The Blaze Picks Top 7 From the Hammacher Schlemmer's Most ...

Have you ever heard or been to the Hammacher Schlemmer website? It?s a product site with the slogan ?offering the best, the only, and unexpected for 164 years.? Boy, do they ever.

The site is full of plenty of affordable and useful items, but it?s its lust-worthy but?exorbitantly?expensive toys that make it fun to poke around. Specifically, in its ?unexpected? section, which one might imagine as like a pricier version of the ?beyond? section at Bed Bath and Beyond, a few dozen toys that you?ve probably never even conceived of are there for the taking. That is, if you?re willing to pay the price.

There are a slew of items to choose from, but here are seven of our favorites.

• The Aquapod Suite: For $91,000, the world?s only aquapod could be yours. Described as a ?flying saucer? design that rests on the water with five feet submerged, the suite has AC, a?desalination unit, mini-bar, king-size bed and more. It even has an ?inflatable terrace? so you can fit all your friends for sunning. If you?re worried about how you?ll get this vessel around from one island to another, it can be towed by a boat.

(Photo: Hammacher Schlemmer)

• The Flying Hovercraft: A?130-hp twin-cylinder, liquid-cooled gasoline engine is perfect for those wanting to ?hop over water- or land-based obstacles? on their travels. Going up to 70, miles per hour, the hovercraft has a 160-mile range and can support a pilot and passengers up to 600 total pounds. It costs $191,000.

(Photo: Hammacher Schlemmer)

• The Genuine PT Boat: Own a functioning slice of WWII history ? with all weapons present but deactivated ? with one of only 12 patrol torpedo boats left in the world. Special limitations apply with this $1 million purchase.

(Photo: Hammacher Schlemmer)

• The Oenophile?s Personal Winery: You may never need to purchase another box of wine again. This $6,000 machine ?vinifies? up to four cases of vino at a time. You won?t even need a vineyard to make this happen. According to the posting, Napa Valley grapes will be crushed, frozen and sent to you.

(Photo: Hammacher and Schlemmer)

• The?Barbecue Dining Boat: BBQ in the round ? and on the water (literally) ? with this floating contraption that seats 10 adults. Making the perfect use of space, it stores all your sides and extra supplies under the seats. Given that you?re right on the water, the fact that the grill is charcoal heated shouldn?t be a problem. It will also only set you back $50,000.

(Photo: Hammacher Schlemmer)

• The Electric Skates: Are you ready to pony up $699.95 for this Christmas list topper? Kids won?t even have to lift up their feet with these babies that go up to eight miles per hour. The ideal use for the skates, as said by Hammacher?Schlemmer, is ?travel across a school campus, to a local cafe, or while roaming a neighborhood festival.?

(Photo: Hammacher Schlemmer)

• The 20 Foot Animatronic Triceratops: Who wouldn?t want to bring?Jurassic?Park into their very own backyard? Believe it or not, this animatronic creature has facial recognition technology that tracks subject?s movements to signal it to perform certain actions, such as sway its head or stomp its feat. The Triceratops not only looks realistic but has vocals of what the beast may have sounded like.

(Photo: Hammacher Schlemmer)

If you liked this list, check out The Blaze?s top 10 picks of most expensive, outrageous and nerdy grill tools here.

(H/T: Daily Mail)

Source: http://www.theblaze.com/stories/check-out-these-7-outrageous-toys-youll-probably-never-buy-but-still-want/

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The Parenting Place offers wealth of helpful services to community ...

COUNTY ? Ben Franklin is credited with coining the phrase ?an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.? Gloria Morris, director of The Parenting Place, home of Prevent Child Abuse Pickens County, would agree whole-heartedly.
Every day we try to prevent illness by consistently washing our hands throughout the day; we prevent major automotive problems by performing routine oil changes and fluid maintenance in our cars; we prevent damage to our financial and credit history by predictably paying our bills on time each month.
Prevent Child Abuse Pickens County (PCAPC) is a non-profit organization that has been serving Pickens County since 1991. Affiliated with The Children?s Trust, Prevent Child Abuse South Carolina and Prevent Child Abuse America, the programs at PCAPC stress prevention as the primary key to ending child abuse.
According to Morris, in the state of South Carolina, Pickens County ranks as the third highest county for cases of child neglect and abuse related to poverty.
?Abuse prevention is possible, and it is simple, but people have to be taught parenting skills,? said Morris. ?As a community, we have to care about people and treat them with respect. It is that simple.?
Research shows that prevention programs (specifically home visitation) are successful in promoting positive parenting practices, ensuring school readiness, improving family health, and increasing self-sufficiency. By meeting these needs, the Parenting Place is working toward reducing the likelihood of child abuse and neglect.
Prevention is key. PCAPC takes a holistic approach to child neglect and abuse prevention by focusing on families of every context, and through community outreach programs to ensure that everyone understands their role in the protection of children.
Anyone can attend Family Life Skills classes through the Parenting Place. These classes are designed to address the multitude of issues and stress families cope with on a daily basis: financial stability, responsibility, job skills, education, conflict resolution, discipline, empathetic parenting and so on.
Parenting does not come with a How-To manual. Most people parent based on the experiences they had as children. They practice what they know and what they have experienced. If they were beat with belts as children, and they have never learned alternative forms of discipline or punishment, how would they be expected to behave differently as parents?
?We like to get involved with parents in the prenatal stages and help them for as long as they need us,? said Morris. ?We stress the importance of meeting children?s most basic of needs when they are infants. For instance, when a baby cries, that baby needs to know that someone is going to respond to his or her needs.
?Without that sense of safety and security, we learn to be fearful. When we operate in fear, we do not function the way we should and we do not develop to our full potential,? said Morris. ?We try to teach people to be present in their role as parents.?
Family Life Skills is a 12-hour program (a total of six two-hour meetings) geared toward parents, foster parents, relatives and others who care for children. They teach parenting techniques that help reduce the stress of parenting.
The CODES Program (Creating Opportunities to Develop Economic Success) teaches parents how to develop a plan of financial security for their families. In partnership with Tri-County, this program encourages education so that parents can secure jobs that will offer a living wage as opposed to struggling week-to-week.
?We offer practical skills that teach people how to look for a job, interview for a job and then maintain a job,? said Morris. ?These are skills that not everyone has.?
Morris? agency is also hands-on with families in the provision of at-home visitation with families. Again, not everyone in the Pickens County community has access to transportation, so PCAPC brings the programs to them.
?Being able to visit with families in their homes offers them a level of caring, of dignity and compassion,? said Morris, ?that might be lacking in their lives.?
At the very core, says Morris, people, especially teen moms and women who have been involved in domestic violence situations, need to feel a sense of worth and competence; they need to believe in themselves and their abilities.
?There are so many people with broken spirits,? said Morris. ?We need to respect each and every person ? to show them compassion and to have empathy for their situations and circumstances.?
WINGS (Women in Need of Guidance & Support) Visitation Services, a free program for women who are survivors of child abuse or domestic violence, has been serving women and children in Pickens County for the past 17 years. PCAPC staff works with women to help them overcome obstacles and raise their children in a healthier, loving environment.
The Parenting Place and Prevent Child Abuse Pickens County offers incredible programs and services in the Pickens County community. Doing so requires the generosity of the community. In addition to their programming, PCAPC also helps children and families in need through donations of clothing, food and other household needs.
?We help with diapers, wipes, formula, cleaning products, food, clothing, lamps, birthday presents,? said Morris. ?What we cannot use, we pass along to partner agencies ? like the United Way, for example ? who can utilize what we can?t.?
With school starting in the next few weeks, PCAPC is greatly in need of clothing for children from infants to 6-7 years in age, as well as a variety of school supplies.
Items like non-perishable food, infant formula, diapers and wipes are always in high demand. These are expensive items that people in the community need but cannot always afford. Not being able to afford to meet the basic needs of children adds a great deal of stress to parents.
For more information on the programs and services at The Parenting Place, to volunteer time or donations of any kind, call (864) 898-5583 or send an e-mail to director@theparentingplacepca.org. Donations can also be delivered to their physical address at 1899 Gentry Memorial Highway between Easley and Pickens.

from your own site.

Source: http://www.yourpickenscounty.com/?p=2195

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Today on New Scientist: 25 July 2012

Tidy close-match star system holds planetary pinball clue

A trio of worlds that neatly circles its star is a close match to our solar system and may hint at the true culprits behind messier groups

Higgs-spotting is much easier in Flatland

Boson spotting is much easier in two dimensions - the simulated Higgs was glimpsed in a single layer of ultra-cold atoms on a lab bench

Chemical internet discovers new ways to make drugs

Wiring up 250 years of chemical knowledge has revealed hidden reaction pathways and could throw up ways to make totally new compounds

Hardy polar bears have survived past global warming

Polar bears have been around for millions of years longer than previously thought - and might be resilient to current climate change and habitat loss

Emotional space voyage to deliver antimatter hunter

On the first anniversary of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer's launch, astronaut Mark Kelly recalls the last space shuttle ride of his career

Why Japan finally fell for Facebook

Japanese teens are ditching anonymous homegrown social networks and turning to the world's biggest name

Syria acknowledges its chemical weapons

The Syrian government has said it will use chemical weapons only against foreign invaders, as global nations come together to monitor security arrangements

97% of Greenland surface ice turns to slush

A warm spell last month melted nearly the entire surface of the nation's ice cap, satellite data shows. A repeat would be cause for concern

HIV pioneers unite to stamp out the virus for good

Researchers announce a global strategy to defeat the infection. Trials include waking up dormant HIV to rid the virus from every last cell

Tracking the most popular words in written English

"The" has retained its title as the most popular written word over the last five centuries, but the most popular phrases have changed dramatically

Innovation made waves in physics photography

MIT's science photographer Felice Frankel is mesmerised by the innovative images of her predecessor Berenice Abbott, now showing in a new exhibition

Crowdsourcing serves up the subtitles to your life

A system that turns to the crowd to provide deaf people with live captions uses some clever tricks to make sure it is accurate

Source: http://feeds.newscientist.com/c/749/f/10897/s/21b4d6b0/l/0L0Snewscientist0N0Cblogs0Cshortsharpscience0C20A120C0A70Ctoday0Eon0Enew0Escientist0E250Ejuly0E10Bhtml0DDCMP0FOTC0Erss0Gnsref0Fonline0Enews/story01.htm

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Car or truck Motor finance | Social Bookmarking Site

As a multitude of methods are around for car or truck motor finance, schooling automobile is absolutely not for the reason that complex precisely as it was basically historically. Mortgage lenders, consumer credit rating unions, stores, not to mention self-governing loan creditors are actually needs to appreciate can giving in in the family car individual. Whether they turn down to employ people that aspire to invest in a family car, his or her?s industry definitely will drop, and then the market place by and large are affected. Alas, numerous loan creditors was mandated to gain knowledge of this unique driving lesson typically the very hard process, and yet such very hard instructional classes established latest auto finance general trends not to mention systems for the purpose of people.

Virtually anyone can learn schooling regardless his or her?s credit ratings. It?s true that folks with the help of captivating consumer credit rating definitely will also have the foremost methods, and yet individuals with time-consuming and / or certainly no consumer credit rating may well build up his or her?s methods from appointment several desires. Numerous loan creditors are certainly more lenient as opposed to some people, and yet these individuals probably will make a powerful time towards investment a man or woman previously many go these products downwards.

Levels will change because of provider towards provider, which means patrons should certainly look at his or her?s methods previously deciding. Family car patrons interested in car or truck motor finance can come all over the soon after general trends:

Income tax Tax decuctible Car or truck Motor finance : Consumer credit rating unions not to mention self-governing loan creditors frequently make available such borrowing products in the people. Licensed customers are able to be given a income tax reduction in price at the appeal shipped with his or her?s auto loan. With the help of virtually all family car monthly payments, a share flows to the eye and then the keeping number flows to that family car money. It happens to be roughly typically the person to stay the suitable log to allow them to discover the things towards deduct when ever income tax monthly payments are actually owed.

Source: http://thegreenbuz.com/car-or-truck-motor-finance-07-2012

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Pointer - Zook - Small - Young - Male - Dog | Antioch | eBay ...

Pointer - Zook - Small - Young - Male - Dog

Zook is such a wonderful dog; he loves to play with the other dogs and children. He will be devoted to his family or to a single parent. Zook would be a great family dog. Zook is also potty trained. SECURE FENCING REQUIRED FOR ALL OF OUR RESCUED DOGS. If you are considering adopting a dog through HALO Here are some helpful hints: Bring pictures of your yard to show secured fencing. Most of our dogs require a 6 foot fenced yard. Yards must be cleared of any foxtail weeds. We do adopt small dogs to apartments or condo need to see pictures of patio or balcony area. If you rent please bring a copy of your lease to show you can have pets and what sizes. We do not adopt to homes with children under the age of 5, unless we know the history of the dog with young children. All Children MUST be present at adoption. If you own a dog and are looking for a friend please bring your dog with you so they can be introduced.

CHARACTERISTICS:
Breed: Pointer
Size: Small
Petfinder ID: 23613931

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Pet has been spayed/neutered

CONTACT:
Homeless Animals' Lifeline Organization (H.A.L.O.) | Antioch, CA | 925-473-4642

For additional information, reply to this ad or see: http://www.petfinder.com/petnote/displaypet.cgi?petid=23613931

Brought to you by Petfinder.com

Source: http://bayarea.ebayclassifieds.com/dogs-puppies/antioch/pointer-zook-small-young-male-dog/?ad=21535585

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'Downton Abbey' stars hint at what's to come

By Susan C. Young, TODAY.com contributor

Carnival / PBS

The stars of "Downton Abbey" deliver hints of what's to come in season three of the Masterpiece hit.

Well shut your mouth and pass the crumpets: PBS revealed a spoiler-packed trailer for season three of ?Downton Abbey? at the Television Critics Association summer tour on Saturday.?

The session wrapped with a cheeky Hugh Bonneville, the man behind patriarch Robert Crawley, doing a mock strip tease that revealed a T-shirt proclaiming ?Free Bates!?

Oh, we?re all in for a wicked good time when the Emmy-nominated series returns in early January.

(Spoiler alert! If you don?t want any hints about the season three, stop here.)

The upcoming season is set in the roaring ?20s, and the frocks rock. But there are plenty of rough times ahead for the Crawleys and crew.

Bates may have escaped a death sentence last season, but he and Anna will be fighting for his freedom after he was unjustly found guilty of murder. Brendan Coyle, who plays the beleaguered valet, told TODAY.com he should have cashed in on the merchandizing of the Free Bates shirts, since much of this coming seasons' storyline will be about getting him out.

And there?s trouble to come once again in the rocky romance between Matthew and Michelle Dockery's Lady Mary.

?Did you really think it would go smoothly for them?? a smiling and laughing Dockery said to TODAY.com.

No, indeed.? But will there be a wedding between them?

?Oh, you?ll have to wait and see on that,? she teased. ?But there will be a wedding.?

Love does not run smoothly on ?Downton Abbey.? While a wedding is promised, perhaps it will be glum sister Edith and her older suitor who tie the knot.

But the big ripple on the way is that Downton is once again in dire financial straits after Robert?s bad investments. As the exclusive TCA sneak peek revealed, an undaunted Cora taps into her Yankee roots and says, ?I?m an American. Have gun, will travel.?

But does that mean that the servants are to be dismissed and Lady Mary left to mop the floors?

Not bloody likely.

?There seems to be no end to Cora?s family money,? Elizabeth McGovern told TODAY.com at the post panel soiree. ?They are noveau riche, and still very riche.?

Cora?s fortune bought her family?s way into royalty, and that might be lost. But her parents are still minting money back in the good ol? USA, and they aren?t about to lose their purchased stature.

Cora?s mom, played by Shirley MacLaine, has arrived on the British shores, ready to take on Violet (Maggie Smith). MacLaine is only in two episodes, although the door is open for her to return for subsequent seasons.

Also, it seems the rumor about Smith?s departure from the series after the next season has been greatly exaggerated.

?Oh, that?s just Maggie,? said producer Julian Fellowes of the star not yet signed on past the third season. ?I?m sure she?ll be back.?

If not, MacLaine could be tapped for the resident saucy elder -- if only the producers can figure out a way to get her beloved 12-year-old rat terrier, Terry, through the usual transatlantic quarantine quicker.

?I can?t be away from Terry that long,? MacLaine told TODAY.com. ?He?s old and I don?t like leaving him for that long. But if we could work that out, I don?t mind doing more.?

Fans still have a long wait ahead of them before they learn what else "Downton Abbey" has in store. The Masterpiece series is set to return to PBS in January of 2013.

What plot points and twists are you most looking forward in the third season of "Downton Abbey"? Tell us on our Facebook page.

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Source: http://theclicker.today.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/23/12904609-marriage-money-and-more-downton-abbey-stars-tease-whats-to-come?lite

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New method for associating genetic variation with crop traits

ScienceDaily (July 22, 2012) ? A new technique will allow plant breeders to introduce valuable crop traits even without access to the full genome sequence of that crop. The technique, published in the journal Nature Biotechnology, links important agronomic traits in crop plants with active regions of the genome. Instead of requiring knowledge of the crop's complete genome, it identifies only expressed genes.

"For many crop plants, markers are still lacking because of the complexity of some plants' genomes and the very high costs involved," said Professor Ian Bancroft, who led the study at the John Innes Centre. "We have succeeded in developing markers based on the sequences of expressed genes, widening the possibilities for accelerated breeding through marker assisted selection."

Expressed genes are converted from genomic DNA to mRNA. Working with mRNA means that there is no need to generate a complete genome sequence from DNA, making the techniques applicable to a wide range of crops, even those with complex genomes, such as oilseed rape and wheat. It also enables the development of advanced marker resources for less studied crops that are important for developing countries or have specific medicinal or industrial properties.

The research was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

Peter Werner of plant breeding company KWS UK Ltd and part of the research team said "KWS UK has been delighted to be involved with this ground breaking developmental research. We will be increasingly using this approach to further improve the speed and reliability of our breeding towards the continued improvement of yield and quality of our new varieties produced within the KWS group."

In partnership with the Cambridge-based bioinformatics company Eagle Genomics Ltd, the technology, called TraitTag, is being offered as a service to plant breeders. Markers associated with measured trait variation can be identified in essentially any crop species, including traits controlled at the level of gene expression variation rather than gene sequence variation, such as those with an epigenetic basis.

In an example of such an application, the researchers are now working with plant breeding company Limagrain to produce reliable markers for hybrid performance in oilseed rape. Marker-assisted breeding for this complex trait has previously been unsuccessful due to a lack of available markers and appropriate technology.

Using bioinformatics techniques it is possible to associate variation in both the sequences of expressed genes and their relative abundance in the mRNA with important traits, and then produce markers for these traits that breeders can use in their breeding programmes. Their research was published in the journal Nature Biotechnology and was funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the UK Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Norwich BioScience Institutes, via EurekAlert!, a service of AAAS.

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

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Journal Reference:

1. Andrea L Harper, Martin Trick, Janet Higgins, Fiona Fraser, Leah Clissold, Rachel Wells, Chie Hattori, Peter Werner, Ian Bancroft. Associative transcriptomics of traits in the polyploid crop species Brassica napus. Nature Biotechnology, 2012; DOI: 10.1038/nbt.2302

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

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/pAYhz0JA1mI/120722135125.htm

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