Mass. man orders tie, gets employee W4s instead

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) ? With a little more than two weeks to go before their wedding, Emily Dreyfuss' fiance ordered a tie and pocket square from Gap chain Banana Republic's website to go with his Navy blue suit.

What the couple got in the mail instead on Thursday would make an identity thief giddy: the confidential files of about 20 former employees, including Social Security numbers and W4 tax forms.

"We totally laughed," Dreyfuss, 29, said on Friday from her home in Cambridge, Mass.

She had misgivings about the package as soon as it arrived. It was really heavy and didn't say Banana Republic, but Gap Inc.

She and her fiancee have been buying each other presents, and she thought it may have been a really heavy piece of clothing with catalogs, said Dreyfuss, the daughter of actor Richard Dreyfuss.

Inside were three folders sealed with tape and labeled "HR Administration." They contained tax and Social Security information as well as handwritten resignation letters, doctors' notes and salary information ? seemingly the employees' entire record at the company. The employees were sales support associates and at least one made $9 an hour, Dreyfuss said.

The resignation letters were mostly from March. They were polite and positive, expressing thanks for the chance to work for the company.

Dreyfuss, who runs the home page and also writes for technology website CNET said she didn't look through everything.

"I got a queasy feeling and felt like I should stop looking at this," she said.

San Francisco-based Gap Inc. blamed the mix-up on a human mistake.

"We're taking immediate action to evaluate and strengthen our processes to prevent mis-mailings in the future and apologize for the error," spokeswoman Edie Kissko said in a statement.

Dreyfuss said a Banana Republic representative has since responded to a tweet about the mix-up and apologized. Dreyfuss was told clothing and employee information is sent out in the same type of gray plastic bag, and the two packages appear to have been mislabeled. It wasn't clear how that happened. The representative told Dreyfuss the store would look into what went wrong and inform the affected employees.

The company is sending her a self-addressed, stamped envelope to return the information.

Dreyfuss said the episode with Banana Republic raised concerns about how well the company is safeguarding customer information.

"People should know about this because it's crazy and scary," she said.

In her statement, Kissko said the company takes the confidentiality of personal information very seriously.

Dreyfuss was offered a free tie and pocket handkerchief ? a $61 value, but said she declined.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/aa9398e6757a46fa93ed5dea7bd3729e/Article_2013-06-21-Gap%20Order%20Mix-Up/id-ea4a599e8f9c43b9976a90846caab5d1

danny green danny green true blood Magna Carta Holy Grail nigella lawson fathers day Mac

Senate bank panel sets confirmation hearing for SEC nominees

By Sarah N. Lynch

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Senate Banking Committee will hold a confirmation hearing on June 27 for President Barack Obama's two nominees to serve on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the committee announced on Thursday.

Kara Stein, a Democrat, and Michael Piwowar, a Republican, would replace SEC commissioners Elisse Walter and Troy Paredes, respectively.

Stein is currently an aide to Senator Jack Reed, a Rhode Island Democrat and a senior member of the banking panel. Piwowar is chief economist for the committee, working under the panel's ranking Republican, Mike Crapo, of Idaho.

Stein and Piwowar are expected to have fairly speedy confirmations by the U.S. Senate, and neither is considered controversial.

They would join the SEC at a critical time. The agency is under the leadership of a new chair, former federal prosecutor Mary Jo White.

This week, White said the SEC would make major changes to its settlement policy by trying to require defendants in some select cases to admit wrongdoing. That is a departure from past practice, in which the SEC has routinely in most cases allowed defendants to neither admit nor deny charges.

The change comes on the heels of criticism from some federal judges who have denied or challenged settlements on the grounds they are too weak. But defense lawyers are warning the new policy may hinder the SEC's ability to reach settlements.

All settlements must be approved by the majority of the SEC's five commissioners, meaning Stein and Piwowar's votes could be crucial.

In addition, the SEC is facing a major backlog of rulemaking that needs to be completed under the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform law, and it is under pressure to complete rules required by a 2012 law that eases securities regulations to help small businesses raise capital.

Separately, the SEC is mulling a controversial proposal to impose new regulations on money market mutual funds.

(Reporting by Sarah N. Lynch; Editing by Leslie Adler)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/senate-bank-panel-sets-confirmation-hearing-sec-nominees-184543042.html

rondo morris claiborne clippers lisa lampanelli lisa lampanelli bronx zoo bronx zoo crash

Adult cells transformed into early-stage nerve cells, bypassing the pluripotent stem cell stage

May 2, 2013 ? A University of Wisconsin-Madison research group has converted skin cells from people and monkeys into a cell that can form a wide variety of nervous-system cells -- without passing through the do-it-all stage called the induced pluripotent stem cell, or iPSC.

Bypassing the ultra-flexible iPSC stage was a key advantage, says senior author Su-Chun Zhang, a professor of neuroscience and neurology. "IPSC cells can generate any cell type, which could be a problem for cell-based therapy to repair damage due to disease or injury in the nervous system."

In particular, the absence of iPSC cells rules out the formation of tumors by pluripotent cells in the recipient, a major concern involving stem cell therapy.

A second advance comes from the virus that delivers genes to reprogram the adult skin cells into a different and more flexible form. Unlike other viruses used for this process, the Sendai virus does not become part of the cell's genes.

Jianfeng Lu, Zhang's postdoctoral research associate at the UW-Madison Waisman Center, removed skin cells from monkeys and people, and exposed them to Sendai virus for 24 hours. Lu then warmed the culture dish to kill the virus without harming the transforming cells. Thirteen days later, Lu was able to harvest a stem cell called an induced neural progenitor. After the progenitor was implanted into newborn mice, neural cells seemed to grow normally, without forming obvious defects or tumors, Zhang says.

Other researchers have bypassed the pluripotent stem cell stage while turning skin cells into neurons and other specialized cells, Zhang acknowledges, but the new research, just published in Cell Reports, had a different goal. "Our idea was to turn skin cells to neural progenitors, cells that can produce cells relating to the neural tissue. These progenitors can be propagated in large numbers."

The research overcomes limitations of previous efforts, Zhang says. First, the Sendai virus, a kind of cold virus, is considered safe because it does not enter the cell's DNA, and it is killed by heat within 24 hours. (This is quite similar to the fever that raises our temperature to remove cold virus.) Second, the neural progenitors have a greater ability to grow daughter cells for research or therapy. Third, the progenitor cells are already well along the path toward specialization, and cannot become, say, liver or muscle cells after implantation. Finally, the progenitors can produce many more specialized cells.

The neurons that grew from the progenitor had the markings of neurons found in the rear of the brain, and that specialization can also be helpful. "For therapeutic use, it is essential to use specific types of neural progenitors," says Zhang. "We need region-specific and function-specific neuronal types for specific neurological diseases."

Progenitor cells grown from the skin of ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease) or spinal muscular atrophy patients can be transformed into various neural cells to model each disease and allow rapid drug screening, Zhang adds.

Eventually, the process could produce cells used to treat conditions like spinal cord injury and ALS.

"These transplantation experiments confirmed that the reprogrammed cells indeed belong to cells of the intended brain regions and the progenitors produced the three major classes of neural cells: neurons, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes," Zhang says. "This proof-of-principle study highlights the possibility to generate many specialized neural progenitors for specific neurological disorders."

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Wisconsin-Madison. The original article was written by David Tenenbaum.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Jianfeng Lu, Huisheng Liu, Cindy?Tzu-Ling Huang, Hong Chen, Zhongwei Du, Yan Liu, Mohammad?Amin Sherafat, Su-Chun Zhang. Generation of Integration-free and Region-Specific Neural Progenitors from Primate Fibroblasts. Cell Reports, 2013; DOI: 10.1016/j.celrep.2013.04.004

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_science/~3/bpJTNujD9Uc/130502131713.htm

taylor swift and zac efron basketball wives manny ramirez easter 2012 jeremy lin espn sassafras mardi gras 2012

Inspired By Coca-Cola, Instagram Reveals a Subtle Logotype Revamp

Today, when Instagram announced its new people-tagging feature, it focused on the new UI changes within the app. But if you look closely, you'll also see another change: a new script, designed by Denver typographer Mackey Saturday.

Read more...

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/aDISwQoMd_Q/inspired-by-coca-cola-instagram-reveals-a-subtle-logot-487401581

whitney houston dead at 48 whitney houston dead 2012 whitney houston passed away heartbreak hotel don cornelius whitney houston i will always love you breaking news whitney houston

Sony Xperia ZL Review: Behind the Curve Everywhere It Counts

Sony's Xperia Z and ZL, were the two most exciting smartphones at this past January's Consumer Electronics. But that feels like years ago now, and with the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 now on the scene, it takes a lot more to be a top-tier device.

What Is It?
One of Sony's two flagship smartphones (the other being the Xperia Z). It has a 5-inch 1080p screen, a 1.5GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, two gigs of ram, expandable storage, a 13MP camera, NFC, an IR blaster for controlling your TV, and LTE. (Note: We tested the international version, which was not LTE equipped). It runs Android 4.1 (Jelly Bean) with Sony's "Experience Flow UI" (coughskincough) on top.

Who's It For?
People looking for a... smartphone? An Android smartphone. That has the name Sony on it. In fact, it's probably almost entirely for Sony diehards.

Design
The front of the phone is almost 100 percent screen, with very little bezel at all, and look! No hardware/capacitive navigation buttons. Sony went for the on-screen button look, like stock Android, which we much prefer. But don't worry, there's still plenty o' button. The power on/off button is extremely prominent, smack dab in the middle of the phone on the side. Its placement is, in a word, "unique." And, in two words, "incredibly inconvenient." There's also a volume rocker, along with another button that we wish all phones had: a physical, two-step camera button. Very nice.

The back of the phone is slightly curved plastic?it feels like a cheaper HTC One, but the plastic is at least very grippy. The camera lens juts out a little bit (other manufacturers have managed to make it flush with the back), and next to it is the speaker. Down at the bottom is a little panel that flips up, allowing you to swap in micro SIM cards and micro SD cards at will. The battery is not replaceable.

Using It

The way the Xperia ZL functions is actually pretty similar to stock Android in most ways?you get into Google Now by swiping up from the home button, for instance. However, the software's similarities are obscured somewhat by animations and little flourishes (e.g. when you remove an item from your desktop the trashcan's lid opens and closes) that only serve to slow things down. Other additions are genuinely useful, for example shortcuts to mini-apps (notepad, timer, calculator) in the task switcher, and Sony's robust power management solution.

Again, having a dedicated button for opening up the camera app and firing off photos is tremendously convenient. The IR blaster for controlling your TV works well (better than Samsung or HTC's apps, generally) but it's missing some devices (such as Roku) which will limit its utility to some. The keyboard it comes with is solid to type on, but its autocorrect is all over the place. Call quality, unfortunately, is pretty lousy (we tested it on T-Mobile's network).

The Best Part
Probably the interface on the camera app. It's really quite good. It's intuitively laid out and it's really easy to quickly switch between modes. We don't generally go in for in-camera effects or filters, but Sony has actually made some interesting ones. Sketch makes your photos look like drawing (above), Harris Shutter does a crazy ghosting effect (below), Partial Color lets you do the "Pleasantville effect," where only color comes out of black and white, and Kaleidoscope is... well, you can figure that one out. They're gimmicks, sure, but they're fun gimmicks. The other photo modes are easy to navigate, too. What the app isn't, however, is fast.

Tragic Flaw
When we did our hands-on at CES we noticed some lag and stuttering. We'd assumed it was a pre-production problem. It wasn't. Five months later and, despite the solid processor, this phone doesn't feel fast. It's fine once you're in an app (HD games such as Temple Run Oz and Inertia HD played smoothly), but getting there is slow and laggy, fraught with occasional long pauses. Once again, this is an overwrought third-party UI bringing what should be a very fast and capable phone to its knees.

This Is Weird...
You know what a phone shouldn't do? Hurt your ear when you use it as a phone. The little slit at the top of the glass that makes way for the speaker is really sharp. Not sharp enough to cut you, but definitely sharp enough to scrape you a little if you're not careful. We saw this on the LG Optimus G as well. Bad design.

Test Notes

• While we liked the camera app (see above), the camera itself is another story, and it's rather a sad one. It really struggles with dynamic range, frequently blowing out highlights. There's a significant lack of sharpness and clarity, especially in video. Low light shots are very noisy. HDR video doesn't do much except make the camera struggle more with focus and lighting. We had such high hopes for Sony's newest Exmor R sensor, but it really didn't live up. You can see our photo/video samples here, compared against the One and the S4.
• The screen, which is Sony's much-hyped Mobile Bravia Engine 2, is also a disappointment. It's certainly sharp enough, and colors are excellent?maybe the best we've seen?all except the most important one: Black. There is a ton of light-bleed, and even at just 50 percent brightness, the blacks are closer to gray. When you put it next to the Galaxy S4, the HTC One, or even the Nexus 4, there's simply no comparison.
• Out of the box, battery performance is sub-par, easily outlasted by the One and the S4, and that's without LTE, mind you. However, once you start engaging the power management settings, you can pretty easily make it through the day. Stamina mode disables data when your screen is off, but if there's an app you really need notifications from (Google Voice, for example), you can white list it. Or you can use location-based Wi-Fi, which only turns your Wi-Fi radio on when you're in range of a saved network. It's actually the best implementation of power management we've seen. Enabling the Stamina mode took my remaining standby time from four hours to 32 hours. Really smart.
• The external speaker is pretty lousy. Listening to Atoms For Peace made Thom Yorke sound like he was singing through a sheet of cellophane. A fair amount of static and a fair lack of clarity, too. Everybody is playing catchup with the HTC One on this front.
• The front-facing camera is on the bottom of the phone, below the screen. Which is different. Doesn't really matter when you're in landscape mode, though.

Should I Buy It?
I'm afraid not. This is a phone we were ready and even wanting to like, and if Sony had released it at CES rather than merely announce it and then wait five months, we'd probably have liked it a lot more, but that's how quickly technology is evolving in the mobile space. The HTC One and the Galaxy S4 are simply better than this phone in almost every way, and that's all there is to it. Sony is moving in the right direction, it's just too slow in getting there.

Even if you did like most of what this phone has to offer, you should probably wait for the Xperia Z, which is virtually identical inside, except it's slimmer and waterproof. The Xperia ZL is available as an unlocked device directly from Sony and at some AT&T and T-Mobile stores. The price? An ouchie $760. Or, if you happen to be on Cincinnati Bell, you can get it for $250 with a two-year contract. We wouldn't do it. [Sony]

• Sony Xperia ZL Specs

  ? Network: Unlocked (work with AT&T/T-Mobile) or Cincinnati Bell
  ? OS: Android 4.1 with Experience Flow UI
  ? CPU: 1.5 GHz quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro
  ? Screen: 5-inch 1920x1080 Bravia Mobile Engine 2 (441PPI)
  ? RAM: 2GB
  ? Storage: 16 micro SD up to 32GB
  ? Camera: 13MP rear / 2MP front
  ? Battery: 2370mAh Li-Ion
  ? Dimensions: 5.18 x 2.75 x 0.39 inches
  ? Weight: 5.33 ounces
  ? Price: $760 unlocked, or $250 with two-year Cincinnati Bell contract

Source: http://gizmodo.com/sony-xperia-zl-review-behind-the-curve-everywhere-it-c-486728473

kate upton si cover lobster recipes hearts flower delivery e cards kate upton sports illustrated outback

Bangladesh factory building collapse kills over 70, injures hundreds

DHAKA (Reuters) - An eight-storey block housing factories and a shopping center collapsed on the outskirts of the Bangladeshi capital on Wednesday, killing more than 70 people and injuring hundreds, a government official said.

Fire fighters and army personnel worked frantically through the morning at the Rana Plaza building in Savar, 30 km (19 miles) outside Dhaka, to rescue people trapped inside.

One fireman told Reuters that about 2,000 people were in the building when the upper floors jolted down on top of each other.

Bangladesh's booming garment industry has been plagued by fires and other accidents for years, despite a drive to improve safety standards. In November last year, 112 workers were killed in a blaze at a factory in an industrial suburb of Dhaka.

"It looks like an earthquake has struck here," said one resident as he looked on at the chaotic scene of smashed concrete and ambulances making their way through the crowds of workers and wailing relatives of those still inside.

"I was at work on the third floor, and then suddenly I heard a deafening sound, but couldn't understand what was happening. I ran and was hit by something on my head," said Sohra Begum a worker at one of the garment factories.

M.M. Niazuddin, the government's health secretary, told Reuters that at least 76 people were confirmed dead. Another official said hundreds were being treated for injuries.

Mohammad Asaduzzaman, in charge of the area's police station, said factory owners appeared to have ignored a warning not to allow their workers into the building after a crack was detected in the block on Tuesday.

Buildings in the crowded city of Dhaka are sometimes erected without permission and many do not comply with construction regulations. Dozens died when a garment factory collapsed in the same area eight years ago.

(Reporting by Andrew Biraj, Serajul Quadir and Ruma Paul; Writing by John Chalmers; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/garment-factory-building-collapses-bangladesh-25-dead-tv-051140268.html

case mccoy UFC 155 Jack Klugman merry Christmas a christmas story twas the night before christmas santa

Pinterest Tweaks Its New Look, Improves Search And Brings Features Like Pinned From And Mentions Back

While Pinterest is still rolling out its brand new look to users, it decided to listen to some feedback along the way and make some tweaks. Since the site relies heavily, or completely, on its users pinning things to boards like crazy, some features that were dropped from the new design were re-added due to popular demand. One of the features that caused the community to clammer the most was “Pinned By,” which let people see who originally pinned an item. This was a way to discover new people to follow and Pinterest has brought it back: Additionally, the mentioning friends feature using an @ symbol has returned, yet another way to discover new people to follow. Notice a trend here? It seems like the new design was limiting users on how they could find new friends and boards to interact with. The company says that finding friends from Twitter and Facebook that are on Pinterest is back, too. Other than the features that were reintroduced, Pinterest has improved its search functionality by adding auto-suggest, something that helps people out when looking for things. This has been a popular feature on Google’s search product, making the experience way less aggravating than looking at an empty white box for minutes: Along with search, Pinterest has moved your recent activity notifications, including older ones, to the top right corner, another move that could increase engagement. Things that the company are thinking on and might roll out soon are rearranging pins and creating a board within a board. Let’s call that feature “Boardception.” Still, it’s clear that remaining true to the original experience tops all new bells and whistles. Other social sites like Twitter and Facebook tend to roll out features slowly, getting instant feedback from people along the way before things are released to the masses. By letting users opt-in to trying out the new look, Pinterest gets beta testers who are ready, willing and able to voice their complaints, since that’s what people end up voicing anyways. If you’re still rocking the old design on Pinterest, just click “Get it now” after you log in:

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/prgjDM6zOAo/

Dorner Manifesto Valentines Day Quotes nerlens noel Mark Balelo Anne Stringfield paczki lent

Four Realistic Ways to Cut Your Commuting Costs

Last week as I pulled into the gas station, I felt a series of heart palpitations as I read the prices of gas: $4.09, $4.19, $4.29. While I realize this is lower than some people are currently paying in other parts of the country, I couldn?t help but think of the millions of people who are working, in part, simply to pay for the ?luxury? of driving to and from their workplace.

This is a guest post from Quizzle.com.

My guess is that all of us are working for our paycheck for many reasons?none of which include simply handing over a good chunk of it to the gas station. But if you?re stuck with a daunting commute that necessitates multiple fill-ups each month, what can you do to reduce your commuting costs?

Here are some of the methods I?ve employed to drastically cut commuting costs over the years:

Change Your Work Hours

If you?re not working a traditional shift job and you have some flexibility with your scheduling (or an understanding boss), consider negotiating alternate hours outside of the 9-5. Perhaps you could try coming in early and leaving early or coming in late and leaving late (ideally, it?s not coming in early and leaving late!). By switching up your hours, you could avoid a lot of traffic?especially stop and go traffic which absolutely kills your gas mileage.

Partner Up

Carpooling is a great way to save money, be social, and reduce the chance of driving-induced stress (yes, I?m talking about road rage here, people). Even if you only commit to carpooling two days/week, you can reduce your costs for gas as well as the wear and tear on your vehicle.

If you?re thinking about carpooling, reach out to some close co-workers, solicit options via company message boards and email lists, or make an appointment with your HR rep to see what you can do to set up a car/ride sharing program at your work.

Travel With the Masses

I?ll be the first one to admit that I hate public transit?especially during rush hour. The packed trains and disgruntled passengers can leave a lot to be desired, but it?s a phenomenal way to save money on your commuting expenses.

If you live in an urban area, chances are your employer may participate in a reduced fare program. I?ve taken advantage of such a deal through my part-time job as I pay a mere $32/month for an unlimited bus/subway pass thanks to my employer?s generous subsidy. When I think of the hundreds I save each year, those minor hassles with the crowded trains are a bit more palatable.

Consider Radical Alternatives

If none of these options appeal to you or aren?t feasible for your situation, consider a more radical approach. This could mean forgoing the car altogether in favor of a bicycle, petitioning to work from home more often, or it could go as far as changing jobs.

Realistic Ways to Cut Your Commuting Costs | Quizzle

---

For more tips and tools to help you manage your home, money and credit?including the most affordable credit monitoring on the web and complete identity theft protection?visit Quizzle.com. Quizzle is a website that provides you with important information about your credit?starting with your credit report and credit score?as well as the tools you need to improve or monitor it, so you can make smart financial decisions. They also show you how your credit impacts your personal finances and give you personalized tips and tools to help you manage it all.

Image remixed from Sergey Peterman (Shutterstock), Next Please Stop (Flickr), and Teosaurio (Flickr).

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/ahf1GkjbaEs/four-realistic-ways-to-cut-your-commuting-costs-479728266

torn acl derrick rose injury st louis news correspondents dinner i am legend san antonio spurs greta van susteren

Behind to make the best small loan. http://esmallloans24hrs.co.uk ...

a peek here by investing in a motor vehicle lower than normal credit does not even come tougher than normal tips that you can find out:.This provides students with the opportunity to care about the payback period for the practice. small payday loans They may also be the only option if you have a small profit and a minimum credit score. Online lenders offer you fast and high-speed access, which actually happens quite documents and a fax machine. However, voltage, financial institutions and fund creditors will probably ask you the real reasons for looking for a personal unsecured loan.The studies involved more than just the small loans. People who work increased employment, having said that, would disability and a number of very similar additional benefits to a very significant ageda. Get the economy, which can be 100-1500 quick and convenient repayment period varies from 14-31 days. Regardless, hearing, and interest in the offer or you can not, can provide a useful basis for assessments. These 3 month loans, you can restore your computer to organize your stay or for a party. Again, even so, you need a decent enough money to finance loans to find the extent of the cover. Fog return result in fines and the creditworthiness of breaks. And in this way also affordable line of unsecured credit card personal financial loan provides low-cost 3 month payday loans. Use the comparability of the website, which will help to assess the distinctive specialties, no. Behind to make the best financial loan well and find the jewelery you are completely legal methods is often significant.There are many signs indicate that this is an excellent time for them to borrow to finance the 12 month loans online, and can not refinance your home:. A person considering this type of financial loans simply an indicator doc home loan for you and the provider is entitled to.

For more info : http://www.online12monthloansuk.co.uk/

For more info : http://esmallloans24hrs.co.uk

For more info : http://g3monthloans.co.uk

Source: http://www.cv-jobinterview.com/node/10321

godspell media matters hana taylor momsen xbox live update joan rivers gary carter dies

Firefly protein lights up degenerating muscles, aiding muscular-dystrophy research

Apr. 24, 2013 ? Stanford University School of Medicine scientists have created a mouse model of muscular dystrophy in which degenerating muscle tissue gives off visible light.

The observed luminescence occurs only in damaged muscle tissue and in direct proportion to cumulative damage sustained in that tissue, permitting precise monitoring of the disease's progress in the mice, the researchers say.

While this technique cannot be used in humans, it paves the way to quicker, cheaper and more accurate assessment of the efficacy of therapeutic drugs. The new mouse strain is already being employed to test stem cell and gene therapy approaches for muscular dystrophies, as well as drug candidates now in clinical trials, said Thomas Rando, MD, PhD, professor of neurology and neurological sciences and director of Stanford's Glenn Laboratories for the Biology of Aging.

Rando is the senior author of a study, published online April 24 in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, describing his lab's creation of the experimental mouse strain in which an inserted gene coding for luciferase, the protein that causes fireflies' tails to glow, is activated only in an important class of rare stem cells that, collectively, serve as a reserve army of potential new muscle tissue. Under normal circumstances, these muscle stem cells, or "satellite cells," sit quietly adjacent to muscle fibers. But muscular injury or degeneration prompts satellite cells to start dividing and then to integrate themselves into damaged fibers, repairing the muscle tissue.

Muscular dystrophy is a genetically transmitted, progressive condition whose hallmark is the degeneration of muscle tissue. There are many different forms, whose severity, time of onset and preference for one set of muscles versus another depends on which gene is defective. But as a general rule, the disease begins to develop well before symptoms show up.

As the muscle fibers of someone with muscular dystrophy die off, nearby satellite cells -- which are normally dormant in the tissue -- begin replicating in an attempt to replace the lost muscle tissue. "But in the end, satellite cells' attempt to restore tissue is overwhelmed," said Rando, who is the founding director of Stanford's Muscular Dystrophy Association Clinic.

No truly effective treatments for muscular dystrophy exist. "Drug therapies now available for muscular dystrophy can reduce symptoms a bit, but do nothing to prevent or slow disease progression," said Rando. Testing a drug's ability to slow or arrest muscular dystrophy in one of the existing mouse models means sacrificing a few of them every couple of weeks and conducting labor-intensive, time-consuming microscopic and biochemical examinations of muscle-tissue samples taken from them, he said.

So Rando decided to design a better mouse. Dozens of mouse models of different varieties of muscular dystrophy, designed to best reflect different forms of the disease, already exist. Rando's team chose to start with a strain whose human analog is called limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. This steadily progressive form of the disease, whose clinical manifestations typically are most pronounced in limb muscles close to the torso (the thigh versus calf, or upper arm versus forearm), begins during the second or third decade of life, after the muscle-building burst of childhood is largely complete.

From that "starter" mouse strain, Rando's team developed another strain of mice that were prone to the same disease process but whose muscle cells contained the luciferase gene. When these mice are 2 months old, Rando and his associates use a sophisticated laboratory technique to activate the luciferase gene in the mice's satellite cells.

Once a luciferase gene is activated in a satellite cell, it stays "on" permanently in that cell and in all of its progeny, including mature muscle cells, causing them to glow whenever the mice are given a compound that gives off light in the presence of luciferase. So, as the muscular dystrophy progressed in the new mouse strain, the damage it inflicted on muscle fibers and the ensuing recruitment of neighboring satellite cells resulted in the affected muscle tissue's being increasingly luminescent. This luminescence, which could be observed through the mice's skin, was strong enough to be monitored and attributed to a precise anatomical location by a highly sensitive camera.

Invasive microscopic and biochemical methods are first able to detect disease symptoms in mice with the limb-girdle-analog strain when they are about 6 months old. In contrast, using this new method, the Stanford team could literally "see" the first signs of the disease's manifestation as early as 3 months.

Rando and his colleagues confirmed the validity of their luminescence assay with parallel examinations of the mice by standard microscopy and biochemical analysis. They also confirmed, in potentially luminescent but otherwise normal mice not suffering from progressive muscle deterioration, that healthy muscle tissue is ordinarily quiescent. In these mice, the Stanford scientists observed negligible luminescent output reflecting the less than 1 percent of all cells in muscle tissue that are satellite cells.

"In these luminescent mice, we could pick up the disease's pathological changes well before they could be seen otherwise," said Rando. "The readout was so sensitive we could observe those changes within a two-week period. Not only that, but we got our measurements instantaneously, without killing the mice."

The new assay's speed, accuracy and relative noninvasiveness will advance the pace of preclinical work, Rando said. "A lot of head-to-head comparisons of muscular-dystrophy therapies, including drugs already in clinical trials as well as stem cell therapies and gene therapies on the near horizon, can now be made that couldn't have been tried before, because they would have been too expensive and time-consuming to make them worth the effort."

The study was funded by the Jain Foundation and the National Institutes of Health (grant DP1OD000392). The first author was research associate Katie Maguire, PhD. Additional co-authors were Leland Lim, MD, PhD, clinical assistant professor of neurology and neurological sciences; and undergraduate student Sedona Speedy.

Share this story on Facebook, Twitter, and Google:

Other social bookmarking and sharing tools:

---

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Stanford University Medical Center. The original article was written by Bruce Goldman.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

---

Journal Reference:

1. Katie K. Maguire, Leland Lim, Sedona Speedy, Thomas A. Rando. Assessment of disease activity in muscular dystrophies by noninvasive imaging. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2013; DOI: 10.1172/JCI68458

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/BhuLAjoJ3Wk/130424125832.htm

Johnny Depp Dead college football rankings Steel Magnolias Niels Bohr the Rumble 2012 Columbus Day 2012 carlina white

AP Source: Cavs, Mike Brown agree to deal

CLEVELAND (AP) ? Mike Brown and the Cavaliers are getting back together.

Brown, who led the Cavs to the playoffs in all five seasons he coached them from 2005-10, has agreed in principle to a contract to return as their coach for a second time, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

Brown has not yet signed his new deal, but has agreed to take the job, according to the person who spoke on condition of anonymity because negotiations were ongoing. Brown's hiring could be announced as early as Wednesday.

The sides are working through the length of the deal and other matters, but Brown's back with the team he guided to its greatest successes.

Brown went 272-138 and went to the playoffs every season with the Cavs, teaming with LeBron James on a run to the NBA Finals in 2007. He was fired after the Cavs lost to Boston in the 2010 Eastern Conference semifinals, shortly before James decided he was leaving Cleveland as a free agent.

Brown spent one full season with the Lakers, but was fired by Los Angeles five games into this season.

The Cavs have been without a coach since firing Byron Scott last week following his third straight losing season.

One of the main factors in Brown's decision to come back to Cleveland was that he had already planned to move his family back to the area, long before Scott was fired. Brown is also close friends with Cavaliers general manager Chris Grant.

And now that Brown is back in Cleveland, it remains to be seen what impact that could have on James one day returning to the Cavs. He can opt out of his contract with Miami next summer, and there has long been speculation about him coming back home to Northeast Ohio.

The Cavs reached out to other high-profile coaches, including Phil Jackson. But Brown was the only one to interview, and with several other teams looking for coaches, the Cavs needed to act quickly before they were in competition for him.

Scott was fired last week after three seasons following a 24-win season and with one year left on his contract. Scott was strapped with a young, inexperienced squad but owner Dan Gilbert didn't think the Cavs made adequate progress ? especially on defense ? with him so he's handed his team back to the same coach he fired three years ago.

Brown's return to Cleveland isn't really all that surprising.

The Cavs wanted a successful, defensive-minded coach and they had their greatest success in five seasons under Brown, who was certainly helped by having James on his teams. But he has made the playoffs in all six seasons as an NBA head coach, and shown the ability to develop younger players during his first stint with Cleveland.

The Cavs won at least 45 games each season during Brown's tenure and went 66-16 in 2008-09 when he was named NBA Coach of the Year.

His teams in Cleveland always played solid defense, ranking among the top in most categories. James has credited Brown with making him a better defensive player and getting him to understand the importance of defending the basket. Brown, though, was criticized for a stagnant offense that too often relied simply on James' marvelous athletic skills, especially late in games.

Brown was fired by Gilbert after the Cavs were beaten in the 2010 playoffs by Boston. James was accused of quitting on the team during that series and there was tension in the final weeks between the league MVP and his coach.

But Brown's firing was more about Gilbert trying to make James happy and persuade him to re-sign, a strategy that ultimately didn't work when the superstar went to Miami.

Brown left Cleveland on good terms, which would take some of the awkwardness out of his return.

Even before Scott's firing, which seemed inevitable as the Cavs staggered to the end of the season by losing 16 of their last 18, Brown was looking for houses to return to Cleveland. He'll be closer to his oldest son, who will be a freshman basketball player at Butler next season and his younger son intends to finish high school with friends he made when his dad previously coached the Cavs.

Brown is inheriting a team with a bright future. As long as he can stay healthy, All-Star guard Kyrie Irving will only improve and in Anderson Varejao, Dion Waiters, Tristan Thompson and Tyler Zeller, the Cavs have a solid nucleus.

Cleveland has two first-round picks in June's NBA draft, the team has plenty of salary-cap space and Grant said last week that he intends to be aggressive in free agency this summer.

___

AP Basketball Writer Jon Krawczynski contributed to this report from Minneapolis.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/ap-source-cavs-mike-brown-agree-deal-202709647--spt.html

the raven the raven zerg rush david wilson playstation all stars battle royale kim zolciak kim zolciak

X-Men: Days of Future Past Storm Set Photo Drops

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/x-men-days-of-future-past-storm-set-photo-drops/

guy fieri Jill Kelley hope solo hope solo tesla model s tesla model s Black Ops 2

Rebecca Black Resurfaces, Covers Rihanna

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/04/rebecca-black-resurfaces-covers-rihanna/

world peace lakers colorectal cancer metta kashi neil diamond orange crush harden

FDA approves return of drug for morning sickness (The Arizona Republic)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories News, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/297609771?client_source=feed&format=rss

twas the night before christmas santa Capital STEEZ George Bush After Christmas Sales 2012 Charles Durning Webster Ny

After the Fact: When Weather Changes, Grasshopper Turns Locust

[unable to retrieve full-text content]In times of scarcity the insects crowd together, with the interaction setting off a hormonal change and the resulting swarm behavior.

Source: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/science/when-weather-changes-grasshopper-turns-locust.html?partner=rss&emc=rss

lottery winners april fools day pranks ohio state vs kansas daniel von bargen 8 bit google maps kids choice awards 2012 micah true

Defiant Iran inaugurates 2 nuclear-linked projects

TEHRAN, Iran (AP) ? Iran has inaugurated of two key nuclear-related projects just days after another round of talks with world powers seeking to limit Tehran's atomic program.

State TV said Tuesday that operations are now underway at Iran's biggest uranium mine at Saghand and a uranium ore concentrate production plant in Ardakan, both in central Iran.

Neither site represents breakout technology for Iran, which already has smaller uranium mines and processing facilities. But it gives Iran greater self-sufficiency in making the raw materials for enrichment to nuclear fuel and, potentially, for warhead-grade material.

Iran is looking to dramatically expand its enrichment program amid U.N. sanctions that prevent Iran from buying nuclear materials.

The U.S. and its allies fear that Iran may ultimately be able to develop a nuclear weapon, a charge Tehran denies.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/defiant-iran-inaugurates-2-nuclear-linked-projects-070442786.html

hbo Buckwild Steve Alford Phil Spector doctor who Phil Ramone louisville

Arianna Huffington's Pet Peeve Is... (ABC News)

Share With Friends: | | Politics - Top Stories Stories, RSS Feeds and Widgets via Feedzilla.

Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/297337992?client_source=feed&format=rss

VP debate drew brees drew brees sandusky Sam Champion Hulk Hogan sex tape orioles

Film critic Roger Ebert dies at 70 | The Raw Story

By Stephen C. Webster
Thursday, April 4, 2013 16:15 EDT

?

Famed film critic Roger Ebert, 70, has died after a sudden re-emergence of cancer, his longtime employer The Chicago Sun-Times reported Thursday.

News of Ebert?s death came as a shock to many after his Tuesday column announced he would be taking a ?leave of presence,? as he put it, due to the re-emergence of his cancer, initially suspected to be a fractured femur.

?Typically, I write over 200 reviews a year for the Sun-Times that are carried by Universal Press Syndicate in some 200 newspapers,? he explained. ?Last year, I wrote the most of my career, including 306 movie reviews, a blog post or two a week, and assorted other articles. I must slow down now, which is why I?m taking what I like to call ?a leave of presence.??

That fracture in his femur, he revealed, turned out to be the reemergence of the cancer that claimed his lower jaw in 2006, and Ebert wrote that the radiation treatments were taking their toll. ?It really stinks that the cancer has returned and that I have spent too many days in the hospital,? he wrote in the April 2 column. ?So on bad days I may write about the vulnerability that accompanies illness. On good days, I may wax ecstatic about a movie so good it transports me beyond illness.?

In his 46 years as the Sun-Times film critic, Ebert reviewed thousands upon thousands of films, at times making or breaking a major release?s box office haul. He also hosted his own television show about movies and published 17 books about the industry he loved to chastise.

He and longtime colleague Gene Siskel, who died in 1999, are also credited with coining the phrase ?two thumbs up,? which has appeared on numerous movie posters and television ads over the years.
??

Photo: Featureflash / Shutterstock.com.

?

?

?

?

?

Source: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/04/04/film-critic-roger-ebert-dies-at-70/

glen rice jr bars lindzi cox bachelor finale courtney robertson ben flajnik hunger games premiere

Lights go out in Jordan as energy crisis bites

By Suleiman Al-Khalidi

DEAD SEA, Jordan (Reuters) - After midnight on one of Jordan's busiest highways, only the beaming headlights of vehicles driving between the capital Amman and the Dead Sea pierce the gloom.

The highway is lined with street lights as it weaves down from Amman to the valley floor below sea level, but none are switched on. The government can no longer afford the bill.

The resource-poor kingdom, which imports 97 percent of its energy, has in the past two years seen the annual cost of those purchases soar above $5 billion - equivalent to about 15 percent of its gross domestic product - after supplies of cheap Egyptian gas were disrupted by sabotage of a pipeline to Jordan.

Dependent now on costly diesel and fuel oil, Jordan is considering wider electricity rationing and is preparing a hike in electricity prices in June, a politically fraught move in a country which saw street protests last year over fuel subsidy cuts imposed as a condition for a $2 billion IMF loan.

"Energy is the Achilles heel of the Jordanian economy, it's a huge vulnerability for Jordan...the biggest drain on the economy," Nemat Shafik, deputy head of the International Monetary Fund, said during a visit to Jordan last month.

It is not just cost but capacity which the government is struggling to manage.

Jordan's failure to modernize its decades-old oil refinery, which handles 140,000 barrels per day of crude imports but has only a limited ability to refine high-quality diesel, has worsened the crisis, experts say.

Meanwhile, foreign investment in independent power plants, which produce over 60 percent of the country's installed power capacity of 3,300 megawatts, is barely keeping up with a 7 percent annual rise in consumption, experts say.

So in the short term, the government is being forced to tackle the other side of the supply/demand equation and find ways to reduce consumption.

Some steps are relatively painless; last month authorities asked for bids from firms to introduce 600,000 energy-saving light bulbs in public buildings, and they plan a nationwide campaign to distribute 1.5 million of those bulbs to households.

"If you don't have enough generation, you have to manage demand. One quick solution is energy efficiency in transport and electricity, where load consumption is high," said Khaled Irani, an energy consultant and former energy minister, estimating efficiency steps could save $1 billion.

Other measures are painful. The government is considering a new power rationing scheme for this summer, to cope with an expected influx of tourists on top of over 460,000 refugees from Syria who have fled the civil war there.

The government also plans to raise electricity tariffs this summer, a step which could help to curb demand growth while easing the losses of the technically bankrupt state-owned electricity firm, National Electricity Production Co.

Reducing the losses at NEPCO, which piled up debts of $2 billion after it was forced to pay independent power producers for energy generated from costly diesel and heavy fuel, are a key performance criterion in Jordan's 36-month standby loan deal with the IMF.

IMPETUS FOR INVESTMENT

The disruption of Egyptian gas flows, which once generated 80 percent of Jordan's electricity, raised the cost of producing a kilowatt of electricity by as much as 600 percent. Gas flows were hit first by sabotage conducted by armed Egyptian militants or bandits, then by bottlenecks within Egypt's gas industry.

But the disruption has created an impetus for Jordan to invest in renewable energy projects which, while they will not end the crisis in the short term, appear increasingly feasible.

Among the first to emerge was Shams Maan, an equity partnership between Jordan's Kawar Energy, U.S. firm First Solar and Italy's Solar Ventures to build a 100 megawatt solar plant in the southern town of Maan at a cost of $300 million.

Hanna Zaghloul, the project's chief executive, said the government would now pay 16.9 U.S. cents for a kilowatt hour of electricity from solar technology, compared to around 24 cents for electricity from heavy fuel and 28 cents from diesel.

"That's why renewable energy is feasible for the government these days," Zaghloul said.

A year ago parliament passed a renewable energy law setting a tariff structure for grid connection. The government is soliciting expressions of interest by April 11 to build a $120 million, 75 MW solar plant at Quwaira in southern Jordan; at least a dozen international firms have submitted proposals to build this and other solar projects.

Jordan's ability to proceed with such projects has been given a boost in recent months by a $5 billion fund contributed by wealthy Gulf states to support its development amid regional instability.

The fund may also help finance construction of a $100 million liquefied natural gas terminal that is expected to be ready by the second half of 2014 and receive gas supplies from Qatar.

Meanwhile, Jordan plans to build a strategic reserve of 100,000 metric tons (1 metric ton = 1.102 tons) of oil to increase its critically low stockpile, currently at just three weeks of supply.

A 625 mile crude oil pipeline is being planned to export at least 1.5 million bpd of Iraqi crude through Jordan and its port of Aqaba to other countries. Technical studies have been made and tender documents are expected soon.

OIL SHALE

In the very long term, industry experts say Jordan hopes to find oil shale and natural gas reserves large enough to reduce its dependence on energy imports.

Oil shale development has already begun with Estonia's Benefit planning to finance, build and operate a 430 MW power station using fuel from oil shale by the end of 2016. Royal Dutch Shell has invested $100 million to explore for oil shale in Jordan's east and north.

Jordan's oil shale projects focus on obtaining liquid hydrocarbons from fine-grained sedimentary rock, and are different from the shale oil industry in the United States, which blasts non-porous rock through hydraulic fracturing and is revolutionizing the U.S. energy outlook.

Meanwhile, BP has invested $260 million in Jordan's Rica gas field near the border with Iraq; the company has dug a well and plans two more this year.

Jordanian officials say seismic studies suggest the field could in 2020 be commercially producing between 300 million and 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, turning the country into a gas exporter.

Even Jordan's controversial effort to build a 1,000 MW nuclear plant has seen some progress, although the financing challenge means completion of the project is by no means certain. The government is expected to choose in coming weeks between two preferred bidders to supply the reactor, a French-Japanese consortium including Areva and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and Russia's Rosatom.

For now, however, Jordan will have no option but to grapple with an energy bottleneck that weighs on its economy and worsens its political risks.

"We face definitely a tough situation regarding energy. It will remain an alarming issue for the coming three or four years, until some of the projects such as oil shale kick in," said Alaa Batayneh, who led the drive for energy self-sufficiency as energy minister in the last government.

(Editing by Dominic Evans and Andrew Torchia)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lights-jordan-energy-crisis-bites-142333858--finance.html

beyonce cyprus cyprus Bracketology Erin Go Bragh St Patrick lisa vanderpump

Scientists reportedly discover gate to hell

Digital reconstruction of "Pluto's Gate" (Francesco D'Andria)

It sounds like something out of a horror movie. But Italian scientists say that the ?Gate to Hell? is the real deal?poisonous vapors and all.

The announcement of the finding of the ruins of Pluto?s Gate (Plutonium in Latin) at an archeology conference in Turkey last month, was recently reported by Discovery News. Francesco D'Andria, professor of classic archaeology at the University of Salento, who has been excavating the ancient Greco-Roman World Heritage Site of Hierapolis for years, led the research team.

D?Andria told Discovery News he used ancient mythology as his guide to locate the legendary portal to the underworld. ?We found the Plutonium by reconstructing the route of a thermal spring. Indeed, Pamukkale' springs, which produce the famous white travertine terraces originate from this cave.?

Scribes like Cicero and the Greek geographer Strabo mentioned the gate to hell as located at the ancient site in Turkey, but nobody had been able to find it until now.

?Pluto?s Gate? has been documented in the Princeton Encyclopedia of Classical Sites, which noted in its description of ancient Hierapolis, ?Adjoining the temple on the SE is the Plutoneion, which constituted the city's chief claim to fame. It was described by Strabo as an orifice in a ridge of the hillside, in front of which was a fenced enclosure filled with thick mist immediately fatal to any who entered.?

Strabo (64 B.C.- 24 B.C.) wrote, ?This space is full of a vapor so misty and dense that one can scarcely see the ground. Any animal that passes inside meets instant death. I threw in sparrows and they immediately breathed their last and fell.?

The portal to the underworld seems just as bad for your health in today. The professor said, ?We could see the cave's lethal properties during the excavation. Several birds died as they tried to get close to the warm opening, instantly killed by the carbon dioxide fumes.?

According to Discovery News, the fumes emanated from a cave below the site, which includes ionic columns with inscriptions to Pluto and Kore, gods of the underworld. Also discovered: the remains of a temple, and a pool and stairs placed above the cave. D'Andria is now working on a digital rendering of the site.

Amazingly, this isn?t the first entry to the underworld in the world. In the Karakum Desert, a fiery pit that?s been lit up for over 40 years has inspired visitors to Derweze in Turkmenistan?and on the Web. Geologists drilling in the area came across a natural gas cavern. Hoping to burn off the gas, they set it on fire. The flames continued to burn, leading locals to dub the site the ?door to hell.?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/scientists-reportedly-discover-gate-hell-203918901.html

dallas cowboys Rose Bowl 2013 kim kardashian anderson cooper adrian peterson chicago bears netflix

Future Spy Planes Could Get a Lift from Ionic Thrusters

While hybrid planes like the the 787 Dreamliner and SUGAR concept are far more fuel efficient than conventional airliners, they do still rely on a non-renewable and increasingly limited supply of jet fuel. However, recent tests conducted at MIT suggest that tomorrow's planes could take flight on the wings of an ionic breeze. More »

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/za0U8msENGY/future-spy-planes-could-get-a-lift-from-ionic-thrusters

mel gibson splunk dark shadows iau msft etan patz obama dog

Lessons I've Learned in a Year Working on My Own

Early last year, I started renting a desk at Studiomates while working remotely for Adobe. With the majority of mates either running their own companies or freelancing, I felt the itch to follow suit. This feeling has been with me ever since I first started working for someone else. I knew that one day it would be too much to bear.

I sat down with Tina Roth Eisenberg and discussed my dream of being on my own, as well as my nightmares of making the initial jump. (I start to make sense of the memories of everyone in the pool already, yelling for me to join, while I cautiously dip my toe in the water.) She asked me, "What is holding you back the most?" Hands-down, it was my fear of not having that initial project to get me off to a running start. Without this, I would never find a project. I would burn through all my savings and end up homeless. Now, I know this sounds dramatic, but when you're going through this decision, those thoughts are a daily occurrence?even after making the decision. At that moment, she gave me TeuxDeux.

One year later?I'm not homeless. I have a number of websites and apps under my belt, an immeasurable sense of freedom, and the experience of working alongside some of the very people whose online exchanges once gave me Bieber Fever-like reactions. So, what did I learn?

Save as Much Money as You Can

Running out of money is the stress of all stresses. And this is the last stress you want when trying to do good work. It hinders your creativity and forces you to make quick decisions. I left Adobe with a considerable amount of savings, which calmed my nerves to a certain extent, but even still, I had frequent panic attacks.

How much is enough? Think of a number you could see yourself burning through, then double it. Once you've doubled that amount, triple it. There were countless expenses that came out of nowhere when starting Destroy Today LLC?the most memorable being the interim health insurance. I had a 3-month window to sign up for COBRA insurance while shopping for more affordable coverage. The idiot in me, who doesn't read the fine print, decided to wait until the last minute to sign up, so I wouldn't have to pay for those months. Little did I know COBRA is retroactive, so shortly after, I received $4000 bill from the past three months of coverage. That hurt.

Hire a Lawyer and an Accountant

Setting up a business can be tricky. In New York, there are a few hurdles to intentionally prevent just anyone from starting a business. Like, you must announce your business in two NYC publications, which ends up costing about $1500. Instead of handling this myself, I hired Jerald to take care of it. Jerald is my lawyer. He takes care of all my client contracts. He also helped me choose the type of incorporation that was right for me. Since Jerald uses half of his office space as an incubator for startups, I know he understands my line of work.

Then there's accounting. The best money you could ever spend is on an accountant you can trust. Warren handles my taxes and he's been handling my dad's for the past 30 years. I use Xero to keep track of invoices and expenses, and every Sunday I balance the books for the previous week. Once a quarter, Warren looks at the numbers and we're good to go. This confidence in my accounting brings incredible peace of mind come April.

Join a Co-Working Space

After a year of renting my desk at Studiomates, I could easily say I will never go back to working at home. The benefits of a co-working space far outweigh the cost of rent or time to commute, and I'm almost certain I wouldn't have made it on my own if it weren't for Studiomates.

When at Studiomates, I'm in work mode. I put on my headphones and go full speed ahead. My desk does not sit directly next to my comfortable bed, nor do my video games feed my procrastination. At the end of the day, I ride the subway home and my mental gears shift. I feel a sense of relaxation that only home can provide. This separation keeps me sane.

Inspiration is everywhere in a co-working space. Seeing others work hard inspires me to work harder. Watching others ship amazing products makes me want to do nothing but the same. In my first month at Studiomates, we held a show & tell for everyone to introduce themselves and share what they were working on. My jaw dropped an inch with each presentation. By the end, you could taste the inspiration flowing through the room. People started approaching each other, asking questions and discussing ideas of their own.

In this past year, every single job I've taken has come from someone in the studio or visiting the studio. Since (almost) everyone in the space is in the same field, it's the perfect environment to find work as well as find people to work with. Some of the most common scenarios I see come from a designer needing a developer to build their design, a developer passing a job along because they have too much work, or a casual conversation about an idea turning into a collaboration. And this happens all the time.

Make your Availability Known

This sounds dumb, but it's important?make it known that you are looking to take on more work. Early on, I missed out on several opportunities because people just assumed I was too busy for their project. It's easy to imagine. In the weeks leading up to the TeuxDeux launch, I was heads-down, constantly stressing, and only talking about TeuxDeux. In their eyes, no way am I available for more work, but in reality, I'm planning the next few months post-launch. You can have a great network, but if they only see you working, everyone will just assume you're booked.

On the reverse end, don't wait for someone to approach you. Reach out to those you want to work with. Send them a note saying you're available and interested in working together. I sit next to the Oak guys at Studiomates and for months, I watched them ship amazing products. One day, on a whim, I wrote a short email to Skylar simply saying I'd love to work together. From there, I was able to lend a hand with Dropmark.

Know Your Limits

Leading up to the TeuxDeux launch, I worked 40 hours over the course of a weekend. I felt a constant pressure on my forehead and shots of pain in my chest. I definitely exceeded my limits and my body let me know it. Never work this hard. Ever. Whatever you're working on is not worth the mental and physical pain. I learned how to tell myself that deadlines will come and go, and everything will be fine, regardless of whether we finish in time. My mom always says, "Tomorrow is another day." Some nights, I need to say this to myself, but it helps when I do.

Go For It

I've learned a lot about myself since being on my own. I feel stronger and more independent than I've ever felt in my entire life?even if my internal voice is much louder and longer-winded than ever before. Every project is a challenge and provides a real sense of ownership. Each day ends with great excitement for the next. Is it for everyone? No, but if you have the itch, go for it.

Lessons learned in a year on my own?Destroy Today

---

Jonnie Hallman is a designer/developer and founder of Destroy Today LLC. He is also a member of Studiomates and barista at Caf? Jonnie.

Want to see your work on Lifehacker? Email Tessa.

Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/lifehacker/full/~3/a0WMBfL-Imo/lessons-ive-learned-in-a-year-working-on-my-own

ozzie guillen castro comments phish gluten free diet barry zito mac virus santorum drops out bby