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Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Parker Mainstreet Crew

Yes girl, you know it's true. We've got a Parker Mainstreet Crew just for you. Parker Mainstreet Crew.....

It's late in the year, Omer's pro again, I am tired and it's an omnium. So the Axley Super Hyper Hit Squad Go will field a small crew of 3 for Parker Mainstreet. For the event I thought I had Tyler Hamilton, Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso bought off and ready to ride for me but after Eugene I guess I should stop bringing ringers.

Instead I have:
Lang "Mr. Boots" Reynolds
Bio: Lang Reynolds joins Axley USA fulltime from Recycled Cycles. Lang works at Triumph multisport. Few people know that the character Ling Ling from drawn together is based on Lang. When not being chased down by an ex-teammate Lang enjoys long walks in the park, being sensitive and plotting to kill PruDog.

Shawn "FiestyMan" Ongers
Bio: Shawn like to take long pulls in the wind and mocking his opposition while driving the pace on hard climbs. Don't let those prison tats fool you though. Inside is the heart of one of the sweetest men you'll ever meet. Unless you look at him funny. Or talk to him. Actually, it's best to leave him alone.

Nathan "Oh My God, WTF am I doing weith these clowns" Smith
Bio: Nathan can be seen riding for The Garage at most races, but buying into the idea PruDog knows what he is doing, agreed to take Omer's spot on our roster when the big pro call up came. Nathan obviously has not talked to Chad about my travel planning skills.

had planned on going too, but found out that he needed to stay home and whinge about how tired he is instead. That and he actually read Mrs. PruDog's letter to The-Sith-Cyclist-Who-Shall-Remain-Nameless for 3 more days.

At Wednesday, September 13, 2006 7:07:00 PM, Blogger Double C said...

Your losing it man-I is kicking you off the am rides.

Double C

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Multiple Family Housing: From Aggregation to Integration, Mackay, David , New York, (1977)
Housing, Macsai, John , New York, (1976)
Architecture of the 20th Century in Drawings: Utopia and Reality, Magnago Lampugnani, Vittorio , New York, (1982)
Architecture and City Planning in the Twentieth Century, Magnago Lampugnani, Vittorio , New York, (1984)
Hong Kong Architecture: The Aesthetics of Density, Magnago Lampugnani, Vittorio , New York, (1993)
Modern Architectural Theory: A Historical Survey, 1673-1968, Mallgrave, Harry Francis , New York, (2005)
Paul Rudolph: Drawings, Marlin, William , Architectural Forum, June, Volume 138, p.46-53, (1973)
Greek Active, Martin, Guy , Nest: A Magazine of Interiors, Winter, p.172-179, (2000)
Architecture's Image Problem: Have We Ever Been Postmodern?, Martin, Reinhold , Grey Room, Winter, Volume 22, p.6-29, (2005)
Women's Places: Architecture and Design 1860-1960, Martin, Brenda, and Sparke Penny , New York, (2003)
Giving Paul Rudolph His Due: $30 Million Renovation To Restore Once-Hated Building At Yale, And An Architect's Reputation, Martineau, Kim , Hartford Courant, June 29, (2008)
The Atlas of American Architecture: 2000 Years of Architecture, City Planning, Landscape Architecture and Civil Engineering, Martinson, Tom , New York, (2009)
Going, going, gone: our diminishing Modernist heritage, Mason, Brook, and Kaufman Jason Edward , The Art Newspaper, May, Volume 16, Number 180, London, p.53, (2007)
The Great Buildings Collection: The Art And Architecture Building, Matthews, Kevin , (1997)
Our Architecture Is Our Portrait, McAndrew, John , New York Times Magazine, January 18, p.12-14, (1953)
Our Architecture Is Our Portrait, McAndrew, John , New York Times Magazine, January 18, p.12-14, (1953)
Architecture USA, McCallum, Ian , New York, (1959)
Louis I. Kahn, McCarter, Robert , New York, (2005)
The Sarasota School of Architecture, 1941-1966 [Book Review], McCarter, Robert , Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, June, Volume 55, p.192-194, (1996)
Argument on shaky foundations, McCaughey, Patrick , The Australian, February 6, p.23, (2008)
Guide to U.S. Architecture, 1940-1980, McCoy, Esther, and Goldstein Barbara , Santa Monica, CA, (1982)
The Parking Garage: Design and Evolution of a Modern Urban Form, McDonald, Shannon Sanders , Washington, DC, (2007)
The beach house in Paul Rudolph's early work, McDonough, Michael , School of Architecture, December, p.31, 30 leaves, (1986)
The Surface as Stake: A Postscript to Timothy M. Rohan's "Rendering the Surface", McDonough, Tom , Grey Room, Fall, Volume 5, p.102-112, (2001)
Architect's legacy in Goshen's Orange County Government Center has its defenders, Mckenna, Chris , Middletown Times Herald-Record, October 10, (2010)

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Posted by psgels on 20 October 2012 with categories: K

K has a lot of characters. I like that, and in fact I’m a big fan of those kinds of series. They are however, a double edged sword: try getting some good development out of all of them, especially with only 13 episodes. The trick will be balancing the development for all of them: focus on a bunch of them and flesh them out really well, and give the guys who aren’t in the foreground presence, rather than making them into characters for the sake of having more characters.

K is trying to achieve that balance, definitely. There are a few key characters here in this story: Suoh and Reishi with his powers on one side and Kurou and Yashiro on the other side. Suoh and Reishi are fleshed out by all the people around them, their subordinates et cetera, while Kurou and Yashiro are fleshed out through their own actions and their chemistry.

Beyond that we have the side characters, most of them are pretty one-dimensional at this point. Think of the cat girl who is always cheerful, or the punk who is always snarky and stuff. For these guys it’s going to be impossible to make all of them three-dimensional, so the trick will be to give all of them presence and make all of them different, and still create impact with all of them. Ideally, at the end of this series I want to have one stand-out moment for all of them. Episode 1 already had that moment for the skating punk guy with its animation. This episode instead made Shirou stand out. I quite liked the climax of this series. Instead of ending with a cliff-hanger or a tense battle, they just end with a silly joke that shows more about his character. Very nice.
Rating: 5/8 (Great)

10 Responses

  1. betawatcher says:

    I… didn’t expect you to praise this haha. From what I’ve seen so far, it would be pretty enjoyable (eye candy basically) for the girls, but I didn’t see how it would attract guys except for that loli and the catgirl. :P

  2. Armpit says:

    You didn’t expect psgels to like this? lol he has extremely feminine taste. Don’t know how anyone who has been on this blog for any amount of time wouldn’t know that…

  3. meow says:

    I don’t know why but this show kinda makes me miss Getbackers. I wonder why.

  4. Armpit says:

    Aww Getbackers. Another show that pains me to think about. I so wanted to see the whole story animated :(

  5. Armpit says:

    You never read the manga? It was good, and quite a bit different from the usual long run shonen series. I usually am not into bromances, but the 2 leads in Getbackers really did interest me a lot.

    • meow says:

      I loved the anime plus it didn’t end badly. I had a feeling it would end pretty much like the anime ended except maybe Pinocchio becoming a real boy in the end. There was a part of me that felt that dragging it all the way to the top might mean something like a rehash of a regular formula. Plus, dammit, I would have loved all the comedy voiced. XD

  6. Armpit says:

    Yea, i actually agree there. For an anime original ending it was actually pretty good. I just wish they could of fully animated the original story because it got insanely fun as it got closer to the end.

    • meow says:

      Haha sounds interesting. XD Maybe they’ll make it happen someday. I mean, they even animated Zetman. That’s one anime I wasn’t expecting to see happen.

Leave a Reply

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  • ratsgnoF
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 06:43 PM)
    league of legends! haha
  • AidanAK47
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 03:15 PM)
    Fate UBW dub trailer shown. New Shirou actor doesn’t really work and no Liam O’Brien as Archer. It’s a sad day.
    Especially on Liam, because his voice was downright perfect for Archer.
  • AidanAK47
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 02:51 PM)
    @Emma, in order for him to be summoned as a servant he would need to be important. Which he is not.
    @Rat, sure. Are we talking baseball League or football here?
  • ratsgnoF
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 12:38 PM)
    Anybody want to play league with me?
  • Masky
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 08:25 AM)
    Hmm… Can anyone remind me of one thing? Is this the point where most of harem scenes are over(well manga isn’t finished, but so far)? I do remember there being more slice of life stuff after this point in manga, but I don’t remember there being as much or at least there being as long break from action ._.
  • Emma
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 06:39 AM)
    @Aidan: If this was the world of sharin no kuni we could place and “obligation of maximum penalty” on Kevin. If it was the world of fate stay night we could summon him as a servant and use command seals on him.
  • ratsgnoF
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 06:33 AM)
    yeah put him down! Put him in the coffin!! I’m jumping on the bandwagon! Let’s be mature and just ignore him!
  • AidanAK47
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 03:59 AM)
    @emma, Unless the guy comments on a review I can’t do jack.
    He’s harmless though. Remember that in truth when he calls everyone pathetic, he is really unknowingly referring to himself. I mean the guy goes out of his way to come on this site and insult everyone. Pretty sure he has been banned twice before and yet the guy keeps coming back. Really only someone with no life does that.
  • Emma
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 03:39 AM)
    @Aidan: Please ban and block Kevin like you said you would
    I hate him.
  • AidanAK47
    (Friday, Jul 3. 2015 03:32 AM)
    Crap, forgot the rating.
    Well with Gangsta and Rampo this is a strong start to the anime season.

1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · »

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ROBOTECH Technical Files
by Pieter Thomassen and Rob Morgenstern, with Peter Walker

Zentraedi Liewneuatzs class Personnel Shuttle

Zentraedi Seal
Zentraedi Shuttle
Aircraft Separator

I. Dimensions:

II. Type:

III. Service History:

IV. Propulsion:

V. Performance:

VI. Sensory Systems:

Radar tracking:
Optical tracking:
Tactical Electronic Warfare System (TEWS):

(*) Terran designation. The Tirolian designers considered the sensors part of the design and did not assign separate designations for these systems.

VII. Armament:

VIII. Armor:

The hull of the Liewneuatzs shuttle could resist repeated re-entries into an atmosphere. The Liewneuatzs did not mount any armor as such.

IX. Development:

The Liewneuatzs shuttle was used by the Zentraedi forces to transfer cargo and personnel between near-by ships and bases. The Liewneuatzs was capable of descending to and ascending from a planetary surface. The shuttles also saw use as high speed couriers due to their speed and maneuverability.

The shuttle was of very simple construction. The main hull was rectangular, with four main engines in the back, two more engines underneath the hull in the sponsons. Two more engines, used almost exclusively for orbital ascends, were placed in the upper rear of the shuttle. Numerous attitude and maneuvering thrusters were located over the hull of the craft, with two main braking engines in the extreme nose. Five reaction mass tanks were mounted partially externally on the rear half of the hull. The propulsion installation also included an anti-gravity pods, making the Liewneuatzs capable of unlimited hovering and slow ascends without using significant quantities of reaction mass.

See additional design notes.

Return to Zentraedi auxiliary Aircraft Index.

Go to Robotech Reference Guide Home Page.

Robotech (R) is the property of Harmony Gold. This document is in no way intended to infringe upon their rights.

Content by Pieter Thomassen and Robert Morgenstern, with Peter Walker
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Copyright © 2000, 1999, 1997 Robert Morgenstern, Pieter Thomassen, Peter Walker


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1.  Measuring the fate of plant diversity: towards a foundation for future monitoring and opportunities for urgent action
Vascular plants are often considered to be among the better known large groups of organisms, but gaps in the available baseline data are extensive, and recent estimates of total known (described) seed plant species range from 200 000 to 422 000. Of these, global assessments of conservation status using International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) categories and criteria are available for only approximately 10 000 species. In response to recommendations from the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity to develop biodiversity indicators based on changes in the status of threatened species, and trends in the abundance and distribution of selected species, we examine how existing data, in combination with limited new data collection, can be used to maximum effect. We argue that future work should produce Red List Indices based on a representative subset of plant species so that the limited resources currently available are directed towards redressing taxonomic and geographical biases apparent in existing datasets. Sampling the data held in the world's major herbaria, in combination with Geographical Information Systems techniques, can produce preliminary conservation assessments and help to direct selective survey work using existing field networks to verify distributions and gather population data. Such data can also be used to backcast threats and potential distributions through time. We outline an approach that could result in: (i) preliminary assessments of the conservation status of tens of thousands of species not previously assessed, (ii) significant enhancements in the coverage and representation of plant species on the IUCN Red List, and (iii) repeat and/or retrospective assessments for a significant proportion of these. This would result in more robust Sampled Red List Indices that can be defended as more representative of plant diversity as a whole; and eventually, comprehensive assessments at species level for one or more major families of angiosperms. The combined results would allow scientifically defensible generalizations about the current status of plant diversity by 2010 as well as tentative comments on trends. Together with other efforts already underway, this approach would establish a firmer basis for ongoing monitoring of the status of plant diversity beyond 2010 and a basis for comparison with the trend data available for vertebrates.
PMCID: PMC1569457  PMID: 15814350
global biodiversity; species richness; conservation assessments; extinction risk; IUCN Red List; Living Planet Index

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Rx Drug Abuse: State task force fights prescription drug abuse

Editor’s Note: This article is part of a series produced by the Southwest Times Record in Fort Smith. The entire series will be published online at Next: State establishes Arkansas Prescription Monitoring Program.

To curtail the state’s most emergent drug threat, the Arkansas office of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration created a tactical diversion squad in April 2012 that focuses on prescription drug abuse.

The squad, made up of one group supervisor, three special agent positions and six task force officers, operates out of the state DEA office in Little Rock and works with law enforcement agencies all over Arkansas, said Bill Bryant, assistant special agent in charge.

“In Arkansas, hydrocodone is probably the most abused drug, just as it is nationwide. Oxycodone or the stronger pain medications that are Schedule II, they’re highly abused too,” Bryant said. “We tend to focus on the ones that are highly abused.”

Cpl. Paul Smith of the Fort Smith Police Department’s Narcotic Unit said his office stays in close contact with the diversion squad.

“They forward us information if they get complaints up in this area. If it’s something that’s going to be an in-depth, long investigation, we forward it down to them,” Smith said. “But we haven’t had any up here that we really haven’t been able to handle ourselves.”

Agents with the squad use a variety of methods to curtail prescription drug abuse, focusing primarily on drug distributors.

“Just like narcotics investigators investigate distributors of cocaine, marijuana and heroin, we investigate distributors of prescription pills,” said special agent Anthony Lemons, group supervisor. “We work organizations just like any other narcotics investigator would work on the investigation of a cocaine trafficker.”

The emergence of the diversion squad reflects a change in law enforcement made to counter the evolution in criminal drug activity, Lemons said.

“We’ve worked cases where guys discontinued distributing cocaine and only started distributing prescription pills because there’s more demand for it,” Lemons said. “It’s a huge threat. It’s only second to marijuana in abuse — even before cocaine, or heroin or anything else.”

Abusers can get their hands on prescription drugs in a number of ways, Bryant said, keeping the task force busy all over the state.

“Unfortunately, we do run into crooked doctors. They’re arrested just like any other profession,” Bryant said. “Between doctor shopping, thefts, pharmacy break-ins — any way that they can get them — especially with drugs like the Oxycodone pill, they’re going for about a dollar a milligram. So if you’ve got an 80-milligram Oxycodone pill, that’s selling for $80 on the street for one pill.”

In 2011, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 304, which authorized the creation of the state’s Prescription Drug Monitoring Program. The program went into effect March 1 and aims to prevent prescription drug abusers from getting multiple prescriptions for the same drug.

“It’s in the very preliminary stages of getting off the ground,” Arkansas Drug Director Fran Flener said. “They’re collecting information from all the pharmacists to establish a database, so that when a physician goes online they will be able to see any scheduled prescription that a patient of theirs has been given within the state of Arkansas.”

Flener said authorities are doing what they can to keep up with the state’s fastest-growing drug problem.

“This trend has come on so fast and increased so fast that everybody is in a huge learning curve. But I do feel like awareness of the problem is at an all-time high within the state,” Flener said. “It’s just an ever-expanding circle of people who have some sort of involvement with this problem.”

The North Little Rock Times, Sherwood Voice, Maumelle Monitor, and Jacksonville Patriot websites are available only to print and digital subscribers. If you are already a subscriber, you can access these websites at no additional charge.


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Friday, September 01, 2006

Top Ten Cloves: Things That Could Go Wrong With The Pentagon Monitoring The Media In Iraq

News Item: Pentagon Moves Toward Monitoring Media

10. New CBS Anchor Katie Couric gets her first big scoop, that military generals are many pounds heavier due to Pentagon airbrushing their photos

9. End up recommending to President to invade France, citing the reams of news reports and internet chatter about “Paris

8. Whole program crashes the first time they monitor and fact check an Ann Coulter piece

7. May make reporters dip fingers in purple ink after writing a good story

6. Situation in Iraq gets further bogged down when terrorists start flooding media with fake news stories

5. Could lead to retired newspaper editors joining with retired generals in calling for Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to resign

4. Having to use the word “Byline” will make a number of generals uncomfortable, believing they may be violating the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy

3. Thought new policy was “Adapting To Win”; Monitoring media seems more like “Staying The Course

2. Major scandal, when program it is exposed that Secretary Rumsfeld is just trying to find out who the appeasers are

1. Hmmm ... What exactly are we going to monitor? Aren’t we already paying the media in Iraq to write good stories?

The Pentagon is said to be sparing no expense and employing propriatary, state-of-the-art equipment and resources for monitoring the media in Iraq

Thursday, August 31, 2006

Garlic Exclusive! New RNC/GOP Theme Song For Midterms

Garlic Exclusive! New RNC/GOP Theme Song For Midterms

Sources tell The Garlic that the RNC and GOP are rolling out a new rallying theme song - It’s A Fascist World After All - for their charge into the midterm elections.

It was to have been ready at the beginning of this week, for the speeches given by Vice President Dick Cheney and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld but a late decision was made to hold off and wait, to use with President Bush’s new Bushapalooza kick-off slated for today

Sing along - you all know the tune (and if you need the help of a musical accompaniment, click here)

It’s A Fascist World After All

It's a world of terrorists
A world of tears
It's a world of hopes
And a world of fears
There's so much that we ensnare
That it's time we're all aware
It's a fascist world after all

There is just one war
And one golden gun
And a speech from Bush means
Fear to everyone
The goal is to divide
With no laws to abide
It's a fascist world after all

It's a fascist world after all
It's a fascist world after all
It's a fascist world after all
It's a fascist, fascist world

The RNC would neither confirm or deny that an appearance by "The Three Terrors" will take place at a yet-to-be-named Midterm campaign event

Wednesday, August 30, 2006

Minced Garlic ... Keith Olbermann Special Comment - Feeling morally, intellectually confused?

Minced Garlic ... Keith Olbermann Special Comment - Feeling morally, intellectually confused?

All day today, after hearing about, and reading, the latest “fear-o-grams” from President Vice President Dick Cheney, and his Vice PresidentSecretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, I could feel another “Garlictorial” percolating - That is until I watched MSNBC’s most prized program - Countdown with Keith Olbermann.

Hence, only Minced Garlic, since the main focus of the post will be Olbermann’s eloquent dissertation.

Cheney and Rumsfeld... Jeez, there are infomercial actors that have stronger morals and higher ethics regarding what they will say on-camera then these two cretins.

Excluding the first 5.5-years of this Bush Administration, we’d have to go back quite a ways (Nixon Presidency? ... McCarthy?) to find an elected, sitting Vice President and a sitting Cabinet member of the United States utter such un-American speech

I suspect it will be tomorrow, or later, before the transcript of Countdown is posted, however, on his Bloggerman Blog, Olbermann has, essentially, the entire tome posted.

He kicks it off with;

The man who sees absolutes, where all other men see nuances and shades of meaning, is either a prophet, or a quack.

Donald H. Rumsfeld is not a prophet.

Read it for yourself

Feeling morally, intellectually confused?

P.S. To borrow from Olbermann and Countdown, if there was a “Best Person In The World” segment, Mr. Olbermann, you would have to be the recipient of it tonight.

There are infomercial actors that have stronger morals and higher ethics regarding what they will say on-camera then these two cretins

Update - More on Keith Olbermann’s Special Comment, with video on Crooks and Liars

Developing Story: Iraqis Fume, Charge Bush With ‘Cutting and Standing”

Bush Promise To Hurricane Victims Inflames Iraqis; May Sue In World Court

Fear Unfinished Job; Maliki Says “He Was Here First” and “He Can’t Stand In Two Places”

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki delivered a blistering criticism of President George Bush late yesterday, charging that Bush, and the United States is “cutting and standing”, and all but abandoning their commitment to “finishing the job here in Iraq.

Maliki believes, as do a significant number of other Iraqis, that President Bush’s pledge yesterday, to hurricane victims in the Gulf Region and New Orleans, that "This anniversary is not an end. And so I come back to say that we will stand with the people of southern Louisiana and southern Mississippi until the job is done," is a clear-cut case that Bush is giving up on Iraq.

“He was here first,” blasted Maliki, “over two-years before that hurricane hit and did more damage to our country than what one-hundred hurricanes could do ... He had us vote and paint our fingers ... He wants us to denounce some of our neighbors and praise others ... Now all Bush wants to do is cut-and-stand ...”

Maliki Says He Has Documentation To Enforce Oral Contract Bush Made

“Well,” continued the inflamed Iraqi Prime Minister, “he can’t stand in two places at once... He’s going to have to stick to his commitment to me and the Iraqi people, above and before all others.”

Maliki, after his speech, indicated that he will consult with the Iraqi government on whether or not to file suit in the Iraq court system, or, possibly, the World Court, against President Bush and seeking holding Bush to his “often-stated” oral contract.”

“We have mountains of documents, news clippings and, with thanks to Senator Bill Frist, a vast videotape collection, of President Bush, repeatedly, stating his commitment to Iraq, promising to “stay until the job is done”. He can’t just waltz away from that now and go finish some other job. By the look of his administration, it appears they like to start jobs but not finish them.”

“Look what he did,” a still agitated Maliki fumed in the halls outside of the Iraqi Parliament. “Bush invades our country and while he’s still waging his war here in Iraq, he goes out and starts another one,” referring to the War On Hurricanes that Bush announced after Hurricane Katrina struck and reaffirmed his commitment to on Monday.

“What’s he calling the hurricanes now,” mocked Maliki, “Meteorological-Fascists?”

Cheney (“Retreat Would Change Policies”) and Rumsfeld (Maliki “Suffering from Moral and Intellectual Confusion”) Push Back

The White House offered no immediate comment, however, Vice President Dick Cheney took issue with Maliki’s criticism.

“I realize, as well, that some in our own country claim retreat from our War On Hurricanes would satisfy the appetite of the Meteorological-Fascists and get them to leave us alone. But the exact opposite is true. Time and again over the last generation, the Meteorological-Fascists have targeted nations whose behavior they believe they can change through violence.”

“In fact,” continued the vice-president, “such a retreat would convince the Meteorological-Fascists, once again, that free nations will change our policies, forsake our friends, and abandon our interests whenever we are confronted with violence and blackmail. They would simply draw up another set of demands, and instruct Americans to act as they direct or to face other murders. A precipitous withdrawal from War On Hurricanes would be a victory for the Meteorological-Fascists, an invitation to further violence against free nations, and a ruinous blow to the future security of the United States.

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld was more direct, and dismissive, of Prime Minister Maliki’s tirade.

‘Goodness,” sighed Rumsfeld, “Somebody’s always yapping about something over there ... We didn’t do this, we didn’t do that ... Why doesn’t this guy get a life ...”

Rumsfeld ridiculed Maliki and lumped him in with other American officials who sought to appease the Nazis before World War II, warning that the nation is confronting "a new type of fascism." and negotiate with Adolf Hitler.

“You know,” continued the Secretary who has resisted all calls to step down, “I think the Prime Minister may be suffering from moral and intellectual confusion, just like all the others who want us to appease this new type of fascism.

"Once again, we face similar challenges in efforts to confront the rising threat of a new type of fascism," Rumsfeld said. "But some seem not to have learned history's lessons."

"Can we,” continued Rumsfeld, “truly afford to believe that, somehow or someway, Meteorological-Fascists could be appeased?"

President Bush, seen here before his speech in New Orleans, practicing imitating a hurricane, has been charged by Iraqi Prime Minister Maliki of "cutting and standing"

Tuesday, August 29, 2006

More Than A Few Cloves ... The Garlic Special - Hurricane Katrina Redux

The Garlic Special - Hurricane Katrina Redux

With today being the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina slamming into the Gulf Coast and, subsequently, in the days that followed, contributed to the flooding of the great city of New Orleans, we reach back into The Garlic’s archives (Hey, it saves you a hour, or so, of using the Search Box and pouring through all the posts) to present all the hard-hitting posts from that time period (and, a little beyond).

As Steven Wright once said that “I put instant coffee in a microwave and almost went back in time”, we’re not sure what a retro look at blog posts might rain down on us, but here they are, in chronological/date-order.

Lastly, perhaps, rather then remembering the sadness and tragedy associated with this date, let’s look at it as a very bright beginning, when the curtain was pulled back from the Orwellian White House, exposing to a much larger number of Americans, the incompetence and arrogance of President George Walker Bush and his administration, a view that becomes brighter and clearer to this very day.

Sunni's Offer Deal To Support Vote In Exchange For Sections of New Orleans

Top Ten Cloves: Other Things Kayne West Knows That President Bush Doesn't Care About

Cheney To Visit, Beef Up New Orleans Security; Will Patrol and Bring Law and Order; Also Paving Way For Halliburton Contracts

Justice Dept. Swamped With Flood, Hurricane Confessions; Thousands Say They Are To Blame; White House Orders Log Kept For Future Use

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard On Vice President Cheney's Tour of Hurricane Region

Patronage Group Protests Brown Demotion

Bush Taps 'America's Fire Chief' As Temp FEMA Honcho; Paulison Takes Helm During Crises; Calls For Pronto Shipments of Duct Tape and Plastic

Top Ten Cloves: What Mike Brown Is Going To Do Now That He Resigned

Top Ten Cloves: Reasons President Bush Took Responsibility For Federal Response To Hurricane Disaster

Top Ten Cloves: How Martha Stewart Would Have Responded To Hurricane Katrina If She Ran FEMA

Bush To Announce War On Hurricanes; Prime-Time Speech Hints At Ties To Al-Qaeda

President's Speech Lets Millions See St. Louis Cathedral For First Time

President Accepting Blame For New Storm In Advance; Says "Not Waiting For FEMA To Screw Up"; Lights, Generators Packed For Another Prime Time Speech

White House In Disarray; Bush Torn Between Visiting Texas or New Orleans

Cable News Giants Considering All-Hurricane Channel

New White House Riff As First Lady Forced To Visit Hurricane Zone

Disney Tosses Hat Into Hurricane Ring; Said To Make Bid To Purchase New Orleans

Nagin Takes Back Apology; Sets Sights On Building Imported Chocolate City

White House Burns Midnight Oil As President Loads Up On "Unvarnished Advice"

Top Ten Cloves: Ways White House Will Try To Do Damage Control On Hurricane Video

Monday, August 28, 2006

Breaking News! President Calls Hurricanes Meteorological-Fascists

With Katrina Anniversary Comes Bush Move To Push Hurricane Season Back

Cites Potential To “Disrupt Too Many Vacations”; Reaffirms War, Adjusting To Win Against Powerful Storms

With President Bush expected to deliver speeches today, and tomorrow, in Mississippi and Louisiana, to mark the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, a major White House initiative will be announced, with the President declaring he will ask Congress to push back the Hurricane season.

In an advance copy of the speeches obtained by The Garlic, the President will use the occasion to reaffirm his “War On Hurricanes”, to counter critics, both in the Gulf Region, and in Washington, that say the White House has done little to move the rebuilding and healing along.

Shortly after Katrina struck, the White House announced the war, setting up “WOH”, a joint operation, shared between the Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Military.

At the press conference announcing the operation, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld lamented that “you fight the hurricanes you have, not the hurricanes you wished you had.”

The speech, or the White House, makes no reference to the President also reaffirming taking the blame for any storms this Hurricane Season, or if he will give his speeches from a backlit landmark

Bush Jabs Democrats; Blames Poor Response On Hurricane Hitting During Heavy Vacation Period

In his speech, the President will say that “there are some that say we should pull back from the hurricanes ... that we should get out of their way,” in what is intended as a jab against the Democrats.

‘I say no,” continues the President. “We need to finish the job ... We need to fight them over there so as we don’t have to fight them here ... So that they don’t follow us home. It’s not time to cut-and-run against these hurricanes ... It’s time to adapt ... To change our strategies ... The hurricanes are watching and listening to us, and adapting to that so we have to counter and do the same ... Adapting to win is our goal, not cutting-and-running, as some here in Washington would have us do ...”

From the speeches, the President believes that the major problem with Katrina was too many Federal employees were on vacation, or had other plans for the long Labor Day weekend and were not available.

“Hey, I’m a compassionate kind of guy,” says the President. “I can understand that ... I was on vacation too ... You know, away from the office for some rest and relaxation ... Something I like to do ... Something a lot of Americans like to do ... And when you’re on vacation, you, kind of, leave the office behind you ... You don’t have all your tools with you - cell phones, Blackberries and the like ...”

“Meteorological-Fascists”; Call To Push Hurricane Season Back To February

“And you need these tools to fight something like a hurricane ... You need a lot of tools to fight these monsters ... These meteorological-fascists ...”

Near the end of the speeches, the President will offer that, once Congress is back in session, he will submit a bill calling for officially moving the Hurricane Season to February, chiefly due to “it’s the shortest month of the year and not a lot of people take vacations in February. It won’t be disruptive to the Federal Government’s vacation schedule”

“We’ll have a better window to concentrate our resources and defeat these storms ... These meteorological-fascists who don’t appreciate freedom and wants to change our lives ... That won’t happen as long as I am President ... We will stay until the job is done."

We Want Brownie!

In related news, the White House says it does expect criticism and protests at the President’s speeches, with one group, Political Patronage Association, saying they will be there, in full force, to urge the President to rehire former FEMA Director Michael Brown

In advance of the President’s arrival in the Gulf Region, both FEMA and DHS officials will be meeting with officials in the area, to counter the PPA’s support of Brown, to announce that it is no longer the department’s policy to use the drug crystal methamphetamine to aid evacuations, a policy Brown admitted to employing during the recovery efforts.

Top Ten Cloves: Things Overheard At The Emmy’s Last Night

News Item: Sometimes on Television, Dreams Really Do Come True

10. If Ellen Burstyn wins, you know the race is on for someone else to get nominated or win for 10-seconds of work

9. I already know who’s going to win tonight - Rich Armitage called me earlier today...

8. I though Bob Newhart was dead already

7. I heard that CBS is going to sign the Spellings, right here, tonight, for a new Survivor - The Spellings War ... Aaron would love it!

6. Thank God he quit and we don’t have to “love Raymond” this year

5. Watch when Julia Louis-Dreyfus goes up on stage ... That wasn’t her Elaine character, that’s the way she really dances

4. Conan is hosting? You mean Schwarzenegger is going to be here?

3. Look, over there ... Leary’s saved a bunch of seats for his dead ghost buddies from Rescue Me

2. I heard Vice President Dick Cheney say today that winning an Emmy “emboldens Al Qaeda-types

1. We’re gonna be trapped in here for about three-hours ... I hope they give us a few JonBenet Ramsey updates

Sunday, August 27, 2006

Weekend Special - Sautéed Cloves 27 August 2006

Nobel Prize-winning author Guenther Grass has been hit with new controversial charges, as HDNet Anchor and Reporter Dan Rather says he has "authentic papers" showing that, when serving in the Texas Army National Guard, Grass received preferential treatment, rarely reported for duty and left the program, yet received high marks and an honorable discharge

Senator Joe Lieberman (I&R-CT)
is eagerly awaiting a ruling due this week, from the Federal Election Commission, on whether he is a candidate for reelection, or a "dwarf candidate" that would not be eligible to stay in the big campaign

Washington Post reporter and author Bob Woodward
disclosed today to his editors, for the first time, that he knew of Hurricane Katrina in advance, but choose not to write about it, or tell anyone, for fear of actually having to go down to flooded New Orleans on assignment

Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld delivered more bad news, telling the Russian American Colony Singers from Anchorage, Alaska that they would have to serve a tour of duty in Iraq. The group was stunned, believing they were meeting Rumsfeld as part of the festivities for a memorial of the Alaska-Siberia Lend Lease program

The Bush Administration is defending its budget cuts to fight the Avian Bird Flu Pandemic, citing a controversial program in Europe, which claims to have trained birds to wash themselves in public drinking fountains

Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr blasted the CBS network with charges of prejudice and profiling, for not including any Arab-American teams in their latest incarnation of 'Survivor', which will pit other races against each other

We Don’t Have To Show You No Court Order ... The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll August 20 - August 26 2006

Court Order? ... We Ain’t Got No Court Order? ... We Don’t Need No Court Order! ... We Don’t Have To Show You No Court Order! ...

Whether it’s Alphonso Bedoya, or Attorney General Albert Gonzales, Vice President Dick Cheney, or President Bush, our Garlic Poll Voters believe it will be business-as-usual, despite a Federal Court declaring the Administration’s “Terrorist Surveillance Program ” illegal and unconstitutional - and it was with an overwhelming margin of votes

The Results - The Garlic's Weekly Poll August 20 - August 26 2006

With the Federal Court in Michigan slapping down President Bush’s illegal wiretapping last week, the White House is likely to...

1. Continue wiretapping, as usual, without Congressional or FISA Court oversight ... Tally - 51%

2. Start bombing Iran, to push this off the front pages, and push the President approval rating up (into the high-30’s, at least) ... Tally - 18%

3. Outsource the wiretapping to the British, who conduct it within the law, and, seemingly, they actually catch terrorists with it ... Tally - 16%

4. Rally the base, blaming the Ned Lamont victory, into a frenzy with another round of Justice Sundays, decrying the Democrats and liberal courts who want to give in to the terrorist ... Tally - 14%

This week’s Poll - With the first-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina this week, the most outrageous act the White House is likely to undertake is ...

Scroll up to the top right corner to place your vote

Memo To President - When a hurricane appears in the Gulf of Mexico, and it's nearly half the size of the Gulf of Mexico, you need to cancel your vacation and get your ass back to Washington to mobilize the massive aid that's going to be needed


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Multidisciplinary treatment of desmoid tumours in Gardner’s syndrome due to a large interstitial deletion of chromosome 5q

M. Casper , E. Petek , W. Henn , M. Niewald , G. Schneider , V. Zimmer , F. Lammert , J. Raedle
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/qjmed/hcu036 521-527 First published online: 19 February 2014

Background and aims: Classic autosomal-dominant familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is clinically defined by the development of hundreds to thousands of colorectal adenomas beginning in childhood and adolescence. A variant of FAP characterized by polyposis in combination with osteomas or soft tissue tumours is called Gardner’s syndrome. FAP is caused by germline inactivation of the APC (adenomatous polyposis coli) tumour-suppressor gene located on the long arm of chromosome 5 (5q21–5q22). Cytogenetically visible deletions of chromosome 5q encompassing APC have very rarely been reported. Here, we aimed to phenotypically and genetically characterize a patient with a heterozygous 5q deletion resulting in Gardner’s syndrome.

Methods and results: A 26-year-old female patient with mild mental handicap and dysmorphic features due to a cytogenetically visible deletion on chromosome 5q (microscopically estimated region 5q14–5q23) presented at our tertiary referral centre because of mild adenomatous polyposis (<500 polyps). Twenty months after prophylactic proctocolectomy with definitive ileostomy, three rapidly growing desmoids were observed. Tumour-associated complications necessitated a multidisciplinary approach including medical treatment, surgery and radiation therapy. The characterization of the deletion by comparative genomic hybridization identified a large 5q deletion expanding over a 20-Mb region (5q21.3–5q23.3) including the APC gene.

Conclusion: Chromosome deletions must be suspected in patients presenting with FAP together with mental handicap and dysmorphic features. This case also impressively shows that FAP-associated desmoids need multimodal treatment taking into account the patient’s individual symptoms, disease progression and tumour location.

Classic autosomal-dominant familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is defined by the development of hundreds to thousands of colorectal adenomas in childhood and adolescence with extremely high risk for colorectal cancer.1 FAP is caused by germline inactivation of the APC (adenomatous polyposis coli) tumour-suppressor gene (NC_000005) located on the long arm of chromosome 5 (5q21–5q22).2 In most cases the disease is inherited as an autosomal-dominant trait with near complete penetrance, but de novo-mutations are responsible for about 25–30% of cases.3 In addition to common truncating mutations, gross alterations such as exon deletions or whole gene deletions have been described.4 However, the prevalence of these large deletions may be underestimated as they are difficult to detect by using standard sequencing methods.5

Besides colorectal adenomas, many benign (e.g. duodenal and small bowel adenomas, gastric fundic gland polyps, osteomas, dental abnormalities, congenital hypertrophy of the retinal pigment epithelium, desmoid tumours, cutaneous lesions) as well as malignant extracolonic manifestations (duodenal adenocarcinoma, thyroid carcinoma, hepatoblastoma, central nervous system tumours) exist.6–8 The specific combination of colorectal adenomatous polyposis with osteomas and soft tissue tumours is called Gardner’s syndrome.6

Here, we present a patient suffering from Gardner’s syndrome due to a large interstitial 5q deletion spanning more than 20 Mb which could be characterized in detail by a comparative genomic hybridization (CGH) array. In addition to a detailed description of the phenotype, we present the patient’s complicated medical history and discuss the treatment options for FAP-related desmoids.

Methods and results

Case history with regard to FAP

A 26-year-old female patient (174 cm, 64 kg) with mild mental handicap and dysmorphic features (Figure 1A1 and A2) presented at our tertiary referral centre because of a positive faecal occult blood test. Colonoscopy uncovered polyposis with <500 colorectal polyps up to 15 mm in size throughout the entire colorectum (histologically tubular and tubulovillous adenomas with low grade and focal high grade intraepithelial neoplasia) (Figure 1B1). When FAP was suspected, oesophagogastroduodenoscopy identified numerous gastric fundic gland polyps (Figure 1B2). Moreover, several small duodenal adenomas (Spigelman stage II) were removed (Figure 1B3). Extensive work-up for extra-intestinal manifestations identified several radiopaque lower jaw lesions representing osteomas, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the abdomen identified a small adrenal tumour on the right side compatible with endocrine-inactive adrenal adenoma.

Figure 1.

Phenotypic characterization. (A) Photographs: Portrait of the patient at the age of 3 (A1) and 29 (A2) years. The mild facial dysmorphism includes low-set dysplastic ears, brachycephaly, relative prognathism, hypertelorism, high forehead, down-slanting palpebral fissures and drooping corners of the mouth. (B) Endoscopy: Colonoscopy identified mild colorectal polyposis (B1). Oesophagogastroduodenoscopy revealed many gastric fundic gland polyps (B2) as well as duodenal polyposis Spigelman grade II (B3).

Two months after diagnosis the patient underwent total proctocolectomy with definitive ileostomy. Twenty months after proctocolectomy a large palpable abdominal mass nearby the ileostomy was detected. MRI revealed a tumour of 10 × 9 × 6 cm deriving from the left rectus sheath (Figure 2A1). Two additional tumours with identical characteristics in MRI were found in the right fossa iliaca (Figure 2A1–3) (7 cm in largest diameter) and the mesentery (left paramedian; 2.8 cm in largest diameter) (Figure 2B). As these lesions were compatible with desmoids, an anti-proliferative therapy with celecoxib (200 mg b.i.d.) and tamoxifen (40 mg t.i.d.) was initiated. Imaging 3 months later visualized significant tumour growth (largest diameter 13, 9 and 3 cm, respectively). A developing intestinal obstruction due to compression of the ileostomy between the two largest desmoids and compression of the ureter necessitated surgical treatment 4 months after the initial diagnosis. The ileostomy and 50 cm of the terminal ileum had to be resected together with the two large desmoids (proliferation rate of 5%). The smallest tumour in the mesentery was functionally unresectable. Nevertheless, the patient postoperatively suffered from short bowel syndrome with watery diarrhoea and loss of 6 kg body weight. Symptomatic therapy with loperamide and colestyramine as well as supplementation with high caloric drinks, vitamins and micronutrients led to stabilization of the nutritional status. However, 4 months after tumour debulking the remaining desmoid doubled its size (Figure 2B1).

Figure 2.

MRI presentation of the desmoid tumours. (A) Initial presentation. MRI of the abdomen using the single-shot T2-weighted HASTE sequence (A1) demonstrates two large masses (marked by arrows; left rectus sheath and right iliac fossa) with inhomogeneous hyperintense signal intensity, with the larger lesion demonstrating central cystic appearing areas. On the corresponding T1-weighted unenhanced image (A2), the lesions show low signal intensity with even more hypointense central areas within the larger lesion. After contrast medium (MultiHance 0.1 mmol/kg) the T1-weighted fat suppressed images (A3) reveal homogeneous enhancement except for the central areas of the larger lesion, which were compatible with cystic or necrotic areas. (B) Initial and post-radiation follow-up appearance of the mesenterial desmoid tumour. Shown are T1-weighted contrast enhanced MRI images of the remaining small mesenteric desmoid (marked by an arrow). Note the homogeneous contrast enhancement (MultiHance 0.1 mmol/kg) of the tumour in 2007 (B1), which is rather typical for desmoid tumours. On the image (B2) immediately post-radiation in 2009 the tumour shows an increasing size, again with homogeneous contrast enhancement. In contrast, the post-radiation follow-up image 3 years later (B3) demonstrated a clear shrinking of the tumour without contrast enhancement indicating fibrous transformation without significant vascular perfusion.

Because of this tumour growth radiotherapy was indicated interdisciplimarily. After computerized tomography and a 3D-conformal planning procedure, the tumour region was treated applying a total dose of 45 Gy in daily single fractions of 1.8 Gy within 41 days using a box technique with 23-MV photon beams. Adjacent small bowel loops could not be spared technically, thus the dose was limited to 45 Gy. Acute side effects of radiotherapy consisted of hyperpigmentation and dry desquamation in the dorsal field, furthermore radiation enteritis with an acute decompensation of the previously compensated short bowel syndrome and acute renal failure with need for interim parenteral nutrition occurred.

Interestingly, the tumour’s size progressively decreased over a 4-year period after radiotherapy (3.5 × 2 cm with only residual contrast enhancement in the last MRI) (Figure 2B2 and B3) under continuous antiproliferative therapy. The nutritional status as well as the stool frequency stabilized over time.

Developmental aspects

The patient was born in 1979 as the second child of healthy and unrelated parents (27 and 30 years old). Her brother was born in 1970 and showed a normal development. The pregnancy was uneventful, and the patient was born by instrumentally assisted vaginal delivery. APGAR scores were recorded as 8/9/9, weight was 3170 g, and length was 50 cm. Although postnatal oedema completely disappeared over several weeks, muscular hypotonia persisted. A mild facial dysmorphism included low-set dysplastic ears, brachycephaly, relative prognathism, hypertelorism, high forehead, down-slanting palpebral fissures and drooping corners of the mouth (Figure 1A1 and A2). Additional dysmorphic features were a clubfoot, congenital hip dysplasia and a crossed renal dystopia with fusion. Moreover, a statomotoric and ideomuscular retardation as well as mild mental retardation became evident. Physical development (height174 cm) was unremarkable and there were no significant behavioural problems. The patient began to speak a few words at the age of 12 months. Some speech articulation difficulties have persisted until now. As child the patient was able to sit alone with 12 months and to run with 24 months. In conclusion, there was a slow, but steady progress in general development through intensive education. Mental development was more favourable than initially suspected so that the patient visited a special-needs school and learned to write and read. Actually she works in a sheltered workshop.

The dysmorphic features and the developmental delay led to the suspicion of an unbalanced chromosomal aberration. After genetic counselling, conventional cytogenetic studies of the patient and her family were performed in 1981. The microscopic chromosome analysis (G-banding using trypsin and Giemsa) revealed the presence of a female karyotype (46XX) with shortening of the large dark band (5q14–5q23) in the middle portion of the long arm of one chromosome 5 (Figure 3A). The deletion could not be determined exactly with the existing methods in those days. Both parents and the healthy brother showed a normal karyotype so that a de novo interstitial 5q deletion was assumed.

Figure 3.

Genetic studies. (A) Conventional cytogenetics: partial karyotype (trypsin banding) of the normal and the mutated chromosomes 5. The region of the deletion (shortened dark band in the middle portion of the long arm) is indicated by an arrow. (B) Array-CGH: given is the representative genome-wide array-CGH profile (Agilent 60k CGH chip; Agilent Genomic Workbench 6.0) obtained from the patient’s genomic DNA. The deleted genomic region 5q21.3–5q23.3 is indicated by the grey bar (schematic chromosome lower panel). The minimal loss expands over a 20.21-Mb region. The ratio profile (upper panel) shows more details of the region of interest (deleted region marked in grey). Grey dots on level −1 symbolize genetic markers lost in the patient’s DNA, whereas black dots on level 0 are used in case of an equal DNA amount in patient sample and reference specimen. Abbreviations stand for genes located to this region.

When the patient presented again with colorectal polyposis several years later the deletion was re-evaluated using CGH. After DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) extraction from peripheral blood lymphocytes, a CGH array using an Agilent 60k CGH chip on the Agilent Genomic Workbench 6.0 identified a loss of the genomic segment 5q21.3–5q23.3. The deletion minimally expands over a 20.21-Mb region spanning 64 genes [coordinates: (107111854_107206183)–(127742453_127795643); human genome freeze 18] including the APC gene.

In up to 30% of classic FAP patients, no mutation can be found using standard mutation screening methods.9 A large proportion (12–48%) of these patients with classical FAP but absence of dysmorphic features or mental retardation are affected from large submicroscopic APC deletions.4,5,9,10 In contrast to submicroscopic APC deletions, cytogenetically visible interstitial deletions of the middle portion of chromosome 5q are very rare. Most of these deletions are de novo alterations.11 So far, about 40 patients with interstitial 5q deletion syndrome have been reported,11–14 but molecular cytogenetic characterizations have only been performed in very few cases.11–22 To our knowledge, this is the third patient whose deletion has exactly been determined using a CGH array.14,22

Based on the published reports a phenotypical differentiation into a proximal and a distal 5q deletion syndrome has been established.11,12,16 The proximal phenotype (5q15–5q22) is characterized by a mild mental retardation, slight dysmorphic features and further organ abnormalities such as horseshoe kidneys. Patients with distal 5q deletion (5q22–5q31) suffer from a severe developmental delay, severe mental handicap, failure to thrive and hypotonia. In addition, significant facial dysmorphism and variable organ abnormalities have been reported.11,14 However, phenotype–genotype correlations may be biased by poor characterization of the deleted segment in most of the previous reports because of the fact that the exact determination of breakpoints by conventional cytogenetic is difficult, in particular on chromosome 5q (three G-positive metaphase bands of almost equal size; 5q14, 5q21, 5q23). The patient reported here shows features of both, the proximal and the distal phenotype; consistent with this the deletion identified (5q21.3–5q23.3) encompasses the junction between the proximal and distal portion of chromosome 5q. Some other patients with deletions affecting this central region of chromosome 5q (5q21–5q23) have been reported.12,17,22 Similarities found in our patient as well as in at least one of the other patients are mild mental retardation and speech defect, hypotonia and psychomotor retardation. In line with our observations, facial dysmorphism was rather subtle.

So far, only 16 patients with FAP caused by large chromosome 5q deletions have been published.12,15–18,22–27 All but one of them27 had classical FAP. Moreover, 10 of 17 patients (including our patient) had extraintestinal manifestations belonging to the Gardner’s syndrome tumour spectrum. Desmoids were observed in only 4 of 17 patients. However, this frequency may be biased as some patients were not extensively worked-up and especially the post-colectomy follow-up period was relatively short. In conclusion, large 5q deletions encompassing APC may typically lead to the clinical picture of mild mental retardation and dysmorphism, classical but not profuse adenomatous polyposis, and a high risk for extraintestinal manifestations, especially osteomas and soft tissue tumours.

Desmoid tumours are benign, monoclonal myofibroblastic neoplasms also called aggressive fibromatoses that grow slowly but infiltrative and thus can cause major complications by compression of tumour adjacent structures or massive bleeding.1,8 Although most of them arise sporadically, 10–15% of FAP patients have desmoids,1,8,28 with a predominant intra-abdominal localization most often in the small bowel mesentery.8,28,29,30 Significant risk factors for their development in FAP are an APC mutation 3′ of codon 1444, a positive family history and intra-abdominal surgery.29

The treatment of desmoids is difficult as information from controlled clinical trials is lacking and tumours show a variable disease course.8 Watchful waiting with short-term follow-up may be acceptable in patients with stable and asymptomatic desmoids.8,28 Intra-abdominal desmoids or abdominal wall desmoids with direct contact to vital structures as seen in our case are a major therapeutic challenge and are associated with a high risk of tumour recurrence because of incomplete resection and significant morbidity.8,28,30 Thus, in FAP patients medical treatment strategies represent the first-line treatment option in most cases. The treatment regimen with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (celecoxib 200 mg b.i.d.) and anti-estrogens (tamoxifen 40 mg t.i.d.) started in our patient has recently been shown31 to result in tumour stabilization or regression in 50% of patients. Other systemic treatment options include tyrosine kinase inhibitors, such as imatinib or chemotherapy.8 In our patient, disease progression under medical therapy with an imminent ileus as life-threatening complication necessitated immediate surgery. Excessive growth of the remaining desmoid tumour after complete resection of two desmoids required further treatment.

An appropriate and effective treatment option for symptomatic desmoids is radiation therapy. A recent phase II EORTC-trial published by Keus et al.32 examining 41 patients with desmoids of the extremities and the trunk (dose 56 Gy in 28 fractions) showed a 3-year local control rate of >80%. The most frequent best local result during follow-up was stable disease in 41% followed by partial remission in 36% and complete remission in 14%. In our patient, radiation together with ongoing medical treatment led to slow but significant tumour regression over a 4-year period. Despite the low level of evidence, radiation therapy should be evaluated as reasonable therapeutic alternative in unresectable abdominal desmoids after failure of systemic treatment options although time to regression may be quite long.28

As shown here, chromosome deletions are to be suspected in patients presenting with FAP together with mental handicap and mild dysmorphic features. This case also impressively shows that FAP-associated desmoids need multimodal treatment taking into account the patient’s individual symptoms, disease progression and tumour location.

The authors thank the patient and her family for providing graphical material and for their agreement for publication.

Conflict of interest: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest or financial interests related to the manuscript. The patient and her parents agreed to publication.

View Abstract


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The 2013 New York Skateboarding Year in Review: 10-6

December 27th, 2013 | 12:12 pm | Features & Interviews | 6 Comments

blubba tricks

Hope everyone had a good Christmas. Let’s get this thing done with.

Previously: #s 25-21, #s 20-16, #s 15-11, The Year in T.F. Obstacles

10. Skating Over Black Hubba Becomes a “Thing”

2013 was filled with benchmark moments that emphasized just how fast skateboarding is progressing: Ishod’s versatility among three parts, Nigel Hudsons’ superhumanness, Westgate’s aversion to physics, and Mark Suciu’s career-worth-of-footage-in-12-months productivity. In New York, life moves a bit faster, but as a result, skating progresses, much, much slower. Everything is five years behind if you want to be generous, ten if you want to be a dick about it.

Our moment came on a smaller level. Filming on Black Hubba has seemed kinda silly ever since Riley Hawk saw it fit to do, like, a bluntslide varial flip down it. Good skateboarders had officially run out of tricks to do there — except now people are good enough to skate over it. Olson kickflipped over it three years ago, but things ramped up this year with a front three, a nollie back 180, a backside flip, and two switch flips.

9. Bobby Puleo Smashes the Most Cellar Doors in a Part Record

Puleo shocked skrelly banditos in 2013 by releasing his most cellar door dependent video part yet. Some of the surprise was due to nobody being aware he was even filming a part (a miracle in the internet age!), but more of it came from those who were just getting caught up with finding the spots from the *last* Puleo part.

Just like Banksy gave people who don’t go to East New York a reason to go to East New York this year (only to find the coveted art masked by a box), lord knows what neighborhoods this part sent overeager spot sharks gunning out to.

8. Shawn Powers: Message Board Enemy #1

powers riri

This was without a doubt, the most rumor-heavy year of the skateboard-internet era. Yet somehow, the internet outrage machine afforded Shawn Powers and his Palace intro part nearly as much airtime as the biggest sponsor resignations.

6 Slap pages @ 30 posts a page = 180 posts + 762 Sidewalk Forum posts = 942 opinions on Shawn Powers, life, love, art, New York’s aforementioned sluggish progression, West Indian pop diva romances, infant safety, #authenticity, #branding and #marketing, which brings us to the age-old question: do ppl who post on Slap (or Sidewalk) have friends IRL?

7. Vine / Instagram Video

In 2010, Bill Strobeck named “Poaching at an all-time high in the day of the iPhone” as the second worst thing about filming. Has every filmer’s life since imploded with the advent of easy share video technology? 2013 featured more-progressive-than-usual thinking from the record industry (and Bobby Puleo) by which they released Kanye, Jay-Z and Beyonce albums with little lead-up to minimize leaks, so does this mean skate companies will be forced to finally stop taking five goddamn years to make a video?

6. The Real Demise of 12th & A

Let’s keep this one positive…it is amazing it lasted that long. Installed in spring 2009 on top of the jankiest wooden frames ever, no one ever thought the ledges would hold up for four years. Beyond their structure, there was a neighborhood association meeting to shut the park down every few months, which the skaters were motivated enough to leave the comforts of their dollar slice and repeatedly show up for in big numbers. Thanks to Billy and everyone else for a fun four years.

And everyone knows 12th & A will never truly die, unless of course they build a Duane Reade on top of it.

Bonus Mini Five — Predictions For 2014:
5. Habitat goes on an American tour, and skaters throughout the country begin forcibly declining Mark Suciu entry at their respective city limits as to maintain a reason for living.
4. Three teams make the eastern conference playoffs with losing records, the Knicks being one of them.
3. Blue chinos become the new brown chinos. Blue is the warmest chino ;)
2. Via the latest Gino clip: Long frontside boardslides on ledges have a surge in popularity.
1. Someone skates to Miley Cyrus for a semi-viral web part while skaters still stubbornly refuse to come to terms with Drake.

Comment by Grammar Police
  • #10. “Good skateboarders had officially *run* out of tricks to do there…”

    December 27, 2013 @ 4:26 pm
  • Comment by Lucas Lamb
  • Malto’s switch heel?

    December 27, 2013 @ 4:55 pm
  • Comment by person_it
  • Dustin Younie Kickflipped it also.

    December 27, 2013 @ 5:01 pm
  • Comment by Ewing Missed The Finger Roll
  • The Skrelly Bandito

    December 28, 2013 @ 12:35 pm
  • Comment by mark
  • that puleo part was the highlight of 2013

    December 29, 2013 @ 11:31 am
  • Comment by bzzzz
  • black dave selfie Ollie indoor ten got me as hyped as his music. much love black dave and sp is god. he is the new Jason dill, Jason dill is the new ghandi

    December 29, 2013 @ 9:26 pm
  • Leave a comment


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Tag Archives: prediction

Shadows are no-shows, groundhogs predict early spring

| mchan@queenscourier.com

Photo Courtesy of Twitter/@ChrisCQuinn

Spring is coming early if the city’s most famous marmot has predicted correctly.

Groundhog Chuck in Staten Island and Punxsutawney Phil in Pennsylvania did not see their shadows this morning.

City Council Speaker and mayoral hopeful Christine Quinn celebrated at the city’s Groundhog Day festivities in Staten Island after the tiny rodent predicted the end of winter.

Shadows were not the only shy ones Saturday morning. Mayor Michael Bloomberg was also absent.


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Wednesday, April 2, 2014

Art gallery building unstable

From NBC:

A landmark building on the Lower East Side was evacuated Monday evening after firefighters responding to a smoke alarm noticed floors were shaking and beams were cracked inside, setting off concerns over possible instability, officials say.

Crews were called to The Angel Orensanz Center at 172 Norfolk St. at about 7:30 p.m. for a smoke alarm going off, according to FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Hodgens on the scene. Firefighters determined the alarm was set off by smoke from cooking.

While they were investigating, firefighters were notified that the floors above were shaking, Hodgens said. Firefighters discovered several beams were cracked, signaling a possibly unstable structure, and immediately began evacuating the building.

About 500 people had to leave the building.

The building is a former synagogue that was restored as an art gallery and performance space in the 1980s, according to the venue's website.

Anonymous said...

Tear it down and put up a starbucks.

Anonymous said...

Tear down the Steinway Mansion and put up a Pistilli Building.

Anonymous said...

I bartended a wedding there a couple years ago. Seemed fine at the time. Cool building.


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Build the terminal
Mar 26, 2014 | 1633 views | 0 0 comments | 118 118 recommendations | email to a friend | print
Dear Editor:

Construction of a Flushing Intermodal Bus Terminal might be a better alternative to "New bus routes near church" (Shane Miller - March 13).

In the early 1960's, Flushing Municipal Parking Lot 1 was thought of for construction of an intermodal bus terminal. This facility would take hundreds of buses off the surrounding streets, where they discharge and pick up riders.

Since that time, generation after generation of public officials on a bipartisan basis for almost 50 years have failed to secure any funding necessary to support this badly needed transportation improvement.

Since the 1960s, there has been an explosion in the number of commuters riding buses to Flushing and transferring to the subway. This has been complimented by a huge growth of commercial businesses accompanied by the demolition of homes to support construction of apartment houses and multifamily homes in the surrounding neighborhood.

Just walk in any direction from the corner of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue in downtown Flushing and see.

Construction of a climate-controlled intermodal bus terminal could assist in improving traffic and pedestrian circulation in and around the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, along with the rest of downtown Flushing.

Tens of thousands of rush hour riders would be protected from heat, cold, rain, snow and winds. There could be a smoother transfer between the bus and subway. Opportunities would still be available for air rights above the bus terminal for parking or development.

How disappointing that no elected official ever stepped forward to honor this commitment from decades ago. Perhaps this project could be combined with plans to upgrade the Flushing Long Island Rail Road station?

Larry Penner

Great Neck

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WOLFSBURG, West Germany, Aug. 21 (AP) Volkswagenwerk, A.G. plans to increase production temporarily in two of its domestic plants at the end of August to reduce a backlog of orders attributed to a staff layoff, the giant West German auto maker said today.

August 22, 1975

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POLY PREP ELEVEN LOSES.; Is Defeated by Strong New Utrecht High School Team, 14-7.

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October 31, 1920

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It is the only major subway line in New York that does not enter Manhattan. Its route is short: 16 stations at peak hours. Its trains, 4 cars instead of the usual 8 or 10, seem oddly truncated. Even the color of its route symbol, a sickly lime green, suggests unease.

It's the G line, which rumbles between Queens and Brooklyn, and has never been much loved by subway riders. It does not have the multiethnic charm of the No. 7, the iPod-hipster bustle of the L, the quaint charm of the 42nd Street shuttle or the romance of the A. It has not been immortalized in song.

And now, perhaps, the final indignity: starting this month, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority plans to remove all conductors from the line. Since 1998, the line has been conductorless on weekends -- the first line, other than shuttles, to be run under a program known as one-person train operation. (On a one-person train, there is only an operator at the front.)

The authority says that conductorless trains save money and are widely used in other cities, but some riders view the impending change as only the latest slight for a line that too often seems forlorn and neglected. No other line seems to have riders so aggrieved, and their criticism so vituperative.

''Just put lights on the tracks and we can walk -- it'll be faster,'' said Jonathan Lovett, 46, a letter carrier whose house is a few steps from the Clinton-Washington station in Brooklyn. His advice to the G-line neophyte: ''Bring an extra battery for your MP3 player.''

But the line does provide a vital, if erratic, link between the city's two most populous boroughs, and G detractors may be surprised to know that weekday ridership has risen 10 percent since 2000. Much of that has resulted from residential growth in neighborhoods like Long Island City, Queens, and Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Fort Greene, in Brooklyn.

Mr. Lovett was worried that the removal of conductors might complicate a practice that some riders call the G-line sprint. If they hear the train coming and find themselves at one end of the platform, they will make a mad dash to the short train. ''Often, the conductor will keep the doors open if he sees you running for the train,'' Mr. Lovett said. ''I don't know if the motorman will do that -- or if he can even see you running, since he's in the front of the train.''

From its southern terminus, at Smith-Ninth Streets near the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, the line meanders north, east and then north again. At peak hours and midday on weekdays, it serves 16 stations and ends at Court Square in Long Island City. In evenings, at nights and on weekends, it serves 29 stations and ends at 71st Street-Continental Avenue in Forest Hills.

But even that irregular plan is not often followed. Service has been particularly erratic this year, because of an array of construction projects, including a $47.9 million effort to rehabilitate structures, repair leaks and replace incandescent lights with fluorescent ones along five miles of the line.

For 42 weekends this year, the train is ending at Court Square because of various subway construction projects. For 14 weekends this year and late nights for half of the year, the line is operating in two segments, one from Hoyt-Schermerhorn to Bedford-Nostrand in Brooklyn and the other from Bedford-Nostrand to Queens. And for 10 weeks, the G line is running express in Queens on weeknights.

The constant service changes have created confusion. ''Even on a good day, it's chaotic on the G train,'' said Brenda L. Carpio, 28, a telephone operator who leaves her home in Red Hook, Brooklyn, at 5:30 a.m. to reach her job at a car service company in Sunnyside, Queens, by 7. ''On weekdays, it can be pretty reliable, but on the weekends, not at all.''

The G line's performance was defended by Emanuele Zanet, the G line superintendent at New York City Transit, the transportation authority subsidiary that operates the subways. ''It operates quite efficiently, on time and on schedule,'' he said.

Statistics show a mixed picture. From 9 p.m. to 6 a.m., en route schedule adherence -- a measure of nighttime service reliability -- improved significantly, to 80.6 percent in the third quarter of this year from 61.3 percent in the same period last year.

But from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m., when most trips are taken, the wait assessment -- the percentage of times that the wait between trains falls within acceptable limits -- dropped slightly, to 91.6 percent from 85.9 percent. Both of the G indicators are comparable to those of most of the other 25 subway lines.

Mr. Zanet, who has overseen the line since February, attributed the slippage to signal and switch malfunctions, police actions, stops to wait for help to arrive for sick customers and other disruptions.

The G line has been renamed and reconfigured several times since it was born as part of the Independent Subway System in 1933, but probably the biggest change came in 2001, when the 63rd Street tunnel was completed. The F was rerouted through the tunnel, which would have left the E as the only line leading into Manhattan under 53rd Street. To relieve crowding on the E and F, the V was created to run from Forest Hills to the Lower East Side of Manhattan.

Because there were only so many trains that could use the station stops in Queens, New York City Transit proposed permanently shortening the G, so that its last stop would always be Court Square. Otherwise, officials said, the G, R and V lines would get backed up in Queens.

An uproar ensued, and the agency agreed to keep running the G line to Forest Hills -- but only in evenings, at nights and on weekends. The change never sat well with riders. ''The V wasn't really necessary,'' said Mildred Powell, 45, a housekeeper who used to take the G directly to her job at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens. Now she must use three lines a day, instead of two.

Many riders today say the subway map is misleading because it depicts the G line from Court Square to Forest Hills as a dotted line -- a tantalizing representation of what the line used to be and now so rarely is.

Kenneth K. Fisher, who represented most Brooklyn neighborhoods along the line as a City Council member from 1991 to 2001, said the G has long lacked powerful supporters. ''It served a largely poor and working-class constituency,'' he said, ''and it traveled through some neighborhoods that didn't have a lot of residents or were perceived as high-crime, which kept ridership down.''

That may be changing. Neighborhoods around the G line have been bustling with luxury high rises, art studios and new restaurants. Greenpoint has become a hub for independent filmmakers, loft condos are proliferating in Fort Greene and residential towers are going up in Long Island City.

Ridership has climbed. The G line now delivers an average of 38,869 each weekday, up from 35,227 in 2000, not counting stations south of Fulton Street that are shared with the A, C or F lines. That means more riders are learning the G-line sprint.

''I don't like to see people running after the trains,'' said John M. Kinyk, a train operator on the G. ''It's not safe. The people ask, 'Where's the rest of the train?' ''

Photos: John M. Kinyk, a G line train operator, worries about passenger safety. Mildred Powell, who works at Elmhurst Hospital Center in Queens, must use three lines every day. (Photographs by Andrea Mohin/The New York Times)

Graph: ''G Is for Growth''
Ridership on the G train has grown faster than the subway system as a whole over the past five years.

Graph tracks Change in average weekday ridership from 2000. (Source by New York City Transit)(pg. B8)


text: MALAMENT--Edward. Died December 4, 2005 of Alzheimer's disease age 88. Husband of the late Ida (Lupion). Survived by beloved children Linda and David Greenbaum and granddaughters Rebecca and Amanda. Also survived by his devoted companion Sonia Matz & her family. For the last 4 years he was lovingly cared for by Falcon Ramos.


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Nominations for Man Booker International Prize

Fifteen authors were named yesterday to the judges' list of contenders for the second Man Booker International Prize. The $118,655 prize, awarded every two years, recognizes a living writer for achievement in fiction published either originally in English or generally available in English. The writers on the list are Chinua Achebe of Nigeria, Margaret Atwood of Canada, John Banville of Ireland, Peter Carey of Australia, Don DeLillo of the United States, Carlos Fuentes of Mexico, Doris Lessing of Britain, Ian McEwan of Britain, Harry Mulisch of the Netherlands, Alice Munro of Canada, Michael Ondaatje of Canada, Amos Oz of Israel, Philip Roth of the United States, Salman Rushdie of Britain and Michel Tournier of France. The winner will be announced in early June.

Wordsworth Goes Hip-Hop

William Wordsworth has been dead since 1850, but that dude could rap. And to mark the bicentenary of the publication of his poem ''Daffodils'' (''I wander'd lonely as a cloud''), the Cumbria tourist board in England has enlisted modern technology in the form of a pop video and rap version of his poem to peddle the virtues of the Lake District, The Guardian of London reported. Oh, and let's not forget MC Nuts, the zany red squirrel, right, that delivers the rap against scenic backgrounds to convey the idea that it's hip for young people to visit the Lake District National Park this summer. ''Wordsworth's 'Daffodils' poem has remained unchanged for 200 years,'' said a spokeswoman for the tourist board. ''To keep it alive for another two centuries, we want to engage the YouTube generation who go for modern music and amusing video footage on the Web.'' The video can be seen on www.golakes.co.uk/wordsworthrap.

Running the Meter

In what is billed as a first, the United States and British poet laureates are to give joint poetry readings in Chicago, Washington and London. Sponsored by the Library of Congress, the Poetry Foundation and the Poetry Society of London, the readings by the laureates, Donald Hall of the United States and Andrew Motion of Britain, are to take place in Chicago on May 7, Washington on May 10 and London on June 6.

Dickens Park to Open

It's nearly time to take the Great Expectations boat ride, frolic in Fagan's den and sample the atmosphere of Newgate Prison. A week from today, Dickens World, above, a $115 million theme park constructed in the naval dockyards in Chatham, England, where Charles Dickens's father once worked, will open to the first of an expected 300,000 annual visitors, Reuters reported. ''If Dickens were alive today, he would probably have built the place himself,'' Ross Hutchins, the manager, said. He said the theme park, depicting a dark, dirty, dank London inhabited by thieves, murderers and ghosts, will have an air of authenticity because it was constructed in consultation with experts from the Dickens Fellowship, a worldwide association of Dickens devotees. In response to critics who speculated that the Artful Dodger, Mr. Pickwick and Uriah Heep might stroll the grounds, 35 miles from London in southeast England, Mr. Hutchins said, ''If we were Disneyfying Dickens we wouldn't be talking to people like the Dickens Fellowship to ensure the correct historical facts.''

'Kaffir Boy' Banned (Again)

The award-winning ''Kaffir Boy,'' Mark Mathabane's 1986 memoir about growing up poor and black during apartheid in South Africa, has been banned from an intermediate school in Burlingame, Calif., after a parent complained about two paragraphs describing men paying hungry boys for sex, The Associated Press reported. An eighth-grade teacher was ordered by Superintendent Sonny Da Marto to stop using the book in her four English classes, although it had been approved by a review committee of parents, teacher, a librarian and a member of the school board. Mr. Da Marto told the Burlingame school board that he would allow an abridged version of ''Kaffir Boy'' to be taught, but that the paragraphs depicting child prostitution were inappropriate for 13- and 14-year-olds. The school board refused to reverse his decision. The American Library Association included ''Kaffir Boy'' on its list of ''Outstanding Books for the College Bound.'' The child rape scene also gave the memoir the No. 31 spot on the association's list of the 100 most frequently banned or challenged books.

Photos (Photo by Bruno Vincent/Getty Images)


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Ivy European Opportunities Fund – IVEOX Fund Overview

Last PriceToday's Change52-Week RangeTrading Volume
29.78-0.11 (-0.37%)26.25 - 31.390.0

Market data as of 6:05PM 07/02/15. Quotes are delayed by at least 15 min.

Overview - IVEOX

Growth of $10,000 (10 Years)

Total Return--
Yield (Trailing 12 Mo.)--
Expense Ratio--
Front LoadNone
Deferred LoadNone
Minimum Investment--
Management Tenure--
Fund Inception--

Trailing Total Returns - IVEOX

as of --
TimeframeIVEOXS&P 500
1 Month--1.29%--
3 Month--0.64%--
1 Year--11.81%--
3 Year--19.67%--
5 Year--16.54%--
10 Year--8.12%--
Since Inception--10.66%--

Sector Allocation - IVEOX

as of --
Basic Materials--
Consumer Cyclical--
Financial Services--
Real Estate--
Consumer Defensive--
Communication Services--

Asset Allocation - IVEOX

as of --
By PercentShort0%LongNet
Foreign Stock--
Foreign Bond--
Total Net Assets--
Total Stock Holdings
Total Bond Holdings

Top Ten Holdings - IVEOX

as of --
CompanyYTD Return% of Assets

Valuation & Growth - IVEOX

as of --
ValuationIVEOXCategory Range
Price/Cash Flow--
Dividend Yield
LT Earnings
Historical Earnings
Sales Growth
Cash-Flow Growth
Book-Value Growth
Key:  Lo

Morningstar Summary - IVEOX, 3 Year

Ratingvs Category
Key:  Lo

Tax Analysis - IVEOX, 3 Year Avg

Pretax Return--
Tax-adjusted Return--
Tax Cost Ratio--
Potential Cap Gains--

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unbundle me

What we talk about when we talk about a TV from Apple

Consumers really, really want a television built by Apple, says a recent survey, but they aren’t about to get one, says a former Apple executive. If the pent-up demand for a better television experience is so great, with a potential market of up to 56 million devices in the US alone, why wouldn’t Apple, with its bottomless reserves of cash, dive right in?

Perhaps the very reasons consumers want an “iTV” are the same ones preventing Cupertino from giving them one.

1. Apple sells experiences

Consumers don’t hate their TVs. They hate the TV industry. Consumers want a-la-carte, on-demand everything. They want television to be like the internet. When they turn on that box in the living room, they don’t want to feel, as Apple CEO Tim Cook put it, “like I have gone backwards in time by 20 to 30 years.”

For Apple to turn TV into a seamless, Apple-like experience, the company would have to find a way to circumvent the monopoly of America’s local cable providers and equally powerful cable television networks. Steve Jobs already did something like that with the music industry, and look what happened to them. Every cable executive on the planet remembers that.

Or take the example of the iPhone. In order to create an Apple experience on a phone, Apple played hardball with AT&T, and the result was an inversion of the usual power dynamics between handset makers and carriers. Apple got pretty much everything it wanted—control over device specifications, profits from its own app store—and AT&T got exclusive access to the iPhone, but only for a little while.

2. Cable networks like the status quo just fine

Cable networks, on the other hand, have no interest in exposing themselves to the economics of the internet. Every media industry that has embraced some version of “information wants to be free” has discovered, painfully, that existing distribution methods, in which content is bundled together or tied to a particular medium, are full of cross-subsidies that no one thought about until they were gone.

Apple already makes a set-top box, the Apple TV, which accesses content through the internet. It has countless competitors. Every single one of them would like to obliterate the line between television and the internet, and none of them are going to succeed as long as cable networks can earn record profits on the backs of a handful of very popular shows that are showing nowhere else, unless you count piracy.

3. An iTV would be the least Apple product ever

Apple does not make commodity anything. The premium it charges for its products is so large that it produces the lion’s share of profits in a mobile industry where it has a minority share of the market. Consumers pay that premium because Apple differentiates itself by creating the best user experience in an industry, by whatever combination of hardware and software is required.

Television is not a market in which Apple can de-materialize an entire medium, as it did with music, or upset the balance of power between those who create infrastructure and those who depend on it, as it did in the mobile industry. And one of the reasons Apple can’t do to television what it did to those industries is that television and movie executives have those cautionary examples in their mental rolodexes of how not to decimate their profit margins.

So an iTV could have all the design flourishes of any other Apple device, but consumers would never be satisfied with it. If it had the best picture ever, it would compete with models produced by the very companies who provide the iTV’s display to Apple. If it had the most logical interface for navigating cable and streaming television options, savvy consumers would wonder why they shouldn’t just buy a box that does the same thing, like an Apple TV, and hook it up to a comparable television. And if Tim Cook negotiated a deal to turn iTunes into a streaming service, a Netflix-killer, he’d still be up against the companies that Netflix cannot best: the cable networks themselves.

There simply isn’t an industry-redefining point of entry for Apple in television. Which means the company has no opportunity to create an experience for people that is, in sum, different from and substantially different than all the other options out there.

Some analysts insist that Apple is building a television, anyway. And Tim Cook has said television is an area of “intense interest” for the company. But what he almost certainly means, says former Apple executive Jean-Louis Gassée, is that “Apple’s CEO is indicating that he’ll continue to invest talent and money until the TV obstacles [i.e. old models of distribution] are finally surmounted.” In other words, some day Apple could reach an agreement with cable providers themselves, leading to competition and a reconstituted television and even movie industry. But there’s no telling when that “some day” will be.

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