northern camp. Although Cao Cao's force stationed on land does not suffer large number of fatality, however Zhou Yu's raided inflicted deep-cut wound on a large number of northern soldiers.
Initially, Cao Cao refused to withdraw his force back to JiangLing fearing that he would be a joke to the rest of the world. However after a few days, the open wound on many of his soldiers had become infected and they were dying off like flies. Realizing that he would be dead if he did not retreated back to JiangLing, Cao Cao ordered his troops to withdraw via the HuaRong route.
Zhou Yu realizing that Cao Cao is retreating ordered his troop to pursued to JiangLing. At Liu Bei's camp, after realizing that Zhou Yu had crushed Cao Cao at ChiBi, Liu Bei decided to join the Cao Cao chase to JiangLing. At the foot of JiangLing, Zhou Yu and Liu Bei meet and began to set a siege on the city. Seeing that the situation had become too dangerous, Cao Cao flee back to XuChang and ordered one of his best commander, Cao Ren, to defense JiangLing by all mean necessary.
Knowing that Cao Ren would keep Zhou Yu preoccupied for awhile, Liu Bei suggested to Zhou Yu to continue keeping up the siege of JiangLing while he and his generals, Guan Yu and Zhang Fei, would attacked Cao Cao's other remaining prefectures in JingZhou (ChangSha, WuLing, GuiLing, and LingLing) to stop any re-enforcement reaching JiangLing. Although knowing this is just an excuse Liu Bei used to weaseling territories from Wu, Zhou Yu still agree to the arrangement realizing the great strategic important of JiangLing.
Initially, Cao Ren did his job well in defending JiangLing. For about a year Zhou Yu could not captured JiangLing, however, by using Gan Ning as a decoyed to lure Cao Ren out of JingLing, Zhou Yu manage beat Cao Ren and force him to retreat to the north.
Okay, I am waiting for the comments and abused from you guys...


text:
Re: The NFL Thread
Some one REALLY likes their football.
I have just two words......
(HA Just fooling with you! I'm just not like a FAN or nothing. I understand liking a sport, as right now its officially HOCKEY! HOlla at ya boys! GO 'CANES!
"Suggestion: Electrocution works well. Evisceration and Decapitation are also effective, or um, so I've heard."


text:
IC630E66IV - ICC Single Gang Dual 6P6C Integrated Wall Plate, 2 Port, Ivory
Related Categories
Contractors: Get Dealer Pricing Here!
The ICC IC630E66IV is a single gang ivory dual 6P6C integrated wall plate designed for voice connectivity to the work area in both commercial and residential applications. The IC630E60IV features two (2) integrated 6P6C jacks ideal for simple plug and play voice installations.
The IC630E66IV features traditional screw down terminals for voice connectivity on the rear and has a one piece design that requires no assembly. This integrated wall plate will save you time and money by providing a fast voice installation!
- Includes: (1) Ivory Single Gang 2 Port Dual 6P6C Integrated Wall Plate
- Features two RJ-11 jacks for voice
- Configured to fit standard single gang outlet box
- One piece design that requires no assembly and saves time and money by pre-kitting common faceplates with modular connectors
- Designed for all voice connectivity to the work area for commercial and residential applications
- Provides traditional screw down terminals for voice connectivity on the rear
- Rugged and durable construction
- UL listed
- Part#: IC630E66IV


text:
Packaged Data Warehouse for the Digital Enterprise
Streamline processes and support innovations with a single, trusted source for real-time insights. Based on SAP HANA, our next-generation data warehouse solution can help you capitalise on the full value of all your data from SAP applications or third-party solutions, as well as unstructured, geospatial, or Hadoop-based.
- Cloud and on premise deployment
- Simplified modelling and administration
- Integration with SAP and non-SAP applications
- Intuitive user experience
Key Benefits
Simplify the provisioning of timely business insights
Transform data practices to gain the efficiency and agility to deploy live insights at scale, both on premise or in the cloud.
Capitalise on the full value of all your data
Drive digitisation across all lines of business with a Big Data warehouse, while leveraging digital business platform solutions from SAP.
Innovate with one trusted source for all insights
Maximise business adoption with advanced analytics, tailor applications to fit your needs, and reimagine your business with integrated machine learning.
Key Capabilities
Simplified modelling and administration
Speed up change requests and reduce implementation time, while reducing development spend with simplified modelling and administration features.
Integration with SAP and non-SAP applications
Connect to SAP and non-SAP applications and data sources to reduce costs for data integration; extract, transform, and load processes; and on premise infrastructure.
Improved user experience
Increase user productivity and reduce shadow analytics, while increasing user adoption thanks to an intuitive user experience and a modern interface.
High-volume, real-time data processing
Reduce wait time for data handling and enable intelligent automation, with high-volume data processing in real time.
Product Release Highlights
Explore the latest release of SAP BW/4HANA
Learn what the latest release of the SAP BW/4HANA solution can do for you with functionality across devices and a combined launchpad and dashboard.
Optimise cockpit administration
Find out how you can make the most of your time with newly available administrative tasks in the 2.0 release of SAP BW/4HANA cockpit.
Build a business case
Gain insight into modern data warehousing
Explore how four businesses embraced a next-generation data warehouse to support intelligent data management and analytics.
How to become an insights-driven business
Read this SAP-commissioned thought leadership study from Forrester Consulting to find out how companies can bridge the gap from being simply data-driven to becoming truly insights-driven organisations.
Security and Compliance
Data security
Focus on your business and customer relationships, trusting that your data is safe and reliable. Our proactive, predictive approach helps ensure compliance and data security.
Data protection and privacy
Protect the rights of employees, applicants, customers, suppliers, partners, and others with SAP solutions that preserve data ownership, security, and privacy.
Trust that our products meet the latest compliance and security standards, thanks to external reviews and audits, as well as our use of one common framework worldwide.
Evolve your business with services and support from SAP – your trusted adviser for digital transformation strategy and execution.
Simplify and accelerate your digital transformation
Secure critical business processes on your path to innovation and digital transformation with holistic, end-to-end service support that reflects over 40 years of unparalleled knowledge, experience, and innovation.
Transform your business with unparalleled service support
Close the gap between your digital transformation strategy and execution with innovation discovery, digital strategy, and business transformation services from a trusted adviser that knows SAP software best.


text:
City of Yonkers, NYHome Sitemap Contact
While Earthquakes are sometimes believed to be a West Coast phenomenon, there are 45 states and territories throughout the United States that are at moderate to high risk from earthquakes. An earthquake is the sudden, rapid shaking of the Earth, caused by the braking and shifting of subterranean rock.
Since it is not possible to predict when an earthquake will occur, it is essential that you and your family are prepared ahead of time.
Prepare for Earthquakes
- Securely fasten shelves to walls.
- Keep large or heavy objects on lower shelves.
- Store breakable items in lower cabinets with doors and latches.
- Inspect and repair electrical wiring and gas connections; these can be potential fire hazards during an earthquake.
- Secure your water heater by strapping it to wall studs and bolting it to the floor.
- Check your home or building for structural defects and repair cracks in your ceiling and foundation.
- Keep toxic and flammable items securely stored in cabinets with doors and latches.
- Identify safe places in your home or office where you will ride out an earthquake. The best protection is under heavy furniture where you are protected from falling debris.
- Learn how to turn off electricity, gas and water.
- Get an emergency supply kit.
Plan to act Quickly
- During or immediately after an earthquake, the best protection is to get under heavy furniture, such as a desk, table or bench, staying away from large windows, mirrors or other glass.
- The greatest danger is directly outside buildings, at exits and along exterior walls, due to falling debris.
- If you are already outside, stay clear of buildings, power lines, overpasses and elevated expressways.
- Most deaths and injuries are due to falling walls, flying glass or debris.
- Expect aftershocks – smaller quakes (and sometimes larger ones) can often follow hours or days after the initial shake, causing further damage to weakened buildings and structures.
- Check for gas leaks – if you smell gas or hear a hissing or blowing noise, open a window and leave the building immediately; turn off the gas at the outside main valve, if possible and call the gas company.
Stay Informed
Local authorities may not immediately be able to provide information on what is happening and what you should do. However, you should watch TV, listen to the radio or check the Internet often for official news and instructions as they become available.
For further information on how to plan, prepare and stay informed about earthquakes, visit: Federal Emergency Management Agency or visit NOAA Watch for more weather-related information.


text:
Wimbledon 2013: A great day for Andy Murray' - Tim Henman
Last updated on .From the section Tennis
Andy Murray fought back from a set down to beat Jerzy Janowicz and reach the Wimbledon final for a second consecutive year.
The second seed looked in trouble against big-serving Janowicz - a 22-year-old Pole contesting his first Grand Slam semi-final - but came through in a match that finished under the Centre Court roof at 21:37 BST.
Murray, 26, is aiming to become the first Briton since Fred Perry in 1936 to lift the men's singles title at SW19 and will play world number one Novak Djokovic in Sunday's showpiece at 14:00.
Earlier on Friday, Serbia's Djokovic, 26, battled past 24-year-old Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina in a that lasted four hours and 44 minutes.
Former British number one Tim Henman, a four-time semi-finalist at the All England Club, reflects on the semi-finals and looks ahead to a 19th career meeting between Murray and Djokovic.
Murray defeats Janowicz in four sets
"Andy has talked about the pressure and expectation that's been put on him this year and, with that in mind, he's performed phenomenally well. I felt there was going to be a very positive reaction after he was and the way he dealt with all the challenges that Janowicz threw at him was sensational.
"In big matches at Grand Slams you have to be able to deal with adversity and Andy has now repeatedly shown he can do that. In the first set against Janowicz, he played very well and had break point opportunities but wasn't able to take them. Yet when he lost the set he didn't get down or frustrated - he broke serve at the start of the second set. Even at 4-1 down in the third set, Andy only dropped three points in the next five games to move ahead in the match. These are great examples of his character.
"The decision was then made to shut the roof and that was a tough time for Andy because he had all the momentum. But, again, he dealt with it and look at his statistics for the match: 20 aces to Janowicz's nine, 70% of first serves landed, 76% of points won on his first serve and 71% on his second. It was a high-class performance.
"Andy was unhappy with the roof being closed - and I would have liked to see them play for another 20 minutes or so - but it was going to have to be shut at some stage and it's a judgment call for referee Andrew Jarrett. He felt the best time to stop was at the end of a set but the problem for Andy was that he'd just won five games in a row and was on a roll. It's a very difficult situation, but I would always sympathise and support the referee's decision.
"It's important to stress that the roof is a massive advantage because without it they wouldn't have finished that match. They would have needed to come back on Saturday and, whoever won, there's no doubt it would have been detrimental to their chances in the final."
Djokovic defeats Del Potro in five sets
"The first semi-final was incredible, the level of tennis astonishing and the athletic ability of both players astounding. Some of the shots Djokovic returned were amazing, but also the way Del Potro was moving and hitting with a knee that is not 100% took your breath away.
"It really shows the character and durability these players possess right now and, as it was longest men's semi-final ever seen at Wimbledon, it will go down in history. When you think Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been the leaders of this sport for a number of years with all their Grand Slam victories, for Djokovic, Del Potro and later Murray to come out and produce that level just shows the game right now is in the best place it's ever been.
Looking ahead to the final
"In the context of what has happened in the tournament so far - with Federer and Nadal losing early - this is the final everyone wanted, the final everyone has talked about for the last 10 days.
"When you reflect that Andy has made the final of the last four Grand Slams he has entered, he's knocking on the door of the top spot and he now has a superb chance against Djokovic. It will be interesting to see how Novak responds to playing almost five hours but knowing him - his character, athletic ability, fitness and stamina - I'm sure he'll bounce back.
"However, I said before the tournament that Andy is going to win it and I'm not going to change my tune now. The support for him has been amazing and you only needed to be inside Centre Court on Friday to see how the crowd recognised the important moments, when they really needed to get behind him, and he was willing them to get even more involved. It was a great day for tennis and a great day for Murray."


text:
California Pumps $10 Million Into Tesla for SUV
Luxury electric car maker Tesla is getting a bit of government help to bring its next vehicle to market.
The California Energy Commission on Wednesday approved a $10 million grant that Tesla is to use to expand manufacturing capacity for its forthcoming Model X SUV. Under the terms of the company's agreement with the commission, Tesla will match the grant with $50 million of its own money and use the entire sum to keep Model X production rates high when it finally hits manufacturing in 2014. That will involve the hiring of 700 additional workers when the time comes — hopefully enough to avoid the slower-than-expected ramp-up that troubled the Model S sedan. And if all goes as planned, Tesla will take another step toward its goal of producing a truly mainstream electric vehicle. Not that the X is that car. Tesla says it will fall in the same price range as the Model S, which runs $50,000 to $70,000.
"Too often we're portrayed in the press as only producing an electric sports car," Mike Taylor, Tesla's VP of finance, said today, according to Forbes. "I think that misses the point of what Tesla Motors is trying to do and why it's important for California. Our mission has always been to aggressively promote electric vehicles for the masses."


text:
Your 20s
Even though heart disease kills more women than breast, lung, and ovarian cancers combined, only 1 in 10 women see themselves at risk. Before you say, "But I don't have to worry about that until I'm 50," consider this: Studies show that heart trouble — including clogged arteries and high cholesterol — can start as early as childhood. The positive news: you have some control over your risk, since more than 80 percent of all heart disease in women is avoidable. In fact, taking protective measures in your 20s, 30s, or 40s can help lower your odds of developing heart problems by as much as 60 percent. Here are the preventive steps you should take in each decade, starting now.
Start Early
Believe it or not, heart trouble can start surprisingly early. Several studies have found that a large number of young people have early buildup of cholesterol in their arteries. Researchers recommend making healthy lifestyle choices, such as not smoking, drinking within moderate limits, exercising daily, and eating a healthy diet. The earlier you start to alter your habits, the easier it will be to maintain a healthy heart throughout your life.
Know Your Numbers
Make an appointment with your doctor for a complete physical with lab work by age 20 (see chart below). "The important thing at this time is becoming aware of your personal risks," says Sharonne N. Hayes, MD, director of the Women's Heart Clinic at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. If you have any risk factors, talk to your doctor about ways to lower them through diet, exercise, and medication if needed. Here's a quick rundown of the crucial basic screenings:
Test: Blood Pressure
Should be: Below 120/80 mm Hg
Test: BMI
Should be: 18.5?24.9 kg/m2
Test: Cholesterol
Should be: Total, less than 200 mg/dL; LDL (bad), less than 100 mg/dL
Test: Triglycerides
Should be: Less than 150 mg/dL
Test: Fasting Blood Sugar
Should be: Below 100 mg/dL
Quit Smoking
"Lighting up more than doubles a woman's odds for developing coronary heart disease," says Nieca Goldberg, MD, chief of women's cardiac care at Lenox Hill hospital in New York City and author of The Women's Healthy Heart Program: Lifesaving Strategies for Preventing and Healing Heart Disease (Ballantine Books, 2006). Within one year of quitting, your risk of coronary heart disease decreases by a whopping 50 percent.
Know Your Family Medical History
A first-degree female relative (a mother or a sister) who has a heart attack at age 65 or younger increases your risk of heart disease, says Barbara Roberts, MD, director of the Women's Cardiac Center at the Miriam Hospital in Providence and author of How to Keep from Breaking Your Heart: What Every Woman Needs to Know About Cardiovascular Disease (Jones and Bartlett, 2004). The same holds true if a male relative has suffered a heart attack at age 55 or younger, she says. But don't panic if you have a strong family history of heart disease — making lifestyle changes in your 20s can significantly lower your risk.
Eat the Right Foods
Replace pepperoni pizza with a veggie slice; trade sugary cereals for oatmeal or other whole grains, which add fiber, helping to shuttle cholesterol out of your bloodstream. Other heart-friendly foods include blueberries, kale, strawberries, spinach, brussels sprouts, plums, broccoli, beets, oranges, and red grapes. All contain high levels of antioxidants, which help prevent hardening of the arteries. Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fatty fish, walnuts, and flaxseed, protect against inflammation, another heart disease risk factor. "They may also help lower LDL cholesterol levels and can prevent blood clots," says Suzanne Steinbaum, DO, a cardiologist and director of the Center for Cardiac Health at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
This is the decade to make exercise a habit. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine reports that both walking and vigorous exercise can reduce cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke in women, regardless of their age, BMI, or race. Aim for 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise on most, if not all, days. If you don't have time for 30 minutes straight, break it up: Take a 15-minute walk at lunch and then another one after dinner.
Your 30s
Life's a lot more complicated now than it was in your 20s. Most likely, your career has gained momentum and you may be starting a family. The U.S. Department of Labor Statistics reports that in 2004, 57 percent of married women with children under the age of 6 worked and 66 percent of women in the workforce had children of all ages. Balancing work and family might be upping your stress levels, which raises your risk for heart disease, says Dr. Goldberg. Cortisol and adrenaline — two major stress hormones — can constrict blood vessels, raising blood pressure and leaving vessels vulnerable to blockages. You're more prone to weight gain now (which can strain your heart), since your metabolism has started to slow down, and it may be challenging to fit exercise into your schedule. Higher stress levels may also be cutting into your sleep, another risk factor.
You may not be able to change your stressors, but you can change how you react to them. "The more you learn to relax, the more adept your body will be at regulating stress hormone levels," says Dr. Goldberg. Find your own relief zone, whether it's yoga, aerobic exercise, tai chi, or a weekly massage or manicure and pedicure appointment. If you're very busy with young children, try a calming hobby that you can do at home, such as knitting or keeping a journal. A study of medical students under a high degree of pressure at the University of Mumbai in India found that residents turned to hobbies as the most common stress reliever.
Muscle Up
If you haven't already started a weight-training routine, doing so now will help maintain and boost your percentage of lean body mass, which keeps your metabolism stoked and prevents the pounds from creeping up. Not familiar with the weight room? Hire a personal trainer to show you the ropes, start attending a resistance-training class at your local gym, or opt for a home video. Aim for twice weekly sessions of an hour each.
Play with Your Kids
Every little bit of activity counts. A Harvard study found that people who gained as little as 11 pounds significantly increased their risk of coronary heart disease. Use daily physical activities to keep your weight steady. Take your baby on long walks — believe it or not, pushing a stroller counts as light resistance training, which helps build muscle. Choose a parking spot that's not right in front of the grocery store and carry the bags out to the car yourself. (More weight training!) Take the dog on daily walks and join your kids for freeze tag in the park.
Get Enough Sleep
Sleeping fewer than five hours per night can increase your risk of heart disease by about 39 percent. Make sure you get more than that (about six to eight hours), and go to bed and wake up at the same time every day, even on weekends. The National Sleep Foundation also recommends establishing a relaxing bedtime routine, like a hot bath, light reading, or listening to soothing music to help you fall asleep faster. If young children are interrupting your nighttime sleep cycle, try to nap when they do. Skip alcohol, since it conks you out initially but then wakes you up in the middle of your sleep cycle.
Cut Back on the 3 White Devils
You don't need to avoid sugar, salt, and refined flours entirely, but limiting your intake can go a long way toward keeping your arteries healthy. "Foods high in sugar and low in fiber, such as cakes and cookies, can contribute to weight gain, and raise your cholesterol and triglyceride levels," says Steinbaum. Additionally, the more salt you have in your diet, the higher your blood pressure. The American Heart Association recommends that you limit daily sodium intake to under 2,300 milligrams.
Rethink Your Birth Control
If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or a strong family history of heart disease, reconsider using hormonal contraceptives such as the pill and the patch, cautions Dr. Goldberg. "These don't increase heart disease risk by themselves, but they could exacerbate risk factors you already have," she explains. "If you smoke, for example, they may not be a good choice." Talk with your gynecologist about whether a nonhormonal birth-control method like a diaphragm, cervical cap, sponge, or IUD is a better option.
Your 40s
Your lifestyle has probably stabilized, but your role as caretaker may be more taxing as you are sandwiched between children and aging parents. Declining estrogen levels can raise your risk of heart disease, because this hormone helps maintain the elasticity of arteries and guards against hardening. As you age, you're also more likely to develop visceral fat around your abdomen, which has been linked to low HDL, high blood sugar, and elevated triglycerides, all of which increase your chances of having a heart attack. You're also more at risk for developing type 2 diabetes, which has been linked to heart and blood vessel diseases.
Build Your Social Circle
"A strong social network can ward off heart disease, since it helps relieve stress," says Dr. Goldberg. An American Heart Association study shows that those who go to church, volunteer, join social clubs, and have many friends have significantly lower blood pressure and other heart disease risk factors than those who don't. Plus this makes room for "you" time — take a break from caring for everyone else!
Have More Sex
Sex isn't just fun; it may actually decrease the risk of stroke, reports a study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health. That's because sex gives your heart a mini workout. And you're probably way more comfortable in your own skin this decade, leading to greater satisfaction between the sheets, in the shower or...well, you get the picture.
Take It Easy on the Coffee
Researchers haven't found a definitive link between caffeine and heart disease, but this stimulant can flood the body with increased stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline, which in turn can boost your stress level and unnecessarily tax your ticker. If your coffee consumption has crept up this decade, try switching one cup of java for green tea. A Japanese study showed that it contains nutrients that have significant antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties, which may reduce cardiovascular disease risk factors.
The New Screening Tools
The following screenings may benefit women who have a strong family history of the disease but none of the clearer-cut risk factors, such as elevated blood pressure and cholesterol. Ask your doctor if your history warrants taking any of these tests.
C-Reactive Protein (CRP)
Marks levels of inflammation, which experts now say may be the most important predictor of heart trouble.
Excess levels of this amino acid may indicate scarring or thickening of arterial lining.
Too much of this blood protein, which is essential for clotting, can increase your chances of having a stroke.
Lipoprotein (A)
This blood lipid disrupts the body's ability to dissolve clots.
Know the Signs of a Heart Attack
"Heart attacks aren't usually the clutch-and-fall Hollywood drama; often they're extremely subtle," says Sharonne N. Hayes, MD. In fact, only half of all patients suffering from a heart attack experience chest symptoms. Fatigue, abdominal upset, nausea, or jaw pain in any combination are more common. "Any new chest, neck, or back discomfort associated with shortness of breath or sweating is a warning sign to take action immediately," says Dr. Hayes.
For more information, visit the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
For additional information, visit the American Heart Association
Originally published in Fitness magazine, February 2006.