Johan Santana pitches first no-hitter in Mets' history

NEW YORK (AP) ? For more than 50 years, the New York Mets chased that elusive no-hitter. Johan Santana finally finished the job.

Santana pitched the first no-hitter in team history, helped by an umpire's missed call and an outstanding catch in left field in an 8-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Friday night.

After a string of close calls over the last five decades, Santana went all the way in the Mets' 8,020th game.

"Finally, the first one," he said. "That is the greatest feeling ever."

He needed a couple of key assists to pull it off.

Carlos Beltran, back at Citi Field for the first time since the Mets traded him last July, hit a line drive over third base in the sixth inning that hit the foul line and should have been called fair. But third base umpire Adrian Johnson ruled it foul and the no-hitter was intact ? even though a replay clearly showed a mark where the ball landed on the chalk line.

"I saw the ball hitting outside the line, just foul," Johnson told a pool reporter.

The umpire acknowledged that he saw the replay afterward but declined to comment.

"It was in front of his face, and he called it foul. I thought it was a fair ball," Beltran said. "At the end of the day, one hit wasn't going to make a difference in the ballgame. We needed to score more runs and we didn't do that."

Hometown kid Mike Baxter then made a tremendous catch in left field to rob Yadier Molina of extra bases in the seventh. Baxter crashed into the wall, injured his shoulder and left the game.

Making his 11th start since missing last season following shoulder surgery, Santana (3-2) threw a career-high 134 pitches in his second consecutive shutout. Relying on a sneaky fastball and the baffling changeup that's always been his signature, he struck out eight and walked five with wind gusting up to 30 mph.

"Amazing," Santana said after tossing the majors' third no-hitter this year. "Coming into this season I was just hoping to come back and stay healthy and help this team, and now I am in this situation in the greatest city for baseball."

Before the game, Mets manager Terry Collins said he planned to limit Santana to 110-115 pitches all season.

"I just couldn't take him out," a choked-up Collins said afterward.

Born in 1962, the Mets have been built on pitching when they've fielded their best teams. But neither Nolan Ryan, Tom Seaver nor Dwight Gooden could throw a no-hitter for the Mets ? though all three are among the seven pitchers who tossed one after leaving the team.

Philip Humber is another one. He pitched a perfect game for the Chicago White Sox at Seattle on April 21, and Jered Weaver of the Los Angeles Angels no-hit Minnesota on May 2.

Following the game, Santana addressed his teammates in the clubhouse. He thanked them and said: "Yeah, baby! Believe it!"

"I'm really happy for them," said Boston manager Bobby Valentine, who managed the Mets from 1996-2002. "That's been an albatross over the pitching in that franchise forever, since '62. One of the best pitchers they've ever had threw it and that also gives credibility to it."

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez congratulated Santana in a message on Twitter, calling him a "golden left-hander" and "Giant Johan."

"What pride! Long live Venezuela!" Chavez said in the message.

Santana got a warm ovation as he headed out to the mound for the ninth inning, and the two-time Cy Young Award winner quickly retired Matt Holliday and Allen Craig on shallow fly balls as frenzied fans high-fived each other and captured video of it all on their cell phones.

With the crowd of 27,069 on its feet, World Series MVP David Freese went to a 3-2 count before his foul tip was caught by Josh Thole, just activated from the disabled list earlier in the day.

Santana pumped his left fist, slammed it into his glove and shouted as Thole showed the ball to plate umpire Gary Cederstrom and then went running out toward the mound.

"I don't think anybody expected that tonight. Everything came out perfect for him," Beltran said. "It should mean a lot for him after battling last year with the injuries. ... I'm not happy about it, but at the same time he's a good man and I'm happy for him."

The Mets rushed out of the dugout and mobbed Santana in a raucous dogpile as security guards tackled a fan who ran onto the field near home plate. Moments later, the pitcher raised his right arm and saluted the crowd, which was chanted his name from the eighth inning on. The big scoreboard in center flashed Santana's picture and read "No-Han."

"It was a crazy night ? my fastball moving all over the place," Santana said. "I don't think I've ever thrown a no-hitter in video games."

The Cardinals, the top-hitting team in the NL this season, should have had a hit in the sixth.

Beltran, traded by the Mets to San Francisco last July after 6? rocky seasons in New York, led off with a low liner over third. Television replays showed the ball nicked the foul line just behind the bag on the dirt, taking a small chunk of chalk with it. But Johnson called it foul immediately and Beltran eventually grounded out.

"It was tough because it happened so quick. I wasn't able to see anything," Santana said. "The umpire made his call and that was the end of it."

But with the next batter at the plate, Cardinals third base coach Jose Oquendo twice got in Johnson's face for heated arguments ? the two even appeared to bump each other. Rookie manager Mike Matheny also came out to protest, but nobody was ejected.

"It's not like there's going to be an asterisk by it. That's the way the game goes," Matheny said.

Almost exactly two years ago ? on June 2, 2010 ? Armando Galarraga lost a perfect game when first base umpire Jim Joyce admittedly blew a call that should've resulted in the final out. The miss in Detroit instead gave Cleveland's Jason Donald a single with two outs in the ninth.

Major League Baseball had considered expanding replay for this season to review fair-or-foul calls and trapped balls. The change required the approval of MLB and the unions representing the umpires and the players ? when there was no agreement, extra replay was postponed until at least 2013.

Santana cruised from there into the seventh, when Molina hit a one-out drive to deep left. Baxter, who grew up rooting for the Mets only 10 minutes from where Citi Field stands, raced back and made a terrific catch before crashing full force into the fence.

Baxter stayed down on the warning track as Mets trainers, players and coaches rushed out to him. Santana crouched in the infield with a couple of teammates and then made a few warmup tosses to stay loose.

"When I saw him running back onto the warning track and he made that play, it was amazing. An outstanding play and he saved the game," said Santana, traded to the Mets by Minnesota before the 2008 season. "All these guys, I want to thank them for what we accomplished."

Baxter walked off the field under his own power, with trainer Ray Ramirez holding the outfielder's left arm because Baxter had no feeling in it. The Mets said Baxter has a bruised left shoulder and was having more tests.

"I'm glad I had a chance to be part of it. It's a great night for the Mets," Baxter said.

Lucas Duda hit a three-run homer off Adam Wainwright (4-6) and drove in four runs, tying a career high. Daniel Murphy added three RBIs.

The San Diego Padres, who started play in 1969, are now the only team without a no-hitter.

The Mets' seemingly endless pursuit had become something of a famous quest, with at least one website dedicated to counting off their total number of games without a no-hitter each day during the season. Radio announcer Howie Rose often did the same when the opposing team got its first hit.

The list of pitchers who have thrown no-hitters after leaving the Mets includes Ryan and Seaver, both Hall of Famers, plus Gooden, David Cone, Mike Scott, Hideo Nomo and Humber.

Ryan, in fact, pitched a record seven no-hitters. Now the president of the AL champion Texas Rangers, he's still aware of the Mets' no-hit history ? or lack thereof.

"To me, it was phenomenal," he said through a team spokesman on the 37th anniversary of a no-hitter he threw for the Angels. "If you look at the history of their organization and the type of pitching they had at times, plus the fact they had pitchers throw no-hitters with other clubs."

Seaver came within two outs of a perfect game in 1969 and fell one out shy of a no-hitter in 1975, the previous time a Mets pitcher had made it into the ninth without yielding a hit.

NOTES: Santana's previous career high was 125 pitches. ... It was the eighth no-hitter pitched against St. Louis and the first since Fernando Valenzuela for the Los Angeles on June 29, 1990. ... Mets 3B David Wright said in a radio interview on WFAN that he won't talk to the team about a new contract until after the season because he doesn't want his situation to be a distraction for the team. Wright's salary is $15 million this season and New York holds a $16 million option for 2013, which gets voided if he is traded. After that, he can become a free agent. ... Replays showed Cardinals pinch-hitter Shane Robinson was hit on the hand by a pitch in the eighth. He started toward first, but Cederstrom called it a ball.

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What Are Florida Car Insurance Policies Requirements ...

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Video: Quantum computers will be able to simulate particle collisions

Friday, June 1, 2012

Quantum computers are still years away, but a trio of theorists has already figured out at least one talent they may have. According to the theorists, including one from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), physicists might one day use quantum computers to study the inner workings of the universe in ways that are far beyond the reach of even the most powerful conventional supercomputers.

Quantum computers require technology that may not be perfected for decades, but they hold great promise for solving complex problems. The switches in their processors will take advantage of quantum mechanics ? the laws that govern the interaction of subatomic particles. These laws allow quantum switches to exist in both on and off states simultaneously, so they will be able to consider all possible solutions to a problem at once.

This unique talent, far beyond the capability of today's computers, could enable quantum computers to solve some currently difficult problems quickly, such as breaking complex codes. But they could look at more challenging problems as well.

"We have this theoretical model of the quantum computer, and one of the big questions is, what physical processes that occur in nature can that model represent efficiently?" said Stephen Jordan, a theorist in NIST's Applied and Computational Mathematics Division. "Maybe particle collisions, maybe the early universe after the Big Bang? Can we use a quantum computer to simulate them and tell us what to expect?"

Questions like these involve tracking the interaction of many different elements, a situation that rapidly becomes too complicated for today's most powerful computers.

The team developed an algorithm ? a series of instructions that can be run repeatedly ? that could run on any functioning quantum computer, regardless of the specific technology that will eventually be used to build it. The algorithm would simulate all the possible interactions between two elementary particles colliding with each other, something that currently requires years of effort and a large accelerator to study.

Simulating these collisions is a very hard problem for today's digital computers because the quantum state of the colliding particles is very complex and, therefore, difficult to represent accurately with a feasible number of bits. The team's algorithm, however, encodes the information that describes this quantum state far more efficiently using an array of quantum switches, making the computation far more reasonable.

The algorithm is described in the June 1, 2012, issue of Science.*

A substantial amount of the work on the algorithm was done at the California Institute of Technology, while Jordan was a postdoctoral fellow. His coauthors are fellow postdoc Keith S.M. Lee (now a postdoc at the University of Pittsburgh) and Caltech's John Preskill, the Richard P. Feynman Professor of Theoretical Physics.

The team used the principles of quantum mechanics to prove their algorithm can sum up the effects of the interactions between colliding particles well enough to generate the sort of data that an accelerator would provide.

"What's nice about the simulation is that you can raise the complexity of the problem by increasing the energy of the particles and collisions, but the difficulty of solving the problem does not increase so fast that it becomes unmanageable," Preskill says. "It means a quantum computer could handle it feasibly."

Though their algorithm only addresses one specific type of collision, the team speculates that their work could be used to explore the entire theoretical foundation on which fundamental physics rests.

"We believe this work could apply to the entire standard model of physics," Jordan says. "It could allow quantum computers to serve as a sort of wind tunnel for testing ideas that often require accelerators today."

###

National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): http://www.nist.gov

Thanks to National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for this article.

This press release was posted to serve as a topic for discussion. Please comment below. We try our best to only post press releases that are associated with peer reviewed scientific literature. Critical discussions of the research are appreciated. If you need help finding a link to the original article, please contact us on twitter or via e-mail.

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Spaceships will follow Dragon's trail

SpaceX

SpaceX's scorched Dragon capsule sits on its American Marine recovery ship after being fished out of the Pacific Ocean on Thursday.

By Alan Boyle

SpaceX's scorched Dragon cargo capsule is on a ship making its way back to Los Angeles after Thursday's?historic descent from orbit.

The California-based company reported that the 14.4-foot-high (4.4-meter-high) spacecraft and its more than 1,300 pounds (620 kilograms) of cargo were in good shape, despite its plunge from the International Space Station. On the way down, the Dragon weathered re-entry temperatures in excess of 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit (1,650 degrees Celsius). At a height of 40,000 feet, the Dragon started deploying its parachutes and drifted into the Pacific, about 560 miles west of Baja California. A recovery team got to the craft, towed it to the ship and used a crane to hoist it aboard, as planned.


SpaceX spokeswoman Kirstin Brost Grantham told me that a few items will be delivered to NASA officials with a 48-hour turnaround, as a demonstration of the procedure for returning time-sensitive cargo from orbit. But the Dragon itself and most of its payload will be taking a slower ride to the port of Los Angeles. Arrival is expected around June 6, depending on weather.

From California, the craft and cargo will be trucked to SpaceX's rocket test facility in MacGregor, Texas, for postflight processing. Then the cargo will be turned over to NASA.

The handover of the Dragon's contents will be the last item to check off on NASA's list of requirements. That should clear the way for a $1.6 billion series of 12 Dragon cargo flights, with the first launch probably scheduled sometime in September.

NASA and SpaceX released a slew of awesome pictures and video documenting the Dragon's return, via SpaceX's Zenfolio gallery as well as NASA's Flickr and YouTube accounts. Here's a selection:?

NASA

SpaceX's Dragon cargo craft begins its descent on Thursday after its release by the International Space Station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, visible at top center.

During the re-entry of SpaceX's Dragon capsule, NASA and the United States Navy flew a P-3 Orion Cast Glance aircraft to capture airborne views of the spacecraft's descent. The aircraft, based at the Navy's VX-30 squadron at the Naval Air Station Point Mugu, Calif., was able to record Dragon's re-entry, parachute chute deployment and the capsule in the water.

NASA / U.S. Navy

A wind-filled parachute pulls the SpaceX Dragon capsule through the water after Thursday's Pacific splashdown.

SpaceX / U.S. Navy

A dive team secures the Dragon spacecraft for towing to its recovery barge.

NASA / U.S. Navy

The Dragon capsule nears American Marine's recovery ship, which is equipped with a crane to take the spacecraft on board.

Eventually, SpaceX is aiming for extensive reusability of its spaceship components, including a first stage that can fly itself back to the launch pad and a "Dragon 2.0" spacecraft that can do propulsive soft landings.

"That's how spaceships land in sci-fi movies," SpaceX's billionaire founder, Elon Musk, told me during a post-splashdown news conference. "And that's what also enables landing in other parts of the solar system. ... It's the way spacecraft ought to land."

But NASA won't be using this particular Dragon again. The space agency is buying a fresh spaceship for each of the 12 cargo supply missions. Musk speculated that SpaceX might send the scarred spacecraft on "a little tour of the country and show it to people around the country, [to] get students excited about space." In the future, Dragons could be refurbished for return trips to space.

Meanwhile, SpaceX is working to make the Dragon suitable for carrying astronauts as well as cargo. The development of the SuperDraco thruster system is a key part of that plan, because it fits into the propulsive-landing strategy as well as the launch escape system that NASA will require for safe human spaceflight. Musk said the system could go into operation in three years if the development effort goes well, "maybe four or five if we encounter some challenges along the way."

Other spaceship companies are making strides as well, with advice and financial support from NASA. Here's a quick progress report:

Orbital Sciences Corp., like SpaceX, has been receiving hundreds of millions of dollars to support the development of an unmanned cargo resupply system. Orbital is developing a new rocket called the Antares as well as its Cygnus cargo capsule to do the job. Last month, Orbital, Aerojet and NASA oversaw a full-duration hot-fire test of the AJ26 engine that will be used on the Antares. The first test launch from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia is planned sometime in the next few months, and if all goes according to plan, cargo flights to the space station could begin by early next year under the terms of a $1.9 billion contract.

Blue Origin, the company founded by Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos, is working on a spacecraft that could carry astronauts to the space station, with United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket to be used as the launch vehicle. On Thursday, Blue Origin reported that it successfully completed a systems requirement review of its orbital Space Vehicle. Blue Origin's president and program manager, Rob Meyerson, said in a statement that the review "paves the way to finalize our Space Vehicle design." Representatives from NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration took part in the review.

The Boeing Co. is developing its CST-100 capsule for NASA's potential use as a taxi for space station astronauts, to be launched by the Atlas 5. The company carried out drop tests in April and May to check the workability of its parachute-plus-airbag landing system. The most recent test involved dropping a CST-100 test vehicle from a helicopter, 14,000 feet above Nevada's Delamar Dry Lake Bed. Boeing's John Mulholland said the test validated the landing system design. Further ground tests of CST-100 components lie ahead, and test flights could begin in 2015-2016, Boeing says.

Video traces a parachute drop test of Boeing's CST-100 space taxi in the Nevada desert.

Sierra Nevada Corp. is developing a mini-shuttle known as the Dream Chaser, to be launched atop an Atlas 5 as a taxi for space station astronauts. This week, Sierra Nevada put the Dream Chaser through its first full-scale, captive-carry flight test. For this test, the space plane was suspended by cables beneath a heavy-lift helicopter. The first free-gliding drop tests are planned for later this year, and Sierra Nevada says the Dream Chaser could be operational by 2016.?

SpaceX, Blue Origin, Boeing and Sierra Nevada, along with other aerospace players such as ATK, Lockheed Martin and Astrium, are expected to compete for further funding from NASA later this year. Which means it's not likely to be a slow summer in the aerospace business. Has the successful Dragon mission made SpaceX the far-and-away frontrunner, or is the commercial space race up in the air? When will U.S. astronauts be flying once again on U.S.-made spaceships? Watch a panel of space commentators, including yours truly, discuss these and other questions?? and feel free to weigh in with your comments below.

Watch space commentators discuss the week's developments, including the return of the Dragon from orbit.

More about the commercial space race:


Alan Boyle is msnbc.com's science editor. Connect with the?Cosmic Log?community by "liking" the log's?Facebook page, following?@b0yle on Twitter?or adding?Cosmic Log's Google+ page?to your circle. You can also check out?"The Case for Pluto,"?my book about the controversial dwarf planet and the search for other worlds.

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Prevention of Overweight Problems by Taking Herbal Tea

Overweight and obesity are the major problems that need a medical concern as it has serious ill effects on total health system of the human body. The problem of overweight is caused due to the various reasons in people like irregular eating habits, sleeping disorders, genetic tendency to gain weight, absence of physical exercise, intake of junk food, spicy food, high calorie food, low nutrients food and beverages, mental pressures and physical strain. In few cases, people do not intake or overeat food, but still put on a lot of weight as for their general tendency of body mass.

Serious health problems arise out of overweight that complicates your whole life style and ruins your total health. It is necessary to take a proper care and control your weight well in advance to avoid threatening diseases. The major health related problems due to heavy weight are snoring and breathing problem, knee pain and impairment, heart disease, diabetes, cancer, sleep apnea, gout, osteoarthritis, gallbladder disease, high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

The problem of overweight leads to high blood pressure that adversely affects on your heart and increases the chances of angina, sudden death and stroke.

People with overweight problem have greater chances of developing type II diabetes where the body does not have the ability to control blood sugar that leads to heart disease, kidney failure, stroke, blood pressure and blindness. Overweight develops cancer of various types related to gallbladder, uterus, cervix, ovary, breast, and colon in woman and cancer related to colon, rectum, and prostrate in men. Sleep apnea is a strange and serious condition that is caused due to overweight. It can cause breathlessness for short periods during sleep and snore in gaps. Excess weight puts pressure on the joint of knees, hips, and lower back that causes uneasiness in movement while walking.

When overweight creates so many unwanted ill effects on our whole body and health system, do not you think it is high time for us to control and overcome it? There are many ways to control overweight like walking, physical exercise, avoiding junk and spicy food, maintaining a good life style with regular eating, sleeping and meditation habits. No matter everyone concerns to do so, but hardly find time to follow in their busy working schedules. For people who find no time to deal with their overweight problem, there are simple solutions like intake of herbal tea that can reduce your overweight.

Herbal teas in India are very famous for reducing overweight tendencies in body and overcome many health problems. There are different types of herbal teas which are a blend of unique herbal mixtures combined to form a unique mixture that has intrinsic ingredients in them to handle health problems. Dr.Tea is one of the most popular herbal teas in India that has the unique presence of herbal tea leaves processed under the modern mechanism. It controls your weight and reduces the existing over weight in the body.
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Winston-Salem Monthly ? Gimme Shelter

Adopt a pet and save a life. You can do both at the Forsyth County Animal Shelter.
By Michael Breedlove Photo by J. Sinclair

Melanie Pringle hasn?t always loved dogs. In fact, it was only a few years ago that she was somewhat terrified of the tail-waggers. ?I really didn?t want anything to do with dogs,? she says with a laugh. ?Quite honestly, they scared me. But over time, something shifted?I realized they weren?t so scary after all.?

Now, in addition to being a dog owner, Pringle serves as the senior office assistant at the Forsyth County Animal Shelter, where she interacts with dozens of dogs daily. (And cats, bunnies, ferrets?even the occasional rat.) While much of her time is spent answering emails and completing paperwork, she says adoptions are her favorite part of the job. ?Everyone loves a happy ending,? she says. ?And as sappy as it sounds, you?re saving a life when you adopt a pet.?

With June doubling as National Pet Adoption Month, we sat down with Pringle to talk Pet Adoption 101.

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First off, how does the adoption process typically work?
People usually start by browsing the adoptable pets on our website. You?ll then need to come into the shelter and visit with the pets, to get a feel for personality and temperament. You?ll fill out an application, which you can do here or download online and bring with you. To have your application approved, your current pets have to be licensed and have current rabies vaccines. Also, all pets adopted must be spayed/neutered.

How much does it cost to adopt?
It?s $102 for dogs and $84 for cats. Some people think that?s steep, but the cost is highly subsidized considering all that?s included. Each animal is given a medical exam, dewormed, screened for heartworms/FIV, spayed/neutered, vaccinated against rabies (and other common diseases), microchipped, and licensed. To do all that on your own, it?d cost much, much more. As a bonus, we also offer a free four-week training program for all dog adoptions?it?s called the Stay Together program.

What are some things to consider before you adopt?
Time is the biggest thing. Do you honestly have enough time for a pet? Dogs require a lot of affection and, in some cases, a lot of exercise. I walk my dog three times a day, and it?s still not enough. You?re investing in these pets for much of their lifetime, anywhere from 2 to 15 years, so you need to make sure they fit into your lifestyle. There?s also the financial burden. Pets have basic needs?food, shots, vet visits?but there are also emergency situations. There are other factors you have to consider, too?kids, other pets, living arrangements, allergies.

Is there any sort of return policy?
You?re welcome to return a dog or cat within 60 days for a full refund. Most of the time, it?s the time commitment that gets people. Other times, it?s that the pet is too high-energy. So again, it?s important to stop and think before jumping into a decision. In some cases, we can do an exchange; a dog for a dog, cat for a cat.

What are the benefits of adopting an adult dog/cat?
This hits close to home for me, because I adopted an adult dog from here. She was 2 when I got her and already house-trained, so a lot of the grunt work was done. Everyone wants a puppy, but with older dogs, you usually know their personalities and full-grown size?what you see is basically what you get. They?ve already gone through the destructive puppy stage and are often house-broken. With puppies [and kittens], you really have to expect the unexpected.

Why is spaying/neutering so important?
Pet overpopulation is a real problem in this country. Millions of animals are euthanized unnecessarily each year, including here in Forsyth County. (The shelter gets upward of 8,000 animals a year, and only about 1,400 of those get adopted.) So spaying and neutering lowers those numbers, and it also helps the community by keeping tax costs down. But for most people, the biggest benefit is that it helps their pets live longer and healthier lives, and it stabilizes their personalities. It also makes male pets less aggressive and less inclined to roam.

We?ve been hearing a lot about Project Pearl. What is it exactly?
Project Pearl is a newly established nonprofit group that works exclusively with our animal shelter. It all started last year with this little dog named Pearl. She had some skin issues and wasn?t the prettiest dog, but she was so sweet?one of those ?bless her heart? dogs (laughs). But because of her looks, we were having a hard time getting her adopted. So one day a volunteer photographer took a more flattering photo. And within 24 hours, she got adopted.

So that?s how it started. The whole premise is to have professional photographers donate their time and take photos of our adoptable pets. They also ?dress? the pets up?the girls get pearls, jewelry, scarves; the boys will get ties or hats?stuff like that. And because of social media and other media attention, it?s just been a huge success. (You can visit Project Pearl?s Facebook page for more info).

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The Animal Shelter is at 5570 Sturmer Park Circle off Shattalon Drive. For more on hours, adoptions, volunteering, and other programs, call 336-703-DOGS or go to www.forsyth.cc/animalcontrol.>

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