A Rosh Hashanah meal shared with family and friends is one of the first acts of the New Year, and it’s as positive and life affirming an act one can perform. After all, nothing says ‘We’re here, we made it through another year, L’Chaim!’ like a festive meal shared and savored with loved ones.
There are five foods the Talmud says we should eat on Rosh Hashanah to ensure a year of good fortune: gourds, black-eyed peas, leeks, beets, and dates. These foods all have names that are a play on words for a particular wish for the new year: For example, the Hebrew word for dates is tamar, which sounds like yitamu, which means ‘to be removed’—as in, remove our foes from our midst.
With these auspicious ingredients in mind I’ve put together a Rosh Hashanah menu sure to start the year off right. I’ve added a few familiar symbolic flavors as well, because you can’t have too much of a good (and delicious) thing.
To start: Pureed Beets and Mashed Butternut Squash Crostini. The two vegetables are prepared so that their inherent sweetness becomes the dish’s focal point; pureed (or alternately, mashed) to a smooth and thick consistency then spread atop crunchy crostini rounds. A layer of onion confit, hummus, or goat cheese provides a piquant contrast, and the tangy apple fennel salad served on the side will guarantee that the first bites of your New Year are loaded with exuberant flavor.
For the main course: Pomegranate Marmalade Fish. The pomegranate molasses is mixed with honey to create an irresistible sweet-sour taste profile.
On the side: The Leek and Black Eyed Peas side dish is a symbolic Jewish twist on the Southern staple Beans n’ Greens. It’s a healthy option with a subtle garlic overtone that plays nicely with the faint bitterness of the spinach, gentle sweetness of the leeks, and solid earthiness of the black eyed peas.
Best wishes for a delicious new year.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Arrange baguette slices evenly on baking sheet, making sure not to overlap.
Brush olive oil lightly over the front and back of each slice. Sprinkle with kosher salt.
Place in middle rack of oven, bake for 20 minutes. Rotating baking sheet at the 10-minute point.
Remove from oven and set aside to cool briefly. Once cooled, rub each crostini with the cut side of the halved garlic clove.
Heat oil in a large frying pan, until it slides easily across pan. Add onion slices and stir so that each half-ring is coated in a thin sheen of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 25-30 minutes over medium-low heat, stirring every so often, until onions are limp but not browned (they will be soft and light yellow).
Mix in vinegar, honey, and vegetable stock. Cook until most liquid has evaporated (approximately half an hour).
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place oven rack in top third of oven.
Toss squash in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Spread out evenly over greased baking tray. Roast for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes, until the tip of a knife easily pierces through squash.
Allow to cool. Place in a large bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste, and mash with a fork or a potato masher, to a smooth consistency. Garnish with red pepper flakes, if you want a bit of a kick. Cover and store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Can be made one day ahead.
Put the beets in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil and let boil for 45-50 minutes, replenishing water as needed so that the beets are always covered. They are ready when a toothpick/skewer slides easily through them.
Drain and let cool, peel off skin. Coarsely chop beets and place in food processor or blender with red wine vinegar and process until smooth. Season with pepper. Cover and store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Can be made one day ahead.
Slice fennel bulb as thinly as possible. Toss in a large bowl or on a platter with apple slices and chopped lettuce/s. Drizzle with Tangy Honey Mustard Vinaigrette (below).
In a jar or cruet shake together mustard, vinegar, honey, and hot sauce, if using, until combined. Pour in olive oil and shake well until emulsified. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pomegranate Molasses, also known as Pomegranate Concentrate, can be found in Middle Eastern markets, and some kosher supermarkets and gourmet food Stores. I have included a recipe below if you’d like to make your own version from pomegranate juice. It keeps in the fridge for up to a year (!) and can be switched in for vinegar if you’d like to add Middle Eastern flavor to a recipe.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large skillet heat oils over medium high heat, add chopped onion and garlic until onion is golden around edges (2-3 minutes). Stir in chopped tomato to the mix, then add pomegranate molasses and honey.
Pour vegetable stock into the pan. Simmer for 10 minutes or until the mixture thickens and has the consistency of marmalade.
Place salmon in a baking pan large enough to contain it. Season with salt and pepper. Cover exposed side thickly with pomegranate marmalade. Sprinkle brown sugar and red pepper flakes (if using) evenly over marmalade.
Cook in oven for 25-30 minutes, or until salmon is prepared to your preferred level of doneness.
This dish can be made ahead and reheated.
Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan, heat to boiling. Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 60 minutes, or until syrupy. If your molasses thickens too much while cooling, just add a little water to thin it out.
Heat oil in a large skillet over med-high heat. Add chopped leeks and garlic and sauté until the leeks are golden around edges (about 2-3 minutes). Fold in spinach leaves. Pour in vegetable stock and stir until spinach wilts.
Add black eyed peas to the mixture, season with salt and pepper. Cook until beans are heated through and most of liquid is dissolved.
Serve individual pieces of cake with warm Honey Cardamon Caramel Sauce spooned on top.
Place chopped dates in a small bowl. Dissolve baking soda into hot water, and then pour over the dates. Cover and set aside for an hour.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 8-inch by 8-inch baking pan.
Coarsely grate the peeled apple and add to the bowl containing the dates.
In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside momentarily.
In a large bowl cream together coconut oil spread and sugar. Add eggs into batter one a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla extract.
Starting with the flour mixture, and alternating with the apple-date mixture, mix into the batter with a wooden spoon in increments, ending with the flour mixture.
Pour into prepared baking pan and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown, and the toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
In a medium-sized heavy saucepan mix together sugar with honey or silan. Bring to a boil over medium high heat for 4-5 minutes, it will bubble and froth and might be difficult to decipher the color of the caramel. A good way to ascertain the color is to drip a few drops onto a white background (parchment paper, white plate). It is ready for the next step when the mixture is a deep amber and smells like caramel.
Remove pan from the heat and carefully pour in the coconut milk, it will froth up. With a wooden spoon mix the caramel until a thick syrup results. Return to heat, but lower to a simmer. Add vanilla and cardamom, mix well. Stir in salt. Let simmer for an additional minute.
*Coconut Oil Spread can be found in the refrigerated section of many supermarkets and most health food stores.
**Silan can be found in some Kosher markets in the Israeli products section.
Rachel Harkham is the author of Get Cooking! A Jewish American Family Cookbook. You can find more of her recipes here.


On his first trip outside Africa, new Gambian President Adama Barrow said he was confident France and the EU would boost financial support to his country after 22 years of dictatorship. Barrow estimated that his predecessor, Yahya Jammeh, had embezzled the equivalent of 85 million euros domestically, with inquiries open into his activities abroad. Justice, Barrow insisted, would be served.
Barely two months after he was sworn into office at a ceremony in neighbouring Senegal following a post-electoral crisis in his country, Barrow said he was determined to put Gambia on the road to recovery.
Speaking to FRANCE 24’s Marc Perelman, Barrow stressed that inquiries into the extent of Jammeh’s embezzlement were still underway, but he estimated that so far, experts had determined that the former dictator had looted 4 billion dalasi (approximately 85 million euros) domestically. An inquiry commission was still looking into other areas and the assets Jammeh had transferred abroad.
“The Gambia was looted. The Gambia was robbed by the [former] president. If you rob the Gambia, obviously we would want to recover, if there are any assets we feel we want to recover, why not?” said Barrow.
When asked about his unusual ascent to power following the contested 2016 presidential election, Barrow insisted he was not “an accidental president” and that he had secured his party’s nomination as well as his electoral victory through the democratic process.


If breakfast is the most important meal of the day, experts say you are better off making it a healthy one.
Registered dietitian Nicole Osinga based in Courtice, Ont., says often, most people start their day with high-carb and low protein choices for breakfast, and this can include everything from cereal to toast to waffles.
She says there’s a limit on how much protein our bodies can use at one time, which is why it’s important to eat small amounts of protein throughout the day.
Health Canada notes, like carbohydrates and fat, protein is also a source of energy (or calories). Sources of protein include everything from dairy products (cheese, milk, yogurt), eggs, seafood, legumes, meat (beef, lamb, pork), poultry and nuts and seeds.
Canadians should aim for 0.8 grams of protein per kilogram of their body weight if they are 19 and over.
Osinga says for breakfast, in particular, there is such a thing as too much protein in the morning.
And for any non-meat eaters wondering about plant-based protein sources, Osinga recommends legumes, tofu, tempeh, nuts, seeds, and Greek yogurt or eggs for vegetarians.
Below, Osinga shares six easy recipes on how to up your protein game every morning. Not only are these recipes healthy, but they provide a variety of choices throughout the week.
These burritos have 15 grams of protein per serving, and are made with black beans, goat cheese, eggs and sweet potatoes.
If you want a plant-based protein, try this tofu scramble made with 13 grams of protein per serving. This 15-minute recipe includes sliced red pepper, sourdough bread, cherry tomatoes and turmeric.
These overnight oats have 16 grams of protein per serving, Osinga says, and can be designed to your particular taste buds. This recipe includes chia seeds, frozen raspberries, rolled oats and Greek yogurt.
Skip your regular pancakes and go for something made with protein. This dish has about 16 grams of protein per serving. Each recipe is made with quick-cook oats, eggs and baby spinach.
A protein-filled smoothie is ideal for people on the go. This recipe includes 20 grams of protein, and is made with lactose-free milk, chia seeds and two kiwis.
Baking a large batch of these protein-filled muffins over the weekend can fill up your breakfast slots for a whole week. Each muffin (which has eight grams of protein per muffin), is made with over-ripe bananas, hemp seed protein powder and blueberries.


LTTE May Day rally in Paris, a show down with French authorities?
Elaborate arrangements have been made by agents of the Tamil Tigers in Paris to exploit May Day rally as a protest against the arrest of the 19 Tamil Tiger cadres on April Fools day by the French anti-terrorist squad. Usually the May day rally in France is organized by CGT (confederation General du Travail) a leading trade union confederation in France. Any organizations interested in participating on the May Day rally and march are normally allowed to participate. Tamil Tiger have participated in the name of Tamil Coordinating Committee Tamil Tigers in France. Earlier Tigers participated in the May Day march as a publicity campaign for the Tigers. This is the first May Day rally after EU declared LTTE as a proscribed organization.
The ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) pushed for the abolishment of Executive Presidency in favour of Parliamentary & Cabinet System of government on April 30 in Colombo. It also proposed a second legislative chamber called the 'Senate' that was somewhat similar to the independent Sri Lanka assembly of 1948. Released on April 30th May Day rally at Colombo 'CMC Grounds' by Party Secretary-General Minister Maithripala Sirisena, the proposals are made by the SLFP to the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) of Sri Lanka.
“Working with allies and partners across the world, through coordination and information sharing, we have created a less permissive operating environment for terrorists, keeping leaders on the move or in hiding, and degrading their ability to plan and mount attacks,” according to the 2006 Country Reports on Terrorism, released April 30. The State Department prepared annual report to the Congress includes analyses from the National Counter Terrorism Center, and the report admits that there was a 25% increase in terrorism worldwide in the year 2006.
Many people in Sri Lanka and friends of Sri Lanka everywhere are dismayed at the Eelam War -4 now being waged under a façade of ceasefire. It is taking the country and the people away from finding a workable solution to the ethnic problem in the near future. The ostensible objective of this war of the government side is to "bring peace and freedom for the people" in areas not under the control of government. On the other hand the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have reverted back to their avowed military aim of "freeing Tamils from Sinhala racists" promised earlier by their leader Prabhakaran. It is clear that both sides have reduced 'peace and ceasefire' as nothing more than propaganda cliché for the consumption of the international community.
On March 29, 2007 the Tamil Tigers killed five Indian fishermen off the coast of S. India. Then on April 28, 2007 – the day Sri Lanka was playing the finals in the World Cup – the Tigers bombed a petroleum facility owned jointly by Indian Oil Corporation and the Sri Lankan government. Tigers also bombed another petroleum depot owned by Shell. The well-informed Tiger intelligence would have known what they were bombing and who owned them. Tigers, who had pre-planned the bombing earlier, were taking a calculated risk knowing that they were bombing Indian and Western investments in Sri Lanka.
Amnesty International’s recent ‘cricket ball campaign’ against Sri Lanka during the World Cup in the West Indies has raised two key issues in respect of human rights campaigning in general. The first is whether it is correct to use any forum to launch human rights campaigns even if the issues are correct? The second is about the ethical validity of the ‘use of shaming’ as a weapon in human rights campaigns by Amnesty or any other.
Sri Lanka Government was fully prepared and capable of meeting any challenges posed by the Tamil rebel outfit – Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Furthermore Government has taken all effective steps to thwart attempted attack by the LTTE. Sri Lanka foreign Minister denounced the recent attacks by the LTTE. He pointed out LTTE was an international threat and a united effort was needed to defeat that threat. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama briefed representatives of the Colombo-based Diplomatic Corps this afternoon (30th) on matters of current interest to the diplomatic community especially relevant to security issues.
The Information Technology workforce in Sri Lanka is expected grow. The job growth depends on collaboration between the private sector, government, educators and donors so that the workforce will have the skills it needs to fill these often well-paid positions. The potential for more jobs are there, a survey revealed. U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Rebecca Cohn said Friday that the information technology (IT) sector has tremendous potential to bolster the Sri Lankan economy, but taking advantage of the opportunity depends on collaboration between the private and public sectors, U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) Mission Director Rebecca Cohn said Friday.
HNB Stockbrokers in their weekly review indicated that the indices showed a positive trend this week though activity levels remained depressed. All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed the week at 2824.6 points up by 2.11 percent compared to last week while the more sensitive Milanka Price Index (MPI) stood at 3890.4 up by 3.6 percent. JKH this week managed to become the largest contributor towards weekly turnover by a considerable margin. JKH during the week contributed Rs.227 million toward market turnover.
Somalia has caught the attention of the international community as more than 70 innocent nomadic herdsmen were killed when a US gunship hunting Al-Qaeda suspects ‘mistakenly’ attacked a village in Southern Somalia. The US found, no “wanted” Al-Qaeda terrorists, dead or alive in the village though the attack was in line with the speculation that after Afghanistan and Iraq, it would be Somalia’s turn to face the US fury. For the last few years, Washington’s Somalia policy has hinged on the hunt for Al-Qaeda terrorists, and particularly the men wanted for killing 225 people in the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam and the 2002 attack on Israelis in Mombasa.
At a press conference in February, the Sri Lankan military boasted that it had broken up a major terrorist conspiracy. Officials played the video taped confessions of three men detained less than 48 hours earlier, admitting to being members of a previously unknown group, the Revolutionary Liberation Organization (RLO), to having received training and arms from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and to plotting terrorist acts in the south of the island. These lurid claims were very convenient for the military, which had been under intense local and international pressure over its abuse of democratic rights, including the detention, disappearance and murder of hundreds of people over the past year.
The diplomatic community which attended the briefing session by the Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.
Sivaraj Yathevan (36), the Tiger agent in charge of "Eela Murasu," a Tamil community paper, and Arooran Vignanamoorthy (32), the righ-hand man of Yathevan were arrested by Australian Federal Police today and produced before a magistate court in Melbourne, Australia. Both men were charged with intentionally being a member of a terrorist organisation, knowing the organisation is a terrorist organisation, contrary to subsection 102.3(1) of the Criminal Code Act 1995.


97, of Honokaa, Hawaii, died in Honokaa on Sunday, April 2, 2017. She was born in Dingras, Ilocos Norte, Philippines. Visitation: 5:00 - 8:00 p.m. on Friday, April 21, 2017 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Honokaa. Mass: 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, April 22 at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, Honokaa. Burial to follow at church cemetery.


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The award-winning Broadway musical “Hamilton” is set for two weeks of performances in San Juan, Puerto Rico, to raise money for local arts programs.
Lin-Manuel Miranda, composer and creator of the award-winning Broadway musical, "Hamilton," receives a standing ovation with tears at the ending of the play's premiere held at the Santurce Fine Arts Center, in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Friday Jan. 11, 2019. The musical is set to run for two weeks and will raise money for local arts programs.


What’s that expression, “When it rains it pours?” Come to our house if you want to see it in motion; I really thought we had enough problems when one more came along to add to the fun. My son, Doug, twisted his back getting Christmas decorations down from the shelves in the garage.
He came in complaining of pain. Taking aspirin and resting did nothing, and the next day — the day before Thanksgiving — I had to drive him to the hospital. You’d have to understand just how terrible he felt that I had to drive. Of course all the way to the emergency entrance he told me how to drive. You know the routine, you’re going too fast, you’re going too slowly, you’re in the wrong lane, etc.
Gritting my teeth, I reminded myself that he was really hurting. It was hard to imagine just how many people there were inside that facility. It was crowded, but they took care of Doug right away, took a test, gave him a couple of prescriptions and sent us on our way. Then there was the hour-long wait at the pharmacy before we headed home.
Now it’s Thanksgiving morning at 6 a.m. and across the house I hear my son yelling for help; he couldn’t move. Please understand that Doug is not one to complain. But the pain was so severe he literally couldn’t move. I had to call 911. Not five minutes later a nice, young sheriff’s deputy came to the door. A few minutes later the ambulance arrived.
Our dogs Molly and Riley were running around like crazy, and Doug was yelling for me to settle them down. There was no settling these two, but the sheriff helped me while three ambulance personnel lifted a screaming Doug onto a gurney. They took Doug out to the ambulance for the ride to the hospital. I waited until a decent hour and called my friend, Brandie to tell her we wouldn’t be going to her house for Thanksgiving dinner.
Knowing that I couldn’t help him, I stayed at home. Later I called and told them that if he were to stay I would come in and bring his glasses, or if he were coming home to call and I would get him. The latter happened a few hours later. More time at the pharmacy where only one young lady was in attendance. We got home just before noon.
We hadn’t eaten yet, so I made some scrambled eggs, toast, coffee, juice. After we ate I helped Doug get into bed. While he tried to rest I set up some yeast rolls and defrosted some homemade chicken soup, we weren’t going to have Thanksgiving turkey that was certain. Now it’s Saturday and Doug isn’t a heck of a lot better and I’m not certain what we are going to do, he is in considerable pain.
For now all I can do is help with ice packs and cooking a little. Time will tell.
Something else I had planned to do. I wanted to spend at least one Saturday in December with Patricia at Rising Sun Gallery, meeting friends and signing my crewel designs. For years I’ve donated some of my works to assorted local charities, using the monies I make from my work.
I doubt I’ll get down to Maine Street, but I’m going to try, remembering that the LVN has had a number of articles about all of the great local businesses. We need to support our locals during the holiday season, and I wanted to add a couple here in my column that needs mentioning. If you haven’t been down to check out the work of our local artists, take some time to do so.
The talent of our local artists is amazing. It’d be a shame if you didn’t take the time to go and see just what I’m talking about. The assortment of types of art is amazing.
And then surprise, surprise, go next door to Jeff’s Digitex to see the whimsical work that Suzie does, her work is equally surprising and fun. You’ll understand when you check out her work.
Now I’m suggesting that you don’t get the usual tie for Uncle Joe or a scarf for Aunt Betty. I’m talking about something unusual and exceptional that you’ll see at both businesses. I believe Jeff’s is open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Rising Sun Gallery is open 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.


LONDON — For the last four years, Ariel Hsing, 16, has played table tennis at least three hours a day, six days a week. Her parents set up a special room for the game at the back of their house in San Jose, Calif. Out went the porch, the fountain and the flower beds. In went a well-lighted space for a table and a ball-return machine. Live-in coaches were flown in from China.
Her father, a computer software engineer, left his job with IBM so he could work from home, available to ferry his daughter to practices and matches. Hsing’s schoolwork was never compromised. The deal was that every report card had to be straight A’s or table tennis would be withheld. A 91 on a grammar test once put her oh so close to a B.
On Sunday night, all this effort nearly paid off with an incredible upset as Hsing — ranked No. 115 in the world — nearly beat the second seed in the Olympics, Li Xiaoxia of China. The score was 11-4, 9-11, 11-6, 6-11, 11-8, 11-9.
The match began as expected, with Li, 24, an elite player for the world’s table tennis superpower, coasting to an 8-0 lead in the first game.
But then Hsing, a thin, jaunty player with a ponytail, shrugged off her nerves and began handling her opponent’s fierce forehand. In the final games of the third-round match, both players were emotional, pumping their fists and swiping at the air, reacting to every point.
Hsing played well all day. In the morning, she upset Ni Xia Lian, a Chinese-born athlete now playing for Luxembourg. The match was a battle of the ages. Ni, a former world champion, is 49 and a mother of two. She has a 20-year-old son.
Wisdom often comes with age, but this time age came alone. By her own admission, Ni entered the match overconfident, attending only one of the warm-up sessions. She had easily defeated Hsing two years ago and was startled to discover the teenager now had an answer to her short strokes.
The match seesawed: 11-9, 10-12, 11-9, 11-5, 10-12, 12-10. Under pressure, it was the older woman who lost her composure, stomping her foot and berating herself for mistakes.
“Ariel played a near-perfect game against Ni Xia Lian, close to as good as she can possibly play,” said Gheorghe, a Romanian who played professionally in Europe.
The coach, though delighted with Hsing’s play, has actually been wistful throughout the tournament. On Sunday, he again looked into the future and saw regret.
“Too bad Ariel has to go to college,” he said.
The United States Olympic women’s table tennis team is made up of three 16-year-olds from California. Hsing is the best. Lily Zhang, who is from Palo Alto, lost in the first round. Erica Wu of Arcadia will not play until team competition begins. Each is an honor student.
And the educational clock is ticking. After 16 is 17. After 17 is college.
“Ariel and Lily are in the top 20 in the world in the junior rankings,” Gheorghe said. “They are great for their age. If they stay with it, in 5 or 6 or 10 years, they will be in the top 20 in the world.
He was proud of the girls but spoke as if they were beautiful buds that would never fully flower. In Europe or Asia, he said, the teenagers would already have spent years in a sports academy, devoting their time to nothing but table tennis. Endorsement deals would fill their bank accounts. Fame would accrue as they played on the professional circuit.
But instead the girls talk about going to Stanford, or maybe Princeton. Hsing and Wu are about to be seniors, Zhang a junior. They carry homework to tournaments and fret over honors and advanced placement courses. Wu was thrilled to be in England. “I learned in A.P. European that really important stuff happened in London,” she said.
Wu said she wanted to be a veterinarian. Hsing foresees a career in business, and good connections already have been lobbed her way. Two older table tennis enthusiasts, Warren Buffett and Bill Gates, have befriended her and publicly conferred their esteem.
Gates watched Sunday’s match against Li. “You were nothing short of phenomenal,” he told Hsing, seeking her out when it was over.
Michael Cavanaugh is the chief executive officer of USA Table Tennis. He, too, sees college and career siphoning off the nation’s table tennis talent. But he is also optimistic, he said. More young Americans are taking the sport seriously. In 2008, the American women’s team was made up entirely of Chinese-born women. The three 16-year-olds are American born.
“We’re growing our own,” Cavanaugh said happily.
But if the harvest is American, the seeds were imported. The parents of the teenagers were all born in Taiwan or China.
Hsing’s mother and father grew up playing table tennis. Both are computer engineers. Ariel is their only child.
Ariel’s parents said they were immensely proud she made it to the Olympics — and they will be equally proud if she sticks with her studies and goes to Stanford or Princeton or wherever.
But her fine play Sunday only re-emphasized the choice ahead: Will she fully dedicate herself to table tennis or go straight to college?
On Sunday night, Hsing seemed to agree. “Maybe I can take a year off and play the professional tour,” she said.


The modern scourge of obesity could owe more to the lifestyle of our ancient ancestors than previously thought, according to scientists.
Anthropologists claim our urge to eat supersized portions can be traced back to the dramatic growth of the human brain and body that occurred in the face of environmental changes two million years ago.
The expansion of the human brain, which coincided with the arrival of the first hunter-gatherer economies, required early humans to bolster their diets by seeking out more energy-rich food, researchers said.
William Leonard, a professor of anthropology at Northwestern University in Illinois, said the transition from a highly active subsistence level of living to today's more sedentary lifestyle has played a major role in the rise of obesity, because while we still eat energy rich diets, we are far less physically active.
Today, roughly a quarter of the energy we burn up while resting is used by our brains. Other primates, such as chimps and gorillas, use between a half and a third of that. To make sure our brains have enough energy, humans eat diets that are much richer in calories and nutrients than other primates.
"While our large-bodied ape relatives, chimps, gorillas and orangutans, can subsist on leaves and fruit, we needed to consume meat and other energy-rich foods to support our metabolic demands," said Leonard. To find that food, our ancestors had to hunt over large areas of land, meaning they burned up a lot of the calories they consumed.
With the shift to less active lifestyles, humans now have a diet that contains far more calories than they need to survive, Leonard will claim at the American Association for the Advancement of Science annual meeting in Chicago.
"Think about our ancestors. Human hunter-gatherers typically moved eight miles a day in the search for food. In contrast, we can simply pick up the phone to get a meal delivered to our door," Leonard said.
The decline of physical exercise in modern lifestyles contributed to other long-term health problems beyond obesity, including diabetes and cardiovascular disease, he said.


A man from Lerwick narrowly escaped jail when he appeared for sentencing at the town’s Sheriff Court yesterday after admitting a bizarre string of abusive calls to a disabled acquaintance.
Scott Johnson, of the town’s Twageos Road, pleaded guilty at a court hearing last month to making 23 “vile” anonymous calls to the man with mental and physical disabilities.
The harassment had gone on for a period of more than six weeks between February 22 and April 6 this year and had left the victim feeling isolated and alienated from the community.
Referring to a social work report prepared for yesterday’s hearing, defence solicitor Tommy Allan said his client was “genuinely ashamed of himself for acting in this way”, and added that as a consequence he had already lost his job.
Sentencing the 23 year old to 300 hours of unpaid work and one year of supervision, sheriff Ian Cruickshank told Johnson that he was only just persuaded not to impose a custodial sentence.
“This was a cruel course of conduct in that you targeted a vulnerable victim for personal amusement,” the sheriff said.
The sheriff also ordered Johnson to pay his victim £1,000 in compensation.


Left-wing TV talker Keith Olbermann, who abruptly left NBC last month, is about to resurface at a cable network headed by Al Gore.
Olbermann, 52, will join Gore's Current TV, reported The New York Times. The former host of "Countdown," who first rose to prominence as a sportscaster, will have a nightly prime-time news and commentary show. He will also serve as chief news officer and get an equity stake in the network, which was established by Gore ad businessman Joel Hyatt.
Current TV has struggled with low ratings and is only available in about 60 million homes nationwide.
Olbermann left NBC just ahead of Comcast's takeover of the network, though officials said the two developments were unrelated. Olbermann, whose show drew about one million viewers per night, has long been known in the industry for being abrasive though his show had a loyal following.
One of his last run-ins with NBC management involved his making political donations to congressional candidates in violation of network policy. He drew a brief suspension for his actions.
Selected Reading: The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, Current TV.


By now, we know that Game of Thrones uses a heavy VFX hand when it comes to building the world of Westeros but it's still amazing how real their visual effects can make it look. That's because pretty much everything is fake. Seriously. Anything far off in the distance or people standing around or flags waving have all been added in digitally.
The only thing you can trust to not be digitally altered in Game of Thrones is the actor's faces (well actually you can't even trust that). Watch Macklevision's VFX reel of Game of Thrones Season 4 below to see how fake is the new real.


Smoking lounges in Corpus Christi are prohibited from operating from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Corpus Christi City Council passed an ordinance that restricts smoking lounges from operating during early morning hours.
The ordinance passed Tuesday includes retail tobacco stores, hookah lounges, vaping lounges and cigar bars, the ordinance reads.
Smoking lounges are prohibited from operating from 2 a.m. to 7 a.m.
Violation of the ordinance will carry a punishment.
Punishment will follow section 1-6 of the Corpus Christi Code of Ordinances. Violations may result in a fine.
The fine can be between $500 and $2,000, the code states. The fine may not exceed $2,000 when the violation governs fire safety, zoning, public health and sanitation, the code states.
Council heard about problems with a hookah lounge off Nile Drive from Corpus Christi Police Department Chief Mike Markle in October 2018.
The concerns from Markle came after a large fight involving teens in the parking lot of Tropical Hookah Lounge on Nile near McArdle Road.
In that incident, Markle said, about 500 underage people were around the lounge. The teens left the lounge after a "Teen Night," and police were later called. Officers detained three teens, and about 15 patrol vehicles were stationed near the building at one point.
Discussions included banning all smoking lounges from residential zones. The plaza, which is near a residential area, would be grandfathered into the ordinance, council said in October.
Four months later, Markle came before council members with Deputy Chief Billy Breedlove to discuss ongoing issues with the hookah lounge that operates until 4 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.
It's a quality of life issue with these neighborhoods where the businesses are located," Breedlove told council Feb. 19. "We get several calls for service. Eighty-five percent of those calls are from 2 a.m. to 4 a.m."
Markle told council members officers have responded to hundreds of calls at the hookah lounge. Neighbors also contacted police about people publicly urinating in the neighborhood.
Since the first City Council discussion, the lounge's owner, Mustafa M. Alzakzok, hired off-duty police officers as security in the area, his attorney Hal George told council in October.
The item was tabled Feb. 26, after officials with the city's downtown management district were unable to attend the meeting. Mayor Joe McComb tabled the discussion to be fair to those who wanted to speak about the ordinance.
No one was opposed to the passing of the ordinance during Tuesday's meeting.


A tiny calf is a real-life mini moo after being born one-tenth the average size - and is now tipped for a place in the record books.
Lil' Bill shocked his owners at birth, weighing in at a mere 4.5kg but looking just like every other cow, except smaller.
Concerned for his health, Lil' Bill's owners took the tiny calf to the Mississippi State University College of Veterinary Medicine.
The university posted on its Facebook page that the case of Lil' Bill left veterinarians scratching their heads.
"He was born weighing a little over one-tenth of what newborn calves typically weigh," the post said.
"Occasionally, we get a case that has us scratching our heads a bit. Lil' Bill is one of those cases."
News of the tiny star's arrival last week comes just days after the world was introduced to a mammoth steer in Western Australia which has since been crowned the world's biggest cow.
Knickers, who weighs 1.4 tonnes - 300 times more than Lil' Bill - was saved from the slaughterhouse because he was deemed just too big to kill.
Standing 1.95m tall, the seven-year-old Holstein Friesian's startling size meant he was too heavy to go to the abattoir.
Cattle farmer Geoff Pearson said: "I wouldn't be able to put it through a processing facility," he said. "So I think it will just live happily ever after."
Revelations of the giant's escape from the chop soon sparked tales of more amazing bovine behemoths scattered around the globe.
And according to Guinness World Records, the tallest steer on the planet can be found in Italy - a 201cm Chianina ox named Bellino.


U.S. Sen. Michael Bennet, D-Colo., and other leaders joined in a sold-out panel discussion Tuesday night to address terrorism in the context of immigration reform and border security.
Former Gov. Bill Ritter moderated the event at the Denver Art Museum, which was hosted by the Counterterrorism Education Learning Lab, or CELL, and sponsored in part by The Denver Post.
Panelists included Linda Chavez, chairman for the Center for Equal Opportunity, state Attorney General John Suthers and Consul General of Canada Marcy Grossman.
The tone of the panel was friendly, and all the participants agreed that the system is broken.
A system that allows those who want to be here to work legally and live peacefully will have a significant negative impact on those would come here to harm Americans and break laws, they agreed.
They said a majority of Americans want a viable system to be put in place.
Bennet said immigration has always been an important component of public policy, and he has seen firsthand what the impact of a broken system has on the country.
“There is not a part of our economy that is not affected by a broken immigration system,” he said.
Chavez said her main focus is on stopping those who would harm Americans and on halting the smuggling of drugs over the border. She said the best way to fix the immigration system is to create a legal, viable option for those who want to come to the United States.
“We need a way to bring willing workers to the United States,” Chavez said.
Suthers said one way in which the immigration system is broken is its lack of visas for those who come to America, specifically Colorado, for seasonal work and who mean no harm and pose no threat.
“If we had a sufficient process of documenting, it would be a heck of a lot easier to filter out those who aren’t supposed to be here,” he said.
In addition, Suthers said the current system exacerbates human trafficking in the U.S. because victims are scared to come forward or to testify because of their immigration status.
Grossman said a vital part of securing the boarders is identifying threats early.
“Terrorism is homegrown,” she said.
CELL is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that researches and presents information on preventing the threat of terrorism.


Hilly Kristal vows to put on finale shows at NYC venue.
Hilly Kristal's got an awful lot of packing ahead of him.
The owner and operator of New York's legendary CBGB club says by mid-October, the last drinks will have been poured and the last unsigned band will have taken the stage inside the punk-rock landmark. In compliance with an agreement Kristal reached with the club's landlord last December (see "CBGB Owner, Landlord Reach Accord: Club To Close On Halloween '06"), CBGB will no longer exist on the Bowery.
Still, Kristal says he's not about to let the mythical club go the way of the dodo.
"We want to take a lot of this stuff with us, and I think we're going to move to Las Vegas," Kristal said, adding that he'll start disassembling parts of the club as early as September. "I have some developers who have some really great space in the downtown area. So, I'd say sometime in spring we'll be in Las Vegas. It's a big undertaking, and these developers are putting the money into it, and I want to make sure that, for my benefit and theirs, we make this work."
Of course, Kristal, who wouldn't name the developers he's working with, knows it won't be the same in Vegas. "I don't have any choice," he explained. "I have been looking for space in New York and the rent's $125,000 a month on Broadway." He said he came close to securing a space downtown on Essex Street, but the deal didn't make it past the negotiations phase. So, it's "Viva Las Vegas" for one of New York's most revered rock and roll attractions.
"[The Vegas CBGB] won't be the same size or the same shape, but I am going to have all the things that matter there," Kristal said. "I am taking the bars with me, I am taking the stage — I'm taking the urinal that Joey [Ramone] pissed in with me. I'm going to take a lot of things — anything that makes this place CBGB.
"I'll make it CBGB, and even more so," he continued. "I think we can do better, starting in a new place, where the city's for it. It's more important to try to keep things going and moving up."
Kristal said he'd still like to open a second CBGB in New York but doesn't see that happening for at least several years because of high rent. But financial worries and his club's impending move aren't Kristal's biggest concerns at the moment: Three weeks ago, he learned that he has lung cancer, and he's been enduring chemotherapy treatments ever since.
"It's in one spot," he said of the tumor. "They will be able to have great surgeons cut it out — a part of my lung. But I have to tell you, chemotherapy ain't fun. It's going to be corrected, and things will be good."
Kristal's highly publicized battle with his landlord, a nonprofit called the Bowery Residents' Committee that funds programs for New York's homeless, ended in December with an agreement that stated CBGB could continue to operate in the same space it has occupied since its 1973 inception until October 31. Kristal agreed to pay near-market rent of $35,000 per month, an increase of $16,000 over the amount he was paying before the lease ran out nearly a year ago.
Kristal said he's working with a couple of bookers to give CBGB a fitting send-off and added that several of the artists who helped make the club famous, as well as a number of on-the-brink bands, have been contacted about performing as part of the two-month finale. A schedule will be announced in the coming weeks.


Security giant McAfee has had a very nice run. The company has doubled revenues to $1.9 billion in the past four years and aggressive hiring has followed. This should be fantastic news for California, where McAfee was founded. But it isn't, and the reasons are troubling.
David DeWalt, who heads McAfee , is very intentionally not hiring new staff in the Golden State. Even worse for California, the company a while ago transferred entire departments elsewhere. Is McAfee based in California? Kind of. Only 14%, or roughly 900, of McAfee's 6,500 employees are left in Silicon Valley.
This is a cost-saving measure. McAfee ranks Silicon Valley fourth with the dubious distinction of most expensive places to do business, behind Russia, Japan and London. That's kind of shocking. Mountain View, Calif. sure ain't Tokyo in any sense.
DeWalt figures he can save 30 to 40% every time he hires outside of California. And that's roughly the premium he has to pay in the form of a moving bonus to get someone to relocate to California. Sunshine, pretty hills and nice beaches aren't enough? Apparently not.
"We have to compensate them generously for coming here," he says. There is, of course, the higher housing costs that push up salaries. And California's high income tax rates, which act as immediate surcharges on salaries. But DeWalt also has to make up for the state's lousy public schools, which push people into distant suburbs where schools tend to be better (meaning longer commute times) or pay for those pricey private school tuitions.
"I have watched with real disdain as California has lost its edge," says DeWalt, who has spent the last 25 years building his career here. "On education, infrastructure and general competitiveness, we're falling behind."
A few years ago McAfee shifted some 1,000 jobs relating to back-office functions--legal, human resources, finance--to Texas, where the company was rewarded with government subsidies, cheaper real estate and lower costs ofliving for employees.
The job flight extends to areas that California, and Silicon Valley in particular, are supposed to be ideal for: engineering. DeWalt has been expanding research labs in Oregon and Ontario. Both places gave him nice tax credits. Where does McAfee have the most employees, overall? India. He's hiring there, too.
McAfee has applied for research tax credits in California nine times but was denied. DeWalt is frustrated and baffled by this and has kind of given up. He is still acquiring smaller companies based here but sees a similar trend. "The top guys are here, so maybe two dozen, then four times that are based outside of the state. The engineering isn't happening in Silicon Valley," he says.
This is bad on a lot of levels. It means Silicon Valley's high joblessness will likely continue. It also means a crucial slice of California's tax base is gone or leaving just as the state is facing a $52 billion deficit, double the next worst, New York. According to public policy lecturer Joe Nation, who recently spoke at Stanford's SIEPR economic summit, California's debt service soon will balloon to 10% of the state's budget, from just 1 or 2% historically.
Californians are already taxed more than most. And this only increases as Washington imposes more taxes on high earners and investments. Some well-heeled residents will flee for income-tax-free havens like Texas, Nevada and Wyoming.
This doesn't seem like a big deal until you consider that half of California's income tax revenue is from a stunningly elite group of some 142,000 taxpayers.
In a recent survey by Field Research, two-thirds of Californians rank jobs as the most important issue in the upcoming gubernatorial race. Candidates should be courting businesses like MacAfee with big reasons to grow here.


Underwater pipe explodes, oil pours into Haifa Bay. Study linking pollution and cancer lead to greater efforts to shut down the refineries.
On Tuesday afternoon, a ship owned by Petroleum and Energy Infrastructures Ltd. (PEI) was working to dismantle underwater oil pipes. The pipes, located opposite Haifa's Kiryat Haim neighborhood, had been there since the 1930s. Some leakage was reported back in 2014, and the company had been contracted to remove the now hazardous pipes.
In a slip of fate, the ship collided with one of the pipes, bursting it. Oil flooded into Haifa Bay. Thanks to the quick action of the company, the pipes were immediately sealed. The Environmental Protection MInistry reports that only 5-10 cubic meters of oil were actually released into the bay.
Although a crisis was averted, the reactions surrounding the incident are out of proportion. MK Yael Cohen-Paran insists: "Israel is not prepared to deal with ocean pollution." Similarly, the NGO Tzlul used this leak as a doomsday sample: "An oil spill in the ocean is a situation that has terrible potential for damage, and it needs to be taken care of quickly. Israel stands ready to renew the permits for gas and oil drilling, but isn't prepared to deal with oil spils."
While the political grand-standing is entertaining, it simply isn't true. Within minutes, the Environmental Protection Ministry had issued a warning against swimming in the bay - even though the oil leak was a full 12,000 meters away from shore. PEI had immediate control of the situation, and has already cleaned up the oil spilled. It seems that Israel can and does handle problems in the water.
Environmental problems on land, though, continue to be passed over. A study produced by Haifa University warns that the high levels of pollution in the Haifa area are correlating with significant birth defects. Babies in Haifa are born with heads 20-30% smaller than the national average. The study identifies Kiryat Haim, Kiryat Bialik and south east Kiryat Tivon as the epicenters of pollution-related disorders. Residents there are 5 times more likely to develop lung cancer and lymphoma than those living elsewhere in Israel.
In April, 2015 Haifa residents took to the streets after the Health Ministry's chief of public health services, Professor Itamar Grotto, announced that half of the cases of cancer in Haifa's children could be attributed to air pollution in the area.
However, even as these startling results have come to light, the force of progress continues to grind forward. Mayor Yona Yahav was shocked when courts ordered the reopening of Haifa's oil refineries back in February. "We are fighting 24 hours a day," he reassured the public. As big business interests continue to push for more licenses, however, the fight doesn't look like it will ever end.


MERALCO capped its fourth quarter explosion with a strong finish to hack out a 108-105 win over NLEX and keep its flickering playoff hopes alive in the PBA Governors’ Cup on Sunday at the Smart Araneta Coliseum.
Import Allen Durham scored 16 of his 36 points in the fourth quarter, but it was Reynel Hugnatan and Baser Amer who delivered the points that mattered most as the Bolts clinched one of the four wins they must pull off for a possible passage into the quarterfinal round.
Aaron Fuller had just given NLEX a 105-99 lead which proved to be the team’s last taste of the lead as Hugnatan cut loose with a triple while Amer completed a three-point play off Fuller’s 6th foul as Meralco tied the count at 105-all with still 46.2 seconds remaining.
Juami Tiongson committed a traveling violation in the ensuing play, virtually pushing NLEX to kingdom come. The Road Warriors then turned to their defense as Meralco advanced the ball, forcing Amer to call for a 30-second timeout.
Amer was poised to hit a three which he did and made it too, shattering the 105-all count and putting Meralco on top for good, 108-105, 13.6 seconds left. The Bolts then completed their day after Chris Newsome stole the ball during NLEX’s inbound play.
The Bolts have now notched what was only their second win after six consecutive setbacks to remain in contention for the next round. Their next assignments are Magnolia on Friday, Rain or Shine on Oct 21 and San Miguel Beer on Nov. 3.
The Road Warriors tumbled to their fifth loss against four wins, and fell to eighth place in the provisional standings.
The Road Warriors seized control at the start of the third, building a 50-40 lead which they gamely protected even in the face of the Bolts’ determined onslaught anchored on Durham.
Durham had just sank two free throws to put Meralco within 58-53 when coaches Yeng Guiao of NLEX and Norman Black of Meralco figured in a verbal altercation. The two coaches were slapped with technical fouls.
The Bolts meanwhile continued their attack and a jumper by Anjo Caram put Meralco within 64-60, with 3:53 left in the third.
But the Road Warriors just would not allow themselves to get intimidated.
Meralco (108) - Durham 36, Amer 22, Newsome 14, Hugnatan 12, Hodge 10, Caram 8, Lanete 2, Salva 2, Jamito 2, Faundo 0, Atkins 0, Tolomia 0.
NLEX (105) - Fuller 31, Fonacier 21, Quinahan 17, Ighalo 9, Galanza 6, Tallo 5, Marcelo 4, Taulava 3, Rios 3, Soyud 2, Baguio 2, Paniamogan 2, Tiongson 0, Monfort 0.


Howard Renwick, portrait painter also creates gaudy stocking advertisements, and other commercial art. Uses name then of Hayden Hayden, suggested, we are told, by Brothers Haig of Scotland. Does both work at 67th St. Young lady visiting studio to view Renwick portrait, chanced upon canvas of girl with beautiful legs advertising hosiery. It was signed Hayden Hayden. She wanted to know if Renwick knew Hayden. He said he did and asked if she did. She replied "Oh, yes, very well, I used to pose for him."


The Obama administration is foot-dragging on approving a pipeline to deliver abundant Canadian oil to the United States at the same time the Chinese are investing in a pipeline that could send that oil to China.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee last week passed a bill requiring President Barack Obama to speed up a decision on approving the pipeline. The bill was introduced by Nebraska Republican Rep. Lee Terry, who maintains that the Obama administration has been too slow in making a final decision, the Montreal Gazette reports.
The Canadian province of Alberta has the world’s third-largest oil reserves after Saudi Arabia and Venezuela, and more than Russia or Iran. Daily production from oil sands is expected to rise from 1.5 million barrels today to 3.7 million in 2025.
Delivering the oil will mean building two pipelines, one south to the refineries on the Texas Gulf Coast and the other west toward the Pacific, where it can be exported to China.
If the United States doesn’t approve its pipeline promptly due to environmental concerns, “Canada might increasingly look to China, thinking America doesn’t want a big stake in what environmentalists call ‘dirty oil,’ which they say increases greenhouse gas emissions,” according to a report from The Associated Press.
Sinopec, a Chinese-controlled company, has invested $5.5 billion in the planned pipeline to the Pacific coast.
Sinopec has also paid $4.6 billion for a stake in Syncrude, Canada’s largest oil-sands project, and PetroChina, Asia’s largest oil and gas company, bought a $1.7 billion stake in Athabasca Oil Sands Corp.
According to Alberta Premier Ed Stelmach, American government officials have expressed concerns about the Pacific pipeline delivering oil to China that might have otherwise gone to the United States.
Rep. Fred Upton, a Michigan Republican who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, told Newsmax in an interview last week that the pipeline project could create 100,000 jobs and said: “Why is it that we’re not working with Canada, which will be producing more than 3 or 4 million barrels a day from oil sand, and we’ve stalled on the application to build a pipeline?
Environmentalist groups have urged Obama to reject the pipeline project. They assert that extracting oil from oil sands requires huge amounts of energy and water, increases emissions and threatens rivers and forests.
But Michael A. Levi, senior fellow for energy and the environment at the U.S. Council on Foreign Relations, maintains that environmentalists are exaggerating the dangers of oil sand extraction.
The State Department, which must approve the pipeline, has promised a decision by the end of the year, although Republicans wants it sooner.
David Goldwyn, a former State Department energy official who left this year to work as a consultant, said he believes the pipeline will ultimately be approved, according to the AP.
And Russell Girling, CEO of TransCanada, the company that would build the pipeline, says opponents of the project are in fact set on targeting Canadian oil sands.
“The real issue here is those opposed to the Canadian oil sands believe that by delaying or denying this permit somehow they will slow down the development of Canadian oil sands,” he told the Business News Network.


LAKE SEASON IS NEARLY HERE !! INCREDIBLE CLOSE-IN LAKE MURRAY PROPERTY WITH 544FT of WATERFRONT! This property on beautiful Lake Murray is located in the heart of Chapin on Sandbar Road. Lot is approximately 2 acres, square-shaped and bordered by water on 2 sides. This is a RARE FIND anywhere close in on Lake Murray. You have to see it to believe it. This is the perfect location for your dream home, or to purchase the entire lot and subdivide. There is a home on the property, but the value of this property is in the land.


Nine hundred and seventeen. That’s the number of hate groups operating in the US, according to data from the Southern Poverty Law Center.
“Over the course of a year, we have a team of investigators that scours the internet for racist publications and real world activities to find out which groups exist, which groups are still active and which groups come along,” said Ryan Lenz, a senior investigative reporter for the SPLC’s Hatewatch project.
Some are classified as anti-LGBT groups, and some are black separatists, who don’t believe in interracial marriage and want a nation only for black people, according to the group.
Some critics of the SPLC say the group’s activism biases how it categorizes certain groups.
But since the FBI doesn’t keep track of domestic hate groups, the SPLC’s tally is the widely accepted one.
Barnes Review/Foundation for Economic Liberty, Inc.
Catholic Family News/Catholic Family Ministries, Inc.


Southern California Edison customers in Los Angeles County soon will have a new way to get their electricity under a plan approved Tuesday by the County Board of Supervisors to lower bills and increase clean energy use.
The board, which voted 5-0 in favor of the public energy program, says the plan will help reduce customer power bills by as much as 5 percent below Edison’s costs. Residents and business operators will have the choice to stay with Edison or join the new government-run utility.
Initially, as many as 500,000 residential and 200,000 commercial utility customers in unincorporated cities throughout the county will be eligible to join the county-run operation. Incorporated cities such as Long Beach and Torrance require approval by elected officials.
The decision does not affect existing municipal utilities such as the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Pasadena Water and Power or Burbank Water and Power.


PEORIA — The West Nile virus has been found in mosquitoes in Peoria County, the Peoria City/County Health Department reported Tuesday.
West Nile is transmitted through bites from infected mosquitoes. Symptoms, which include fever, nausea, headache and muscle aches, may last from a few days to a few weeks. Four out of five people infected with West Nile virus will not show any symptoms, but, in rare cases, severe illness including meningitis or encephalitis, or even death, can occur.
People older than 50 are at higher risk for severe illness from West Nile virus.
“The best way to prevent West Nile disease or any other mosquito-borne illness is to reduce the number of mosquitoes around your home and to take personal precautions to avoid mosquito bites,” said Carey Panier, PCCHD Interim Director of Environmental Health.
Panier suggests people practice the three Rs to prevent disease — reduce exposure by staying inside when mosquitoes are most active between dusk and dawn, repel mosquitoes by wearing protective clothing and insect repellent, and report mosquito breeding grounds, such as stagnant water in ditches.


THE World Championships haven’t even started but Allora goalkeeper Laura Geitz has already been to The Lodge in Canberra and the Melbourne Cricket Ground after her selection in the team.
Yesterday, the team attended a media conference at the MCG before flying out to a four-day camp in Hong Kong as a lead-up the World Championships early next month in Singapore.
Former Warwick West student Clare McMeniman is not in the Diamonds team but one of four travelling training partners who will act as opposition to the Diamonds at the camp in Hong Kong.
Training partner Madison Browne withdrew from the camp due to impacted wisdom teeth.
Netball Australia CEO Kate Palmer said that it was unfortunate for Browne as it would have been a wonderful learning experience for her. Vanessa Ware from the NSW Swifts will replace Browne at the four-day camp in Hong Kong.
Geitz will be playing in her first World Championships and second major event after winning a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi last year.
The Allora goalkeeper only has to continue her strong form to play in a second World Championship in 2015 when the event comes to Sydney, the first time a World Championship has been held in Australia since 1991.


BACOLOD CITY — About 1.5 tons of giant clams or “Manlot” were seized in a police operation in Barangay Molocaboc in Sagay City at 11:40 a.m. on Thursday.
Arrested for violation of the act preventing the illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing were Felix Causapin, 60; Lito Cañete, 49; and Adan Atabelo, 54.
The police said 127 pieces of fossilized Manlot or Tridacna gigas, the largest shell in the Philippines, were confiscated from the three men reported to be hoarding the clams.
The operation was led by officials from the Philippine National Police-Sagay City, Protected Area Management Board-Sagay Marine Reserve, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and Task Force Lawod of the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources.
Jose Roberto Togle, the Resource Assessment Head of Sagay Marine Reserve, said his office received a report from a concerned citizen of Molocaboc that the arrested men were hoarding the clams since February.
Togle said they were verifying the reports as Sagay Marine Reserve Superintendent Mayo Antonio Cueva gave orders to further investigate the report of the concerned citizen.
Judge Joanna Frances Nifras of the Municipal Trial Court of Cadiz City issued a search warrant on April 3.
He added that the arrested fisherfolk were contracting with an anonymous buyer who offered them to buy these clams at P1,000 per kilo.
The International Union for Conservation of Nature identified Tridacna gigas or Manlot as vulnerable species, which is considered facing extinction in the wild.


WE'D BEEN SUMMONED to the office on Sunday for an emergency meeting: Our third-quarter numbers were going to fall short of analysts' expectations. Way short. We were a classic story stock, and up until then our story had been gold, from our boy-wonder founder and CEO to our proprietary technology to the multibillion-dollar markets we were targeting. We had Fortune 100 partners and Nobel laureates on our board. Investors had responded by making the company one of the most highly capitalized start-ups the Nasdaq had ever seen. Yet a story stock is like a hit TV series, and we had to keep delivering exciting new episodes. We were developing a reputation for putting out news releases whenever Boy Wonder farted. The Street's expectations had begun to feel unsustainably high.
Clearly, the solution to that pesky little problem had now arrived. I was part of the communications group, and for the last week we'd been scrambling to put together a plan for announcing the first bad news in the company's five-year history. I was preoccupied with the tactical blunders we'd already made. Having decided to signal investors by announcing the bad news during a conference call with the key analysts who tracked our company, our desperate CFO had postponed the call from Wednesday to Thursday to Friday, and finally to Sunday night, which had an ominous cloak-of-darkness quality. And I was nervous about the press release, too. Boy Wonder was insisting we put out a one-paragraph statement of the numbers, with no CEO quote or statement of support from one of our eight-hundred-pound partners; no context, no perspective. Just the numbers and some boilerplate. The thing looked like an obit.
As usual, however, Boy Wonder had a plan: We would seize this moment to reinforce our excellent progress into full commercial operations. We would announce that the company was going to focus its resources and attention on its three most promising applications. We'd been accused of spreading ourselves too thin, chasing after opportunities in every potential market, and surely our investors would respond to this new focus and resolve.
The conference call went off without a hitch, and afterward we all felt the peculiar euphoria that often accompanies a decisive act. The general counsel and I made a bet on where the stock would close the next day. We'd finished up at 42 and change on Friday. He guessed 35. I guessed 30. "Ouch," he said.
We arrived the next morning to discover that trading on our shares had opened at 26. Phones were ringing off the hook: the Times, the Journal, CNN, analysts, investors. We closed that day at 21, down 50 percent. Half a billion dollars in market capitalization-vaporized. We were the day's big loser on the Nasdaq, our performance so pitiful that even our competitors were shaken. Our tactical blunders hadn't helped, but what had really killed us was our "good" news. Investors were mortified that we were backing away from big markets. They didn't care if it made sense. What they wanted more than anything was to continue to fantasize about our limitless market potential, and they interpreted our newfound focus as an act of panic, if not betrayal. Within a year, the company was bankrupt.
If you have a good workplace war story, please send it to us at esquire-mag.com/war-stories.
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Best known for his time spent as a part of the 1970s duo England Dan & John Ford Coley.
Veteran musician John Ford Coley is set to perform an intimate acoustic concert in support of the Williamson County DUI Court Foundation.
Coley’s set will follow a charity cake auction featuring 10 specialty cakes and some included gift packages.
The DUI court is a restorative-justice program underwritten by the court foundation that offers DUI offenders with multiple offenses a year-long, supervised recovery program.
The event is Thursday, March 22, 7 p.m., at the Franklin Theatre. Tickets are $40. Visit http://www.duicourtfoundation.org.


Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said on Sunday the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul was a "huge and grave mistake" and promised his family that those responsible will be punished, Daily Sabah reported.
"This is a terrible mistake. This is a terrible tragedy. Our condolences go out to them. We feel their pain," Jubeir said in an interview with Fox News. "Unfortunately, a huge and grave mistake was made and I assure them that those responsible will be held accountable for this."
Saudi Arabian officials do not know details of how dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi was killed in their consulate in Istanbul or where his body is, Jubeir said.
He said Khashoggi was approached by a "Saudi security team" when he entered the consulate and their account of what happened after that differed from that of Turkish officials, which prompted the Saudis to investigate.
Asked about the location of the body and whether it was cut up, Jubeir only said that "we are working on this" with Turkey.
"He was killed in the consulate. We don't know in terms of details how. We don't know where the body is," Jubeir said. "We are determined to uncover every stone. ... We are determined to punish those who are responsible for this murder."
"We are not an authoritarian government, we are a monarchy," he said, promising checks and balances would hold those responsible to account and vowing they would be punished. He called the death of Khashoggi at the consulate in Istanbul a "criminal act" but an "aberration."


He’s lucky to be alive.
A Chinese tightrope walker escaped major injury when he fell off a high wire hundreds of feet above the ground Sunday.
Shocking video shows Aisikaier trying to walk backwards across a ravine, blindfolded, before losing his balance.
The acrobat had completed nearly all of his half-mile-long walk, but whipping winds — and a bout of dizziness — caused him to fall, he told CCTV.
Somehow, the sixth-generation performer survived his fall, landing in a wooded area and walking to safety under his own power.


Miguel Cabrera didn’t even have to swing the bat to hurt the Cleveland Indians this time.
DETROIT — Miguel Cabrera didn’t even have to swing the bat to hurt the Cleveland Indians this time.
Victor Martinez drove in three runs, taking advantage after Cleveland pitched around Cabrera, helping Alfredo Simon and the Detroit Tigers beat the Indians 4-1 Saturday.
Cabrera drew four walks in a game for the first time in his career, three of them intentional. Earlier this season, the two-time AL MVP went 11 for 14 with six RBIs in a three-game series at Cleveland.
“He’s an unusual hitter,” Indians manager Terry Francona said.
With Cabrera batting third, Martinez was in position to do damage hitting cleanup.
Martinez hit a two-run single in the first, after Cabrera’s non-intentional walk. He added an RBI single in the third after Cabrera’s first intentional pass.
“Yeah, the two singles right-handed were obviously big, big runs to get us on the board early,” Tigers manager Brad Ausmus said about the switch-hitting Martinez.
Martinez had knee surgery just before spring training.
Neither Martinez nor Cabrera spoke to the media after the game.
Simon (4-0) gave up one run and six hits in 6 2/3 innings.
Tom Gorzelanny got Brandon Moss to ground into a double play with two on to end the eighth. Joakim Soria pitched a perfect ninth for his sixth save.
Ian Kinsler drove in the other run for the Tigers, who had five stolen bases, three by Davis.
Michael Brantley had four hits, including a pair of doubles, and drove in Cleveland’s run.
T.J. House (0-3) gave up three runs on four hits and four walks in three innings. He started in place of Trevor Bauer, who was scratched because of an illness.
Kinsler doubled home a run in the fourth. Brantley’s RBI single came in the third.
Tigers shortstop Jose Iglesias made a spectacular diving catch toward the hole on a liner by pinch hitter Mike Aviles with a runner on first with no outs in the seventh.
Indians: OF Nick Swisher was scheduled to be off on Saturday in his rehab assignment with Triple-A Columbus from bilateral knee surgery. He played all nine innings Friday night and was 3 for 5. He is scheduled to play all nine innings in RF on Sunday.
Indians RHP Carlos Carrasco (2-1, 2.38) is scheduled to start against Tigers LHP Kyle Lobstein (1-1, 3.27) on Sunday in the wrapup of the three-game series. Carrasco is 2-5 with a 6.86 ERA in 13 games against Detroit in his career.


Two years ago this week, President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga unveiled a 40-member Grand Coalition Cabinet whose members would incidentally become architects of ‘grand corruption’.
From the maize scandal, Triton scam, Free Primary Education funds theft, corruption in the water sector and recently the dubious purchase of cemetery land, it has been business as usual in raiding public coffers.
Three months into the tenure of the Coalition Cabinet, Parliament passed a censure Motion against then Finance Minister Amos Kimunya, and demanded his immediate resignation over the controversial sale of the Grand Regency Hotel, now Laicos Hotel.
Kimunya quit to pave the way for investigations into the sale and he was reappointed in January last year, after an inquiry cleared him.
But a probe report prepared in November 2008 by retired Chief Justice Majid Cockar-led commission into the controversial sale of the hotel to Libyans is yet to be made public.
In late 2008, the Government instituted measures to tackle biting famine that was abused by profiteers in the so-called ‘maize scam’.
At the time, the country was experiencing a severe maize shortage due to poor harvest and destruction of close to 3.5 million bags of maize during post-election violence.
The country’s Strategic Grain Reserve held inadequate stocks and as the maize shortage worsened, prices of maize flour soared, prompting public outrage.
Responding to popular anger in October 2008, the Government directed National Cereals and Produce Board to import three million bags of maize to ease the shortage.
The maize was to be sold to millers at subsidised prices to bring down the price of maize flour. Hundreds of metric tonnes of maize were imported but contrary to intended policy expectations, brokers who enjoyed political patronage turned the programme into a money-minting scheme.
Africa Centre for Open Governance noted companies and individuals, who were either not millers or had no milling capacity, obtained allocations riding on political patronage.
These brokers subsequently sold the maize off to genuine millers at exorbitant prices hence defeating the purpose of the programme. Conservative estimates indicated Sh3.6 billion was lost but the World Bank said the scheme cost the taxpayer Sh23 billion. The scam kicked up a storm that climaxed on February 19, last year, in Parliament where Agriculture Minister William Ruto survived a censure Motion.
The scandal left several leading international companies involved in financing oil imports as well as the Kenya Commercial Bank, who had all financed Triton to import the oil, at risk of losing a whopping Sh7.6 billion ($98.7 million).
The collateral financing system had been introduced to allow independent players who could not import commercially viable quantities, but with the collusion of unscrupulous officials, it had become a cash cow.
After a short break, the maize saga resurfaced in May when a parliamentary report by MP John Mututho-led Agriculture Committee recommended further investigations.
But Prime Minister Raila Odinga fought back saying: "These allegations around maize are being pushed by corruption cartels that see the Prime Minister as stopping them from dipping their way into the granary."
Eventually on May 15, Parliament in a session with 15 MPs trashed the parliamentary report terming it malicious and aimed at settling political scores.
Last December, the Ministry of Education was thrown into a crisis after UK officials suspended funding, citing the loss of about Sh100 million meant to fund free primary education.
A month earlier, the National Water Conservation and Pipeline Corporation board had been dissolved in the wake of corruption allegations and concerns irregularities had sunk the firm in a Sh750 million debt.
The water scam, however, was eclipsed by the attention drawn to the FPE scandal as the US Government, too, withdrew $7 million (Sh538 million) in aid to the embattled ministry until those implicated in the theft are prosecuted.
The money was looted in inflated expenses and payments for fictitious workshops. The UK Government has since stated the Government would not touch a single coin of the Sh2.3 billion lined up this month. The money would be channelled through agencies "outside of Government channels". Raila joined growing calls for Education Minister Sam Ongeri and PS Karega Mutahi to step aside over missing Free Primary Education funds.
But a groundswell erupted in the Premier’s own office in February, as the ghost of the maize scam stirred following a leaked report from an independent probe by an international audit firm.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers audit report, which exposed how fictitious companies raked in millions of shillings and was extensively covered in the media on February 10, named top officials, including two in the PM’s office, PS Mohamed Isahakia and Administrative secretary Caroli Omondi.
Its release triggered a chain of events that culminated in a standoff in Government between the coalition partners. It began on the morning of February 13 when Isahakia and Omondi resigned, at the Raila’s directive, to allow for investigations.
But that evening President Kibaki announced the suspensions of several top officials, including the two, pending further investigations into their roles in the maize and FPE scams.
The following day Raila announced the suspensions of Ruto and Ongeri over maize and FPE scandals, but that evening the President lifted the suspensions terming the PM’s action illegal.
This triggered a standoff that made it impossible to hold regular Cabinet meetings.
But it is the outrageous cemetery scandal in which City Hall bought 120 acres of land worth Sh24 million for Sh259 million that showed corruption cartels have become bolder and greedier.
A KACC probe report gave a detailed flow chart on how the conspiracy to defraud taxpayer was allegedly plotted and how the loot was shared out among public servants and lawyers involved in the shady deal. President Kibaki interdicted Local Government PS Sammy Kirui and 12 senior officials to pave the way for investigations.
A damning parliamentary report by the departmental committee on Local Authorities, which recommends Deputy Prime Minister Musalia Mudavadi steps aside pending investigations into the scandal, is due to be debated in Parliament.
Mudavadi has since claimed innocence, blamed the cemetery scandal on politics, citing KACC’s conduct.
Instead of reporting its investigations to the Attorney General for possible prosecution as Anti-Corruption and Economic Crimes Act 2003 requires, it was sent to the Prime Minister and the Head of the Civil Service Francis Muthaura.


Colorado’s top lawmakers want to ask voters to increase the state sales tax by less than a penny on a dollar to support spending as much as $3.5 billion to improve roads and traffic congestion.
The much-anticipated legislation, introduced late Wednesday, represents a breakthrough after months of difficult negotiations between Democratic and Republican leaders to address what both parties agree is the General Assembly’s top priority.
House Bill 1242 — sponsored by Democratic House Speaker Crisanta Duran and Republican Senate President Kevin Grantham — would increase the statewide sales tax to 3.52 percent from 2.9 percent. If approved by the voters in November, the tax hike would start in January 2018 and remain in place for 20 years.
“If we are really going to deliver results to the people of Colorado, we need everybody at the table — Republicans and Democrats. I think this is an example of that,” Duran, of Denver, said in an interview.
The legislation, details of which were first reported by The Denver Post, also would redirect $50 million in existing revenue to roads and decrease annual vehicle registration fees by $75 million a year. The total package would generate an estimated $677 million a year for transportation.
The registration fee on small cars would decrease from $23 to $9, while the rate on motorcycles would fall from $16 to $6. The levy on larger passenger vehicles goes from $28 to $11.
The deal represents a compromise on both sides: It pulls from existing revenues, a point Democrats dislike, and it represents an increase in total revenue, a problem for conservatives.
Gov. John Hickenlooper called for a voter referendum in his State of the State address in January and continued to express optimism Wednesday about the potential for a consensus bill.
“I’m open to pretty much any way to fund it,” he told reporters, emphasizing that transportation is not a partisan issue.
The Colorado Department of Transportation has identified $9 billion in need for the state’s transportation system, which is suffering from a population boom and limited maintenance dollars.
The top priorities are the expansion of Interstate 70 through the mountains and widening of Interstate 25 north and south of Denver.
The $677 million in total transportation dollars outlined in the legislation would split into three buckets.
The majority of the money — $350 million — would go toward a payments on a potential $3.5 billion bond package.
The remaining share would be split with 70 percent to local governments for road improvements and 30 percent earmarked for transit-oriented projects.
The local government share is projected to reach near $216 million in the first year. Another portion, estimated at $92 million, would go to local areas in the form of matching grants awarded by a new commission created in the legislation.
“It’s statewide. There’s something in here for everyone,” said Rep. Diane Mitsch Bush, a D-Steamboat Springs and the House transportation chairwoman.
“The deal, as we understand it, attempts to strike the right balance between the priorities of the leadership in both houses while considering what might be viable with voters,” said Sandra Hagen Solin, who is with Fix Colorado Roads.
In her interview with The Post, Duran emphasized that the legislation includes provisions to make the spending transparent to voters, including a public website to track the spending and a committee to oversee the bonding.
Not all applauded the compromise plan. Americans for Prosperity, a conservative organization that blocked legislative attempts in recent years to increase spending, noted how it represents a tax hike — a 21 percent increase in the state sales tax.


SAN ANDREAS - Six months ago, during the summer lightning storm season, Calveras County sheriff's deputies started having trouble radioing back to the dispatch center in San Andreas.
The problem impacted deputies in several locations, and authorities suspected bad equipment in the dispatch center. So they made repairs.
"The problem still persisted," said Calaveras sheriff's Lt. Dennis Huberty.
Next, officials sent a contractor to check remote antennas. He found that antennas on three different mountain tops - Blue Mountain, Fowler Peak and Sierra Vista Mountain - had all been damaged, "likely caused by lightning."
Huberty appeared before the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to ask for up to $16,000 to repair those antennas.
"This was an unbudgeted event that was not foreseen," Huberty said.
Supervisors unanimously approved dipping into contingency funds to make the expenditure, but not before asking some questions.
"Are we simply putting it out there to be fried again?" asked Supervisor Steve Wilensky, who urged the installation of lightning rods to protect the equipment.
Huberty said that although the older antennas did not have lightning rods, such protective gear is now standard equipment. Huberty said the department is considering where lightning rod installations are needed.


Wednesday, Dec. 23, 2009 – There has been an outpouring of support in the trucking world as nearly 1,400 truck drivers for Arrow Trucking Co. of Tulsa, OK, were left out in the cold when the company unexpectedly shuttered its doors on Tuesday, Dec. 22.
The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association has received hundreds of calls in the past two days, some from stranded Arrow drivers and even more from fellow truck drivers who have called in offering assistance to help the drivers get home. OOIDA staff kicked into high gear Wednesday matching help requests from Arrow drivers with truckers and friends who volunteered to provide assistance.
Late Tuesday afternoon, OOIDA had set up a support page for stranded Arrow drivers on Facebook. As of press time on Wednesday, the site had more than 1,600 fans. Some of those who posted comments were out of fuel and were stranded. But the overwhelming number of people who have posted comments were offering rides, money and even a place to stay until they could arrange transportation home.
Many Arrow drivers woke up Tuesday to the “Nightmare Before Christmas” to find out they were without jobs and needed to turn their trucks into the nearest Freightliner or International dealership.
Arrow driver Jeff Smith, who lives near Nashville, TN, had an inkling that something was wrong on Monday night when he tried to fuel up at a truck stop in Ohio. He found out that his fuel card had been turned off and he had no fuel to go any further.
To make things worse, it was 18 degrees outside and not much warmer inside Smith’s truck.
She said several drivers at that truck stop pitched in with fuel money so Smith could make it another 500 miles to get home. She said he’s now looking at ways to pay it forward to help other drivers who are in similar predicaments.
This is just one example of kindness Arrow drivers have received from other drivers out on the road.
Trucker Tyree Samson said he and another Arrow driver were parked at the Houston terminal when they heard the news that the company was closing and they were to get off the lot. He said he and the other driver drove to a truck stop in Baytown, TX, where almost immediately other drivers stepped in with offers to help.
Fearful that their trucks would be repossessed if they left to go inside for food, a fellow driver parked his truck long-ways in an effort to block potential tow trucks from snatching their trucks before they could clear them out.
Both Daimler and Navistar Financial have offered to find Arrow drivers bus tickets on Greyhound Lines Inc. or $200 for their transportation costs.
Drivers with Freightliner or Kenworths are to call 877-294-9679 for assistance.
Drivers of International trucks are to call Navistar at 800-233-9121. Sara Mee, manager of communications for Navistar, said drivers who have a lease-purchase agreement with Arrow are to call that number for assistance as well.
Arrow drivers who need assistance can call OOIDA at 800-444-5791 and press 1, and leave their name and phone number where they can be reached. Land Line’s Facebook page will be monitored over the weekend.
Navistar’s Mee said staff there will also be available in case drivers need guidance.


KERNERSVILLE, N.C. -- A natural gas leak caused traffic issues on Business 40 in Kernersville Monday evening, according to Kernersville police.
The leak is in the 800 block of South Main Street.
Off ramps to South Main Street from Business 40 were closed, causing a backup. The ramps have reopened.
As of 9 p.m. Monday, a portion of South Main Street is still closed as Piedmont Natural Gas crews work on repairing the line.