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James Harden Being A Prick Is Not An Existential Threat To The NBA
Albert Burneko
Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
By now you've likely heard something about the James Harden Situation. In brief: According to all reports, Harden wants out of Houston, where the Rockets seem to have entered, at the very least, a period of diminished near- and medium-term ambitions, if not a total rebuild. Almost certainly relatedly, he skipped the opening of the team's training camp over this past weekend, apparently in favor of being abundantly spotted and photographed at various nightclubs and/or celebrity birthday parties.
I suppose it goes without saying that he was not wearing a mask or practicing social distancing at any of those, which put him askance of both responsible public-health practice and also, less significantly, the NBA's COVID-19 protocols. The picture, especially in light of the varyingly grumpy "I dunno, ask him"-type quotes from his coach and Houston teammates, appears to be of a guy who knows the Rockets don't want to trade him—it's to the organization's benefit to keep him around as lipstick on an increasingly porcine state of affairs, and it'll be near-impossible to get what fans or observers would consider an equal return from any of the small number of teams that could satisfy Harden's preference for immediate championship contention—and is trying to force his way out, pretty much by being as obnoxious a dickweed as he can be.
A bit of context, here. No small part of the reason why the Rockets are no longer the kind of team James Harden would want to play for is that the team's front office spent the past handful of years sacrificing long-term flexibility for the sake of building a team maximally tailored to Harden's abilities, preferences, and relationships. Few teams in league history, if any, have ever featured an on-court product so thoroughly customized to suit an individual player, from an offensive style over the past couple of seasons that amounted to everybody just standing and watching him freestyle, to making unfavorable and hugely expensive trades in order to replace teammates he didn't like (Chris Paul) with friends (Russell Westbrook). It just happens to be the case that none of this got the Rockets quite all the way to a championship when they were at their best, and now circumstances have changed. The owner is an over-leveraged fake-rich cheapskate; the skillful and savvy general manager who kept the team sustainably competitive for over a decade is gone; the new regime has already made the team definitively worse for the sake of restocking its draft assets. Some protracted period of shit-eating seems all but inevitable. If this sucks for James Harden, it also sucks at least as bad for however many of his Rockets teammates showed up to training camp over the weekend.
It's fine to read all of the above and arrive at the opinion that James Harden could do better than this; that there are modes of expression and methods of negotiation more forthright and responsible, more befitting Harden's stature, than going on a passive-aggressive Grand Instagram Tour of various deeply unnecessary superspreader party events while teammates hired expressly to facilitate his greatness are, like, doing wind sprints and shit. It's fine to find that you regard Harden as more of an asshole than you did a week ago. Frankly, I wrote all of the above while thinking that he is behaving an awful lot like the kind of intolerable spineless shithead who hopes a performance of being maximally annoying will substitute for an uncomfortable but necessary confrontation they're afraid to have; if I were one of his Rockets teammates I probably would want the team to just trade him the hell away so I didn't have to share a locker room with the type of heedless dude who is going to parties and clubs during the lowest depths of a pandemic that has killed over a quarter-million Americans.
But those are opinions, and not deeply informed ones, of James Harden, the person who probably sucks. They are not insights into a new labor peril facing the NBA today. This is an important distinction.
With that in mind, here are a couple of paragraphs from The Ringer's Rob Mahoney:
Harden's trade request, when taken in context, is an attempt to extricate himself from a situation he designed. This isn't in line with Jimmy Butler blowing up a Timberwolves practice and making a break for it after his contract negotiations with the team went awry; Butler was only a visitor in Minneapolis, a part of that franchise for all of 17 months. Even Anthony Davis, a long-term franchise player who gamed his way out of New Orleans, didn't have the same opportunity to shape policy that Harden has. It wasn't Davis's call to trade for Tyreke Evans or give Omer Asik $58 million. What mistakes Davis made largely came on a more personal scale.
Within the league's current practices, it's well within Harden's rights to attempt to incite a trade and steer its outcome. A Hall of Fame player wants to contend but can't. That want is entirely reasonable. But what, if anything, does a modern, empowered superstar owe to a team they helped build? If the answer is nothing at all, the league as a whole suffers for it. Essential role players like Tucker become pawns in a game that is beyond them, yet another way in which player empowerment (a misnomer from the start) prioritizes superstars at the expense of everyone else. Harden is a part of the NBA's ruling class. Becoming more of a mercenary doesn't change that, just as it doesn't change the fallout he would leave behind.
A few key bullshit turns here leap out as indications that what you're reading is neither a sober analysis of labor issues nor a rigorously self-contained opinion about James Harden, the person, but rather an ideological work rooted in the belief that it's bad for professional athletes to have autonomy or self-determination. The handwringing over role players—P.J. Tucker only pawn in game of life—recalls the deeply dishonest moral panic over the fate of workaday players during baseball's PEDs hysteria. The assertion that superstar empowerment comes at a cost to all other players is fun as an attempt at grafting a thin facade of labor-forward politics on what's at heart an argument against worker emancipation, especially in the total absence of even a token effort at explaining exactly how superstar empowerment harms role players. (Why, if things keep heading in this direction, soon role players might find themselves ping-ponging between NBA cities according to the whims and career prerogatives of powerful decision-makers who are not accountable to them, for the first time in the history of sports.) And using the term "ruling class" to describe a guy presently attempting to pressure his employers into granting him a relocation is an incredible act of galaxy-braining.
But for my money, "modern, empowered superstar" and "within the league's current practices" are the key tells. For the 500 millionth time, no matter how often The Ringer claims otherwise, no matter how forcefully the imperatives of 21st century online publishing incentivize sweaty, bogus trendspotting, there is absolutely nothing new about the phenomenon of NBA stars attempting, against the resistance of ownership, to force trades to their preferred teams and locations. There is nothing remotely new about them doing it mid-contract. There is nothing remotely new about them either withholding or threatening to withhold themselves from their teams as a negotiating tactic. Wilt Chamberlain did it in 1968. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar did it in 1974. Friggin' B.J. Armstrong, not exactly a heavyweight in the sport, refused to report to the Toronto Raptors when they took him first in the 1995 expansion draft, and they eventually traded him to the Golden State Warriors, a destination he liked better. For as long as NBA players have not been able to just pull up stakes and go play wherever they want, there have been players using the leverage they had to shape their careers how they wanted. If anything, the trend is away from the kind of forceful approach that once had Chamberlain vowing to switch leagues altogether if he couldn't arrange a trade to Los Angeles.
It's true that Harden has received uncommon deference to his preferences in playing styles and teammates and, who knows, maybe practice schedules and uniform choices. But that is not a power he claimed for himself, by force; in absolutely every instance, it represents a trade-off the Rockets organization made, willfully, when it did not have to, for what its actual leaders saw as the desirable benefit of making James Harden happy and/or getting the absolute most out of his abilities. In that respect it is a very old phenomenon: a front office catering to a superstar player, lest he become discontented and decide to leave. You can have whatever opinion you have about whether this is good or bad; what you can't really credibly do is deny that it is at least as old as the advent of free agency.
More to the point, relative to the history of how things have been done in the NBA, this is a step in the right direction. Until anybody's ready to run basketball teams as worker-owned co-ops, the person who shoulders—by far, in Harden's case—the heaviest share of responsibility for a team's success or failure ought by definition to have an authoritative voice in how it will be assembled. You can argue, rightly, that James Harden may have put that authority to poor use. So did Ernie Grunfeld—but I don't recall any concern-trolling sportswriters wringing their hands over the dangers inherent to empowering basketball general managers as a class when he was trading lottery picks for Randy Foye and Mike Miller for the sake of scrounging up just enough illusory short-term competitiveness to con another contract extension out of a checked-out owner. It was enough to say, of Ernie Grunfeld, the person, "That guy sucks at his job." It was enough to say, of the Wizards organization, that they had entrusted decision-making authority to the wrong guy—and not to cast the entire advent of empowered front-office executives as some sort of tragic Pyrrhic victory, horrible, horrible freedom bestowed on a class of jolly apes who'd only misuse it to their own ruin.
For that matter, when the front-office architect who traded off all the Rockets' future assets for the sake of the immediate pursuit of a championship announced his own departure back in October, leaving behind a team in shambles and without any clear path forward, I do not recall anybody, anywhere, wondering what, if anything, a modern, empowered front office boss owes to a team he helped build, or carefully implying that a necessary corrective would aim for a balance between giving him executive power within the organization's basketball operations and also allowing him the freedom to go work somewhere else after years and years on the job. It was enough to know that he felt he was ready to move on—and didn't need anybody to agree to trade him to another workplace. You could feel he'd made a good decision or callously parachuted free of a disaster of his own making, but in either case, he still had the parachute. What somehow never came up for discussion was whether he'd inadvertently mapped out some necessary boundary constraining just how much self-determination should be apportioned to NBA general managers.
But way back, before any of that, is a more basic question: How sure is anybody that this hasn't all been a success? The Rockets didn't win a championship with James Harden, and it now appears all but certain they never will. But they made the conference finals twice during a period in which they shared a conference with the most dominant team in league history, and came as close to unseating the full-strength version of those dynastic Warriors as any team that didn't have LeBron James on it. They surpassed 50 wins five times in eight years, and 60 wins once; they had the Warriors on the brink of elimination twice in 2018. Harden won three scoring titles, made first-team all-NBA six times, won the MVP award in 2018, and finished in the top three in voting four other times in his eight seasons in Houston. How many teams have ever enjoyed that kind of run and then didn't go through a precipitous fall afterward? LeBron left the Cleveland Cavaliers in utter ruin twice just in the past decade, for God's sake.
From here it looks like the Rockets had a fabulously successful eight-year run with one of the greatest scorers in NBA history, and now it's ending—for what are ultimately normal reasons: roster attrition and stagnation, coaching staff and front-office turnover, the unmistakable sense that the team has gone as far as it can and its championship window has closed. The unusual part is who's getting blamed for it. When a front-office honcho decides it's time for a rebuild and jettisons established players in exchange for unrealized assets, you can decide it was wise or premature, admirably rational or despicably cold. What no one—not even psycho leftist idiots like me!—ever does is argue that it indicts the entire concept of letting front-office honchos in suits have input on the direction and construction of a professional basketball team. I wonder what qualifies them and not James Harden for that kind of empowerment, what makes extending it to Harden, under a set of "current practices" that might also later allow him to leave Houston, so radical a departure from the norms of basketball that it represents, in Mahoney's hysterical formulation, "a threat to the sport itself."
One last bit from Mahoney's blog (emphasis mine):
Many NBA locker rooms are already flooded with tensions and resentments. Who's getting shots? Who's getting paid? Further consolidation of power—and the freedom for a superstar to bolt at will, no matter their contract situation—could strain the team concept beyond its limits, rendering even the best teams as loose collections of players. It's one thing for a star to have a place atop the hierarchy of a team, and another entirely for the star to exist outside that hierarchy on a plane to themselves. Who is calling the shots in the NBA is clear to anyone paying attention. Holding power, however, should never be confused for an exemption from consequence.
He could have just called James Harden a dick! That would have been fine. Instead, in the effort to superimpose Serious Labor Thoughts onto what otherwise could have been a vulgar but at least defensible opinion—James Harden is being a dick and I don't like him—he's wound up arguing that a guy running a fairly mild playback of some shit the league comfortably survived Wilt Chamberlain doing over half a century ago represents an existential threat to the concept of teams. Get a fucking grip, man.
Staff Writer.


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Authentic Hearts | Life Group Series 1/8
Film Fridays 5/5: The Lego Movie
Howard Satterthwaite | Friday 5th September, 2014
Film Fridays | Interns | Theology
The final installment in our Film Fridays series comes from Joshua Ng… Oh, and just a reminder, the post with the most likes/comments on Facebook, shares on Twitter, and clicks in general wins its writer a little prize.
After recently watching the Lego Movie, it has become one of my favourite films!
With all the hype surrounding this film, including from friends saying 'Oh, you'll love it, it's like it was made for you,' I was very sceptical whether it would be any good, but my opinion changed very quickly.
From the very beginning of the film, I was drawn in by the funny animation style, which, I'm sure struck a nostalgic chord with most of us who played Lego as kids. The film then launched into one of the catchiest theme tunes I have EVER heard, which had me hooked. Here it is, in case you haven't seen the film yet (beware – this will be in your head FOREVER)
This all topped off with the jokey atmosphere and fast-paced action scenes and a very simple story plot, meant it was simply a feel-good and fun movie!
The plot is simple: a normal guy (Emmet) stumbles across an artefact which can stop the plan of the bad guy (Lord Business), and so he sets out on a journey to gather comrades to defeat the bad guy, using this artefact. This leads to a journey where he meets a mixture of quirky and interesting characters, interacting in a colourful and crazy world.
There are nearly no limitations to what they can build or do, which gives that sense of boundless creativity (not too dissimilar to when I played with lego as a child!). At one point, one of the characters creates a motorbike out of parts found in an alleyway and uses it to escape (by then also converting it into a plane later!).
The end of the film, in a surreal twist introduces the 'man upstairs' who has created [what he hopes is] the orderly Lego world, and his fun-loving son (also dictating the storyline) tells him that he shouldn't be bound by the 'instruction manual' and that he should be more free and creative to play with the Lego world.
The message shown to us – which is common in many films – where 'rules are just a guideline' and 'it's fine as long as it's fun', promotes an attitude of living solely by our own desires and dreams, which leads to the separation from the true creator of all things, and the rules which he has ordained; rules which aren't to stop our fun, but are actually there for our own good (unlike in the Lego Movie).
The movie, though 'awesome', has a powerful underlying message which should not be taken lightly. I do hope that this movie, which I thoroughly recommend, would inspire you to do your own research and find an unbiased view of our creation and purpose on this world. I can only hope you would see the 'man upstairs' as he truly is.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


An improved technique for spinal fusion including administration of an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to the fusion site. The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is preferably delivered to the site by a carrier. More preferably, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is delivered to the site by a noncompressible delivery vehicle. The invention is suitable for promoting non-anatomic or heterotopic bone growth between any bony surfaces where bone growth is desired but does not naturally occur.
The present invention relates to spinal fusion and, in particular, using an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to promote bone growth and bone fusion by promoting bone morphogenic protein production.
The vertebrae are bones that make up the spinal column, which surrounds and protects the spinal cord. Nerves from the spinal cord exit the spinal column between each vertebra. Intervertebral discs are soft tissues positioned between each vertebrae. The discs act as cushions between the vertebrae by absorbing energy while the spinal column flexes, extends, and twists. The disc allows for movements of the vertebrae and lets people bend and rotate their neck and back. The type and degree of motion varies between the different levels of the spine: cervical (neck), thoracic (chest) or lumbar (low back). The cervical spine permits movement in all directions. The thoracic spine protects the heart and lungs and is more rigid than the cervical spine due to rib presence. The lumbar spine permits primarily forward and backward bending movements, flexion and extension.
Spinal fusion is a surgical technique, typically involving the use of bone graft, that causes two opposing bony surfaces to grow together (arthrodesis). In spinal fusion, one or more of the vertebrae of the spine are fused to prevent any motion therebetween. At each level in the spine, there is a disc space in the front and paired facet joints in the back. Working together, these structures define a motion segment and permit multiple degrees of motion. Two vertebral segments need to be fused to stop the motion at one segment. Generally, spinal fusion surgery involves adding bone graft to an area of the spine to prompt a biological bone growth response. The growth of bone between the two vertebrae is facilitated by the bone graft and effectively stops motion at that segment.
There are many potential reasons for spinal fusion. Example reasons include: treatment of a fractured vertebra; correction of deformity; elimination of pain from painful motion; treatment of instability; and treatment of cervical disc herniations. While not all spinal fractures need surgery, some fractures, including those associated with spinal cord or nerve injury, generally require fusion as part of the surgical treatment. In spondylolisthesis, a hairline fracture allows vertebrae to slip forward on top of each other. This condition may be treated by fusion surgery. Certain types of spinal deformity, such as scoliosis, are commonly treated with spinal fusion. Another condition treated with fusion surgery is actual or potential instability (or abnormal or excessive motion between two or more vertebrae). Cervical disc herniations requiring surgery often call for fusion as well as removal of the herniated disc (discectomy). With this procedure, the disc is removed through an incision in the front of the neck (anteriorly) and a small piece of bone is inserted in place of the disc. Although disc removal is commonly combined with fusion in the cervical spine, this is not generally true in the lumbar spine. Further, spinal fusion may be called for in the treatment of a painful spinal condition without clear instability.
It is important to note that spinal fusion surgery does not involve merely the knitting of a bone around a spinal fracture, although a spinal fracture may be the impetus for performing the spinal fusion. While a side-consequence of the spinal fusion surgery or of the natural biological response to a fracture may involve knitting of the fracture, spinal fusion involves stimulating nonanatomic or heterotopic bone growth between two vertebra to fuse the vertebra together.
Many surgical approaches and methods involving placement of a bone graft between the vertebrae can be used to fuse the spine. The spine may be approached and the graft placed either from the back (posterior approach), from the front (anterior approach) or by a combination of both approaches. The type and location of the incision for access to the spinal region depends on the area needing treatment. The lower spinal vertebrae are repaired through an incision directly over the spine (posterior lumbar approach). The upper spinal vertebrae are repaired through an incision in the back or side of the neck (cervical spine). The middle spinal vertebrae are repaired through an incision made in the chest and abdomen (anterior thoracic spine). The abnormal or injured vertebrae are repaired and stabilized with bone grafts, metal rods, other instrumentation, or a combination of the above.
Posterolateral gutter fusion involves placing bone graft in the posterolateral portion of the spine (a region just outside the spine). The surgical approach to the spine is from the back through a midline incision that is approximately three inches to six inches long. Typically, bone graft is obtained from the pelvis (the iliac crest) and the harvested bone graft is laid out in the posterolateral portion of the spine. The back muscles that attach to the transverse processes are elevated to support the bone graft. The back muscles are replaced over the bone graft to create tension to hold the bone graft in place. After surgery, the body attempts to heal itself by growing bone. The growth of bone by the body grows the harvested bone graft and adheres the graft to the transverse processes. At this point, spinal fusion is achieved and motion at that segment is stopped.
Posterior lumbar interbody fusion (PLIF) involves adding bone graft to an area of the spine to set up a biological response that causes bone to grow between the two vertebrae and stop the motion at that segment. PLIF achieves spinal fusion by inserting bone graft directly into the disc space. The spine is approached through an incision (typically three to six inches long) in the midline of the back and the left and right erector spinae are stripped off the lamina on both sides and at multiple levels. After the spine is approached, the lamina is removed (laminectomy) to allow visualization of the nerve roots. The facet joints, which are directly over the nerve roots, are trimmed to make more space for the nerve roots. The nerve roots are retracted to one side and the disc space is cleaned of the disc material. A bone graft, or interbody cage with bone, or other instrumentation or implant, is inserted into the disc space and the bone grows from vertebral body to vertebral body.
Anterior lumbar interbody fusion (ALIF) is similar to the PLIF, except that in ALIF the disc space is fused by approaching the spine through the abdomen instead of through the back. In the ALIF approach, an incision (typically three to five inches) is made on the left side of the abdomen and the abdominal muscles are retracted to the side. The peritoneum can also be retracted to allow the surgeon access to the front of the spine. Some ALIF procedures are done using a minilaparotomy (one small incision) or with an endoscope (a scope that allows the surgery to be done through several one-inch incisions). Regardless of the specific procedure, the aorta and vena cava are moved aside, the disc material is removed and bone graft, or bone graft and anterior interbody cages, other implant, or instrumentation, is inserted.
Anterior/posterior lumbar fusion involves performing a lumbar interbody fusion and a posterolateral gutter fusion to fuse both the front and back of the spine. Fusing both the front and back provides a high degree of stability for the spine and a large surface area for the bone fusion to occur. The disc may be approached either as an ALIF or as a PLIF, and the back part of the spine is fused with a posterolateral gutter fusion.
The ultimate goal of fusion is to obtain a solid union between two or more vertebrae. This is done by causing non-anatomic growth of bone, most commonly around a bone graft, instrumentation including a bone graft, or other implant. Spine fusion involves causing bone to grow in a space where it does not normally grow, that is, in the space between two vertebra. Spine surgery instrumentation is sometimes used as an adjunct to obtain a solid fusion. This is particularly advantageous because causing non-anatomic or heterotopic growth of bone attempts to take advantage of the body's natural healing process of growing bone and yet use that process in a way that would not normally occur. Non-anatomic or heterotopic growth in this manner differs significantly from the mere knitting of a fractured bone and can be difficult to achieve. A common problem in spine fusion is that it is nonsuccessful and results in non-union. Instrumentation can decrease the likelihood of non-union by maintaining spinal stability while facilitating the process of fusion. The instrumentation can be used to bridge space created by the removal of a spinal element such as an intervertebral disc. Instrumentation is sometimes used to correct a deformity, but usually is solely used as an internal splint to hold the vertebrae together while the bone grafts heal. Such instrumentation may include titanium, titanium-alloy, stainless steel, or non-metallic devices for implantation into the spine. Instrumentation provides a permanent solution to spinal instability. Medical implants are available in many shapes and sizes. Typically these include rods, hooks, braided cable, plates, screws, and threaded interbody cages. Unfortunately, even with the use of instrumentation, non-union remains a common problem.
Regardless of whether instrumentation is used, bone or bone substitutes are used to prompt the vertebrae to fuse together. Traditionally, the surgical technique includes a grafting procedure utilizing autologous bone harvested from a separate site. In a typical procedure, bone chips from a patient's pelvic bone are transplanted, or grafted, to the spinal vertebrae to help fusion therebetween. Alternatively, allograft, bone harvested from a bone bank or other source, may be used. Similarly, synthetic and xenograft derived bone substitutes (calcium phosphate, hydroxylapatite, and/or other ceramic based bone substitutes) may be used.
Although the use of autologous bone for spinal fusion is common, harvesting bone graft from a patient's body has many disadvantages. Among other things, graft harvesting prolongs surgical time, increases blood loss, increases the risk of infection, and can be a source of chronic pain. Significantly, use of autologous bone does not always ensure successful fusion, even when used in combination with instrumentation. Inherent limitations in autogenous and allogeneic bone grafting have led to exploration of other technology, for example, using bone morphogenic protein (BMP) in spinal fusion. As an adjuvant to allograft or as a replacement for harvested autograft, BMP can improve spinal fusion.
Bone morphogenic protein (BMP) is in the bone's own matrix and has the ability to stimulate the body's own cells to produce more bone. Specifically, BMP can direct the repair and regeneration of bone in various parts of the skeleton. BMP can be beneficial to patients undergoing spinal fusion by eliminating the need for bone transplantation from the pelvis. BMP has been used to promote bone fusion by putting BMP on a mesh, gel, or other carrier and placing that carrier at the site where the bone fusion is desired.
To function as a suitable graft for spinal fusion—involving bridging bone defects or fusing facture lines and unstable motion segments—the graft must have three characteristics. It must provide a source of primitive osteoprogenitor cells that form osteoblasts and osteocytes (osteopromotion). The graft material must produce local growth factors to stimulate bone growth and vascularity in the area (osteoinduction). Lastly, it must act as a scaffold to bone ingrowth (osteoconduction).
BMP has a multifaceted osteoinductive role, acting as a chemotactic agent, a growth factor, and a differentiation factor. As a chemotactic factor, it initiates the recruitment of progenitor and stem cells toward the area of bone injury. As a growth factor, it stimulates both angiogenesis and the proliferation of stem cells from surrounding mesenchymal tissues. As a differentiation factor, it promotes maturation of stem cells into chondrocytes, osteoblasts, and osteocytes.
Thus far, growth and differentiation factors have been obtained in a variety of ways for application directly to a surgical site. These include: extraction of the factors from animal or human bone matrix, production of a single factor by cellular hosts by using recombinant technology, and direct delivery to cells at the site of desired bone formation of the DNA encoding for the factor.
Although BMPs are potent stimulators of bone formation, there are disadvantages to their use in enhancing bone healing. Receptors for the BMPs have been identified in many tissues, and the BMPs themselves are expressed in a large variety of tissues in specific temporal and spatial patterns. This suggests that BMPs may have effects on many tissues in addition to bone and their usefulness as therapeutic agents, particularly when administered systemically, may be limited. However, their usefulness is not only suspect when administered systemically, there are equally serious concerns regarding local administration of BMPs to a surgical site. It is difficult to control BMP's effect on bone growth and surrounding tissue. The consequences of BMP's effect on bone growth at spinal fusion sites is particularly concerning. Hypergrowth as a result of BMP application directly to a spinal fusion site may pinch nerves and result in not only pain but possibly paralysis. Consequently, it may not be desirable to apply BMP directly to a spinal fusion site.
HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors, or statins, have been known to promote BMP production. U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,080,779, 6,376,476, and 6,022,887 each disclose using HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors to promote bone formation systemically or at, for example, fracture sites. HMG-CoA reductase is the principal rate limiting enzyme involved in cellular cholesterol biosynthesis. The pathway is also responsible for the production of dolichol, ubiquinones, isopentenyl adenine and farnesol. HMG-CoA reductase converts 3-hydroxy-3-methyld-glutaryl CoA (HMG-CoA) to mevalonate. The '779, '476, and '887 patents do not contemplate use of HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors to promote non-anatomic or heterotopic growth of bone as, for example, in spinal fusion.
The present invention entails using an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to promote nonanatomic or heterotopic growth of bone and aid in bone fusion by promoting bone morphogenetic protein (BMP). The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor may be, for example, Lovastatin, Simvastatin, Atorvastatin, Pravastatin, or Fluvastatin. Spinal fusion surgery involves adding bone graft, or instrumentation including bone graft, or other implant, to an area of the spine, between two vertebrae, to stimulate a biological bone growth response. The biological response effectively grows the bone graft between the two vertebrae, thereby stopping motion therebetween. The present invention involves administering an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to a spinal fusion site to aid that biological response.
Administering an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to the site where bone fusion is desired promotes production of BMP at that site by the patient's body. The production of BMP in turn stimulates bone growth and promotes bone fusion. Thus, even though HMG-CoA reductase inhibitors are not themselves osteoinductive, they can successfully be used in promoting non-anatomic or heterotopic growth of bone In addition to use in original spinal fusion surgery, the present invention can be used during revision surgery. A common problem in spine fusion is that it is nonsuccessful and results in non-union. Non-union is particularly difficult to treat and administering an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor during revision surgery can increase the likelihood of fusion.
The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor can be administered to the site where bone fusion is desired, such as at the site of vertebral fusion, in any manner appropriate for the particular situation, with preference given to direct delivery to the site. In one embodiment, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is administered to transverse processes during surgery in combination with a carrier. The carrier may be, for example, a porous, open cell matrix formed from collagen fibers coated with resorbable hydroxyapatite. Thus, one possible procedure involves exposing the lamina and transverse processes, decorticating bone, and placing the carrier with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor in the exposed area.
The carrier may be configured in any suitable manner. Thus, as described above, it may be a collagen matrix with hydroxyapatite. Alternately, it may be a simple collagen or cellular matrix. Further, the carrier may employ covalent or divalent bonding to the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor. The carrier may also be used in conjunction or as a spinal fusion device such as a cage. In a preferred embodiment, the carrier comprises a noncompressible delivery vehicle.
The carrier may support compounds in addition to the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, such as antibiotics, other drugs, or pain medications. The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor may also be provided in a time release drug delivery system, for example via a hydrogel, polymer membrane, or coating.
In a preferred procedure, the invention involves administering approximately 1–10 mg/kg of Lovastatin via a carrier to a spinal fusion site. The carrier may be a porous, open cell matrix formed from collagen fibers coated with resorbable hydroxyapatite or may be a noncompressible delivery vehicle or other carrier. In an alternate embodiment, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor may be administered percutaneously within a supporting compound at the site where bone fusion is desired. Such embodiment promotes BMP production without necessitating surgery.
Thus, the present invention relates to administering a HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor at a site where spinal fusion is desired. The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor stimulates production of bone morphogenic protein which in turn promotes bone fusion. The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor may be administered to the site in a variety of different ways including, but not limited to carriers (porous, open cell matrix or other compressible carrier; or non-compressible carrier), time release formulation for use with or without such carrier, or via an injection.
FIG. 8 is a perspective view of posterior lumbar lateral fusion according to one embodiment of the present invention using a plurality of implantation sticks.
The present invention relates generally to spinal fusion and, specifically, to administering an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to a surgical site to promote bone fusion. In a preferred embodiment, the invention provides for administering an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, for example, Lovastatin, Simvastatin, Atorvastatin, Pravastatin, or Fluvastatin, on a carrier with a noncompressible delivery vehicle for aiding in spinal fusion. Of course, the present invention may be used to promote non-anatomical or heterotopic bone growth between any two bony surfaces where bone growth therebetween is not naturally occurring.
Spinal fusion may be performed for any of a number of reasons. It is frequently used in treatment of a fractured vertebra. Some spinal fractures, including those associated with spinal cord or nerve injury, generally require fusion as part of the surgical treatment. In spondylolisthesis, vertebrae may slip forward on top of one another. This condition may be treated by fusion surgery. Spinal fusion may also be used to correct certain types of spinal deformity such as scoliosis. Another condition treated with fusion surgery is actual or potential instability (or abnormal or excessive motion between two or more vertebrae). Cervical disc herniations requiring surgery often call for fusion as well as removal of the herniated disc (discectomy). With this procedure, the disc is removed through an incision in the front of the neck (anteriorly) and a small piece of bone is inserted in place of the disc. Although disc removal is commonly combined with fusion in the neck, this is not generally the case in the lumbar spine. Further, spinal fusion may be called for in the treatment of a painful spinal condition without clear instability.
FIG. 1 illustrates a 2nd lumbar vertebra as an example vertebra fused using the present invention. The vertebra comprises a vertebral body 10 with first and second pedicles 12 and 14 extending posteriorly therefrom. The pedicles 12 and 14 are strong, cylindrical, anatomic bridges between the dorsal spinal elements and the vertebral body 10. The dorsal spinal elements comprise generally symmetrical transverse processes 16 and 18, accessory processes 20 and 22, superior articular processes 24 and 26, mamillary processes 28 and 30, and laminae 32 and 34 which eventually meet at a single spinous process 36.
FIG. 2 depicts a lateral view of the cervical or lumbar spine. Top and bottom vertebral bodies 40 and 42 are separated by an intervertebral disc 44. In spinal fusion, bone growth by the top and bottom vertebra is promoted in order to cause the top and bottom vertebra to fuse. The fusion typically involves placement of a bone graft, cage, instrumentation, or other implant, at a site where fusion is desired. The body engages in a natural bone growth healing process. The bone growth results in growth of the bone graft such that the top and bottom vertebrae are fused and motion therebetween is prevented. The bone growth may be between the vertebral bodies, through the intervertebral disc space, between the transverse processes, between the laminae, or between a combination thereof.
In accordance with the present invention, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is placed adjacent to the vertebrae as desired. This may be, for example, adjacent the transverse process, in the intervertebral disc space, or overlying the lamina. A preferred embodiment involves administering approximately 1–10 mg/kg of the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, for example, Lovastatin to the site. Local administration of the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is preferred and may be performed by conventional methods such as injection at the spinal fusion site, topical application to the site, or time release administration.
FIG. 3 shows a posterior view of the third and fourth lumbar vertebrae. From this perspective, the transverse processes 16 and 18 are more clear. In spinal fusion surgery, the vertebrae may be joined at the transverse processes 16 and 18 of adjacent vertebrae. One possible procedure in accordance with the present invention involves exposing the lamina 32 and 34 and transverse processes 16 and 18, decorticating the bone, and placing a carrier with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor in the exposed area.
Preferably, local administration is performed by applying the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to a carrier and placing the carrier at the spinal fusion site. FIG. 4 depicts a dorsolateral fusion after total laminectomy. The fusion bed involves the dorsal aspect of the transverse process, the facet joint, and the pars interarticularis. In one embodiment of the current invention, an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is applied to the carrier and the carrier is placed along the decorticated transverse processes. Antibiotics, other drugs, or pain medications may be supported by the carrier. The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor may also be provided in a time release drug delivery system, for example via a hydrogel, polymer membrane, or coating.
In a preferred embodiment, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is administered to the site via a carrier, for example, a porous, open cell matrix formed from collagen fibers coated with resorbable hydroxyapatite. FIG. 5 illustrates a suitable carrier 50. The carrier 50 may comprise a collagen or cellular matrix. Further, the carrier 50 may employ covalent or divalent bonding to the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor. The carrier 50 may also be used in conjunction with or as a spinal fusion device such as a cage.
As seen in FIG. 6, the carrier 50 may be packed with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor 52 and placed in the intervertebral disc space to promote fusion of the vertebra through that space. The HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is carried to the site by the carrier. Most preferably, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor 52 is delivered to the site in conjunction with spinal surgery instrumentation. In a preferred embodiment, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor fills the pores of a porous spinal surgery instrumentation device. Thus, the carrier is essentially soaked with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor that enables a high volume of the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to be released. The carrier may further be coated with a time release film.
A further embodiment of the invention includes delivering the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to the spinal fusion site with a noncompressible delivery vehicle. The noncompressible delivery vehicle enables a larger volume of bone formation and therefore increases load bearing capacity of the fusion site. FIG. 7 illustrates a non-compressible delivery vehicle in the form of an implantation stick 60. The stick 60 can be hollow or porous and includes a plurality of openings 62. The implantation stick 60 may be packed with an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor in a time release manner, or with hydroxy appetite.
FIG. 8 illustrates posterior lumbar lateral fusion according to one embodiment of the present invention using a plurality of implantation sticks 60. In accordance with the present invention, the lamina and transverse process are exposed, bone decorticated, and the carrier with HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is placed in the exposed area. In the embodiment of FIG. 8, the carrier comprises a plurality of implantation sticks 60 that are placed approximately on the adjacent decorticated lamina and transverse processes bridging the gap between the transverse process of an upper vertebra 40 and the transverse process of a lower vertebra 42. The noncompressible delivery vehicle, for example, the implantation sticks 60, retains a volume between the vertebrae for bone growth. The non-compressible delivery vehicle is packed with an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to promote bone growth along the vehicle.
The present invention may involve any suitable instrumentation. For example, a screw may be employed, the screw having an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor carried thereupon. The screw may comprise a porous material, the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor being soaked in the pores. Alternately, the screw may be cannulated with the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor being provided in the hollow opening. Such screws may be used in odontoid screw fixation or c1-c2 transarticular screw fixations. The screw may traverse the fracture site or the joint to produce fusion at the level of the joint.
administering an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to the site.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is Lovistatin.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is Statin.
4. The method of claim 1, wherein the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is Simvastatin.
5. The method of claim 1, wherein the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is Atorvastatin.
6. The method of claim 1, wherein the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is Pravastatin.
7. The method of claim 1, wherein the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor is Fuvastatin.
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of administering the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor further includes the steps of providing the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor on a carrier and applying the carrier to the site.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the carrier is an open cell matrix.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the open cell matrix is formed from collagen fibers.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the collagen fibers are coated with resorbable hydroxyapatite.
12. The method of claim 8, further including the step of providing a further compound on the carrier.
13. The method of claim 12, wherein the compound is an antibiotic.
14. The method of claim 12, wherein the compound is a pain medication.
15. The method of claim 8, wherein the carrier is a non-compressible delivery vehicle.
16. The method of claim 15, wherein the non-compressible delivery vehicle comprises at least one implantation stick for application to the site such that the implantation stick extends lengthwise between the upper and lower vertebrae.
17. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of administering the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor includes the step of applying the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor with a time release drug delivery system.
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the time release drug delivery system comprises a hydrogel.
19. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of administering the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor includes administering 1–10 mg/kg of the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to the site.
20. The method of claim 1, further including the step of providing a bone fusion device to the site.
applying the carrier to one of the exposed bone surfaces at the site.
22. The method of claim 21, wherein the carrier is a non-compressible delivery vehicle.
23. The method of claim 22, wherein the non-compressible delivery vehicle comprises at least one implantation stick for application to the site such that the implantation stick extends lengthwise between the upper and lower vertebrae.
applying an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor to at least one of the bony surfaces.
25. The method of claim 24, wherein the step of administering the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor further includes the steps of providing the HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor on a carrier and applying the carrier to the site.
26. The method of claim 25, wherein the carrier is a non-compressible delivery vehicle.
"Instructions for Use: Cook-Swartz Doppler Flow Probe and Monitoring System", 1998 Cook Vascular Incorporated FM-15588 Aug. 1999.
Csizy, M. et al., "Displaced Intra-Articular Calcaneal Fractures" Journal of Orthopaedic Trauma, vol. 17, No. 2, pp. 106-112.
Edwards, Richard C. et al., "Fixation of Bimaxillary Osteotomies With Resorbable Plates And Screws: Experience in 20 Consecutive Cases," J. Oral Maxillofac. Surg. (2001) 59: pp. 271-276.
Fadel, G.E. et al., "Hallux Metatarsophalangeal Joint Arthrodesis: Various Techniques," The Foot, (2002, 12, pp. 88-96.
Fearon, M.D., J., "Rigid Fixation Of The Calvaria In Craniosysnostosis Without Using "Rigid" Fixation," Plastic And Reconstructive Surgery, (2003) pp. 27-38.
Hendricks, M.D., R.L., "Bone Morphogenic Protein," Annual Workers' Compensation Seminar, (1998) pp. 1-3.
Jones, S. et al., "Arthrodesis For Failed Ankle Arthoplasty: A Technique Using The Fibula As An Autogeneous Bone Graft," The Foot, (1999), 9, pp. 142-144.
Mundy, G. et al., "Stimulation of Bone Formation in Vitro And In Rodents by Statins," Science, (1999) vol. 286, pp. 1946-1949.
Pilitsis, M.D., Julie G. et al., "Bone Healing And Spinal Fusion," Neurosur. Focus 13 (6); Article 1, vol. 13, (2002), pp. 1-6.
Schwetlick, G. et al., "Results of Arthrodesis And Operative Stabilization of Osteotomies With A Compression Staple System," The Foot, (2003) pp. 100-107.
Wozney, J. M., et al., "Engineering What Comes Naturally-Tissue engineers have developed a synthetic matrix that interacts with host cells to deliver bone-inductive proteins for bone regeneration." Nature Biotechnology. May 2003. vol. 21: 506-508.


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Hysterocrates ederi är en spindelart som beskrevs av Toussaint de Charpentier 1995. Hysterocrates ederi ingår i släktet Hysterocrates och familjen fågelspindlar. Inga underarter finns listade i Catalogue of Life.

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School of Business Administration opens for fall semester; John H. Wharton named director.
In the year 1919, the Americans stood on the threshold of unparalleled prosperity and promise.
School awards first B.S. degree to Ulderico Cornelio, of Milan, Italy.
Even during these early years, the School offered a broad range of four-year programs leading to a baccalaureate degree, as well as two-year certificate programs.
Automaker H.H. Franklin endows Franklin Chair in Transportation.
One of the earliest endowed transportation programs in the nation was made by noted entrepreneur and founder of the Franklin car H.H. Franklin.
School reorganized and renamed College of Business Administration, headed by Dean Wharton. AACSB accreditation granted.
By 1921 the School had become the second-largest degree conferring unit of the University. In the same year, it was reorganized and renamed the College of Business Administration. The faculty quickly grew from six instructors to 50. The curriculum was expanded, and more space was found in the building of the Joseph Slocum College of Agriculture.
Dean Wharton fatally shot April 2; Charles Lee Raper named dean.
The headline read "'Entire City and University Stunned by Sudden Tragedy!' Said Chancellor Day, "I am crushed with grief this is a tremendous blow to the University and to me personally. Dean Wharton was destined to immeasurably in the University's steady and certain progress."
Six-year combination business and law program introduced.
The business school curriculum remained remarkably sensitive to the structural changes overtaking the American economy. Responding to the need for managers and lawyers to interpret and administer the complex structure of tariffs and quoted erected by the protectionists.
Specialization in Latin-American trade offered.
In cooperation with the Department of Romance Languages, the College introduced a four-year Latin-American trade sequence for "the purpose of training graduates for a career in Latin-American commerce."
War prompts University to introduce accelerated three-semester year, which remains in effect until 1949.
The University adopted an accelerated program that enabled students to complete their education in three calendar years or less. The newly created War Service College offered a program for students who expected to be called to active duty after their 18th birthday, and for those who wanted to train for essential employment in the industry.
M.S. degree program in accounting introduced.
In 1944 the M.S. degree in accounting is introduced largely in response to the desperate need for more and better systems of financial and cost control in response to the needs of the American defense economy. Thousands of Syracuse-trained managers played a vital role in the war effort. In industry, they contributed to the historic "production miracle" of World War II. In the armed forces, they achieved logistical triumphs never achieved before or since. While the courage of men and women in the armed forces was decisive. American efficiency gave the allies a critical edge.
A postwar influx of students requires expanded faculty and new courses in industrial and labor relations, aviation and international management.
In 1945, with the G.I. Bill as a spur, veterans flooded the campus, dramatically changing the character of the university.
Two-year sequences in air traffic management introduced.
In response to requests from the airlines, the transportation department introduced a two-year and four-year program in air traffic management.
MBA program introduced.
From the earliest years, students with B.S. degrees in business administration could undertake graduate study in master's and doctoral programs. With the creation of the MBA program in 1948, students coming from non-business backgrounds could also pursue a graduate degree in business.
Harry E. Salzberg Memorial Lecture established.
Established in 1949, the Harry E. Salzberg Program enriches the student learning experience by fostering a close community of students, faculty, staff and practitioners of supply chain who collaborate to advance the state of knowledge, engage the mind and stimulate the best effort of all.
First "foreign productivity" programs offered for Marshall Plan administrators.
Over the next 30 years, thousands of managers from more than 100 countries participate in programs for international managers.
Army Comptrollership Program established.
In 1952 the College and Marshall School of Citizenship and Public Affairs introduced the Army Comptrollership Program (ACP), a 14-month MBA program for officers and civilian personnel of the Army and Department of Defense. Hailing the event, the editor of the Wall Street Journal noted: "The Army is sending some of its officers to school at Syracuse University to learn how to spend money sensibly. It is, indeed, about time."
Executive Controls Program first offered-an innovation in executive education.
A logical, widely hailed outgrowth of the ACP was the Executive Controls Program, a four-week advanced trained program for business executives introduced in 1954. Offered at the summer campus on Blue Mountain Lake in Adirondacks, the program focused on "the use of budgetary, statistical, accounting, financial and other impersonal business controls so necessary in the management of today's complex organizations."
College embarks on two-year program of technical assistance to the Industrial Development Center of the Philippines.
College launches cooperative venture with Agency for International Development to assist Escuela de Administracion y Finanzas in Medellin, Colombia.
Throughout the sixties, the College pursued in its global mission energetically, stimulated by new and ambitious national priorities.
Doctoral Program Established.
In one way or another, the tumult of the sixties -- the cultural revolution, the war in Vietnam, and the peace movement -- touched every individual and institution in America. Business and business schools came under attack and their image reached a low point. In the College, as in business schools nationwide, there was a downward trend in undergraduate enrollments.
"With respect to the decline in undergraduate applications," Dean Robert G. Cox concluded, "we should substantially expand in our full-time resident MBA program." Besides carrying through on the recommendation, the faculty created the Ph.D. program in 1965. The number of graduate degrees, primarily MBAs, granted by the College from 74 in 1960, to 102 in 1965, to 241 in 1970.
College of Business Administration reorganized as School of Management.
By now the generic concept of management -- the view that management skills are not only to business but to all organizations -- was well established. The College and the faculty had embraced this notion in the late sixties. "Technically," said Dean Harry T. Allan, "we prepare students for professional management, not just in the business field." The new mindset became official in 1970 when the school was renamed the School of Management. The school moved to a new building a few years later.
Development of Independent Study Degree Program and "university without walls" concept.
The demand for innovative business programs was nowhere more apparent than in Central New York. Here, as elsewhere, many professionally experienced men and women wanted degrees but were unable to complete requirements in the traditional manner. The faculty responded by establishing the Independent Study Degree Program as the first and only accredited program of its kind in the country, marking the School as a leader in "distance learning."
Within a few years, an independent study MBA program would also be offered. In 1973, Dean Allan was invited to make a presentation on the "university without walls" concept at the annual meeting of the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business.
Corporate Advisory Council created.
With the proliferation of degree programs, the College was challenged to assure its quality and relevance. The master's board was created in 1973 to oversee the master's programs and advise on needed changes. The Corporate Advisory Council was also created in 1973, charged with evaluating the substance and relevance of the curriculum from the perspective of the employer.
Crouse-Hinds Foundation gives $2.25 million naming gift for new building.
The decade closed on a note of great significance. In 1979 the Crouse-Hinds Foundation made a $2.25 million naming gift for a School of Management building. A long-deferred dream was given new life.
Groundbreaking ceremonies held for new building.
"The Crouse-Hinds gift was the spark," recalls former Dean L. Richard Oliker, who led the successful $6 million fundraising effort. "With that kind of impetus, it took only about 15 months to complete the campaign." Groundbreaking ceremonies were held in 1981, and the Crouse-Hinds School of Management Building was dedicated in 1983. At last, students and programs that had been scattered across campus in six locations were now co-located into one building.
Crouse-Hinds School of Management Building dedicated.
After over 5 decades of existence students and programs that had been scattered across campus in six locations had a place to call home!
Executive MBA Program enrolls first class.
The faculty drew on these innovations as they worked with members of the Corporate Advisory Council and senior executives in Central New York to develop the Executive MBA Program. Introduced in 1985, the program prepared mid-career managers to assume senior-level functional and general management positions. Responding to the needs of managers operating in a global context, it included an international colloquium held overseas. It offered the knowledge and skills needed to deal more effectively with change, innovations and technology.
Robert H. Brethen Operations Management Institute Management established.
The Robert H. Brethen Operations Management was endowed in 1988 by Robert H. Brethen '49. The Institute supports collaborative efforts by academics and practicing executives to identify emerging issues in operations management and develop new knowledge about the management of operating systems.
Management Scholars Program instituted.
George E. Bennett Center for Tax Research and Olivia and Walter Kiebach Center for International Business Studies established.
The Olivia and Walter Kiebach Center for International Business Studies was created by Walter Kiebach '36 and Olivia Kiebach.
Whitman Magazine first published.
The Whitman Magazine, initially called SU Management, the house organ of the Whitman School, offered a new way for the School to engage its alumni and wider community, while also providing an outlet for faculty to share scholarship and the leadership to share news and happenings within the School.
Revised MBA curriculum introduced.
In 1992, the faculty introduced an innovative new MBA curriculum integrating newly developed "theme" courses with the "core" courses for which the School had been noted.
Ballentine Center for the Study of Securities Markets is established.
The Ballentine Center for the Study of Securities Markets was created with a gift from Steven W. Ballentine '83. The Center enriches the quality of learning in the study of securities markets by providing students with frequent exposure to practitioners in the field, opportunities for internships, and access to real-time market data and other information sources used in the securities industry.
The faculty adopts mission statement.
The faculty crafted a mission statement -- a key document that amounts to an inventory of strengths and a road map for the future.
Earl V. Snyder Innovation Management Center is endowed.
The Earl V. Snyder Innovation Management Center was endowed with a bequest from the estate of Josephine Snyder '29 in honor of her husband. The Center is dedicated to the study and understanding of innovation in organizations and the process by which organizational creativity is invested in new products, operations and services.
Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises established.
The program of Entrepreneurship and Emerging Enterprises was established with a challenge gift from Michael Falcone '57. It supported the development of courses emphasizing the unique management challenges of businesses in the startup phase, including small technology-based firms and family-owned businesses.
A Milestone in Shanghai-Syracuse Partnership
The Shanghai-Syracuse International Syracuse of Business, which was formed in 1995 to set a new standard of management education in the global business environment, graduated its first class of MBAs in May, 1996. Drawing on the resources and faculty of the East China University of Technology and Syracuse University, the school was committed to preparing managers for the challenges of the global marketplace. Other collaborative activities included summer study programs in Shanghai for Syracuse students, faculty exchanges and joint research projects.
Panasci Gift Launches Entrepreneurial Competition
A $1 million endowment from the late Henry A. Panasci funded a Syracuse University-wide entrepreneurial competition, which is open to Syracuse University and SUNY-ESF students. Held every spring, students are invited to submit business plans for the change to advance to the finals for thousands of dollars in cash prizes. It is an opportunity for students to acquire seed funding for their businesses or entrepreneurial ideas, as well as network with competition judges, including high-level entrepreneurs and alumni.
First WISE Symposium held
Recognizing the impact of women-led businesses on economic growth as well as the untapped potential among women, the Falcone Center for Entrepreneurship partnered with KeyBank to launch the annual symposium "Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship," known as WISE was first held in April 2003 at Syracuse's OnCenter.
Groundbreaking for Higher Ground campaign to build a new Whitman School
The groundbreaking ceremony for the current Whitman School of Management building took place April 30, 2003. Chancellor Kenneth Shaw, Dean George R. Burman, Bernard Kossar, Chairman of the Corporate Advisory Council, and Robert Clink '03 BS were speakers on the occasion.
Inaugural Whitman Day and dedication of the new building at 721 University Avenue
The April dedication of the Whitman School's new 160,000 square-foot home was the impetus for a weeklong series of special events celebrating the Whitman spirit – that special brand of entrepreneurial leadership that characterizes all Syracuse management graduates.
Mel Stith becomes dean
Vice Chancellor and Provost Deborah A. Freund appointed Melvin T. Stith G'73, '78 Ph.D., to the Whitman deanship in January 2005.
Supply Chain Executive Education programs begin
The nation's oldest supply chain management program was one of the first in the country to offer innovative supply chain executive offerings, including one-on-one training for individuals, customized programs for companies and a host of seminars and certificate courses. Geared to executives and managers, the myriad course options ranged from half-day seminars on topics such as inventory management, distribution practices and new-product introduction to 16-week programs in advanced project management and Six Sigma. Customized programs were also available, depending on a company's specific needs and they were presented either on-site or in Whitman's state-of-the-art executive training center.
Orange Value Fund established
As part of the Whitman Day celebration in 2006, the Whitman School announced the creation of the student-run Orange Value Fund (OVF). Through the OVF Whitman students, together with the fund's Board of Directors, make investment decisions on real money. It's open to a carefully selected group of Whitman students majoring in finance or accounting and is a rigorous two-year commitment including summer internships at investment firms, frequent seminars taught by investment professionals and training in all aspects of the money management business. It uses the value investing philosophy of the late Martin J. Whitman, the School's namesake.
Retail program moves to Whitman
In spring 2006, the Whitman School began a multi-year phase-in to move Syracuse University's well-respected program in retail management from the College of Visual and Performing Arts into the Whitman School's Department of Marketing. The first cohort of retail management majors were accepted in fall 2006, and by 2010 all retain management students at Syracuse University earned their degrees at the Whitman School.
WISE Women's Business Center launches
The WISE Women's Business Center launched in 2006, evolving out of the WISE (Women Igniting the Spirit of Entrepreneurship) Symposium, an annual event, which grew to nearly 1,000 attendees. After realizing program attendees left inspired to start businesses but without resources or leads, the Whitman School secured a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) grant to establish the WISE Women's Business Center. Service offerings expanded from free counseling to classes on specialized skills, such as writing a business plan and launch strategies, as well as opportunities for mentoring and networking.
The center outgrew its original space at the University's South Side Innovation Center and now calls The Tech Garden in downtown Syracuse its home. The move proved positive: Client numbers continue to rise as women from outside Syracuse hear about the center and seek it's services.
Inaugural Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities
The Barnes Family Entrepreneurship Bootcamp for Veterans with Disabilities (EBV) is a novel, one-of-a-kind initiative designed to leverage the skills, resources and infrastructure of higher education to offer cutting-edge, experiential training in entrepreneurship and small business management to post-9/11 veterans and their families.
James D. Kuhn Real Estate Center named
The James D. Kuhn Real Estate Center was inaugurated by a generous donation from Whitman alumnus James D. Kuhn '70, '72 MBA, president of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, the fourth largest global real estate brokerage firm in the world. Kuhn also established the Leo and Sunnie Kuhn Scholarship for students interested in the study of real estate.
Walter Kiebach Center for International Business Studies secures Federal grant for Africa Business Program
The Kiebach Center for International Business Studies began administration of the Africa Business Program, a venture made possible by seed money from a two-year $177,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Education's International Business and Education program to promote doing business with sub-Saharan Africa.
South Side Innovation Center Expands
The South Side Innovation Center (SSIC), a community-based microenterprise incubator operated by the Whitman School, expanded its space to accommodate seven new small businesses, two anchor tenants and more virtual members.
Real estate major launched
As part of the finance department at the Whitman School, the real estate program offers access to accomplished faculty and comprehensive, timely coursework that equips students with the knowledge needed for expert analysis and strategic decision making.
Whitman Partners with Army Logistics University to Offer Logistics Training
The Whitman School was one of only nine schools in the United States to partner with the United States Army Logistics University as part of its National Logistics Curriculum (NLC), which provides career military officers and Department of Defense civilians with a comprehensive integrated knowledge of logistics to support the DoD's logistical transformation strategy.
Goodman IMPRESS program launched
What do Harry Potter and a smartphone app have to do with training tomorrow's business leaders? At Syracuse University, plenty. The Goodman IMPRESS program creates competition among students to gain critical career skills.
Leadership Scholars program begins
In the fall of 2014, 37 accomplished first-years from across the United States were welcomed as the inaugural class of Whitman Leadership Scholars. Selected for their high school academic success, rigor of courses, standardized test scores and level of community engagement, these students brought a diverse set of talents and high caliber of achievement to the Whitman School. The program was developed to attract exceptional students to Whitman and enrich the quality of the student body.
To challenge and engage them in the Whitman community, scholars are offered research opportunities with faculty, work-study positions within the School, and special opportunities to meet visiting executives and speakers. Additionally, the students are involved in leadership initiatives, including participation in tutoring and student committees.
MBA@Syracuse inaugural class begins
The Whitman School and 2U, Inc, a technology firm that delivers online degree programs for colleges and universities, announced their partnership to enhance Syracuse's online iMBA. The new version of the iMBA was renamed MBA@Syracuse and combined 2U's learning technology and the features of the iMBA program.
Business Analytics Master's Degree and MBA Specialization Launched
By 2016, the online programs were booming. BusinessAnalytics@Syracuse, a master of science in business analytics degree, was launched. Designed to prepare students with the skills needed to become data-driven business leaders, it joined a new traditional, on-campus full-time program, the M.S. in business analytics.
Al Berg establishes a chair in entrepreneurship
The late Al Berg '73 spent dinnertime at his childhood home on Long Island discussing the family's textile business, which his grandfather and father owned and operated. He credits those conversations as an early influence in his life's work as an entrepreneur.
Dual-degree offerings expand to include Arts & Science and 3+3 with College of Law
The Whitman School began offering a unique dual major program with the College of Arts and Sciences that will allow undergraduates to major in one of four sciences in combination with a business major from the Whitman School. The program equips students with the essential skills necessary to become an effective business leader and scientist, giving them an edge in a competitive job market.
Institute for an Entrepreneurial Society established
The Whitman School established the Institute for an Entrepreneurial Society (IES), supported by a $1.75 million grant from the Charles Koch Foundation. The institute produces high-quality research on the political economy of entrepreneurship, educate future thought leaders in the field and engage the academic community in explorations of the entrepreneurial society.
Eugene Anderson appointed dean of the Whitman School of Management
Eugene "Gene" Anderson was appointed dean of the Whitman School in 2017.
Martin J. Whitman dies
Martin J. Whitman '49, H'08, an investment industry visionary and generous benefactor to Syracuse University and its management school that bears his name, passed away April 16, 2018. A dedicated mentor and teacher who regularly returned to Syracuse to share his wisdom with students in the classroom, Whitman was an Honorary Trustee at the time of his passing.
National Black MBA Association partnership established
The Whitman School announced a new partnership with the National Black MBA Association® as part of the first installment of the NBMBAA® Collegiate Partnership Program. The program aims to increase awareness and facilitate access to graduate and business education programs in professional fields across the country. Whitman is one of a dozen diamond-level partners nationally.


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Contests & Competitions Can Bring Valuable Exposure
I am a fan of contests and competitions. I know a lot of people hate them but I think deep down if they won one, it would make them happy. It's often our ego and the desire to not be rejected that stops us from embracing the value of contests and competitions. But not everyone who enters a contest or competition can win it. And there is a lot to be gained by them even if you don't win.
Contests and competitions help to provide a means for gaining valuable exposure in independent film. The winners of major festivals like Sundance often walk away with distribution for their films. The winners of the Nicholl Fellowship get money to keep writing and every executive in town calling them about their work. Even the Nicholl's semi-finalists garner enough exposure to get their work in front of agents, managers, and executives who can get the script considered. I have a friend whose script won an award at Slamdance and a year later he had a job writing on a major TV show.
It takes a lot of courage to work really hard on something and allow it to be examined and critiqued by people we don't know. It's this courage and how we handle rejection that is the key to our success. Look at rejection as a necessary means for fulfilling your goals and dreams. From each rejection, push yourself to learn a little bit more about how to be a better storyteller. Channel any angst toward improving yourself.
One of the readers of this blog emailed me about an excellent achievement he had. He filmed a commercial for the POM juice company. He took that leap to enter this contest and lo and behold he got in the top ten finalists.
Here is the link to the top ten finalists. His video is OPERATION POM.
Or check it out here at the original link.
He wrote: "I filmed the whole thing with an HVX200 in 720p 24fps. Took about an hour an a half to do make-up and costumes then another 3 to 4 hours to film. We started to run out of daylight haha so on the last scene we had to use a flashlight to illuminate the actors face."
I say Congratulations! And keep 'em coming.
Posted by Jane Kelly Kosek at 10:17 AM
Labels: Competitions, Contests
Filmmaking Terms
Abby Singer - The second to last set up of the last shot of the day.
Adaptation - A screenplay based on a written work, such as book or short story.
Attachment - Verbal or written agreement attaching talent to a film project.
Day Out of Days - Calendar detailing the days each actor will work on the film.
DDACS - Detailed Dialogue Action Continuity Script
Deal Memo - Short form deal between film production and cast or crew.
Development - The period in which the screenplay is finalized for pre-production and other key elements, like financing, cast, and crew, may be attached.
Digital Intermediate - The process of digitizing a 35mm or 16mm film print, resulting in a digital version of the film that can be corrected and from which a final output to film or tape is made.
HD - High Definition; a higher resolution than standard definition.
High or Low Hat - A camera mount that allows for filming low angles.
Magazine - Lightproof film container that attaches to the camera and holds both exposed and unexposed film.
Martini Shot - Final set up of the last shot of the day.
One Liner Schedule - Shooting schedule condensed with each day's schedule on one line.
Pay or Play Offer - An offer from the producer to talent stating that the talent will either be paid or played (required to perform) by a certain date.
Pick Ups - New shots to be filmed that were not part of the original shot list.
Post Production - The period following principal photography in which the film or TV episode is completed.
Pre-Production - Often referred to as Pre-Pro; the preparation period prior to principal photography.
Principal Photography - The primary period of shooting the film or TV episode.
Production Draft - The version of the script that is used during film production.
Reshoot - A period of filming during which shots of the movie or TV show are re-filmed.
Screenplay - A script for a movie or TV show.
Script Breakdown - Detailed list of items and people needed for each scene in the script, from which a schedule and budget are made.
Shooting Schedule - Detailed schedule of principal photography, including lists of items needed from each department.
Shot List - List of shots to be filmed during principal photography.
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Did you know you can use a USB flash drive to lock your computer? You can. And unless someone has access to that flash drive, they can't start or logon to your computer. It will turn any USB flash drive into a key to your computer. So if you want to secure your computer so no one can access it when you're not around (this comes in really handy for laptops) keep on reading.
There's a small program called Predator that you can install on a USB drive that allows you to use that USB drive to lock your computer. It does this by disabling your keyboard, monitor and mouse whenever you remove the special USB drive from your computer. Simply remove the flash drive and your computer is locked, until you return and insert the flash drive back into a USB port on your computer. So what Predator does is turn a USB flash drive into a key that locks and unlocks your computer. It's really great if you travel and take a notebook with you or if you don't want people snooping around your PC when you're not home. EB? Is that you?
* PREDATOR records all security-related events in a log file: start, alarms, stop. By reading this log, you will know if intruders have tried to use your computer while you have been away.
* PREDATOR can replicate this log on your Twitter account, allowing you to remotely monitor all access-control activity on your PC.
* PREDATOR frequently changes the security codes recorded on your USB drive. If an intruder manages to copy your stick, this copy will not work because the codes on your own stick will have changed in the meantime.
* PREDATOR disables the Windows task manager when you unplug the USB drive. Nobody can stop it with Ctrl-Alt-Del.
* PREDATOR lets you regain control of your computer if you lose your stick: when you start the software for the first time, you set a password that will unlock your session if your USB drive is not available.
* PREDATOR can sound an audible alarm if somebody enters an invalid password.
* And finally, PREDATOR can protect several PCs with the same USB flash drive, e.g. your home and office computers.
Great idea. Isn't it? Predator is free for home/personal use. If you have a flash drive and you want to turn it into a key to lock your computer, then visit this page to learn more about Predator.
Our USB Bracelets are a great way to make sure you always have your flash drive with you and ready to use. Read more here.


Welcome to the SEC website. We are a free resource that posts on- and off-campus jobs for WWU and other Whatcom and Skagit County college students.
Before you can post a job, you must create an employer profile with the Student Employment Center. To create a profile please call our office Monday-Friday 9:00 a.m.-4:00 p.m.


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Car News Turbo V8
Genty Akylone unveiled as 1000hp French supercar
A new French supercar maker is in town called Genty Automobile, and it's just unveiled its first car. Meet the Genty Akylone. It has 1000hp and is promising to be one of the quickest and fastest supercars around.
Of course, the Genty Akylone unveiled is simply a computer-generated sketch, so there's no proof of anything just yet. Even so, the company is looking to follow in the foot steps of another French carmaker, one that is arguably the king of supercars, Bugatti.
Genty says the Genty Akylone is designed to feature a 4.8-litre twin-turbo V8 developing the magic 1000hp (746kW) and 1273Nm of torque. This, according to Genty, will be powerful enough to propel the Genty Akylone from 0-100km/h in 2.7 seconds, pass the quarter mile in 9.8 seconds, and go on to a top speed of 354km/h.
The Genty Akylone will supposedly be able to achieve this via a lightweight body and chassis made from carbon fibre and aluminium, tipping the scales at 1100kg. It will also use a seven-speed sequential transmission and rear-wheel drive.
Genty has plans to produce just 15 of these so-called 1000hp supercars, however, there's been no international report or spy photographer that has seen or heard of any product testing going on, so it may just be another company announcing its Santa's wish list.
If the Genty Akylone does see the light of day, it will be pitched right up against rivals such as the Koenigsegg Agera, Pagani Huayra and the Bugatti Veyron to some extent. We'll keep you updated.
Click play on the video below for a bit of an overview. And tell us, what do you think? Will it eventually hit the road? And is there appeal?
InGenty Akylone


Now 10,000 sq. ft. of Antiques!
Visit Shakers Landing Antiques 10,000 sq. feet of antiques! We have an ever changing inventory of primitives, Victorian, and retro pieces. You'll find the largest selection of military items in the area, along with historic maps and relics. Our mall has a large collection of vintage jewelry, glassware, crocks and old signage. Architectural salvage is also one of our unique features, along with restoration services for your pieces. We can help you with all of your collecting and decorating needs; including custom picture framing. Come in and see us for a memorable trip back in time. We are here to sell, buy, and trade!
We also provide Antique Restoration Services.
Contact Shakers Landing Antiques Mall today at 812-886-6024 or stop by on the corner of Willow at 18th Street in Vincennes, Indiana.
© 2019 Shakers Landing Antiques. All Rights Reserved.


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THE UNFORTUNATELY NOT SO STRANGE CASE OF STACEY HYDE
STACEY HYDE
Today, Scission Prison Friday, goes to England where a young woman may, I say, may be on the verge of some much needed good news.
Better late, then never.
Stacey Hyde was seventeen when she killed a man. No one disputes that. However, Stacey Hyde does not belong in jail...which is right where she is.
At the time of her arrest Stacey was an adolescent with a history of mental health issues. After she was convicted, a psychiatrist specializing in adolescence diagnosed Hyde as having attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). The psychiatric reports also suggest she was suffering from emerging borderline personality disorder and depression at the time of the incident, and from post- traumatic stress disorder at the time of the trial. During the summer of 2009, she tried to hang herself from the curtain rail in the shower, and to drown herself in the bath. Two days before Francis was killed, she was seen by a community psychiatric nurse who recorded that she was at risk of serious self-harm or suicide.
Did I mention the man she killed, Vince Francis, was the violent partner of her friend. Did I mention Stacey was scarred to death at the time of the "crime?"
As the Guardian writes:
On the evening of 3 September 2009, when Hyde was 17, she went out drinking with Francis's girlfriend, Holly Banwell. They returned to the flat where Banwell had been living with Francis, 34, and Hyde passed out on the bed.
In the early hours of the morning Hyde says she awoke to hear Banwell calling for help. Hyde doesn't clearly remember what happened next, but she seems to have run to Banwell's aid, and a fight ensued between her and Francis. During the course of the incident, Banwell called 999, and described what was going on, screaming: "My boyfriend is beating my friend," and later adding: "They are fighting."
The tussle spilled into the communal hall; a neighbour who was disturbed by the noise later testified that she saw Francis pull Hyde by the hair. Hyde allegedly kicked out at Francis, broke free and ran back into the flat, reappearing with a knife. Francis suffered 17 knife wounds, including two or three to the back, and was fatally injured in what the police described as a frenzied attack. When the police arrived, Hyde sobbed: "He tried to kill me ... I had to help Holly."
During her trial, where Stacey plead not guilty on the grounds of self defense, the prosecution admitted to 27 separate incidents of domestic violence between Banwell and Francis, and also said there was evidence of previous violence committed by Banwell against other women.
Hyde's "only crime was to react disproportionately, out of fear, to a man's violent attack on her and her friend," according to Justice for Women.
Again, from the Guardian,
Harriet Wistrich, lawyer and co-founder of Justice for Women, said the case was important because of what it illustrates about the problems many young women face today – rape, eating disorders, self-harm – problems for which they rarely receive proper help and assistance, and for which they are sometimes blamed. These issues disproportionately affect women, and are often either overlooked or dismissed in what Justice for Women describe as a "male-dominated criminal justice system".
A spokeswoman for Justice for Women said,
"The law at the time meant that Stacey could not use the fear of serious violence as a defence. The law was changed in October 2010, just months after her conviction. If Stacey's case had been tried under the new law, she may not have been convicted of murder."
"At the time of her trial Stacey had not been diagnosed with ADHD and borderline personality disorder which make her easily led.
"Before the trial she was housed with offenders who had already been convicted."
Ms Hyde's team claim that these convicts "coached" her in how to speak while in the dock – even holding a mock trial.
"Stacey didn't understand that she shouldn't talk about her case with other prisoners. They were winding her up and making her behave in a way that made her come across unsympathetically to the jury.
"Had her condition been recognised, she would have had assistance from an intermediary at the trial that could have prevented this.
"Stacey had suffered abuse during her life and everything came to a head that day.
"Stacey shouldn't be in prison."
The following is from Justice for Women.
Stacey Hyde new hearing to take place in the autumn.
Following Stacey's hearing at the Royal Courts of Justice on 26th March, the court has referred Stacey's case to the full court (three judges) for further consideration, so there will be a longer and more in-depth hearing some time in the autumn. This hearing will decide on both whether Stacey will have permission to appeal (the court decided that they need more evidence to decide this finally) and Stacey's appeal itself. (This is called a "rolled-up" hearing.)
This is good news - it means that the court feel that Stacey has a chance to appeal successfully, and hopefully it means that Stacey is a step closer to freedom.
In the early hours of 4th September 2009, Stacey Hyde remembers waking up to hear her friend Holly screaming for help. In the frightening events that followed, which Stacey does not clearly remember, Stacey stabbed and killed her friend Holly's partner Vince Francis.
When the police arrived Stacey was very distressed, sobbing and saying "he tried to kill me…I had to help Holly…he was going to kill her…I thought he would kill me…". She was found to have injuries, some of which were consistent with previous self-harm, and some of which were consistent with a forceful struggle with Vince.
Stacey was only 17 at the time of the offence, Vince was twice her age, and it was acknowledged by the prosecution that there had been 27 separate incidents of domestic violence between him and Holly, and that he had also been violent towards his previous girlfriend. A 999 call made at the time of the incident records Holly screaming, "…my boyfriend is beating my friend… I need the police ASAP". She is then heard saying "they are fighting", and then she is heard screaming that "Stacey has a knife and has stabbed him".
On the 8th March 2010, at the age of only 18, Stacey was convicted of murdering Vince Francis, and sentenced to life imprisonment.
This is a miscarriage of justice. Stacey is not a murderer.
Stacey was tried under an old law that does not allow for the loss of control caused by a fear of serious violence. The law has since changed, (partly as a result of previous campaigns by Justice for Women). If Stacey's case had been tried under the new law, she may not have been convicted of murder.
Please support Stacey's fight for justice. She was a vulnerable adolescent, who had suffered from a history of mental health problems and sexual violence. Her only crime was to react disproportionately, out of fear, to a man's violent attack on her and her friend.
After Stacey's conviction, her family contacted Justice for Women, and a new legal team submitted Grounds of Appeal against her conviction. The grounds include fresh evidence from an adolescent psychiatrist that she had ADHD at the time of her offence, in addition to other psychiatric diagnoses resulting from an extremely difficult childhood. These conditions would have substantially impaired her responsibility for the offence.
As a result of her ADHD she was extremely vulnerable to peer pressure, and it has also come to light that other prisoners manipulated her to give evidence during her trial in a way that made her come across unsympathetically to the jury. Had her condition been recognised, she would have had assistance from an intermediary at trial that could have prevented this. Her legal team also argue that the judge failed to direct the jury adequately to take into account the provocation she was subjected to.
A single judge has refused Stacey permission to appeal her conviction, but her lawyers are renewing the application before the full court (a panel of three judges). This is Stacey's last chance to get the justice she deserves. If the appeal is successful, her murder conviction would be substituted with manslaughter and she should get a determinate sentence which we hope would allow her to be released, as she has already served nearly four years in prison.
If we fail at this stage, however, Stacey will have to serve the rest of her sentence for murder. This would be disastrous for Stacey, as she is very vulnerable and is not coping well with prison.
This case is not just about Stacey. The issues that have affected Stacey in her life are issues that affect many people today, especially young women, but the criminal justice system is failing to ensure that all are equal before the law. Help us challenge Stacey's conviction to make sure that the criminal justice system recognises the abuse that women and girls suffer, instead of punishing them for it.
What you can do to help free Stacey
Sign the petition in support of Stacey here.
Add your organisation's logo to our supporters page (http://freestaceyhyde.wordpress.com/supporters/) by emailing us at freestaceyhyde@gmail.com.
Follow us on Facebook and Twitter and check in here and check out our campaign blog for updates on the case and campaign events
Share Stacey's story with people you know
If your organisation has a newsletter, feature Stacey's story
Donate to help fund Stacey's campaign (email us at freestaceyhyde@gmail.com)
Write to Stacey and let her know you support her – prison is a boring and lonely place, and she needs all of our support. You can write to her at: HMP Send, Ripley Road, Woking, Surrey, GU23 7LJ. You will need to include her prison number, which is A2142AP. Here are some guidelines about writing to people in prison: http://www.offendersfamilieshelpline.org/index.php/contact/.
If you want to learn more about the campaign, or find out more ways to support Stacey, please get in touch with us onfreestaceyhyde@gmail.com or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
THE UNFORTUNATELY NOT SO STRANGE CASE OF STACEY HY...
CLAUDIA SILVA FERREIRA IS DEAD
SCREW THE BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE/REST IN PEACE PAPA BEAR...
ON THE LEAGUE OF REVOLUTIONARY BLACK WORKERS


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This page provides information about how the RCOG administers its continuing professional development (CPD) programme.
The RCOG's Professional Development Committee oversees the administration of CPD. Day-to-day decisions are made in consultation with the Chair of the Professional Development Committee and the Education Policy and Quality.
The CPD programme is open to RCOG members and non-members working in O&G in non-training posts.
O&G doctors who are recommended for the award of a Certificate of Completion of Training (CCT) are automatically registered on the RCOG's CPD programme.
Any other doctors wishing to register on the RCOG's CPD programme should visit the CPD registration page, which explains the process and the annual charge (applicable to non-members and those practising outside the UK).
The RCOG considers that the professional competence of its Fellows and Members and those involved in College activities is in the interest of all employers. Employers should therefore consider it best practice to offer as much support as possible for these activities, in terms of both study leave and funding.


text:
Facebook is no longer a social network
It's a social newspaper, where your friends' feed is a secondary feature.
Kevin Morris
Published Mar 7, 2013 Updated Jun 1, 2021, 10:25 pm CDT
Facebook is no longer a social network. It's a content delivery system. Or in founder Mark Zuckerberg's words: "The best personalized newspaper in the world."
That was the main takeaway from the social giant's big press event earlier this afternoon, where Zuckerberg and other staff unveiled a new design that will amplify the role of content in your newsfeed—especially photographs, images, and link previews.
Almost 50 percent of the newsfeed is already visual, so the redesign is in a sense just bending to the will of Facebook's 1 billion users. "We're taking photos and putting them front and center," Julie Zhuo, the company's head of design for the News Feed said.
Meanwhile, previews to publisher sites will "look like the table of contents from a well-curated magazine," Zhuo said.
The move is a clear effort to make Facebook, which depends on user engagement, more engaging. Gone is the distracting three-column design and that awful news ticker, which the vast majority of users ignore outright. Instead, the News Feed, which contains the only content users actually care about, is blown up to a more fitting proportion of the home page.
One minor but important new feature allows you to sort through various "feeds," from music, to games, to pages. Customization only benefits Facebook; users don't like that an inhuman algorithm usually dictates what they see or don't see from their friends.
The focus on the word "feed" also emphasizes the fact that Facebook is becoming more about aggregated Internet stuff—a glorified RSS feed—than about your friends. One of the filters you can sort through is an "all friends" feed, where every single thing your friends post flows in marvelous, easy-to-follow chronological order.
In other words, the core purpose of Facebook—to connect you to the people who matter in your life—is now just a secondary feature. Say goodbye to the social network, and hello to the newspaper.
*First Published: Mar 7, 2013, 4:09 pm CST
Kevin Morris is a veteran web reporter and editor who specializes in longform journalism. He led the Daily Dot's esports vertical and, following its acquisition by GAMURS in late 2016, launched Dot Esports, where he serves as the site's editor-in-chief.
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