It wasn’t much money, just all we had to live on till month’s end. ARRRRGGGHHHH, not the Christmas present I was hoping for. 😡
Soflens 59 Monatslinsen
Houston, we have a problem! Den Spruch kennen sie sicher. Er stammt aus der Apollo Mission. Flug zum Mond!! Die Probleme auf dieser bemannten Mission zum Mond waren so gravierend, dass man damit rechnen musste die Astronauten zu verlieren.
Bausch & Lomb hat mit der Soflens 59 auch ein Problem. Ein gravierendes noch dazu. Erst vor 2 Jahren wurden die Soflens Monatslinsen von Soflens Comfort auf Soflens 59 umbenannt. Schon da haben sich viele Kontaktlinsen gegen diese ach so günstigen Monatslinsen entschieden. Und nun wird die Produktion aus England nach Amerika verlagert. Die Gründe dafür kennen wir leider nicht. Aber ökonomische Gründe werden es sicher sein.
Das hat nun zur Folge, dass während dieser Verlagerung der Produktionsstätte die gesamte Produktion der Monatslinsen eingestellt wird. Eine interne Mitteilung liess verlauten, dass während mindestens 3-4 Monaten überhaupt keine Soflens 59 produziert und ausgeliefert werden können.
Wenn sie also ein Träger dieser weichen Kontaktlinsen sind, so bestellen sie viele Kontaktlinsen wie sie können. Die letzte Verlagerung einer Produktionsstätte; des Konkurrenten Ciba Vision, liess den Markt für Kontaktlinsen für 7 Monate austrocken. Die Monatslinsen Focus Monthly waren während dieser Zeit gar nicht oder nur teilweise lieferbar.
Ich würde wetten, dass bei den Soflens 59 die gleichen Verzögerungen von bis zu 7 Monaten stattfinden werden!!
Did that title catch your attention? It certainly caught mine when it showed up in my inbox this week! Hot Guys and Baby Animals is a 2010 wall calendar complete with — you’ll never guess — hot guys holding baby animals!
The puppies featured in the calendar are rescues from several different groups such as Karma Rescue, Adopt-a-Chow, and PAL Rescue, and many of them are still available for adoption. A portion of the proceeds from the calendar will be donated to these rescue groups!
About the company, which is “created by women for women,” co-founder Audrey Khuner says: “I got sick of seeing pictures and calendars of bikini-clad girls sprawled out on sports cars. I wanted to make something that would appeal to women like me. So I decided to combine my two favorite things: sexy men and baby animals.”
The 12 month calendar features full color shots of some hunky guys posing with cuddly animals, and is even printed with soy-based inks on 30% post-consumer recycled paper.
The calendar, which would make a great gift, can be found at hotguysandbabyanimals.com, and can be purchased for $12.99 plus shipping (and you can even buy in bulk!).
[image used with permission from hotguysandbabyanimals.com]
Post from: Blisstree
A superb essay on the virus …
A Gazillion Tiny Avatars – Olivia Judson – NYTimes.com
…. whether you count viruses as living or not, there’s an awfully large number of them: a single drop of seawater may contain more than 10 million viral particles. That’s more than 10 billion in a liter (two-and-a-bit pints) of ocean. Some people have estimated that, in the oceans, there’s more carbon stashed away in viruses than there would be in 75 million blue whales.
Moreover, viruses are extremely diverse; there are zillions of different kinds. Some, such as MS2, a virus that attacks bacteria like Escherichia coli, have as few as four genes. Others, such as the gargantuan Mimivirus, have more than 900. (Mimivirus mostly attacks amoebae, although it is also suspected of occasionally causing pneumonia in humans.) And each time we look in a new place, we find more and more viruses that are different from those we have known before.
Fortunately for us, most viruses don’t attack humans; they attack bacteria and other microbes, which they kill on a colossal scale. In the oceans alone, viruses are reckoned to kill about 100 million metric-tons’-worth of microbes every minute.
…. viruses play a fundamental role in regulating the food chain. This is because death-by-virus is different from death-by-predator. When a predator kills a microbe, it consumes it: the microbe’s cell is incorporated into the predator’s body. In contrast, when a virus kills a microbe, the microbe’s cell bursts open, or “lyses,” releasing new viruses and a lot of cellular debris back into the environment. This debris can then be consumed by other microbes. In other words, by lysing their victims, viruses are constantly making food available to other life forms…
So do bacteria have a fundamentally different relationship to viruses than multicellular organisms? Why are they so much more lethal to bacteria than to us? Did the way our DNA propagates facilitate a “truce” with viruses?
—
My Google Reader Shared items (feed)
I ate veggies, meatballs and cheese mostly…
BUT…
I ate a huge samosa YUM (baaaad). I ate a gigantic pakora YUM (baaaad). I ate 2 mini sausage rolls YUM (baaaaad). And some Indian veggie rice YUM (baaaaaad).
And, I admit to right now nibbling on a chocolate peanut butter square.
Maybe it’s a blessing that I ran out of test strips at work????? :T
A second grade little boy was suspended and asked to get a psychological evaluation before coming back to school. The problem is he didn’t shoot a
IMG: Sxc.hu
bunch of children or even draw a picture like it, instead the teacher asked to draw a picture of what they thought Christmas was. He drew a picture of Jesus on the cross, sure he got the holidays mixed up but to him Christmas is all about Jesus.
Due to the graphic drawing, it was a stick figure that had blood coming down and “X” where his eyes should be. It was probably a picture he has in his mind growing up seeing this. To him this is Jesus, this is Christmas. From here on out though he may second guess this thought since drawing it meant he got suspended and won’t be able to return without an eval. I must ask, if you think this child needs an evaluation for something like this?
I would totally understand if he drew a picture of a bunch of kids dead, parents dead or anything to that nature. But this is his religion, his belief…it wasn’t a crime. Or is drawing a picture of Jesus a crime in school?
Now the Taunton school officials are coming out and stating the following:
The report is totally inaccurate,” Julie Hackett, superintendent of the Taunton public schools, said in an interview in her office yesterday. “The inaccuracies in the original media story have resulted in a great deal of criticism and scrutiny of the system that is unwarranted.”
So what were the inaccuracies? It does seem they are trying to state now that the teacher never asked for the kids to draw anything dealing with Christmas or a religious holiday. So what was it the teacher asked the kids to do and why keep it so quiet? If they don’t want fingers pointing, why don’t they state what they believe happened. Now the Superintendent is stating the child has not been suspended from Maxham Elementary School.
Here’s a report from Boston.com:
“Religion had nothing to do with this at all, 100 percent nothing to do with it,’’ Hackett said, adding that Taunton is known as “The Christmas City.’’
She declined to comment on the results of the evaluation or whether the teacher had reason to believe that the student was crying out for help. The boy’s father showed reporters a report indicating his son was not a threat to himself or others and could return to school.
She said the drawing was seen as a potential cry for help when the student identified himself, rather than Jesus, on the cross, which prompted the teacher to alert the school’s principal and staff psychologist. As a result, the boy underwent a psychological evaluation.
If this is the true story, since right now we do have two, I have a thought. Say the boy did draw a picture of Jesus and this he thought was an assignment or even a picture he thought the teacher would hang up. Many kids draw pictures just for their teachers to hang up, maybe she had none of Jesus. He placed his name at the top of the picture like most kids do (top of the page, place your name). Who knows since his family recently taken a trip to see a Christmas display, which had Jesus on a cross. Something tells me for the boy it was a simple drawing of his belief, not something wrong with his head.
For those wanting to see the picture visit: Boy suspended for Drawing Jesus
Post from: Blisstree
We arrived just as the sun was setting over the rolling, snow-covered hills of southwestern Wisconsin, an auburn glow fading as the sun became masked by clouds rolling in from the west. My family, including my mom, passed through the doors of the red, 5,500 square foot, barn-like Farwell Hall of the Folklore Village, located just outside Dodgeville. We were here to usher in the holidays by celebrating Saint Lucia’s Day one day early (in Sweden, it’s held on December 13).
Greeted by Melissa Leef, our convivial host and guide for the afternoon’s Swedish Sankta Lucia program, my family planned on staying for their community potluck, a St. Lucia candlelight ceremony with a singing performance by costumed children, and an evening of dance (with the guidance of a dance instructor-caller) later that evening. The evening program turned out to be a blend of the traditional rural Wisconsin “house party” – for which we host at least once a year at our Inn Serendipity – and small town community gatherings common among church or other social groups.
With all the talk of sales, black Friday, Cyber Monday, and such, the program offered by the Folklore Village harkened to a time where the holidays we’re less about stuff and more about love, sharing, and community.
If you have someone if your life that is constantly on their mobile phone, chances are they’d highly benefit from a Bluetooth headset, and the Aliph Jawbone Prime is the best for the job. You get best-in-class call quality and a cool design (rare for Bluetooth headsets.) Just like previous Jawbones, it’s constructed of medical-grade plastic and has no visible buttons. The Jawbone Prime also brings it when it comes to noise cancellation, including wind noise reduction. Finally, it supports multipoint technology, which means this bad boy can be paired to several devices at one time, which is super convenient. The Jawbone Prime sells for $129, but Amazon has them for $92.74.
Tags:
2009 holiday gift guide,
aliph,
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cell phones,
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multipoint,
noise cancellation,
From PolicyLink
We have some exciting news to share! A bi-partisan group in the US House of Representatives took an important step to improve access to healthy foods and create jobs in low-income communities across America.
Rep. Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.) and 20 co-sponsors just introduced a resolution in support of a National Fresh Food Financing Initiative (NFFFI), based on a highly successful program in Pennsylvania. (Read the full resolution here.)
In partnership with The Food Trust and The Reinvestment Fund, PolicyLink has been working on Capitol Hill for more than a year to lift up this remarkable effort and bring it to national scale.
With 27 million Americans without access to fresh, affordable food – and poor and minority communities getting the worst of the problem – a national effort to expand and build grocery stores, farmers markets, and other healthy food retail in needy communities could be just the kind of bi-partisan, triple-bottom-line solution we need.
In just the past five years, the Pennsylvania public-private partnership has turned $30 million of state investment into 4,800 jobs, 78 new or expanded fresh-food markets, more than $150 million in additional private investment, and 400,000 people with improved access to fresh, healthy food. (Read how the program works here)
This Congressional resolution is just the first step, though. We anticipate a bill creating the NFFFI will be introduced in the Senate in early 2010. We need your help to make that happen.
Time to get those creative juices flowing, people! Sony is giving gamers the chance to be immortalized in God of War III’s Ultimate Edition by proving themselves the biggest God of War fan around. Details past the
Filed under: Sedan, Technology, Audi, Luxury
Among the myriad of technological features coming to the 2011 Audi A8, its revised Multi Media Interface system, complete with the new “MMI touch” feature, will also include the first application of Google Earth in a production car.
In addition to the traditional hard-disk navigation system, an optional GPRS/EDGE modem is integrated into the MMI nav-plus system allowing a constant stream of information to be downloaded and accessed from Google. Along with GPS-based searches for local services, users can plan out their trips on Google Maps, Google Earth or through Audi’s online portal, and navigation data is analyzed and relayed to all the A8’s systems, including the automatic cruise control with “Start & Go” functionality, the adaptive lights and the eight-speed automatic gearbox.
With a SIM card inserted into the A8’s MMI setup (or data-enabled phone paired via Bluetooth) Google Earth can provide drivers with a three-dimensional view of their surroundings displayed on the A8’s eight-inch LCD display, showing satellite imagery and terrain modeling, along with all the traditional navigation system’s functionality both online and off. The integration of Google Earth is set to go live on the A8 sometime in the middle of 2010, soon after Audi’s new flagship goes on sale in the spring. Check out all the details in the press release after the jump.
Gallery: 2011 Audi A8
Continue reading 2011 Audi A8: The first production vehicle equipped with Google Earth
2011 Audi A8: The first production vehicle equipped with Google Earth originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:28:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
We were amazed a few months back when a variety of press reports started surfacing after Susan Boyle became famous via a YouTube clip, claiming what a shame it was that no one was monetizing that video. That whole thing seemed preposterous. YouTube provided free software, free hosting and free distribution and turned Susan Boyle into a world famous star, overnight. As we noted at the time, if you can’t monetize that in some other manner, you don’t belong in business. And, indeed, as tons of folks have reported, Susan Boyle’s first album has been a massive top seller — the best opening week selling album of the year, and the best opening for a “debut” album in sixteen years. And, yes, much of the reason that anyone knows of her existence is because of the clip on YouTube.
But would you believe that people are still complaining about YouTube’s role in all of this? Rob points us to an interview with Simon Cowell, who demonstrates stunning cognitive dissonance in both slamming and praising YouTube in two contradictory consecutive sentences:
Cowell also spoke of the popularity of Susan Boyle’s Britain’s Got Talent audition, which saw her rendition of I Dreamed A Dream viewed 100 million times in its initial days on YouTube – without any kickback for him.“That will change,” he told GQ. Because, eventually, if YouTube are not paying, they’re not getting the clip.
“But at the moment I’m very happy to get promotion around the world. She’ll sell 10 million albums this year because of YouTube.”
So, wait, is he upset or not? Would he have preferred that YouTube had not shown the video which it didn’t pay for, and a very small number of people knew of Susan Boyle? Or is he happy that he got free hosting, free software, free bandwidth and free promotional value that helped him sell 10 million of her albums? Maybe he should be paying Google…
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I spent a weekend in the hospital being treated and was sent home with Glypizide and Metformin. After two days I was back in the er dehydrated and nauseated. The Metformin was scaled back from 1000 to 500mg’s a day. After a few days I was back in the er as I was suffering yet more side effects from Metformin and the decision was made by the doc’s to take me off of it as my Blood Sugar numbers were pretty normal. I go back to the doc tommorow for my 1st A1c check in 3 months. My blood sugar numbers average about 100 since I learned to use the glucometer. I’ve lost about 15 pounds so far and I have awhole lot to go, lol!
Found this forum as I have been fiending for a hot dog.
Bruce Sterling points us to the last records of the Gothic language from a 16th century Flemish diplomat’s letter. And by Goths…
I don’t mean “Goth” goths. We’ve got tons of those. I mean GOTH Goth goths.
Fortune has an article out this morning discussing the private investment outfits current state of affairs. The editorial paints a dim picture of Elevations track record to date with a focus on the firms $460 million dollar investment in Palm Inc. The article also points out the posibility that Elevation is considering raising a new fund, while at the same time hinting that they may need to force a sale of Palm to a bigger player.
[…] the fate of Elevation’s first fund rests almost solely on one investment, its $460-million stake in beleaguered smartphone maker Palm (PALM). That investment is barely in the money for Elevation. It’s worth about $500 million currently.Elevation is demonstrably in for the long term: It chose not to sell late last year when the stock peaked around $18, compared to Tuesday’s close of $11.65. Palm recently raised $500 million in a stock offering, so its near term is secure.
Analyst Dennis Gartman illustrates an excellent point in today’s Gartman Letter. He explains how the United States is becoming increasingly reliant not on Saudi Arabia for oil, but rather, Canada.
One thing we wonder about. What does this mean in terms of geopolitics? The US and Saudi Arabia have held a “special relationship” for while, driven in large part by oil co-dependancy. It’s hard to see that holding up once the economic rationale evaporates.
The Gartman Letter: Finally, we’ve taken two graphs that we found inordinately interesting from the IEA website and included them here this morning the page previous of the imports of crude oil from Canada and from Saudi Arabia into the US. They tell a very, very clear story of steadily increased “dependence” by the US upon Canada for its crude oil needs and the very rapid non- dependence on the part of the US upon Saudi Arabian crude oil. Simply put since 1993 when the US was “taking” something close to 25,000,000 barrels of crude a month from Canada the trend has been steadily and almost perfectly upward from the lower left to the upper right on the chart, to the point in recent month where the US has been importing something closer to 60,000,000 barrels of crude each month from Canada.
The story on the part of the Saudis is decidedly different. Back in ’93, the US was taking on the order of 40,000,000 barrels of crude from Saudi Arabia each month. That grew… much more quietly that had the US “dependence” upon Canada for the imports of crude, but nonetheless steadily… to the point in ’08 where we were taking approximately 45,000,000 bpm from the Saudis. Then the chart changed materially, for in the last several months our imports from the Saudis have fallen from the proverbial cliff, to the point where we are now taking an average of “only” 29,600,000 barrels of oil per month from them. Why this sharp and very evident decline in the imports from Saudi Arabia has happened is open to debate, and we are open to possible explanation from our friends in the oil business; however, the trends are clear as the US becomes very steadily more and more “dependent” upon Canada and less and less dependent upon the Saudi Arabians for its lifeline of crude oil.
Tomorrow we’ll look at the imports from Mexico, the chart of which is almost as interesting as is today’s chart of the Saudis.
Join the conversation about this story »
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Before a second had ticked off the clock, Harper College’s men’s basketball team took a 2-0 lead when Brandon Bolger converted two free throws that were awarded when Oakton was assesed a technical for dunking during warm-ups. From there, the Hawks cruised to an 84-66 victory.
“We played well enough to win, but we won’t get any style points for tonight’s game,” said Harper Head Coach Tony Amarino. “Our guards played well and we were solid inside, but our defense was not exceptional.”
The Hawks were lead by Avery Roach with 21 points and Brandon Bolger with 20 points.
“We were missing some players tonight and Avery stepped up,” adds Amarino. “Brandon did what we expect of him – he put up good shots and gave us solid play.”
At several points in the game the Hawks led by 14 points, but they could not put away Oakton as the oppenents would close to with 7 points before the Hawks would regain their considerable lead.
“We had several sizeable leads, but we would relax and let [Oakton] back into the game,” said Amarino.
With Harper leading 78-64 with 0:53 remaining in the game, the victory was sealed on succesful free throw shooting by the Hawks. Oakton was called for multiple personal fouls and technical fouls in the closing minute, and Harper added the final 6 points on free throws to close out the game.
The Hawks are now 6-7 and will host the College of Lake County on Thuirsday, December 17th with a 7:00 PM tip-off.
NEWS RELEASE
Dec. 16, 2009 Contact: Frank Murray, 542-4835
Ron and Vicki Gerton, an art-making couple at Columbia Basin College for more than a decade, will be showing their work in the next exhibition at Esvelt Gallery entitled, “Disquisition of Wood and Fiber as Art”.
Vicki produces fabric wall pieces and wearable art working primarily with silk and wool, with the addition of metallic threads, beads, and feathers. These cloth pieces are hand dyed and highly patterned. “The interplay of the various colors is a language in itself and nothing speaks this language better than dyed cloths or fibers,” Vicki says.
Ron combines cast bronze pieces with wooden vessels to produce highly original sculptures. The sculptures are influenced by Ron’s love of the Japanese art of the Bonsai plant and Art Noveau.
The Disquisition of Wood and Fiber as Art will be on display Jan. 11-Feb. 18, 2010. An opening reception will be held Jan. 12 at 3:30 p.m. in Esvelt Gallery. Gallery hours are Monday-Thursday, 8 a.m. 8 p.m., and Fridays, 8 a.m. 4 p.m.
Italy, Europe | Strange Science
Once a collection of roughly a hundred, nearly half of these rare wooden books have been lost or destroyed since their creation in the late 1700s or early 1800s leaving only 56 of these amazing objects.
What is particularly curious about these books is that while most books are made of wood, pulped into paper, these books are both about trees and constructed of them, their construction and contents are truly one and the same. Each volume is about a different species of tree with its cover made from the wood of that tree showing both wood radial, longitudinal and cross profiles, and on the spine is a section of the bark.
Inside are the contents, but rather then paper describing the tree, it holds bits of the tree itself. Seedlings, leaves, roots, sawdust, charcoal, flowers and seeds are all fastened in place in the book and numbered. Each book is accompanied by a handwritten piece of parchment paper with a legend explaining what each sample is.
While it would have been impossible for them to know this in the early 1800s, collecting these samples in this way was far better then simply writing or drawing accounts of the trees. As modern science can now read the DNA contained in these samples, and see the blueprint for the trees themselves, each of these strange wooden books contains more information then 10,000 pages of prose ever could have.
Filed under: Crossover, Hatchback, Ford, Misc. Auto Shows
The next generation models of Ford of Europe’s popular Galaxy and S-Max people movers are about to make their introductions at the Brussels Motor Show. Both have been given modest exterior revamps, new technologies like Ford’s Blind Spot Information System and so on. Most importantly, though, these are the first Fords to receive EcoBoost four-cylinder engines.
The S-Max wears a redesigned hood and front fascia with LED running lights, while its rear end gets a new tailgate and LED taillights. The Galaxy is likewise fitted with the new family look, with a bolder lower, new fog lights, and LEDs in the rear.
Both cars have updated interiors and new materials. Under their hoods, the 2.0-liter EcoBoost SCTi tops out at 200 horsepower and 221 pound-feet of torque (the latter of which is available from just 1,750 rpm). For all the info on two more of Ford’s Please-Come-to-America-Offerings, have a look at the press release after the jump and check out the high-res galleries below.
Gallery: 2010 Ford Galaxy
Gallery: 2010 Ford S-Max
[Source: Ford]
Continue reading Ford shows retouched Galaxy, S-Max with EcoBoost power ahead of Brussels Motor Show
Ford shows retouched Galaxy, S-Max with EcoBoost power ahead of Brussels Motor Show originally appeared on Autoblog on Wed, 16 Dec 2009 13:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
