Mitt Romney Shocked He Lost the Powerball

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br /><b>This is an IWS World News™ exclusive…</b><br /><br />Calling it “more like WEAK-Ball, <i>amIright</i>?” Former GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney is reportedly “shocked” that he didn’t win the $500 million dollar Powerball Lottery. Romney is so stunned in fact, that he is refusing to acknowledge the loss while huddling with his advisors and family. There was a large crowd of mostly middle aged and older white males who had gathered at the Super Stop and Shop on Everett St in Boston, where Romney bought the ticket, to help the former Massachusetts governor celebrate, but they are mostly sad and dejected. <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkdWuo0k0GvZU23N0PqUzAv6s8qoBv9TPGjatvp6sF8kcUnSOBT2-n8tEODpIF8cR3RoKD16wd_uhTjoy5_uFlNqXCW3PuyVwmSHwn6-wlBK0w-Mq2ziH-PR-Epn_K_v8WtJvV8Ut5_Ks/s1600/sad+romney+supporters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkdWuo0k0GvZU23N0PqUzAv6s8qoBv9TPGjatvp6sF8kcUnSOBT2-n8tEODpIF8cR3RoKD16wd_uhTjoy5_uFlNqXCW3PuyVwmSHwn6-wlBK0w-Mq2ziH-PR-Epn_K_v8WtJvV8Ut5_Ks/s1600/sad+romney+supporters.jpg" /></a></div>“We’re all just stunned” said one aid who asked to remain anonymous because he’s embarrassed to be associated with the Romney’s, “we’ve got all these Asians who all have PHD’s in statistics and mathematics and stuff, and they assured us that we had the right numbers.” Others are still holding out hope though, some have pointed out that the drawing isn’t official yet and they have a team of lawyers ready to roll on Mr. Romeny’s order.<br /><br />Going the legal route isn’t without risk though. One member of the Romney team pointed out that they have to worry about public perception too. “What if the winner is a black or Hispanic single mother? It would be an absolute public relations disaster to go after someone like that. We have to be careful.”<br /><br />But, there are still other supporters who think it’s worth a risk. Conservative firebrand Todd Akin says a minority single mother is the perfect target to go after and take the $500 million from. “She’ll just blow it on birth control and sexy toys,” says Akin. “That’s all those people think about, you know. It’s just disgusting. I think America would be absolutely appalled to see an irresponsible woman with loose morals win something as important and pure as the Powerball.” <br /><br />Even Mitt Romney’s supporters in the media are at bit red-faced tonight. Conservative columnists Michael Barone and George Will both predicted that Romney would win the drawing. “When the ping pong balls have all come bouncing down that plastic and metal slide and lined up in an orderly fashion, Gov. Willard “Mitt” Romney will have won $500,000,000 American Dollars. I’m convinced it will happen. If it doesn’t, I’ll eat my bowtie,” said the Dean of the Washington Punditry, George Will.<br /><br />Fox News’ Dick Morris couldn’t be reached for comment this evening. He has been the most vocal over the last couple of days in certainty that Romney would win. “Unless this thing is fixed, Romney has it nailed down. I’ve been running the numbers all day in my head and I see no scenario in which Romney loses.” Morris isn’t without his critics though, Matt-Man and Jayman, hosts of the wildly popular #1 Comedy Show on Blog Talk Radio “<a href="http://www.blogtalkradio.com/im-with-stupid" target="_blank">I’m With Stupid</a>” have both pointed out that it was Dick Morris who once went on The O’Reilly Factor and declared that there was “no way whatsoever the Maginot Line can be penetrated by the Germans.”<br /><br />Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) who was Romney’s running mate has been pretty quiet. “I’m not a numbers guy, you know. It’s all just a bit too fancy and complicated for me,” said Ryan. “I’ll just concentrate on helping to put together the 2013 Federal Budget and let them work this out.”<br /><br />IWSWN™ will stay on top of this story and bring you the latest updates as we learn them.<br /><br />Jayman<br /><a href="mailto:Jayman3768@gmail.com">Jayman3768@gmail.com</a><br /><a href="http://www.twitter.com/jayman_iws" target="_blank">@Jayman_IWS</a><br /><br /></div>

Mitt Romney Shocked He Lost the Powerball

This is an IWS World News™ exclusive…Calling it “more like WEAK-Ball, amIright?” Former GOP Presidential nominee Mitt Romney is reportedly “shocked” that he didn’t win the $500 million dollar Powerball Lottery. Romney is so stunned in fact, that he i…

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Customer Support Engineer (Troubleshoot | Diagnose | Customer support) (# 108390)

<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div class="WordSection1"><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Position:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Customer Support Engineer<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Location:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> ADE Vancouver, WA<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Duration:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> Full time<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Req #:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"> 108390 & 108498<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Job Description:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Primarily responsible for customer service activities associated with updating, troubleshooting, diagnosing and repairing of highly complex capital equipment at customer sites and trade shows. Represents the company to the customer and assumes accountability for customer satisfaction with service. Assures operational quality of system equipment. Coordinates actions with customers to minimize down time. Provides assistance to Installation Engineers and CSE's 1-3 in resolving problems. May perform duties associated with Technical Support Engineer.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Preferred Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;"><o:p>1) Evaluates, analyzes, diagnoses and troubleshoots technical equipment problems via telephone or at customer site. Ensures equipment enhances customer production.<br />2) Repairs and updates equipment at customer facility. Evaluates equipment to determine type and extent of problem. Repairs involve board problems which can be performed using standard procedures as well as system level problems which have multiple causes and for which no standard procedures exist.<br />3) Focus on Account Management and customer satisfaction. CSE will avoid creating basic customer issues.<br />4) Uses skills as a seasoned, experienced professional with a full understanding of industry practices and company policies and procedures; resolves a wide range of issues in imaginative as well as practical ways.<br />5) Repairs of system level problems are based on CSE's technical knowledge, education and training.<br />6) CSE's may access and determine the problems existing in customers' processes such as chemical leaks or contamination, and as a result may recommend shutdown of customer fab due to unsafe conditions.<br />7) Conducts customer orientation and technical training on all aspects of equipment maintenance support for user applications.<br />8) Prepares field service reports on customer support activity and provides documentation to other supporting functions supporting functions on re-occurring problems.<br />9) Prepares quotes for customers based on labor, travel expenses incurred and parts needed. CSE's use discretion and assist regional admin in preparing quotes based on reason for equipment failure, time to prepare etc.<br />10) Cross trains and assists other field service engineers as appropriate. Provides guidance and technical assistance to Installation Engineer on installations at customer sites or on installing/dismantling demonstration machines.  Also provides guidance to less senior CSE's.<br />11) Travels by car or commercial transportation to customer facility.<br /> </o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><b><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Basic Qualifications:<o:p></o:p></span></b></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Master's Level Degree with at least 4 years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">OR<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Bachelor's Level Degree with at least 5 years of experience.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><br /></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10.0pt;">Kindly send your resume to <a href="mailto:raju.balaji@kla-tencor.com">raju.balaji@kla-tencor.com</a><o:p></o:p></span></div></div></div>

Customer Support Engineer (Troubleshoot | Diagnose | Customer support) (# 108390)

Position: Customer Support EngineerLocation: ADE Vancouver, WADuration: Full timeReq #: 108390 & 108498Job Description:Primarily responsible for customer service activities associated with updating, troubleshooting, diagnosing and repairing of highly…

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Melt's Spreads

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhShqtUOHsEDBB2rAq7I8aJRLMGonecvpjXMCnJEtWaNx34mIF8C3jXcADvWkt7Tk5zErlNOqMDCccWOKWV1CXaVf88qVda26YnPxQyuab6romsl1xDUcreaR2-xFLfkUUtWODgqysHu3Q/s1600/Melts+spreads.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhShqtUOHsEDBB2rAq7I8aJRLMGonecvpjXMCnJEtWaNx34mIF8C3jXcADvWkt7Tk5zErlNOqMDCccWOKWV1CXaVf88qVda26YnPxQyuab6romsl1xDUcreaR2-xFLfkUUtWODgqysHu3Q/s320/Melts+spreads.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;">I'm a member of Swaggable, and I was invited to try the Melt's spreads for free! </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> What's Melt's spreads? It's a healthier alternative to butter! The flavors that I received was honey and original. </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> I am all for it trying out new products, especially when it's healthy and tastes good! I haven't tried these yet, but have heard great rumors about them! </div>

Melt's Spreads

I'm a member of Swaggable, and I was invited to try the Melt's spreads for free!  What's Melt's spreads? It's a healthier alternative to butter! The flavors that I received was honey and original.  I am all for it trying out new products, especially…

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Book Review: Building: Louis I. Kahn at Roosevelt Island

<a href="http://www.aperture.org/shop/barney-kulok-building-book"><b><i>Building: Louis I. Kahn at Roosevelt Island</i></b></a> by Barney Kulok<br />Aperture, 2012<br />Hardcover, 80 pages<br /><br /><img alt="book-kulok.jpg" src="http://www.archidose.org/Blog/book-kulok.jpg" title="Building - cover and spread" /><br /><br />Last month the <a href="http://www.fdrfourfreedomspark.org/">FDR Four Freedoms Park</a> finally opened, close to 40 years after Louis I. Kahn's death, at which time he had completed most of the design. Alongside the pomp surrounding the opening came a number of reviews (all very positive) and lots of photos along the lines of <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2012/10/todays-archidose-628.html">my two</a> <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2012/10/todays-archidose-628-part-2.html">batches</a>. While photos focusing on the completed park and memorial are important, documentation of the design's realization is also valuable. For that we can thank photographer <a href="http://www.nicoleklagsbrun.com/kulok_home.html">Barney Kulok</a>, who was given access to the construction site about a year ago to document the construction.<br /><br />What I really like about the 49 black-and-white plates collected in this handsome book is the way the construction is not documented through wide-frame images capturing large swaths of the place, but through small-scale details that border on painterly abstractions. This is not a book like Brian Finke's <a href="http://archidose.blogspot.com/2012/11/book-review-two-photography-books.html"><i>Construction</i></a>, which<i> </i>focused on the people constructing buildings; rather, <i>Building</i> attempts to give a sense of the whole by examining its parts. Yet, it's not as simple as saying that the essence of the design is found in its details, because many of the details that Kulok documents were subsequently buried or removed.<br /><br />The sum of the photos in <i>Building</i> is akin to poetry, where interpretation is open-ended because the shots don't settle for easy presentations of what we think of when we think of "construction site"—very little machinery is present, for example, and tools appear as aesthetic objects more than useful objects. I like to think that even the most mundane detail—a guideline tied to a piece of rebar driven into the earth; a haphazard assemblage of wire, cloth, and more rebar closing a hole in a chain-link fence; a piece of wood resting on concrete steps—reveals something about the specific construction process on Roosevelt Island. Each photo is a trace of human action, even as only three of the nearly fifty plates have people within the frame; they tell stories beyond the immediate moment captured.<br /><br />The most interesting plates border on the composed, and not just in terms of photography—angle, framing, aperture, etc. I wonder if a cubic piece of stone teetering on the edge of a much larger piece of stone was found by Kulok as he traversed the job site, or placed there intentionally, perhaps inspired by something he saw but manipulated to make the ideal photo. Images like these may turn on my skepticism radar, but in the end I don't think it matters if they're staged or not, because they still serve to reveal the construction. A "clean" pile of dirt on stone pavers says just as much about the filling in of the voids between stones as does a "dirty" pile of dirt on stone pavers (you'll have to trust me on this one). But the former is just a better photograph, a piece of poetry rather than part of a documentary.<br /><br />For those interested in hearing Kulok speak about the book, he'll be <a href="http://www.aperture.org/event/in-conversation-barney-kulok-and-joel-smith/">in conversation with Joel Smith</a> this evening at Aperture Gallery and Bookstore, 547 West 27th Street, NYC. The event is free and a book signing will follow the conversation.<a href="http://www.aperture.org/event/in-conversation-barney-kulok-and-joel-smith/"><br /></a><br /><br /><b>US: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1597112259?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1597112259&linkCode=xm2&tag=aweeklydoseof-20" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.com" border="0" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan.gif" /></a> CA: <a href="http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/1597112259?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydose02-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=15121&creativeASIN=1597112259" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.ca" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-ca.gif" width="90" /></a> UK: <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/1597112259?ie=UTF8&tag=aweeklydoseof-21&linkCode=xm2&camp=1634&creativeASIN=1597112259" target="_blank"><img alt="Buy from Amazon.co.uk" border="0" height="28" src="http://www.archidose.org/books/buy-from-tan-uk.gif" width="90" /></a></b>

Book Review: Building: Louis I. Kahn at Roosevelt Island

Building: Louis I. Kahn at Roosevelt Island by Barney KulokAperture, 2012Hardcover, 80 pagesLast month the FDR Four Freedoms Park finally opened, close to 40 years after Louis I. Kahn's death, at which time he had completed most of the design. Alongs…

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Development Coordinator (Full Time) - Hartford Public Library

<strong>Development Coordinator (Full Time) -</strong> <strong><span style="color: #48286d;">Hartford Public Library</span></strong> seeks creative and flexible individual to provide support to the Development Office. Responsibilities: the development coordinator is responsible for assisting the chief development officer with all aspects of a fund development, fundraising events, and supports all other development activities. Manages donor management data base system, responsible for raising unrestricted annual giving from individuals and corporations, donor cultivation, and prospect identification. This position supports the advancement and implementation of various development and marketing initiatives and is responsible for coordinating their execution. Qualifications: Bachelor’s degree in Marketing or Communication or a related field and a minimum of five years fundraising experience in non-profit or for profit sales preferred. Microsoft Office expertise required. Knowledge and experience using Raiser’s Edge and database software is needed, Familiarity with social media and Adobe Design Suite desirable. Valid CT driver’s license required. $21.40 to $31.30 per hour Job description and application are available online at <a _fcksavedurl="http://www.hplct.org" href="http://www.hplct.org/" target="_blank">www.hplct.org</a> or Administrative Offices, Hartford Public Library, 500 Main Street, Hartford, CT 06103. Applications accepted until <span style="color: red;">December 28, 2012</span>. Equal opportunity employer. Hartford Public Library requires a Criminal Background Check and Pre-employment Drug Testing on applicants who are selected as a finalist for the position. Applicants will be provided a copy of any positive drug test results. A criminal record does not necessarily eliminate you from employment with Hartford Public Library. Each conviction will be reviewed with respect to the offense, circumstances, seriousness and the position for which you apply.

Development Coordinator (Full Time) - Hartford Public Library

Development Coordinator (Full Time) - Hartford Public Library seeks creative and flexible individual to provide support to the Development Office. Responsibilities: the development coordinator is responsible for assisting the chief development off…

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Blast Flip Stick

<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://img.bzzagent.com/image/blastflipstick.jpg?Type=activity&Activity=8685210688&Campaign=1937617816&Uid=1264101&token=cc5309d2355d9e9b2d76825488da898f" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" src="https://img.bzzagent.com/image/blastflipstick.jpg?Type=activity&Activity=8685210688&Campaign=1937617816&Uid=1264101&token=cc5309d2355d9e9b2d76825488da898f" /></a></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> I am so excited to be a part of this campaign through Bzzagent!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> I absolutely love Cover Girl products! I love the new shades that come in the Blastflipstick!</div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: center;"> Most of all I love how it's a two shades on one lipstick! So creative and you don't have to buy more than one lipstick if you want more than one color! </div>

Blast Flip Stick

 I am so excited to be a part of this campaign through Bzzagent! I absolutely love Cover Girl products! I love the new shades that come in the Blastflipstick! Most of all I love how it's a two shades on one lipstick! So creative and you don't hav…

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santa's work is done

I know at this time of year there are more gift guides than Justin Bieber tweets, but you can stop the hunt. <a href="http://toandfrommagazine.com/" target="_blank">to & from</a> has the very best one. Remember when the Sears catalog would arrive in the mail when you were a kid and you'd go thru each and every page of the toy section? This is just like that, only way better stuff.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-TN29QJ_UfHyrgMWIiioxk7QCMqSgAqRoBrdfjl3-Oe3I9Xv3SnGgfFhjsJYSiE7B9IXTFcCJsguFbqLyW7RlJyMg9A2jy-5kXhexpYfxE8SCreFS2VV-v_w-Vwp78GUKQRkfT3vVSkFV/s1600/toandfrom.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-TN29QJ_UfHyrgMWIiioxk7QCMqSgAqRoBrdfjl3-Oe3I9Xv3SnGgfFhjsJYSiE7B9IXTFcCJsguFbqLyW7RlJyMg9A2jy-5kXhexpYfxE8SCreFS2VV-v_w-Vwp78GUKQRkfT3vVSkFV/s320/toandfrom.tiff" width="252" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS2gxeXOFxqHyRob1Na6QkPGhVX1R6C8UgzcLAYhyBJDVpN0uYsMWttryG2z6ZArSUfI4hNlPKKG-I7mjVtDrq-q5wahSJHYv1RH3CFkcQn_l42QCpUGcpBDvBwdDo-sFjZkuqApg8gTyR/s1600/toandfrom2.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS2gxeXOFxqHyRob1Na6QkPGhVX1R6C8UgzcLAYhyBJDVpN0uYsMWttryG2z6ZArSUfI4hNlPKKG-I7mjVtDrq-q5wahSJHYv1RH3CFkcQn_l42QCpUGcpBDvBwdDo-sFjZkuqApg8gTyR/s320/toandfrom2.tiff" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMKtN4-CcZk07X7YXZeHBx68j1uLmnCGC46i1AsiZNfQR5-vam2e6LWGYOzi8JFczlNpLXXJoZW7gX4i9-cxQGYKBZkSicXA6xFaKKTU8utlzTgwUbt4_muhl9RCrZ30LNN9rW8aWkyha/s1600/toandfrom3.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="210" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLMKtN4-CcZk07X7YXZeHBx68j1uLmnCGC46i1AsiZNfQR5-vam2e6LWGYOzi8JFczlNpLXXJoZW7gX4i9-cxQGYKBZkSicXA6xFaKKTU8utlzTgwUbt4_muhl9RCrZ30LNN9rW8aWkyha/s320/toandfrom3.tiff" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcw_ZYWbaGser0NWIlBg-31PjY9l3pm69BsHXd6HtUfPW1jm7fhDycrGMrSJSeTJBn2krXpLe2VI4whWOTRpunCcKqK2c7k4DV2g9eCJh_O97zWgTxxx-3srXdzGnzPkw0s37RuoUDkQ2/s1600/toandfrominside.tiff" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="207" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgqcw_ZYWbaGser0NWIlBg-31PjY9l3pm69BsHXd6HtUfPW1jm7fhDycrGMrSJSeTJBn2krXpLe2VI4whWOTRpunCcKqK2c7k4DV2g9eCJh_O97zWgTxxx-3srXdzGnzPkw0s37RuoUDkQ2/s320/toandfrominside.tiff" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><span style="font-size: x-small;">All images via <a href="http://toandfrommagazine.com/" target="_blank">to & from</a></span></i></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i><br /></i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><a href="http://issuu.com/toandfrom/docs/holiday2012/97" target="_blank">Check it out</a>. It covers absolutely everyone on your list.</div>

santa's work is done

I know at this time of year there are more gift guides than Justin Bieber tweets, but you can stop the hunt. to & from has the very best one. Remember when the Sears catalog would arrive in the mail when you were a kid and you'd go thru each and ever…

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Prosthetic Arms a Complex Test for Amputees - NYTimes.com

<base href="data:"><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><nyt_text style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div id="articleBody"><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">After the explosion, Cpl. Sebastian Gallegos awoke to see the October sun glinting through the water, an image so lovely he thought he was dreaming. Then something caught his eye, yanking him back to grim awareness: an arm, bobbing near the surface, a black hair tie wrapped around its wrist.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The elastic tie was a memento of his wife, a dime-store amulet that he wore on every patrol in Afghanistan. Now, from the depths of his mental fog, he watched it float by like driftwood on a lazy current, attached to an arm that was no longer quite attached to him.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">He had been blown up, and was drowning at the bottom of an irrigation ditch.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Two years later, the corporal finds himself tethered to a different kind of limb, a $110,000 robotic device with an electronic motor and sensors able to read signals from his brain. He is in the office of his occupational therapist, lifting and lowering a sponge while monitoring a computer screen as it tracks nerve signals in his shoulder.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Close hand, raise elbow, he says to himself. The mechanical arm rises, but the claw-like hand opens, dropping the sponge. Try again, the therapist instructs. Same result. Again. Tiny gears whir, and his brow wrinkles with the mental effort. The elbow rises, and this time the hand remains closed. He breathes.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Success.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"As a baby, you can hold onto a finger," the corporal said. "I have to relearn."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">It is no small task. Of the more than 1,570 American service members who have had arms, legs, feet or hands amputated because of injuries in Afghanistan or Iraq, fewer than 280 have lost upper limbs. Their struggles to use prosthetic limbs are in many ways far greater than for their lower-limb brethren.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Among orthopedists, there is a saying: legs may be stronger, but arms and hands are smarter. With myriad bones, joints and ranges of motion, the upper limbs are among the body's most complex tools. Replicating their actions with robotic arms can be excruciatingly difficult, requiring amputees to understand the distinct muscle contractions involved in movements they once did without thinking.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">To bend the elbow, for instance, requires thinking about contracting a biceps, though the muscle no longer exists. But the thought still sends a nerve signal that can tell a prosthetic arm to flex. Every action, from grabbing a cup to turning the pages of a book, requires some such exercise in the brain.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"There are a lot of mental gymnastics with upper limb prostheses," said Lisa Smurr Walters, an occupational therapist who works with Corporal Gallegos at the<a title="The center's Web site." href="http://www.bamc.amedd.army.mil/departments/orthopaedic/cfi/" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; "> Center for the Intrepid at Brooke Army Medical Center</a> in San Antonio.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">The complexity of the upper limbs, though, is just part of the problem. While prosthetic leg technology has advanced rapidly in the past decade, prosthetic arms have been slow to catch up. Many amputees still use body-powered hooks. And the most common electronic arms, pioneered by the Soviet Union in the 1950s, have improved with lighter materials and microprocessors but are still difficult to control.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Upper limb amputees must also cope with the critical loss of sensation. Touch — the ability to differentiate baby skin from sandpaper or to calibrate between gripping a hammer and clasping a hand — no longer exists.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">For all those reasons, nearly half of upper limb amputees choose not to use prostheses, functioning instead with one good arm. By contrast, almost all lower limb amputees use prosthetic legs.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But Corporal Gallegos, 23, is part of a small vanguard of military amputees who are benefiting from new advances in upper limb technology. Earlier this year, he received a pioneering surgery known as targeted muscle reinnervation that amplifies the tiny nerve signals that control the arm. In effect, the surgery creates additional "sockets" into which electrodes from a prosthetic limb can connect.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">More sockets reading stronger signals will make controlling his prosthesis more intuitive, said Dr. Todd Kuiken of the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago, who developed the procedure. Rather than having to think about contracting both the triceps and biceps just to make a fist, the corporal will be able to simply think, <em>close hand</em>, and the proper nerves should fire automatically.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">In the coming years, new technology will allow amputees to feel with their prostheses or use pattern-recognition software to move their devices even more intuitively, Dr. Kuiken said. And a new arm under development by the Pentagon, the <a title="The DEKA Arm research Web site." href="http://www.dekaresearch.com/deka_arm.shtml" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">DEKA Arm</a>, is far more dexterous than any currently available.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But for Corporal Gallegos, becoming proficient on his prosthesis after reinnervation surgery remains a challenge, likely to take months more of tedious practice. For that reason, only the most motivated amputees — super users, they are called — are allowed to undergo the surgery.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Corporal Gallegos was not always that person.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">His father, an Army veteran, did not want him to join the infantry, but it was like him to ignore the advice.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Corporal Gallegos grew up in Texas, raised in poverty primarily by his divorced mother. He was smart, ambitious and a bit of a know-it-all, said his wife, Tracie, who attended high school with him. A college scholarship seemed assured.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But the idea of military service called louder. "I felt I was too immature to go to school and be some brat in college," he said. The Marine Corps seemed the perfect challenge.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">He loved the corps, and the corps seemed to love him. Before deploying in 2010, he was made the leader of a three-man fire team and was sent to learn basic Pashto, the language of Afghanistan's largest ethnic group.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">His unit, Lima Company of the Third Battalion, Fifth Marines out of Camp Pendleton, arrived in Helmand Province that September and immediately faced some of the toughest fighting of the war, losing 25 men in seven months, most from improvised explosive devices.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">In October, Corporal Gallegos was walking second in a patrol through the Sangin district when he stepped into an irrigation canal, heard a boom and blacked out. When he awoke, he found himself anchored to the bottom by his body armor and weaponry. He tried to pull himself out with his right arm, not realizing it had been virtually severed just below the shoulder.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">On an evacuation helicopter, the corporal glimpsed his intact arm wrapped in bandages, giving him hope that doctors could reattach it.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">That hope was dashed at Brooke Army Medical Center, where he began the long process of recovery. His attitude, he admits now, was negative, influenced by another Marine who rarely used his prosthetic arm because it was so uncomfortable.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">But then Corporal Gallegos met an Air Force amputee who was among the first at Brooke to receive targeted muscle reinnervation surgery. The airman warned him that rehabilitation would be frustrating and painful, but that the payoff would be huge.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"You wouldn't notice, unless you were looking right at him, that he was missing his arm," Corporal Gallegos said. "I was like, 'I want to be better than him.' "</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">First, though, he had to learn to cope with phantom-limb pain. A pulsing sensation like having a tourniquet applied to the arm, the pain was sometimes powerful enough to keep the strapping corporal in bed, leaving him unable to concentrate or converse.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"He's in constant pain," said Ms. Gallegos, who is in nursing school. "But he just won't complain, because he doesn't want people to ask, 'Are you O.K.?' That question really bugs him."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Over time, medication and surgeries dampened the pain enough that he could throw himself into practicing on a robotic arm. The device, he found, was a brain teaser, frustrating his efforts to make it obey. More than once, he threatened to throw it out the window.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">To motivate himself in those moments, he thought about his Marine Corps friends. Eventually he had a skin-tone silicone sleeve for his prosthetic arm engraved with the names of all 10 Marines from Lima Company who died in Sangin. Now, when he needs a lift, he looks at the arm — in the very place he once wore his wife's hair tie — and recites their names like a personal prayer.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">As he began wearing mechanical arms longer each day, his prosthetist, Ryan Blanck, decided that he might be ready for targeted reinnervation surgery. The procedure works off the natural ability of muscles to amplify nerve signals. By rerouting nerves into healthy muscle and reshaping the tissue to bring it closer to sensors in the prosthesis, the procedure strengthens the brain's signals, and hence its ability to control the machine.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Wearing the same type of prosthetic arm he had used before, Corporal Gallegos noticed the difference almost immediately. No longer did he have to think so hard about contracting various muscles: when he wanted the arm to move, it did, faster and more fluidly.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">That did not mean, however, that it behaved as he wanted. He still has problems with "cross talk," where certain nerves dominate over others. If a wrist nerve dominates, for instance, a patient may have to think about bending the wrist to make the hand close. But with repeated use, the nerves sort themselves out and the need for trickery fades, Dr. Kuiken said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">For all his gains with the prosthesis, Corporal Gallegos has not overcome the embarrassment he feels when wearing his robotic arm in public. Once the hand fell off in a crowded restaurant, eliciting gasps from a nearby child. In darkened movie theaters, the Terminator-like sounds his arm makes draw startled whispers. And to this day, he will not wear short-sleeve shirts to restaurants.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Even if it is 75 degrees out, I'll wear a jacket just to avoid getting stared at," he said.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">For a year after nearly drowning in Afghanistan, Corporal Gallegos could not go near water, any water, even the River Walk, a restaurant-lined path along the San Antonio River. But a therapist pushed him to overcome his anxiety, first by swimming, then kayaking, then surfing.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Ben Kvanli, a former Olympian who runs a kayaking program for disabled troops, said Corporal Gallegos was an ambivalent paddler at first. But his technique was good, partly because the prosthesis forced him to use his core muscles more. And he was fast.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Fast enough, indeed, that Mr. Kvanli is encouraging him to try out for the national <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/p/paralympic_games/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about the Paralympic Games." class="meta-classifier" style="color: rgb(102, 102, 153); text-decoration: none; ">Paralympic</a> team next year.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">"Independence is a big part of this," Mr. Kvanli said. "He is proving something."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Fiercely self-reliant from childhood, Corporal Gallegos has struggled with losing independence after losing his arm. Suddenly, he had to ask for help with buttons, zippers and shoelaces. And he loathes asking for help.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">There are holes in his living room wall that testify to his failed attempts to hang things using his prosthetic arm. And he still cringes at the memory of barking orders at his wife while she assembled a living-room furniture set that he could not assemble himself. "Stuff is a lot more complicated," he said. "I'm still figuring out what my norm's going to be, just on a day-to-day basis."</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">For that reason, he no longer makes big plans for the future, as he once did. Keep it simple, he tells himself: Get out of the Marine Corps. Go to college. Learn how to tie his shoelaces with a robotic hand.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">And maybe, just maybe, become a Paralympian.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">So there he was one recent afternoon, kayaking down the sun-dappled San Marcos River, using the wrong prosthesis because he had broken his kayaking limb while surfing. Normally he is at the front of the pack, but today his arm kept slipping off and he seemed in pain as he struggled just to keep up.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Yet he said nothing that could be heard as a complaint. And at the end of the six-hour trip, he went over the 14-foot Graduation Falls, the first time he had done so in a boat. After dropping vertically into the frothing water, his kayak momentarily disappeared beneath the surface before popping out like a cork.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">Eyes smiling below the brim of his helmet, Corporal Gallegos paddled to shore, hefted his boat onto his good shoulder and started the trudge upstream.</p><p itemprop="articleBody" style="color: black; font-size: 1.2em; margin: 0px 0px 1em; line-height: 24px; ">He did not ask for help.</p><nyt_correction_bottom><div class="articleCorrection" style="margin-bottom: 2.8em; "></div></nyt_correction_bottom><nyt_update_bottom></nyt_update_bottom></div></nyt_text><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: -webkit-auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); display: inline !important; float: none; "></span></div><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/us/prosthetic-arms-a-complex-test-for-amputees.html?src=me&ref=general">http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/27/us/prosthetic-arms-a-complex-test-for-amputees.html?src=me&ref=general</a><div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; color: black; text-align: left; "><br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></div>

Prosthetic Arms a Complex Test for Amputees - NYTimes.com

After the explosion, Cpl. Sebastian Gallegos awoke to see the October sun glinting through the water, an image so lovely he thought he was dreaming. Then something caught his eye, yanking him back to grim awareness: an arm, bobbing near the surface, …

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