The new owners of the Boston Red Sox have greatly expanded alcohol sales at Fenway Park, adding at least 16 new stands where beer is sold since taking over in 2001, according to the city licensing board. The team has also increased by a third the size of beer cups, from 12 ounces to 16 ounces.
The volume of beer sold at Fenway last year jumped roughly 20 percent from the year before, according to information provided by the Red Sox. Two employees of Aramark, the company that manages Fenway concessions, and a beer salesman who supplies the ballpark said they believe that since the new owners took over beer sales have increased significantly more than 20 percent.
Concerns over alcohol consumption at the ballpark have triggered complaints from some fans and Fenway neighborhood activists who say home games have become marred by rowdy behavior. The recent altercation between a fan and New York Yankees right fielder Gary Sheffield has drawn attention to a problem that some say has grown worse in recent years. Boston's Licensing Board has scheduled a hearing with Red Sox officials May 10 to investigate alcohol-related complaints.
''I have had a number of complaints from individuals and from families who have said they were in the stands and, 'My God, we couldn't wait for them to shut off the beer,' " said Michael Connolly, a licensing board member. ''They were rowdy and the profanities were going."
Red Sox officials denied that alcohol problems have increased at Fenway. The officials said the team expanded points of sale for beer in order to reduce the time fans have to wait in line and said that the number of beers sold dropped in 2004, to 3.1 million, despite an increase in the number of fans attending games. They conceded that with larger cup sizes the volume of alcohol being sold might be higher.
''When you add more points of sale, whether for hot dogs, peanuts, sodas, or beer, you address the concerns of the fans -- that long lines are an uncomfortable part of the experience," said team spokesman Charles Steinberg. ''With greater attendance and shorter lines and popular items, it's not surprising that consumption would go up."
Though a limited number of 12-ounce cans of beer are sold at the park, the majority of beers sold are drafts in 16-ounce cups, which are $6 each. Import beers are $6.75 each. The Red Sox would not release their revenues from beer sales. The New York Times Co., which owns the Boston Globe, owns 17 percent of the Red Sox.
According to city records, new beer-vending locations have been added atop the Green Monster, on Yawkey Way, along the concourse at gate E, and along a new concourse near the corner of Ipswich and Van Ness streets. They have also been added behind the new canvas alley seats along the upper grandstand on the first-base line and near the new infield box seats, the records show.
Steinberg said that, with a few exceptions, fan behavior at Fenway has become better because of the changes made to the ballpark.
''There has been a noticeable sense of improved civility, particularly in the bleachers area, where security has noticed that ever since we built the big concourse and created decongestion areas, the mood and nature of the crowd has actually been more civil," Steinberg said.
Not all fans agree, however. Paul Della Valle, a fan from Sterling, said that increasingly he has felt the experience of going to games has been overshadowed by fans who drink too much.
''They think it's all about going to Fenway Park and getting drunk, and Fenway Park seems to encourage that," he said. ''They don't have any restrictions on how much they can drink. I'm no stranger to drinking -- I've had a few too many a few times. But I don't think we should be celebrating or encouraging it at Fenway Park. They love to say it's a family atmosphere, and mostly it is. But other times, you can't go without seeing some kind of disturbance in the stands."
Alcohol sales at Fenway has become a sensitive subject, and several people who work at the ballpark agreed to speak to the Globe only on the condition that their names not be used.
A Boston police officer who regularly works paid details during games at Fenway, who asked not to be identified, said drinking at the park has spiraled ''totally out of control."
''They put a beer stand every 15 or 20 feet," said the veteran officer. ''Every corner of the ballpark has a beer stand. Never in my entire life have I seen so much alcohol being served over there. When I was a kid we used to fight over there because of alcohol. But they cut back. Now the new thing is to sell as much beer as possible."
With the expansion of the ballpark to include Yawkey Way, which is now blocked off for ticket-holding fans on game days and includes several Fenway beer stands, many game-goers are arriving earlier and drinking longer, he said.
He and another officer who regularly works detail shifts at the park said problem fans are more often ejected from games than arrested. Since police started keeping records of the number of fans ejected from games in July last year, 541 have been kicked out. Fifty-four of those were during the eight home games so far in 2005. Five fans have been charged with drinking, trespassing, or being a disorderly person so far this year.
Red Sox officials wouldn't provide figures on the number of new beer concessions added at the ballpark. However, the licensing board's chairman, Daniel Pokaski, said that at least 16 beer-vending locations, some of them with several taps, are new.
One longtime Fenway worker who sells beer from concession stands said the team's new owners have added roughly 35 taps in various concession locations throughout the park and on Yawkey Way. That is double the number that existed before 2002, he said.
''No doubt about it -- they're selling more beer," said the beer seller. ''When I'm working I go through three kegs of beer by myself. That's a lot of beer."
A single tap, he said, can generate $3,000 to $4,000 in sales per game.
Still, the beer seller said, fans are not allowed to drink without limit and are required to produce IDs. Drunken fans are turned away, he said.
''If they're obviously drunk, I sell them nothing," he said. ''No one will sell to them. If they get persistent I call security and they take them out of here. You're talking 40,000 people. They have a no-tolerance rule. They'll throw you out for anything."
Last Monday, the Red Sox announced disciplinary measures in an incident this month in which two fans, Christopher House and another man, interfered with Sheffield as he tried to field a ball near the right-field fence. House swung his arm near Sheffield and the other fan threw beer at the player. House's seven season tickets were revoked for at least the remainder of 2005, and the other fan, who is not a season-ticket holder, is not allowed to purchase tickets for the rest of the season. It was not clear what role alcohol played in the incident.
Steinberg said last week that Fenway enforces a policy of responsible drinking at the park.
''Responsible alcohol consumption has always been a front-line concern," Steinberg said. ''Keeping a warm and hospitable atmosphere is essential to the Fenway experience. I don't sense a rise in disturbing behavior. But if fans report it to us, that will be treated very seriously."
Still, Pokaski said the licensing board wants ''to review the team's alcohol policy with the idea of making it tighter."
''If the board isn't satisfied that underage people do not drink and people aren't being over served at the ballpark and that people aren't being allowed in already intoxicated from some of the local waterholes -- these issues will have to be addressed by the staff at Fenway and by Aramark," Pokaski said.


IDEA: The Aflac duck, American advertising's finest feathered friend, is nothing without his distinctive squawk. Or is he? The bird, who's been quacking out the supplemental insurance company's name in ads from Publicis Kaplan Thaler since 1999, has suddenly gone quiet this year thanks to a plot twist in which he's fractured his beak and ended up in hospital—putting him in the position of the company's customers, who need bills paid when they get hurt and miss work. "The duck has become so well known and well liked. We wanted to find a new way to harness that affection," said agency executive creative director Jay Williams. "The thought came to us: The duck is a working actor. This is what he does. He's in commercials, and he talks about the brand. So, we thought there could be a humorous way to make the duck a metaphor for the people Aflac helps." Added Michael Zuna, Alfac's chief marketing and sales officer: "The new commercials will make viewers laugh, but they have a very serious message. If the Aflac duck can get hurt, anyone can get hurt. And that's why everyone needs Aflac."
COPYWRITING: The first spot, which broke Jan. 7, took place at a press conference, where the hospital's top doctor relays news of the accident—sounding much like the duck himself in answering "Aflac" to various questions about the bird's insurance coverage. This second spot, which premiered Sunday on the Grammy Awards, shows the duck in his hospital bed—a bandage on his beak rendering him silent for the first time in his extremely vocal career. The doctor asks a group of residents what they see when they look at him. Their increasingly non-medical answers ("I see the Aflac duck out of work and not making any money") lead to the product pitch, and then the punch line. "I see lunch," says the third resident, as the duck lifts his head in alarm. (Turns out a nurse has simply brought in some food.) Williams said quieting the duck is fresh and surprising. "It could be more attention-getting," he said. "You've come to expect what he's going to say. Now, if you see him and he says nothing, it's an interesting twist." The spot wraps with a hospital curtain pulled across the screen, showing the company logo and URL.
ART DIRECTION/FILMING: Director Baker Smith shot the "Rounds" ad in one day on a soundstage in Los Angeles. The visual look is "bright and accessible" and "not too artsy," said Williams, in keeping with the brand's friendly atmosphere. The agency would not reveal the inner workings of the duck—whether he's animatronic, CGI or both—other than to say it uses different solutions depending on the spot. "He's private when it comes to things like that," said Williams. "He prefers to play it close to his down-filled vest."
TALENT: Frank Woods plays the head doctor. "We loved his look, and he could straddle that 'Is this real or not?' thing," said Williams. "He has a little smile and sense of humor to him that makes it fun to watch." The residents are "representative of what medical staff look like these days," said Williams, and they had the right comic delivery. "They don't play it too broadly," he said. "It's pretty dry and straight."
SOUND: There's not much sound design and no music. But sound does play a key role in "Rounds"—the beeping of the duck's heart monitor suddenly gets frantic after the resident mentions lunch. "We added that in production as a nice subtle touch," Williams said.
MEDIA: The first spot sent viewers to GetWellDuck.com, where 30,000 people made him sympathy cards. The campaign will continue with more ads as the duck makes his recovery.


K-12 education is an exhausted, bloodsoaked battlefield. It’s Agincourt, the day after. So a suggestion: Refocus some reformist passions on early childhood.
I say that for three reasons. First, there is mounting evidence that early childhood is a crucial period when the brain is most malleable, when interventions are most cost-effective for at-risk kids.
Researchers are finding that poverty can harm the brains of small children, perhaps because their brains are subjected to excessive cortisol (a stress hormone) and exposed less to conversation and reading. One study just published in Nature Neuroscience found that children in low-income families had a brain surface area on average 6 percent smaller than that of children in high-income families.
“Neuroscience tells us we’re missing a critical, time-sensitive opportunity to help the most disadvantaged kids,” notes Dr. Jack Shonkoff, an early childhood expert at the Harvard Graduate School of Education.
Growing evidence suggests what does work to break the poverty cycle: Start early in life, and coach parents to stimulate their children. Randomized controlled trials, the gold standard of evidence, have shown this with programs like Nurse-Family Partnership, Reach Out and Read, and high-quality preschool. These kinds of interventions typically produce cognitive gains that last a few years and then fade - but, more important, also produce better life outcomes, such as less crime, fewer teenage pregnancies, higher high school graduation rates, and higher incomes.
The second reason to focus on early interventions is that the low-hanging fruit has already been picked in the K-12 world. Charter schools like KIPP showed that even in high-poverty environments, students can excel. In New York City, which under Michael Bloomberg became a center for education reform, high school graduation rates rose to 66 percent in 2013 from 47 percent in 2005.
I support education reform. Yet the brawls have left everyone battered and bloodied, from reformers to teachers unions. I’m not advising surrender. Education inequity is America’s original sin. A majority of American children in public schools are eligible for free or reduced price lunches, and they often get second-rate teachers in second-rate schools - even as privileged kids get superb teachers. This perpetuates class and racial inequity and arises in part from a failed system of local school financing.
But fixing K-12 education will be a long slog, so let’s redirect some energy to children aged 0 to 5 (including prenatal interventions, such as discouraging alcohol and drug use among pregnant women).
That leads to my third reason: Early education is where we have the greatest chance of progress because it’s not politically polarized. New York City liberals have embraced preschool, but so have Oklahoma conservatives. Teacher unions will flinch at some of what I say, but they have been great advocates for early education. Congress can’t agree on much, but Republicans and Democrats just approved new funding for home visitation for low-income toddlers.
My perspective is shaped by what I’ve seen. Helping teenagers and adults is tough when they’ve dropped out of school, had babies, joined gangs, compiled arrest records or self-medicated.
But in Oklahoma, I once met two little girls, ages 3 and 4, whose great-grandmother had her first child at 13, whose grandmother had her first at 15, whose mom had her first at 13 and now has four children by three fathers. These two little girls will break that cycle, I’m betting, because they (along with the relative caring for them) are getting help from an outstanding early childhood program called Educare. Those two little girls have a shot at opportunity.
Even within early education, there will be battles. Some advocates emphasize the first three years of life, while others focus on 4-year-olds. Some seek to target the most at-risk children, while others emphasize universal programs.
But early childhood is not a toxic space, the way K-12 education is now. So let’s redeploy some of our education passions, on all sides, to an area where we just may be able to find common ground: providing a foundation for young children aged 0 to 5.


Crypto inventors write white papers to communicate how their cryptocurrency is better than the last—and to attract investors.
In 2008, a mysterious figure named Satoshi Nakamoto uploaded a PDF to the internet outlining a digital framework for spending money without centralized banks. He sent the paper to a cryptography mailing list, and thus bitcoin—and the blockchain—were born. Ten years later, an entire cryptocurrency industry valued at $300 billion has bloomed from those nine pages.
To many in the cryptography world, this was unexpected. “When we heard about bitcoin for the first time, many of us cryptographers—myself included—did not think it was going to work,” says computer scientist Alejandro Hevia of the University of Chile. Nakamoto didn’t include detailed analysis on the bitcoin architecture, as is customary in peer-reviewed computer science papers. And he hadn’t publicized his ideas via the customary channels: not at crypto conferences or on arXiv, the loosely-moderated site where computer scientists upload their newest ideas in advance of peer review.
“It set the stage for people afterward—that it’s OK to write stuff on your own, put it on your website, and let the world see it,” says computer scientist Emin Gün Sirer of Cornell University. Some 1,600 cryptocurrencies exist today, each of their releases accompanied by a paper explaining the need for its existence. Their inventors write these so-called white papers to communicate how their cryptocurrency is better than the last—and to attract investors.
Tron isn’t the only example. Bad white papers are so plentiful that experts have identified recurring red flags, like when a white paper doesn’t cite any prior work. It’s impossible that your brilliant new idea didn’t build on any existing concepts, says Chris Wilmer of the University of Pittsburgh, who edits Ledger, an academic journal dedicated to blockchain developments.
“The problem is that people are too eager to claim they’ve done something new,” says Hevia. Many of the underlying cryptography concepts in blockchain originated from academic research in the 80’s and 90’s, says computer scientist Arvind Narayanan of Princeton University; even Nakamoto’s white paper had a reference section.
In other words, crypto-developers—ironically, a community devoted to eliminating centralized authority—could use more traditional vetting structures. To that end, in 2014*, Wilmer helped start Ledger, the first blockchain-dedicated academic journal, after canvassing the cryptocurrency community in both industry and academia. “There was resounding enthusiasm for it,” says Wilmer. These days, Ledger receives two to four paper submissions a week, although most don’t pass peer review. “Occasionally we get submissions with no citations,” he says.
Peer review also comes with other safeguards. Reviewers have to funnel their critiques through an editor, so it’s more difficult for people to express opinions without sound logical reasoning. Academic journals also usually require authors to declare potential conflicts of interest.
But peer review isn’t a panacea. It has its own share of problems: Academics are typically slow to accept new ideas, which can potentially kill promising innovations, says Hevia. The process takes months, sometimes years. “It took a long time to have bitcoin analyzed by very good researchers,” he says. “Had Satoshi Nakamoto waited for the analysis before submitting his or her paper, it probably wouldn’t have been published until four years later.” So it’s still useful to have informal places to publish ideas quickly—though places like arXiv and other online academic servers could serve as a middle ground.
The solution won’t be simple. Generally, people should be more transparent about their conflicts of interest, says Wilmer. He also thinks researchers shouldn’t develop and sell ideas at the same time. “When you tell somebody you have this great idea, you already cast suspicion on yourself if you might have financial gain,” he says. Sirer also thinks that investors could benefit from hiring technical consultants—graduate students, maybe, to vet whether the cryptocurrencies are based on sound computer science. For a community that prides itself on cutting out the middlemen—they may need them after all.
*Correction at 10:40 a.m. on 7/18/18: An earlier version of this story misstated the year that Ledger began.


The Murdochs are sidestepping many of the questions swirling around Fox News in the wake of Roger Ailes' resignation. But they're being clear about one thing: Fox will retain Ailes' conservative view of the world.
On a quarterly earnings call Wednesday afternoon, 21st Century Fox executive chairman Lachlan Murdoch said Fox News has a "unique and important voice," and that the company is seeking to protect it by appointing his father Rupert as the channel's acting CEO.
"There is no one more dedicated or more able to transition Fox News to new leadership than its founder," Lachlan said, pointedly portraying Rupert, not Ailes, as the network's founder.
Wall Street analysts did not press the Murdochs for further information about the investigation into Ailes' removal.
Ailes, who launched the network for Rupert in 1996 and ran it ever since, resigned two weeks ago amid a flurry of sexual harassment allegations, which he has denied.
A law firm retained by the Murdochs is continuing to probe potential wrongdoing by Ailes, and is pursuing leads about other executives who may have known about the alleged harassment.
Inside Fox News, speculation is rampant about a pending "housecleaning" of Ailes' deputies.
But Lachlan's statement at the beginning of the earnings call may have been meant to assuage some of those concerns.
He said Rupert "joins an existing team that is extraordinarily strong and equally devoted to its success."
Rupert Murdoch, 85, has not said how long he'll remain in the acting CEO role. Staffers around him say he is in no hurry to appoint a replacement.
For now, the Murdochs are in a fact-finding mode. Four weeks ago, ex-anchor Gretchen Carlson sued Ailes, alleging a pattern of sexual harassment and retaliation. Ailes said she was fired for poor ratings performance.
The Murdochs said they had full confidence in Ailes, but hired the law firm Paul, Weiss to look into the allegations. The firm quickly uncovered many other accounts of Ailes allegedly harassing other Fox News employees, according to people briefed on the investigation. One of the accusers was reportedly Megyn Kelly, one of Fox's best-known hosts.
The Murdochs soon determined that Ailes had to go. Although Lachlan repeated the corporate line — that Ailes' exit was a resignation, not a firing — he emphasized on Wednesday that "throughout this process we have moved quickly and decisively to protect the business, to protect its employees, and to protect the unique and important voice Fox News broadcasts."
"Protect its employees" could be interpreted to mean they removed Ailes as soon as they found out what he was allegedly doing.
But the questions about the Murdochs' level of awareness remain unanswered. Did they know anything about Ailes' behavior in the years before Carlson sued?
Spokespeople for 21st Century Fox declined to comment. A source close to the company answered: "Of course not."
But that raises another question: If they didn't know what one of their most important employees was doing behind closed doors, why didn't they?
New York magazine's Gabriel Sherman reported last week that Fox News reached a $3.15 million settlement in 2011 with one of Ailes' alleged victims, former booker Laurie Luhn.
Although the sum of money shocked many readers, it is "still just a rounding error" for a network that makes more than a billion dollars in profit every year, a former Fox News executive pointed out.
Speaking anonymously, the executive said Ailes exercised almost complete control over his Fox News fiefdom. Rank-and-file Fox News employees rarely interacted with the jet-setting Murdochs.
"Access to the Murdochs went through Roger," this person said, explaining why it is possible the Murdochs did not know about the alleged wrongdoing.
This was seconded by a former Fox News reporter who described harassment by Ailes in an interview with CNNMoney last month.
"Roger made the rules, so there was no one above him acting as a court of last resort," the reporter said.
The New York Times and New York magazine have raised broader questions about a toxic workplace culture for women at Fox News. Other supervisors are also alleged to have harassed women.
But last week sources with knowledge of the Paul, Weiss probe told CNNMoney that it was "winding down."
Sherman's harrowing story about Luhn, alleging "psychological torture" and 20 years of harassment by Ailes, may have changed that.
The story described how at least two of Ailes' lieutenants essentially cleaned up after the CEO and struck the $3.15 million settlement.
It also said that Luhn contacted Paul, Weiss — not the other way around.
This caused Bruce Schaeffer, a lawyer for another potential Ailes accuser, to issue a statement questioning the legitimacy of the law firm's work.
Schaeffer is representing Laurie Dhue, an ex-Fox News anchor who recently said that she is writing a book that will detail her time at the network.
On Tuesday Schaeffer told The Daily Beast that Ailes acted inappropriately with her, and said, "Paul, Weiss has thus far not contacted us as part of its investigation, which fairly questions the credibility of its investigative process."
On Wednesday The New York Times reported that the investigators are also "examining whether other executives knew of improper behavior by Mr. Ailes and failed to act on it."
"More current and former Fox News employees scheduled for interviews," The Times said.
Amid all this, Fox News is enjoying some of the highest ratings in its history. 21st Century Fox's cable channels division, which includes the news channel, earned $3.9 billion in revenue in the quarter that ended in June, up from $3.6 billion in the same quarter last year.
Operating income was dented a bit due to higher costs. But cable remains the most important piece of Fox's business.
That's why, for investors, Lachlan's most important comment on the earnings call might have been this: "There is no desire or need to shift the position" that Fox News has "in the market."


DENVER — Summer break may stand between the end of this school year and beginning of the next, but local school districts are already prepped for 2019-2020 enrollment.
Denver Public Schools’ award-winning unified enrollment system, SchoolChoice , is about to kick off its eighth year. Enrollment is now open and runs through Feb. 15 at 4 p.m.
This process gives every family equal access to the school they think is best for their student, regardless of their address or background, according to DPS. Families rank their student’s preferred schools on the application and DPS then matches the student to a school based on those preferences, taking into account available space and school admission priorities.
You can access the mobile-friendly online application here .
Families are encouraged to talk with leaders and staff at the schools they are interested in to learn more.
Jeffco Public Schools is launching a new enrollment system on Jan. 22 for the upcoming school year. All current and new students will need to visit www.EnrollJeffCo.org between Jan. 22 and Feb. 8 to indicate if they’ll return to their current school, go to an assigned neighborhood school or apply for other schools in the district.
Online registration has also opened for Aurora Public Schools . Enrollment runs from Jan. 15 until May 1.
Douglas County Public Schools opens its second round of enrollment registration on Jan. 22. It will remain open until Aug. 1.


MARYBOROUGH Brothers coach Alex Dreger is happy to let his side's last game be confined to history.
The 54-0 shellacking at the hands of defending Bundaberg Rugby League premiers Hervey Bay Seagulls was possibly the worst way Maryborough Brothers' first home game in 15 years could have worked out.
Hervey Bay ultimately ran in nine tries to vastly improve their points differential, but the 15 minutes of the game belonged to the newly-promoted Maryborough club.
"We killed oursevles in that first 15 minutes,” Dreger said.
Maryborough Brothers crossed the line twice only to be denied by the Seagulls' defence, and once Hervey Bay took control they never relented.
"We get some confidence out of that,” Dreger said.
The upside to such a thrashing is that today's opponents, Wallaroos, may take them lightly.
The return of experienced former Gympie Devil Kurt Fleming to the front row will give Maryborough Brothers much-needed size in the middle of the park.
"It'll be a good game, it's always big for us the local derby,” Dreger said.
The Stafford Park game will kick off at 1.20pm.


"Love means never having to say you're sorry," went the tagline to Erich Segal's 1970 tear-jerker "Love Story," in which an earnest gent named Oliver tries to support his wife as she — spoiler alert — dies of leukemia. Charles Bock's novel "Alice & Oliver" shares a character name and a disease with "Love Story," but Bock would consider Segal's greeting-card glop only with open contempt. Love, especially when it's tested by illness, means always having something to apologize for. The novel's power is in its two characters' messy negotiation of their fears, errors and shifting affections.
Even so, "Love Story," wouldn't be a half-bad title for the first half of the book. Alice and Oliver are a charmed, devoted couple when we first meet them. It's 1993 in New York, when it was possible to find and rehab a roomy and cheap Meatpacking District apartment, when the miraculous nascent Internet allowed you to download an entire photo "in less time than it took to microwave popcorn," and when you could step into a CD store and hear it "thrumming with minor clicks, like a busy typewriter class."
He's a bright programmer; she's a successful fashion designer; they have a newborn daughter, Doe. Life is so frictionless that they cling to a cuddly optimism even when, early on, Alice's white-blood-cell count is decimated. In the hospital, "they proclaimed themselves fortunate for this astounding relationship of theirs, having as much fun in that stupid room as they had, under such ridiculous conditions."
That love-conquers-all resolve doesn't last long: Once Alice is formally diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, an ever-escalating set of complications is set in motion. Alice endures the wearying agony of chemotherapy. Oliver wrestles with healthcare bureaucrats. Both of them white-knuckle a search for a bone-marrow donor. Friends skedaddle because they're afraid to confront Alice's predicament. Or, perhaps worse, they arrive with tone-deaf ideas of what "helping out" is. No, Alice doesn't have the stamina to watch a pirated, pre-release VHS tape of "Pulp Fiction," some buzzed-about film. A friend's gift of an herbal vitamin supplement "was supposed to fill Alice with vitality, but tasted like hot barf."
But the struggle beyond all that, and one that Bock is particularly concerned with getting right, involves the waiting — for doctors to arrive, for insurers to respond to appeals, for the chemo to do its work. In the abstract, cancer creates a sense of urgency. But on the ground, Bock knows, it mostly cultivates slackness. "Alice & Oliver" is at its best as a story about how a couple must develop an internal GPS to recalculate the path through unfamiliar territory, when the things that attract them to each other and the comfort of their routines begin to get scraped away. Alice tries on Buddhism and a flirtation with a musician she meets in the hospital. Oliver throws himself into his work, juggling child care with programming. He has a card for a neighborhood floral shop that promises "exquisite flowers" (read: women) and he's tempted to give it a ring.
The novel's detours into New York's seedier quarters are modest compared to Bock's bracing debut novel, 2008's "Beautiful Children," where the whole trip was occupied by the sordid lives of Las Vegas prostitutes, pornographers and teen runaways. If Alice and Oliver are tamer protagonists, Bock is still interested in what makes us reckless — how we search for escape when our lives are put under too much pressure.
Too much pressure according to whom, though? In this who's-suffering-more-in-the-marriage competition, Alice is the clear winner — she's bearing a host of burdens both internal and external, ones that Oliver's headaches with insurers and his startup can't match. That distinction is especially pronounced in the later chapters, as the point of view shifts to Alice, her psyche rubbed raw in advance of the bone-marrow transplant. "I'm wishing I had a lobotomy," she thinks. "If they'd scooped out my frontal lobe, I wouldn't have to be present for what they're going to do to me." But Bock does give both characters equal emotional depth, the better to explore the Newtonian marital dynamics when Oliver discovers Alice's secrets and she his.
Bock lived through an experience much like the one he depicts here. In 2009 his first wife, Diana Joy Colbert, was diagnosed with leukemia when their daughter was an infant, and Colbert died in 2011 after two bone-marrow transplants. So the authorial fallacy isn't quite so fallacious in this case. But the true-life elements of the novel are meaningful only in terms of the novel's main flaw: If the book avoids wearing its heart on its sleeve the way "Love Story" did (thank goodness), it does sometimes overshare its research. Passages are clotted with notebook-dump detail about chemotherapy medications, the movements of orderlies and nurses and doctors and the logistics of the bone-marrow donor and transplant process. Such details are essential for any novel that aspires to be a realistic portrait of cancer. But at moments the true-life banality of delay and process threatens to infect the lifeblood of the novel itself.
Yet it doesn't give anything away to say that "Alice & Oliver" revivifies in its closing pages and becomes an affecting portrait of how much everybody in Alice's orbit has been emotionally reshaped. From early detection to Stage 4, nobody gets away unchanged by cancer, a point Bock emphasizes in a series of brief "case studies" interspersed though the novel: A man whose jaw is surgically removed, a second-grader who's slipped out of remission, a woman who takes little comfort in pink ribbons after a double mastectomy. "Everyone so great and informed and aware and together and so helpful," that last patient thinks. "Meanwhile, she had to get both of her breasts sawed off."
These vignettes are a potent reminder of the multitude of ways cancer can damage and transform. But they're also a Greek chorus singing the same song: Whose help will you want when you're forced to face your own mortality up close? "My husband" or "my wife" are excellent answers, but Bock offers a forceful reminder that there are plenty of roiling emotions underneath that till-death-do-us-part.


'I actually think the president will sign the bill on the Keystone pipeline,' Priebus said.
A confident Reince Priebus on Election Day predicted that a Republican controlled House and Senate will pass a bill to approve the Keystone XL pipeline — and that President Barack Obama will likely sign it.
In an appearance on MSNBC on Tuesday, the Republican National Committee chairman was asked what specific legislation a Republican Congress would pass following the elections.
The GOP leader argued that there will be greater political pressure on the president to approve the pipeline project because of legislative action.
For years, many Republicans and some Democrats have pushed for the Obama White House to sign off on the oil pipeline between Canada and the U.S., saying that it will stimulate domestic energy production and create jobs. Critics of the pipeline have said that the job creation will be negligible and that the pipeline would have significant cost to the environment and exacerbate climate change.
The State Department in April instituted another delay in making a decision on the project, which Republicans and advocates on both sides decried as politically motivated.
In the interview Tuesday, Priebus said he was expecting big gains later, but that he wouldn’t be pleased unless Republicans are able to win in at least one swing state. “I wouldn’t be happy unless — we’ve got to win a purple state or two, as well as taking the majority” in the Senate, he said.
Most forecasts show that Republicans are favored to win seats in the House and take control of the Senate, where Democrats in red states have struggled to distance themselves from the Obama White House.
“In a good environment with a very unpopular president, we ought to win in tough states,” Priebus added.


The Jurassic Press is missing much in their reporting on the $50 billion bailout of General Motors (GM). The Press is open channeling for President Barack Obama - allowing him to frame the bailout exactly as he wishes in the 2012 Presidential election.
The President is running in large part on the bailout’s $30+ billion loss, uber-failed “success.” And the Press is acting as his stenographers. An epitome of this bailout nightmare mess is the electric absurdity that is the Chevrolet Volt. The Press is at every turn covering up - rather than covering - the serial failures of President Obama’s signature vehicle.
The Press has failed to mention at least five Volt fires, myopically focusing on the one the Obama Administration hand-selected for attention.
The Press has failed to mention that the Volt fire problem remains unsolved. Is it the battery? Is it the charging station? Is it the charging cable? All of the above?
GM and the Administration don’t know. And the Press ain’t breaking their necks trying to find out.
In more recent news, the Press has almost as one hailed the June Volt sales increase.
The Press has for the most part failed to mention how pathetic this “second-best sales month” actually is. And even when one Dinosaur does, the unwarranted enthusiasm is palpable.
The Press also fails to put this pathetic tally in perspective.
The Chevy Cruze is basically a Volt without the dead-weight, flammable 400-lb. electric battery. Which makes it $17,000, rather than the Volt’s $41,000.
Chevy in June sold 18,983 Cruzes - more than ten times the number of Volts. And that’s down 1/3 from last June’s 24,648.
But that feeble Volt tally has the Press all revved up.
According to multiple GM executives there is little or no profit being made on each Volt built at a present cost of around $40,000. Furthermore, the $700 million of development that went into the car has to be recouped.
Get that? GM makes “little or no profit” on the Volt.
So it makes perfect sense that GM would spend millions of dollars advertising it, does it not? No ideological or campaign intent there, eh President Obama?
Look, I get it, it’s fun. I just spent $1 million - of your money - advertising free air. On which my profit margin is just as good as GM’s is on the Volt.
Only my ads didn’t have a song, or a dance. We just aren’t as cool as the Volt.
I mean, it’s so cool - it can travel back in time to inspire the production of cars before it even existed.
I mean, it’s so cool - it can travel back in time to offer the exact same technology as a car from 1991. And the exact same electric battery range as a car from 1897.
But wait - there’s so much more.
(A)dd $240 million in Energy Department grants doled out to G.M. last summer, $150 million in federal money to the Volt’s Korean battery supplier, up to $1.5 billion in tax breaks for purchasers and other consumer incentives, and some significant portion of the $14 billion loan G.M. got in 2008 for “retooling” its plants, and you’ve got some idea of how much taxpayer cash is built into every Volt.
Speaking of those “tax breaks for purchasers and other consumer incentives” - as of November of last year that tally all by itself was $250,000 per Volt sold.
And that excruciating pain is ongoing. Again, a Volt sold makes GM no money - but costs We the Taxpayers a $7,500 bribe - I mean “incentive.” Oh - and President Obama wants to jack that bribe to $10,000 per.
I guess it’s good news after all that Volt sales remain so anemic.
And with GM’s new 60-day return policy, it looks like you can buy a Volt and cash the $7,500 bribe check. Then return the Volt - and keep the $7,500 bribe cash. How’s that for Taxpayer coin stewardship?
Keep all of this outrageousness in mind when next the Jurassic Press joins with the Obama Administration in celebrating the Chevy Volt.
But it (allegedly) helps President Obama get reelected. And nothing would make the Press happier - and for that there’s (almost?) nothing they won’t do.
Founder and president of Less Government.


BELLVILLE, Ohio (AP) — Officials at an Ohio animal shelter say a cat they found had been shot with an arrow is now recovering.
The Humane Society of Richland County says the orange tabby cat named Oliver Queen was brought in Tuesday after the society learned he had been shot with an arrow in Bellville near Mansfield. Cleveland.com reports the society noted it is currently hunting season, but doesn’t know if it was intentional or not.
Officials at the shelter say the arrow missed the cat’s heart by two inches. A spokesman for the human society says the animal “has a good prognosis but is not out of the woods yet.” They say the cat does not have a known owner, and the society is currently collecting donations for the cat’s care.


Last week crews finished assembling the gantries that will be used to lift deck sections onto the side spans. This week they’ll start installing gantry cranes on the main span – a harder job because those gantries are bigger and farther off the water.
The ship loaded with the first 16 deck sections is expected to leave Korea today or Monday. If the weather cooperates, the vessel will take 18 days to get to Tacoma.
Workers will continue attaching suspenders on the north cable this week. They won’t finish the job by the time the first deck sections arrive. Instead, they’ll continue hanging suspenders as needed while the deck sections are being lifted into place.


I am remembering my experience of childhood, climbing my favorite tree in our front yard. It was a huge pine tree and had wonderful branches close to each other like a perfect ladder to heaven. I would climb to the very top and swing blowing in the wind for hours.
Often I would sing the only song I knew about a tree, “I talk to the trees but they don’t listen to me….” It seems ironic now because indeed the tree was listening to me and I knew it, but this was one of the few songs in my limited repertoire. I sang it with great melancholy and the tree, like a faithful dog was just there, present, holding me and my sadness.
My last article The Healing Benefits of Walking Barefoot got me thinking about how formative these experiences of nature are to us as children, if we were fortunate enough to be around it. I realize how blessed I was to have an actual forest to explore, and a choice of many fabulous trees to climb and a tree house that I had access to.
Shortly after writing my last article I decided to practice what I preached and found a park with field to experience grass under my feet again. I was instantly transported to my childhood where I went barefoot everywhere. I could literally walk on nails. So different from my wimpy feet now! I then took time to lie on the grass and gaze at the clouds. It felt incredibly rejuvenating to connect to that child like part that I haven’t let out in a very long time. It seemed to lighten my soul and I am still feeling the positive affects.
I observed my surroundings and saw a few pubescent girls contemplating climbing a tree, not sure if it was the cool thing to do. To encourage this behavior I sauntered over and asked if they would indulge me and climb the tree so that I could get a picture.
I could see their minds spinning …the cool ‘fashionistas’ wrestling with the children who relished the prospect of having an adventure. To my joy the child- part won. They worked out how to shimmy each other up and before long were laughing and playing letting out squeals of joy. I silently slipped off, hoping they might continue a little longer, celebrating the child that had won out, perhaps for the last time. I pondered how fleeting this precious time is and what it would be like to know the last time you climbed a tree that it was indeed the last time you would ever climb a tree.
I was brought back to my own childhood. I was about their age, doing the dance between wanting desperately to be an adult and still wanting to hang out in my beloved tree, singing my melancholy tunes.
As an adult I have since had many amazing communications with trees. (But haven’t climbed one since I was a child… something I promise to do again soon!) I have always been convinced of their healing properties, and am happy to know that science has now caught up with what many of us have known all along.
In a recently published book, Blinded By Science, Matthew Silverstone reveals the scientific data showing trees improve many health issues such as mental illness, ADHD, depression, the ability to alleviate headaches, reaction time and concentration levels. He lists countless studies of children who showed significant psychological and physiological improvements in their health and well being when they interacted with plants and trees. Their cognitive and emotional abilities improved and they experienced more creative play in ‘green’ areas.
He explains that the reasons are simply that everything vibrates and different vibrations affect biological behaviors. When we touch a tree its different vibrational pattern will affect the various biological behaviors within the human body bringing it into a healing alignment.
Plants and trees facilitate the cleansing and revitalizing of all of the stored up negativity and stress humans experience and give it a place to be absorbed. Being in their presence realigns our vibrations to be more in alignment with their healing and grounding vibrations.
So tree hugging is not just for hippies or children. It is beneficial to all!
I encourage you to set aside 30 minutes to go out and climb, touch, hug or just be near a tree and meditate on all of the richness they provide to the planet, not only visually, but in their healing medicinal properties, cleaning our air, providing a place for children to play and providing the materials for our homes. The fact that trees give off oxygen just before dawn, which wakes up the birds and makes them sing! Put your hands on a tree and open to the teaching it has for you and send your gratitude back to her.
Experience the powerful healing properties of being among these incredible, free and natural resources that are still available to us, and work to protect, preserve and cherish them for all generations to come!
Please share with us your own healing experiences and appreciation of trees!
I do it as often as I can,but do it like you would hug a person so not that long.How long you should hug a tree?Thanks.
Plant and protect Danny's trees for life.
I used to climb trees when younger.


John Murray says he will "live like a monk" ahead of his WBO InterContinental title fight against Kevin Mitchell next month.
The Manchester-based undefeated European lightweight champion made that promise following a remarkable public plea by trainer Joe Gallagher.
Gallagher wants the public to act as his eyes and ears and watch over Murray for the next six weeks, so he does not get into any bad habits.
Murray responded: "I am going to push myself to the limit because I need to be in top shape if I am going to do a real good job on Kevin, which is what I expect.
"I will go to the gym, then to my mum's house, eat, sleep and run. I will be like a machine for the next six weeks. But you have to live like a monk.
"I am hoping this is the year I make it and get a world title shot. That's what I need. I need to be world champion. That's been the dream since I turned pro."
The fight against Mitchell is scheduled for July 9 at the Excel Arena and Gallagher told the Manchester Evening News: "He needs to be tactically and - crucially - physically in top shape or he can kiss goodbye to the world title shot we've worked so hard to get.
"So if any of his so-called friends fancy a night out between now and July 9, do me a favour and don't even bother calling John.
"Likewise if John calls you bored one night, remind him how hard he has worked to get this far. If he fancies a pizza or some other junk food, tell him 'No'."
"It might sound harsh, but that's the way it's got to be."
Mitchell claims he is a different person now to the one who lost his unbeaten record to Michael Katsidis last month.
Mitchell said: "I knew I could beat this kid but I had a lot of family issues going on at the time. I've never had that problem in my whole career.
"I had a lot of things on my mind, I was missing out on training sessions and I was hardly running.
"I should have been mature and pulled out of the fight. If I had been beaten by a better man I would hold my hands up but that was not the case.
"I've got myself sorted out and I've been happy, been good. Things happen for a reason and I know what I am capable of doing."
Actually I expect Mitchell to have enough to beat Murray, I'm just not convinced he's ready for anyone elite after the Katsidis fight.
I know Mitchell's got his excuses for the Katsidis fight, but I thought he was outclassed by a far superior opponent. I hope he proves me wrong, he's a likeable kid.
Your getting knocked out again bum !


UNIONS are feeding fears of a return to the Howard-era Work Choices legislation, as the Abbott Government orders a wide-ranging inquiry into the workplace relations framework.
Leaked draft terms of reference for the Productivity Commission inquiry said it would examine employee conditions, red tape, productivity and the ability of business to "respond appropriately to changing economic conditions".
At pains to avoid comparisons with the Work Choices laws that saw the Coalition lose power in 2007, Employment Minister Senator Eric Abetz said on Friday the inquiry would do "nothing more, nothing less" than that promised before the election.
He described the commission's inquiry as "a comprehensive and broad review of the laws", saying the Australian Council of Trade Unions as part of the consultation phase on the inquiry.
But he said despite reports saying penalty rates and "union militancy" would form part of the inquiry, he would not confirm nor deny any such inclusions in the review's terms of reference.
Rather, Sen Abetz warned Labor and the ACTU not to run a "deliberate scare campaign" about the review, saying any changes to workers conditions were "in the context of fair and equitable pay and conditions".
But ACTU chief Ged Kearney told reporters on Friday the inquiry showed the government was "getting its marching orders from big business".
She said the inquiry was "the wrong people doing the wrong thing at the wrong time", describing the inquiry as "absolutely a return to Work Choices".
"The business lobby is very clearly getting their way with this government," Ms Kearney said.
The review will also examine the Fair Work Act's "performance against its stated aims and objects, and the impact on jobs, income and the economy".
It will also hold public hearings and be open for submissions from stakeholders, before a final report is given to the government in April next year.


Niti Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar today said there is need for a policy to promote electric vehicles (EVs) in India and the think tank is well-placed to develop it. India cannot completely depend on market or ministries working in silos to deliver a transportation model for future that meets the country's ground reality, he added. Stating that India needs to move to zero-emission vehicles as soon as possible, the Niti Aayog vice chairman pointed out that India can be a leader in electric mobility.


I am amused by the current lovefest going on with Windows XP. It’s the greatest operating system ever, in the minds of some, especially compared to the allegedly bloated, slow Windows Vista. Ironically, some of the biggest defenders of XP were singing a very different tune a few short years ago.
I am amused by the current lovefest going on with Windows XP. It’s the greatest operating system ever, in the minds of some, especially compared to the allegedly bloated, slow Windows Vista. In fact, InfoWorld has gone so far as to kick off a “Save XP” petition drive.
However, the truth is that "Windows 6.0" [Vista] is really only the second mainstream iteration of the current Windows platform (Windows 2000 doesn't count since it was never a mainstream product). As such, there simply is no real precedent from which to draw such conclusions.
The introduction of Windows XP was a watershed moment for the PC industry, one that firmly cemented Microsoft's role as the pace-setter for the desktop.
Yes, XP was totally awesome when it was officially released on October 25, 2001. A quantum leap forward. A watershed moment for the PC.
Or not. Thankfully, Google is here to step in and help out some of us old fogies who’ve been in the industry for 20 years or so and can’t quite remember things as clearly as we used to.
Hopeless optimism must be a fundamental part of human nature, because we want to believe that new operating systems truly represent an improvement on their predecessors. It's easy to point to certain features in a new OS as examples of progress, but end-users often find that a new OS performs like molasses compared to the version they were using. As a result, CTOs wanting to capitalize on the benefits of a new OS may find that new hardware investments are necessary -- and expensive -- requirements.
Let’s compare and contrast those 2007 statements with their 2001 counterparts. Remember, this is the same publication, with the same author's name in the by-line.
Get the picture? Back in 2001, Kennedy and InfoWorld were bashing XP and recommending that their readers stay with Windows 2000. Today, they’re bashing Vista and hawking their “save XP” campaign. But judging by the progression that XP made in six years, all that the Windows Vista architecture needs is time and a hardware replacement cycle or two.
And we'll be able to read all about in InfoWorld's "Save Vista" campaign.


Radiohead cover artist Stanley Donwood has revealed some clues behind the artwork for ‘In Rainbows’.
’In Rainbows’ will be released on October 10 and will be available as a download and a discbox.
While the download version of the album does not have a set price, the discbox, which will contain the new album, a second enhanced CD with more songs, digital photographs, artwork and lyric booklets all encased in a hardback book and slipcase, will cost £40.
For the cover Donwood has been trying a photographic etching technique, placing prints into acid baths.
Donwood also promised that the discbox version of the album was worth its £40 price tag.
He told The London Evening Standard: “It depends how rich you are! If you are on the dole, of course it’s a hell of a lot of money. But it costs about that much to go to a Premier League football match, and this project has taken an incredible amount of work.


Fresh off the historic Paris climate change agreement, President Barack Obama used his final State of the Union address Tuesday night to urge Congress to finally act on global warming.
Of course, many of the politicians whom the president was addressing still do want to dispute the science. That includes Ted Cruz, the current Republican presidential front-runner in Iowa. While the Obama administration was busy hashing out the Paris agreement in December, Cruz literally was debating with the US military (the retired oceanographer of the Navy, anyway) on the realities of climate science.
* This post has been revised.


The 940 hectares of the Pukaha Mount Bruce reserve is the last remnant of Wairarapa's once-famous 70 Mile Bush which cloaked the countryside from Masterton north to Norsewood. But as one of its goals, Pukaha Mount Bruce wants to regenerate the forest and birdlife to something like the state it was in the 19 century.
The 2000 football field area of Pukaha Mt Bruce reserve is too large and rugged to be fenced off from surrounding farm land. Without intensive trapping programmes, the ever invading stoats, weasels, and rats would pose a constant threat to bird life, and possums, if unchecked, would ravage the bush.
The good news is that Doc staff, along with volunteers and regional and local councils, are winning the war against pests and captive breeding and subsequent re-introduction of species are transforming the reserve.
Spectrum’s Jack Perkins looks at the work of Pukaha Mt Bruce rangers. On the way, he meets a wolf-whistling Kokako and checks out a healthy young Kiwi.


Hillary Clinton has sought to clarify her comments that she and her husband, former president Bill Clinton, were “dead broke” and “struggling” to pay two mortgages after they left the White House.
Mrs. Clinton’s book tour — which might be a practice run for a 2016 Democrat presidential campaign — for Hard Choices has developed into an apology tour after at least one major gaffe.
The dead broke comment made during the Diane Sawyer ABC News interview appeared to reveal the multimillionaire former Secretary of State as an elitist who is completely out of touch with ordinary Americans. As The Inquisitr previously reported, the Clintons have been criticized for what some believe are the exorbitant fees they charge for speaking engagements and the million dollar book deals they both secured to tell their stories.
Even former aide and current Chicago mayor Rahm Emanuel challenged the dead broke claim in a public appearance with Hillary Clinton.
As the wife of an ex-president, Hillary Clinton lives in a bubble of 24-hour taxpayer-paid Secret Service protection and recently admitted that she hasn’t driven a car in nearly two decades.
Hillary Clinton enjoys the support of the feminist movement, but ironically, she owes virtually her entire career to the coattails of her husband, who was the attorney general and then governor of Arkansas before winning the presidency.
The Washington Post noted, “When Sawyer asked Clinton to detail a marquee accomplishment or signature doctrine as secretary, she gave no answer.” With regard to this form of struggling, pinpointing actual accomplishments at the State Department has been an area that Clinton herself and many of her supporters have previously struggled to identify.
In the Rahm Emanuel book-promotion joint appearance today, Hillary Clinton also wrongly claimed that Abraham Lincoln was elected Senator from Illinois while in reality he lost to Stephen A. Douglas in the historic campaign famous for the Lincoln-Douglas debates.
Do you think Hillary Clinton was anywhere near dead broke in the year 2001?


A couple have appeared before magistrates charged with murder following the death of a seven week old baby girl in Wakefield.
A man and a woman from West Yorkshire have appeared in court charged with the murder of their seven-week-old baby girl.
18 year old Jessica Hopkinson and 28 year old Lee Davison from Ashleigh Avenue in Pontefract appeared before Pontefract magistrates charged with the murder of Krystal Davison.
Krystal died from injuries at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield in the early hours of Friday.
Officers were called to the hospital on Thursday after the girl was brought in by ambulance from an address in Ashleigh Avenue with serious injuries.
The couple will next appear at Leeds Crown Court on April 18.


Shahid Afridi struck a superb maiden t20 century to fire Hampshire to comprehensive victory over Derbyshire and book his side a place in the T20 Blast semi-final.
The Pakistan legend’s ton came off just 42 balls as the Ageas Bowl outfit won by 101 runs at the 3aaa County Ground.
Afridi shared a second-wicket stand of 103 with captain James Vince (55) as Hampshire posted a first-innings total of 249 for eight.
Hampshire’s bowlers then performed impressively as they bowled Derbyshire out for 148 with one ball remaining.
Afridi revealed he asked Vince if he could move up his side’s batting order before the clash as he felt he would be useful in the powerplay.
He said: ‘I asked the captain to send me up in the order because number seven or eight is not my position.
‘I took a chance because in crucial games you have to do that.
‘In the first six overs, batsmen like me and some others who play aggressive cricket have to utilise those overs. I tried to start with attack – attack is your defence.
After Hampshire were put into bat, surprise opener Afridi started well and stamped his authority on the game.
Despite losing opening-partner Calvin Dickinson (18), the 37-year-old showed his class and reached 50 off just 20 balls.
After driving Imran Tahir for another huge six, Afridi was dropped on 65 at long on by Wayne Madsen.
It proved expensive as he dispatched Matthew Critchley and Tahir for two more sixes on his way to a 42-ball hundred before he top-edged another big pull and was caught at long leg.
But the damage had been done as Vince and George Bailey continued the plunder with the Hampshire skipper reaching his 50 with consecutive sixes off Ben Cotton before wickets tumbled in the closing overs.
Critchley took three wickets in the 19th over, but Hampshire had already posted a brilliant total.
Billy Godleman (four) pulled the first ball of the hosts’ reply for four but was then caught off Liam Dawson (three for 28) and Critchley (one) soon followed.
Luis Reece (16) was caught behind trying to run the ball to third man and when Madsen (four) turned Abbott to backward square, Derbyshire were sliding away at 35 for four.
The wickets continued to tumble although Cotton (30 not out) and Tahir (23) mustered some resistance for Derbyshire and shared a last-wicket stand on 46.
The latter was caught off Abbott (three for 25) in the second-last ball of the game.
Hampshire’s victory meant they earned a T20 Blast finals day spot for a seventh time in eight years. It takes place on September 2 at Edgbaston.


Many of the acts that the former Serb leader in Bosnia, Radovan Karadzic, is accused of committing happened over fifteen years ago. No reason, it seems, we can’t wait another day to start the genocide trial against him, eh?
The one-day delay for the trial’s opening — from Monday to Tuesday — was the result of Karadzic’s boycott of the trial’s opening. That said, the court said the prosecution would open its case on Tuesday, regardless of whether Karadzic showed up. Click here for the WSJ story; here for the Bloomberg story; here for the AP story.
Karadzic has been in detention in The Hague since he was discovered in Belgrade last year, in disguise and practicing alternative psychiatric medicine. He has refused to be represented in court by a lawyer.
He is charged with 11 counts of war crimes, including two of genocide. The charges . . .


Robert Rodriguez has revealed he loves making family films because he can put all his “crazy ideas” into them.
The filmmaker has been at the helm of action flicks like Planet Terror and Sin City, and child-friendly offerings like Spy Kids and says they are equally enjoyable “for different reasons”.
“With the action movies, you know you can’t quite have crocodiles running around on two legs, but this movie, anything you can come up with you can put in,” he continued.
Shorts, which stars three of the director’s sons, follows a young boy who discovers a rock that grants wishes.
It opens in the UK on August 21.


The 2018 Bay Area Go Red For Women Luncheon is anticipated to draw more than 500 attendees. Luncheon Chair, Loraine Lyons, and City Goes Red Sponsor, Bay Area Regional Medical Center, invite attendees to bid on fabulous silent auction items, learn about their heart health at the various information booths, enjoy the Survivors with Style fashion show, and see who will be crowned the 2018 Go Red for Women® Heart Throb. Go Red for Women is nationally sponsored by Macy's and CVS Health.


On a recent episode of our Rolling Stone Music Now podcast, Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney explained how he and Dan Auerbach made “Tighten Up,” which hit number 96 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the Best Songs of the 21st Century (So Far). It was their first collaboration with Danger Mouse, and changed the Black Keys’ career forever — but first, they had to decide to release it.
To hear the episode, press play below or download and subscribe on iTunes or Spotify.
“The intro was Dan’s melody,” says Auerbach, “but it was my idea to whistle it. We got the song to the point where it was like maybe two minutes and 20 seconds long – too short – and then the conversation moved into the idea that we’ve never had a song played on the radio. Brian goes, it’s pretty catchy. We couldn’t just put another chorus on it – it would be annoying. So Brian had the idea to do something where the tempo just drops and like it’s almost like an outro/bridge that takes the song somewhere else.
“While we were in a studio making it, I guess I was kind of aware of this might be the poppiest song the Black Keys have ever made. But it’s hardly a pop song, really. We sent it off to Tchad Blake, who was mixing that record for us, and when we got a mix back, Dan and I both were pretty uncomfortable with the song — just because Brothers had come about in this really kind of organic way. There was no Pro Tools. There was no editing. It was in Alabama, in like 100-degree weather. We were kind of concerned the energy of that song didn’t fit on the album. But Dan was a little bit more concerned than me.


If this had been car-on-car there would be little to report ... what do we have to do to get people to take care on the roads?
I drove by this accident on my way to work this AM. It looked pretty bad from what I saw, but I am glad to hear it wasn't life threatening.
Accidents happen, and sadly some people will accidently not see a cyclist. Sometimes it will be the drivers fault, sometimes it will be the cyclists fault. No matter how careful people are, accidents will always happen.
whatwhat wrote: I drove by this accident on my way to work this AM. It looked pretty bad from what I saw, but I am glad to hear it wasn't life threatening.
Using the word "accident" makes it sound like there's nothing we could do about it ... it was a "crash" and as you said someone wasn't paying attention ... we see crashes all the time in this town but do we try to drive better? do we slow down so that we can be more attentive?
What does it take to get someone to "see" a cyclist?
In an urban environment, its not difficult to oversee a cyclist, pedestrian or other small objects.
Not sure if you should stop trolling or stop driving Diz. LOL.
Steve-O wrote: Not sure if you should stop trolling or stop driving Diz. LOL.
Excuse me? If you have nothing constructive to bring to the discussion perhaps you should simply not post and move on. No need to question my driving skills, you don't need to worry about that. And don't ever accuse me of "trolling" whenI post a relevant comment to a discussion.
Urban driving presents many different hazards compared to other driving environments. One of those hazards are the visibility cyclists - they are small objects compared to other hazards in the urban environment. Cyclists and pedestrians can easily blend in with their backgrounds (parked cars, greenery, buildings, other objects) and require extra caution with an extra vigilante eye out for them. If you don't understand that, then its not my driving skills you should be questioning.
HEY! get back on topic! thank you!
Thee is something wrong with a cyclist having the right to proceed directly through the intersection on a green light and a vehicle having the right to make a right turn at the same intersection.
The problem is compounded by the fact that the cyclist has the right to approach the vehicle from the right rear at 50 KMH. There will continue to be "crashes" until drivers learn to recognize the possibility that a cyclist may be approaching and passing them from the right rear and cyclists learn NOT to pass a vehicle signalling a right turn at the green light intersection.
Defensive driving would eliminate all such crashes. I wonder how many cyclists and MV drivers know whether the cyclist or the vehicle have the right of way in such situations ??
Last edited by Donald G on Aug 11th, 2016, 6:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Donald G wrote: Thee is something wrong with a cyclist having the right to proceed directly through the intersection on a green light and a vehicle having the right to make a right turn at the same intersection. The problem is compounded by the fact that the cyclist has the right to approach the vehicle from the right rear at 50 KMH. There will continue to be "crashes" until drivers learn to recognize the possibility that a cyclist may be approaching and passing them from the right rear and cyclists learn NOT to pass a vehicle signalling a right turn at the green light intersection.
Defensive driving would eliminate all such crashes.
Mirrors, shoulder checks and pay attention and keep an extra eye out for cyclists/pedestrians as you are approaching an intersection.
I would love to see the RCMP giving more tickets to drivers and cyclists for things like running stop signs and lights, speeding, not wearing helmets etc in hopes that people may be more conscious if they know there is a negative consequence for doing so.
But honestly mistakes and accidents happen, as Dizzy pointed out in a city setting it can be difficult pay attention to every little thing. No matter how good of a driver you are, we are all still people and mistakes do happen. I almost hit my neighbour on his bike the other day as I was reversing out of my driveway. I was shoulder checking, using my mirrors and have a rearview camera and still almost hit him, even though I was being very aware, he just snuck in at the right angle.
Just like you said, we have all had close calls and try and be more conscious and learn from them. But close calls can become accidents very quickly.
What do you think the city, RCMP, people of Kelowna should do to make drivers (and cyclists) more aware?
I am not sure that an intensive awareness program would help if it has not yet been identified whether the bicycle or vehicle has the right of way at a green light where the bicycle is heading straight through the intersection and the vehicle is turning right and the bicycle lane is to the right of the vehicle right turn lane.
I do not think that we can rely on all drivers and cyclists to use "good judgement" without clearly identifying what the movement expectations are in such situations.
Jeez for a second I thought it was the one I saw yesterday, but thought they had reported it incorrectly. There was an old man knocked off his bike on Ethel and Laurier yesterday morning around the same time. You can see the spot from today's location. He looked pretty beat up and must have been about 80. Accidents happen but this is just downright careless driving.
IMO where the bicycle is going straight through the intersection and a vehicle approaching the intersection from the opposite direction is making a left turn the bicycle has the right of way. The same as if the bicycle was a motor vehicle.
Where I think that there is a lot of confusion is when the bicycle and vehicle approach the intersection from the same direction and the bicycle wishes to proceed straight through the intersection while the vehicle intends on making a right turn. Who has the right of way given that the bicycle is in the bicycle lane on the right hand side of the vehicle which is in the right hand turning lane ??
To go straight through an intersection, ride in the lane that is closest to the right side of the road. Enter the intersection either ahead of or behind the vehicle in your lane. Do not approach or enter an intersection beside another vehicle. This way, cars in your lane cannot turn right across your path.


SCOTUS end of term: Closing off one avenue of civil rights relief after another.
Closing off one avenue of civil rights relief after another.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor has voted on the free speech side of every major Roberts Court decision outside campaign finance since joining the court.
Thank you so much for including me in this year’s discussion. Dahlia, you asked about the First Amendment cases. I think it was Dante who said a great flame follows a little spark. Whoever said it, it’s true: Seemingly small cases sometimes open big windows.
That’s why I’d like to begin my stint at the Breakfast Table not with one of this week’s much-anticipated blockbusters but with a little case decided a few days ago called Lane v. Franks. In Lane, a unanimous court nipped in the bud some of the scariest implications of the 2006 Garcetti v. Ceballos decision, at least slowing down the court’s dismantling of the free speech rights of public employees.
Nobody was surprised that this court—despite decisions clipping the First Amendment wings of various vulnerable groups (including students, prisoners, and human rights activists)—protected Edward Lane. His employer, a community college in Alabama, had fired him for testifying truthfully in response to a subpoena in a federal criminal trial dealing with mail fraud and theft by one of Lane’s erstwhile subordinates.
It was mildly interesting that, in her first written opinion about free speech rights, Justice Sotomayor sang the praises of public employee speech much as the Garcetti dissenters had done. Justice Sotomayor has voted on the free speech side of every major Roberts Court decision outside campaign finance since joining the court. She did so once, in Sorrell v. IMS, even when it meant joining the conservative wing over the dissenting votes of Ginsburg, Breyer, and Kagan—all of whom would have upheld the Vermont drug price regulation struck down on First Amendment grounds in that case and all of whom worried that the six-justice majority was resurrecting old-style review of any economic regulation that controlled the flow of information.
Sotomayor’s pro-speech position in Lane did leave her plenty of room to reject free speech claims when pitted against weighty enough countervailing rights and interests in the abortion buffer zone and public employees’ union cases slated to come down soon after Lane. For those reasons and more, Lane looked to most observers like small potatoes, too small to be worth talking about over breakfast. But, as I said at the start, I think the small cases sometimes give us a revealing peek at big vistas.
The “big vista” I think Lane exposed involved Justice Sotomayor’s willingness to continue and maybe even accelerate the Roberts Court’s march toward making one right after another harder to enforce—whether through class actions, or through litigation rather than arbitration, or even through the mechanism expressly provided by Congress in Section 1983, which allows people to sue the government for civil rights violations.
That’s a head-scratcher if I ever saw one.
Even if we forget about the First Amendment, who could forget the Supremacy Clause, which requires state judges to follow federal law, and the long line of decisions protecting federal institutions from state attack? These decisions date all the way back to the rulings in McCulloch v. Maryland in 1819 that Maryland couldn’t tax the Bank of the United States and in In re Neagle in 1890 that California couldn’t arrest a federal marshal for doing his job of protecting a Supreme Court justice’s life. Here, it wasn’t just one federal judge that Alabama was messing with when Franks, a state official, fired his employee for testifying truthfully in a federal criminal trial. It was the core function of the federal judiciary itself in “say[ing] what the law is,” to quote Marbury, and of the federal executive in enforcing that law through criminal prosecution.
I liked and agreed with Marty Lederman’s post on Lane, in which he elaborated this oddly overlooked facet of the case and identified some federal laws going back to the 1870s prohibiting adverse job actions designed to influence testimony in a federal trial, but I’m not as ready as Marty was to excuse the court’s failure to bring this structural point up on its own. The excuse Marty offered was that this basic ban on actions interposing state authority to obstruct the full enforcement of federal laws hadn’t been presented in the pleadings. As if this court has never been known to broaden the lens of its inquiry when doing so would nudge the law in a direction the majority deemed important!
Something this basic—something making it obvious that Franks had acted illegally when he fired Lane—would’ve been easy to bring within the court’s gaze if the justices shared my worry about closing off one avenue of civil rights relief after another, a worry I discuss in the last chapter of a recently published book, Uncertain Justice: The Roberts Court and the Constitution.


It’s not just domestically that the new Prime Minister has shaken things up in his first year.
When Abiy Ahmed became Ethiopia’s prime minister a year ago on 2 April, he inherited a deeply divided and fractured country. The economy was in free fall, a state of emergency had been declared, and an agitated mass was calling for revolutionary change. Since then, his administration has been praised for pulling the country back from the brink. The government has enacted a series of progressive and transformational reforms, which have made headlines internally and been widely scrutinised.
Much less, however, has been said about Abiy’s foreign policy.
These kinds of promises are not uncommon in inaugural speeches and few expected Abiy to follow through. That is until he made the unexpected move to end twenty years of intractable military stalemate with neighbouring Eritrea and began a flurry of visits to countries in the region and the Middle East. Within just three months of assuming office, Abiy had capably and courageously resolved the long-running conflict with Eritrea and begun to consolidate multiple strategic partnerships within and beyond the region.


Those who want to inspire their daugthers to careers in mathematics, or at least encourage them not to be intimidated, need look no farther than a new site on the World Wide Web, Biographies of Women Mathematicians.
The site (http://www.scottlan.edu/lriddle/women/women.htm) features the biographies of more than 100 women mathematicians ranging from Florence Nightingale, who used statistical analysis techniques to prevent deaths during the Crimean War, to Rear Adm. Grace Murray Hopper, who invented Cobal, a computer-programming language.
Other new sites on the World Wide Web of interest to women include the following.
- The Juvenile Products Manufacturers (http://www.jpma.org), which offers information to consumers on baby safety, safe use and selection of juvenile products and safety information on car seats, cribs and more.
- The Women's Health America Group (http://www.womenshealth.com), which has a wide range of information on women's health issues and links to other resources.
- Five web sites devoted especially to breast cancer: the Y-Me National Breast Cancer Organization (http://www.y-me.org), the Breast Cancer Network: Information (http://www.cancer.org/bcninfo.html), How To Be a Breast Cancer Detective (http://www.ppca.org/brcanc.html) and Bonnie Bedford's Breast Cancer Web Page (http://www.netrail.net/dginn/breastx.html).


A Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighter walks past destroyed vehicles in the final ISIS encampment on March 24, 2019 in Baghouz, Syria. Getty Images.
Tens of thousands of people live in the camps, which swelled enormously during the months-long battle that culminated in the defeat of the last vestige of ISIS's "caliphate" by a Kurdish-led alliance.
"A delegation from the Iraqi cabinet visited the autonomous administration to discuss the return to Iraq of displaced Iraqis, estimated to number 31,000, and an agreement was reached," Kurdish official Mahmud Kero said.
Mr Kero said many of the displaced did not have Iraqi identity papers, including children born on Syrian soil.
Those expected to return do not include suspected ISIS fighters being held in Kurdish-run jails, after surrendering or being caught fleeing the insurgents' last stand.
"We have asked for the return of all Iraqis including those accused of belonging to ISIS," Mr Kero said.
The Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces announced the defeat of the ISIS "caliphate" last month after tens of thousands of people streamed out of the last patch of ISIS territory in the eastern village of Baghouz near the Iraqi border.
But the extremists maintain a presence in Syria's vast Badia desert as well as sleeper cells in populated areas, and have continued to claim deadly attacks in areas controlled by the SDF.
ISIS swept across a swathe of Syria and Iraq larger than Britain in 2014, declaring a "caliphate" in territory they held, but have since lost all of it to multiple offensives.


HIGH scoring matches were the order of the day at wind-swept Deansgate Lane last Saturday morning.
In the Year Three section Wanderers and Albion shared a ten goal thriller. Will McDermott and Oliver Hall scored two goals each and Conor Dewhurst was also on target for Wanderers. However a Dylan Wordley hat-trick and a goal apiece for Daniel Haines and Jackson Darkes-Sutcliffe in reply for Albion saw honours even at 5-5.
United (Charlie Fazakerley 3, Callum Morrisey 2, James Honour and Elliot Taylor) narrowly won 7-5 in their match with Rangers (Peter Wood 3 and Owen Highton 2).
Twenty-two goals were scored in the three Year Four division games. Red Arrows (Joe O’Brien and Jack Blundell 3 each, Eren Dundar and Anthony Griffin) defeated Altcar United (Adam Wood and Louis Fazakerley 2 goals each, Liam Henney, plus one own goal) by an 8-6 scoreline.
Formby Grasshoppers (Tom Holman 2, Owen Eastwood and Conor McKinnon) won 4-2 against Formby Hotspurs (Jake Heaton and Oliver Hannon). Cameron Formby scored twice for Natterjack Villa in the 2-0 victory over Red Squirrel Rangers.
Three closely contested matches were played in the Year Five division’s first league games of the season. Park Orient (Blue) – Luke Rigby 2, Marc Horn, George O’Doherty and Michael Lowson gained a 5-4 win over Formby Argyle (Black and white stripes) Joe Gallen 3 and Ed Maker.
Formby Argyle (Black and gold stripes) Cameron Cheston 1, drew 1-1 with Formby Sparta (Yellow) Patrick Pardoe scoring. Formby Harlequins (Maroon) Lewis Swift and Sam Pointer 2 each and Conor Finegan won 5-3 against Pinetree Villa (Green) Ben Gallagher 3.
In the Year Six division, Park Rovers (Morgan Palmeria 3, Matthew Fracketon, Thomas Graham and Harry Chadwick) gained a 6-3 win over Real Formby (Michael Ball hat-trick). Sandune Rangers (Thomas Howarth and Connor Jones 2 each and Hayden Conning 1) narrowly won 5-4 against Olympic Villa (Calum Rowlinson, Ben Aitchison, Kasey Kelly and Matthew Monaghan 1 goal each).
Jacob Lucas and Harry Williams both scored two goals each for Formby United in the 4-0 victory over Freshfield Wanders.
Sharks and Dolphines both gained victories in the Girls Division. Emily Byrne and Carolyne Smith scored first half goals as the Sharks defeated the Tigers (Lucy Edmondson) by a 2-1 scoreline.
Dolphins (Laura Smith 4,Hannah Dalley 2 and Sally Laughton) won 7-3 against the Owls (Laura Burns, Liz McKeating and Rose Meehan).
In the Years Seven and Eight section, Cross Green United had seven scorers in their 8-4 win over Formby Tornado. United’s marksmen were Aidan McGurty, Dan Skinner, Dan Parisi, Sam Hough, Daniel Gardiner, Josh Fell, Emil Pelka, plus one own goal. Dylan Barlow responded with a hat-trick and Adam Fraser also scored one for Tornado.
Formby North End (Daniel Brennan 3) won 3-1 against Pinewood Athletic (Lewis Cafferkey).
Park United (Chris Jecks and Andy Taylor 2 each and Eddie Hatton 1) defeated Royal Albion (Rob Wood, Burkay Guleryet and Patrick Gillen) by a 5-3 margin in the Years Nine, Ten and Eleven division.
The Year Two game saw the Purples (Ben Rich and Callum McLeod) win 2-0 against the Reds.
FJSC Under 8s White won 9-0 against Southport FC Juniors. Owen Highton scored his fifth hat-trick of the season.
Dylan Wordley scored a last minute winner as FJSC Under 8s Black won 4-3 against Redgate Green.
FJSC Under 9s Black won 5-0 against Birkdale Hawks with Angus McIver scoring a first half hat-trick.
FJSC Under 9s White were on top form and defeated Town Green Jags 2-1 with goals from Luke Kirwin and Joe O’Brien.
Lucas Gabriel with two goals and a Joe Maybury strike saw FJSC under 10s win 3-0 and maintain their unbeaten start to the season.
Also top of their division are FJSC Under 11s. The Under 11s made it seven straight wins with an 11-1 victory over Jags Red.
FJSC Under 12s drew 1-1 with Formby FC Juniors.
FJSC Under 13s A won their first round Liverpool County FA Cup match, Daniel Winckle with a hat-trick in the 5-1 victory over Hesketh Colts.
FJSC Under 13s B lost to a very strong Ormskirk West End.
FJSC Under 16s lost 3-0 to high fliers Billinge.


Team Europe fans cheer as they stand alongside the first fairway to watch the 40th Ryder Cup at Gleneagles in Scotland September 26, 2014.
After a miserable Thursday, European markets have come bounding back on Friday.
Volkswagen is still dominating headlines, with the world waiting for an announcement of the company's new CEO.
As of 4:30 London time, we don't have that news — but it seems extremely likely that Porsche CEO Matthias Muller is going to get the job.
BMW shares bounced back, surging up by 5% just after the open and staying just below that level for most of the day.
ARM Holdings had an excellent day, ending up over 6% as the FTSE's best-performing company. Commodities-heavy firms had the worst day again, with Glencore falling by more than 1.5%, followed by other commodities-heavy firms like Antofagasta, Fresnillo and Anglo American.


From its initial use, heroin alters chemical processes in the nervous system and makes the agony of withdrawal an overwhelming deterrent to quitting.
Could you forget how to ride a bicycle?
That feeling of forward motion, untethered to a parent steadying the seat, stays with most people into adulthood. Hence the expression: You never forget how.
But imagine for a minute that you did have to forget. Could you unlearn something like that?
That’s what addiction is like, except instead of trying to unlearn something that is fun and mostly free of consequence, you’re trying to unlearn something that has the power to take over your life.
Dr. Ruben Baler, a neuroscientist with the National Institute on Drug Abuse, said there are many metaphors to explain addiction, but he’s partial to the bike-riding analogy.
The science of addiction is complicated. It’s easier for people to see it as black-and-white. A person makes bad choices and has to live with them. Or, a person started using these drugs, so they can stop; it just takes willpower. This line of thinking is persistent, and even understandable, but researchers say it impedes progress in slowing down the drug crisis.
“Every drug of abuse from the moment of the first use, changes the wiring and connectivity of the brain,” explained Vivek Kumar, a researcher at The Jackson Laboratory in Bar Harbor who studies the genetics of addiction. Opioids are particularly problematic, though, because of the speed at which they can take over the brain.
Inside the brain are numerous receptors, tiny sites where chemicals, natural or otherwise, bind during neurotransmission.
When the brain feels pleasure, it’s because the body releases chemicals such as dopamine, which attach to receptors. Opioids stimulate a large release of dopamine for the purpose of alleviating pain.
Ask someone to describe the first time they used heroin and the responses are almost romantic. It’s an overwhelming sensation of warmth and safety. It’s like being wrapped in a gentle euphoric hug.
But opioids also bind to other receptors not related to the reward system. Over time – and it doesn’t take long – the brain adapts to these changes in neurotransmitters so that they function normally only when opioids are present.
Even activities that increase dopamine production naturally – things like exercising, eating certain foods, even listening to music – are shunted aside.
Users call it “dope sick,” and their description of it is grim: the worst flu imaginable, amplified by a power of 10. Those suffering from opioid addiction never get back the same feeling of that first high but they are always chasing it.
Here’s another metaphor: If you’re starving, because you haven’t eaten in three days, and your mind is starting to hallucinate, what would you do to find food? Might you do something risky or potentially harmful to satiate that hunger?
Many people suffering from addiction say that they became a different person while using. Loved ones say the same thing. I didn’t recognize my son or daughter anymore, they say.
Heidi-Sue Stuart lost her son to heroin in November 2015, but the young man she knew was lost to her long before that. Things changed drastically after a car accident in 2009 left Corey Coburn with severe facial injuries. He had six different plastic surgeries. A metal plate was inserted around his eye. His jaw was wired shut for eight weeks.
Stuart said she slept in the same room with her son for a while because the pain scared him so much.
His doctors prescribed several painkillers: morphine, Percocet, then OxyContin. Six months in, doctors tried to wean him down from high doses with Suboxone.
But Suboxone wasn’t enough. Coburn’s brain had been rewired.
VITAL SIGNS: Fatal drug overdoses in Maine climbed by 80 percent in the last three years — from 208 to 376.
Baler, the NIDA neuroscientist, said the effects of opioids on the brain are relatively easy to explain, but what complicates addiction is what drives a person to misuse in the first place or why some people are more prone to addiction than others.
No single factor can predict whether a person will become addicted, but genetics and the environment play a role. Poverty, abuse in the home, unstable parents – those are all risk factors.
Vivek Kumar, a researcher at The Jackson Laboratory, said it’s hard for him to watch so many people lose their lives to addiction, knowing that science explains how to treat it.
He said medication-assisted treatment like Suboxone or methadone helps to stabilize the brain to make it possible for long-term behavioral recovery.
The key is long-term. It’s so much easier for the brain to learn than to unlearn. Think back to riding a bicycle. Where would you even start to unlearn that skill?
That’s why it’s so important to think about addiction as a brain disease when thinking about treatment and recovery, Feinstein said.
“Abstinence-only is often not successful because the brain hasn’t recovered,” she said. “We still sort of have this approach of you go to a provider and they have one kind of treatment, sort of like how we treated cancer a while ago.
Relapse, which happens for as many as 60 percent of opioid addicts – sometimes more than once – often is a clear sign that more or different treatment is needed. But many treatment programs still view relapse as failure.
Even within the treatment community, there is a lot of bias and stigma – the same attitudes carried by those who suffer from addiction.
Abstinence-only advocates may take the position (even unintentionally) that a patient can’t be fully “clean” while on a methadone or Suboxone maintenance program, thereby closing off a scientifically proven form of addiction treatment.
Supporters of medication-assisted treatment, on the other hand, may rely too much on the medicine and not the behavioral therapy that is paired with it, leaving patients with a long-term reliance on the medication because they haven’t gotten to the root of why they used in the first place or because they haven’t learned the skills to suppress urgings or cravings.
The evidence, according to scientists, is medication-assisted treatment coupled with behavioral therapy.
But it’s not a magic bullet. It is work and it can be costly.
Kumar said it’s hard for him to watch so many people lose their lives to addiction, especially knowing that just as science explains addiction, it also explains how to treat it.
“I’m safe in my lab writing grants and doing work. I’m dealing with mice,” he said. “But I do think that, after all these years of waging a war on drugs, we have a real opportunity to get this under control.
This story was updated at 4:09 p.m. April 13, 2017 after the Maine Attorney General’s Office revised its preliminary estimate of the number of drug overdose deaths in 2016.


This week, many young entrepreneurs are sweating the news their tax preparers are delivering. Many will owe thousands of dollars in unexpected income taxes.
Many sole proprietors and partners live off of cash they draw out of their business without realizing that its taxable. Without decent accounting records they are unaware of their true financial condition, and their outstanding obligations. This can result in significant tax penalties and the risk of failure.
If you arent good at accounting, dont be penny wise and pound foolish. Invest in someone who can help. Tax surprises can be avoided.


A special jail wing dedicated to mothers-in-law, arrested for demanding excessive dowry in India's capital New Delhi, faces overcrowding due to the pressure of new entrants.
"The swift inflow of mothers-in-law into the ward meant exclusively for them, has stretched capacity to the maximum," a Tihar jail official said. She said the section, the only one of its kind in the country, currently housed 114 women.
Most of the mothers-in-law, aged 50 to 60, who constitute around a third of the total number of Tihar's women prisoners, say they have been "framed". They claim to have been the innocent victims of their wily daughters-in-law who successfully duped their "guileless" sons into conspiring against their mothers.
"The increasing number of inmates in the mothers-in-law ward at Tihar jail is indicative of how serious dowry demands have become in consumer hungry middle class Indian families," said barrister Miss Sushmita Dev, who specializes in women issues. Many parents, she declared, believed that "squeezing" dowry out of the hapless bride was the quickest way of satisfying their consumer needs.
According to officials over 12,612 dowry deaths were recorded across India in 1998 and 1999, and the highest rates occurred in the eastern states of Uttar Pradesh (2,229 ) and Bihar (1,039 ), India's most socially and educationally disadvantaged. But anti-dowry activists and NGOs say the figure is much higher and estimate that a woman is burned to death over dowry-related incidents every 10 minutes.
Once the bride refuses to satisfy incessant demands by her in-laws for money and goods she is either starved, beaten frequently, or even "jailed" inside her bridal house. Campaigners say that if the unfortunate bride's family declines to pay, many parents in connivance with their sons, force her into an inflammable nylon sari, douse her with paraffin and set her alight, claiming that she caught fire whilst cooking.
It was after such deaths became an almost daily occurrence in the early 1980s that anti-dowry activists forced the government to change existing laws. Today, any such death by burning within seven years of marriage is deemed unnatural and a case of murder can be registered against the husband and his parents and immediate family.
"But hundreds of cases go unreported," activist lawyer Malavika Rajkotia said. And it often takes decades for the simplest of cases in India's overloaded courts to be decided.
Social commentators say Indian men have an "umbilical attachment" to their mothers not seen in any other race. "From birth the boy child is conditioned to expect that his every wish will be fulfilled and the very status of parents depends on how many sons they have," said newspaper columnist Lalita Pannicker. So the bridegroom and his parents simply cannot understand why his bride should not meet all his needs.
The girl child, neglected from birth expects little from life, Ms Panicker said. She is conditioned to accept humiliation heaped upon her, she added.
But software engineering student Nisha Sharma's decision to call off her wedding over a last-minute dowry demand earlier this month has catapulted her to fame and prompted an outcry against the outlawed practice.
The 21-year-old woman alerted police when her schoolteacher groom made a dowry demand of 1.2 million rupees (€21,000) hours before the ceremony. The groom was arrested, bringing howls of outrage from his family but widespread praise for Sharma from other brides, two of whom followed suit and had their own grooms arrested.


Archives from May 15, 2018 - HELLO!
Is David Beckham following in the footsteps of his friend Gordon Ramsay?
As rumors of an engagement gain momentum, take a look back at how Harry met Meghan, and how their relationship has grown over the past year.