Datasets:

kenhktsui

/

falcon_subset_quality_score_v1

like 0

A leading figure in the nation’s cattle trade claimed there would be serious emotional and health consequences for many Australians from the federal government’s suspension of cattle exports to Indonesia for up to six months. Prime Minister Julia Gillard also refused to commit the government to compensating farmers and businesses impacted by the trade ban. “I have grave fears for the social wellbeing for these people," Mr Farley said. “AAco is a big corporation. We have a big, strong balance sheet. There are families out there that can only operate their enterprise for about six months of the year because of the seasonality of [the operation]. Now the cash flow is gone. They are doomed," he said. Ms Gillard pointedly declined to be drawn on whether the government was considering compensation for farmers in a radio interview and in a press conference in Darwin yesterday. Mr Farley said the industry body Meat & Livestock Australia needed to find a compensation solution. He said the industry could have solved the issue without imposing a ban on exports. “The government was smart enough to address the banking system in the financial system in the global financial crisis," Mr Farley said. “This is a crisis in the live exporting business in northern Australia . . . they made the decision to ban it and there are consequences to it and the consequences need to be addressed." Ms Gillard said assurances provided by the industry to ensure cattle were treated humanely by Indonesian abattoirs had failed. “The industry has known these issues needed to be dealt with . . . and [though] the industry has responded since the Four Corners report what they have provided so far doesn’t give us the kind of assurance we want that Australian cattle will be treated in a way that all Australians find acceptable,’’ Ms Gillard told the ABC. She accused the industry of being too slow to clean up its act despite knowing of the problems with the Indonesian live cattle trade. The allegation was denied by Meat & Livestock Australia chairman Don Heatly, who said the industry would have acted earlier if it knew about the “grotesque brutality". Ms Gillard said Indonesia didn’t have grounds to challenge the decision in the World Trade Organisation. “Let’s be very clear here: what we have done does not breach WTO rules,’’ she said. Mr Farley, who was disturbed by the television images of cattle being mistreated, said the industry had not invested enough time and energy in live export markets. The Australian Financial Review

Perhaps it should have waited longer. Two years ago, the beauty products maker Coty weighed going public but pulled back when markets turned rocky. The company has now taken the plunge, and its shares had a lacklustre debut on Thursday – when world stock markets were again nervous. Shares of Coty opened flat at their offering price, $US17.50. They ended the day down 1.14 per cent, at $US17.30, in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It is one of the biggest initial public offerings in the United States this year. Shareholders, including the wealthy Reimann family of Germany and the investment firms Berkshire Partners and Rhone Capital, sold 57.14 million Class A shares of Coty on Wednesday, raising a bit less than $US1 billion. The sale valued the company at about $US6.7 billion. The Reimanns will continue to control the company through voting shares. The family, through its investment vehicle, Joh. Benckiser, bought Coty for $US440 million from Pfizer in 1992. Coty’s brands now include Calvin Klein, Chloé, Davidoff, Marc Jacobs and philosophy. The company says it is No. 2 in fragrances worldwide and the sixth-biggest in the world in colour cosmetics. It sells its products – endorsed by Beyoncé and Katy Perry – in more than 130 countries. Coty’s selling shareholders sought to take advantage of a burgeoning market for stock offerings amid a healthy rise in equity market valuations this year. The company’s owners are also betting on a revival of consumer confidence, with customers increasing their purchases of higher-ticket perfumes and nail polishes. According to a Euromonitor survey cited in Coty’s prospectus, the company’s main sectors are expected to grow 3 per cent to 4 per cent a year through 2016. Coty reported $US258.1 million in net income for the nine months ended March 31, up more than fourfold compared with results in the period a year earlier, though its revenue was roughly flat at $US3.59 billion. Founded by a French perfumer 108 years ago, Coty has become a significant player in the global cosmetics market. It already has a strong hold in the perfume market, especially in the realm of licensed fragrances from the likes of Calvin Klein, Marc Jacobs and Chloé. And through a string of deals for companies like OPI and TJoy of China, it has broadened both its product offerings and its reach. Coty now sells its wares in more than 130 countries, with an increasing emphasis in emerging markets like Brazil and China. That international push was one of the main drivers behind the company’s $US10.7 billion bid for Avon last year. Despite being about half the size of its target, Coty argued that it could bring a strong management team to its embattled rival. Yet despite securing the backing of Berkshire Hathaway, Coty was unable to convince Avon of the merits of a merger and withdrew its takeover bid last spring. Soon afterward, it filed for an initial public offering. Coty had contemplated going public two years ago but held off because of volatile market conditions. Its offering was led by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, JPMorgan Chase and Morgan Stanley. The New York Times

The West Australian budget is headed for a forecast $1.79 billion surplus in three years, fuelled by a sharp rebound in royalties from iron ore and other minerals, but debt is still predicted to rise more than $5 billion due to capital works spending. In a pre-election financial update released before the March 9 poll, an anticipated budget deficit in 2013-14 was wiped away by the return of huge mineral wealth. State Treasury officials forecast that mining royalties would add more than $1.86 billion to state budgets during the next three fiscal years, compared with estimates published in the mid-year review in December. WA Treasurer “These figures, when contrasted with those in the mid-year review, clearly show that there’s a lot of volatility underpinning the state’s finances," Mr Buswell said after the release of the figures on Thursday. Nonetheless, the substantial change to WA’s books means opposing political parties will be under less pressure to promote austerity measures than they were with a looming deficit. The forecast gains in royalty revenue are expected to be offset by a $745 million reduction in goods and services tax revenue. A mechanism to distribute GST funds to states and territories works against resource states enjoying strong royalty inflows. All up, changes to the royalty flows, new exchange rate predictions and GST carve-up forecasts mean the winner of the March state election is expected to have $1.3 billion more, over three years, than was predicted in December. “While these projections suggest a better outlook for the general government sector relative to the mid-year review . . . they highlight that the state’s finances are very sensitive to changes in global conditions that are beyond the control of state governments," the pre-election papers say. Mr Buswell said if re-elected the government would continue to work towards large surpluses to protect the bottom line against royalty fluctuations. “I think West Australians understand we are an export economy and royalties are a big part of our revenue stream and that movements in royalties will impact on government aggregates. “Part of the strategy has to be to maintain large budget surpluses. Large budget surpluses give you a buffer and … the capacity to pay down debt." State surpluses are expected to increase from a modest $240 million this financial year to $1.78 billion by 2015-16. Backed by mining royalties, Liberal Premier Debt is still forecast to hit $23.7 billion by 2016 from the current $18.3 billion this financial year, rather than the previously forecast $24.8 billion. The debt levels are largely the result of a big capital works program and had loomed as a key election issue. Mr Buswell justified the high level as debt as necessary. “In terms of debt, the government made a conscious decision to invest in infrastructure, particularly in hospitals… knowing we would have to borrow money," he said. Ratings agencies placed the state’s AAA credit rating on “negative outlook". AMP Capital chief economist Shane Oliver said on Thursday that the rating agency warnings showed that WA governments had not necessarily handled their mineral wealth well. “I think it was an indictment on the governments over the last few years in WA," Mr Oliver said. A “negative outlook" warning from Standard & Poor’s means the agency believes there is a one-in-three chance the rating could be lowered in the next two years. John Nicolaou, chief economist at the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA, said resources states still faced structural problems in their budgets. “Revenues in some areas have been flat or declining and in other areas have been very volatile," Mr Nicolaou said. The Australian Financial Review

MONTGOMERY, Alabama – John Reutter, director of planning and resource development, has been named acting president today at Drake State Community & Technical College. Reutter's appointment came from Mark Heinrich, chancellor of the Alabama Community College System. Reutter replaces Helen McAlpine, who today was named by Heinrich to be the interim president of Gadsden State Community College. Reutter, who has worked at Drake State since 2006, has a bachelor's degree from California State Polytechnic University, a master's degree from Rutgers University, a master's degree from the University of North Alabama and a doctorate from the University of Alabama, according to the Drake State website. Reutter has worked closely with McAlpine in shepherding the school to community college status in 2013. The school had an enrollment of 1,056 in the fall of 2013. The school also has plans to update its campus with new facilities. Reutter was not immediately available for comment today.

How did three Danes end up being tortured in Lebanon? The army officer and alleged collusion in Yemen 12 Feb 2014 14:56 GMT | Politics, Environment, Humanitarian crises, Africa, Congo More than 400,000 people have been displaced in the southern Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo. They fled their homes to escape increasing violence by armed militias collectively known as Mayi Mayi Kata-Katanga. Al Jazeera's Haru Mutasa reports from the Democratic Republic of Congo. Source: Al Jazeera While hopes for peace blossomed after M23 rebel surrender, much work remains after 20 years of war. Politics, Congo, Rwanda, Switzerland, Uganda Millions have died and over 400,000 have been displaced by the ongoing battle for control of the country's resources.

Tag Roy Kim presents Psy with a gift backstage at the '2012 MAMA' 'Superstar K4' winner Roy Kim recently met up with Psy backstage at the '2012 MAMA'. Fans were eager to see the two stars finally meet face to face, not as a judge and contestant, but as one singer to another. This was Roy Kim's first encounter with Psy since last August after Psy was unable to continue judging 'Superstar K4' due to his overseas activities. Prior to Roy Kim's performance at the awards ceremony, the singer visited Psy's '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' scores high in ratings The 2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards (MAMA), broadcast simultaneously on seven channels, was a hit for the night with ratings of 3.5%. Since the show was aired on cable networks, a 3.5% rating is considered to be very respectable. The ratings also increased throughout the night, with the numbers rising from 3.168% in Part 1 of the awards program to 5.152% as the show approached its climax. The number of viewers peaked as Big Bang won the Ar Actress Han Ga In can't take her eyes off of G-Dragon? Actress Han Ga In seems to have fallen head over heels for charismatic singer, Big Bang's G-Dragon. Recently, the photo above was shared on an online community board under the title, 'Han Ga In staring at G-Dragon'. The picture seems to have been taken by a fan during the '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' ('MAMA'), which took place in Hong Kong on November 30th. The photo shows the actress, who was presiding over the award, observing G-Dra K. Will snaps a proof shot with B.o.B backstage at the '2012 MAMA' Male soloist K. Will, who recently took home the title of 'Best Solo Vocal Performance' at the 2012 MAMA ceremony, shared a photo taken with B.o.B. backstage! On December 1st, the singer wrote on his Twitter, "Taken right after an amazing collaboration stage with Bobby Ray (B.o.B.) I followed him on Twitter". Dressed handsomely in matching black and gold attire, the two give the signature victory pose for the camera after their praise-w Winners from the '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' On November 30th, Mnet hosted its '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' ('MAMA') in Hong Kong, attracting stars and performers from both Korea and around the world. Check out 2012′s winners and nominees! (Winners will be bolded in the list) ===== Daesang Award (Grand Prize) ▲ Artist of the Year Big Bang 2NE1 AOA B.A.P EXO-K G-Dragon G.NA K.Will Ga In TVXQ J.Y. Park Busker Busker Baek Ji Young BoA B2ST Se7en Girls' Gene Performances from the '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' On November 29th, Mnet hosted its '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards' ('MAMA') in Hong Kong, attracting stars and performers from both Korea and around the world. Check out their performances below! ====== < Song Joong Ki & G-Dragon > = < Ailee & B.A.P's Bang Yong Guk > = < Ga In, SISTAR, Trouble Maker > = < Lee Hi & Epik High > = < Roy Kim > = < Big Bang to perform on stage as five for '2012 MAMA' Big Bang will be performing together as five for the '2012 Mnet Asian Music Awards'! Mnet uploaded a short video of the members of Big Bang revealing the news and some teasers for their '2012 MAMA' stage. G-Dragon increased anticipation by stating, "'MAMA' to Big Bang is like the final exam because it is our biggest project, performance wise, for the end of the year." This will be the first time Big Bang will be performing on TV with al Ailee confirmed as the opening act for the '2012 MAMA' Ailee has been given the honor of opening the '2012 MAMA' ceremony on November 30th. According

Who else has declined a knighthood? Among others: David Bowie, musicianMeanwhile, also at the link: Winston Churchill declined a Dukedom, Neville Chamberlain declined an earldom, John Cleese declined a barony, and John Lennon returned his MBE "in protest against Britain's involvement in the Nigeria-Biafra thing, against our support of America in Vietnam, and against Cold Turkey slipping down the charts." Francis Crick, physicist and Nobel Prize winner Michael Faraday, scientist Albert Finney, actor E. M. Forster, author and essayist Michael Frayn, novelist and dramatist John Galsworthy, playwright and novelist Graham Greene, novelist Stephen Hawking, scientist David Hockney, CH, RA, artist Aldous Huxley, author Rudyard Kipling, author Henry Moore, sculptor J.B. Priestley, novelist and playwright George Bernard Shaw, playwright and critic Paul Scofield, actor Ralph Vaughan Williams composer H.G. Wells, writer The United States is constitutionally forbidden to grant titles of nobility. How different would we be now if we'd been doing that sort of thing all these.Said Thomas Paine. 36 comments: That's pretty neat. I like Albert Finney even more now, and can't get used to all this Sir Paul crap. What the fuck good is a knighthood now that you're not even allowed to ravage peasant villages anymore? This sacrifice of common sense is the certain badge which distinguishes slavery from freedom; for when men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon. Too bad that sentiment didn't stay viral. ...for when men yield up the privilege of thinking, the last shadow of liberty quits the horizon. Our country manged to yield up the privilege of thinking without titles. I'm not against recognizing a person's achievements with a purely symbolic prize or title, but I often tend to disagree with the types of achievements (or lack thereof)that are deemed worthy of recognition. Obama's Nobel Peace Prize comes to mind. I can understand Huxley and Shaw (especially Shaw), but I'd love to know why Kipling, Faraday, and Crick turned it down. Ann Althouse said... The United States is constitutionally forbidden to grant titles of nobility. How different would we be now if we'd been doing that sort of thing all these years? We'd be calling Cap Weinberger Sir Caspar - which I would do if i ever met him. But we do call former military officers by their rank and we have all those other titles - Governor, Senator, Judge,... Princess of the Internets. Maguro said... What the fuck good is a knighthood now that you're not even allowed to ravage peasant villages anymore? Worse, they make you go to knight school. (thank you, I'm here all week) Big deal. It's no biggie durning down the chance to be a knight. In 1959 Otis Redding turned down the chance to be a Pip. That's impressive. Gladys Knight never got over it. Considering the farce he made of the Summer Olympics opening ceremonies, Boyle deserves to be drawn and quartered, not knighted. I had to click the story to figure out who Danny Boyle is. Knowing that now, I find it funny that someone who created an Olympic tribute to a state agency would decline laurels from said state.. I insist on being called "My Lord" in my bedroom. Yea, kinda lonely in there, but my dogs know who the master is, so I got that going for me. Bowing to a Royal family and honoring their blue blooded friends is a reenactment of the Roman Empire's main governing tool that worshiped the son of god, Augustus Caesar and his family. That is also seen in the dividing line between Episcopal/Anglican ethos and the Presbyterian/Baptist ethos in our culture. The Presbyterians/Baptists won the war and have been dominant until the recent humanist religion based upon Gaia worship. Since 1914 mega disaster caused by Royal family governance it has been done away with in most of Europe. It's the old top down governance vs. bottom up governance. How different would we be now if we'd been doing that sort of thing all these years? We'd probably be paying our high civil servants less. They'd get a smaller pension, but a knighthood and maybe an Order of the American Empire for their service. Our aristocracy is closer to the aristocracy of Imperial China -- much as our society resembles the society of Imperial China more than it resembles the society of the Framers. There, it wasn't precisely inherited titles of nobility so much as membership in a ruling class defined by high marks on standardised exams and prestigious education, honour derived from illustrious fathers or grandfathers, and titles of office. What would Thomas Paine know - he's a dead, white, European male. Ideas don't stand on their own. They must come from the right people to be relevant. Now if a wise Latina were to say such a thing... Re: Bob R:. On the contrary, we should refer to all former high ministers of the government -- Presidents, Secretaries, Governors, and all -- as Excellency. Presidents can be "Most Serene Excellency," Governors "Serene Exellency," Cabinet Secretaries and Lt. Governors "High Excellency," Ambassadors and other inferior ministers mere "Excellency." His Most Serene Excellency Barack Hussein Obama II, President of the United States of America. Does it not roll trippingly off the tongue? Balfegor, did you work for the Nixon Administration? traditionalguy said... Since 1914 mega disaster caused by Royal family governance it has been done away with in most of Europe. Yes, now it's caused by any slob you see on the street. Sieg Heil, baby. He's not allowed to be an "equal citizen." The most he can be is an equal subject. Unless he emigrates, of course. RE: Icepick: Balfegor, did you work for the Nixon Administration? I forgot! UNIFORMS! With GOLD BRAID! Also get rid of that dopey fanfare and have them play soemthing that will make the listener tremble. Also, victory titles -- Arianicus Maximus! The United States is constitutionally forbidden to grant titles of nobility. Mrs. Barbara Boxer will be disappointed to hear that. Adults neither seek nor accept awards. What would happen if we granted titles? There was once a facetious monthly column adding new members to "America's House of Lords," defined as government operatives, media figures and "public intellectuals" who screwed up everything they touched or were wrong about everything they said or wrote but nevertheless always rose in the esteem of their circle, e.g. Anthony Lewis, Jaime Gorlick, Lester Thurow. Unfortunately, that's exactly the kind of people who would be honored. The list of declines is a lustrous group. Does Danny Boyle really have what it takes to be a member? (That's a joke, I feel I must mention, since it's come to my attention some commenters are rather challenged in that area.) Churchill and Chamberlain are obvious - they wanted to stay in the House of Commons, and accepting peerages would have removed them to the Lords. They knew where the real power was. Thatcher accepted her title because she knew she'd never have real power in Commons again. Kipling was a surprise, though I suspect he may have thought himself unworthy of it, compared to many of the brave souls he wrote about. What about the so-called Medal of Freedom, which is handed out to retired hack politicians and leftist singers and actors? The U.S. doesn't grant titles of nobility, but citizens are not barred from accepting them, as far as I could find with a quick Internet check. A constitutional amendment was offered to bar it, but it hasn't been ratified by enough states. In my opinion, it's a bad idea for the government to restrict citizens' choices in this way. That said, I think it's a good thing that the UK continues to have a royal and aristocratic tradition. In all humility, we can't claim to have perfected the art of government. We are a republic, and the mother country is a monarchy. So let it be. We can learn some things, and enjoy some of the benefits of the old way, without losing the benefits of a republican system. There's something to be said for the idea of nobility, however badly it fails in execution--but then the same can be said for our system in the U.S. Granting titles of nobility can be a great way of raising revenue - even better than vanity plates. How about a "Sir" title after 10 million paid in taxes and a "Lord" title after 100,000 million paid (over the course of a lifetime). Instead of avoiding taxes, wealthy people will actually pay more taxes to achieve status. As a gesture to the masses, a few titles each year could be granted solely on merit. I've always loved the inconguity of the British "Question Time", where the MPs would refer to each other as "the Right Honourable Gentleman" immediately before embarking upon verbal savagery. Ahhh, good times. I have never heard of anyone turning down a MacArthur Grant and only a couple of people who have turned down a Nobel. The people who turned down the Nobel were already wealthy. From this I surmise that people value money more than honor. I'd like to hear of some artist turning down a MacArthur on the grounds that the money might corrupt or subvert his art.... One of Napoleon's innovations in the art of warfare was awarding ribbons to those who distinguished themselves in battle. Men, especially enlisted men, would throw themselves in harm's way to win these pretty ribbons. So honor has its uses. Boyle's a pompous ass, and still a goddamn subject. If he wants to become a citizen, he'll need to emigrate to someplace that isn't a monarchy, and pass that sunny land's hurdles for citizenship. Citizenship isn't a stance or a lifestyle, it's a legal and moral relationship with a commonwealth. I have to wonder what Kipling's deal was, if he refused a title. Titles are, I understand, tied up with class issues that don't necessarily make first-encounter sense to Americans, I suppose, and Kipling's writing and poetry has a lot of working-class posturing to it. Especially the Soldiers' Ballads. Anthony's right about Churchill and Chamberlain - you can't have a title and sit in the House of Commons. I wonder if it's possible to renounce your title for political reasons in the United Kingdom? Hmm, apparently Douglas-Home did, to become Prime Minister. The schmuck went and took a life peerage after leaving office, though, so it was a pretty weak-tea sort of renunciation of title, more like a revolving-door that screwed his heirs than anything real. Re: Mitch H: Anthony's right about Churchill and Chamberlain - you can't have a title and sit in the House of Commons. Not quite. You could be a Lord and sit in the Commons if you went by a courtesy title (subsidiary title of your father's main title) or if you were an Irish Peer. Irish Peers for some time could either sit in the Commons or get elected as a Representative Peer and sit in the Lords. Re: Douglas-Home: I wonder if it's possible to renounce your title for political reasons in the United Kingdom? Hmm, apparently Douglas-Home did, to become Prime Minister. Technically he became Prime Minister first before renouncing his title and standing for election to the Commons. I think it's still perfectly legal for the Prime Minister to sit in the Lords, although Salisbury was the last to do it for his entire premiership. Custom is now that the PM is supposed to be from the Commons. Anyhow, Home sticks out to me as -- I believe -- the last instance of the British sovereign personally choosing the PM. My impression is that for many years, the Conservatives' succession planning was essentially that the King/Queen will call someone to form a government, and that person will be the leader of the party. And there was a natural split between the Lords and the Commons. So it was Salisbury (Lords) vs. Northcote (Commons) in 1885, Curzon (Lords) vs. Baldwin (commons) in 1923, and Butler (Commons) vs. Maudling (Commons) vs. Hailsham (Lords) in 1963, that last resulting in the Queen's unexpected appointment of Lord Home as PM. Didn't Churchill turn it down for the sake of his son? Why yes, I could google an answer. I'm trying to be more extrovert perceiving. perhaps he just figured out he doesn't want to be known as sir danny. sir kenneth or sir laurence sound much more dignified of course. vanitas vanitatum. Apparently Kipling declined the Knighthood out of modesty, as he did the Poet Laureateship. One of my NCOs called me Sir Ken. We were so close, it would have been awkward for him to call me by my rank--Lieutenant. I called him Chief. He was a Chief Master Sergeant. We both knew these ranks were artificial.

WEXFORD - Maddison Miller scored eight points to lead undefeated Altoona to a 31-21 win over North Allegheny in junior high girls basketball Wednesday. Altoona hiked its record to 4-0. ALTOONA (31): Kelly 5, Miller 8, Shilling 7, Woomer 5, Brumbaugh 6. NORTH ALLEGHENY (21): Blanchard 3, Miller 5, Hazlett 4, Jenkins 3, Finochio 2, Port 4. Records: Altoona (4-0); North Allegheny (2-2). Penn Cambria44 Bishop McCort15 GALLITZIN - Miche Burkett scored 23 points to lead unbeaten Penn Cambria to a win over Bishop McCort. Penn Cambria is now 2-0. BISHOP MCCORT (15): Duplin 2, King 1, Rhine 4, Shroyer 2, Brisko 4, Bridges 2. PENN CAMBRIA (44): Burkett 23, Strasser 8, Michina 3, Sral 4, K. Guzic 1, L. Guzic 1, George 2, Harvey 2. Records: Penn Cambria (2-0). Somerset 29 Cambria Heights23 PATTON - Maria Weimer scored 13 points to lead Somerset to a win over Cambria Heights. Madison Kline led Heights with eight points. SOMERSET (29): Weimer 13, Lane 2, Direnzo 6, Robinson 2, Vogt 6. CAMBRIA HEIGHTS (23): Kline 8, Fox 2, Farabaugh 4, Gill 5, Thomas 4. Records: Cambria Heights (1-2). 7th-8th grade: Somerset, 34-9 Bishop Guilfoyle63 Richland7 Ryley Lewis scored 17 points to go with 11 from Molly Kibler to lead Bishop Guilfoyle past Richland at the Pleasant Valley gymnasium. RICHLAND (7): Maglicca 1, Pasko 4, Townseno 2. BISHOP GUILFOYLE (63): Consiglio 8, Lewis 17, Labriola 8, Crider 5, Kibler 11, Kiesewetter 6, Jennings 6, Yahner 2. Records: Bishop Guilfoyle (4-0), Richland (0-3). 8th-grade score: Bishop Guilfoyle 56, Richland 2. High scorer: Kibler, BG, 18. Bishop Carroll27 Johnstown18 EBENSBURG - Maria Schall scored eight points to lead Bishop Carroll to a win over Johnstown. JOHNSTOWN (18): Harris 2, Loe 11, Richards 5. BISHOP CARROLL (27): Martinazzi 4, Schall 8, Kline 2, SImmons 6, Dunchak 2, Borlie 2, Blake 2, Novak 1. Records: Bishop Carroll (2-0). 8th grade: Bishop Carroll, 26-8 Huntingdon31 Tyrone21 HUNTINGDON - Despite Sidney Shaw's eight points, Tyrone (2-2) dropped a decision to Huntingdon. TYRONE (21): Shaw 8, Crabtree 5, McKenna 3, Makdad 3, Kramer 2. HUNTINGDON (31): Miller 10, Easter 8, Hawkins 6, Gearhart 4, Gutshall 2. Records: Tyrone (2-2). Eighth grade: Tyrone 30, Huntingdon 7. High scorers-S.Shaw, T, 12. BOYS Altoona White43 Punxsutawney38 Trey Barr and Alex Weaver scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, to lead Altoona White to a win over Punxsutawney in boys action. PUNXSUTAWNEY (38): Ambler 5, Burkett 2, Constant 3, Kelly 4, Fedigan 6, Horner 4, Snyder 2, Triponey 3, Weaver 6, Young 1, Zimmerman 2. ALTOONA WHITE (43): Weaver 12, Deterline 2, Russo 3, Sell 2, Skelley 5, Barr 13, Hoover 4, Ajay 2. Records: Punxsutawney (3-1); Altoona White (3-2). Altoona Maroon57 Central Mountain20 MILL HALL - Jarod Kutz scored a game-high 13 points and Daquain Watson added 11 as Altoona Maroon throttled Central Mountain. Altoona Maroon improved to 2-3. Central Mountain (0-2) was led by Trevor Smith's 10 points. ALTOONA MAROON (57): Gibson 4, Palfey 1, Hord 4, Sheetz 5, Kutz 13, McCloskey 3, McGeary 6, Watson 11, Day 8, Miller 2. CENTRAL MOUNTAIN (20): Smith 10, Rhine 3, Frankhauser 1, Neff 4, Carpenetti 2. Records: Altoona Maroon (2-3); Central Mountain (0-2). Claysburg-Kimmel35 Northern Bedford22 LOYSBURG - Claysburg-Kimmel got 10 points from Landon Bauman in the Bulldogs' win over Northern Bedford. Josh Dasher led Northern Bedford (0-4) with six points. CLAYSBURG-KIMMEL (35): Benton 3, Dibert 3, Musselman 2, Walter 2, Long 5, Bauman 10, Helsel 8, Ody 2. NORTHERN BEDFORD (22): McCue 4, Dasher 6, Fernandez 4, Foor 5, Donaldson 3. Records: Claysburg-Kimmel (1-2), Northern Bedford (0-4). 301 Cayuga Ave. , Altoona, PA 16602 | 814-946-7411 © 2015. All rights reserved.| Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Following its fairly successful February theatrical release, Disney’s The Jungle Book 2 lands on DVD and VHS today. The Buena Vista Home Ent. release retails for $29.99 DVD and $24.99 VHS and promises to deliver much more than just the bare necessities. In The Jungle Book 2, wild child Mowgli (Haley Joel Osment) lives in the village with humans but longs to see his bear buddy, Baloo (John Goodman). When he sneaks away to the jungle, the villainous tiger, Shere Kahn (Tony Jay), sees his opportunity to take revenge and the chase is on. The sequel was was written by Karl Geurs and directed by Steve Trenbirth. Christopher Chase and Mary Thorne produced. DVD extra features include a behind-the-scenes featurette titled The Legacy of The Jungle Book, a synopsis of Walt Disney’s original The Jungle Book, Mowgli’s Jungle Ruins Maze set-top game, Disney’s song selection, deleted musical sequences with filmmaker introductions, and music videos for W-I-L-D, Jungle Rhythm and Smash Mouth’s I Wanna Be Like You. Also arriving on home video today is Miramax’s critically acclaimed biopic Frida, starring Salma Hayek, Alfred Molina, Geoffrey Rush, Edward Norton, Antonio Banderas and Ashley Judd. The film features a dream sequence with stop-motion animation by accomplished cult favorites the Brothers Quay. Extra features on the two-disc DVD set include a behind-the-scenes look at the effects hosted by the Quays. The title lists for $29.99 DVD.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) —. Critics call the department's move a rush to judgment and say it will have a chilling effect on officers in the field. "What it does is it shakes their confidence because, like it or not, most cops like to think their department has their back," Randy Hagler, president of the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police, told The Associated Press. "That's not to say the department is going to cover anything up. They just want the department to give them a fair shake. That's all we ask for. And officers in our community don't necessarily all feel that way." Dan fired 12 shots, hitting Ferrell with all but two. Ferrell died at the scene.." © The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Learn more about our Privacy Policy and

[Part I] In analyzing the fabric strength of the material that evolutionists have woven together to promote the importance of Archaeopteryx, we must invest some time looking at an important anatomical feature, for it is at this point that we begin to see the threads of evolution unravel. Current evolutionary theory demands that the lungs of certain land-dwelling animals “somehow” evolved into bird lungs. However, birds’ lungs are quite unlike the lungs of other animals because they do not “breathe out.” The lungs of land-dwelling animals work somewhat like a bellows in which the “good” air is inhaled and the “bad” air is exhaled. Birds’ lungs, on the other hand, are unique because they have an opening at each end and thus possess a one-way respiratory system. In birds’ lungs, the new air comes in one end, is stored in special sacs until needed, and then is stored in another sac until it is released out the other end. So how do the millions of years required for evolution mesh with the fact that “air breathers” can survive for only a few moments (at most) if a disruption to their respiratory system occurs? How can you take a “two-way” reptile lung and over a period of minutes evolve it into a fully functional “one-way” bird lung? The simple answer is, you cannot. John Ruben, an expert in respiratory physiology from Oregon State University at Corvallis, addressed the problem of such a hypothetical intermediate. Recently, conventional wisdom has held that birds are direct descendants of theropod dinosaurs [those dinosaurs that are said to have been “beastfooted” and bipedal Saurischians—BH/BT]. [or hole—BH/BT] in taxa transitional between theropods and birds. Such a debilitating condition would have immediately compromised the entire pulmonary ventilatory apparatus and seems unlikely to have been of any selective advantage (1997, 278:1269). To suggest that the “debilitating condition of a diaphragmatic hernia would have immediately compromised the entire pulmonary apparatus” and thus be “unlikely to have been of any selective advantage” is nothing more than scientific “prestige jargon” for stating the obvious: in other words, the animal would not have been able to breathe. We think it is a gross understatement, therefore, to suggest that this “seems unlikely to have been of any selective advantage.” Death—to put it bluntly—is not a good survival mechanism! Overall, dinosaurs can be divided into two groups based on the shape of their pelvis. The Saurischia are “lizard hipped” dinosaurs, whereas Ornithischia are considered “bird hipped.” Strange as it may seem, Archaeopteryx (and thus all modern birds) allegedly evolved from the Saurischia, not the bird-hipped Ornithischia. Evolutionists, therefore, have spent countless hours trying to connect Archaeopteryx with its fellow Saurischian, the theropod—a “beastfooted,” bipedal, carnivorous dinosaur. A comparison of the pelvic bones of modern perching birds and Archaeopteryx reveals that both probably assisted their breathing while perching by means of muscles attached between their pubis and tail. In contrast, the pelvic bones of the theropod dinosaurs look nothing like that of either modern birds or Archaeopteryx, but instead look more similar to those of modern reptiles (like the crocodile, for example). There is no way for the pubis of modern reptiles or the theropod dinosaurs to serve as an attachment point for suprapubic muscles that are needed to assist in breathing during perching. Numerous studies have pointed out that the curvature of Archaeopteryx’s claws, compared to the curvature of modern birds’ claws, puts it firmly in the “perching bird” category (see Feduccia, 1993). In fact, the habits of birds that are similar to Archaeopteryx (such as the earthbound Australian pheasant cuckoo) can be distinguished on the basis of claw curvature. Furthermore, the unusual claws on the wings of Archaeopteryx resemble those of various tree-climbing birds, and differ noticeably from the claws of its supposed dinosaurian relatives. As ornithologist Alan Feduccia put it: “Archaeopteryx probably cannot tell us much about the early origin of feathers and flight in the true protobirds because Archaeopteryx was, in the modern sense, a bird” (1993, 249:792). Our point exactly! Much controversy has occurred in scientific circles regarding whether Archaeopteryx should be classified strictly as a bird or as a “transitional intermediate” between dinosaurs and birds. Many researchers automatically place this animal into the “bird” category based solely on the presence of feathers. As Feduccia noted: “Feathers are unique to birds, and no known structure intermediate between scales and feathers has been identified” (Feduccia, 1980, p. 52). Creationists, of course, have long made that very point. In fact, writing in volume two of their Modern Creation Trilogy on this matter in regard to Archaeopteryx, Henry Morris and John Morris stated: Archaeopteryx is a “mosaic” of useful and functioning structures found also in other creatures, not a “transition” between them. A true transitional structure would be, say, a “sceather”—that is, a half-scale, half-feather—or a “ling”—half-leg, half-wing—or, perhaps a half-evolved heart or liver or eye. Such transitional structures, however, would not survive in any struggle for existence (1996, 2:70). Recent intriguing discoveries have caused researchers to speculate with wild abandon about exactly how Archaeopteryx fits into the dinosaurs-to-birds theory. As you will see later in this article, some evolutionists have haplessly fashioned a fascinating tale of dinosaur-to-bird descendants, only to realize after the fact that they actually have created a huge time-line fiasco for themselves (and for the birds!). Much of this began after several important recent finds in China, in what some believe is ever-increasing evidence that establishes a direct link between dinosaurs and modern birds. The first find, uncovered in the early 1990s, was a newly discovered bird named Confuciusornis from the Yixian formation of Liaoning province in northeastern China. The find, which is considered more modern in form than Archaeopteryx, was described from three partial skeletons, and is said to be roughly half the size of the London specimen of Archaeopteryx (while sharing several common features). In his 1999 book, In Search of Deep Time, zoologist (and senior editor for Nature) Henry Gee noted: Unlike Archaeopteryx, which had a conventional reptilian spout, Confuciusornis had a beak, the earliest record of a beak in the fossil record. In more than 150 years, only seven specimens of Archaeopteryx have ever been found, and each one is treated as a priceless relic. The contrast with Confuciusornis could hardly be greater; in only a few years, hundreds of specimens had been excavated from Liaoning province. Confuciusornis joined a steadily accumulating catalogue of fossil birds unearthed in the 1980s and 1990s from a small number of fossil sites in China, Spain, and other countries. Most fossils came from the mid to late Cretaceous. None were [sic] as old as Archaeopteryx itself, which still remained the oldest bird (pp. 188-189). The exact age of these combined specimens, however, has turned out to be a matter of intense debate among evolutionists, having been reported to be either “as old as” or “older than,” Archaeopteryx (Hou, 1995), or almost the same age (Gee, p. 189). In 1996, two additional finds were discovered. The first was Compsognathus, a small theropod about the size of a chicken (see Gibbons, 1996a, 274:720-721; Corliss, 1998, p. 281). Dated at 121 million years old, Compsognathus is too recent to have given rise to Archaeopteryx. Initially, it was believed to have had a mane of downy feathers running along its neck, back, and tail, which caused Yale paleontologist John Ostrom to state: “If it does have feathers, it could be a descendant of the dinosaur that gave rise to birds” (as quoted in Gibbons, 1996a, 274:720). At first, Dr. Ostrom believed that the structures on the back of Compsognathus were, in fact, some kind of primordial feathers. Later, however, he abandoned that idea as erroneous (see Corliss, 1998, p. 280). Furthermore, University of North Carolina ornithologist Alan Feduccia and University of Kansas paleontologist Larry Martin have suggested that the creature’s anatomy was all wrong and much too distinctly un-bird-like: Feduccia noted: “It’s biophysically impossible to evolve flight from such large bipeds with foreshortened forelimbs and heavy, balancing tails” as Compsognathus (as quoted in Gibbons, 1996a, 274:721). In his 1998 volume, Biological Anomalies: Birds, scientist William R. Corliss concluded: “Compsognathus was too good to be true.... [T]he structures along the fossil’s back were not really feathers. Just what they were remains a mystery” (p. 280, emp. in orig.). That was not the end of the story, however, because the discovery of another fossilized creature was announced later that same year (1996). Sinosauropteryx [Chinese winged lizard] originally was uncovered in China in 1992 and is believed by evolutionists to be about 135 million years old. It differs from Archaeopteryx in that its main toes face away from its other toes rather than all of them pointing forward. This placement allows for better gripping of branches, and thus is viewed as an important advance over Archaeopteryx. However, some have suggested that Sinosauropteryx’s features are due to the manner in which the damaged fossil was reconstructed (a not-too-improbable scenario, as you will see later in this article when we discuss the fossil fraud, Archaeoraptor). The skeleton of Sinosauropteryx was said to be surrounded by a halo of “fuzz,” which resulted in the discovery making headlines on the front page of the respected New York Times and being viewed by many as confirmation of the dinosaurian origins of birds. However, after all the facts were gathered the verdict was somewhat different. Henry Gee stated in regard to the Sinosauropteryx “feathers”: At the time, there was a great deal of debate about the significance of the fibers. They did not really look much like either hairs or feathers. Chen [Chen Pei-Ji from Nanjing, the Chinese scientist who discovered the Sinosauropteryx fossils (see Chen, 1998)—BH/BT] and his colleagues called them “integumentary structures,” in a way to avoid seeming to prejudge the functions or affinities of these structures. Some even supposed that they were not external at all, but internal collagenous struts supporting a lizard-like frill.... The range of types of skin covering in extant tetrapods is rather limited; apart from bare skin, there are scales, hair, or feathers, and that’s it. The not-quite-feathery, not-quite-hairy fibres of Sinosauropteryx may represent a completely different, hitherto unknown variety of vertebrate skin covering.... [T]he significance of fibres of Sinosauropteryx in understanding the origin of birds in particular is hard to estimate.... Sinosauropteryx remained an enigma: were its puzzling integumentary structures peculiar to itself, revealing nothing about the ancestry of feathers, or did they represent a significant discovery that might further understanding of the origin of feathers, and therefore of birds? (1999, pp. 190,191). Since the initial find of Sinosauropteryx, two additional discoveries of the creature have been made (one is a dromaeosaur and the other is a therizinosaur), both of which have the same type of Sinosauropteryx-like fibers. Larry Martin of the University of Kansas (Lawrence) thinks the fine structures may be “frayed collagenous fibers” beneath the skin that have nothing whatsoever to do with either feathers or birds. John Ruben of Oregon State University (Corvallis) dissected a sea snake’s tail and showed that such fibers can indeed look feathery [see Gibbons, 1997, 278:1229]. In an intriguingly titled article (“Plucking the Feathered Dinosaur”) published in Science, Ann Gibbons referred to “roughly a half-dozen Western paleontologists who have seen the specimens” and who admitted that “the structures are not modern feathers” (1997, 278:1229). And now, to add to the confusion, hotly disputed claims from China of the discovery of two species of dinosaurs that allegedly possessed feathers (Protoarchaeopteryx robusta and Caudipteryx zoui) have many evolutionists scratching their heads and reevaluating their time lines altogether. Protoarchaeopteryx, the larger of the two specimens, is about the size of a turkey and has a patch of bird-like feathers at the tip of its tail. Caudipteryx had a fairly short tail, a fan of tail feathers, and a fringe of feathers along the trailing edges of each of its forearms. Two Chinese scientists, Ji Qiang and Ji Shuan, discovered these so-called “feathered dinosaurs” in the same location as the Sinosauropteryx, and suggested in an article in Chinese Geology (and then later in another article in the June 25, 1998 issue of Nature [393:753-761]) that the feathers link these creatures both to theropods and to birds. That same year, in an article in Science, Philip Currie asserted: “You can’t get around the fact that these are feathers on dinosaurs” (as quoted in Gibbons, 1998, 280:2051). In his book, In Search of Deep Time, Gee wrote This time, the nature of the skin was quite unambiguous, because these dinosaurs had unmistakable feathers, rather than enigmatic fibres.... The feathers are like those of birds; each one has a central stalk, and vanes on either side. Given the smallness of these creatures’ arms, it is extremely unlikely that either dinosaur was capable of flight.... The implications of these discoveries are profound: the discovery of feathers in patently non-flying dromaeosaurs demonstrates that feathers existed before the evolution of flight. It can no longer be claimed that the origin of birds is inextricably linked with the origin of flight or denied that the heritage of the birds is closely linked with that of the theropod dinosaurs.... The discovery of these feathered dinosaurs has brought the debate about the origin of birds to a close (1999, pp. 191,192). Even evolutionists who do not accept the dinosaur-to-bird concept of evolution agree that the feathers are real. They stress, however, that the feathers document the fact that the two creatures were birds, not dinosaurs. Larry Martin wrote: “I think they’ve found a group of flightless birds” (as quoted in Gibbons, 1998, 280:2051). The radiometric dating of the sites in which the finds were discovered has presented serious problems as well. In an article in Science, Ann Gibbons reported on this aspect of the controversy. Until recently, many paleontologists thought that Archaeopteryx itself gave rise to opposite birds [birds whose foot bones are fused from the top down, as opposed to modern birds, whose foot bones are fused from the bottom up—BH/BT] which in turn gradually evolved into modern birds.... [Alan] Feduccia and his colleagues now challenge that view with fossils of a bird the size of a sparrow, called Liaoningornis. The specimen, unearthed by a farmer in the Yixian formation in northeastern China’s Liaoning Province, lacks a skull but includes a nearly complete skeleton with foot bones and a keeled sternum that resemble those of modern birds. Yet the Chinese scientists cite radiometric dates of 137 to 142 million years for the volcanic rock of the Yixian formation, which would make the bird almost as old as Archaeopteryx. And the same beds also yielded a magpie-sized primitive bird called Confuciusornis, which shares many traits with both Archaeopteryx and modern birds.... According to Feduccia and Martin, the discoveries imply that by the time of Archaeopteryx, birds had already diverged into two lineages and had a rich history that is missing from the fossil record. One lineage led to modern birds. Another led to Archaeopteryx and the opposite birds, which they view as sister taxa, closely related to each other but distinct from the line that led to modern birds. And both of these bird lineages must have descended from a much earlier ancestral bird. Feduccia reckons that the first bird must have lived about 76 million years before the birdlike dinosaurs of the Cretaceous—a fact that he says raises questions about the dinosaurian origins of birds (1996b, 274:1083, emp. added). Evolutionists admit that radiometric dates for the Yixian formation (estimated at anywhere between 121 million and 142 million years) are controversial. As Feduccia has suggested: “Whatever the date is, we’re getting both types of birds shortly after Archaeopteryx” (as quoted in Gibbons, 1996b, 274:1083). His point is well taken. Ann Gibbons noted in another Science article: “...the Chinese fossil is too recent—121 million years old—for the dinosaur to have given rise to the 150-million-year-old Jurassic bird, Archaeopteryx” (1996a, 274:720). In his article in Science (“The Forward March of the Bird-Dinosaurs Halted?”), Richard Hinchliffe commented on the controversy over the “recent nature” of these fossil finds when he noted that “most theropod dinosaurs and in particular the birdlike dromaesours are all very much later (i.e., more recent—BH/BT) in the fossil record than Archaeopteryx (1997, 278:597). So unless birds perfected time travel millions of years ago, these latest finds do little to support the theory that dinosaurs gave rise to birds. In the February 1998 issue of Scientific American, Kevin Padian and Luis Chiappe, while fully backing the dinosaurian origin of birds, added a sidebar explaining the major points of contention: 1. The hands of theropod dinosaurs and birds differ in important ways.). In his review of an article on “Developmental Patterns and the Identification of Homologies in the Avian Hand” by Ann Burke and Alan Feduccia in the October 24, 1997 issue of Science, Richard Hinchliffe reiterated many of these same problems by pointing out problems with the “dinosaur-to-bird” hypothesis. These included: 1. The much smaller theropod forelimb (relative to body size) in comparison with the Archaeopteryx wing. Such small limbs are not convincing as proto-wings for a “ground-up” origin of flight.). The controversy over the alleged connection between reptiles and birds in the evolutionary scenario increased dramatically with the publication in November 1999 by National Geographic of). It is unlikely that anyone—outside National Geographic’s offices—ever will know the severity of the damage massive debacle transpired (Simons, 2000). [For additional information on how this story unraveled, see also: Dalton, 2000a, 2000b; National Geographic, 2000; Rummo, 2000.] chose to run its submitted to National Geographic, Lewis Simons documented the fact that authors of the original account were told several times of discrepancies in their data and problems with the fossil, but apparently never took the opportunity to establish the accuracy of the specimen (Simons, 2000). The desperate desire to find the long-sought-after “missing link” between dinosaurs and birds overshadowed the truth. As American humorist Mark Twain suggested in Life on the Mississippi: “There is something fascinating about science. One gets such wholesale returns of conjecture out of such a trifling investment of fact” (1883, p. 156). In the short span of time that has passed since we mailed Part I of this series, yet another “missing link” has been reported in the scientific and popular media. The paper describing the latest in a long (but failed) series of missing links, “The Distribution of Integumentary Structures in a Feathered Dinosaur” (Qiang, et al., 2001), appeared in the April 26, 2001 issue of Nature. In a review article, Time magazine extolled this latest find as “as good a missing link as anyone could want” (Lemonick, 2001, 157[18]:56). Interestingly, one of the authors of the Nature paper, Ji Qiang, had made the same type of claim regarding an earlier “missing link” known as Caudipteryx zoui, boasting that it represented “a missing link between dinosaurs and birds which we had expected to find” (as quoted in Chang, 1998). University of Kansas biologist Larry Martin was not so quick to agree with Ji Qiang’s expectations regarding “feathered dinosaurs.” In referring to Caudipteryx zoui, Martin suggested that it was merely a flightless bird, and stated: “You have to put this in perspective. To people who wrote the paper, the chicken would be a feathered dinosaur” (as quoted in Chang, 1998). Martin’s words of caution are especially important in light of the last report of “feathers” from Liaoning fossils, since those “feathers” eventually were dismissed as little more than frayed internal fibers of collagen (a structural protein found in connective tissue). With memories of Archaeoraptor still fresh in their minds, Ji Qiang and his colleagues included the following statement in the second paragraph of their latest “feathered dinosaur” report: “Although some specimens from Western Liaoning have been shown to be composites or forgeries, the integrity of the specimen described here is assured because both slabs match up exactly...” (2001, 410:1084). Fossil composition data and X-ray computed tomography results were not included in Qiang’s latest report of this “feathered dinosaur,” so further research will be necessary to determine its authenticity. It is a well-known fact that many fossils from this area of the world have been unwittingly or deliberately subjected to misleading reconstruction. Additionally, Ji Qiang and his team explained that the fossilized bones were brittle and that “most shattered when the specimen was collected by splitting the slab, so many skeletal details cannot be scored adequately” (410:1085). This lack of proper skeletal scoring, and the admission that the tail is “unusual” in that it has “no individual vertebral segments,” make it difficult to determine the exact category in which this specimen should be placed—bird or dinosaur. But if this as-yet-unnamed creature is categorized as a “dinosaur,” then scientists will face an even more daunting task because the date assigned to it suggests that feather “evolution” precedes almost all of the dromaeosaur fossil finds (the theropod from which birds allegedly evolved) [see Padian and Chiappe, 1998, 278[2]:43]. This would indicate that the “insect-catching” theory, the “tree-down” theory, and all other ideas regarding the evolution of feathers for flight, are completely inaccurate. Therefore scientists are left to explain why (and how!) these early dinosaurs “evolved” and maintained feathers that would not be used for flight? Some have suggested that perhaps feathers were used to maintain body temperature. But that then poses the question: Why didn’t other animals (like, for example, crocodiles and snakes) evolve feathers as a means of warmth? Stay tuned; the quest continues.. Lewis Simons, the reporter who was commissioned to investigate the Archaeoraptor fiasco for National Geographic, stated that what he had uncovered was “a tale of misguided secrecy and misplaced confidence, of rampant egos clashing, self-aggrandizement, wishful thinking, naïve assumptions, human error, stubbornness, manipulation, backbiting, lying, corruption, and most of all, abysmal communication” (Simons, 2000, 198[4]:128). It may well be that we routinely witness the same kind of “tale” (albeit admittedly to a much-less-publicized degree) every time a new “missing link” is uncovered and then shown to be either incorrect or fraudulent. The history of science is replete with just such events (to wit, Nebraska Man, Piltdown Man, etc.). Certainly many authentic fossils do exist. However, as the late Colin Patterson (who served with distinction for many years as the senior paleontologist at the British Museum of Natural History in London) admitted in his 1999 book, Evolution: “Fossils may tell us many things, but one thing they can never disclose is whether they were ancestors of anything else” (p. 109). While the “Piltdown Man” hoax was able to fool evolutionists for more than 40H/B, we certainly can understand why. Burke, Ann C. and Alan Feduccia (1997), “Developmental Patterns and the Identification of Homologies in the Avian Hand,” Science, 278:666-669, October 24. Chang, Kenneth (1998), “A Feathered Dinosaur,” [On-line], URL:. Chen, Pei-ji (1998), “An Exceptionally Well-Preserved Theropod Dinosaur from the Yixian Formation of China,” Nature, 391:147-152, January 8. Corliss, William R. (1998), Biological Anomalies: Birds (Glen Arm, MD: The Sourcebook Project). Dalton, R. (2000a), “Feathers Fly Over Chinese Fossil Bird’s Legality and Authenticity,” Nature, 403:689-690, February 17. Dalton, R. (2000b), “Chasing the Dragons,” Nature, 406:930-932, August 31. Feduccia, Allan (1980), The Age of Birds (Cambridge, England: Harvard University Press). Feduccia, Allan (1993), “Evidence from Claw Geometry Indicating Arboreal Habits of Archaeopteryx,” Science, 259:790-793, February 5. Friend, Tim (2000), “Dinosaur-bird Link Smashed in Fossil Flap,” USA Today, [On-line], URL: htty://. Gee, Henry (1999), In Search of Deep Time (New York: Free Press). Gibbons, Ann (1996a), “New Feathered Fossil Brings Dinosaurs and Birds Closer,” Science, 274:720-721, November 1. Gibbons, Ann (1996b), “Early Birds Rise from China Fossil Beds,” Science, 274:1083, November 15. Gibbons, Ann (1997), “Plucking the Feathered Dinosaur,” Science, 278:1229, November 14. Gibbons, Ann (1998), “Dinosaur Fossils, in Fine Feather, Show Links to Birds,” Science, 280:2051, June 26. Hinchliffe, R. (1997), “The Forward March of the Bird-Dinosaurs Halted?,” Science, 278:596-597, October 24. Hou, L., Z. Zhou, L.D. Martin, and A. Feduccia (1995), “A Beaked Bird from the Jurassic of China,” Nature, 377:616-618, October 19. Lemonick, Michael D. (2001), “Down-Covered Dinosaur,” Time, 157[18]:56-57, May 7. MacBeth, Norman (1971), Darwin Retried (Boston, MA: Gambit). Monastersky, Richard (2000), “All Mixed Up Over Birds and Dinosaurs,” Science News, [On-line], URL:. Morris, Henry M. and John D. Morris (1996), The Modern Creation Trilogy—Volume 2 (Green Forest, AR: Master Books). National Geographic (2000), “Archaeoraptor A Composite, Panel of Scientists Determines,” [On-line], URL:, April 4. Olson, Storrs L. (1999), Letter to Dr. Peter Raven, Secretary of the Committee for Research and Exploration, National Geographic Society, [On-line], URL:. org/docs/4159.asp. Padian, K. and L.M. Chiappe (1998), “The Origin of Birds and Their Flight,” Scientific American, 278[2]:38-47, February. Patterson, Colin (1999), Evolution (Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press), second edition. Qiang, J., P.J. Currie, M.A. Norell, and J.I. Shuan (1998), “Two Feathered Dinosaurs from Northeastern China,” Nature, 393:753-761, June 25. Recer, P. (1999), From Dinosaur to Bird, [On-line], URL:. Rowe, Timothy, Richard Ketcham, Cambria Denison, Matthew Colbert, Xing Xu and Philip Currie (2001), “Forensic Paleontology: The Archaeoraptor Forgery,” Nature, 410:539-540, March 29. Ruben, J.A., T.D. Jones, N.R. Geist, and W.J. Hillenius (1997), “Lung Structure and Ventilation in Theropod Dinosaurs and Early Birds,” Science, 278:1267-1270, November 14. Rummo, G.J. (2000), “Another ‘Missing Link’ Proven to be a Fraud,” Independent News, November 9. Simons, Lewis M. (2000), “Archaeoraptor Fossil Trail,” National Geographic, 198[4]:128-132, October. Sloan, Christopher P. (1999), “Feathers for T. Rex?,” National Geographic, 196[5]:99-107, November. Twain, Mark (1883), Life on the Mississippi (Boston, MA: J.R. Osgood). Xing, Xu (2000), “Feathers for T-rex?” [Letter to the editor], National Geographic, 197[3]:no page number, March.

Back in the Finals Again« Back to Stories Related Links The victory not only avenges the Cougars’ only loss of the season, a 1-0 setback on the Blue Raiders’ field back on Sept. 15, but it puts Azusa Pacific back into the national championship game for the second straight year and the fourth time since 1998. Massro, a 5-foot-9 senior midfielder who was named the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) Player of the Year, used her noticeable height advantage by heading a Cougar corner kick into the back of the net less than 4 minutes into the second half to give Azusa Pacific a 1-0 lead. Twenty minutes later, Domene dribbled down the middle of the field and launched a 20-foot shot the sailed past LWC keeper Carrie Revlett for her seventh goal of the season, putting Azusa Pacific up by what seemed to be an insurmountable 2-goal advantage. However, with 11 minutes remaining, Lindsey Wilson answered when Kimmia Parker converted a perfectly placed cross from Omolyn Davis to cut Azusa Pacific’s lead in half and set a potentially dramatic finish. The Cougar defense, led by All-American keeper Jill Colfer-Martinson, stuffed every Blue Raider attack the rest of the way to preserve the win, which was especially meaningful for Azusa Pacific, which also lost to Lindsey Wilson in last year’s national championship game, 2-1, in 4 overtimes. “The girls were fantastic,” said eighth-year Cougar head coach Jason Surrell. “They played with their brains as well as putting forth the effort to show how much they wanted to avenge our 1 loss of the year, and to do it here at the national championship tournament is sweet. But we still have one more to go.” With the victory, Azusa Pacific improves to 20-1-1 and will face Martin Methodist College of Pulaski, Tenn., which improved to 15-4 on the season after beating No. 1-ranked Lee University (Tenn.), 2-0, in the other semifinal game. Kickoff for the national championship game is set for Tuesday (Nov. 20) at 4 p.m. (PST). It’s the first-ever meeting between the 2 national powers. Azusa Pacific won the 1998 NAIA championship, and Martin Methodist collected the school’s first-ever national title in 2005. Combined with Azusa Pacific’s 1-0 semifinal victory over Simon Fraser University earlier today in the NAIA Men’s Soccer Championship Tournament in Olathe, Kan., Azusa Pacific becomes the first school in NAIA history to play for the men’s and women’s soccer championships in back-top-back seasons. The Cougar men will play GSAC rival Concordia University at 5 p.m. (PST) in the championship game Tuesday (Nov. 20).

[tag: science] United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Technical Abstract: The Q gene encodes an AP2-like transcription factor that played an important role in domestication of polyploid wheat. The chromosome 5A Q alleles (5AQ and 5Aq) have been well studied, but much less is known about the q alleles on wheat homoeologous chromosomes 5B (5Bq) and 5D (5Dq). We investigated the organization, evolution, and function of the Q/q homoeoalleles in hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Q/q gene sequences are highly conserved within and among the A, B, and D genomes of hexaploid wheat, the A and B genomes of tetraploid wheat, and the A, S, and D genomes of the diploid progenitors, but the intergenic regions of the Q/q locus are highly divergent among homoeologous genomes. Duplication of the q gene 5.8 MYA was likely followed by selective loss of one of the copies from the A-genome progenitor and the other copy from the B, D, and S genomes. A recent V329 to I mutation in the A lineage is correlated with the Q phenotype. The 5Bq homoeoallele became a pseudogene after allotetraploidization. Expression analysis indicated that the homoeoalleles are co-regulated in a complex manner. Combined phenotypic and expression analysis indicated that, whereas 5AQ plays a major role in conferring domestication-related traits, 5Dq contributes to suppression of the speltoid phenotype directly and 5Bq indirectly, especially in the absence of 5AQ. The evolution of the Q/q loci in polyploid wheat resulted in the hyper-functionalization of 5AQ, pseudogenization of 5Bq, and sub-functionalization of 5Dq, all contributing to the domestication traits.

[tag: science] United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service Technical Abstract: It is widely accepted that substantial amounts of carbon can be sequestered in agricultural soils by changing tillage practices from conventional plowing to less intensive methods, loosely known as conservation tillage. This view is based on experiments in which relative carbon changes have been estimated through soil sampling of long-term tillage trials. However, an examination of these experiments shows that sampling protocol may have biased the results. In nearly all cases where conservation tillage was found to sequester C, soils were only sampled to a depth of 30 cm or less, despite the fact that crop roots often extend much deeper. In the relatively fewer studies where sampling extended to a depth greater than 30 cm, conservation tillage has actually resulted in a loss of C relative to conventional tillage in the majority of reported cases. These contrasting results may be due to well known tillage-induced differences in soil thermal and physical properties that affect root distribution patterns, causing shallower rooting in reduced tillage situations. Recently reported continuous eddy covariance measurements of net ecosystem exchange of CO2 in different tillage systems have also been unable to detect any C gain due to reduced tillage. Though there are other good reasons, such as erosion prevention, to use conservation tillage practices, the evidence that it promotes C sequestration is not compelling.

'What's the minimum you can do to make a painting?' Royce Weatherly lets his paintings—and oil paint itself—reveal the workings of time. Many of his painstakingly composed, hyperrealist still lifes take decades to complete. He acknowledges and even welcomes the medium’s natural pigment changes and the decay of the objects he depicts. Untitled (Black Walnuts #2), 2012, for example, shows walnuts rotting in their shells, and the blue rim of a coffee cup in another work might turn yellower with age. “I want to see if I make a piece,” the artist says, “that over time, as it yellows, it will become more gray and more like a shadow.” Royce Weatherly.COURTESY ARTHELIX, BROOKLYN. Having worked on and off for years as an installer and conservationist for the Whitney Museum and other institutions, Weatherly, 56, knows a lot about how art materials can age. Born in North Carolina, he got his B.A. in political science and art from Wake Forest University, and then received an M.F.A. from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. In the 1980s and early ’90s, he was a preparator at Barbara Gladstone Gallery, had a solo show at the then brand-new Gavin Brown’s enterprise, and soon found his work in a handful of private European collections. But then he disappeared from the art scene—or at least from galleries. He moved to Maplewood, New Jersey, where he still lives with his wife and two daughters, working in carpentry and art installation.After a 12-year hiatus, Weatherly made a triumphant return last spring with an exhibition at Bushwick’s Bogart Salon, a space run by his longtime friend, the artist and gallerist Peter Hopkins. The show’s three Morandi-like still lifes of what Weatherly calls “dumb objects”—potatoes, rocks, walnuts, coffee cups—sold out, for $12,000 apiece. According to Hopkins, one buyer was Richard Prince, Weatherly’s friend from the Gladstone years. Prince purchased Untitled (Bupkis), a small 2012 oil on linen depicting spilled coffee in a Greek-deli cup and the cellophane wrapping from a cigarette pack against a white field. Weatherly’s new series of still lifes—one featuring lard and butter—was recently included in an exhibition that opened in April at Hopkins’s latest Bushwick venture, ArtHelix, where the artist is represented. Royce Weatherly, Untitled (Bupkis), 2012. Purchased by artist Richard Prince.COURTESY PRIVATE COLLECTION. When selecting the everyday items that will become the subjects of his meticulous focus, Weatherly says he often asks himself, “‘What’s the minimum you can do to make a painting?’ A flower is too loaded, but a potato is good.” He then sets things up in his basement studio where seashells, coral, and cellophane cluster in careful piles. He paints slowly, over the course of months if not years, building up thin layers of paint to capture the arrangement and any weathering—of subject matter or medium—that occurs with time.“Sometimes an object looks better as it gets older,” Weatherly says. “Everything around it will get richer and deeper. It’s all about slowing down and looking.” Pingback: Royce Weatherly: Making Dumb Objects Speak | Nick Socrates Contemporary Art() Pingback: Royce Weatherly: Making Dumb Objects Speak | Art of JD Parrish() Pingback: Rob Zombie brings Mayhem to Denver, the Colorado Burlesque Festival Returns, and Boring Objects Go Artistic | The CO Creatives() Pingback: Royce Weatherly: Making Dumb Objects Speak | KELLY 2D() Pingback: ARTnews June 2013 | KELLY 2D() Pingback: Royce Weatherly: Making Dumb Objects Speak from ARTnews | KELLY 2D() Pingback: Untitled (Bupkis) | Ang Fierra ni Juana()

An Expanse of Forms By Luis Fernando Valencia The first aspect made evident in this unique series is its return to Cartesian coordinates, orthogonal axes that appear, disperse, disintegrate and, when we least expect it, become part of an organic form. It is a reference to a missing rationality that, approaching from behind, suddenly comes to the forefront. However, the oeuvre no longer speaks of reason and instinct, or rationality and intuition; what is clearly significant about this approach is overcoming those dichotomies so that it can install itself in another world far from binary hierarchies and obvious contradictions. These works now spread in a controlled planimetry that refers us to the deconstruction of traditional painting. In this series the oeuvre lights up; it gleams in an exacerbated chrominance, giving rise to its accurate designation of “Eterna Primavera” (Eternal Spring). The disquieting brilliance gives the works new outcomes: it is no longer a background; instead it is a homogeneity that jumps and erupts within an organic form, moving about and disappearing. Mario Vélez begins questioning the modern concept of “background” and treats it as a transient element. He takes risks with a color that alludes to fertile regions but with enough care so as not to fall into the torridness prevalent in the tropical. The background-figure split disappears, thereby raising an unprecedented universe that, as Edmund Husserl would say, “should be accepted simply because it exists,” without looking for non-existent metaphysical essences. Vélez's range of works make no concessions to the artist, nor to the work as an apparent meaning, nor to the viewer as a central character in the aesthetics of today. Instead, they touch on two aspects addressed by Jacques Derrida in his concept of “différance”: spacing and deferral. The work does not seek an identity, or origin, or anything fundamental. It embarks upon some non-narrative elements that float in their simply pictorial tranquility. This spacing discredits representative worlds and presents us with a completely autonomous universe. However, in order to perceive it we also need it to have time, (a priori categories, such as space and time, according to Kant). This deferral is given by those ellipsoidal forms that appear to pass momentarily through the painting in their nomadic meanderings, where we can only perceive their imprint, their trace, without pretensions of transcendence or essential substance. On a splendid field that supplies the color, forms and lines glide, creating an implacable logic that produces a different rationality, far from the Cartesian rationalism that was the starting point. The process that has been unleashed is gleaned from the different pieces that make up the paintings; however, strictly speaking, we are only looking at one oeuvre. Thus, an exhibition of this series in its totality turns out to be indicative and telling of the exceptionality of Mario Vélez’s work process. The plane is irrigated by permutations, articulations, withdrawals and a large number of elements that create pictorial inscriptions, like a kind of graphic symbol that undergoes a controlled explosion throughout an expanse of forms. After we have examined the entire series and ruminated upon it all for some time, the field of color that has traditionally been called background is what stands out in our memory. That means that there is no surface on which lines, planes and forms are inserted; instead, that surface is also a figure. Walter de María expressed it very well: “The terrain is not the scene of the work, it is part of it.” Like a never-ending horizontal band, the oeuvre allows us to look at its persistent journey; but at the same time, those flat, sharp, irregular forms also look back at us. Ultimately, Vélez's works leave us with a silent aura, some traces, some imprints, in which incoherence, far from being a defect, is an accurate affirmation of the randomness of life. There is no order of subordination in Vélez's paintings, meaning no element takes precedence over another, and there is no formal component that acts as protagonist. This transforms his painting into a completely contemporary manifestation of Postmodern art and explains the high level of regard many have for him in the current panorama of painting, not only in Colombia, but also on the international scene. All of the elements we see refer back to themselves and to others, creating, in Derrida’s words, “non-identical sameness.” Vélez also resists the Hegelistic maneuver of using one element to refer to another so that a third element can arise in synthesis. Instead, painting simply proliferates everywhere. It is produced. It happens. If this happens with space, it also happens with time, as the eye wants to see more—what happens above, below and on the sides, where it came from and where it goes. This disconcerting game introduces the concept of duration, since the work is deferred, postponed and continues to occur on other planes beyond our line of vision. This geography of dispersion entails time existing in non-linear temporality. There is no before or after; everything floats like a pictorial symbol. It is no longer photosynthesis as in nature, but a transformation of the painting, in which everything is fixed at the same time that it escapes. In the end, I can affirm that “Eterna Primavera" is his most auratic series to date. With its resplendent and blinding presence, as with the intriguing yellow paintings, it produces a specifically Benjaminian aura, which "is the unique phenomenon of a distance, however close it may be.” Furthermore, there exists here what Foucault called “the productive subconscious,” in which the oeuvre is not just a reality, but also a set of other possibilities proffered by involuntary memory. Beauty bedazzles to make way for reflection. Translation: Diana Scholtz

BHPann:AustCosPartnerToFormMultiple-IndElectronicMktplace Document date: Wed 05 Jul 2000 Published: Wed 05 Jul 2000 10:16:17 Document No: 164038 Document part: A Market Flag: N Classification: BROKEN HILL PROPRIETARY COMPANY LIMITED 2000-07-05 ASX-SIGNAL-G HOMEX - Melbourne +++++++++++++++++++++++++ Please find following the Media Release, dated 5 July 2000 that announces BHP's intention to join thirteen other Australian corporates in a web procurement initiative, corProcure. The announcement is due to be made publicly at 11:00am today. For further information, please contact Ms Mandy Frostick, Media Relations Manager on ph 03 9609 4157 or Dr Robert Porter, VP Investor Relations on ph 03 9609 3540. R Taylor ASSISTANT SECRETARY MEDIA RELEASE The intention to form Australia's first multiple-industry business to-business e-marketplace - corProcure - was announced today by fourteen of Australia's leading companies. The companies, each of which is a founding shareholder in corProcure, include Amcor, AMP, ANZ, Australia Post, BHP, Coca-Cola Amatil, Coles Myer, Foster's, Goodman Fielder, Orica, Pacific Dunlop, Qantas, Telstra and Wesfarmers. Together, these companies intend to spend more than A$8 billion on indirect goods and services using corProcure over the next two years. The total value of indirect spend in Australia exceeds A$300 billion annually. A Memorandum of Understanding was signed today, and a shareholders' agreement is expected to be signed in 45 days. corProcure will be an independent, stand-alone, internet-based indirect goods and services marketplace open to all existing and new suppliers. The Founding Shareholders will share the investment cost of e-procurement infrastructure. In a joint statement, the Founding Shareholders said that by seamlessly connecting thousands of trading partners, regardless of size and location, corProcure is expected to deliver new transaction efficiencies and standards as well as significant business networking opportunities across the supply chain that will significantly benefit both suppliers and buyers. ' "The number of leading companies coming together from a range of industries and business sectors is unmatched in Australia's business-to-business marketplace. This is a significant and far-reaching partnership of major buyers and sellers that will utilise technology to extract and deliver wide-ranging benefits for all parties. "corProcure is an initiative that will transform procurement practices in Australia, create new value for buyers and suppliers and give all participants an improved competitive footing in the regional and global economy. "Suppliers will gain access to a much larger customer base, will be able to reduce administration and customer acquisition costs and better manage product demand processes, and will eliminate time-consuming paperwork and tracking. Buyers will benefit from simplified ordering processes and improved order accuracy. "corProcure is committed to the development of an open-platform, standards-based, multiple-industry regional trading network that delivers real value and benefits to all participants and stakeholders." Examples of goods and services traded through corProcure may include: office and cleaning supplies, fuel, energy, telecommunications, facilities management, human resources services, legal services, promotions and advertising, computer services, insurance and capital expenditure items. Each founding shareholder will be represented on the board of the new company. A Team Leader, Business Establishment has been appointed and a search will be launched this week to recruit an independent management team. Proposals for technology infrastructure will also be solicited in the next few weeks. It is expected that transactions will begin by September this year. In recognition of the importance of suppliers to the success of corProcure, the Founding Shareholders said they would discuss the company's proposed e-procurement strategy and logistics directly with suppliers over the next several weeks. A corProcure website, launched today, contains information for suppliers, and other interested parties. The web address is. The Founding Shareholders have not disclosed the amount of expected savings in transaction costs. For further information contact: Sally Abbott or Rupert Hugh-Jones 03 9289 9555 Contact details for corProcure Founding Shareholders. Amcor Kerrie Lavey Orica CORPORATE AFFAIRS OFFICER Kate Shea Tel: 03 9226 9004 PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER 03 9665 7256 Peter Brown MANAGING DIRECTOR Pacific Dunlop Amcor Australasia Anton McKernan Tel: 03 9811 7135 CORPORATE AFFAIRS OFFICER Qantas AMP Justin Kirkwood Telstra CORPORATE MEDIA MANAGER Selena Adams 02 9257 7473 PUBLIC AFFAIRS MANAGER Tel: 02 8255 2687 ANZ Australia Post Wesfarmers Stephen Walter CORPORATE AFFAIRS GROUP Tel: 03 9204 7135 BHP Mandy Frostick MANAGER MEDIA RELATIONS 03 9609 4157; Mobile: 419 546 245 Dr Robert Porter VICE PRESIDENT INVESTOR RELATIONS 03 9609 3540; Mobile: 419 587 456 Coca-Cola Amatil Alec Wagstaff CORPORATE AFFAIRS MANAGER, Australia Tel: 02 9259 6571 Coles Myer Greg Price MANAGER, MEDIA RELATIONS Tel: 03 9829 6273 Foster's Mary Reikert NEW MEDIA ADVISOR Tel: 03 9633 2277; Mobile: 0418 313 478 Goodman Fielder Robert Hadler CORPORATE AFFAIRS DIRECTOR Tel: 02 8874 6095, Mobile: 4017 00 000

on “Hey, Bobby Ray,” which begins in a Pink Floyd, Dark Side of the Moon style before Felice’s “Cat Stevens on shrooms” vocals kick in. It sets the mood for the gospel tinged, Gothic Americana sound with which Felice fills the album. Felice is a melancholic man who loves flawed people most of all. “Courtney Love” is a sympathetic ballad for the woman who lost the rights to her daughter and her dead husband’s name due to her bad behavior. Even Felice, who feels she is just misunderstood, does not wholly trust her. “When we sleep, I keep one eye open,” he croons. “The Ballad of Sharon Tate,” about the “vampire movie queen,” meanders off into an almost pitying expose on the Manson family, who were under Charlie Manson’s spell. Yet for such a provocative subject, he doesn’t say much. It’s a problem throughout the album. In “New York Times” he discusses various headlines and sad stories he read in the paper, culminating with 9/11 and the death of Michael Jackson. He then pleads with his girlfriend to never be on the cover of The Times. Nice sentiment, but it just feels like there should be more there. There’s also the hopeless romantic side to Felice. On “Stormy-Eyed Sarah” he remembers a girl from his teens who he thought was cool and slightly dangerous because she had a Ouija board. “Charade” tells the story of a boy who pumps gas in his dad’s filling station. His life is going nowhere and he just wants out. But when he’s with his girl, and runs his fingers through her hair, the world doesn’t suck as much. The only deviation from the gospel and Gothic folk sound comes early on in the album, on “You and I Belong.” It’s a happy, sunny, almost poppy song that could fit on a kid’s album (and was, in fact, written for his newborn daughter). It is still rich and lush, but it is rich and lush with banjos and whistling as well. It’s too bad Felice didn’t throw more changes of pace into the album. A survivor of a congential heart defect that almost killed him and forced him to undergo open heart surgery in 2010, Felice is justified in taking the leap out on his own. It makes sense that he reminisces about his younger days, but it still seems like he should have more to say, and, with help from people like Ted Dwane and Ben Lovett from Mumford and Sons, some more ways to say it. Simone Felice plays Eddie’s Attic on Tuesday, May 29th. Get tickets here.

[tag: how-to] 1.5 pixels / 0.75m = 2 pixels per meter 6 pixels / 0.75m = 8 pixels per meter 12 pixels / 0.75m = 16 pixels per meter The ATN Ranger Eye 800 is an advanced Laser Range Finding System that rapidly provides an accurately measured distance out to 800 yards. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 is an advanced, compact, yet simple to operate Optical Device that combines a 6X Monocular with a laser distance-measuring instrument – a Laser Range Finder. It is intended to observe and measure distance of a specific (non transparent) object. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 is equipped with an eye-safe laser. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 features four different modes of operation as well as an automatic shut-off switch. Optically, the ATN Ranger Eye 800 Scope is a 6X25 Monocular with a built-in LCD in the field of view. When activated, the LCD will display a viewfinder for aiming and other relevant data for adjustments and readout output data. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 can take measurements up and beyond 800 yards, most users will find it most useful and accurate for readings within 600 yards. The ATN Ranger Eye 800 can be used for a wide range of sport activities such as hunting, golf, archery, target shooting as well as for industrial, topography, safety and tactical applications.

- Convention - Hear & See - What is a Theatre Organ? - Where Are They? - About ATOS - From the President/CE - ATOS Marketplace - News - History - Contact Information - What's New on the Website - Endowment Fund - Local Chapters - Youth Activities - Website Information - Our Organization - Resources - Programs & Awards Technical

With his 2008 debut, A Larum, Johnny Flynn snuck into the collective consciousness with fellow Brit-folksters like Mumford And Sons and Laura Marling. His latest, Been Listening, is soulful and simple. His songs are eclectic, charmingly verbose and, above all, endlessly listenable. Judging by the way the careers of Mumford and Marling have skyrocketed in the past year, good things may be in store for Flynn. The A.V. Club caught up with him to talk about his influences, from Shakespeare to 78s, in anticipation of his show tomorrow at World Cafe Live. The A.V. Club: How did the title track of the new record come about? Johnny Flynn: I was listening to a whole bunch of really old 78s, all of which were just incredibly scratchy. I have loads of that stuff. One of the songs, I could only make out the words “been listening,” and to me, listening is really important. It kind of spun me out on my own take on that song, where I imagined a scenario where all music disappears from the universe and humanity. Society becomes more complicated and more confused. Values are lost. We need an idea of what music is, what connects people. Then, in this scenario, one single song comes to replace all music, and it is the answer. It’s like quantum physics—like one big thing comes and answers everything. AVC: Is that always what writing a song is like for you? JF: It’s always like learning something, or discovering something about the universe. I don’t really write songs. They’re just there anyway, chiseling away at the atmosphere, and suddenly they’re like, “Oh, thanks for coming. Thanks for finding me. We’ll share each other now.” AVC: Why is listening so important to you? JF: I think the truest things come from silence, but everything’s always so clogged up with noise. If everything falls away, and you can truly listen to someone, giving them yourself and generosity, you can truly lose yourself in what they’re saying. Like, not impose your ideas on what they’re saying, but really tune into them. I think it’s just the most joyful way to go about things, even a picture gallery exhibition or listening to music. It’s nice to discover that stuff rather than have ideas about what they might be beforehand. Not listening is the reason for so many misunderstandings and conflicts. AVC: What draws you to older music like those 78s? JF: It’s just good, honest music. There was no A&R guy walking into a studio thinking, “Yeah, we could make this a radio hit.” The music came from people who were just doing what they did, and someone just happened to record them. They were just writing for themselves in the immediate situation, and weren’t conscious of people in other countries 80 years later listening to it, or whatever. It’s just much more of an insight, old music, into these people. Bands that make music now are so much more self-conscious about the whole process. The songs are strange, and old, and ancient, and wise. Sometimes they’re really angry or sad. They’re not rounded-off or neatened-up and made into two-minute-30 Radio 1 playlist hits. They’re just really rough and good. I’m also obsessed with field recordings. That’s my favorite stuff to listen to, just really incidental music. AVC: Is there anywhere you’re especially looking forward to going on this tour, music history-wise? JF: I’m really looking forward to going to Nashville for the first time. I always love going to New York. I’ve been to Chicago once before, but I didn’t get much of a chance to look around. I’ve always wanted to go to blues clubs there. Actually, have you seen that documentary Desperate Man Blues? It’s about a guy who’s spent 60 or 70 years of his life collecting old 78s, finding things that were only pressed locally. He goes out and collects them. It’s a really great film. It’s got great music, and he knows a lot about the history of musicians. He’s discovered musicians a ton of people know about now just by knocking on doors and picking up records from the attics. AVC: I haven’t seen that, but I did see something about a guy digging for hi-life records in Africa, which actually segues perfectly into talking about “Churlish May,” the kind of hi-life song on your record. How did that one come about? JF: My drummer, Dave, is really into a lot of good music, and he’s gotten me into a lot of it. I get really excited about trying different things with music, like different drumming styles, so we went there on that song. It’s not like we were trying to really go there and get a conga player and stuff, but we were just edging into new rhythmic dimensions. AVC: The press release for your record talks about how you had kind of an idyllic Roald Dahl-like childhood, growing up catching trout and living on a farm. Weirdly, “Kentucky Pill,” on your record, reminds me of Roald Dahl, but in another way. Like in the “I’m secretly better than everyone and I will ultimately persevere” Matilda way. Did you mean to go there with that? JF: It’s generally a song about a sense of growing up. It’s about finding yourself to be slightly more dangerous and effective as a human being than you thought you could be. When you’re young, you live in a state of innocence, but eventually you realize that actions have wider consequences than you thought. As you grow up, as you get a sense of time, you stop living in your immediate presence. Your emotional world grows and you can kind of start being hard. It’s an abstract thing, but the song’s about all these situations you experience growing up that stop you from being innocent. It’s about wanting to hurt people and get hurt. AVC: Is that based on any specific personal experience? JF: It’s not explicitly a story from my own life, but it’s about little snippets and things. I used to go cow tipping, for one. I grew up in the country, so that’s par for the course, but then I started thinking about the cows, and that upset me. I realized that they were actually being hurt. AVC: You recorded your first record and part of this record outside Seattle. What made you want to go there? JF: We recorded the first record there with Ryan Hadlock, and we just wanted to go back for the second record. It’s a really nice place to do the record, his studio. It’s an isolated barn out in the middle of nowhere, and it really accentuated who we were. It’s a weird landscape out there. Like, that’s where they filmed Twin Peaks. There are all these Native American place-names, big waterfalls, and huge forests. It’s very far from home for us, which increases the sense of what you’re doing. You’re not in your environment, doing what’s familiar to you. It’s a good way to bring out what you are really trying to say or do. AVC: You toured with a Shakespeare company for a year as an actor. Do you think that experience shaped your songwriting at all? JF: Definitely, yes. Hugely. We toured the world and were very entrenched in the plays we were doing, Twelfth Night and Taming Of The Shrew, which are quite different plays, really. Twelfth Night especially had a big impact on me. There’s such an ambiguity to it, and it’s very poetic. It’s more about learning to say what isn’t there, and how what’s not say is more important than what is. It’s a good lesson in pre-emptive storytelling. Good poetry doesn’t have to say much.

"Chain of Command, Part 2" (season 6, episode 11, first aired: 12/19/1992) Or The One Where There Are Lights's. Grade: A Stray Observations: - Apparently, the torture sequences in this episode were inspired by Closetland, a 1991 film starring Madeline Stowe and Alan Rickman. I've been meaning to see that for years, although I may wait a few weeks now. - That is Patrick Stewart hanging naked when Madred has Picard's clothes stripped off. The man commits. - "How many lights do you see?" "I see four lights." "No. There are five." - This pretty much ruins any other scene in the series where a character was tortured, doesn't it. - Dick or no, how awesome was Riker's shit-eating grin when he had Jellico at his mercy? "I won't order you to fly this mission." <cue grin> "Then ask me." - "In spite of all you've done to me, I find you a pitiable man." "Ship in a Bottle" (season 6, episode 12, first aired: 1/23/1993) Or The One Where the Monster Demands a Mate And now for something completely different. Our second holodeck-centric episode in, what, two weeks? Three? And blah blah, the holodeck is nonsense, ridiculous it should still be on the hip, and it's treated far too cavalierly by all involved. Let's just get that right out of the way, because "Ship" is actually a lot of fun (especially after the darkness of "Chain"), and more than earns the suspension of disbelief required to enjoy it. This is a very clever episode, and it's clever in the most fun way possible, creating puzzles without telegraphing their solutions and relying on the audience to keep pace with some surprisingly complex ideas. As well, it gives us the best kind of villain--someone who's resourceful, smarter than our heroes give him credit for, easy to empathize with, but not all powerful. Even better, the villain is a familiar face: a character from one of TNG's few strong season two episodes, one whose story we had no real reason to believe we'd be returning to, but whose return here makes perfect sense. In "Elementary, Dear Data," Geordi asked the Enterprise computer to create a holodeck opponent that would be capable of defeating Data in a game of crime and punishment. Data and Geordi had been playing at Sherlock and Watson, only Geordi wasn't impressed by Data's deductive abilities--the android wasn't solving mysteries as much as he was remembering the details of Arthur Conan Doyle's stories and applying them as needed. So, Geordi decided to the up the stakes, and Moriarty (Daniel Davis) was born, the reincarnation of Holmes's greatest foe. Except Moriarty was just fiendishly smart, he was so smart that he was able to deduce the limited realities of his own existence, a program that became self-aware. There was a bit of struggle, Dr. Polaski was briefly kidnapped, and in the end, Picard stepped in, assuring Moriarty that he and the brightest minds of the Federation would get to work to find a way for the holographic human to step into the real world. Jump four years ahead, and Geordi and Data are back to elementarying and game afooting to beat the band. The cold open has a standard "Sherlock pulls together all the evidence scene," except that in Data's triumphant moment, a flaw in the system undoes his reasoning. The holodeck is having problem with spatial relationships, which turns a left-handed character (a character who needs to be left-handed for the story to properly resolve) into a right-handed one. Showing an attention to detail and a foresight which is relatively unheard of when it comes to dealings with the holodeck, Data notes the problem, and gets Barclay to look over the system. In the process of trying to find the problem, Barclay stumbles over a few lines of blocked memory, releases them, and Moriarty pops back in to existence, politely indomitable as ever, and more than a little miffed at being put off for so long. I remember enjoying Davis's first appearance on the show, and he's a lot of fun here as well. What makes the character so effective is he's a mixture of two sci-fi staples: the Frankenstein monster demanding the rights of the living from a creator who doesn't know what to do with him; and a brilliant criminal mastermind. This version of Moriarty isn't evil, and he certainly isn't a patch on his literary inspiration in terms of diabolical intent, but this is the skill-set that the computer has given him. His goal is understandable, and, in its way, admirable: the goal of all sentient life, to be allowed the freedom to aspire to his own destiny. (Or something along those lines. Basically, he wants to get laid and go on a nice vacation, buy, y'know, poetical.) Picard isn't able to grant him this desire, through no fault of the captain's own, and Moriarty responds in the only way he knows how: by taking over the ship and holding it hostage until Picard gives him what he wants. Which Picard can't do, because of those pesky laws of physics. So, we've got the right construction for good conflict, with Moriarty's irresistible force meeting reality's immovable object. "Ship" handles this conflict by introducing a magic trick, and then taking its sweet time to reveal how the trick was done. Moriarty's apparent exit from the holodeck is a great moment, even if you already know the secret of what's happening, because it plays so wonderfully with our expectations. Picard has demonstrated to Moriarty how a seemingly solid object on the holodeck vanishes the instant it hits the real world, but Moriarty determines to walk out the door anyway, arguing that consciousness overrides intangibility. Now, we know that Moriarty isn't just going to disappear; you can't just bring back a major character and vanish him ten minutes into the episode, without any sort of storyline to take his place. But we also know that Moriarty can't simply leave, because that violates one of the show's core principles. We can have magic aliens, we can have god-like beings, but what happens on the holodeck stays on the holodeck. Moriarty "escape," then, is a kind of surprise that sci-fi shows (especially one this long in the tooth) rarely get to pull off. We're trained to expect time travel and wormholes and monsters, but this is, apparently, breaking one of the rules of the reality we've been presented. Even better, Picard is astounded by what he sees, which sells the trick--he's as amazed as we are, and his constant refrain to Moriarty that they have no idea what just happened helps keep the heart of the illusion a secret for longer than it might have been. See, Moriarty doesn't actually exit the holodeck; he just creates a program inside the holodeck to make it look like he's leaving, a program that recreates every other crewmember on board the ship who isn't Picard, Data, or Barclay. And while Picard and the others scramble to find a way to help Moriarty's beloved Countess follow him off the holodeck, Moriarty holds them hostage, even tricking Picard into giving up his access codes so that Moriarty can take control of both the ship in his simulation and the real one. Yes, we could nitpick here. It's an impressive that the ruse lasts as long as it does, and a little unnerving. Data realizes what's going on when he discovers that the fake Geordi, like the character from the Holmes story earlier, is left-handed instead of right-handed. Which means that neither he, Barclay, nor Picard noticed anything different in the personalities of their friends and co-workers. Admittedly they were under some stress and shock at the time, but it's maybe stretching credulity that the computer would be able to recreate everyone else quite so well. Bringing fictional characters to life is one thing, but mimicking the conversational patterns of those nearest and dearest to you? I'll buy it, but I can see having problems with it. Also, it's odd that nobody simply tries to repeat their earlier successes when Moriarty asks Picard to bring the Countess out. Picard resists, in typical Frankenstein fashion, because he doesn't want to move forward before they understand the ramifications of what they've inadvertently accomplished. But once Moriarty holds the ship hostage, why not just ask the Countess to walk off the holodeck like her mate? Couldn't hurt to try. But like I said, these are nitpicks. I enjoyed "Ship," because it uses the holodeck in a way I don't think we've seen before, and because Moriarty's a great character. And man, that ending is just so cool. Picard and the others simply turn Moriarty's game back on him, and program the holodeck inside the holodeck to make yet a third Enterprise, one where both Moriarty and the Countess can leave the confines of their electronic cell, and spend the rest of their lives traveling the galaxy. Maybe it's a little too neat, a little too convenient, but it's such a good-natured ending that I can't really look at it too hard. Moriarty can't really get what he wants (I remember the Doctor on Voyager wandering around outside Sick Bay, but that may just have been because Robert Picardo is awesome), but, instead of being destroyed or exiled back to electronic oblivion, he gets what he needs: universes to explore, and a charming, beautiful companion at his side. As sequels go, this was a fine conclusion to an idea that deserved a second chance. Grade: A- Stray Observations: - Interesting use of Barclay in this episode--he doesn't really do anything, but it's nice to have him around. (And he gets a great last line.) - I love listening to Patrick Stewart and Daniel Davis talk at each other. The enunciation is intense. - Faux-Geordi: "He's brilliant in any century." Also, a bit of an egotist. Next week: Geordi does some investigating of his own in "Aquiel," and Deanna looks in the mirror and finds the "Face of the Enemy."

. According to VARIETY, Tom Cavanagh has inked a deal to play Ranger Smith in YOGI BEAR. The live-action/CG animated film from Warner Bros. has already begun shooting in New Zealand. Zoe Saldana is helping promote AVATAR leading up to its release, saying the movie will match the hype, according to THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. Joshua Jackson will star in UFO, VARIETY reports. Matthew Gratzner will be directing the feature adaptation of the British TV series. Natalie Portman told MTV that Kat Dennings (NICK AND NORAH'S INFINITE PLAYLIST) is on the cast of THOR, but didn't reveal the role she'll be playing. REAL STEEL, which VARIETY describes as a "ROCKY-esque robot tale," will begin filming in June starring Hugh Jackman. Mania.com reports that Sam Worthington will star in a screen adaptation of Radical Publishing's comic THE LAST DAYS OF AMERICAN CRIME. Kenneth Branagh has locked in Stuart Townsend, Ray Stevenson and Tadanobu Asano to play a trio who will fight alongside THOR in the upcoming drama, VARIETY reports. Julian McMahon, Ernest Borgnine, Richard Dreyfuss and Brian Cox are all in talks to join the cast of RED, reports the Heat Vision blog. Two weeks after SAG rejected a similar offer, AFTRA members have ratified a new deal with video game producers, according to THE HOLLYWOOD REPORTER. COMINGSOON.NET reports that Rachel McAdams is a frontrunner for the role of villian Felicia Hardy/Black Cat in the upcoming SPIDER-MAN 4. Cecile de France has signed up to star opposite Matt Damon in HEREAFTER, a supernatural drama helmed by Clint Eastwood, VARIETY reports. Vincent Cassel, Winona Ryder and Barbara Hershey have joined the cast for BLACK SWAN alongside previously announced cast members Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis, SLASHFILM.COM reports. TWILIGHT actress Ashley Greene is in negotiations to star in Dark Castle's THE APPARITION, according to VARIETY. Zach Galifianakis, the breakout star of THE HANGOVER, is in talks to lend his voice to Humpty Dumpty in DreamWorks' PUSS IN BOOTS, reports VARIETY. In her next two columns, Nancy Cartwright has a revealing conversation with legendary casting director, voice director and voice actress Andrea Romano. UGO reports from a recent TRICK 'R TREAT screening that Dylan Baker would be returning as Dr. Curt Connors in SPIDER-MAN 4. Action hero Chow Yun-fat is taking on a role in Jiang Wen's $18 million period comedy Western LET THE BULLETS FLY,. Chris Messina (JULIE & JULIA) has been tapped by Universal to star in DEVIL, which is based on a story concocted by M. Night Shyamalan, reports VARIETY.

"What could be more fun than going to work every day and singing songs like 'All Out of Love' and 'Even the Nights are Better' at the top of your lungs with other fantastic performers?" Craig asks. In "Lost in Love," a man and a woman must choose to follow tradition or live for love as royalty and emerging American wealth collide in early 1900s England. Craig is originating the role of Margo, a young American heiress and hopeless romantic who is caught in a love triangle between a merchant named John Wilson (Justin Matthew Sargent) and Eduardo, an Italian prince (Maroulis). After her initial audition, where she performed a rock song and Air Supply's "All Out of Love," Craig sang with Sargent and Maroulis at callbacks. Grammy-winning Air Supply guitarist-songwriter Graham Russell, who is writing four new songs for the musical, was also in the room. Craig admits that aside from their radio hits, she was not familiar with much of the 1980s soft rock duo's material. "But during the audition process I took some time to really listen and get a feel for the vibe and style of their music," Craig says. "Now that I'm cast, I will actually avoid listening to them too much so I can style the songs to my character first, rather than overly imitate their version. Since this is brand new material, I have a great deal of freedom in how to craft the character, which is always both a treat and a challenge." Rehearsals for "Lost in Love" begin this week, and a staged reading will be performed on Monday, April 23 and Tuesday, April 24 in New York City. Since touring with "Cats," Craig has appeared in regional productions of "Avenue Q," "The Marvelous Wonderettes," and "The King and I" (starring Lorenzo Lamas), as well as the world premiere of "The Legend of Julie Taymor, or The Musical That Killed Everybody" at the New York International Fringe Festival in 2011. She got married last year after meeting her husband on the "Cats" tour; he currently plays bass in the "Mamma Mia!" national tour. Craig will earn her Actors' Equity membership card this summer. Read more about Lynn Craig on BackStage.com.

[tag: science] Dee Spagnuolo focuses on the representation of companies and individuals in all aspects of complex civil litigation, internal investigations in educational and corporate settings, and compliance and regulatory matters. Ms. Spagnuolo has defended clients in civil litigation and criminal investigations involving the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), state and federal false claims acts (FCA), disadvantaged business enterprise (DBE) fraud, and environmental compliance. Ms. Spagnuolo. Ms. Spagnuolo also has extensive experience managing internal investigations, communications with law enforcement, disciplinary proceedings, and the interplay between civil and criminal proceedings in the area of sexual misconduct. Domestic and international clients have included educational institutions, corporations, nonprofit organizations, and religious institutions. As a member of Ballard Spahr's Domestic Extremism Group, Ms. Spagnuolo represents pharmaceutical companies and financial institutions to secure injunctions and contempt orders that curtail activity directed at companies, employees, and employees' families. Ms. Spagnuolo also counsels corporate clients with respect to their internal and external diversity and inclusion policies and practices, with a particular focus on workforce and procurement. Ms. Spagnuolo serves on the firm's Hiring Committee and served two years as Co-Chair of the firm's summer associate program. She also serves as a member of Ballard Spahr's Diversity and Inclusion Council. Prior to law school, Ms. Spagnuolo worked as a college counselor for at-risk youth and as a research assistant for the Say Yes to Education Foundation. She also served for two years as a Peace Corps volunteer in the Dominican Republic. Representative Matters Pro Bono Experience Ms. Spagnuolo has represented a wide range of pro bono clients. She also successfully represented a Costa Rican woman in a Violence Against Women Act petition. She has counseled and trained nonprofit organizations in the areas of child abuse reporting and criminal background policies. In addition, Ms. Spagnuolo serves as the designee for an educational trust for a Dominican-born youth, and as the guardian ad litem for a minor involved in Mann Act litigation against her convicted abuser. Judicial Clerkships Hon. R. Barclay Surrick, U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 2003-2004 Professional Activities American Bar Association Pennsylvania Bar Association Pennsylvania Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers Recognition & Accomplishments Named a Diverse Attorney of the Year, The Legal Intelligencer, 2015 Named a Super Lawyers Penn Co-author, "Look Out! They're Gonna Get YOU: DOJ Going After Individuals in FCPA Prosecutions," Corporate Counsel, March 17, 2010 Co-author, "Eastern District Hands Down Landmark Decision under False Claims Act," Ballard Spahr alert, December 8, 2009 Co-author, "Federal Appeals Court Rejects Free Speech Claims of Animal Rights Activists," Ballard Spahr alert, October 16, 2009 Co-author, "Expansion of False Claims Act Liability Signed into Law by President," Ballard Spahr alert, May 22, 2009 Co-author, "Making It a Summer to Remember," The Legal Intelligencer, June 9, 2008 Speaking Engagements "Legal Challenges: Creative Strategies that Threaten Research," part of "Security: Risks & Reality of Animal Extremism Across the Biomedical Research Community," New Jersey Association of Biomedical Research, October 3, 2012 "Market Trends in Third Party Due Diligence," Ernst & Young General Counsel Roundtable Series, June 13, 2012 "Employee Training," EducationWorks, Inc., Annual Retreat, April 4, 2012 Moderator, "A Powerful Governmental Tool: The False Claims Act," Ballard Spahr LLP and the Philadelphia Young Lawyers Division of the ABA's White Collar Crime Committee, March 23, 2011 "Bridge the Gap" CLE, February 2010 "Addressing Solutions for the Pharmaceutical Industry in Navigating Animal Rights Extremism," Symposium on Global Security, October 2007 Guest lecturer, Drexel University, Earle Mack School of Law Community Activities Bowdoin College Alumni Council Bowdoin Alumni Schools Interviewing Committee (BASIC) Bowdoin Club of Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania Association of Alumnae University of Pennsylvania Law School (J.D. 2003) Class President; Legal Writing Fellow; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of International Economic Law Bowdoin College (A.B. 1996) Languages Pennsylvania U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

> Mortgages > Winter is coming, so Julie Watson has put her husband to work. For the past few weeks, as the air cools and daylight time ends, he busies himself with removing old caulk around the windows, cleaning out leaves and debris from the eaves troughs and removing any obstacles that will cause drifts when the snow starts to accumulate. "It's all about economizing and controlling costs," says Watson. "It's also about being comfortable in the winter." Living in a 30-year-old bungalow in Charlottetown, P.E.I., the couple makes sure their house is toasty warm for the winter. Whether you're living in a bungalow or a town house, there are many check-ups to do before winter sets in. We've amassed a list of seven savvy tips to keep the fires burning and the pipes humming, just as they should, all winter long. Not only will these tips conserve energy, but they'll also save you money in the process. 1. Seal the deal The easiest way to keep the heat inside your home is to seal air leaks. If you're in an older home, hire a professional to test your home for leaks, which costs about $150. To do it yourself, ensure the caulk around windows and weatherstripping around doors are in good condition and replace where necessary. For unused or older windows, seal them using a plastic window-sealer kit, available from most hardware stores for about $20. If you live in an older home, installing storm windows will also give you another layer of protection from the elements. 2. Get ready to heat Furnaces should be checked every year, says Charlie Smolenaars, building supply manager from Rafuse Home Hardware Building Centre in Wolfville, N.S. "You should have your furnace serviced yearly to change the filter and nozzle in the burner to make sure it's working as efficiently as possible," he says. He adds that for those using oil, the annual checks may be tied into your contract with your oil provider. Ottawa resident Judy Scott tops up her fuel early in the season to keep her warm all winter. "We make sure our oil furnace tank and the propane tanks for our propane fireplace are topped up early, before the snow and ice come. When the guys come with the propane tanks, we also have them check and turn on the fireplace," she says. 3. Don't forget about your cooling systemsOn the cooler side of things, air conditioners need attention, too. Partially cover freestanding units, ensuring they can still breathe. For window units, cover them tightly with a cover, and caulk the gaps between the unit and the frame to prevent leaks. Depending on how big your unit is, and how big the gaps are, you may be better off removing it from the window all together until the nicer weather arrives. If you have an air exchanger -- a system that filters and cleans the air inside your home, exchanging the old, inside air with outside air -- it also needs some winter care. "Normally in the summer, a lot of people don't run those systems, so the fall is the best time to change filters and clean it to run properly for the winter," says Smolenaars, who adds that most filter changes require a service technician. 4. Look up at your roofIt's also important to inspect your roof. If you don't have a ladder, use binoculars to visually inspect the roof, making sure there are no sagging or missing shingles. Alongside the house, ensure gutters and eaves troughs are clean. You can have your eaves troughs cleaned professionally (it costs about $80 for an average-sized home) or, for $40, you can invest in the Gutter Blaster, an eight-foot extension for your garden hose. The U-shaped end fits into the trough and blasts out unwanted build-up using the regular pressure from your hose. 5. Look at pipes and holesIf you have pipes, drainage or otherwise, that run outside, keep them warm to prevent freezing. Watson's husband puts a heat cable around his drainage pipes, but you can also buy heat tape, foam rubber sleeves or fiberglass insulation. Inside, make sure you plug every hole you can find. So, for every electrical outlet in the house, buy a liner that acts as extra insulation and fits between the wall and the cover. And even if you don't have kids, plug the outlets with plastic socket inserts. 6. Check your insulationThe largest amount of heat that escapes your house leaves through the attic -- almost 45 percent in fact. So, to prevent your warm air from taking off, ensure your house has adequate insulation. Experts agree that an R-30 rated insulation is the minimum requirement. Newer homes usually have this standard, but older homes may need some new insulation. 7. Pack an emergency kit Don't be caught without supplies for you and your family -- pack an emergency kit before the bad weather arrives. According to the Canadian Red Cross, every kit should include: four litres of water per person per day, enough canned food to last for a few days, a first aid kit, blankets, sleeping bags and a crank-operated radio. Homeowners are notorious for leaving this little detail to the last minute, which means everyone scrambles to the hardware store at the same time if there's a rough winter storm that knocks out the power. Montreal residents were without electricity for days during the 1998 ice storm, with no heat and no lights. Melanie Chambers is a freelance writer based in London, Ont.

Here's another humiliating fact that puts cyclist Lance Armstrong in the history books: He's the richest cheater ever to be stripped of an Olympic medal or championship, according to Bloomberg. Lance Armstrong's newest title: richest Olympic cheater. Before being stripped of his titles by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, the seven-time Tour de France winner earned more than $218 million, Bloomberg reports. The cyclist admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs after vehemently denying the charges for years. In the ensuing pileup of charges and disgrace, he was also stripped of his bronze medal for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney. Other athletes who suffered a similar removal of titles and medals because of the use of performance drugs include runners Marion Jones and Ben Johnson and cyclists Floyd Landis and Alberto Contador. The charity Armstrong founded to help in the fight against cancer, Livestrong, has raised more than $470 million, with Armstrong himself donating $7 million. Though the charity will continue, Armstrong -- its largest private donor -- will likely not have the funds to continue his philanthropic commitment, at least not on the same monetary scale. The list of sponsors who dropped Armstrong is long, including Nike, Oakley, Anheuser-Busch and Trek Bicycle Corp. Endorsements and speaking engagements comprised approximately $180 million of Armstrong's income, according to IEG of Chicago, a sponsorship consultant. Jim Andrews, senior vice president of content strategy at IEG, told Bloomberg that "with the number of companies associated with him, the amount of years and the amount of money that was involved, all told, I just don't see anything that equates to it." Keep up with your wealth and mortgages and follow me on Twitter. Get more news, money-saving tips and expert advice by signing up for a free Bankrate newsletter. As for punishment for his cheating... The money awards and the medals should be given the to second place winner. He already does charity work for cancer so at least his public service is taken care of... Why does everyone think death and destruction (or tar and feathering) are appropriate punishment for his lies? Do you even consider how truly painful that punishment was? Try pouring scalding hot wax on your skin and leave it there. Hurts right? Now imagine heat that is longer lasting and hotter. Add feathers. Now try removing it... Ripping off one's skin and suffering subcutaneous burns that fester and rot... Gee! What a wonderful person you are. Think before you comment. Besides, he had testicular cancer... I don't think he has them to remove. He needs to be striped of all financial gain and the money distributed to the honest participants he cheated. I also thin Tar and feathering appropriate after his testicles have been removed with a quick cut, no anesthesia.

1989 Chicago White Sox From BR Bullpen Record: 69-92, Finished 7th in AL Western Division (1989 AL) Managed by Jeff Torborg Coaches: Terry Bevington, Ron Clark, Sammy Ellis, Walt Hriniak, Dave LaRoche and Glen Rosenbaum [edit] History, Comments, Contributions The 1989 Chicago White Sox finished with the team's worst record since 1976 and endedup in last place in the AL West. Overall, it was a year of transition for the club. The Sox selected slugging first baseman Frank Thomas with their first pick in that year's amateur draft. After nearly a decade with the club, designated hitter Harold Baines was traded to the Texas Rangers on July 29th for outfielder Sammy Sosa and pitcher Wilson Alvarez. Both Sosa and Alvarez would go on to play big roles on the Sox in the years to come. Slick-fielding third baseman Robin Ventura made his big league debut on September 12th and would remain a club mainstay for the next decade. [edit] Awards and Honors - All-Star: Harold Baines - AL Silver Slugger Award: Harold Baines (DH) - Topps All-Star Rookie Team: Carlos Martinez (1B) [edit] 1989 Opening Day Lineup Ozzie Guillen, ss Dave Gallagher, cf Harold Baines, dh Ivan Calderon, rf Greg Walker, 1b Carlton Fisk, c Dan Pasqua, lf Steve Lyons, 2b Eddie Williams, 3b Jerry Reuss, p

Lai-Fa Lee From BR Bullpen Lai-Fa Lee (李來發) (known as Raihatsu Lee in Japan) - Bats Right, Throws Right - Height 5' 10", Weight 176 lb. - Born June 28, 1956 in Chiayi County Taiwan Lai-Fa Lee was a longtime manager and coach in Taiwan. Lee served in Taiwan's military. He represented Taiwan in the 1974 Amateur World Series, 1975 Asian Championship, 1976 Amateur World Series and 1977 Intercontinental Cup. As his homeland had no professional baseball at the time, he took the same path as other players in going to Japan. He spent four years in the Nankai Hawks chain but only two of them in the Pacific League. He was 6 for 33 with two homers and a walk in 1983 and 10 for 41 with two doubles, a homer and five walks in 1983. Overall, he had hit .216/.324/.365 in 25 games as an outfielder in Nippon Pro Baseball. Lee returned to Taiwan as a coach, though he was only in his 20s. He coached for Taiwan in the 1984 Olympics, 1986 Amateur World Series, 1987 Asian Championship, 1987 Intercontinental Cup, 1988 Baseball World Cup, 1988 Olympics and 1989 Asian Championship. During this period, he also was a coach at Fu Jen Catholic University. Lee became Taiwan's manager for the 1989 Intercontinental Cup and held that role for the 1990 Baseball World Cup, 1990 Asian Games, 1991 Asian Championship, 1991 Intercontinental Cup and 1992 Olympics, when they won a Silver Medal. He also was coach of his alma mater in 1991. In 1997, Lee was appointed skipper of the Chinatrust Whales. He was 39-56-1 in 1997, but improved to 54-49-2 in 1998. In 1999, his club was 60-29-2 and made it to the Taiwan Series but fell to the Wei Chuan Dragons. It was the Whales' first trip ever to the Series; they would never take the title. In 2000, the club fell to 41-45-4 followed by 45-45 in 2001, after which Lee was removed from the helm. Lee was a coach for Taiwan in the 2003 World Port Tournament, 2003 Asian Championship and 2004 Olympics. He would coach the Whales' minor league team in 2004-2005, guide the parent club to a 42-51-7 record in 2006 then return to their minor league team in 2007-2008, after which the team folded in a gambling scandal. Lee was 281-274-6 as a manager in the CPBL. Through 2009, he ranked third in league history in victories.

Archive for Thursday, July 30, 2009 Side Pockets closes; blames economy July 30, 2009 As more new businesses pop up in the area, one long-standing Bonner Springs business has finally become a product of the current economy. Side Pockets closed its doors Wednesday, July 22, after being open for almost 4-and-a-half years. With the majority of clientele ranging from plumbers to electricians to construction workers, owner Richard Hawkins said the lack of sales at Side Pockets was reflected in the lack of hours these workers had been receiving of late at their jobs. “As their work has fallen off, a lot of these people are either out of work or working a lot fewer hours,” Hawkins said. “So they don’t have that discretionary income to come here on a regular basis and enjoy our food, our drinks and our pool. And what’s happened is our business has declined from a high three years ago to the point now where we’re probably 38 to 40 percent off of where we were at that time.” That 40 percent drop, Hawkins said, had been enough to close down his bar and grill. He said he had started seeing a decline a year-and-a-half ago, but hadn’t started to worry until this year, when sales began to drop significantly. Though cutbacks were made, last week’s closing was an eventuality he couldn’t have prevented, Hawkins said. “We cut back our payroll, we cut back our overhead, we watched every penny that went out the door, we were as lean as we could be,” Hawkins said. “And yet the economy is such that people didn’t have the money to come out and spend the dollars doing this.” A Side Pockets in Olathe will also be closing its doors, Hawkins said, which still leaves several open in the Kansas City metro area. Some of the Bonner Springs employees will be finding work at one of these locations. For others, the closing has effectively put them out of work and on the hunt for yet another job. “Most of them it’s gonna be too far for them to travel so, consequently, they’ll just have to seek work elsewhere,” Hawkins said. As for Hawkins, he says he will stay afloat. He is co-owner of a Side Pockets in Lenexa and also maintains ownership in Side Pockets Franchise Systems, Inc. He said this may not be the last Bonner Springs has seen of Side Pockets, however. Though too early to tell, possible future uses of the building may include opening up another bar and grill, Hawkins said, or turning it into another Side Pockets once the economy improves. His current situation is one that doesn’t quite defy the idea that people drink more in a recession, but just goes to show that people are more apt to choose the cheaper option of a liquor store than head to their local watering hole when times are tough, Hawkins said. He said it wasn’t a lost cause for anyone interested in opening a new bar at this time, but that it would be hard going, guaranteed. “I think it’s still going to be a tough business market for at least another year, year-and-a-half,” Hawkins said. “And if someone wanted to work through this for that amount of time, and had the wherewithal to do it, than I would say good luck to ‘em.” Hawkins said, for him, that waiting game was one he simply wasn’t interested in playing anymore. “Being 65 years of age, I don’t have the patience to wait for the comeback if you will,” he said. Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content. Commenting has been disabled for this item.

Row over publicity for care home fee refund deadline Thousands of families are at risk of missing the chance to claim back wrongly paid care home fees, Age Cymru has claimed. It accused the Welsh government of not adequately publicising the 31 July deadline to claim refunds from the NHS for the costs of continuing healthcare. More than £50m has been reimbursed over the last 10 years after many elderly people were forced to sell their homes. The Welsh government said it had "proactively publicised" the deadline. Appeal The NHS is responsible for paying the fees for people who receive care primarily for health reasons, regardless of the person's financial circumstances or whether the care was in a nursing home or in their own home. This is known as NHS Continuing Healthcare. Many people did not claim the payments because they did not know they could or because they were told they did not qualify for the funding. People who paid for nursing care between 1 April 2003 and 31 July 2013 have until the end of this month register their intent to appeal and then until 31 December complete and submit their documentation. Powys Teaching Health Board, which has been running a pan-Wales scheme for retrospective claims, has paid £50m since 2004. In some cases, local health boards have dealt with claims directly. It said 83% of the 1,375 cases administered by the scheme have resulted in a refund of part or all of the care fees. Now, shadow health minister Darren Millar is calling for the Welsh Government to extend the deadline for people to claim back money. He said: "The 31 July deadline should now be extended by three months to give the thousands of relatives, many of whom are elderly and vulnerable, the opportunity to claim back five figure care home bills they never should have been made to pay. "An extended deadline would give Labour ministers and Local Health Boards the chance to re-double their efforts and properly publicise how families can have their claims fairly assessed and be appropriately reimbursed." 'Never a burden' Viv Roberts, from Aberdare, managed to claim back more than £80,000 after his sister-in-law Eileen Puc was denied funding for care. Mrs Puc, who had worked for the NHS, was forced to sell her house in order to pay the fees for the nursing home that she lived in before she died in 2009. She was immobile after three strokes, was diabetic, could not speak and was partially sighted. When she was assessed for continuing healthcare she was told that she was not entitled to any funding. However, that decision was overturned following three appeals and two complaints to the Public Services Ombudsman. But the delay in funding meant Mrs Puc's home had to be sold to pay the nursing home fees. Mr Roberts said the experience was "traumatic". "These people cannot look after themselves anymore but they worked 40, 50 years," he said. "They paid their taxes and their national insurance contributions and were never a burden to society and when it came to their case, for them to be looked after, they had to pay for themselves." Age Cymru's head of policy and public affairs, Graeme Francis, said: "I don't think there's been a huge amount of pro-active publicity given about this deadline. "I think that's wrong because people need to have the right information and need to know whether they can apply or they might miss the opportunity. "I think there's been reluctance in the past or an attempt by the NHS to manage its budgets and to try and avoid liabilities to pay for people's care. "Ultimately, that doesn't serve them or the people that are getting the care in the long run." The Welsh government denied failing to alert people to the limited time left to claim refunds. "We wrote to a range of bodies throughout the health, local government, user groups and the independent sector - including Age Cymru - announcing to them the new arrangements." a spokesperson said. "Local health boards worked with their own communications teams to distribute these materials. Welsh government has placed adverts in 12 newspapers across Wales."

London considers Commonwealth Games bid Olympics legacy bosses are considering a bid for London to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games. After the success of last year's Olympic and Paralympic games, organisers said they were "thinking hard about it". The Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park would be the centrepiece of the bid. London Mayor's adviser on Olympic legacy, Neale Coleman, said Lord Coe, who spearheaded the games, thought the idea would be a "fantastic follow-up". He added that the bid was in its early stages. "It's a great event, it brings people together in a very unique and special way and it's the sort of event that we would certainly hope the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park will stage one year or another in the future," he said. Mayor's backing 'fundamental' England last staged the Commonwealth Games in Manchester in 2002, while the next Commonwealth Games will be held in 2014 in Glasgow. "We need to make sure it's something that will be welcomed across the Commonwealth," Mr Coleman continued. "We wouldn't go into it unless we believe we could win it." "The mayor's decision to back this is fundamental. It really will come down to whether the mayor sees this as a priority and believes it's something it's worth London doing," he said. Following on from the Games, the Olympic Stadium has a series of events lined up later this year. Jay Z and Justin Timberlake are set to headline the Wireless music festival there while Bruce Springsteen will play the Hard Rock Calling Festival, also staged at the stadium In 2017, the World Athletics Championships and the Paralympic Athletics World Championships are to be held at the stadium. Legacy bosses are also in talks with West Ham Football Club about it moving into the stadium, probably from the 2016-17 season. If this goes ahead, Mr Coleman said a Commonwealth Games would not interfere with the football club's ability to hold Premiership matches.

Update: As of June 1, Bruce Jenner has officially announced that she would like to be known as Caitlyn. We have updated this blog to reflect her name change and pronoun usage. Since coming out last month as a transwoman during her interview with Diane Sawyer on 20/20, former Olympian, track and field athlete, and TV personality Caitlyn Jenner has cast more light on gender identity. Her celebrity status grants her a privileged position to do so and has been propelling a paradigm shift in American society’s regard toward the standard female/male dichotomy. That Jenner came out to millions of viewers while still phenotypically male is encouraging. In fact, she inspired singer and actress Miley Cyrus to come out and admit her non-binary gender. These and the stories of others give guidance and hope to those living between and outside of the narrow definitions of masculine and feminine. If you or someone you know is at the crossroads of gender identity, we would like to share some books and resources that we hope will be helpful in the journey. Matt Kailey lived as a straight woman for forty-two years until he took the steps toward becoming a man. In Just Add Hormones,he shares the story of his transformation through surgery and hormone therapy, the change in the behavior of others because of his new gender identity, and the transition towards acceptance of one’s self as a person who straddles two genders. For those who have been questioning their gender, Kailey’s book is full of sound advice and answers all the questions you may have about what it’s like to live as a transsexual. Trans Liberation is a collection of activist Leslie Feinberg’s inspirational speeches in which ze calls for acceptance and tolerance for those who live at the boundary of sex and gender expression. Pointing out the similarities between the struggles of the trans and gay, lesbian and bi communities, Feinberg advocates for respect towards the cross-dressers, transsexuals, intersex persons, Two Spirits, drag kings and drag queens. It’s hard to believe that the world lost Matt Kailey and Leslie Feinberg just last year, but we hope their lives and work continues to inspire and help others. In My Gender Workbook, author, performance artist, playwright, and gender outlaw Kate Bornstein provides a hands-on, accessible guide to help readers discover their own gender identity. Through quizzes, exercises, and puzzles, you may discover that you’re a “real man”, a “real woman”, or “something else entirely”. Professor J. Jack Halberstam appoints Lady Gaga as a symbol for the new era of gender identity in Gaga Feminism: Sex, Gender, and the End of Normal. With the burgeoning influence of pregnant men, late-life lesbians, SpongeBob SquarePants, and queer families in the twenty-first century, gender and sexual politics have broken away from the status quo of heteronormativity. Halberstam urges readers to embrace the gender and sexual fluidity of the new feminism that Lady Gaga embodies. Our parent organization, the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), offers a Transgender 101: Identity, Inclusion, and Resources section on their website that includes a list of ten ways to be more welcoming and inclusive of transgender people, basic gender identity definitions, films for congregational viewing, and much more. You may also be interested in Standing on the Side of Love, a public advocacy campaign sponsored by the UUA that participates in LGBTQ activism. The campaign’s mission is to challenge exclusion, oppression, and violence based on sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, race, religion, or any other identity.

Director Thankar Bachan is known for his poignant tales of human relationships on celluloid and he follows the same syntax in Ammavin Kaipesi too which is a cinematic adaptation of his own literary work of the same name. Thankar is identified for his uncompromising styles of film making and Ammavin Kaipesi is no exception either. AK is about the boundless love of a mom towards her youngest wastrel of a son and his tryst with life to prove a point to the world. The pain that a mom feels on being forced to evict her son out and then suffer his absence are all well etched out by Thankar. And a cell phone plays a significant role in the film justifying the title. For Thankar, traversing in the intricate emotional by lanes is just a sweep and he does that in AK too. The ironical aspect of what happens to mom and son is very interesting and is a typical Thankar style. The pace is leisurely but at points, brisk especially in the second half. The director’s passion for nativity is well known and praise points are due to the film’s real feel approach in showcasing the customs and practices of rural Tamil Nadu. Casting is one of the highlights of Ammavin Kaipesi where every artist from the core to the periphery has done their job convincingly. For Shanthanoo, AK would be a milestone in his career graph that has essayed the role of Annamalai with deep understanding and an apt body language. Iniya delivers it right but the young girl is on the road of getting typecast as village belle. Thankar as the money crazy and spineless Prasad is a good choice and he earns brownie points in the scenes with his wife and also later as the guilt ridden man on a mission. Meenal, Azhagam Perumal and Revathy are adequate as support cast. AK abounds in maudlin moments and such melodrama on the lines of television soap may prove pure poison at the cash counters and with the contemporary audience. The film certainly has a succulent story line but sadly the narrative style, the premise and the presentation are not in tune with current sensibilities. Entertainment value is minimal in Ammavin Kaipesi which appears quite lengthy at 152 minutes. Close to climax, the director builds his tempo in untangling the knot and if this pace was uniform, AK may have fared better. Rohit Kulkarni’s background score is neat and ‘enna senju pore’s melodious rhythm is soothing. A few songs appear quite forced like the one which involves Thankar and his wife Meenal. Even the item number types in the initial scene are also unwarranted. Thankar’s cinematography is functional and his frames are good. For audience who patronize, Thankar’s work, Ammavin Kaipesi does not disappoint. For the main stream entertainment expecting populace, AK will prove to be a different experience. Verdict: Thankar Bachan’s style of film that works in parts

My First ColdFusion 8 CFFTP Experience - Rocky But Triumphant Yesterday, I performed my first ever ColdFusion CFFTP task. I've needed to perform FTP tasks from ColdFusion before but required sFTP functionality, which was only added in ColdFusion 8. As such, until now, I have only ever used third-party utilities. I got the ColdFusion 8 secure FTP to work, but it took me a while to figure it out all. I am sure others will run into similar road blocks, so I thought I'd share my learnings. The first thing we want to do is create a large test file to upload (PUT) to our FTP account: - <!--- Get the file name of this test file. ---> - <cfset strFilePath = ExpandPath( "./test.txt" ) /> - <!--- - Create a really large file. We need to do this because a - small file will be uploaded no matter what the timeout it - on the CFFTP. - ---> - <cfsavecontent variable="strText"> - <cfloop index="intI" from="1" to="100000" step="1" - >This is a really large file with a massive amount of text. - </cfloop> - </cfsavecontent> - <!--- Write the text to the test file. ---> - <cffile - action="write" - file="#strFilePath#" - output="#strText#" - /> Here, we are just creating a file path (to be used throughout this example) and writing about 6 MB of data to it. It is important that the file be large because that's when things get a little bit more exciting. The next thing we need to do is define our connection properties. We could do this inline with the ColdFusion 8 CFFTP tag, but using the AttributeCollection gives us the ability to cache the connection information in our site's configuration mechanism: - <!--- Set up the FTP configuration. ---> - <cfset objFTPProperties = { - Server = "****************", - Port = "***", - Username = "bnadel", - Secure = true - } /> Ok, now that we have our test file and our sFTP configuration object in place (for use with the tag's AttributeCollection), let's go ahead and try to upload (PUT) the file to the remote FTP server: - <!--- - Now that the file has been written, we need to FTP it. - Let's create a connection object that will be used for - the following FTP commands. - When we name this connection, "objConnection", ColdFusion - caches the connection and allows us to execute future FTP - commands on this connection without passing in login - credentials or configuration. - ---> - <cfftp - action="open" - connection="objConnection" - attributeCollection="#objFTPProperties#" - /> - <!--- "Put" the SQL file to cached connection. ---> - <cfftp - action="putfile" - connection="objConnection" - localfile="#strFilePath#" - remotefile="/home/bnadel/#GetFileFromPath( strFilePath )#" - transfermode="auto" - /> - <!--- Close the connection. ---> - <cfftp - action="close" - connection="objConnection" - /> There's a couple of things going on here. First, we are naming our sFTP connection, "objConnection." By doing this, it gets ColdFusion 8 to cache to the connection to the FTP server. This allows us to execute additional FTP commands on the cached connection without using our configuration attributes. That is why only the OPEN command uses the AttributeCollection; the PUT and CLOSE commands simply refer to the name of the cached connection. Simple enough, right? Unfortunately, this does not work. When running the above code, ColdFusion throws the following exception: An error occurred during the sFTP putfile operation. Error: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. java.io.IOException: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. Ok, that make sense; I'm uploading a 6 MB file and the default timeout for FTP commands is 30 seconds. To fix this, I went to increase the timeout of the PUT command to 300 seconds (5 minutes): - <!--- - "Put" the SQL file to cached connection. This time, put - a 5 minute timeout on the PUT command. This should be more - than enough to handle the file size. - ---> - <cfftp - action="putfile" - connection="objConnection" - localfile="#strFilePath#" - remotefile="/home/bnadel/#GetFileFromPath( strFilePath )#" - transfermode="auto" - timeout="300" - /> The connection is really fast so 5 minutes should be no problem for 6 MB. However, when I integrated this PUT file with the above example, I got the same exact error: An error occurred during the sFTP putfile operation. Error: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. java.io.IOException: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. Maybe 5 minutes wasn't enough. I tried pumping it up to 8 minutes. Still no luck. After pouring over the ColdFusion live docs for a while, it suddenly occurred to me: the timeout attribute doesn't go on the PUT command. I don't know if this is true for one-off commands, but when we are using a ColdFusion cached connection (named connection), the Timeout attribute must be included in the OPEN command. This way, the Timeout will define the timeout of all commands executed on that cached connection. So, no problem, I went ahead and put the Timeout in the OPEN CFFTP command: - <!--- - Now that the file has been written, we need to FTP it. - Let's create a connection object that will be used for - the following FTP commands. - This time, let's move the TimeOut property to the OPEN - command. This will put the timeout property into our - cached connection object for use on all commands. - When we name this connection, "objConnection", ColdFusion - caches the connection and allows us to execute future FTP - commands on this connection without passing in login - credentials or configuration. - ---> - <cfftp - action="open" - connection="objConnection3" - timeout="300" - attributeCollection="#objFTPProperties#" - /> - <!--- "Put" the SQL file to cached connection. ---> - <cfftp - action="putfile" - connection="objConnection3" - localfile="#strFilePath#" - remotefile="/home/bnadel/#GetFileFromPath( strFilePath )#" - transfermode="auto" - /> - <!--- Close the connection. ---> - <cfftp - action="close" - connection="objConnection3" - /> I was feeling confident when I refreshed the page. As it was running, I monitored the progress of the FTP upload using FileZilla. Every few seconds, I would refresh the remote directory listing in FileZilla to see how big the file size was. When it got to 6 MB, I was excited - it has worked! But then, I was shocked to switch back to the web page and find the following error: The request has exceeded the allowable time limit Tag: cfftp. The error occurred on line 210. An error occurred during the sFTP putfile operation. Error: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT. java.io.IOException: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT When I saw the line: putFile operation exceeded TIMEOUT ... I assumed the FTP just timed out again. So I increased the Timeout value and ran it again. And, once again, the same problem - the file finished uploading according to FileZilla, but the page kept reporting that the PUT command timed out. What was going on? I started looking at the log files and messing with the timeout value and going back over the documentation. What had I missed?!? It seemed to be both working and failing at the same time? Then it occurred to me! The above error is actually telling us two things: the PUT file exceeded the timeout and the request had exceeded the allowable time limit. Of course! The request! This time, it wasn't the FTP command that was timing out, it was the page itself. What was happening was that the ColdFusion sFTP PUT command was finishing properly, but when it returned, the executing page timed out. The fix for this was simple: - <!--- - Give the page some extra time to execute since we are going - to be executing some large FTP commands. - ---> - <cfsetting requesttimeout="300" /> By increasing both the timeout of the cached CFFTP connection as well as the timeout of the page, everything went smoothly. So, it was a bit of a rocky start with ColdFusion 8's CFFTP tag, but once I got all the kinks ironed out, I had some pretty powerful functionality. I won't bother putting this in the example, but after I was done testing, I moved this into a CFThread tag so that it could run asynchronously as part of a list of scheduled tasks. By putting the CFFTP command in a CFThread, it eliminated the need for the CFSetting tag. ColdFusion threads launched using CFThread do not have a timeout; therefore, only the timeout of the CFFTP connection needs to be considered. have a small nitpick: "There's a couple of things going on here. First, we are naming our sFTP connection, "objConnection." By doing this, it gets ColdFusion 8 to cache to the connection to the FTP server." The way you wrote this makes it seem like naming your connection "objConnection" is doing something magical. Maybe it's the use of the quotes. I also don't think it's a 'caching' mechanism as much as it is a naming of a thread. Connection is an optional thing, but if you don't supply a connection name, CF will make one for itself. Quote from the CFDocs: Name of the FTP connection. If you specify the username, password, and server attributes, and if no connection exists for them, ColdFusion creates one. Calls to cfftp with the same connection name reuse the connection. The biggest thing I ran into when I upgraded to CF 8 was that CF 8 required the connection attribute but the error you get without it "Null, Null" doesn't give you a clue that that is the problem. @Todd, I was just referencing some of the documentation: When you establish a connection with cfftp action="open" and specify a name in the connection attribute, ColdFusion caches the connection so that you can reuse it to perform additional FTP operations. When you use a cached connection for subsequent FTP operations, you do not have to specify the username, password, or server connection attributes. The FTP operations that use the same connection name automatically use the information stored in the cached connection. Using a cached connection helps save connection time and improves file transfer performance..... Changes to a cached connection, such as changing retryCount or timeout values, might require reestablishing the connection. Maybe I am using weird wording, but I was trying to get the above sentiment across. And, as I am new to the CFFTP world, I am not aware of all the ins-and-outs. @Ian, Yeah, the Null Null error on anything is frustrating :) Thanks for writing up your experience with this. I just migrated to CF 8 and had this exact problem. Your instructions on solving it saved me a lot of time figuring it out. @Chris, Glad to help multiple FTP calls. HTH, Tom As always, thanks for figuring this out for us! Hi Ben I was reading this post now and I saw a reference to the "retryCount" property of CFFTP. I did some research into this and I must admit the documentation relating to this property is very minimal. What I am wondering is: 1) Does this ONLY apply to the "open" action of CFFTP or other tags, as I've only seen it referenced in the "open" action. 2) If so, does this simply ensure that if a connection can't be established, that it tries [retrycount] number of times to establish the connection OR Does this mean that ANY CFFTP action attempt that fails (e.g. action="putfile") will retry [retrycount] number of times?? Any idea? I was just laying in bed thinking about how to handle FTP file resumes if a file upload should get disrupted somehow and then I saw this post and reference to the "retrycount" property and was wondering if this is what I need? :) Thanks Thanks for this post, I was about to shoot myself in the face. Hi Ben, Here's a great post on CF8 and a file size issue here: I wasn't sure how big a file CF8 would manage to transfer without timing out as i've had troubles with reading large 400meg xml files. Any ideas on how to receive a response on the progress of the file? Cheers @Leigh, I am confused as to what you are asking. This post was about FTP, but the link you listed was about HTTP. Are you asking about timing out in FTP or HTTP? rethink your structuring a little bit better I know that is killing your server when you request that file. effect the CFFTP but i could be wrong? I've had trouble in the past with CF timing out when reading large xml files, but haven't attempted to copy large files at all. I have a current client system that generates a massive XML file of property data (full push) which came to 400meg! This is a seperate issue i face in CF as i believe a COM object on a windows server is a solution after doing some research on how to read large files. *The xml is also encased inside a zip file full of images. I've found i can only read into CF around 3.7 meg of XML data in 10mins before it times out. Leigh Is there anything else that must be set-up/configured to allow ColdFusion 8 to establish a secure FTP connection? I have set-up multiple tests with various code configurations, each test results in a "User Authentication failed" error. I can connect to the secure FTP server using CoreFTP or psFTP which confirms my user parameters, server, and port are correct. @JFC, From the docs, it looks like all you need to do is set secure="true" in the CFFTP tag. If you need to get more complex, it looks like you might need to generate some secure private key stuff: I have not worked with SFTP very much. Handy article..Ben you may also want to set the fingerprint parameter to the cfftp tag for SFTP.. <cfsetting requesttimeout="600" /> <cfftp action = "open" username = "***" connection = "**********" fingerprint = "40:12:77:67:43:bb:2f:71:06:b8:3b:b7:ee:v5:ee:31" server = "111.11.111.111" secure = "yes" timeout="300"> use Bitvise Tunnelier to get the fingerprint for your SFTP login put in syntax to be run on the ftp server, so in this instance I'm running the following: <cfftp connection="Myftp" action="site" actionparam="LITERAL SITE LRECL=2088 RECFM=FB CYLINDERS PRIMARY=3 SECONDARY=1"> Works great in CF8, the problem is that our production environment is still running CF7 and, unfortunately, we do not have plans to upgrade in the near future. Do you know of any similar commands in CF7 that I could use to accomplish this task? Any guidance would be much appreciated. Chuck @Chuck, Unfortunately, that is beyond my understanding. I've never even seen the Site feature before. If I come across anything, I'll let you know. Hi Ben! I do not if i should ask this question or not, but i am bit in complexity. Can we use cfftp to upload multiple files and insert the same in the database too at the same time. is This possible. Ben, I've been able to make the ftp connection to the server ok. but I'm having trouble uploading a file to a remote server. I have the correct path on the remote server and that looks ok. what I'm having trouble with is I use a form to look up the file I want to upload, which give a honking long filename, nothing like the real filename. I always get an error that says it can't make the file. any suggestions on what's going on here? @Terri, The most common problem people have with uploading files in CF is they fail to account for the cffile variable. This article sums it up pretty nicely:. Check your code and see if this might be the issue. The tip was the "honking long filename." :) Terri, Just double check you have the correct permissions on the folder..sometimes easy to overlook You could test with a normal upload function to see if you can write files ok @Terri, If it is giving you a really long file name, it's probably giving you the .TMP file path (extracted from the FORM). What you need to do is actually save the file to disk first (using CFFILE) and then upload the destination file. Chris and Ben, Have you guys tried to secure ftp into a unix box using just the username and pub/pivate key access methods? @Tony, I have not tried that. tag. @Ben, ok thanks.... @Chris, are you using the "username/key" instead of "username/password"??? Hi Tony, we are using username/password/fingerprint. Sorry if the previous post was unhelpful. @Chris, any input on this is helpful. I appreciate the response! seems to have solved the problem. @Roman, Glad you got it working; ColdFusion is sometimes funny that way, in that it won't timeout while a 3rd party interaction is executing; it will only timeout once that process has returned. Perhaps this has been mentioned before on your blog but I didn't have luck Googling for it. I just resolved an issue that's pretty trivial but misleading and figured I'd put it here so someone else can find the solution. So, I had FTP code written that worked perfectly fine. I know I hadn't changed the code - but I had changed related code. Basically the code would connect, change to a directory, put a file, close the connection. Simple, right? Well, it wasn't working. It basically connected and timed out -- similar to what Ben talks about. However, the circumstances were different than what Ben talks about. I connected to the FTP server with FileZilla and found out the file was created but it had a filesize of 0 bytes. Long story short, I upgraded to Windows 7 from Windows Vista and Windows 7 Firewall hates ColdFusion FTP out of the box -- it's fine with making a connection and creating a file.. but sending file content gets blocked. I added a rule and all was well. first time I tried the windows 7 firewall asked me and I opened it up, really wish it would do that when cfftp tries. Control Panel > Windows Firewall > Advanced Settings Inbound Rules > New Rule Program > Next This program path: %SystemDrive%\ColdFusion\d\runtime\bin\jrun.exe > Next Allow the connection > Next Your preference > Next Name: JRun Free Reign > Next > Finish Repeat for Outbound Rules. That's what I did on my development machine... which is obviously pretty open. For production, you'll probably want to go with Custom rule creation and set up ports for FTP (20, 21, etc.). For a complete list, there's this: and Google. :) Good luck! ok i got it to work. i needed to point the file instead of the key value. @Josh Olson, Thanks a bunch for the Firewall help. Oh and keep up the great work Ben. I lost count how many times I've found an answer to a question or problem about Coldfusion on your site. I am using the following code to transfer files from one server to another and used it successfully in the past to transfer files of sizes close to 100 MB but I have recently been upgrading the code and having trouble getting back response once file is transferred. File do get transferred but coldfusion page keep showing the the same page as transfer is happening. If I stop the execution of page and then try doing it again, I start to get error page after long time with cflock errors. Do you have any idea why is it happening? <cfftp action="open" server = "#request.Server#" username = "#request.Username#" password = "#request.Password#" timeout = "3600" connection = "ftpconnect" passive="no" stoponerror="yes" /> <cfftp action="existsdir" connection="ftpconnect" directory="#request.FTPDir#/#arguments.FileID#"> <cfif cf eq 'no'> <cfftp action="createdir" connection="ftpconnect" directory="#request.FTPDir#/#arguments.FileID#"> </cfif> <cfftp action="existsdir" connection="ftpconnect" directory="#UploadDirectory#"> <cfif cf eq 'no'> <cfftp action="createdir" connection="ftpconnect" directory="#UploadDirectory#"> </cfif> <cfftp action="putfile" connection="ftpconnect" localfile="#SourceDirectory#\#arguments.FileToUpload#" remotefile="#UploadDirectory#/#arguments.FileToUpload#" transfermode="auto" /> <cfftp action="close" connection="ftpconnect"> <cflocation url="mainpage.cfm" addtoken="no"> @Omer, At a glance, nothing looks off. What kind of upgrades have you been making to the code? Chuck, Thank you! Worked like a charm on the first attempt and really got our team around an ugly problem. Sandra we have an ftp process that moves files from one server to another. I want to give the user the ability to browse the folder they want to ftp to the other server. I have not had any luck getting this to work. Since the folders are in different locations each time they want to ftp them it would be easier for the user to be able to browse to the folder and select it. I have tried letting the user select a file in the directory and then trying to read the directory, but ColdFusion just gives me a temporary folder to upload from. Is this a security feature of Windows? Mike @Mike, I am not sure I understand what's going on. How is the person browsing for the directory? Nice this worked perfectly fine for me. and @ Mike, please rephrase your problem as I would like to help answer it though I couldn't clearly visualize your problem I was using cf9 ftp functions do download files from an msftp server. Last month something changed on the remote server, now nothing downloads. I think the remote server may be using virtual directories now. When I make the connection and do a "listDir" its empty. For some reason when cfftp logs in, it doesn't get forwarded into the correct directory. Getcurrentdir shows "/" and should show "/myusername" Any Ideas? Thanks Ben. I had the same issue you mention in this post with CF9. After doing everything you mentioned, I still got the dreaded "Error: putfile operation exceeded timeout." error. I am using a named connection. After some searching, I found (Kumar Chandan's post from 02 May 2008 09:48 GMT), which gave me the idea to add a timeout attribute to the putfile operation (in addition to the open operation). After adding this, it worked. Going off of your example, here is the updated code: When you first decide to start an online business, you will probably find it very overwhelming. wedding shoes bridal There are many aspects to deciding which is the best way for you earn an income with online marketing.The best way to market your any product burberry heart to get the most exposure is through your own website. This can be very challenging and sometimes confusing. The first thing you need to do is get a domain name for your wholesale designer purses website, and then you have to decide on a company to host your website. A lot of the hosting companies will provide coach belts templates included in your package for you to build your website on.If you already know how to build a website, carnival shoes you are away ahead of the game. If you do not, you now have the task of learning how to do it, or hire a web designer and programmer to do the job for you. This can be very expensive. You then need to decide which product or service you want to handbag or purse promote on your website, and decide how coach garnet satchel you want to handle payments, shipping, etc.Today, there is another option to setting up an online marketing business. Many entrepreneurs have discovered online turnkey business opportunities.Online turnkey business opportunities are ready to go businesses. All the complicated business programming is already done for you. The website pages are already loaded with product for you to sell, and all you have to do is download the entire website to versace bags your computer. You can be ready to operate your online ugg lynnea boots business on the same day, sometimes in an hour or less.Some turnkey business opportunities do charge a fee for start up, but others do not. Some require you to get your own domain name, but this is easy and very inexpensive. Having your own domain name also gives you more control over your website. Most of the turnkey businesses will tell you that marie osmond handbags you either need have them host your website, or they will tell you who they want you to use. This is still way less expensive, and of course way less time consuming than building your own website.When you make the decision that an online turnkey business is for you, there are several things you need to look for when deciding which one is best for you. There are many online turnkey businesses out there, you need to make sure that you are getting a business that is going to provide you with products and services that are in demand. This will make selling a lot easier for you.Before signing up for an online turnkey business, find out what the requirements are to join that company. It is always a good idea to thoroughly research several companies that are offering online turnkey businesses before deciding which one is best for you. You also need to make sure that the company you decide on offers ongoing support and training. This will help you to succeed in your endeavors.Having all these things covered will give you time to market your turnkey website. You will need to promote your products and promote your turnkey website. Once your website is in a really good position on search engines, you will see the money start to roll in.An online turnkey business will save you time, and give you a professional website to market products. Be patient, and work at promoting your turnkey website and soon your will have a wonderful profitable online business.To learn more about turnkey websites and a guide to other online business ideas, please visit us I typically shy away from watching American Idol. I find watching peoples hopes dashed by 'judges' lynnea ugg akin to watching humans flayed by gladiators to the amusement of the dullard populace. Parenthetically, I wonder how the objectively questionable voices of legends: Louis Armstrong, Neil mbt mall Young, Bob Dylan or Robert Plant would survive the scrutiny of the bastions of talent assessment found in judges: Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson, and Paula Abdul. Paula Abdul. My automatic grammar checker is authentic gucci bags telling me that the sentence "Paula Abdul." on its own is a sentence fragment; I couldn't disagree with it more in this context. In fact, I find it spin shoes to be a full paragraph. While I find the show irksome, mustering the power to 'turn the buy headphones other cheek' is about as hard as turning to another channel and as such, I wholesale designer inspired handbags haven't, until recently, paid it much mind. However, when this show chose to wax moral, wireless audio headphones I perked up my ears because when a Fox Network program discusses morals, this is bound to be something I want to tune into. (Words fail to express the sarcasm of the previous sentence.) The Fox Network is the same network which brought you the tasteful tidbit "Who Wants to Marry a Millionaire?" and is the official station of George W. Bush and his war to eradicate weapons of mass destruction. (In a strange twist of fate, the largest [and only] weapon of mass destruction after the year 2000 in Iraq turned out to be George W. Bush himself.) This is the network that sought to sanction contestant Antonella Barba on American Idol after it was revealed she had some scandalous photographs found on the internet. Barba man purse was voted off the show, but it was her voice that was cited as the final cause. Nonetheless, American Idol has previously removed a contestant "Frenchie" after pictures surfaced of her on an adult pay site.A Google search of either girl will reveal l.credi handbags cheap chan. burberry outlet In turn, the only take home message one can glean about the state of American morals from all this is that Americans are fine with boobs only so long as one doesn't post pictures of them on the internet and instead elects them to office. As you can see, in the end equation Y = 280X, which means that Y, life coach jobs or the total cost is a function of the number of cousins, which is 'X'. Here the domain is the number of his cousins while the range mbt safiri chill is the value of total shopping cost, as a function of number of cousins that he buys clothes for! I have been reading this thread and it's comments for awhile now. I am still getting the exceeding time out error here is my code Any idea why it is not working still? @Alexander - May be you are missing "/" in your local or remote path? @Meensi, I tried adding and removing slashes but they are correct. Wouldn't I be getting a different error if the paths were incorrect? @Alexander, try adding passive=true This was what caused me to keep getting timeouts when I was doing cfftp in the past. I tried running the code but I am getting an error on connection open command. The error message is: An error occurred while establishing an sFTP connection. Verify your connection attributes: username, password, server, fingerprint, port, key, connection, proxyServer, and secure (as applicable). Error: java.net.ConnectException: Connection refused: connect. I tried connecting to FTP using the same credentials using FTP client and it connected successfully. I guess my server doesn't support SFTP connections. What should I do to make my server support SFTP as well? Hey Ben, I'm using cfftp to open a connection and put some files on a server. Now I need to list some files and be able to download them, using the atribute action = getfile. What I intend to do is, when the user click the link, the 'Save as' dialog box opens, and allows to choose where to save the file, but in cfftp tag, I have to use the "localfile" to set file's destination. Do you know some way to make it work with the dialog box? Thank you in advance! This is driving me nuts. I can make one connection to the SFTP server. Just one. Any further attempts to connect to it just hang until, well, forever, so far as I can tell. At least until I forcibly restart coldfusion. I know the hanging has lasted at least 36 hours, which I'm pretty sure is longer even than the underlying timeout in the JVM. That's about as long as I was willing to let it go. Even using CFThread doesn't seem to make a difference. One SFTP connection, one time, then it's done. I need to do an SFTP using CF7 (I know). I see Ben says he used a third party utility. Is there a post about how to do that? Our production has not been updated to CF10 yet and I need to apply these SFTP changes now. Thanks for any assistance. Thanks for your valuable posting, it was very informative. Am working in <a> Construction Management System In Chennai <.

BECKET -- Although there were nearly 20 crashes in Berkshire County related to icy conditions and snow, only one person was reportedly injured. Just after 6 p.m., a white Chevy Silverado pickup truck hit a pole on the right side of Main Road before swerving into the other lane and hitting a tree, Becket Police Officer Tyler Miller said at the scene. The driver abandoned the car, leaving it parked on top of a mailbox before fleeing into the woods, Miller said. The driver was spotted by nearby residents and reportedly looked injured, according to dispatchers on the police scanner. It was unknown if the driver of the vehicle was the owner. Becket police were still looking for the driver at 9 p.m. Although many Berkshire County residents woke up Saturday morning to roughly an inch of snow, traffic conditions were nearly optimal with road crews working quickly to clear the streets. Officials said there were at least 17 motor vehicle accidents throughout the day -- 10 in Pittsfield and seven in the Great Barrington area -- be cause of the road conditions, but all were considered "minor" and no one was injured. According to the National Weather Service the snow isn't expected beyond this afternoon and Berkshire County is in for a big temperature swing Monday and Tuesday. Meteorologist Brian Mont gomery said Saturday's storm was just a "prelude to the warmer air system" coming in today. "The clouds will stick around but the temperatures are on the rise," he said. Monday temperatures shou ld be in the lower 50s for most of Berkshire County and Tuesday could see near-record highs in the low 60s, Montgomery said. "It'll be a flip-flop week between temperatures," he said. "But all in all it's a great start to December no matter what kind of weather you prefer."

What did Eric and Dara Trager tell Mike Rowe they had done in their earlier lives before buying the snake farm? Met each other in chiropractic school What was Mike Rowe doing to an alligator when Jarrod criticized him for not being intimidating enough to the animal? Tapping its nose with a pole What did the third python do while being carried to a new tank that Jarrod explained was a common defense mechanism? Defecated all over host's pants What did Jarrod tell Mike Rowe to do while cleaning water out of the crocodile pool? Create vacuum over filter by filling bucket with water What did Jarrod say researchers had recently done that allowed him to guess about how old their alligator snapping turtle was? Found musket balls lodged in like-sized animal What did Jarrod do before jumping on an errant alligator that needed to be moved out of dirty water? Threw host's shirt over its eyes What did Mike Rowe do to try and put off having to reach in and grab a boa constrictor from a plastic bin? Mused about the "almost prehistoric" creatures What did Chris the cameraman do while Dara Trager and Mike Rowe began to pick up Apollo from his resting spot? Smashed plate glass sliding door What did Jarrod tell Mike Rowe about the American alligators in the crocodile pool they would be cleaning? Have strongest jaw bite in world Ford What did Mike Rowe and Eric Trager do to decide who would lift the first Red Tail Boa Constrictor out of a plastic tub? Played quick rounds of a hand game What did Jarrod say people visiting the snake farm often did to get the rattlesnakes to rattle? Threw coins into their pit What did Mike Rowe do that caused Jarrod to warn him against playing around in the rattlesnake pit? Caught a stick rather than a snake In a commercial during this show, what happened as a man reclining on sand poured a beverage into a glass and consumed it? *Advertisement was filmed in several takes as a director ordered changes, including rotating a can *Starbucks Iced Coffee *Uses premium ingredients for great taste In a movie commercial during this show, what did an army, led by a steadfast and fearless king, do in ancient times? Fought against an enemy with far greater numbers "300" In a commercial during this show, what happened before two people caused disruptions by paying for their purchases with cash instead of paying with a card? NOT families In a commercial during this show, what happened after men used cutting-edge devices, like a PDA that played sports video, as an announcer discussed a deodorant with an "advanced triple protection system," before a woman wearing a towel shrieked? NOT deodorant shrunk In a commercial during this show, what did a man do with his laptop computer to please his frustrated girlfriend, whose name was Penelope, while she was away on a trip? NOT made a movie In a commercial during this show, who was shown with different pixels emphasized on her face, before and after a beauty product and its effects were shown and discussed, and a glowing triangle framed her face? Brunette woman with her hair up who wore silver-sequined top Olay Definity Deep Penetrating UV Foam Combats dullness, discoloration, and wrinkles In a commercial during this show, what did several laptops do after someone was seen exiting a vehicle before a woman in a green shirt shut a laptop as she assisted a customer at a store? Rotated around against a black background over text in a red banner Circuit City Will optimize your computer system and scan for viruses at no cost In a commercial during this show, what did a cartoon woman with hair that changed colors do, before she met a man wearing a suit and as she explained how she could track the repair of her car? Traveled on moving sidewalk and escalator to his location NOT GEICO

Leave it to the Wall Street Journal to report on the economy/financial side of Bigfoot news. The actual reward is 1 million rubles, which is roughly equal to over $31,000. Below, is a great article with a companion video embedded below. We should mention that the Governor offers to have Tea with the Yeti. This is not the first time he has offered 1 million rubels and a tea party with the Yeti. The governor said the same thing last year in our post, "Tea party with the Yeti?" And don't miss our previous Kemerovo Siberian Yeti coverage. We covered most of the main stream stuff, plus some exclusives to Bigfoot Lunch Club. Bigfoot Hunters Detect Signs of the Hairy Beast in Siberia Officials Host Conference, Offer Reward; 'We Need to Sit Down With Him, Drink Some Tea' By ALAN CULLISON October 25th 2011." Mr. Fokin crept further into the chill, followed by a horde of television crews and photographers. Cameras illuminated more footprints and a bed of dried brush in a recess of the cavern. "This is unusual and good evidence," said Mr. Fokin, who dropped his full-time work as an architect to spend more time on hunts like this one. "A Yeti has been here." Throughout the world, lore persists about wild hairy creatures walking upright through woods. In the U.S.'ve. Local officials say they will now make efforts to contact the beast, who hasn't yet been photographed. They will also begin funding a permanent center for Bigfoot research at Siberia's Kemerovo State University. Kemerovo Gov. Aman Tuleyev is offering a one million ruble, or about $31,500, reward to anyone who finds a Yeti, telling Russian television, "We need to sit down with him, drink some tea and talk about life." Russian heavyweight boxing champion Nikolai Valuyev, who at nearly 7 feet tall is known as the "Beast from the East," made a foray into the woods last month to look for the creature, but came out saying he only found broken branches and footprints. Officials say they would also like to drum up some tourism for Kemerovo, a poverty-stricken region known more for its coal mine accidents than alpine beauty. But Vladimir Makuta, the top official of Tashtagol, says he is a genuine believer in "a kind of forest spirit" who has been aiding and undermining hunters in the woods. The very existence of a Yeti is looked upon askance by mainstream scientists, who say all the upright-walking mammals have long ago been discovered and categorized. They dismiss evidence compiled by Yeti hunters as a mass of unverified sightings, fuzzy photographs and film clips, and footprints that have been planted by hucksters. Lately, Bigfoot sightings have been on the rise in the U.S. Once confined to the Pacific Northwest and Appalachia, today they have spread as far as Texas, Florida and New England, says Brian Regal, a Bigfoot debunker and assistant professor of history of science at Kean University in New Jersey. "Meeting Bigfoot has become the encounter du jour," says Mr. Regal, a native of New Jersey. "You can't spit over here without someone saying there's a monster living in the woods." That has also made Bigfoot searching a growing business, in the same way UFO-ology became a trade since the 1950s, Mr. Regal says. Today the Internet hosts a range of websites devoted to Bigfoot happenings, while tour guides offer excursions in search of the creature. Russia's own Bigfoot industry has been a laggard. An early enthusiast was Soviet historian Boris Porshnev, who believed Bigfoots in Russia were a relict strain of leftover Neanderthals or cavemen. With government funding, Mr. Porshnev launched a Soviet Snowperson Commission that after 1958 trudged through the Pamir Mountains of modern-day Tajikistan and the Caucasus region. The group turned up no snowmen, only alleged footprints whose outlines they cast in plaster. "They were addicted to this subject in the 1950s and 1960s and blew through a whole program," says Oleg Pugachuyov, director of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Zoological Institute in St. Petersburg. "They never found any real evidence. It was a myth." But former colleagues of the late Mr. Porshnev still hold a candle for him, along with a collection of plaster casts at the International Center of Hominology in Moscow. Igor Burtsev, the center's director, says that with government support he is hoping he can establish synergy with Yeti hunters in the U.S., whom he visited last year and who "are far ahead of Russia in research.". Also attending was Jeff Meldrum, an associate professor of anatomy and anthropology at Idaho State University. Mr. Meldrum, who believes Bigfoot may exist, says he favors a "scientific approach" to the subject. During the trip to the cave, he worried that the footprints they found were only for a right foot, none from a left. They also seemed to be stamped too perfectly, he said. "I'd like to see progress," he said. "But some of this makes me suspicious." SRC: The Wall Street Journal, page A1 Let's keep the language clean, keep in mind we have younger fans and we want to make this the best bigfoot website for bigfoot news and bigfoot research.

Top-ranked recipe named "Basic Vanilla Icecream" gelatine over 3 tablespoon water in a small pan. Allow to soak for 5 minutes. Warm over gentle heat, till dissolved. Do not bring it to a boil. When boiled milk cools a little, add gelatine solution and mix well. Cool to room temperature, freeze in covered tray, till set but not hard. Break into pieces, beat with an egg beater till soft. Add cream and essence, mix well. The texture should be light and creamy. Reset in the freezer till frozen. Making time: 45 minutes excluding cooling, setting times. Makes: 4 helpings. Get the free BigOven app on your phone. Quickly find any recipe anywhere!

Jenni Rivera Hits No. 1 on Social 50 Chart Jenni Rivera, who was killed in a plane crash earlier this month, is No. 1 in the Social 50 tally this past week as expected, due to the culmination of online activity surrounding her passing, particularly the public memorial in Los Angeles on Wednesday. Rivera added just over a million fans across her various online outlets, accumulating 560,000 to her official Twitter account and 435,000 new followers to her Facebook page, following a 485% rise in weekly conversation on the platform as measured by "Facebook's People Talking About This" statistic. Her videos on her VEVO channel received a lift in attention as well, experiencing a 1,500% rise in plays over the previous week to accumulate 8.7 million views throughout the week. The Social 50 chart ranks the most popular artists on YouTube, Vevo, Facebook, Twitter, SoundCloud, Wikipedia, Myspace and Instagram. The chart's methodology blends weekly additions of friends/fans/followers along with artist pageviews, song plays and reactions. Debuting on the Social 50 at No. 34 this week is Norah Jones, who's online social presence receives a lift in activity surrounding the passing of her father, famed sitar player and George Harrison's mentor, Ravi Shankar. Jones' most recent release "Little Broken Hearts" was released much earlier in the year (April 25), so recently she has been relatively quiet on the music front lately. The rise is likely entirely due to a network-wide spike in views and friend acquisition particularly on the 11th and the 12th, the day Shankar died and the day after. A 112% increase in conversation on Facebook during the charting week allowed for the addition of 27,000 new fans, a 20% increase over the previous week. She also adds 3,400 new Twitter followers. If this number seems small, it's because the overwhelmingly greatest contributing factor to her rise in the tally came from visits to her Wikipedia page, which was a staggering 670,000 for the week (a 1,100% increase). Sandy's Lift Though it was previously reported that the "12-12-12" Hurricane Sandy benefit concert generated underwhelming returns on social media, largely because of the aging demographic of those who attended the concert, several of the artists on the roster experienced enough of a boost in social activity to climb the Social 50 tally. As Sir Paul McCartney and his performance with former members of Nirvana was the highlight of the show, a lot of attention was directed towards The Beatles' social profiles, who rise 37-30 following the addition of 183,000 overall fans, a 6% increase. Alicia Keys, who also performed, rises 9-7 with the addition of 450,000 overall fans. With Roger Waters' performance comes Pink Floyd's re-entry to the tally at No. 48 adding 120,000 (27% increase) overall fans to their follower base. And last to receive a lift in the tally is The Rolling Stones, who performed the show and added 138,000 new fans overall, a 56% increase in acquisition over previous weeks. Rounding the rest of the Top 10 we've got Rihanna, who remains solid at No. 2, and Taylor Swift, who experiences a two-position swing (5-3). Bieber tumbles (1-4), while Bruno Mars continues his climb (6-5). One Direction slides (4-6) and Katy Perry ascends (10-8). Bringing up the rear is Eminem who enters the top 10 (11-9) and Nicki Minaj, who falls in the rankings (7-10).

I found ABIGAIL'S PARTY heavy work. Recent television shows such as SHAMELESS have made an art-form of the serio-comedy that satirises British class prejudice and social aspiration. As a result, ABIGAIL'S PARTY feels like a clunking prototype that is less subtle and insightful than its successors. The film is a straightforward adaptation of a stage play, and is filmed in a very unambitious "camera in front of the proscenium arch" style. All the action takes place in a suburban living room in 1970s Britain. A couple - Beverly and Laurence - are hosting their neighbours - a couple called Angela and Tony and a divorced mother called Susan. Susan's teenage daughter, Abigail, is hosting a party next door but is never seen. Over the course of the evening, alcohol is consumed, music is played and marital tensions exposed. There is also a rather incredible and odd denouement. Alison Steadman is much-praised for her performance as the domineering, sharp-tongued social climber, Beverly. It's true that Beverly is a true monster and, as such, a memorable creation. But is she credible? Is she funny? Certainly, we can all recognise aspects of her character - the grandstanding - the ambition - her self-delusion - the ruthless use of others for her own ends. But Steadman's shrill voice, heavy accent and over-bearing body language turn Beverly into a caricature rather than a real character. As a result, it's hard to empathise with her and, worse still, hard to remain interested in her after the first fifteen minutes or so. Janine Duvitski also adopts a caricature accent as Beverly's dowdy neightbour, Angela. Angela is a nurse and has a more practical mind than Beverly but still whines about inconsequential matters. Both of these women are contrasted with their emasculated husbands. Indeed, they barely register as a presence: Beverly's husband Laurence (Tim Stern) is mostly absent, running errands, and Angela's husband Tony (John Salthouse) is silent and superior. One wonders why, if he feels so superior to his own prattling wife, he is so taken in by another. All four neighbours are thrown into contrast with the patient, poised, evidently upper middle-class neighbour, Susan, played by Harriet Reynolds. Mike Leigh is presumably trying to make some sort of point about the superficiality and frustration at the heart of British lower-middle class life in the 1970s. The audience is invited to mock people who try to portray themselves as having superior taste in music and clothes, but only reveal themselves to be kitsch. Are we meant to feel sympathy for these characters? After all, they are all deeply unhappy? Sadly, I don't think so. To me, this film felt deeply nasty - just an opportunity to mock people of poor taste, unhappy marriages and superficial character. Maybe I'm missing something, but I could discern nothing that was funny or insightful or that spoke to the human condition. ABIGAIL'S PARTY was originally broadcast on British TV in 1977. It is available on DVD.

[tag: science] Abstract. Keywords:Diabetes; Epidemiology; Gealth policy; Mongolia; Asia; KAP; Knowledge; Population 1 versus Additional file 1). Therefore disaggregated data by gender was presented and multivariate analyses were undertaken including gender as a variable. Additional file 1. Mongolian national census data, 2010. Format: DOC Size: 64KB Download file This file can be viewed with: Microsoft Word Viewer. Among Mongolians, one in five reported having never heard the term diabetes prior to being interviewed (Table 2). Significantly more males reported no knowledge than females, as did rural dwellers compared to their urban counterparts. Education was also linked to lower knowledge with least-educated participants five times more likely to lack any knowledge about this disease. This shortfall in awareness is also linked to unemployment. Participants were then asked whether they were aware of asymptomatic early disease (Table 2). One in two Mongolians were aware that diabetes can be asymptomatic in its early stages, and one in three were aware that despite having diabetes it was still possible to lead a ‘normal life’. This health knowledge is linked to urban dwelling and higher educational status, but there are no significant differences between age-groups, sexes, or groups disaggregated by employment. In order to better explore this level of knowledge, questions then probed whether diabetes affects various body organs, including the eyes and vision, the heart and the kidneys. One in three Mongolians were aware of these complications associated with diabetes. Twenty percent more women than men were able to recognise these complications, a significant difference when controlled for other variables. Urban dwellers and higher educated participants were also more likely to be aware of the health risks posed by diabetes. The participants were also questioned on whether diabetes is empirically a preventable disease. Two-thirds of participants were aware that primary prevention of diabetes is possible. This knowledge is higher among urban dwellers as compared to rural counterparts. Education is also a strong predictor for knowledge around the preventability of diabetes, with less than fifty percent of participants in the lowest educated group, versus almost three-quarters in higher educated groups being aware. All these findings are significant, even when other covariates including age are controlled (Table 2). 1). 3). More than four in five participants have never received any counseling, and counseling attendance is lower in men and in urban areas. Tertiary education is significantly associated with counseling as compared to less educated participants. Unemployed populations are less likely to have received counseling, though this difference was not independently significant.. References World Health Organization: Global Status Report on Noncommunicable Diseases 2010. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2011. World Economic Forum: Global Risks Report. In A Global Risk Network Report. Geneva: World Economic Forum; 2010:24-26. World Health Organization: Reducing risks, promoting healthy life. In World Health Report. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2002. World Health Organization: STEPS Survey Report. Edited by World Health Organization. Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia: World Health Organization; 2009.. BioMed Central Full Text World Health Organization: STEPwise Approach to Surveillance (STEPS) Manual. 1st edition. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2008. Brewer NT, Chapman GB, Gibbons F, Gerrard M, McCaul KD, Weinstein ND: Meta-analysis of the relationship between risk perception and health behavior: The example of vaccination. Heal Psychol 2007, 26(2):136-145. Abstract Raj CP, Angadi M: Hospital-based KAP study on Diabetes in Bijapur, Karnataka. Indian J Med Specialities 2010, 1(2):80-83. Demaio AR, Otgontuya D, Amgalan G, Maximenco E, Munkhtaivan A, Graeser S, Kryger T, Oyunbileg J, Jousilahti P, Courten M: Protocol for a national, mixed-methods knowledge, attitudes and practices survey on non-communicable diseases. BMC Publ Health 2011, 11:961. BioMed Central Full Text Shah VN, Kamdar PK, Shah N: Assessing the knowledge, attitudes and practice of type 2 diabetes among patients of Saurashtra region, Gujarat. Int J Diabetes Dev Countries 2009, 29(3):118-122. Publisher Full Text Coulson F, Ypinazar V, Margolis S: Awareness of risks of overweight among rural Australians. Rural Remote Heal 2006, 6(2):514. Edwards M, Wood F, Davies M, Edwards A: The development of health literacy in patients with a long-term health condition: the health literacy pathway model. BMC Publ Health 2012, 12:130. BioMed Central Full Text Nutbeam D: Health literacy as a public health goal: a challenge for contemporary health education and communication strategies into the 21st century. Heal Promot Int 2006, 15(3):259-267. Foggin PM, Farkas O, Shirev-Adiya S, Chinbat B: Health status and risk factors of seminomadic pastoralists in mongolia: a geographical approach. Soc Sci Med 1997, 44(11):1623-1647. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Manaseki S: Mongolia: a health system in transition. Br Med J 1993, 307(6919):1609-1611. Publisher Full Text Dore G, Nagpal T: Urban transition in mongolia: pursuing sustainability in a unique environment, environment. Sci Policy Sustainable Dev 2006, 48(6):10-24. Publisher Full Text Rani P, Heal 2008, 8(3):838.. Matthaei S, Munro N, Zinman B: Raising diabetes awareness in the public domain. Int J Clin Pract 2007, 61(s157):31-37. Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:

[tag: science] Summary. Introduction Electrical gastric stimulation (GS) might be a suitable treatment in gastroparetic patients who do not respond to prokinetic drugs and / or antiemetic drugs [1]. However, the most effective electrical parameters for inducing gastric motor effects have not been clearly defined. Previous studies have suggested that both pulse width and frequency could be important to consider: short pulse widths below 0.5 ms stimulate the intramural nervous system [2] while larger pulse widths above 1.5 ms and low frequencies preferentially stimulate smooth muscles. Large pulse widths delivered with a low frequency close to the native slow wave frequency promote slow waves in healthy non-operated stomachs [3-6]. However, these stimulations do not enhance gastric motility [3]. On the other hand, higher pulse frequencies (0.5 Hz) increase the gastric motor index without any significant effect on gastric emptying [4,7]. A previous study in vagotomized dogs showed that the frequency of stimulation was critical by the demonstration that GS with 20 Hz induced gastric contractions and enhanced gastric emptying, while 6 Hz had no effect [8]. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect on gastric emptying of higher pulse frequencies and amplitudes than those previously used [3-7]. Tests were performed in two groups of rats: healthy rats with a non-operated stomach, and rats with acute diabetes, to evaluate whether GS induces a motor effect in this disease. Indeed, in diabetes mellitus, gastroparesis which could be reversed by gastric stimulation, is frequent (30 to 50% of patients) [9], and is associated with abnormalities in gastric myoelectrical activity such as bradygastria, tachygastria, or mixed or non specific dysrythmias [10]. Moreover, blood glucose concentrations influence gastric motility and gastric emptying is slower during hyperglycemia than during hypoglycemia [11]. Methods Surgical methods Anaesthesia was performed in male Sprague-Dawley rats aged 3 months and weighing 250 to 300 g by intramuscular injections of 60 mg / kg Ketamine (Panpharma – France). This dose of Ketamine induces anaesthesia without any effect on gastric or intestinal transit times in dogs [12]. Two platinium stimulating electrodes (80 μ diameter) (Microfil Industrie – Rennes – France) were implanted in the proximal part of the gastric antrum near the great curvature (figure 1), according to the method of Ruckebush et al[13]. The electrodes (length : 8 cm) were positioned 1 cm away from the pylorus and were sewn 1 mm apart with 2 mm of tunnelling, and the implantation axis of the electrodes was perpendicular to the stomach axis. A terminal duodenostomy, two centimeters distal from the pylorus, was performed to collect volumes emptied from the stomach. To collect all volumes emptied from the stomach, the duodenum was immediately ligated below the duodenostomy and above the main biliary duct, and vascular and neural arcades were carefully respected. To facilitate collection of the duodenal effluent, a catheter (internal diameter : 2.5 mm) was inserted 5 mm intraluminally into the proximal part of the duodenum (figure 1). The catheter was connected to a graduated syringe (5 ml) to measure the volumes collected via the duodenostomy. These volumes were considered to be measurements of gastric emptying. Measurement accuracy was 0.1 ml. To assess the effect of pacing on post-prandial gastric motility, a 5 ml nutritient solution of Nutridoral® (carbohydrates : 50 %, proteins : 30 %, lipids : 20 %; 12.5 Kcal, Sodietal® Revel. France) was intragastrically instilled by an oro-gastric tube at a constant flow of 0.5 ml.min-1 with an automatic syringe. To study a possible effect of GS on gastric acid secreton, in other groups of rats, intragastric pH values were monitored under basal conditions and after GS (10 Hz, 20 mA). The surgical procedure was the same as previously described (terminal duodenostomy with duodenal ligature), and a pHmetric probe (Ingold M3, Solal, Strasbourg, France) was inserted in the stomach, one centimeter proximal to the antrum. The probe was connected to a pH recorder (PH 60, LT1, Paris, France). The institution's guide for the care and use of laboratory animals was followed. Animal models Two groups of rats were studied. The first group included 50 healthy rats with an intact stomach (control group). A second group included 50 rats with acute diabetes induced by an intravenous injection of streptozotocine (55 mg/kg) performed 7 days before experiments [14]. Diabetes was confirmed by urine glucose concentrations above 55 mmol/L with a Multistix 8 SG® test (Bayer, USA) 3 and 7 days after streptozotocine injection. The weight of diabetic rats was not different from that of controls rats (260 ± 12 vs 182 ± 7) To assess intragastric pH values, 4 groups of 6 control rats (during fasting or after a meal, under basal conditons or after GS), and 4 groups of 6 diabetic rats were studied. Pacing method A neuro-stimulator Respond Select® (Empi – USA) was used. This device delivers pulse trains with electrical parameters similar to those currently available with intracorporeal pacemakers. Biphasic and asymetric square pulses were used. Pulse width was selected at 0.2 ms based on previous reports showing that below 0.5 ms the main effect is nerve stimulation [2] and that a width of 0.2 ms is effective for intrinsic nervous stimulation of the stomach [15]. Four pulse frequencies known to induce nerve stimulation (0.5, 1, 10, and 20 Hz) were selected [15]. Three pulse amplitudes (5, 20, 40 mA) were applied. For each frequency (0.5, 1, 10, and 20 Hz), trains of 20 pulses at an interval of 2 seconds between each train were delivered because repetitive stimulation produces greater electrical and mechanical responses which increase gradually as the number of pulses increase [15]. Study design Experiments began at 2.00 p.m after an 18-hour fast and were performed in anaesthetized and laparotomized animals. One observer performed GS while another observer collected the volumes emptied through the small catheter connected to the duodenum. The observer who measured the volumes did not know whether the stomach had been stimulated or not. To assess the effect of electrical stimulation on gastric emptying in control and diabetic rats, the volumes emptied 15 and 30 minutes after the oro-gastric instillation were compared in 10 rats with no stimulation and 40 other rats in which GS began at the end of naso-gastric instillation (figure 2). Each rat was stimulated with one pulse frequency (0.5 Hz, 1 Hz, 10 Hz or 20 Hz) but with three pulse amplitudes (5, 20, and 40 mA) during three separate sessions of GS. Therefore, the effect of each pulse frequency was tested in groups of 10 rats (figure 2). At the end of each session of electrical GS, the electrodes and the duodenal catheter were removed and the laparotomy was closed in each animal. After awakening, animals were allowed to eat and drink ad libitum. Recovery time between sessions was 3 days. Then, on the 4th day animals were fasted for 18 hours before the next stimulation session began on the 5th day at 2 pm. Each session lasted 20 to 30 minutes and the whole procedure was a minor nuisance to the rat. None of the animals showed any significant body weight loss (> 20%), anorexia or poor body condition. To assess the effect of stimulation (at 20 Hz, with 10 mA) on intragastric acidity, 8 groups of rats were studied. After 18 hours of fasting, pH values were assessed under basal conditions for 30 minutes in 2 groups of rats (6 controls and 6 diabetic rats), and during GS for 30 minutes in 2 other groups of rats (6 controls and 6 diabetic rats). Moreover, intragastric pH measurements were performed for 30 minutes after instillation of 5 ml Nutridoral®, under basal conditions in 2 groups of animals (6 controls and 6 diabetic rats) and after GS in 2 other groups of animals (6 controls and 6 diabetic rats). Statistics Data are means and standard error of the mean (SEM). Two way-analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to analyse the effect of pulse frequencies and amplitudes on the volumes emptied from stomach. One way-analysis of variance was used to confirm the influence of pulse frequencies or pulse amplitudes on volumes emptied from the stomach. The Wilcoxon non parametric test was used to compare volumes emptied from the stomach: under baseline conditions compared to GS, when frequencies varied (with the same amplitude), with different amplitudes (with the same frequency), in controls compared to diabetic rats. The Wilcoxon non parametric test was also used to compare intragastric pH values in rats without GS and in rats with GS. Results No adverse events were observed due to GS, in particular no smooth muscle burns occurred. In unstimulated rats, volumes emptied from the stomach 30 minutes after the end of nasogastric instillation were lower in diabetic rats than in controls (0.5 ± 0.1 vs 0.8 ± 0.2 ml, p < 0.03) Two way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that changes in pulse frequency (p < 0.01) and in pulse amplitude (p < 0.04) affected the volumes emptied from stomach in controls and diabetic rats. In both controls and diabetic rats, volumes emptied from the stomach after electrical stimulation were greater than those without stimulation (p < 0.05), except when pulse frequency was 0.5 Hz (figures 3, 4). Moreover, the difference between the volumes collected in unstimulated rats and in rats undergoing stimulation was correlated with the duration of GS and was greater after 30 than after 15 minutes of GS (p < 0.04).. Figure 3. Volumes of gastric emptying during stimulation in control rats 15 min : 15 min after the beginning of gastric stimulation 30 min : 30 min after the beginning of gastric stimulation Values are mean ± SEM (*) p < 0.05, (†) p < 0.02 vs basal conditions without stimulation (‡) p < 0.05 : 10 Hz vs 1 Hz, 20 Hz vs 1 Hz (€) p < 0.05 : 40 mA vs 5 mA Figure 4. Volumes of gastric emptying during gastric stimulation in diabetic rats 15 min : 15 min after the beginning of gastric stimulation 30 min : 30 min after the beginning of gastric stimulation Values are mean ± SEM By Wilcoxon test: (*) p < 0.05, (†) p < 0.02 vs basal conditions without stimulation (‡) p < 0.05: 10 Hz vs 1 Hz / 20 Hz vs 1 Hz (§) p < 0.03: 10 Hz vs 1 Hz (€) p < 0.05 : 40 mA vs 5 mA One way analysis of variance (ANOVA) showed that larger volumes were collected from the duodenostomy as the pulse frequency increased (from 1 Hz to 20 Hz), but this effect was dependent on the pulse amplitudes being only observed for a pulse amplitude of 5 mA (p < 0.01) (figure 3). For 20 mA, volumes collected from the duodenostomy in controls were higher with 10 Hz than 1 Hz (p < 0.05). For 40 mA volumes were not different with 1 Hz, 10 Hz or 20 Hz (figure 4). For 5 and 20 mA, volumes were higher in diabetic rats with 10 Hz than 1 Hz (p < 0.03, p < 0.05) (figure 4). In both control and diabetic rats, the increase in pulse amplitudes had different effects on gastric emptying depending on the frequency of stimulation. One way analysis of variance showed that volumes emptied from the stomach increased when the pulse frequency was 1 Hz (p < 0.04 in control group and p < 0.03 in diabetic group), and volumes decreased when the pulse frequency was 20 Hz (p < 0.04 in control group and p < 0.03 in diabetic group) (figures 3, 4). For 10 Hz, pulse amplitudes had no influence on volumes emptied from the stomach. When pulse frequency and amplitude were evaluated simultaneously, the most effective combinations to enhance gastric emptying compared to baseline conditions without stimulation, were a frequency of 10 Hz with a pulse amplitude of 5 or 20 mA (figures 3 and 4). Comparison of controls and diabetic rats The effect of GS on gastric emptying compared to baseline conditions without stimulation was more pronounced in diabetic than in control rats, because emptied volumes were greater in diabetic rats that in controls, in particular with 10 Hz, with all pulse amplitudes (p < 0.05 – p < 0.01) (figure 5). Effect of GS on gastric secretion Under fasting conditions or after a meal, GS had no influence on gastric acid secretion in control or diabetic rats, whatever the pulse frequencies and the pulse amplitudes (figure 6). Discussion GS with short pulse widths and frequencies markedly higher than a spontaneous slow wave frequency enhanced gastric emptying of a liquid nutrient solution in both healthy and diabetic rats. The model of acute diabetes was chosen because recent observations indicate that hyperglycemia causes reversible impairment of gastric emptying [16] due to bradygastria, or less often, tachygastria or non-specific dysrythmias [10,11]. In chronic diabetes, neurological changes including damage to the intestitial cells of Cajal also play a role in the pathogenesis of delayed gastric emptying [17]. It could be hypothesized that a greater duodenal effluent during electrical stimulation was related to a stimulation of gastric acid secretion rather than motility and that the increased amount of liquid collected through the duodenostomy was only a reflection of increased acid secretion. However, in this study, we have checked that GS had no effect on gastric acid secretion in either control or diabetic rats, during fasting and during the post-prandial period. Although several previous studies have assessed the effect of GS on motor or myoelectric gastric patterns there are no results showing that these parameters can be modified by stimulation without having a significante effect on gastric emptying. Therefore, the objective criteria for evaluating the effects of GS was the volume of a nutrient solution emptied from the stomach and collected via a terminal duodenostomy rather than manometric or electromyographic gastric patterns [3,4,8]. This method was chosen to provide more objective measurement of gastric emptying than previous radiological studies [8] and to assess the effects of stimulation on gastric emptying. Duodenostomy eliminated the nutrient-mediated small intestine feedback in gastric emptying [18,19]. Even if duodenostomy was performed in both unstimulated and stimulated animals so that the two groups could be compared GS may have had a less pronounced effect on gastric emptying in animals with an intact duodenum. These effects were also obtained after one single type of meal while gastric emptying is dependent on the caloric composition of the meal [20]. Thus, our results cannot be extended to all types of meals. This study confirms that both pulse frequency and amplitude influence the effects of stimulation but that frequency seems more critical than amplitude. Indeed, a stimulation frequency faster than 0.5 Hz was necessary to modify gastric emptying. This may explain the discrepencies between our study and previous studies performed in the dog and man that used lower frequencies and concluded that GS had no effect [3,5]. These previous studies have demonstrated that stimulation with a frequency close to that of a spontaneous gastric pacemaker only increased slow wave frequency without having any effect on gastric contractions [3,5], motor index [4,7] or emptying [3]. Then, in controls, pulse frequencies ranging from 1 to 10 Hz increased volumes emptied from the stomach. The greater effect of higher frequencies confirms previous findings in vagotomized dogs [8] and in dogs with non-operated stomachs [7]. This increase in pulse frequencies was also observed in man [2,22] our study suggests that the clinical interest of increasing frequencies above 10 Hz could be limited because higher frequencies do not accelerate gastric emptying as confirmed by a lack of significant difference in emptied volumes between 10 and 20 Hz. In our study, 10 Hz, which is known to stimulate intramural nerves and have a motor effect during gastric stimulation [15], seemed to be the best frequency. Increments of pulse amplitude increased also gastric emptying but these effects of increments of amplitude were dependent of pulse frequencies : the increase of amplitude improved gastric emptying for frequency lower than 20 Hz while it had the opposite effect at higher frequencies. In this study, unlike others [3,5,21,22], we have tested electrical parameters that stimulate intrinsic nerves [2,15] and not smooth gastric cells. Indeed, smooth cell pacing has only been shown to modify slow wave characteristics without having any effect on antral spikes, gastric contractions, or gastric emptying [3,5,23]. Therefore, we selected a pulse width of less than 0.5 ms, since short pulses preferentially stimulate intramural nerves [2]. Because of the short pulse width, electrical stimulation had to be performed at sufficiently high frequencies to obtain a motor effect [8]. Trains of pulses were administered because with stimulation frequencies close to those selected in this study, repetitive stimulations provide a greater response than that obtained by a gradual increase in both the frequency of stimulation and the number of pulses [15]. Twenty pulses per train were used because this has been shown to be more effective on the duration of both electrical and mechanical responses than shorter trains of pulses [15]. Thus, because of the characteristics of the electrical parameters in this study [2], the mechanism involved in the acceleration of gastric emptying was probably an intrinsic neural mechanism in the gastric wall. The short width pulses used in this study require sufficient pulse amplitudes to induce a motor effect [2]. In our animals, increases in pulse amplitude (40 mA vs 5 mA) resulted in an increase in emptied volumes at 1 Hz only. With higher pulse frequencies, the increase in pulse amplitudes resulted in a decrease in gastric emptying. This may be because a combination of high stimulation parameters (amplitude and frequency) failed to induce propagated contractions anf this failed to accelerate gastric emptying. Previous studies have reported that when pulse frequencies increase, pulse amplitudes must be decreased to obtain motor effects [8]. Some of our increased pulse amplitudes may have produced pyloric closure in some animals when higher frequencies were used. In our study, the effect of GS on gastric emptying compared to basal conditions without stimulation was greater in diabetic rats than in controls. Previously, a better effect was observed for GS in diabetic rats than in the intact stomach because frequencies between 0.2 and 0.5 Hz increased gastric emptying of liquids and solids [7,24-26]. This greater effect in diabetic rats might be explained by slower gastric emptying under basal conditions without stimulation compared to controls, associated with an efficient gastric muscular reponse during GS In conclusion, GS with markedly higher pulse frequencies than those normally used (near spontaneous gastric pacemaker frequency) increased gastric emptying in control and diabetic rats. Our results indicate that increasing pulse frequencies is more effective than increasing pulse amplitudes to obtain motor effects. The safety of high frequencies during chronic stimulation in conscious animals must now be confirmed even if previous studies have used 50 Hz without adverse effects [27]. Our results suggest that gastric stimulation in man might have greater motor effects at higher pulse frequencies than those previously used [5,21-23]. A recent clinical study with an intracorporal stimulator using a low frequency (0.2 Hz) showed that nausea and vomiting episodes decreased in diabetic and idiopathic gastroparetic patients [28]. The usefulness of higher pulse frequencies in man to accelerate gastric emptying and functional improvement must be clarified. GS in man may be used because no interaction has been demonstrated between gastric and cardiac pacemakers [29]. However, further studies were needed to demonstrate the mechanisms of action of this type of high frequency GS. Acknowledgements The authors thank Professor Jacques Benichou, biostatistician, for his valuable assistance in reviewing biostatistical results and Richard Medeiros for his advice in editing the manuscript. References McCallum RW: Clinical pharmocology forum: motility agents and the gastrointestinal tract. Am J Med Sci 1996, 312:19-26. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Hugues SF, Scott SM, Pilot MA, Williams NS: Electrically stimulated colonic reservoir for total anorectal reconstruction. Br J Surg 1995, 82:1321-1326. PubMed Abstract Eagon JC, Kelly KA: Effect of electrical stimulation on the gastric electrical activity, motility and emptying. Neurogastroenterol Mot 1995, 7:39-45. Johnson B, Familoni B, Abell TL, Werkman R, Wood G: Developement of a canine model for gastric pacing. Gastroenterology 1990, 98:A362. Miedema BW, Sarr MG, Keith AK: Pacing the stomach. Surgery 1992, 111:143-50. PubMed Abstract Waterfall WE, Miller D, Ghista DN: Electrical stimulation of the stomach. Dig Dis Sci 1985, 30:799. Familoni BO, Abell TL, Nemeto D, Voeller G, Johnson B: Efficacy of electrical stimulation at frequencies higher than basal rate in canine stomach. Dig Dis Sci 1997, 42:892-7. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Grundfest-Broniatowski S, Davies CR, Olsen E: Electrical control of gastric emptying in denerved and reinnerved canine stomach: a pilot study. Artif Organs 1990, 14:254-9. PubMed Abstract Horowitz M, O'Donovan D, Jones KL, Feinle C, Rayner CK, Samsom M: Gastric emptying in diabetes: clinical significance and treatment. Diabet Med 2002, 19:177-194. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Koch K: Electrogastrography: physiological basis and clinical application in diabetic gastropathy. Diabetes Technol Ther 2001, 3:51-62. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Rayner CK, Samsom M, Jones KL, Horowitz M: Relationship of upper gastrointestinal motor and sensory function with glycemic controls. Diabetes Care 2001, 24:371-381. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Fass J, Bares R, Hermsdorf V, Schumpelick V: Effects of intravenous ketamine on gastrointestinal motility in the dog. Intensive Care Medecine 1995, 21:584-9. Ruckebusch Y: Electromyographic studies of visceral smooth muscle from chronically implanted electrodes. Revue Med Vet 1973, 124:1407-14. Von Dorsche HH, Krause R, Kohler E, Fiedler H, Sulzmann R: Electronmicroscopy studies on the exocrine pancreas of Wistar-rats following treatment with streptozotocin. Endokrinologie 1975, 65:354-63. PubMed Abstract Szurszewski JH: Electrical basis for gastrointestinal motility. In Electrophysiology of Gastrointestinal smooth muscle.. Edited by Johnson LR. New York: Raven Press; 1987:383-422. Samson M, Smout AJ: Abnormal gastric and small intestinal motor function in diabetes mellitus. Dig Dis 1997, 15:263-74. PubMed Abstract Ordog T, Takayama I, Cheung WK, Ward SM, Sanders M: Remodeling of networks of interstitial cells of Cajal in a murine model of diabetic gastroparesis. Diabetes 2000, 49:1731-1739. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Weber E, Erhlein HJ: Relationships between gastric emptying and absorption of nutrients and energy in mini pigs. Dig Dis Sci 1998, 43:1141-1153. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Vozzo R, Su YC, Fraser RJ, 2002, 14:25-33. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Maerz LL, Sankaran H, Sharpf SJ, Denevey CW: Effect of caloric content and composition of a liquid meal on gastric emptying in the rat. Am J Physiol 1994, 274:R1163-1167. Hocking MP, Vogel SB, Sninsky CA: Human gastric myoelectric activity and gastric emptying following gastric surgery and with pacing. Gastroenterology 1992, 183:1811-6. Familoni BO, Abelle TL, Voeller G, Salem A, Gaber O, Nemoto D: Long term electric stimulation of the human stomach. Gastroenterology 1994, 106:A496. Familoni BO, Abell TL, Nemoto D, Voeller G, Salem A, Gabor O: Electrical stimulation at a frequency higher than basal rate in human stomach. Dig Dis Sci 1997, 42:885-91. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Bellashene BE, Schirmer B, Updike O, Mc Callum RW: Effect of electrical stimulation on gastric emptying in man. Am J Gastroenterol 1987, 82:9 (Abstract). Courtney TL, Schirmer BD, Bellashene BE, Uptike OL, Mc Callum RW: Gastric stimulation is a possible new therapy for patients with severe gastric stasis. Gastroenterology 1991, 100:A822. Mac Callum RW, Chen JDZ, Lin Z, Schirmer BD, Williams RD, Ross RA: Gastric pacing improves emptying and symptoms in patients with gastroparesis. Gastroenterology 1998, 114:456-61. PubMed Abstract | Publisher Full Text Bilgutay AM, Wingrove R, Griffen WO, Bonnabeau RC, Lillehei CW: Gastrointestinal pacing – a new concept in the treatment of ileus. Ann Surg 1963, 158:338-48. PubMed Abstract The GEMS Study Group: Second report of multicenter study on electrical stimulation for the treatment of gastroparesis. Konsten J, Beieten GGMI, Den Dulk K, Spaans F: Demonstration of feasibility of implantation in the skeletal muscle pulse generator for fecal incontinence in a patient with an implanted DDD pacemaker. Pace 1992, 15:825-30. PubMed Abstract Pre-publication history The pre-publication history for this paper can be accessed here:

[tag: science] Until recently, the primary treatment option for infertile men with obstructive azoospermia was vasovasostomy or vasoepididymostomy for reconstructable causes, or implantation of an alloplastic artificial spermatocele for subsequent percutaneous retrieval of sperm for unreconstructable causes, such as congenital absence of the vas deferens.[1] Since the first US report of a successful delivery from in vitro fertilization (IVF) in 1982, progress in the field of assisted reproduction and micromanipulation has been truly dramatic, particularly in the area of male factor infertility, offering couples considered irreversibly infertile and eligible for donor insemination or adoption, the option of parenting a genetically related child despite severe impairments in sperm quantity and quality.[2] Assisted reproductive techniques that aim to overcome natural barriers to fertilization include intra-uterine insemination (IUI), in vitro fertilization and embryo transfer (IVF-ET), gamete intrafallopian transfer (GIFT), subzonal sperm insemination (SUZI), partial zona dissection (PZD), and intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).[3] Though technology has evolved, IVF failed to solve problems concerning sperm and IVF-ET as treatment for male factor infertility is associated with low fertilization and pregnancy rates than for other indications.[4] Though SUZI and PZD facilitated sperm access to the oocyte, they resulted in only a marginal improvement in conventional IVF results as relatively large numbers of sperm were still required and cases with a very limited number of spermatozoa in the ejaculate could still not be treated, fertilization rates remained low, while rates of polyspermic fertilization increased.[4] The advent of ICSI in 1992, involving the injection of a single sperm (or sperm head or nucleus) into the oocyte is an important breakthrough that has revolutionized the treatment of male infertility and resulted in the widespread use of this technique world over[5] [Figure 1]. Analysis of data from National and Regional registers for trends in the use of ICSI and indications for assisted reproductive technology (ART) show that the use of ICSI has increased from 39.6% of ART cycles in 1997 to 58.9% in 2004[6] relegating varicocele repair, vasectomy reversal, diagnosis and treatment of ejaculatory duct obstruction. ICSI can be carried out with fresh and frozen-thawed epididymal sperm following microepididymal sperm aspiration (MESA) or testicular sperm following percutaneous sperm aspiration (PESA), testicular sperm extraction (TESE), and modified percutaneous sperm aspiration in patients with obstructive azoospermia (OA), and with testicular sperm in some patients with non-obstructive azoospermia (NOA)[7] with pregnancy rates up to 52% and ongoing pregnancy and live delivery rates as high as 37% per cycle attempt.[2] However, not all men having impaired semen parameters are ideal candidates for ICSI for numerous reasons including a lack of addressing the underlying problem causing the male infertility, unknown genetic consequences, and cost-effectiveness issues.[8] Technical, biological and genetic hazards associated with ICSI are causes for concern.[9] The first step in evaluation is a thorough history and physical examination with initiation of basic laboratory studies.[21] Evaluation of sperm function, involving the ability to achieve sperm-ZP binding, undergo the acrosome reaction, penetrate the ZP and fuse with the oolemma is essential to assess sperm fertilizing ability in standard IVF. However, this is not so in ICSI since sperm bypass the ZP and oolemma during the injection of a single spermatozoon directly into oocyte cytoplasm.[22] The combination of semen analysis with advanced sperm function tests (sperm-ZP binding, sperm-ZP penetration, ZP-induced AR tests) provides important diagnostic and prognostic information for male infertility, not obtained in conventional semen analyses alone and is crucial in the decision-making process regarding the ART technique (IVF or ICSI) to be employed.[22] Additionally, an evaluation of chromatin structure/sperm DNA damage, reported as a probable cause of 20% of male infertility and a factor influencing accurate transmission of paternal genetic information and sperm fertilizing ability[23] appears to be a useful tool for assessing male fertility potential both in vitro and in vivo.[24, 25] Moreover, genetic karyotyping and screening of patients with severe male infertility (OATS, cryptozoospermia, non-obstructive azoospermia) for chromosome abnormalities, Y chromosome microdeletions involving the AZFc region, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene mutations, and androgen receptor gene mutations prior to conducting ICSI has prognostic implications. While preventing the unintended vertical transmission of these disorders to the offspring, these tests would aid in pre-procedure counseling. Additionally, in order to maximize the treatment outcome following ICSI, a thorough genetic evaluation of the female partner, particularly in women with advanced age, must be carried out. The infertility practitioner should have a thorough understanding of the advantages and limitations of various laboratory tests as well as the indications, costs and success rates of all treatment options.[21] The tilt of ART indications from mere gynecological towards predominantly andrological indications necessitated the development of more sophisticated techniques to separate functional spermatozoa from those that are immotile, have poor morphology or that are not capable of fertilizing oocytes. Sperm preparation techniques, such as the conventional swim-up procedure, migration-sedimentation, glass wool filtration or density gradient centrifugation, that may generally be used for IVF for mild to moderate male factor infertility depending on the total motile sperm count in the ejaculate at an initial evaluation, may rarely be applicable to severe male factor infertility (cryptozoospermia, OAT, oligoasthenozoospermia, obstructive and non-obstructive azoospermia) that would necessitate microsurgical sperm retrieval techniques to obtain adequate sperm for ART.[26] Depending on the type of azoospermia (obstructive/non-obstructive), sperm can be retrieved for ICSI from either the epididymis by MESA, the testis by aspiration from the testicular parenchyma (TESA), or by a surgical biopsy (TESE) using the conventional or microdissection technique. The indications for MESA and TESE are presented in Table 1. In combination with ART procedures, like IVF and ICSI, and depending on the indication, these microsurgical procedures have enlarged the therapeutic options for irreparable azoospermia,[10] the most severe form of male factor infertility, present in approximately 5% of all investigated infertile couples.[27] Since epididymal sperm may not always be available, necessitating testicular sperm retrieval,[28] epididymal sperm retrieval should be performed only when micromanipulation is available in conjunction with IVF to maximize the chances of fertilization and subsequent pregnancies.[29] The use of epididymal sperm in conjunction with ICSI maximizes the chances of pregnancy in couples with obstructive azoospermia with better fertilization rates per oocyte (45%), and clinical (52%) and delivery rates per cycle (48%) following IVF+ICSI than IVF alone.[30] The successful application of TESE depends on the identification of seminiferous tubules with focal spermatogenesis in patients with NOA (Sertoli-cell only, or maturation arrest, due to the absence of spermatogenesis or to a block in meiosis)[31, 32] as the testicular tubules of patients with NOA are usually heterogeneous, and TESE may not always be successful in these patients.[32] Successful sperm retrieval following TESE has been reported in 30% of the patients with Sertoli-cell-only syndrome,[33] 86% patients with spinal cord injury (SCI) and 50% of patients with a history of orchidopexy, the sperm recovery rate and the ICSI cycle outcome being similar to the population of men with non-obstructive azoospermia.[13] Conventional TESE, when combined with MD-TESE, results in an improvement in sperm retrieval rates from 24% to 48% in NOA patients with a 90% clinical pregnancy rate (CPR) following TESE-ICSI.[34] Pregnancy rates as high as 45% have been reported following microdissection TESE-ICSI in 60% of men with NOA, including 70% of difficult cases, such as men with Klinefelter's syndrome.[35] Microdeletion of the entire AZFa or AZFb regions of the Y chromosome portends an exceptionally poor prognosis for sperm retrieval, whereas the majority of men with AZFc deletions have sperm within the semen or testes available for use in IVF/ICSI.[36] However, they will transmit the deletions to their male offspring by intracytoplasmic sperm injection.[37] In vitro maturation of testicular retrieved sperm results in a remarkable increase in sperm motility after 24 h of retrieval, with a maximum motility rate between 48 and 72 h of culture, motile spermatozoa being observed up to 120 h in culture.[38] Randomized controlled trials (RCTs), comparing the effectiveness of different sperm retrieval techniques in men with azoospermia, suggest that there is insufficient evidence to recommend any specific sperm retrieval technique for azoospermic men undergoing ICSI, the least invasive and simplest technique available being recommended, and the classification of azoospermia (OA/NOA) and its cause being most relevant to a successful clinical outcome.[27] Oocytes are retrieved by transvaginal oocyte recovery following hormonal stimulation of the female patient with an optimum stimulation protocol. Following sperm preparation, the oocytes in microdroplets of culture medium in a culture dish, are inseminated with an adequate number of sperm and incubated overnight in the CO2 incubator under ideal temperature and pH conditions. Fertilization is assessed under a stereozoom microscope on the next day by the presence of two pronuclei and two polar bodies [Figure 2] 16-20 h post insemination. The fertilized oocytes are transferred into microdroplets of fresh embryo culture medium and incubated for another 24 h. Following a morphological evaluation of embryo cleavage, four-cell Grade A embryos [Figure 3] are selected, drawn in an embryo transfer catheter, and transferred atraumatically into the patient under sonographic guidance. Alternatively, embryos may be further cultured to the eight-cell stage [Figure 4] or to the blastocyst stage [Figure 5] and transferred on Day 3 or Day 5, respectively. The optimum number of embryos to be transferred is decided by the clinician and is bound by the regulations in force, but normally does not exceed three. A pregnancy may be confirmed by beta human chorionic gonadotropin (b-hCG) evaluation two weeks after IVF or the presence of a gestational sac on ultrasonography four weeks after the procedure. Except for the instrumentation and specific fertilization technique, the steps involved in ICSI are similar to those in IVF. The micromanipulation technique involves the use of an ICSI micromanipulation microscope with a holding pipette to hold the oocyte during injection and an injection pipette to inject the spermatozoon into the ooplasm. A single ejaculated, epidydymal or testicular viable spermatozoon is inactivated in sperm immobilizing medium, washed in culture medium and drawn into the injection pipette with a little medium. Holding the oocyte in medium with holding pipette, the injection pipette is pierced through the oolemma, a little ooplasm drawn into the injection pipette and the spermatozoon along with the ooplasm injected into the oocyte. The remaining steps follow as in IVF. Figure 13 depicts an eight-cell Grade A ICSI embryo. A pregnancy may be confirmed by a beta hCG evaluation two weeks after ICSI or the presence of a gestational sac on ultrasonography at least four weeks after procedure. The most significant factors that influence the outcome of ART include i) the technique used, ii) technical factors, iii) the indication for ART, iv) sperm motility and maturity, v) pretreatment with medical or surgical therapy. While fertilization rates with MESA-IVF are low despite large numbers of epididymal sperm at retrieval in patients with obstructive azoospermia due to congenital bilateral absence of the vas deferens (CBAVD), no fertilization has ever been possible with TESE-IVF. IVF with ICSI yields good clinical results in couples with severe male factor infertility.[1, 39] Because of the consistently good results with MESA/TESE-ICSI when compared with conventional IVF, ICSI is mandatory for all future MESA patients.[31] Technical factors critical for achieving high rates of fertilization and pregnancy include the use of standardized ICSI pipettes, the immobilization of the spermatozoon before injection, and the aspiration of a minimal amount of ooplasm before reinjection with the sperm.[40] Couples with previous failed fertilization or a low fertilization rate without a male factor have significantly lower pregnancy and implantation rates compared to couples with a male factor despite similar fertilization and cleavage rates and a similar number and morphological grade of embryos transferred in both the groups.[41, 42] The significantly smaller chance of conceiving after subsequent ICSI probably reflects intrinsic oocyte defects not bypassed by ICSI.[42] There are conflicting reports with regard to the TESE-ICSI outcome in patients with OA and NOA. While some studies have reported no differences in fertilization and pregnancy rates following the use of fresh[42, 43] or cryopreserved[44] motile testicular sperm, regardless of the underlying pathology, source, or the quantity of sperm,[44] others have reported significantly lower fertilization (48.5% vs. 59.7%) implantation (8.6% vs. 12.5%) and clinical pregnancy (15.4% vs. 24.0%) rates per cycle following TESE-ICSI in men with NOA compared to those with OA.[11] Significantly lower pregnancy rates have been reported with frozen-thawed testicular sperm from patients with NOA compared to OA (9.1% vs. 46.2%),[45] and often, complete fertilization failure and limited overall success rate observed, with ongoing pregnancies in ≤ 20% of ICSI cycles despite the high sperm retrieval rates following TESE.[14] The only significant factors affecting the outcome were maternal age, the number of embryos transferred and the application of assisted hatching.[45, 46] However, pregnancy rates per testicular sperm- as high as 64% (fresh sperm) and 25% (frozen-thawed) have been reported in patients with SCI following TESE-ICSI.[14] Though pregnancy and birth may be attained in azoospermic non-mosaic Klinefelter's individuals following TESE-ICSI,[46] the birth rate is very low compared with the fertilization rate, suggesting an increased risk of chromosomal abnormalities.[47] The outcome of ICSI is influenced by sperm motility of microsurgically retrieved fresh as well as frozen-thawed sperm[23, 48] and the maturity of sperm selected.[49] Significantly higher fertilization (77.0% vs. 29.3%) and pregnancy rates (44.3% vs. 20.0%) have been reported following the use of fresh motile vs. nonmotile sperm and cryopreserved motile vs. non-motile sperm (fertilization rates: 70.0% vs. 50.9%; pregnancy rates 33.9% vs. 27.3%) following TESE-ICSI[22] and MESA-ICSI (fertilization rates: 68.4% vs. 31.6%, respectively; P < 0.01)[48] suggesting that motile sperm are necessary for optimal fertilization and pregnancy outcomes.[23] Preoperative evaluation of consequent treatment of antibody-positive men with low-dose intermittent prednisone prior to MESA-IVF results in a significant improvement in fertilization (39% vs. 21%, P < 0.0001) and pregnancy (48% vs. 26%, P = 0.06) rates compared to no treatment. Empiric treatment with prednisone may be detrimental to the fertility of men who have no antisperm antibodies.[50] Higher sperm retrieval rates (77% vs. 55%) have been reported in men with hypogonadism, who respond to medical therapy (aromatase inhibitors, clomiphene citrate or human chorionic gonadotropin) with a resultant testosterone ≥ 250 ng/dL compared to men in whom post-treatment testosterone was < 250 ng/dL. Men with normal baseline testosterone had the best sperm retrieval rate of 86%.[51] Significantly higher sperm retrieval rates (53% vs. 30%; P = 0.036) and clinical pregnancy rates (31.4% and 22.2%; P>0.05) have been reported following microsurgical TESE in patients with clinical varicocele and NOA who underwent varicocelectomy despite similar fertilization and embryo transfer rates following TESE-ICSI.[52] However, the degree to which varicocele repair improves pregnancy rates and the success of assisted reproductive technology remains controversial.[53] Neither the source of sperm (epididymal/ testicular), the cause of obstruction [congenital absence of the vas deferens (CAVD) or failed vasoepididymostomy)][28, 31] or the state of sperm (fresh or frozen-thawed epididymal[29, 54–56] or testicular[23, 38, 57–61] ) affect the pregnancy outcome following ICSI, despite an impairment in sperm motility following cryopreservation and more favorable implantation rates in the fresh testicular sperm group,[38, 60] the only significant factor being the age of the female.[31] High normal fertilization, cleavage, and PRs have been reported following MESA-ICSI or TESE-ICSI with fresh or frozen-thawed epididymal and testicular spermatozoa.[62] While studies have reported no difference in fertilization rates following MESA/TESE-ICSI,[63] significantly lower fertilization rates have been reported following TESE-ICSI or MESA-ICSI compared to ICSI with ejaculated sperm.[62–64] While some studies have also reported a significantly lower number of embryos transferred,[62, 63] others have reported no differences in the embryo quality, the percentages of transfer after ICSI or the clinical pregnancy rates following ICSI with ejaculated, epididymal or testicular sperm.[64] Epididymal sperm cryopreservation in patients with obstructive azoospermia[56] and freezing and in vitro culture of testicular biopsy tissue in patients with NOA,[38] using a simple freezing protocol, is a feasible and efficient option that offers several advantages such as avoidance of repeated scrotal surgery,[56] pointless ovarian stimulation in the female partner,[65] and the opportunity of performing several IVF/ICSI treatments from a single sample at later dates or in other centers without jeopardizing the ICSI success rate,[38, 54] while optimizing the pregnancy outcome.[29] A systematic review of eight randomized studies comparing ICSI with conventional IVF reported evidence of significantly better fertilization rates with ICSI than IVF in couples with borderline semen (concentration 10-20 mill/mL, motility 30-50%, morphology 4-14% normal forms) but no evidence of a difference in fertilization rates per retrieved oocyte or pregnancy rates between ICSI and conventional IVF for couples with normal semen (concentration >20 mill/mL, motility >50%, morphology >14%).[4] No difference between the IVF and ICSI outcomes have been reported in men with oligozoospermia but ICSI showed a significant advantage over IVF in patients with asthenoteratozoospermia and obstructive azoospermia, and was the only option in non-obstructive azoospermia in achieving an acceptable pregnancy rate.[66] Intracytoplasmic sperm injection resulted in fertilization rates of 50-60%, overall pregnancy rate of 24.9% per embryo transfer, and live pregnancy rate per started cycle of 13.4% in cases where IVF had failed despite normal sperm quality.[67] With regard to the risk of nuclear spindle damage following ICSI, the incidence of non-disjunction in oocytes fertilized by conventional IVF was significantly lower (20.0%, P < 0.01), suggesting that ICSI might interfere with regular chromosome segregation at the second meiotic division of the oocytes.[68] However, the majority of studies on ICSI and IVF offspring have, setting aside inconsistencies in methodology and classification, not shown significant differences between the two techniques in terms of congenital abnormalities (between 3 and 4%), despite a slightly increased risk of de novo chromosomal abnormalities compared to naturally conceived offspring.[9, 69] The risk for congenital malformations following IVF was reported to be well within the basic background risk for congenital malformations.[70] No differences in behavioral and psychological development have been reported in children conceived following IVF/ICSI compared to naturally conceived children.[8] A lower rate of ongoing pregnancies per patient has been reported following IVF (24.9%) compared to after ICSI (32.9%), however, it was similar or even slightly increased in patients with more than one attempt. On the other hand, there was a high pregnancy rate with ICSI in the first two cycles (35.9%), but patients with more than two ICSI cycles had a significantly lower chance of conceiving (20.7%) in the absence of confounding factors, suggesting a possible negative selection of patients with poor embryo quality and previously failed attempts after ICSI, possibly due to an andrological factor involving chromosomal or genetic disturbances in spermatozoa that could be the reason for failure.[71] Following IVF/ICSI with ejaculate, epididymal, and testicular sperm, complications, such as ectopic pregnancy (1.9%), heterotopic pregnancy (0.2%), abortion (20.6%), multiple pregnancy (28%), pregnancy-induced hypertension (10%), preterm labor (21.5%), low birth weight (30.5%), and intrauterine death (9.95%) have been reported necessitating well-defined indications, proper patient monitoring and precautionary measures.[72] More than a decade after its introduction, the possible adverse effects of ICSI are still debated and ICSI continues to raise concerns because of the mechanical perforation of the oocyte, the possible transmission of foreign genetic material, the use of immature or senescent germ cells, the association between genetic disorders and some forms of male infertility,[73] increase in childhood illness observed and the future fertility of these children.[74] ICSI outcome studies indicate a significant increase in prematurity, low birth weight, and perinatal mortality associated with single and multiple births, similar to the outcomes of conventional IVF[20] and poor perinatal outcomes compared to natural conception.[75] Some follow-up studies of children born after ICSI report no significant differences in the incidence of major congenital malformations, or major health problems in the first year of life,[76] up to age 5-8 years,[75] in the occurrence of vision or hearing impairments at a mean age of 5.5 years,[77] or in the developmental outcomes (cognitive and motor development) of 10-year-old singletons[78] when compared with children conceived by routine IVF or spontaneous conception. Findings in 10-year-old singletons were in line with those obtained at age 8.[78] No discrepancies in the neurodevelopmental outcome of these children have been established and no detrimental psychological effects on the families have been reported.[74] However, others have reported an increased risk of imprinting disorders,[79] congenital malformations and chromosome aberrations[80–82] in children born following ICSI. The increased risk of perinatal morbidity, mortality, and congenital malformations associated with singleton births has been linked to the infertility of the couple and the background risks rather than the techniques used.[73, 74] Whether ICSI will eventually perpetuate male infertility is far from clear, because at present the inheritance pattern of idiopathic male infertility is unknown.[73] In the light of the available evidence, ICSI is considered a safe procedure provided this treatment is performed in clinics with the highest standards of expertise and with a continuous follow-up program for the offspring. As long as follow-up studies have a limited power to detect small increases in malformations and as long as no information is available on long-term and next-generation cohorts, ICSI must be used with caution only when no alternative evidence-based therapy is available[73] and only after performing PGD in cases with a high risk of transmission of genetic disorders. Further follow-up of these children is needed to fully establish the long-term health implications of IVF and ICSI.[74] The dramatic increase in the worldwide use of ART (1–3% of births),[79] increasing evidence of several genetic abnormalities [karyotype abnormalities, Y chromosome microdeletions involving the AZFc region, cystic fibrosis transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene mutations, androgen receptor gene mutations] in infertile men with numerical or structural sperm defects,[83] vertical transmission of Yq deletions,[84] increased risk of imprinting disorders (Beckwith-Wiedemann syndrome and Angelman syndrome, Silver-Russell syndrome, maternal hypomethylation syndrome, and retinoblastoma)[79] and congenital malformations and chromosome aberrations[80–82] in children born following ICSI, highlight the hazards associated with ICSI despite its documented efficacy and success in the treatment of severe male infertility. Concerns have been raised about the possibility that sperm with DNA fragmentation may be involved in the fertilization process during ICSI.[83] Chromosome aberrations, Y chromosome microdeletions and CFTR mutations alone may explain up to 25% of azoospermia and severe oligozoospermia.[85] Preimplantation genetic diagnosis involves the detection of affected embryos before implantation by fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH) for X-linked diseases and numerical and structural chromosomal disorders, or by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for monogenic disorders (including some X-linked diseases).[86] potential health hazards associated with ICSI. Though PGD has been indicated as a feasible technique by which to avoid the birth of genetically affected children to couples at risk following ICSI and is increasingly being used, though its effectiveness is far from clear[87] definitive conclusions are difficult to substantiate due to the rarity of imprinting disorders and the variability in ART protocols.[79] To date, the vast majority of children conceived using these ART techniques are apparently normal.[88] However, couples undergoing ART for male factor infertility should be counseled about the risks of transmission of these disorders to the offspring, the possibility of genetic testing, and the implications of the results for the patient.[85] Laser-assisted ICSI (through a laser-drilled hole in the zona pellucida) has been proposed as a suitable alternative to conventional ICSI for reducing technique-related oocyte damage in oocytes with a propensity for sudden oolemma breakage during conventional ICSI or where only few oocytes are available, with better oocyte survival rates (97.9% versus 85.7%; P<0.05), tendency to form more two-pronucleated zygotes (78.6% versus 69.2%; P=0.07) and less zygotes with three or more pronuclei (2.8% versus 7.8%; P=0.06) as compared with sibling oocytes treated by conventional ICSI (n=140).[89] Artificial oocyte activation with calcium ionophore A23187 has been suggested as a means of coping with the serious psychological consequences in the event of fertilization failure following ICSI and may improve ICSI outcomes in patients with azoospermia following MESA,[90] teratozoospermia,[91] and dysfunctional sperm, characterized by ultrastructural and protein expression anomalies and a low fertilization rate in ICSI.[92] The fertilization rate of oocytes activated with calcium ionophore (80.0%) was higher than that of the non-activated oocytes (25.0%).[92] ‘Genetic sonography’, i.e. high-resolution ultrasound with measurement of nuchal translucency at the end of the first trimester, and detailed fetal evaluation at 18-22 weeks of gestation may be used as an alternative to invasive prenatal diagnosis for chromosome abnormalities to overcome the potentially associated ethical problems.[93] By addressing the gamete per se i.e. the spermatozoon, rather than the medium that carries it, ICSI has superseded IVF in its extent of application and emerged as a promising technique to alleviate severe male infertility due to a fleet of causes, including those of genetic origin following microsurgical sperm retrieval by MESA/TESE, offering couples the opportunity to parent a genetically-related child. The sperm retrieval technique employed depends entirely on the indication and there is insufficient evidence to recommend any specific sperm retrieval technique for azoospermic men undergoing ICSI, the least invasive and simplest technique available being recommended. However, TESE appears to be more beneficial in cases of non-obstructive azoospermia. The most significant factors that influence the outcome of ART include i) the technique used, ii) technical factors, iii) the indication for ART and appropriate patient selection, iv) sperm motility and maturity, and v) pretreatment with medical or surgical therapy. Neither the source of sperm (epididymal/testicular), the state of sperm (fresh or cryopreserved), nor the cause of obstruction influence the ART outcome, the age of the female being the only significant factor. However, outcomes may be inferior to those obtained with ejaculate sperm. ICSI alleviates severe male factor infertility following failed IVF attempts but repeat cycles may yield a poor prognosis compared to IVF. No differences in terms of congenital abnormalities, behavioral and psychological development have been reported in children conceived following IVF/ICSI compared to naturally conceived children. Epididymal sperm cryopreservation, freezing and in vitro culture of testicular biopsy tissue have logistic advantages in azoospermic patients in maximizing outcomes and facilitating future treatments. However, increasing evidence of a genetic involvement in severe male infertility and the biological plausibility of transmitting genetic disorders to the offspring, mandate a comprehensive male infertility evaluation including a physical examination, history-taking, semen analyses, sperm function tests, and genetic testing where indicated despite a lack of consensus on the application and efficacy of PGD. Financial, psychological, procedure and implication counseling should compulsorily be offered to couples undergoing ART for severe male factor infertility. Indications for ICSI should be better defined and randomized controlled trials conducted to fully evaluate the implications of ICSI and the value of genetic screening in order to enable a more judicious use of the technique to maximize the benefits while minimizing the potential complications. There is a need for an improved understanding of the mechanisms of imprinting at the molecular level so that methods to prevent disruption of this critical epigenetic process can be developed.[94] Notes Source of Support: Nil Conflict of Interest: None declared. Figures Tables Previous Document: Genetic and epigenetic factors: Role in male infertility. Next Document: Acute renal replacement therapy in children with diarrhea-associated hemolytic uremic syndrome: a si...

THE glamour girls of motoring were on display as the Autosport International show got underway. The huge event at the NEC has been welcoming the trade for the last two days, but has now opened up to the public. The industry’s latest technology was showcased, including the launch of several new race car projects. British supercar manufacturer Radical unveiled its fastest sports car yet, the 175mph RXC. “It’s been an incredibly exciting day, with so much new technology on display ahead of the new season,” said Ian France, the Autosport International Show Director. “It’s really encouraging to see how strong the motorsport industry is, even with the tough times the economy has been through.” A car auction is being held by Coys at the show, which will sell off a Rolls-Royce owned by former Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury a green Ford Capri S which appeared in the BBC sitcom Only Fools And Horses.

Here are new ideas for group outings, catering, corporate entertaining, gifts, and entertaining summer associates in New York. 1. Eataly's cooking school, La Scuola, now offers private classes for groups up to 20. For a summery activity, Eataly's wine director can lead groups in tasting light red and crisp white wines with seasonal food pairings such as prosciutto and melon. The session includes five to six wines and antipasto pairings. Pricing is $150 per person for a one and a half hour session. Attendees leave with menus, wine tasting notes, and adapted recipes. 2-3. Ice cream sandwiches are a fun treat for a meeting break or picnic. Originally based on the west coast, Coolhaus recently launched a ice cream sandwich truck in New York that is available for events. The sandwiches, which are served in edible wrappers made of potato and soy, can be made from any combination of cookie and ice cream flavors. Options include snickerdoodle and strawberry, ginger molasses and Meyer lemon, and double chocolate with Earl Grey. Event pricing is an hourly all-you-can-eat rate that varies depending on party size and location. The company can also deliver the sandwiches, $4 each, to offices with a minimum order of 25. Melt Bakery also offers ice cream sandwiches in inventive and classic flavor combinations such as the Jackson (mango lassi yogurt and cardamom cookies) and Lilly Koi (passion fruit ice cream and vanilla shortbread). Delivery orders require a minimum purchase of 12 sandwiches, which are $5 each. 4. For corporate summer picnics, Unirec offers Pitch Burst, a new dunk tank-style game where participants hit a target to pop a water-filled balloon over the C.E.O.'s (or whoever's in the hot seat) head. For indoor events, the balloons can be filled with confetti. Pricing starts at $550 and includes staffing, delivery, and set-up. 5. Golf Manhattan lets groups up to 10 take a swing indoors, with PGA Tour simulators. Players use real clubs and balls (which the venue can provide) to hit a specially-designed screen that is 12 feet away. The technology, which uses a specially-designed screen and high-speed digital cameras, shows the ball in virtual flight. Players can hit the ball from a tee, fairway, rough, or green, and can choose from 25 different championship courses from around the world. The facility includes a locker room and lounge; outside catering is available. Pricing for groups varies. 6. A refreshing treat for hot days, the Kelvin Slush truck can make appearances at events to dispense its icy beverages. Flavors, which include spicy ginger and tangy citrus, can be customized with a variety of mix-ins such as fruit purees, fresh herbs, shaved coconut, and other seasonal specials. Pricing for truck appearances varies depending on an event's size. For smaller gatherings, Kelvin also has a portable catering unit that can be set up indoors or outdoors, 7. For an outdoorsy day trip, Zipline Adventure Tours lets gets fly through Catskills forests via a zipline cable. The Mid-Mountain tour, which lasts about three hours, includes a variety of activities including four rope bridges, nine aerial tree platforms, and six ziplines, one of which is 650 feet long and 60 feet high. No experience is necessary but there are some weight restrictions and participants must wear closed-toed shoes. Pricing is $89 per person; group rates are available for parties of 14 or more. The tour is located near Hunter Mountain, about two hours north of Manhattan. 8. Tour company Urban Oyster offers food cart tours where small groups partake in a “strolling lunch” in Midtown or Lower Manhattan, sampling an international buffet and hearing the stories of the food cart proprietors. Guides also share information about the history of the neighborhood, the history of lunch, and the challenges of running these small businesses. Pricing for private tours starts at $300 and covers up to 6 people. Additional guests are $50 a head. 9. Or, for an edgier crowd, Rocks Off Walking Tours offers rock and roll-focused tours of the Lower East Side and East Village. Led by longtime concert promoter Jake Szufnarowski and John Joseph, former member of the hardcore punk band Cro-Mags, the experience includes anecdotes about music history dating back to the late 19th century vaudeville and Yiddish theaters of the Bowery up to the classic and punk rock clubs of the 1970s. Stops may include Charlie Parker's home, the Fillmore East, CBGB, Max's Kansas City, Tompkins Square Park, and Madonna's first New York apartment. Pricing is $25 per person. 10. Take a cultural field trip to the Noguchi Museum in Long Island City. Opening May 25, “Tracks: Animal Drawings from Noguchi's Travels” is a new exhibition featuring an array of sketches and illustrations. Group tickets are available.

Top Monsanto executives receive raises in 2012 Monsanto Co. CEO Hugh Grant will earn $14.2 million in 2012, an increase of 23 percent from $11.6 million in 2011, according to a regulatory filing Wednesday. In a preliminary proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the St. Louis-based seed company said Grant will receive a base salary of $1.4 million, $1.9 million in stock awards, $4.1 million in option awards, $5 million in non-equity incentive plan compensation, $1.2 million change in pension value and nonqualified deferred compensation earnings and $548,072 in other compensation, which includes perquisites like the personal use of corporate aircraft of $218,741, home security expenses, and entertainment expenses. Pierre Courduroux, senior vice president and chief financial officer, will earn a total of $2.9 million in 2012, up from $1.6 million in 2011. Bizspace Spotlight Monsanto’s executive compensation is based on a pay-for-performance model, and the rewards reflect the company’s performance. Net sales for fiscal 2012 were $13.5 billion, up 14 percent from fiscal 2011. Earnings per share reached $3.70, an increase of 25 percent, the filing stated. “Our company achieved significantly improved financial results for fiscal 2012, attributable to excellent operational performance and substantial growth across our global business,” according to the filing. “Our CEO and his executive team led the implementation of our disciplined growth strategy, focusing on bringing more product choices to our farmer customers to enable them to maximize yield on their lands to support a growing world population. Execution of this strategy enabled us to achieve financial, business and organizational results.” However, other Monsanto executives didn’t see similar raises. Brett Begemann, president and chief commercial officer, will earn $4.1 million in 2012, down from $5.7 million in 2011. Robert Fraley, executive vice president and chief technology officer, will earn $4.6 million, down from $7 million. And David Snively, executive vice president, secretary and general counsel, will earn $3.1 million, down from $4.8 million.

Moammar Gaddafi And Some Food For Thought Gaddafi proposed a new method of Security Council. [Global: Op-Ed] President Moammar Al-Gaddafi of Libya is a favorite target of newspapers, radio and of course politicians in the United States. Yet Gaddafi is taken very seriously by many other countries. President Gaddafi is held in such high regard by African countries that he is President of the African Union and is referred to as “King of Kings,” a title reflecting the belief that he is acting in the best interests of the many Kingdoms of Africa. The United States is correct in stating that President Gaddafi is a danger to the United States because President Gaddafi recognized many years ago that the United States would no longer reign supreme in the world. Upon seizing power and deposing the Western-influenced King Idris in 1969 President Gaddafi struck out on a course to diminish the exploitation of the underdeveloped and resource rich countries by the Western powers, which sought to exploit the resources of these countries. Gaddafi nationalized the oil fields in Libya; determined that the people of Libya must profit from the exploitation of their heritage- the natural resources of Libya. It’s Gaddafi’s belief that all countries must be treated equally that particularly galls American political leaders- even though this fact is stated in the Preamble to the United Nations Charter, as he pointed out at the U.N. General Assembly last week. In his address to the United Nations Gaddafi quoted liberally from the Preamble to the United Nations Charter. He demonstrated that the lofty principles of the Preamble were negated by the United Nations Charter. He said that the United Nations was formed by the conquerors of Germany, which gave themselves veto power over the votes of the General Assembly. Gaddafi asked how was it possible that India with one billion people is not a member of the Security Council. He made mention that Brazil an emerging power should have representation on the Security Council. Gaddafi proposed a new method of. He has solid points. How could France and England have seats on the Security Council and Germany not have a seat? It’s Germany, with its powerful economy, which supports the European Economic Union. Why should Germany be deprived of a deserved seat on the Security Council and France have a seat? What of Japan, whose economy is the second largest in the world? Shouldn’t Japan have a seat on the Security Council? What of India with one billion people? Surely the modernization of India would be hastened with a place on the Security Council. What of Saudi Arabia and the other countries of the Middle East, whose oil lubricates the economies of the Western World? These countries hold vast amounts of American debt. If they were to suddenly dump dollars on the financial markets, the dollar would collapse- and the dark ages would be upon us. Gaddafi rightly describes the United States as a beggar nation, which must beg other countries to accept its dollars in order for the United States to remain solvent. Gaddafi is excoriated for the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie. Libya has denied criminal liability. It did however pay the Lockerbie bombing victims’ families $10 million each for civil liability. Since that tragedy the United States has also moved to normalize relations with Libya and last year during the George W. Bush administration Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Libya. It should also be noted that the United States in 1986 launched a missile attack on President Qaddafi’s residence, which killed 40 Libyans, including his daughter. The United States has never offered compensation to the families of the victims of its missiles in Libya. The United States has always supported murderous dictatorships as long as they supported the West and permitted Western powers to exploit their natural resources. For example, the United States supported the murderous Mobutu, of what was then Zaire; he drained his country of billions of dollars and permitted Zaire to descend into a darkness not known since the rule of the Belgians. In 1965 the United States supported the murder of 500,000 Indonesians of Chinese descent by the supporters of the dictator Suharto of Indonesia. The United States supported this genocide as a counterweight to the influence of the Communist party in Indonesia and China. Ironically, it is China, once derided as a backward communist regime, which now holds the largest amount of American debt; debt accumulated while Americans were spending their way into oblivion. And who could forget the support, which the United States gave to the murderous self-proclaimed “Shah of Iran,” who looted the country? Currently the United States supports Museveni in Uganda- a blood thirsty dictator, who thinks nothing of perpetrating genocide upon other ethnic groups. To the chagrin of those Americans and other race baiters, President Qaddafi stated that in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries when Jews were persecuted by the Roman Catholic Church, it was Muslims who took in Jews and offered them protection against the inquisition and death by torture. Jews were protected when Muslims ruled Andalusia, as Spain was then called. While for many Americans 1492 signifies the discovery of America by Columbus, 1492 also represented the year that Jews were persecuted and expelled from Spain. It is a well known fact that Jews and Eastern Christians suffered greatly during the wars known in the West as the “Crusades.” These Jews and Eastern Christians were not murdered by Muslims; they were murdered by the Crusaders, Christian pirates who looted Constantinople and raped and murdered its inhabitants. Qaddafi specifically spoke of pirates- at least those in Somalia, whom the American press calls pirates. Somalis were fisherman until the industrialized nations of the West harvested all the fish from the waters of Somalia and left the Somalis to starve. It is the rapacious nature of the West that has driven countries into poverty and lawlessness. Feel free to post your comments directly or submit them to Milton@blackstarnews.com for posting “Speaking Truth To Empower.” Videos No Record Exist!!

Our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy have changed. We think you'll like them better this way. Call in to speak with the host On the Tuesday, January 10th, 2012 broadcast at 8 PM Pacific/11 PM Eastern we'll recap day 1 at CES 2012 from the Las Vegas Convention Center. To review the keynote schedule, click here: To drill into some of the vertical specific events, including the Digital Health Summit, click here. Today's notable action concludes with a keynote by Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, at 6:30 PM Pacific Time. For more information, click here. The livestreaming feed for CES 2012 courtesy of @TechCrunh peeps, can be viewed here. When off air, you can view the last recorded segment. Sorry we couldn't complete your registration. Please try again. Please enter your email to finish creating your account. old-style code for hosted blogs Player Size 300 x 295 400 x 370 640 x 550 Receive a personalized list of podcasts based on your preferences.

Belmont Allowance Winner Belmont Stakes-Bound Team Valor Stable's Colita, a 3-year-old son of Grindstone, won Wednesday's seventh race at Belmont Park and in doing so, earned a trip to the June 7 Belmont Stakes (gr. I). Team Valor Stable's Colita, a 3-year-old son of Grindstone, won Wednesday's seventh race at Belmont Park and in doing so, earned a trip to the June 7 Belmont Stakes (gr. I)..". Pimlico will kick off a stretch of four added-money events on Friday with the 8 1/2-furlong Pimlico Breeders' Cup Distaff Handicap (gr. III). The field is seven strong and includes grade I winner Summer Colony, who has not started since last year's Breeders' Cup Distaff (gr. I), and Smok'n Frolic, who ranks ninth in earnings among all North American-based horses. Buddy Gil, who finished sixth in the May 3 Kentucky Derby (gr. I), is recovering from a May 7 surgery in which two bone chips were removed, one from his right knee, and one from his left ankle. The races on the Derby Day undercard have become richer and more important over the last six years. This year four graded stakes races will be run before the Run for the Roses. The owner of Playfair Race Course in Washington said a proposed tax increase is behind his plan to cancel live racing in 2003. Jockey Pat Day sent Reason to Talk to the lead soon after the start and she was never seriously threatened while winning the $105,439 Doubledogdare Stakes Wednesday at Keeneland.. A New Twist topped a depleted field in Wednesday's Keeneland feature, the $132,769 Madison Stakes. Favorite You, September Secret, and Slews Final Answer all scratched after rain left the track muddy. Central Kentucky veterinarians Richard Holder and Jim Morehead discussed MRLS and fall fetal loss syndrome at Tuesday's joint meeting of the Kentucky Thoroughbred Farm Managers' Club and the Kentucky Equine Practitioners Association. Lone Star Park officials have sealed the deal to host the 2004 Breeders' Cup World Thoroughbred Championships.. Secretariat Center for Retired Racehorses to benefit from 2003 Limited Edition Maker's Mark release. Lion Tamer, Saintly Look, and Eugene's Third Son are among the colts en route to Turfway Park for Saturday's Lane's End Stakes (gr. II). Hear what the trainers and jockeys of the Florida Derby horses had to say at the draw for the race. Denny and Lou Nunnelley plan to house Quarter Horses and Thoroughbreds at Romanoaks Farm, which they purchased at auction Thursday for $1.9 million. Reported equine abortions in Central Kentucky are down for the third week in a row and overall abortions for 2003 are drawing even with the 2002 numbers. New Jersey announces champions...2003 racing dates set for Finger Lakes. Kafwain and Sky Mesa are among the 3-year-olds nominated to the April 5 race. There's a lot of love going around at Delta Downs. Beginning on Feb. 14, Valentine's Day, the track will increase purses an average of 40%, with open races feeling the uptick the most. Patrick LePley, chairman of Washington's Horse Racing Commission, resigned the week of Jan. 15. The commission has been under attack since late December when Gov. Gary Locke included its reorganization in his proposed budget.). Helen Alexander has donated a conservation easement to Bluegrass Conservancy which will protect all 349 acres of her Middlebrook Farm, near Lexington. Holiday Thunder, a graded stakes-placed son of Thunder Gulch, enters stud at William Schettine's Signature Stallions. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe completed purchase of the158 acres on which Emerald Downs racetrack sits, according to the Seattle Daily Journal. The Washington Horse Racing Commission granted Playfair 40 live racing dates for 2003. The National Thoroughbred Racing Association announced that Premiere Radio Networks has won the Media Eclipse Award for Audio/Multi-Media Internet coverage of Thoroughbred racing. Mid-gestation abortions have generated concern in Central Kentucky, but according to officials, the 50 fetuses received in the last five months by Kentucky's Livestock Disease Diagnostic Center in Lexington do not represent a significant increase over past years. The second-place finisher in the 2000 Breeders' Cup Juvenile, Platinum Tiara will be bred to A.P. Indy in 2003. Roxinho, a horse who won his biggest races in Brazil but is now in North America, was recently named Brazil's 2001 Horse of the Year by the Horse Racing Media Association of Parana. Rich Wilcke leads Equine Association Management Clinic...Thistledown customer appreciation day is Dec. 21...TVG broadcasts Los Alamitos Million Futurity. The Dec. 21 Delta Jackpot isn't a graded race, but its $500,000 purse makes it among the richest race for 2-year-olds in North America. Greg Goodman has purchased the former home of Man o' War, Faraway Farm near Lexington. Goodman plans to rebuild the barn that housed the stallion and his breeding shed, and add the acreage to his Mt. Brilliant Farm. Two separate horsemen's groups representing Playfair Race Course appeared at a Washington Horse Racing Commission meeting on Wednesday, preventing the commission from granting any of the 40 requested racing dates to the track. Take Charge Lady and Forbidden Apple are among the favorites in their divisions of Saturday's Great State Challenge at Sam Houston Race Park. The meet-end figures at Hastings Park showed a 29.7% increase in purses and nearly 6% upswing in total handle. A number of racetracks have stakes races or special events on Thanksgiving Day, including Aqueduct, Churchill Downs, Calder, and Thistledown. Maryland Horsemen announce award winners...Ky. Farm Managers honor Tom Evans...Finger Lakes names Running Tiger horse of the year...LSU holds annual AI workshop...TVG covers Texas Classic Futurity...Arlington Million seats already available. Emerald Downs' biggest competitor will soon own the track's 157-acre property. The Muckleshoot Indian Tribe has agreed to purchase the land where the 6-year-old racetrack sits. No one in Kentucky knows exactly how many horses or farms make up what is now the state's number one agricultural industry, but the Kentucky Department of Agriculture, in partnership with some of the state's equine leaders, hopes to change that. Man From Wicklow, Whitmore's Conn, and Evening Attire are among the 16 horses entered in Saturday's Red Smith Handicap at Aqueduct.. On Wednesday Lone Star Park begins renovations in preparation for hosting the 2004 Breeders' Cup with a groundbreaking ceremony. Saarland, who has not raced since finishing 10th in the Kentucky Derby (gr. I), is entered in Aqueduct's sixth race Friday. Calder Race Course will host the inaugural Florida Million on Nov. 16. Of the day's 12 live races, six added-money races offer $1 million in purses to Florida-bred horses in six divisions. The former home of Magical Mac, a horse who lived to be 50 and had his own book, was hit by one of the recent tornadoes which struck the Midwest and South on Nov. 10. Louisiana Downs honors meet champs...Hoosier Park prepares for Ladies' Night...Sam Houston hosts owners' seminar...Zito bobblehead to hit Churchill.

Monica McGrath is an adjunct assistant professor at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. She's the former director of leadership development for the Wharton MBA program and was instrumental in the design and delivery of Wharton's first leadership course for women, "Women in Leadership: Legacies & Opportunities." Marla Driscoll has 20 years of consulting experience in the areas of planning, operations improvement, and IT across a variety of industries. She has been an independent consultant for two years and earned an MBA from Wharton in 2001. Mary Gross is a director with Merrill Lynch Investment Managers, where she's head of learning and development. A 2002 Wharton graduate, Gross has over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, working in the areas of human resources and finance. McGrath, Driscoll, and Gross recently co-authored a study, Back in the Game: Returning to Business after a Hiatus, which was completed under the advisement of the Wharton Center for Leadership and Change Management and through the support of the Fort? Foundation, an Austin (Tex.)-based nonprofit organization working to advance women in business. Through a survey and focused interviews, the research team examined the challenges these women -- 81% of whom held MBA degrees -- faced when they return to work after "stepping out" of the workforce for a period of time. The authors also provide recommendations that women, as well as employers and universities, can use to facilitate their reentry into business. McGrath, Driscoll, and Gross recently spoke with BusinessWeek Online reporter Jeffrey Gangemi. Here are edited excerpts of their conversation: Q: What motivated you to do the study? McGrath: We did it for two reasons. First, we saw our friends, peers, and students languishing without being able to reenter the workforce. That impacted us on a personal level, so we wanted to see why these bright, energetic, creative women weren't able to find work again. The second reason is that we had our own experiences and assumptions, but we wanted to see if they matched those of other professional women, particularly MBAs. Drawing conclusions would allow us to eventually stimulate change. Q: When should a woman time a step-out? McGrath: Timing is really up to the individual person, but planning for the eventual step-out should be part of the ongoing leadership-development game plan. That's what we're finding that women aren't doing. The best way to prepare is to establish a network before stepping out and maintain it while out. Q: Is it possible to time a step-out to coincide with business school? Gross: Several of our survey respondents did that. There were women who started school as they were stepping out, and there were others that began school after a couple of years of being out to coincide with stepping back in. Business school helps prove to employers that a woman has up-to-date skills, even if she has been out of the workforce for the past five years. Q: What can MBA programs do to help women plan and execute step-outs? Driscoll: About 90% of our survey respondents want their university to supply targeted career resources for alumni returning to work. Because most universities have career resources that are aimed at people just graduating, the issues are often different. McGrath: In reality, career centers aren't offering much support, don't have the resources dedicated to this, nor do they have an educated counseling staff member who knows what the challenges are. Universities need someone to believe that the service is important enough to devote funding to it. Q: What can be done to help universities get the hint? Gross: By presenting our findings to the Fort? membership and at the Graduate Management Admissions Council (GMAC) conference, we've generated some interest within university career centers. They are looking to us for guidance. Q: Why do women tend to go into smaller companies when they reenter the workforce? Driscoll: In general, women who work for large corporations have found it difficult to have meaningful balance in their lives. The challenges that they face before they step out evoke such powerful emotion that they often decide that they want nothing to do with a particular industry or company, and they decide to make a shift. About 61% of the women we surveyed switched industries consciously. Q: Isn't it good for business that women join smaller companies? McGrath: It's great for small companies. It's not good for large corporations, because if they're not attracting and retaining the best people, then it adversely affects them. If large corporations are expecting to attract women to their business, then they'll need mentors within business. Q: Why were some of your respondents more successful than others? Driscoll: [Those who were successful] often stayed in contact with their work colleagues, and in some cases, went back to their previous employer to pick up some project work. McGrath: Many women think if there isn't a program in place to help them with part-time or alternative job situations, then it can't exist. In fact, women can work with their employers and within their networks to find or invent these opportunities. Q: How can business schools attract more women? McGrath: If women who attend business school can't get back into their industry after taking time to raise a family, then what good is it? Until the biological imperative [of having children] changes, this is going to be an issue that we need to address. Gross: We all need to take off our blinders and challenge our assumptions. It's easy for a manager to say that a woman can't do a job telecommuting or that they can't manage people unless they're in the office 50 hours a week. Looking for solutions instead of creating walls is something we all need to focus on more. Driscoll: It's time for business schools to put their money where their mouth is and really live up to their commitment to lifelong education. There are decades after students get out of business school, and the schools need to dedicate more resources to improving their services for alumni. Q: What else should we know about this topic? Driscoll: We should raise awareness while people are in business school about how alternative career paths are O.K. McGrath: Men and women alike are finding themselves in their 50s with up to 20 years of work left. Twenty years is a long time that offers the possibility of making significant contributions. MBA programs need to stop ignoring older women in their recruiting. Gross: Many of our survey respondents said they want to talk with people who have done this already. It would be great for universities who have kept a large database to connect alums to each other for networking about these kinds of issues.

The biggest, Chegg.com, has scored $2.2 million in funding. The idea: sell cheaper books to students, bypass the textbook monopolies—and make money The college textbook market has functioned as a near-perfect monopoly. Consider: How often does someone have the authority to order consumers to purchase a product with a limited number of vendors? University professors have just that power, requiring students to purchase particular books for their courses. The often obscure titles must typically be purchased from the college bookstore, which obtains them through special order. With limited competition, at best, prices for new textbooks can easily climb to $100, and have tripled since the mid-1980s (see BusinessWeek.com, 7/12/06, "Textbook Costs Stir Concern"). Now a group of small Web sites is trying to provide students with a cheaper alternative for textbooks and other school supplies, such as computers. The largest of the sites, Chegg.com, has just received $2.2 million in funding, BusinessWeek.com has learned. The company, based in Santa Clara, Calif., raised the money from Gabriel Venture Partners and angel investor Mike Maples. Maples also participated in an earlier angel round. Chegg allows students to buy and sell used textbooks and other school-related goods and services for free. It's a huge market, generating $11 billion in revenue and $3 billion in profit a year, according to Rick Bolander, a Gabriel co-founder and a member of the Chegg board. "If we can take just 5% of that market, we'll be very happy," he says. Helping Students Save Chegg provides goods at lower prices than traditional campus outlets. The margins on used textbooks are often as high as 40%, according to Chegg Chief Executive Osman Rashid. It's just one example of rising education costs (see BusinessWeek.com, 8/10/06, "America's Priciest Dorms"). By eliminating the middleman, the student buyer and seller can split the profit margin among themselves, Rashid says. He added that a $100 textbook that might be resold at the campus bookstore for $70 would go for about $50 on Chegg. "The used textbook business has been wildly profitable for retailers. Our whole notion is to save some money for students," says Rashid, an electrical engineer who previously worked as a sales executive for Chordiant Software (CHRD). One Chegg user says her book expenses have dropped to $200—from $500 to $600—since she began using the site in September. "It's a really great way for students to find textbooks, tutors, or jobs. The prices are cheaper than other sites," says Stacy Lynn Austin, a junior who is studying journalism and creative writing at New York University. Chegg has its roots in a site known as Cheggpost.com. It was founded in 2001 at Iowa State University by Josh Carlson, a student at the university. It incorporated as Chegg in 2004, with Carlson and Rashid Aayush Phumbhra at the helm. It expanded nationally last fall, although it's focusing on certain universities and groups of schools. As for the name, it refers to the "chicken and egg" problem that confronts students who are pressed to come up with the money they need for textbooks that will help them earn a living later in life, according to Rashid. Chegg has been growing through acquisition. It has merged with several smaller sites including UFlipit, Textopedia, and UTank. It's now several times larger than rivals such as Collegemedium.com and DormItem, according to market researcher Alexa Internet. Staying Competitive Chegg faces plenty of challenges, though. Online retailers such as Amazon.com (AMZN) and Half.com sell used textbooks, too. And as a free classified service, Chegg depends heavily on advertising for revenue, which can be particularly tough for a small site. Chegg also charges fees to certain nonstudents who live near campuses and want to sell goods to students. It sells new books and computers at a discount as well, by reaching agreements with wholesalers. How can Chegg hope to compete? Bolander says the company benefits from a lean cost structure and a "hyper-local" business plan. "Everyone from Google (GOOG) to Yahoo! (YHOO) and MSN (MSFT) is going local, and that is an area of strength for us," Bolander says. The issue of rising textbook prices actually sparks global concern. An online organization called the Global Text Project seeks to distribute free digital textbooks in developing countries (see BusinessWeek.com, 12/11/06, "The Worldwide Textbook"). While Chegg still allows users to make a profit on their goods, the era of a monopoly market—with 40% margins—may be drawing to a close.

Domino’s Pizza Sales Hit by Ireland Slump; Shares Fall March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Domino’s Pizza U.K. & Ireland Plc, the U.K.’s biggest pizza-delivery company, said growth in sales in the first quarter was slowed by a slump at outlets in Ireland. The stock fell the most in more than two months. Sales at 608 outlets open at least a year rose 4.2 percent in the 13 weeks to March 30 compared with 10.5 percent at 553 stores a year earlier, the Milton Keynes, England-based company said in a Regulatory News Service statement today. Sales at Irish outlets open at least a year fell 10.5 percent, while sales at U.K. outlets rose 5.5 percent. Sales of food through Domino’s own outlets, known as system sales, grew 11.2 percent to 132.3 million pounds ($212 million). “The overall group numbers, were, however, held back by the very difficult trading environment in the Republic of Ireland which contributes 7.4 percent of our system sales,” Chief Executive Chris Moore said in the statement. “We are up against some very challenging comparatives for the rest of the year, especially in the second quarter.” The company, which plans to open 60 outlets in 2011, said it is well placed for further strong growth this year. Online first-quarter sales rose 63 percent to 41.3 million pounds. Domino shares fell as much as 11 percent, and closed down 4.2 percent to 427.2 pence at the 4:30 p.m. close in London trading today, the biggest decline since Jan. 20. To contact the reporter on this story: Renee Lawrence in London at rlawrence7@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Colin Keatinge at ckeatinge@bloomberg.net

Love Limbo in Shanghai as Singles Frozen From Home Market Aug. 16 (Bloomberg) -- Tank Zhao is being forced to ditch tradition by taking a bride before buying a home as Shanghai bans unmarried non-locals like him from purchasing property. The 28-year-old software engineer from Fujian province had been looking for an apartment ahead of plans to marry his girlfriend next year, in accordance with the Chinese proverb “Zhu Chao Yin Feng” -- build a nest before attracting the phoenix. He’ll now have to secure the phoenix before the nest. “The policy is unreasonable; we aren’t speculators, we just need a place to live,” said Zhao. “Getting married first goes against our culture. I’ll have to explain to my girlfriend’s family that the Shanghai policy is what it is.” Shanghai last year started limiting locals to owning two homes, while families among the city’s 9 million non-local residents were capped at one.. Chinese males are expected to own a home before they approach their would-be wife’s family for approval to wed. In rural parts of the country, parents extract most of the family’s wealth to build houses for their sons ahead of the marriage; in cities, securing an apartment is the equivalent. New-home prices in China fell for nine straight months through May as government restrictions achieved the goal of cooling the market, according to SouFun Holdings Ltd., the country’s largest real estate website owner. In July, values bucked the trend, posting the biggest gain in more than a year, SouFun said Aug. 1. Stop Rebound “China’s property policies will definitely focus on those first-tier landmark cities,” said Alan Jin, a Hong Kong-based property analyst at Mizuho Securities Asia Ltd. “If all the current curbs are not working, the government may have to be more hawkish in the second half. Their bottom line is to stop prices from rebounding.” After stricter implementation of its curbs, Shanghai’s new home sales fell 16 percent in July from a month earlier to 7,025 units, according to data from Century 21 China Real Estate, the country’s second-biggest property brokerage. Sales had surged 24 percent to 8,365 units in June, the highest in 17 months. “The policies did have some impact on the market,” said Huang Hetao, Shanghai-based researcher at Century 21. China’s second-largest city by population, Shanghai had about 23 million residents at the end of 2010, about 9 million of whom were non-locals, according to the nation’s statistics bureau. An influx of construction, information technology, and other workers almost tripled the cost of homes in Shanghai in the past 10 years, according to government data. ‘It’s Discrimination’ Zhang Lei, a blogger from eastern Zhejiang province who has lived in Shanghai for eight years, has set up a “non-local singles anti-purchase restriction alliance” online. The 31-year-old, who says she doesn’t plan on ever getting married, was ready to pay a deposit for a 3 million yuan home ($471,000) in northern Shanghai in June, she said. Then the government crackdown nixed her plan. “This is very, very irritating; it’s discrimination,” said Zhang, who boasts more than 110,000 fans at Sina Weibo, China’s Twitter-like microblog portal. “I’ve been making money and waiting for the time that I can finally buy a home. Then all of a sudden the government told us that we couldn’t buy.” Non-Chinese people are allowed to buy one home in Shanghai as long as they show proof that they don’t own other properties in the country and have been employed for a year. Overseas companies are allowed to buy offices in the city if they are registered, according to the housing ministry and currency regulator. Shanghainese Chauvinism “We pay our tax here and make contributions to the city’s development, the same as locals and foreigners,” Zhang said. “Why is it just us that can’t buy?” Shanghai, with its own dialect, has some of China’s strictest population controls. To be defined a “local,” one must be born in the city to Shanghainese parents, be a skilled professional with residence of at least seven years and tax receipts to prove it, or marry a Shanghai local and remain married for 10 years. The residency policies fuel chauvinism by Shanghainese against newcomers and reinforce divisions between the two groups, said Wang Xiaoyu, an associate professor and social critic at Shanghai’s Tongji University. “Had the policies been based on tax payments, it would be closer to concepts of citizens’ rights,” he said. “Instead, we have the idea that locals come first, so people from different places fight with each other over the Internet.” Forged Marriages Previously, unmarried non-local residents were qualified to buy a home as long as they worked and paid tax in the city for a year, according to Lu Qilin, senior research manager at Deo Volente Realty, Shanghai’s third-biggest property brokerage. That changed after Wen ordered the crackdown. Buyers could try forged marriage licenses, and the city government is unlikely to check as long as they aren’t from Shanghai, said Lu. Such licenses cost about 100 yuan, he said. “Compared with what they pay for a property, this is small money,” Lu said. As prices rose last year, some couples faked divorce to skirt the two-property limit. In China, couples are typically wed in a formal process that can be done at short notice, much like renewing a driver’s license. The marriage is then celebrated at a banquet with family and friends that marks society’s recognition of the union, often months after the official event. Deferring Marriage The average age at which Shanghai residents get married has climbed along with housing costs. Shanghai men averaged 32.45 years and females 29.89 years when they wed, according to the city’s statistics bureau. That’s up from 28.64 years for males and 26.43 years for females in 2007. Shanghai’s home-price surge fueled concern a bubble was arising and housing was becoming unaffordable. A standard two-bedroom apartment about 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) from Shanghai’s center costs about 3 million yuan, versus an average annual wage of 52,655 yuan. China responded in April 2010 with policies to deter speculators and curb price growth. It raised down-payment and mortgage requirements, imposed property taxes for the first time in Shanghai and Chongqing, increased building of low-cost social housing, and implemented purchase restrictions in about 40 cities. As nationwide prices eased in the nine months to May, the government tolerated minor easing of curbs in some cities to ensure economic growth didn’t slow too quickly. China’s economy expanded 7.6 percent in the second quarter from a year ago, the slowest pace in three years. Sales Surge China’s central bank cut interest rates in June for the first time in three years, and lowered them again in July. Home sales jumped 41 percent in June, according to government data. The speed of the rebound prompted action. The central government ordered local counterparts that had relaxed housing policies to “strictly implement” them to prevent prices from taking off again, the land and housing ministries said in a jointly issued “urgent notice” on July 20. Real estate curbs are still at a “critical stage,” the government said. China sent eight teams to 16 provinces in late July to check on the implementation of its property curbs, according to a statement on the central government website on July 25. New property curbs may result as the inspection teams return to Beijing, the official China Securities Journal reported Aug. 9. Pent-Up Demand “Real demand is very hard to restrain; you can try administrative measures, but demand from people is there,” said Albert Lau, Shanghai-based China head and managing director at London property broker Savills Plc. “Pent-up demand will be released as soon as they see any positive signals, because people need to live under a roof and get married.” Premier Wen said easing inflation allows more room to adjust monetary policy and positive signs are emerging in the economy, the official Xinhua News Agency reported yesterday, citing Wen’s comments during a two-day inspection tour to the eastern province of Zhejiang. The comments may bolster speculation China will cut banks’ reserve requirements or benchmark interest rates again after inflation slowed to a 30-month low in July, export growth collapsed and new yuan loans trailed estimates. A gauge tracking property shares on the Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.1 percent at the local close and is up 11 percent this year. Zhao, the information-technology engineer who’s been dating his girlfriend for three years, said he had been facing pressure from her family to buy a home. He’s looking for an apartment, priced around 1.5 million yuan, in eastern Shanghai near his employer. “I’ll now really have to calculate the timing: get a marriage license right away when I see the right property,” he said. “But that’s hard, isn’t it?” To contact Bloomberg News staff for this story: Bonnie Cao in Shanghai at bcao4@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Andreea Papuc at apapuc1@bloomberg.net

China Resources Power Shareholders Reject Unit Integration July 22 (Bloomberg) -- China Resources Power Holdings Co., the electricity generator accused of deliberately overpaying for coal assets in 2010, scrapped a plan to combine with a sister company after shareholders rejected the proposal. Sixty-four percent of the company’s minority shareholders voted against the integration with China Resources Gas Group Ltd., in three coal mines in Shanxi province. All five of the parent company’s units traded in Hong Kong sank after allegations against it and Song Lin, the parent’s chairman, were posted by the official Xinhua News Agency to its website on July 17. The parent is now being audited by the government, Xinhua reported July 19. Xi Jinping, who became China’s president in March, has pledged to investigate and.” China Resources Holdings employs more than 400,000 people and controls businesses spanning power generation, cement production, real estate and finance. Unit China Resources Enterprise produces the country’s best-selling brand of beer with SABMiller Plc. In 2012, China Resources Holdings had HK$41.2 billion of profit on HK$404.6 billion of sales, according to its website. Xinhua Letter In his letter posted to Xinhua’s website, Xinhua reporter Wang Wenzhi alleged that Song and other executives deliberately overpaid for the mine assets. China Resources Power bought an 80 percent stake in the mines for 7.9 billion yuan, while another company had offered to pay 5.2 billion yuan for the entire asset a few months earlier, according to the letter, which was addressed to the Communist Party’s Central Commission for Discipline Inspection. A group of minority investors said July 18 they had filed a lawsuit in Hong Kong making similar allegations and demanding the company forfeit the purchase. They have no connection with Xinhua’s Wang, Li Su, founder of Hejun Vanguard Group, which is representing the investors, said at a briefing. Datong Coal Mine Group is the company that planned to buy the same assets for 5.2 billion yuan in 2010 before walking away from the deal, according to the letter posted by Wang. Datong Coal has no connection with China Resources Power’s 2010 purchase and won’t comment on anything concerning the deal, a media official who only gave his surname as Liu, said by phone on July 19 from the company’s headquarter in Datong, Shanxi. Three calls to Shanxi Jinye Coal Coking Group Co., the seller of the assets, went unanswered on July 19. To contact the reporter on this story: Aibing Guo in Hong Kong at aguo10@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.net

The School Improvement Council (SIC) of Okatie Elementary School was honored Saturday as the recipient of the 2014 Dick and Tunky Riley Award for School Improvement Council Excellence. Port Royal Elementary’s SIC was one of four schools to earn honorable mentions. The awards were presented during the South Carolina School Improvement Council Annual Meeting at St. Andrews Middle School in Columbia. The annual Riley Award for SIC Excellence was created in 2002 to recognize the significant contributions made to public education by the nearly 15,000 School Improvement Council members who volunteer in every public school in the state. The award is named in honor of the former South Carolina governor and U.S. Secretary of Education and his late wife, and recognizes the couple’s longstanding commitment to quality public education. “The Okatie Elementary School Improvement Council has done some wonderful work that is well-deserving of this award,” said SC-SIC Board of Trustees Chair Ellen M. Still. “When parents, educators and community members cooperatively come together as an SIC to look at needs of their school and then undertake effective steps to meet them, it has a positive and lasting impact on the lives and futures of their school and students.” Okatie Principal Jamie Pinckney commended the SIC’s work and said the statewide recognition was well deserved. “The Riley Award is a reflection of a unified effort among our school’s staff, our parents and our community, with everybody focused on doing the best we can for our kids,.” she said. In the last school year, the Okatie Elementary SIC took steps to enhance communication with parents on school district issues and decisions, specifically those related to rezoning issues in school’s growing attendance area. SIC members and school administrators participated in the school board’s Bluffton Community Committee, working with other SICs and community members to discuss new school needs, rezoning and community involvement in the process. boxes providing a week’s worth of food each month. Additionally, the SIC worked to improve procedures and safety of student car rider drop-off and pick-up, to include traffic direction, improved signage and a no cell phone use policy. Port Royal Elementary’s SIC partnered with a local church to provide scholarships for a number of needy students to receive after-school care at the nearby YMCA. This partnership also led to the establishment of a school uniform voucher program sponsored by the church, as well as the provision of school supplies for the entire student body for the year. As Port Royal Elementary celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2011, the SIC worked with the Town Council and the Historic Port Royal Foundation on the challenging process of getting the school listed on the National Register of Historic Places, with a decision on the designation by the National Park Service expected this spring. The SIC also believed that the historic and cultural nature of the Town of Port Royal had considerable educational value. Walking field trips called “In Our Own Backyard,” were initiated by the SIC, utilizing a map of designated sites developed for them by the town. “It was tremendous for our district to be home to two of South Carolina’s five state finalists for the 2014 Riley Award,” said Superintendent Jeff Moss. “So many parents and community members work to support our schools, and these recognitions are a partial reflection of that.” The other three finalists for the Riley Award – and recipients of Honorable Mention recognitions today – were Buena Vista Elementary SIC (Greenville County); Irmo High SIC (School District 5 of Lexington & Richland Counties); and Ridge View High SIC (Richland District 2). In the past year, local School Improvement Council members across South Carolina committed more than 230,000 volunteer hours to their schools at an estimated value of nearly $4 million – a substantial return on the state’s current annual SC-SIC budget allocation of approximately $200 per school..

[tag: science] Reflux related hospital admissions after fundoplication in children with neurological impairment: retrospective cohort studyBMJ 2009; 339 doi: (Published 18 November 2009) Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4411 - Rajendu Srivastava, associate professor1, attending physician2, - Jay G Berry, instructor34, - Matt Hall, senior statistician5, - Earl C Downey, professor6, attending physician2, - Molly O’Gorman, associate professor7, attending physician2, - J Michael Dean, professor and vice chairman, attending physician82, - Douglas C Barnhart, associate professor6, attending physician2 - 1Division of Inpatient Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah Health Sciences Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA - 2Primary Children’s Medical Center, Intermountain Healthcare, Salt Lake City - 3Complex Care Service, Children’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA - 4Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA - 5Child Health Corporation of America, Shawnee Mission, KS, USA - 6Division of Pediatric Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Utah Health Sciences Center - 7Division of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah Health Sciences Center - 8Division of Pediatric Critical Care, Department of Pediatrics, University of Utah Health Sciences Center - Correspondence to: R Srivastava raj.srivastava{at}hsc.utah.edu - Accepted 31 July 2009 Abstract Objective To examine the impact of fundoplication on reflux related hospital admissions for children with neurological impairment. Design Retrospective, observational cohort study. Setting 42 children’s hospitals in the United States. Participants 3721 children with neurological impairment born between 2000 and 2005 who had at least one hospital admission at a study hospital before their fundoplication. Intervention Fundoplication. Main outcome measures Incident rate ratio for reflux related hospital admissions, defined as the post-fundoplication admission rate divided by the pre-fundoplication admission rate. Results Of the 955 285 children born during the study period, 144 749 (15%) had neurological impairment. Of these, 27 720 (19%) were diagnosed as having gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, of whom 6716 (24%) had a fundoplication. Of these, 3721 (55%) had at least one previous hospital admission and were included in the study cohort. After fundoplication, hospital admissions decreased for any reflux related cause (incident rate ratio 0.69, 95% confidence interval), after adjustment for other patient and hospital related factors that may influence reflux related hospital admissions. Hospital admissions increased for asthma (incident rate ratio 1.52, 1.38 to 1.67; P<0.01) and remained constant for pneumonia (1.07, 0.98 to 1.17; P=0.16). Conclusions Children with neurological impairment who have fundoplication had reduced short term reflux related hospital admissions for aspiration pneumonia, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, and mechanical ventilation. However, admissions for pneumonia remained constant and those for asthma increased after fundoplication. Comparative effectiveness data for other treatments (such as gastrojejunal feeding tubes) are unknown. Introduction Aspiration pneumonia is the most common cause of death in children with severe neurological impairment.1 2 3 4 These children have dysfunctional swallowing and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, which places them at risk of aspiration pneumonia.5 6 7 The most common surgical treatment for medically refractory gastro-oesophageal reflux disease is the anti-reflux procedure known as fundoplication. The surgery involves wrapping part of the stomach around the lower oesophagus, and this compression of the oesophagus prevents the stomach contents from being able to reflux. Fundoplication is the third most common procedure done by paediatric surgeons.8 Approximately 40% of paediatric fundoplications in the United States are done in children with neurological impairment.9 The literature provides some estimates of the effects of fundoplication in children with neurological impairment. Complications are reported in 4% to 39% of children, and mortality is between 1% and 3%.6 8 10 11 12 13 Previous studies have reported contradictory results of the effectiveness of fundoplication as regards symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Outcomes reported by physicians show abatement of symptoms in 85% of children.8 Other studies report recurrence of symptoms of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease after fundoplication in up to 56% of children and recurrence of aspiration pneumonia in up to 39%.11 14 15 These retrospective operative case series report outcomes that are subject to bias, and they are limited by variability in loss of patients to follow-up. In addition, they do not describe explicit selection criteria or specific indications for the procedure. The lack of high quality evidence for this common clinical scenario hinders both clinicians and caregivers in deciding whether surgery would benefit a child. Multicentre prospective trials evaluating the impact of comparative therapeutic interventions for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in children with neurological impairment are being called for, in order to overcome the methodological flaws of previous retrospective studies.16 17 18 19 20 However, the ideal primary outcome is unclear. Potential outcomes that evaluate the impact of anti-reflux interventions include resolution of symptoms, nutritional outcomes, children’s and caregivers’ health related quality of life, complications, cost, morbidity, and mortality.19 21 22 Reflux related hospital admission is an objective and more precise outcome of fundoplication for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease.18 Given that these admissions reflect severe and costly complications of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, their assessment provides a composite assessment of the importance of the condition in this population, incorporating many of the morbidities. Reflux related hospital admission has the benefit of being subject to less bias than some other outcomes, such as resolution of symptoms; it also affects health related quality of life by reducing the time spent in the hospital for children and their caregivers. A study in a single US state by Goldin et al examined lifetime risk after fundoplication and showed some reduction in reflux related admissions.18 We were able to extend the methods of this study to examine the impact of fundoplication on reflux related hospital admissions for children with neurological impairment within 42 freestanding children’s hospitals across 35 US states. The results of our study provide an estimate of the impact of first fundoplication on severe sequelae of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in children with neurological impairment and inform the development of a future multicentre clinical trial. Methods Patients Data for this retrospective observational cohort study came from the Pediatric Health Information System administrative database, developed by the Child Health Corporation of America (Shawnee Mission, KS), a business alliance of children’s hospitals. The database contains inpatient demographic, diagnostic, and procedural data from 42 not for profit, freestanding paediatric hospitals in the United States. Thomson Reuters (Evanston, IL) manages the data warehouse function for the database. Data are subjected to several checks of reliability and validity and processed into data quality reports. Patients are tracked for repeat hospital admissions at the same children’s hospital by use of a unique identifier. Study population We used the following inclusion criteria to create the cohort: birth date during the study enrolment period (2000-5), at least one admission to any of the 42 Pediatric Health Information System hospitals, and an ICD-9-CM (international classification of diseases, 9th revision, clinical modification) diagnostic code for neurological impairment. We then followed this cohort and included patients who had a diagnosis code for gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (530.11, 5301.81) and a procedure code for fundoplication (44.66, 44.67). We created the cohort in this manner to ensure that we would capture the first fundoplication. We followed the cohort for one year after the first fundoplication to capture reflux related hospital admissions. We used the same codes for reflux related admissions on the cohort before fundoplication. We excluded children with neurological impairment and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease who did not have at least one hospital admission before the fundoplication for two reasons: their care was not solely based at the Pediatric Health Information System hospital, and they may constitute a different patient population; and our methods did not allow for a zero pre-fundoplication admission rate. For subanalyses, we divided the study cohort into two groups: children with previous hospital admissions that were not related to reflux and those with at least one previous reflux related admissions. Patients’ characteristics Demographics—Demographic characteristics included sex, ethnicity (non-Hispanic white, black, Hispanic, Asian, and other), payer (government, private, other), discharge disposition (home, died, other), and age (<3 months, 3 to <6 months, 6 to <12 months, 12 to <18 months, 18 to <36 months, ≥36 months) on the basis of observation of the distribution of cases for this young cohort (<7 years) and published data.18 Neurological impairment—We defined neurological impairment as static or progressive, central and/or peripheral neurological diagnoses associated with chronic functional and/or intellectual impairment. We determined ICD-9-CM codes for neurological impairment from previous studies (Adam Goldin, personal communication, 2008) and the tabular index of ICD-9-CM coding.9 18 19 22 Neurological impairment included diagnoses such as cerebral palsy, hydrocephalus, leukodystrophy, and epilepsy. Complex chronic conditions—We defined complex chronic conditions as respiratory, renal, gastrointestinal, metabolic, haematological, congenital or genetic defect, malignancy, and cardiovascular diagnoses expected to last longer than 12 months that involve either several different organ systems or one organ system severely enough to need specialty paediatric care and admission to hospital.23 24 Complex chronic conditions are ICD-9-CM based and intended for use with paediatric administrative hospital admission data. We did not use the neuromuscular category, as the study cohort was assembled with neurological impairment as a criterion for inclusion. Tracheostomy and upper airway anomalies—Other characteristics that may affect reflux related hospital admissions are tracheostomy and upper airway anomalies. We defined tracheostomy as ICD-9-CM procedure codes 31.1, 31.2, 317.4, 317.5, 96.55, and 97.23 or diagnoses codes 519.00, 519.01, 519.02, 519.09, v44.0, and v55.0.25 26 We defined upper airway anomalies as ICD-9-CM diagnoses codes 744.4x, 744.8x, 744.9, 747.21, 748.0, 748.2-4, 749.0x, 749.2x, 759.7, and 759.89.27 We analysed tracheostomy and upper airway anomalies as present or absent for the patient during the study period. Gastrostomy tube—Gastrostomy feeding tubes are common in this population.28 We defined gastrostomy tubes by using ICD-9-CM procedure codes 43.0, 43.19, 43.11, 43.1, and 97.02 or ICD-9-CM diagnoses codes v44.1, v55.1, and 536.4x. We analysed them as placed before the fundoplication, during the fundoplication procedure, both, or neither. We were unable to accurately identify gastrojejunal feeding tubes (another anti-reflux procedure) in the Pediatric Health Information System database. Hospitals’ characteristics Hospitals’ characteristics analysed were regional location (north east, south, central, west), average annual hospital volume of fundoplication during the study period, and percentage of fundoplication for children admitted with neurological impairment and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease within each study hospital. We categorised the average annual hospital volume into quarters. We measured the percentage of fundoplication for the study population within hospitals to account for variability of indication for the procedure and institutional practices. Outcomes We defined reflux related hospital admission as admission for oesophagitis (530.1, 530.10, 530.12, 530.19) or gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (530.11, 530.81), aspiration pneumonia (507.0), pneumonia (480-486), asthma (493), or mechanical ventilation (96.7, 96.70, 96.71, 96.72).18 29 We chose the outcomes of admission for oesophagitis, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, and aspiration pneumonia as a complication of failure to treat gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. We chose the outcomes of admission for pneumonia, asthma, and mechanical ventilation for three reasons: they comprise a group of major respiratory problems that children with severe neurological impairment often encounter30 31; distinguishing aspiration pneumonia from another lower respiratory infection or event is difficult, unless it is clinically obvious (such as a witnessed aspiration event); and a reduction in mechanical ventilation rates, whatever the cause, is a more objective measure of the impact of fundoplication on this study cohort. Statistical analyses We compared rates of reflux related hospital admission before and after fundoplication for the entire cohort. We truncated all outcomes to one year’s follow-up. For the main analyses, we excluded patients who died after their fundoplication, in order to provide complete one year follow-up data. We excluded the admission for the fundoplication in both the before and after fundoplication admission rate data. Rates of reflux related hospital admissions per child year before and after fundoplication were calculated directly. We calculated the “before” period as elapsed days of life during the study period from birth until the admission for the first fundoplication. The “after” period was one year post-fundoplication.18 We used Poisson regression modelling for all analyses. We found no evidence of overdispersion of data. We calculated unadjusted incident rate ratios by dividing the post-fundoplication reflux related admission rate by the pre-fundoplication rate. An incident rate ratio greater than 1 occurs when the post-fundoplication rate is greater than the pre-fundoplication rate (for example, with a harmful effect of fundoplication), a ratio of 1 indicates no differences in rates, and a ratio of less than 1 occurs when the post-fundoplication rate is lower than the pre-fundoplication rate (for example, with a protective effect of fundoplication). We calculated bivariate adjusted incident rate ratios while accounting for patients’ characteristics and hospital level covariates individually. Multivariate Poisson modelling included the significant bivariate variables and accounted for hospital clustering by using hierarchical models. As patient’s age was the most influential covariate in the adjusted model, we treated age as a stratification factor and derived individual Poisson regression models for each age group. We also did the following subanalyses: cohort restriction to children with a “before” period of at least one year and cohort expansion to children who died in the one year after the fundoplication. Results Of the 955 285 children eligible during the study period, 144 749 (15%) had neurological impairment. Of these, 27 720 (19%) developed gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and 6716 (24%) had a fundoplication. Of these, 3721 (55%) had at least one previous hospital admission and were included in the study cohort (fig 1⇓). At the time of their first fundoplication, 1769 (48%) were aged younger than 12 months, 1596 (42.9%) were female, 1918/3562 (53.9%) were white non-Hispanic, 658 (18.5%) were black, 619 (17.4%) were Hispanic, and 2118 (56.9%) used government insurance (table 1⇓). After fundoplication, 3246/3715 (87.4%) were discharged home and 41 (1.1%) died. Comparison of patients’ characteristics between children with and without previous reflux related hospital admissions. Values are numbers (percentages) The most common reasons for neurological impairment were seizures (1777, 47.8%), brain or spinal cord abnormalities (1225, 32.9%), genetic conditions (1063, 28.6%), and cerebral palsy (990, 26.6%). At least one other comorbid chronic condition was present in 2863 (76.9%) children. A gastrostomy tube was placed during the fundoplication procedure in 2368 (63.6%) patients; 631 (17.0%) patients had a tracheostomy, and 1243 (33.4%) had an upper airway anomaly (table 1⇑). The percentage of fundoplication done on the study cohort within study hospitals ranged from 2.2% to 26.0% (table 2⇓). Comparison of hospitals’ characteristics between children with and without previous reflux related hospital admission For the entire cohort, the unadjusted pre-fundoplication rate (per child year) for any reflux related hospital admission was 1.63 (95% confidence interval 1.45 to 1.81). The post-fundoplication rate for any reflux related admission was 1.63 (1.43 to 1.81). The incident rate ratio was 0.98 (0.95 to 1.02; P=0.3443). The unadjusted rates for aspiration pneumonia were 0.12 (0.10 to 0.14) pre-fundoplication and 0.1 (0.08 to 0.13) post-fundoplication; the incident rate ratio was 0.86 (0.76 to 0.97; P=0.138) (fig 2⇓). Fig 2 Unadjusted and adjusted incident rate ratios (post-fundoplication rate divided by pre-fundoplication rate), with 95% CIs, for reflux related hospital admissions (RRH). GERD=gastro-oesophageal reflux disease For the entire cohort, the adjusted pre-fundoplication and post-fundoplication rates (per child year) decreased for any reflux related hospital admission (incident rate ratio 0.69,). Hospital admissions increased for asthma (incident rate ratio 1.52, 1.38 to 1.67; P<0.01) and remained constant for pneumonia (1.07, 0.98 to 1.17; P=0.16) (fig 2⇑). When we specifically examined age by category in the Poisson regression models, hospital admissions for any reflux related cause decreased in all age groups, except those older than 36 months in whom admissions remained constant (table 3⇓). We did not analyse admissions for oesophagitis within age groups owing to sparse observations. For patients under 12 months old, the adjusted incident rate ratio was significantly less than 1 for aspiration pneumonia, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, and mechanical ventilation but was either constant or greater than 1 (the post-fundoplication rate was higher than the pre-fundoplication rate) for asthma and pneumonia. The age effect was less consistent over the age of 12 months, depending on the particular reflux related hospital admission being examined. Age specific models for reflux related hospital admissions, with unadjusted and adjusted incident rate ratios Subanalyses restricting the cohort to children with a “before” period of at least one year and expanding the cohort to children who died in the one year after the fundoplication gave similar findings to those for the entire cohort. Discussion We observed a short term reduction in reflux related hospital admissions in this large multicentre cohort study of children with neurological impairment and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease who had a first fundoplication. A reduction in hospital admissions for aspiration pneumonia, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, and mechanical ventilation occurred. However, admissions for pneumonia and asthma either remained constant or increased after fundoplication. The reduction in reflux related admissions was dependent on the age at which children with neurological impairment had their fundoplication. Comparison with other studies These findings are similar in two ways to those of Goldin et al, who evaluated reflux related hospital admissions before and after all fundoplications in the state of Washington between 1987 and 2001.18 Despite differences in age of the study cohorts, reflux related admissions for all combined conditions were lower after fundoplication in younger children (age <1 year) with developmental delay. The magnitude of this effect across age categories— incident rate ratio 0.5 (0.4 to 0.63) for those under 12 months, 0.54 (0.41 to 0.71) for those between 12 and 48 months, and 1.38 (1.03 to 1.85) for those older than 48 months—was similar to our findings. Our findings also differ from those of Goldin et al, who reported no difference in rates of hospital admission for aspiration pneumonia before and after fundoplication among children with developmental delay in any age group. Our findings differ from those of this seminal study for several possible reasons. Children with neurological impairment may experience different consequences of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, such as aspiration pneumonia, as they grow older. The underlying reason for neurological impairment may make fundoplication a less desirable procedure to control aspiration pneumonia over the life of the child. The study by Goldin et al had more children with neurological impairment who were older and followed for their lifetime, whereas our study, by design, focused on a young cohort followed for one year, in order to capture their first fundoplication. Goldin et al examined data from a single state, whereas our study included data from 35 US states. This multi-state analysis may reflect differences beyond regional care, such as different selection of patients, which may have influenced the results. Other studies have largely focused on other less objective outcomes such as control of symptoms and reporting of complications after fundoplication.6 10 11 12 13 Fonkulsrud et al reported in the largest case series to date (more than 7400 fundoplications) that outcomes reported by physicians from seven children’s hospitals over a 20 year period describe resolution of symptoms in 85% of children with neurological impairment.8 Other smaller surgical case series describe less reduction in symptoms after fundoplication in children with neurological impairment.11 14 15 Lasser et al published nationally weighted US data showing that fundoplications for children with neurological impairment decreased between 1996 and 2003 and that these children had fundoplication at 5 years of age or less.9 Although this study was unable to follow the children over time, the results are similar to ours, reflecting a young age for first fundoplication in children with neurological impairment. One other study examined hospital admissions before and after fundoplication in a small sample and, as in Goldin et al’s study, found a reduction in admissions for children with neurological impairment.18 32 Strengths and limitations of study The strengths of this study include extending previously published methods from Goldin et al to a larger sample from several US states, thus increasing the generalisability of the results. Our outcome was more objective than those of several other studies examining the effectiveness of fundoplication in this population of patients. We studied children who had at least one visit to the study hospital before their first fundoplication, thus reducing potential selection bias. Our study has several limitations inherent in the analysis of existing databases. The diagnoses of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (for our inclusion criteria) and reflux related hospital admission (our outcomes) were based on ICD-9-CM codes. We recognise that coding differences exist among hospitals,33 34 but we have no reason to suspect systematic bias before and after the fundoplication that could have affected our admission rates. The Pediatric Health Information System does not contain clinical data to ascertain important information related to the fundoplication and reflux related admission. Clinical data are essential to substantiate the diagnosis of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease and the diagnoses that comprise reflux related hospital admissions, but we could not look at this in our administrative database study. For example, we could not determine if aspiration pneumonia after fundoplication was related to primary aspiration (for example, of secretions) or secondary aspiration (such as refluxed gastric contents). We could not examine how the diagnosis of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease was made for these children (clinical, radiographic, endoscopic), as the database does not contain outpatient or community data. Indications for fundoplication were unavailable. We could not accurately identify patients who had a different anti-reflux procedure, such as gastrojejunal feeding tubes, which could have influenced the results.16 19 20 The reduction in hospital admissions may have represented physicians’ bias in not labelling gastro-oesophageal reflux disease or aspiration pneumonia for the post-fundoplication respiratory related admissions. Physicians may have been more likely to believe that the patient had asthma or pneumonia. This potential systematic bias cannot be determined in our study, but we believe that the reduction in admissions for mechanical ventilation make this possibility more remote. Our study may have overestimated the effect of fundoplication on reflux related hospital admissions for very young children, as their pre-fundoplication rates may be lower than those of children who were followed for a longer period of time before their fundoplication. The subanalysis of patients followed for at least one year pre-fundoplication was similar to the results for the entire cohort. Early intervention in children aged under 1 year may be, in part, natural recovery as opposed to the effects of treatments. By including age in the overall model, we attempted to adjust for secular trends, but residual confounding may still exist. We may have underestimated the morbidity associated with this procedure, as our definition of reflux related hospital admission did not include admissions for operative complications. We restricted our analyses to patients born during the study period to capture all procedures done in the respective children’s hospitals. This may have restricted the generalisability of our results to fundoplication in older children with neurological impairment and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease. Clinically, we found that most of these procedures were first done in younger children (unless the neurological impairment was acquired—for example, traumatic brain injury in older children), which was similar to observations by Lasser et al.9 However, we have limited data on the effectiveness of fundoplication in a large neonatal population, as our study design required a hospital admission to a study hospital before the fundoplication. Patients may have been admitted to a non-Pediatric Health Information System hospital and thus missed in the outcome of another hospital admission in our study. However, in our experience, children with neurological impairment and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease having fundoplication receive the vast majority of their inpatient care at their local children’s hospital. This study does not cover the effectiveness of fundoplication in the 2731 patients who were excluded because they did not have a previous admission. Many patients with neurological impairment and medically refractory gastro-oesophageal reflux disease are referred to children’s hospitals for evaluation for a fundoplication. Lack of data of previous admissions outside of the Pediatric Health Information System database limited our ability to assess whether this cohort’s outcomes were better, no different, or worse than those of the included children. We could not make adjustments for functional limitations owing to lack of information in the database. We did not measure other important outcomes, such as health related quality of life of either the caregiver or the child over time,22 nor any complications or the cost of the fundoplication or resultant inpatient care, as these were beyond the scope of our study. Conclusions and policy implications We observed a short term reduction in reflux related hospital admission in this large multicentre cohort study of children with neurological impairment and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease who had fundoplication. Reduced admission is certainly beneficial to children, their family, and the hospitals that serve them. However, these admissions are one component in a series of outcomes that providers may discuss with families of children with neurological impairment. Demonstrable reduction in symptoms, improvement in the child’s and caregivers’ health related quality of life, and reduction in complications should also be considered. Multicentre prospective comparative trials (for example, for anti-reflux procedures such as gastrojejunal feeding tubes versus fundoplication) should be considered with these outcomes, in order to determine the true efficacy of anti-reflux procedures in reducing the complications of gastro-oesophageal reflux disease in children with neurological impairment. Longer term outcomes need to be studied, as the risks and benefits for an intervention may change over time. These studies may help to define subsets of patients who may have more or less benefit from an anti-reflux operation or who may be more or less disposed to have complications. Conflicting results may emerge, making fundoplication an intervention that requires the families’ and clinicians’ complete understanding and partnership before embarking along a particular treatment pathway. In conclusion, children with neurological impairment and gastro-oesophageal reflux disease who have fundoplication experienced reduced hospital admissions for aspiration pneumonia, gastro-oesophageal reflux disease, and mechanical ventilation. However, admissions for pneumonia remained constant and those for asthma increased after fundoplication. Comparative effectiveness data for other treatments (such as gastrojejunal feeding tubes) are unknown. What is already known on this topic Studies of the effectiveness of fundoplication in children with neurological impairment report conflicting results Studies have either focused on potentially biased outcomes, such as physicians’ reports of resolution of symptoms, or had methodological weaknesses One study reported a reduction in reflux related hospital admissions among children with neurological impairment in a single US state What this study adds Fundoplication was associated with a reduction in reflux related hospital admissions Comparative effectiveness data for other treatments (such as gastrojejunal feeding tubes) are unknown Notes Cite this as: BMJ 2009;339:b4411 Footnotes Contributors: All authors were responsible for study conception and design. MH acquired the data. RS, JGB, MH, and DCB analysed and interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. All authors critically revised the manuscript. MH did the statistical analysis and provided technical support. JGB, MH, ED, MO’G, JMD, and DCB provided supervision. MH and RS are the guarantors. Funding: RS and JGB are the recipients of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health (NIH) career development awards K23 HD052553 and K23 HD058092. This project was supported in part by the Children’s Health Research Center at the University of Utah and Primary Children’s Medical Center Foundation. None of the study funders had any role in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication. The researchers had complete independence from the study funders. Competing interests: None declared. Ethical approval: This study was approved by the institutional review boards of Children’s Hospital, Boston, and the University of Utah Health Sciences Center and Primary Children’s Medical Center, Salt Lake City..

[tag: legal] Laws, Regulations & Annotations Property Taxes Law Guide – Revision 2015 Revenue and Taxation Code Property Taxation Part 1. General Provisions CHAPTER 6. Earthquake and Fire Disaster Relief Section 197 197. Definitions. As used in this chapter: (a) "Eligible county" means a county which meets both of the following requirements: (1) Has been proclaimed by the Governor to be in a state of disaster as a result of the earthquake and aftershocks which occurred in California during October 1989. (2) Has adopted an ordinance providing property tax relief for earthquake, aftershock, and fire disaster victims as provided in Section 170. (b) "Eligible property" means real property and any manufactured home, including any new construction which was completed or any change in ownership which occurred prior to October 17, 1989, which meets both of the following requirements: (1) Is located in an eligible county. (2) Has sustained substantial disaster damage due to the earthquake or aftershocks occurring during 1989, which earthquake and aftershocks resulted in the issuance of disaster proclamations by the Governor. "Eligible property" does not include any real property or any manufactured home, whether or not it otherwise qualifies as eligible property, if that real property or manufactured home was purchased or otherwise acquired by a claimant for relief under this chapter after October 17, 1989. (c) "Substantial disaster damage," as to real property located in a county declared to be a disaster by the Governor as a result of the earthquake and aftershocks occurring in October 1989, means, with respect to real property and any manufactured home which has received the homeowners' exemption or is eligible for the exemption as of March 1, 1989, damage amounting to at least 10 percent of its fair market value or five thousand dollars ($5,000), whichever is less; and, with respect to other property, damage to the parcel of at least 20 percent of its fair market value immediately preceding the disaster causing the damage. (d) "Fair market value" means "full cash value" or "fair market value" as defined in Section 110. (e) "Property tax deferral claim" means a claim filed by the owner of eligible property in conjunction with or in addition to the filing of an application for reassessment of that property pursuant to Section 170, which enables the owner to defer payment of the December 10, 1989, installment of taxes on property on the regular secured roll for the 1989–90 fiscal year, as provided in Section 197.1, or to defer payment of taxes on property on the supplemental roll for the 1989–90 fiscal year, as provided in Section 197.9. History.—Added by Stats. 1987, Ch. 6X (first extra session), in effect November 16, 1987. Stats. 1989, Ch. 15X, (first extra session), in effect November 7, 1989, substituted "California during October 1989" for "October 1987 in the Counties of Los Angeles and Orange or as a result of the fires which occurred in 1987 in this state" after "occurred in" in paragraph (1) of subdivision (a); substituted "October 17, 1989" for "October 1, 1987" after "prior to" in subdivision (b); deleted "fires occurring in this state in 1987 or due to the" after "due to the", substituted "1989" for "1987" after "during", deleted "fires," after "1989, which" and a comma after "which earthquake" in the first paragraph, and substituted "October 17, 1989" for "October 1, 1987" after "chapter after" in the second paragraph of paragraph (2) of subdivision (b); substituted "in" for "on" after "occurring"; substituted "October 1989" for "October 1, 1987" after "occurring in", "March 1, 1989" for "March 1, 1987" after "exemption as of", and deleted the former second paragraph in subdivision (c); and substituted "December 10, 1989" for "December 10, 1987" after "payment of the" and substituted "1989–90" for "1987–88" after "roll for the", in both places in subdivision (e). Stats. 2002, Ch. 775 (SB 2092), in effect January 1, 2003, substituted "manufactured home" for "mobilehome" throughout the text.

Weymouth’s teammates now collegiate rivals Weymouth teammates now collegiate rivals Cam MacDonald is in the midst of his finest season on the diamond at American International College. Yet a shining moment from his senior year at Weymouth High still resonates with MacDonald and two of his former teammates, the final out of their victory over Braintree four years ago to clinch the Bay State Conference’s Carey Division title. A team captain who played second base and took a regular turn on the mound for Weymouth, MacDonald spun a last pitch that resulted in a grounder to Brett Julian, who fired the ball to first baseman Mike Laracy to secure the win. “We always talk about it, how cool it was for three of us to be involved in such a great moment,’’ MacDonald said of his two fellow captains. This spring, Laracy and Julian are senior pitchers at Merrimack College, while at Northeast-10 Conference rival AIC, MacDonald is putting together terrific numbers for the Yellow Jackets as a redshirt junior. Through 32 games, the third baseman was batting .309 (35 for 114), and pacing AIC in runs (23), on-base percentage (.433), stolen bases (12 in 16 attempts), walks (17) and hit-by-pitch (9). He had also pitched in four games, one as a starter, compiling a 2-0 mark with one save and an 0.79 earned run average. He had allowed just four hits in 11.1 innings. Julian, a reliever, had appeared in seven games, and Laracy, a starter, was 2-0 with a 3.92 ERA for Merrimack, 21-15 overall heading into Saturday’s game against Franklin Pierce. “Cam is the anchor of our infield that includes two freshmen. He gives us stability and leadership,’’ said AIC head coach Nick Callini, whose team was 16-17 prior to Friday’s doubleheader against Southern Connecticut. “He’s always fresh and ready to go on the mound, and he’s improving as a hitter after going through some injury problems. Cam is the kind of player you’d love to have nine of in your starting lineup.’’ A Bay State Conference all-star and recipient of the coach’s award his senior year at Weymouth High, MacDonald missed the 2010 season at AIC because of a broken bone in his right wrist. “The injury took a toll on me two years ago, and then the same bone was broken again last season. I had to play through the pain and last May I had surgery,’’ said MacDonald, who despite the nagging injuries was named to the NE-10 All-Rookie team in 2011, when he hit .270 and was 2-2 with a 4.00 ERA in six games, including five starts. Last season, he hit .264 and was 1-2 as a starter with a 4.11 ERA Thanks to a rigorous offseason workout schedule that included weekly visits to Cressey Performance in Hudson, the 5-foot-9, 180-pound MacDonald said he is stronger, quicker, and “in the best shape of my life.’’ He learned how to field as a youngster with the help of his father, Ed MacDonald, who would throw grounders and fly balls to him in their yard. “There was a downslope and some woods I had to deal with, but I made a few tough catches, it was great fun and a big reason baseball became a passion for me,’’ said MacDonald, who along with Laracy and Julian led Weymouth to a 14-8 record their senior year and to the South sectionals for the third consecutive season. The team, coached by Tony Green , received the Division 1 baseball Sportsmanship Award from the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association. Julian was the league MVP. “We were the team’s three pitchers when we weren’t playing in the field, and we’re still best of friends,’’ said MacDonald, who had a hit in each of the four games that AIC has played this season against Merrimack. The Yellow Jackets won three. “I’ve always loved both sides of the game — hitting and pitching — and I’m a pretty patient batter who tries to draw walks and get pitchers deep into counts,’’ said MacDonald, a natural righty who bats from the left side. “Honestly, I never thought of myself as a base stealer, but being stronger and healthier has given me the confidence to be more aggressive on the bases, and to try to get in scoring position.’’ MacDonald plans to return to the team next season as a graduate student, and Callini, who arranged for his partial scholarship two years ago, said he’s welcome to join the coaching staff two seasons down the road. “With Cam,’’ said Callini, “you never worry about his commitment to the game or doing what he needs to succeed.’’ Area athletes earn conference honors Wheaton senior All-American Amanda Claflin, a Pembroke High graduate, and junior Mollie Lane (Hanover High) earned Athlete of the Week honors from the New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference. Claflin, cited in the women’s track category, was third overall in her section of the 100-meter dash at the LSU Alumni Gold Meet in Baton Rouge, La., with a personal-best time of 12.24 seconds on April 20. She also posted another personal best (25.27) in the 200-meter dash. Lane was honored in the women’s field events category after placing first in the high jump (5 feet 3 inches) at the Eric Loeschner Memorial Meet at Fitchburg State University. At the same competition, one of Lane’s teammates at Hanover High helped Tufts University sweep the men’s and women’s titles. Tufts junior Matt Johnson took first place in the javelin (182 feet 8 inches), and was selected as NEWMAC’s Athlete of the Week in the men’s field category. He’s also a quarterback on the Jumbos football team. Campus achievers Colleen Moriarty, a Canton High grad who captained the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth women’s basketball team this winter, has been signed by the semipro New England Thunder of the 50-team Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League, a steppingstone to overseas professional leagues. An All-New England pick and Little East Conference Player of the Year, she led the conference in scoring and blocked shots during her senior season. . . . Former Middleborough High star Amber White was named the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference’s Softball Pitcher of the Week for the second time this season after tossing three complete-game wins, including two shutouts, for Bridgewater State University. The junior was 10-5 with an 0.81 ERA as of midweek.

John Blanding/Globe Staff Birdwatcher Neil Hayward of Cambridge said he observed 749 different bird species in 2013, the last coming in the weekend before the new year. John Blanding/Globe Staff Hayward was joined by his girlfriend, Gerri Buck, for more bird-watching Wednesday at Parker River National Wildlife Refuge on Plum Island. John Blanding/Globe Staff According to Hayward’s statistics, he spent 195 nights away from Cambridge, drove 51,758 miles, was at sea for 147 hours over 15 days, and flew 193,758 miles on 177 flights through 56 airports while on his quest. Neil Hayward Hayward said the 749th species he spotted was this Great Skua while bird-watching off the North Carolina coast on Dec. 28. Neil Hayward Here is an Emperor Goose spotted by Hayward in Adak, Alaska. Neil Hayward Hayward said he spotted this Rufous-backed Robin during a trip to Arizona. Neil Hayward This Nutting's Flycatcher was spotted at the Bill Williams River National Wildlife Refuge in Arizona, Hayward said. Neil Hayward Another bird spotted during Hayward’s “big year” was a Kirtland's Warbler in Grayling, Mich. Wake up with today's top stories.Want each day's news headlines delivered fresh to your inbox every morning? Just connect with us in one of the following ways: subscriber log in

SALEM — It has hardly been smooth sailing for Salem Harbor workers in recent years. The 630-megawatt power plant was the epicenter of a struggle between the power industry and environmentalists over reducing air pollution. In the last 20 years, Salem Harbor has had five different owners. But plans to install clean-coal technologies and make other improvements to cut toxic emissions from the plant never materialized. Salem Harbor seemed headed for extinction, until Footprint Power of New Jersey bought the plant two years ago. Footprint plans to tear down the old plant and replace it with a new $1 billion gas-fired facility scheduled to open in 2016. Continue reading it below The firm last month agreed to a settlement with the Conservation Law Foundation , a statewide environmental group that had appealed a state permit for the plant, alleging the gas-burning plant would not meet the state’s strict law to reduce greenhouse gases. As part of the settlement, Footprint agreed to further reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2050, when the plant also would be closed. Now the plant faces a new obstacle, an appeal filed on March 3 by four Salem residents to the Environmental Appeals Board of the US Environmental Protection Agency. The filing asserts that the new plant would violate the federal Clean Air Act. Footprint plans to close Salem Harbor on May 31, but the new appeal could delay the demolition schedule, according to the company. “The latest appeal could slow the demolition progress, delaying the positive impact the new plant will have on the city and the environment,” Footprint said in a statement to the Globe. Footprint’s new facility would run on the latest power plant technology. It will have about 30 employees, Footprint’s top leader said. “Some of the jobs will be similar to what’s here now,” Peter Furniss, chief executive officer of Footprint, said in an interview at the plant. He cited positions such as watch engineers or a plant operator. “But we’re really working with different technology. If a major problem comes up, you call [General Electric] and say, ‘What’s your monitor saying?’ ” Most of Salem Harbor’s 105 workers will be laid off on May 31. But a handful will be kept on to wind down operations, and some employees could stay on during construction of the new plant, Furniss said. “We will need a core group here, and hopefully they will be from the existing plant. But we haven’t fully fleshed that out yet,” he said. Since Salem Harbor is closing, workers may be eligible for federal job benefits under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act. Letters explaining benefits available under the Adult and Dislocated Worker Program will be mailed to workers soon, according to Footprint. Separately, Footprint made $500,000 available to help workers train for new jobs. “We wanted people to be able to start on whatever training they would need to help them get to the next step of a career,” Furniss said. Some workers already have started to retrain as truck drivers, fuel burner technicians, or in the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning field. “They were pretty much open to helping you retrain for whatever you wanted to pursue,” said Beth Tobin, the plant’s stockroom manager, who has worked at Salem Harbor for 28 years. “But I would tell you, I think everyone wishes we could come back to work at the new plant if they could. But we also realize this is a whole new industry. It will be all high-tech.”Reach Kathy McCabe

[tag: how-to] Kazakh court orders Bibles to be destroyed KAZAKHSTAN (BP) -- Religious freedom is losing even more ground in Kazakhstan, according to religious freedom monitor Forum 18. For the first time since Kazakhstan gained independence in 1991, a court has ordered religious literature to be destroyed, according to Forum 18, which is based in Oslo, Norway. Forum 18 reported that 121 pieces of religious literature mostly in the Kazakh language were taken from a believer in the northern Kazakhstan city of Shchuchinsk. Vyacheslav Cherkasov reportedly was handing out religious literature on the city streets when police arrested him. and a suitcase full of religious books -- Bibles, children's Bibles, books and tracts on the Christian faith -- were confiscated. The judge fined Cherkasov a month's wages on March 5 and ordered the literature -- Bibles, children's Bibles, books and tracts on the Christian faith -- be destroyed. "Most likely the books would be burnt," an official told Forum 18. Authorities accused Cherkasov of violating Kazkahstan's religion law, which was rewritten in 2011 to include more "religious offenses." Cherkasov is appealing the case. "We know that religious literature has frequently been confiscated since the new religion law came into force in 2011," human rights defender Yevgeni Zhovtis told Forum 18. "But I've never heard that religious literature is being destroyed, unless it is extremist. "This is terrible, terrible!" This case seems to highlight the fact Kazakhstan is moving back toward its Soviet era, now joining neighboring Russia and Uzbekistan as countries where courts order the destruction of religious literature. When Kazakhstan's government enacted the revised religion law in 2011, its restrictions seemingly were intended to curb extremism. However, most of its resulting consequences fell on the shoulders of minority Christians. Last October, a third of all religious groups in Kazakhstan reportedly were shut down in the crackdown on religious freedom. In early 2012, 579 religious groups were banned if they had less than 50 registered members, according to AsiaNews.it. This forced many unregistered Protestant congregations to go "underground," meeting in members' homes. But even there they haven't been safe. Forum 18 frequently reports on Kazakh police raiding homes, the latest incidents occurring in January. Missions leaders say the situation in Kazakhstan, as Mission Network News put it, "calls for much prayer," including intercession: -- that Cherkasov's appeal will succeed. -- for the government to release pressure on Christians so Gospel work could continue and for the crackdown on religion in Kazakhstan to end. -- that the Lord will protect His followers in Kazakhstan and give them boldness. Adapted from Mission Network News (), a news service based in Grand Rapids, Mich., dedicated to keeping Christians informed on evangelical mission activity around the world. Used by permission. For the full Forum 18 report on the court-ordered destruction of religious literature in Kazakhstan, go to.

San Diego is expected to have one airplane full of illegal immigrants arrive every three days. According to The Press-Enterprise, San Diego Sector Chief Paul Beeson told a town hall in Murrieta on Wednesday evening that “one airplane is scheduled to arrive in San Diego from Texas every 72 hours.” “We will make decisions when they arrive where it makes the most sense to put them,” he said, according to the outlet. When Breitbart Texas broke the story last month that illegal immigrants from Central America would be transferred from Texas to San Diego, the official Twitter account of the San Diego Border Patrol said Breitbart Texas Managing Director Brandon Darby’s report was “erroneous” and demanded that it be removed from the Internet. After the National Border Patrol Council (NBPC) defended Darby’s report, the San Diego CBP deleted its original tweet, conceding that they were wrong. After the federal government, following public outcry, canceled two flights that had been scheduled to transport illegal immigrants to San Diego, officials in San Diego warned that the federal government would transfer illegal immigrants to San Diego once people stopped paying attention. Less than a week after the cancellation, the federal government resumed the flights.

- Also known as - Frederick Ernest McIntyre Bickel - born August 31, 1897 - died April 14, 1975 Fredric March, original name Frederick Ernest McIntyre Bickel (born August 31, 1897, Racine, Wisconsin, U.S.—died April 14, 1975, Los Angeles, California), versatile American stage and film actor, adept at both romantic leads and complex character roles. March developed his interest in acting while a student at the University of Wisconsin. After graduating in 1920, he moved to New York City to work in a bank, but he soon began to pursue a career in acting. For the next six years March accepted numerous small roles in plays and in films before landing his first Broadway leading role in The Devil in the Cheese (1926). While appearing in a stock company, he met actress Florence Eldridge, who became his wife in 1927. In the decades that followed, they built a reputation as a prominent theatrical team. Hyde, Mr.; Jekyll, Dr.© 1932 Paramount PicturesMarch’s parody of John Barrymore in a 1928 touring production of The Royal Family earned him a five-year contract with Paramount Pictures, and he received his first Academy Award nomination for reprising the Barrymore role in the retitled screen adaptation, The Royal Family of Broadway (1930). His best-known film performance from his early years was a dual role in the horror classic Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931); it won March his first Academy Award. His Paramount contract, which expired in 1933, was March’s only long-term studio contract; for the remainder of his lengthy career, he freelanced—a rarity in the days of the Hollywood studio system. Throughout the next decade, he created memorable roles in films for various studios, most notably The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1934), Death Takes a Holiday (1934), Les Misérables (1935), Anthony Adverse (1936), Nothing Sacred (1937), A Star Is Born (1937; his third Oscar-nominated performance), The Buccaneer (1938), Bedtime Story (1941), I Married a Witch (1942), and The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944). In 1942 March returned to Broadway in Thornton Wilder’s The Skin of Our Teeth, and for the rest of his career he alternated between Hollywood films and the New York stage. He needed little training to adapt his skills to either medium, instinctively knowing if a gesture or facial expression was too broad for the screen or too subtle for the stage. March disdained the internal “method” approach to his craft. Upon accepting a script, he learned his lines quickly so that he had time to absorb the nuances of each word. This cerebral approach occasionally resulted in stolid, emotionally unconvincing performances (especially during his younger years when he was often cast in one-dimensional leading man roles), but it more often produced compelling, complex characterizations. Hall, Michael: still with Wright, Loy, March, and Hall from “The Best Years of Our Lives”© 1946 RKO Radio Pictures Inc.; photograph from a private collectionMarch aged gracefully into the character roles he was offered in later years. Two of his Broadway performances received considerable acclaim: A Bell for Adano (1944) and Years Ago (1947), the latter performance winning a Tony Award. In between playing the two stage roles, he won a second Oscar for what may be his most renowned screen role, that of the emotionally repressed World War II veteran in William Wyler’s The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). His career faltered somewhat during the 1950s and into the ’60s, but highlights include his Oscar-nominated performance as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman (1951), his role as a suburban homeowner terrorized by a gang of thugs in The Desperate Hours (1955), his William Jennings Bryan-based character in Inherit the Wind (1960), a turn as the president of the United States in Seven Days in May (1964), and a role as the corrupt Indian agent in Hombre (1967). March appeared on Broadway between film roles, winning a second Tony Award for originating the role of James Tyrone in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey into Night (1956). His final performance, as Harry Hope in the film adaptation of O’Neill’s The Iceman Cometh (1973), was especially strong.

Guatemala City, Spanish Guatemala, or Ciudad de Guatemala, Guatemala City: cathedralIGDA/S.Gutierrez/DeA Picture Librarycapital of Guatemala, the largest city in Central America, and the political, social, cultural, and economic centre of Guatemala. Lying in a valley of the central highlands at an elevation of 4,897 feet (1,493 metres) above sea level, it has a temperate and invigorating mountain climate. Guatemala City was founded in 1776 to replace Antigua Guatemala, which had been virtually destroyed by an earthquake in 1773, as the capital of the captaincy general of Guatemala. After independence from Spain was declared in 1821, Guatemala City served successively as the capital of the province of Central America under the Mexican Empire of Agustín de Iturbide (1822–23), the Central American Federation (1823–33), the state, and, finally, the independent Republic of Guatemala. Distrust of the city in other areas of Central America and the prevalence of open fighting in the city’s streets and public buildings was a factor in the demise of the federation and in the failure of subsequent attempts to revive it. When Quezaltenango, which had become the capital of Guatemala in all but name, was destroyed by an earthquake in 1902, many of the leading families moved to Guatemala City. The modern city was largely rebuilt after the disastrous earthquakes of 1917–18, which shook the city intermittently for six weeks. The characteristic appearance created by low, massive structures has been modified somewhat by the erection of steel and concrete multistoried hotels and office and apartment buildings of modern design. Elegant residential districts have grown up on the borders of the old city, particularly toward the south, and low-cost housing units have been constructed in various parts of the urban area. In addition to the government offices and services concentrated there, Guatemala City handles nearly half of the capital invested in the country and accounts for more than half of the industrial establishments and production of the republic. It is the focus of highway, rail, and air transport and is the commercial and banking centre of the country. Guatemala City also dominates the cultural life of the country. It is the seat of the principal faculties of the San Carlos University of Guatemala (established 1676 in Antigua Guatemala); the major institutions for artistic, commercial, vocational, and military education; the Society of Geography and History; and several important museums. Public buildings of note include the National Palace, the post office, police headquarters, the National Archives, the National Archaeological Museum (with its collection of Mayan artifacts), the National Library, and the modern cluster of buildings around the city hall. Among the major religious structures are the cathedral (1815) and the churches of San Francisco, Santo Domingo (famous throughout Central America for its Holy Week procession), and La Merced (colonial but rebuilt after 1917). Other points of interest include the remarkable concrete relief map of the country in Minerva Park, the archaeological and historical museums, the colonial aqueduct, the central market, and Olympic City, built for the Central American Olympic Games of 1950. In the environs of Guatemala City are the villages of Chinautla, famous for hand-formed pottery, Mixco, which supplies the capital with fruits and vegetables, and the Indian towns of San Pedro and San Juan Sacatepéquez, all of which suffered extensive damage in the earthquake of 1976. Several villages were evacuated when the nearby Pacaya volcano erupted in 2000. Pop. (2002) 942,348.

Wendi, Wade-Giles romanization Wen Ti, also called Wen Chang or Wen Chang Dijun, the Chinese god of literature, whose chief heavenly task, assigned by the Jade Emperor (Yudi), is to keep a log of men of letters so that he can mete out rewards and punishments to each according to merit. He also maintains a register of the titles and honours each writer has received. Among numerous legends about Wendi, he is said to have had 17 reincarnations, during the ninth of which he appeared on earth as Zhang Ya. Some say he lived during Tang dynasty times (618–907 ce), others say during the 3rd or 4th century or even earlier. In any case, his brilliant writing led to his canonization during the Tang dynasty and to his appointment as lord of literature in the 13th century. Because Zhang is said to have lived at Zitong in Sichuan province, persons of that region worship him under the title Zitongshen (Spirit of Zitong). In representations, Wendi usually sits, wears a mandarin robe, and holds a sceptre. He is flanked by a male and a female servant, one called Tian Long (Heavenly Deaf One), the other Di Ya (Earthly Mute). The names suggest that Wendi must turn a deaf ear to those who inquire about the secrets of literature, for such a topic necessarily leaves one speechless. Wendi has two assistants, Kuei Xing, the god of examinations, with whom he is sometimes confused, and Zhu Yi, whose name signifies Red Coat.

About the Show Emmy winner and Tony nominee Laurie Metcalf is set to star in the HBO pilot Getting On, according to TV Line. Alex Borsetin (Family Guy) and Niecy Nash (Reno 911!) will also star in the medical comedy, which is based on a popular British series of the same name. Getting On will follow the doctors, nurses and administrators working in the women's geriatric wing of a hospital. Metcalf will play the socially challenged and overworked Dr. Jenna James, the hospital’s temporary Director of Medicine who also holds a position at another hospital. Borstein will star as Dawn Forchette, the head ward nurse who struggles with low self-esteem and often finds herself in inappropriate sexual situations. Nash has been cast as big-hearted nurse Marta Ortley, a former realtor who returns to the medical profession after encountering trouble in the housing market. The HBO remake comes from Big Love creators Mark V. Olsen and Will Scheffer. Metcalf will return to Broadway in Manhattan Theatre Club's production of The Other Place, which begins its run on December 11 at the Friedman Theatre. Her other Broadway credits include Brighton Beach Memoirs, November and My Thing of Love. She earned three Emmy Awards for playing Jackie on TV's Roseanne.

Penélope Cruz Fronts for Loewe Campaign Penélope Cruz smolders as the star of the the spring Loewe campaign, shot by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. Shot in Madrid, a major influence of the spring collection and campaign is Gala Dalí, the wife and muse of Surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, chosen for her strong and passionate character. Who better to embody strength and passion than Penélope Cruz? WWD reports the ads break Thursday on Style.com and loewe.com. Then the campaign debuts in print in Vogue Japan later this month. Expect to see Cruz's gorgeous face on billboards in key cities where Loewe operates stores, starting in Spain the week of Feb. 6. Cruz signed a three-year deal to be the face of the Madrid based company, founded in 1846 and owned since 1996 by French luxury giant LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton. "It's a really, really Spanish brand. It has always taken inspiration from the Spanish tradition, Spanish culture and Spanish history," she said. "I'm really proud to be working with a brand where everything's done here and almost everybody is Spanish." Photo By Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott About Author

Entries tagged with: Young Turks The xx, Grimes, SBTRKT, Sampha & more played the Young Turks NYE party in Mexico (pics, video, new SBTRKT song) The xx in Tulum - 12/31/13 (via @hickduarte) >>IMAGE)" by Andrew Sacher Portland, OR hardcore band Young Turks (not to be confused with the British record label) are set to return with the Where I Rise EP, the followup to their similarly titled 2012 debut full length Where I Lie. The band makes a similar kind of post-millennium melodic hardcore to bands like Paint It Black, Modern Life Is War, and The Hope Conspiracy, and they've got an attitude too. Opening track, "Territo(royally) Pissed" begins with vocalist Matt Koenig declaring "I don't give a shit, your music means nothing, your actions speak even less" over the band's furious hardcore that rarely (if ever) has time for interludes, breakdowns, or anything but full-speed attack. The EP was mixed by Alex Estrada (who produced both Joyce Manor albums and engineered the first Touche Amore LP) and it will be out next week (11/5) via Animal Style Records. You won't have to wait until then to hear it though, because a stream of the full EP premieres in this post. Check it out below. Continue reading "Young Turks releasing 'Where I Rise' EP (stream it)" Young Turks throwing New Year's Eve party in Mexico with Grimes, The xx, Four Tet, John Talabot, Sampha & more The xx at Governors Ball 2013 (more by Amanda Hatfield) " Sampha & Jessie Ware >>IMAGE" crowd @ Warm Up 2010 (more by Zach Dilgard) >>IMAGE"

The Seeds of Grateful Dead Drummer Bill Kreutzmann's New Band, 7 Walkers, Are Sprouting For 30 years, Bill Kreutzmann was the sensitive stick-wielder channeling psychedelic rhythms as the Grateful Dead's drummer. After Jerry Garcia's death in 1995, Kreutzmann moved out to Hawaii — something he and Garcia had promised to do together if the band were ever to break apart. Since then, Kreutzmann has explored the visual arts, gardening, and social activism. His ensuing musical pursuits include multiple reincarnations of the Dead and projects with Dead members as well as collaborations with members of Phish, Journey, and a multitude of jam-scene characters, including Warren Haynes and Oteil Burbridge of the Allman Brothers. Kreutzmann's latest musical vehicle is a mashup of New Orleans swamp funk and psychedelia called 7 Walkers. Joining him is Malcolm "Papa Mali" Welbourne, New Orleans legend George Porter of the Meters fame, and multi-instrumentalist Matt Hubbard. To the delight of Deadheads, Garcia's primary songwriting partner, Robert Hunter, contributed lyrics. The band is touring in support of its self-titled debut album, set for release November 2. Recently, New Times chatted on the phone with Kreutzmann as he enjoyed a gorgeous Hawaiian day by the pool with his dog. We discussed chicken shit, donkeys, and the new Grateful Dead archive at the University of California, Santa Cruz. New Times: How does your garden grow? Bill Kreutzmann: We have a real beautiful garden here. It's good for your body to eat the vegetables. You can grow them organically, and you don't have to use fertilizers. We use chicken manure around here 'cause there's lots of chickens. Do you ever draw parallels between gardening and music? The only parallel is that they [both] feel good. One is really good for you physically, and the other one is really good for you emotionally and spiritually. [Pauses to throw ball for dog.] Heck of a day here. How about your new musical garden, 7 Walkers? It's a fun band to play in. So much different than the Grateful Dead. It's like a breath of fresh air. I love that. Does it still feel fresh to create at this point? At this point in my life, I make sure the music-business part is fun, not work. I've done the work part. I didn't plan to play this much this year, but playing with Rhythm Devils [with former Grateful Dead drummer Micky Hart] and 7 Walkers, I've probably gigged more this year than I ever did with the Grateful Dead. Wow! I know! It blew my mind too. I was like "God, can I still do that?" At my age, I'm not going to do something that doesn't feel good. Have there been periods in the past of it not feeling good? Some nights, you didn't feel like playing. You could be jet-lagged. That was one of the biggest hindrances with touring. You'd get this overwhelming sense of tiredness. You'd be like "Oh, do I have to go play tonight?" and you get over it. It just makes you go in deeper, reach deeper to get a good result. And the music is the medicine. Playing music brings you out of the fatigue. Yeah, if you're in a bad mood or something, you can shake it by playing. You never take it out on the music. Just 'cause I'm not feeling good one or two nights, I sure don't want to do that to the audience, you know? That's not my job. And the audience is feeling good, so they have that energy. And that comes back into you. It was always so cool to be in the cities and get to the gig and see all these bright, bright colors, see all these Deadheads in their tie-dyes. It was almost like a relief. There's the tribe again! Psychedelics were such an important part of the '60s. How do you see them playing into this moment in history? They are probably more important in this moment in history than ever. We have a lot of unfinished business from the '60s. Google has opened a tremendous wind farm on the Atlantic Coast. The power company down in Southern California is putting in ten square miles of solar panels out in the desert. If we just kept going like we're going, it wouldn't be very good. I'm gonna get a couple of mules over here and start driving on the road like the Amish. I just really want to get people to stop using fuel. I have a little bit of a hesitation, because when I travel, I'm flying on jets, and that's definitely using fuel. It's kind of a Catch-22 there. But I think as long as people are enjoying themselves and feeling good about life, then music is worth doing that. How were the 7 Walkers recording sessions? The sessions were like the most fun sessions I've done in a long time. They were easy. They were enjoyable. We never kept tracks to listen back to. We had to play the whole thing and like it or forget it. And I love that. There is a real honesty. I've been in situations before where you have to listen to 20 tracks and try to pick the best one. Take 22, oh my God. I'm out of there. [laughs] Papa would just say, "Hey, everybody like that track?" and we'd say, "Yeah, sounds good," and we'd listen back, and it was good. Has Robert Hunter come out to any shows? Is there any chance of him getting on stage with you? You read minds. I invited him the last time we played in San Francisco, and he did come to the show. I asked him if he wanted to open for us, and he said, "Bill, you know, I've just exclusively been writing the last few years, and I haven't played in a while. So I don't feel good enough about playing." When Hunter and Papa met each other [at the show], they almost had tears in their eyes, they were so happy. Hunter loves the way Malcolm put his words to music. There is a quote [from Hunter] in the liner notes that says, "They hit the ball out of the park. They probably hit it into orbit and it's still going." He liked it from first note to last. When the writer says that, you did it right. But it was really great to see the writer and the lead singer doing the material really like each other, you know? Yay! Let's talk about the UC Santa Cruz Grateful Dead archive. Yeah, I love it. It's really cool. It's another great place for Deadheads to meet. I went down there, and it about brought a tear to my eye. It felt so good for people to be honoring the spirit of the Grateful Dead. You'll love it. It's really fun. There is so much memorabilia. For instance, they have over 20,000 pictures. That's a lot! I'm really happy it's going on. It made me feel really good to have that body of work protected so nicely. The Grateful Dead is still alive in so many ways. You may have never seen Jerry live, but just talking to me, you're keeping it alive

Blackhawks' stars Jonathan Toews and Patrick Kane could soon become the league's highest paid players. According to a tweet from Bob McKenzie, Toews and Kane initially asked for $12 million/year contracts, but will likely move down from that number. It's believed Kane-Toews initial ask of CHI on extension is around $12M/yr each. They'll end up lower but still could be $10M+ AAV players. — Bob McKenzie (@TSNBobMcKenzie) June 26, 2014 Alexander Ovechkin currently holds the highest cap hit at $9.53 million, but Toews and Kane could top him and become the only two players in the league with a double-digit cap hit. The Blackhawks currently have seven players with cap hits of over $5 million, and with Toews and Kane getting raises, could find themselves with money problems in the near future. Talk hockey with us! Follow me on Twitter @garbino42 and the BruinsLife Team @BruinsLife

Your browser does not support iframes.. U.S. Marshals Service arrested a man wanted in a Lenoir County shooting in Leland on Wednesday, June 3. Daesean Lindrae Johnson, 20, of Kinston, was charged with assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill and inflict serious injury in the May 28 shooting, jail records show. No other details of his arrest were provided. Johnson is incarcerated at the W.E. “Billy” Smith Detention Center in Kinston on $500,000 bail. A Castle Hayne man is accused of sexually assaulting a child in Brunswick County. Deputies arrested 19-year-old Kymond Juantorey Auther on Saturday, June 6, and charged him with first-degree sex offense with a child. Auther is accused of sexually assaulting a girl younger than 13 between July 1, 2014, and July 31, 2014, a warrant shows. He is incarcerated at the Brunswick County Detention Facility on $200,000 bail. A Leland woman is accused of falsely claiming stolen property to an insurance company for reimbursement. Twenty-seven-year-old Rebecca McKinney Spencer was arrested June 1 on charges of insurance fraud and obtaining property by false pretenses, according to a North Carolina Department of Insurance news release. Spencer is accused of fraudulently obtaining more than $4,000 from American Modern Home Insurance Co. by claiming jewelry and electronics had been stolen from her apartment in January. Army Pvt. Terry R. Freeman, son of Wanda Freeman of Lumberton, has graduated from basic combat training at Fort Jackson in Columbia, S.C. Southport is actively searching for its next police chief after Jerry Dove announced his retirement from the position last week. Dove is in his 49th year as a law enforcement officer. His retirement is effective Oct. 1. Southport Mayor Robert Howard said Dove was a loyal servant to the Southport community and, more importantly, “a dear friend.”. The Brunswick Beacon is your source for local news, sports, events and information in Brunswick County, North Carolina and surrounding areas.

. Uwe Reinhardt: A Health Plan for Rugged Individualists: The United States might learn a good deal from Germany's approach to health care insurance, which provides both a broad net and significant individual choice, an economist writes. Uwe Reinhardt is a Princeton health-care economist, a longtime member of the Institute of Medicine and a frequent contributor to the New York Times Economix blog. I spoke to him earlier today about the cost controls in the bill. The United States has moved more effectively than Europe to get beyond the financial crisis, and has an opportunity to take on broader challenges like immigration, education and long-term fiscal reforms, an economist writes. I?m sorry Professor Reinhardt but no, this just isn?t quite on. I refer to this which you?ve just had published in the Economix blog at the New York Times. This: Your explanation of these figures is as follows: The third chart, below, exhibits the growth path of real G.D.P. per capita in the United States ... Analysis of differing approaches to unemployment insurance and its duration in the United States and Europe has not yet found an optimal length, an economist writes. A very interesting theoretical paper "Labor Mobility within Currency Unions " by Emmanuel Farhi and Iván Werning, April 2014 () looks at "the effects of labor mobility within a currency union suffering from nominal rigidities." Those looking for a reason for a sinking Euro and falling stock markets today just may find the answer in a Spiegel Interview with German Constitutional Court Judge Udo Di Fabio who says "It's a Mistake To Pursue a United States of Europe". SPIEGEL: Didn't the court's decision on the Lisbon Treaty in effect place strict limits on further European integration by banning the transfer of important political powers from Germany to the EU? Bullfax.com - Market News & Analysis 2008-2011 Contact Us | About Us | Terms & Conditions

REUTERS/SANA/Handout Syrian President Bashar al-Assad taunted U.S. President Barack Obama as a "weak" leader who had no proof Assad had used chemical weapons on his country's own people, and warned that U.S. airstrikes could set off a "regional war." "For us, a strong man prevents rather than starts a war," Assad told the French newspaper Le Figaro in an interview, as translated by NBC News. ." On Saturday, Obama announced that while he had decided the U.S. should proceed with limited military action in Syria, he would seek Congressional approval for authorizing such action. The White House released a declassified report Friday detailing with "high confidence" the assessment that the Assad regime used chemical weapons against its people in an Aug. 21 attack. Secretary of State John Kerry said Sunday that samples gathered by first responded tested positive for sarin gas, a deadly nerve agent. The White House accused Assad of being responsible for the death of 1,429 people in the attack, including 426 children. "We intercepted communications involving a senior official intimately familiar with the offensive who confirmed that chemical weapons were used by the regime on August 21 and was concerned with the U.N. inspectors obtaining evidence," the report read. U.N. inspectors left Syria on Saturday and have asked its chemical weapons inspection team to speedily investigate samples gathered to determine whether chemical weapons were used. In the interview with Le Figaro, Assad did not deny that his army possessed chemical weapons. But he did question why he would authorize the use of such weapons, especially if his own soldiers were in the area of the attack. Assad also warned that if attacked, Syria could turn the Middle East into a war zone that goes far beyond Syrian borders. "If we think of the Middle East as a barrel of explosives close to a fire that is coming ever closer, then it becomes clear that the issue is no longer contained to a Syrian response, but rather what will happen after the first strike," he said. ." Assad said that an end to the Syrian civil war, which has been in flux for more than 2.5 years, is not on the horizon. And he expressed skepticism that a diplomatic solution can be reached, at this point. "The situation today is different," he said, comparing the difference between now and when the war began. "Today we are fighting terrorists, 80-90% of them affiliated to Al-Qaeda. These terrorists are not interested in reform, or politics, or legislation.."

SamsungSamsung has already made the jump to 4K, also known as "Ultra HD," in many of its high-end television sets. But now the South Korean electronics giant may also be ready to release at least one 4K tablet, too. According to TechRadar, Samsung reportedly showed off a prototype of a 12-inch tablet with 4K resolution during a broadcast convention at the French Open in Paris. The tablet could only stream 720p video at the time, but the full potential of the tablet's resolution was demonstrated through some high-resolution still images. It's important to note that this prototype tablet is only an internal unit for Samsung to conduct tests on, so don't expect a 4K tablet in the immediate future. It may, however, be unveiled and released by the end of the year. The jump to Ultra HD makes sense for televisions, but the leap in resolution for the tablet industry might be a bit premature. TVs are far larger than tablets, so when comparing, say, a 1080p HD TV to a 1080p HD tablet, the perceived resolution of the television will appear blurrier. Both displays have the same amount of pixels, but since a TV is larger with the same amount of pixels, each individual pixel is physically larger. This is the reason televisions were the first to make the jump to 4K Ultra HD: The increased resolution is easiest to see in larger displays. 4K computer monitors are starting to debut, too, but many would argue a 4K tablet is overkill at this point. The biggest issue Samsung will face in bringing a 4K tablet to market is finding enough 4K content for people to enjoy. People use their tablets for streaming movies and TV shows, and Netflix only has one show streaming in 4K, "House of Cards," as well as a handful of nature documentaries. It's likely Samsung is biding its time, waiting for more 4K content to be established before bringing a 4K tablet to consumers, but we now know it's at least capable of fitting such an impressive display into a 12-inch tablet.

About intermingling the movie and TV ensembles. In the past, "There was more of a delineation between film and television actors among the industry, but now everybody crosses all lines," she says. "It's very emotional when somebody gets on stage, looks down and all they can see is a sea of the best actors at that moment. It can be really powerful." Producers try to accommodate requests - BFFs Naomi Watts (The Impossible) and Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy) asked to sit together and are placed at Table 21 - and double nominees get to choose which cast they sit with. Bryan Cranston, who is part of the nominated ensembles for Breaking Bad and Argo, decided to stick with his TV cast, but producers made sure he will be close to his movie colleagues. "We have more nominees this year than we've ever had cross over between TV and film," awards coordinating producer Jon Brockett says. Bobby Cannavale is nominated in two television ensembles: Nurse Jackie and Boardwalk Empire. He requested to sit with his Boardwalk cast, which will be seated right across from the Nurse Jackie group - which includes his son, Jake. Adds Connell, "We're throwing the actors' party in the actors' house, so we really try to make them feel comfortable." Page 2 of 2 - Here's a sneak peek at some of the seating chart (changes could still be made). The cast of Argo: Table 18 The cast of The Big Bang Theory: Table 2 The cast of Boardwalk Empire: Tables 40 and 41 The cast of Breaking Bad: Table 25 The cast of Downton Abbey: Table 32 The cast of Glee: Tables 5, 6 and7 The cast of Homeland: Tables 22 and 23 The cast of Les Misérables: Tables 13 and 14 The cast of Modern Family: Tables 20 and 27 The cast of Nurse Jackie: Tables 43 and 44 The cast of The Office: Tables 1 and 3 Dick Van Dyke, Life Achievement Award recipient: Table 26 The Screen Actors Guild Awards airs live Sunday, January 27 at 8/7c on TNT and TBS. View original Exclusive: Seating the SAG Awards at TVGuide.com Other Links From TVGuide.com - Bobby Cannavale - Bryan Cranston - Naomi Watts - Nicole Kidman - Breaking Bad - Nurse Jackie - Boardwalk Empire - Argo - Screen Actors Guild Awards address Location, ST | website.com

In September 2013 we initiated a review to examine the risks and hazards of offshore helicopter operations in the UK, which was conducted in conjunction with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority. A report of the review was published in February 2014 entitled CAP1145: Safety review of offshore public transport helicopter operations in support of oil and the exploitation of oil and gas. A progress report to this review was published on 28 January 2015 entitled CAP1243 - Offshore Helicopter Review Progress Report. The review put forward 32 actions and 29 recommendations to helicopter operators, the oil and gas industry, manufacturers and EASA which will improve offshore helicopter safety around the following four main areas: An action from the review was to set up a CAA-led safety governance body for offshore operations, with representation from key organisations from across the industry, named the Offshore Helicopter Safety Action Group (OHSAG). The primary purpose of the OHSAG is to: There is a strong collective commitment to deliver positive safety changes by all parties represented in the OHSAG. The majority of the actions and recommendations outlined in the Review to improve safety focus on preventing accidents but some also focus on improving survivability following an incident. Safety improvements overseen by the group so far include: Latest progress against delivery of the Review can be found in CAP 1243 Visit for workforce communications including a helpful dos and don’ts document around clothing policy and a downloadable FAQ sheet on passenger size. Online editions of the ‘Tea Shack News’ publication are also available to view online from the Step Change in Safety website. OHSAG is very conscious of workforce concerns over plans to prevent helicopter operators carrying passengers whose body size means they couldn’t escape through push-out window exits in an emergency. The change is to ensure that everyone onboard can escape in the event of a helicopter capsizing after a ditching or water impact. The Group’s aim is that no one loses their job as a result of the change. While the classifications may present some logistical challenges, we believe the implications for those who travel offshore are manageable within the current helicopter fleet. Following a study of helicopter exits and of the offshore workforce a shoulder width measurement of 22” or over will be classified as ‘extra broad’ (XBR). Every offshore worker will be measured. Step Change has released details of how this measurement will take place. Workers whose shoulder width exceeds 22” will be classified as extra broad on the Vantage seat booking system. Those passengers will be allocated a seat which has direct access to the larger Type III and Type IV window exits. At least 30% of seats on all helicopters fall into this category which we believe is more than the number of passengers that will be classified as extra broad. Information on Step Change’s Passenger Size workgroup is available at the Step Change in Safefy website. Since CAP1145: Safety review of offshore public transport helicopter operations in support of oil and the exploitation of oil and gas was published in February 2014, several further reports have followed, including:

By Bryce Forbes | Published: 2/15/2014 at 10:10:16 PM For a team that put up 20 goals, the Calgary Roughnecks success could be pinpointed to about three minutes of game action starting late in the first half. Their opponents, the Vancouver Stealth, had just scored to make it 7-5 when Dane Dobbie made the play of the night. Off the face-off, he dove for loose ball, swiping it to Shawn Evans who dished it to Jeff Shattler who scored as the Roughnecks regained the 8-5 lead heading into the half. Then two minutes into the second half, Calgary fired three goals in 27 seconds to take an 11-5 lead. In a game of runs, Calgary had all the momentum then and used it to carry them to a 20-9 win over the Stealth. “We had some great individual efforts,” Malawsky said. “Dane Dobbie diving for the loose ball at the end of the half and we were up 8-5. They could have gone into the half down 7-5 with the momentum.” Shawn Evans added, “It was just one of those things where we had a couple of breaks and ended up putting the ball into the net. It was huge to come out after the half and bury a couple. It was a good momentum swing and we carried it on for the rest of the game.” It was the most complete game of the season for the Roughnecks in all aspects, with the offense firing a season-high 20 goals, while Mike Poulin allowed in a season-low eight goals before being relieved late in the game. “We played a hell of a game from defence to offense to goaltending,” Evans said. “With the talent we have on the offense, the ball is going to hit the back of the net and it was great to see tonight.” Discipline continued to work in the Roughnecks factor, even late when the Stealth were trying to rough up Calgary. “They handled it exactly how I and the coaching staff told them to handle it,” Malawsky said. “We were up by 11 goals and we’ll decide when it’s time to fight. You’re not going to walk into our rink and pick spots. They’ll be a time and a place where that will need be addressed but tonight wasn’t it.” The night featured once again why the Roughnecks own one of the top offences in the league with four separate players all achieving at least a hat trick. (Geoff Snider, Shawn Evans, Curtis Dickson and Dane Dobbie) It was the second straight game with the Roughnecks featuring the strong offensive effort, with Evans crediting the coaching staff. “We went and had a huge video session and (Malawsky) reemed us all out and told us we were all selfish players. And it’s true,” Evans said. “Since we’ve started moving the ball, we get open looks and are shooting the ball. It was a wake up call for us and we hope to carry it on.” Evans led the way for the Roughnecks with four goals and eight assists for an incredible 12 points, one off the franchise record. He now has 48 points on the season, and is tied with Garrett Billings of the Toronto Rock for the NLL-lead in points per game. Dobbie (4g,4a) and Jeff Shattler (2g,6a) both finished with eight points, while Curtis Dickson continued his hot streak with three goals and three helpers. Snider scored three of his vintage goals, bullrushing to the net before putting them in, and added a pair of assists to go along with an 82% faceoff percentage. Curtis Manning, Karsen Leung, Daryl Veltman and Matthew Dinsdale rounded out the scoring for the ‘Necks. Brett Bucktooth (3g,1a), Rhys Duch (4a) and Lewis Ratcliff (2g,2a) led the Stealth with four points, while Tyler Digby, Nick Weiss and Tyler Garrison contributed single markers. The win moves Calgary above .500 on the season with a 4-3 record, while the Stealth fall to 3-7 and remain in last place in the West Division. The Stealth jumped out to an early 2-1 lead in the first quarter, before the Roughnecks rattled off five straight goals into the second stanza to take a 6-2 lead and would never look back. The Roughnecks led 8-5 by halftime, and 14-7 by the end of the third quarter. At that point, they just had to run out the clock and held on for a 20-9 victory. Mike Poulin stopped 28 of 36 shots for the victory, with Frankie Scigliano making three saves in relief. Tyler Richards and Matt Roik split time for the Stealth, with both making 18 saves in the loss. The Roughnecks continue a three-game homestand next weekend when they take on the two-time defending champ Rochester Knighthawks.

[tag: how-to] **Post updated belowThe results of a ballot question in St. **Post updated belowThe results of a ballot question in St. Paul, Minnesota that would change the way voters elect municipal officials remain in a state of limbo Monday. Both sides are awaiting the result of a court challenge that claims the measure passed, in large part, because supporters of the change falsely claimed it was backed by President Barack Obama. The measure to implement Instant Runoff Voting, or IRV, passed narrowly last Tuesday winning just over 52 percent of the vote. IRV is a method of voting that allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference—so you can identify a second or even third choice for one office on the same ballot. The ballots are usually counted over more than one round of voting, eliminating the worst performing candidates until one wins a majority. Supporters of the measure, led by the group Fair Vote Minnesota, claimed support from President Obama, the DFL (Minnesota’s Democratic Party) and the League of Women Voters. Opponent Chuck Repke, calls all three claims a lie. “These folks deliberately lied to link their campaign to the DFL and President Obama just to win this election,” Repke, who heads the No Bad Ballots Committee, tells Politics. He says the claims of support emerged on the campaign’s literature just days before Election Day, and Repke says he didn’t have the resources to counter them. The legal challenge is centered on a Minnesota state law that requires candidates and campaigns to have a signed letter from any person or third party they claim support from. “It’s a well known and well understood state law,” Repke insists. “It’s a very odd law, but it’s a law nonetheless,” says Ellen Brown, spokeswoman for the St. Paul Better Ballot campaign. “But we certainly weren’t aware of it.”While the campaign admits that it doesn’t have a signed letter of support from the president, Brown says the campaign was never claiming the president explicitly backed the St. Paul initiative, but rather that he supported IRV in principle. Brown cited a bill introduced in 2002 in the Illinois legislature by then-State Senator Obama, which would have adopted IRV for certain contests in that state. “The people we listed [as supporters] have spoken in favor of IRV in concept,” Brown says. “I would hope the president has other things on his mind than a ballot initiative in St. Paul.” After a hearing last week, a judge has until Monday afternoon to decide whether the complaint filed by Repke’s group should move forward. Repke says he’s confident last Tuesday’s results will eventually be thrown out and a re-vote will be set for 2010. *UPDATE: A Minnesota court decided Monday the complaint against the St. Paul Better Ballot Committee will move forward. Another hearing is set for November 18. Shane D’Aprile is senior editor at Politics magazine. He can be reached at sdaprile@politicsmagazine.com Submit a comment

Owen Williams suffered 'significant' spinal injury 1:33pm Wednesday 25th June 2014 1:33pm Wednesday 25th June 2014 CARDIFF Blues and Wales centre Owen Williams has suffered a 'significant injury to his cervical vertebrae and spinal cord'. The 22-year-old sustained the injury while playing for the Cardiff Blues in Singapore during the inaugural World Club 10s on Sunday. The Welsh region confirmed that Williams, who has been capped four times, underwent surgery on Monday to stabilise a fracture and is recovering in hospital ahead of a return home. "The family of Owen Williams are now at his bedside along with senior Blues management and medical staff," read a statement. "Arrangements are currently being made to co-ordinate his safe transfer home at an appropriate time. "Cardiff Blues and the Williams family would like to thank the many hundreds of well-wishers who have offered messages of support." Williams was injured in a third and fourth place play-off game between the Blues and Asia Pacific Dragons, which took place at Singapore National Stadium. Support has flooded in for the centre on twitter with well-wishers using the hashtag #StayStrongForOws.. His brother Gavin, a Welsh Rugby Union participation officer, tweeted: "So emotional reading all the support. It's overwhelming. In the hospital next to my brother - He's a warrior." Williams made his Test debut against Japan last summer and scored against Tonga at the Millennium Stadium last autumn. Back

New PsycBOOKS Titles! – January 2010 Posted by CapellaAdmin included in Resources, What's New? Horowitz, Frances Degen (Ed.); Subotnik, Rena F. (Ed.); Matthews, Dona J.(Ed.) ISBN: 1-4338-0414-X 2. Integrated behavioral health in primary care: Step-by-step guidance for assessment and intervention, © 2009, Hunter, Christopher L.; Goodie, Jeffrey L.; Oordt, Mark S.; Dobmeyer, Anne C. ISBN: 1-4338-0428-X 3. Interpersonal theory of suicide: Guidance for working with suicidal clients, © 2009, by Joiner Jr., Thomas E.; Van Orden, Kimberly A.; Witte, Tracy K.; Rudd, M. David ISBN: 1-4338-0426-3 4. Obesity in youth: Causes, consequences, and cures, © 2009, by Heinberg, Leslie J. (Ed.); Thompson, J. Kevin (Ed.) ISBN: 1-4338-0427-1 Classic Books 5. The book of good examples; drawn from authentic history and biography; designed to illustrate the beneficial effects of virtuous conduct, © 1847, by Frost, John 6. The constitution of man, considered in relation to external objects (from the 3rd enlarged Edinburgh ed.), © 1845, by Combe, George 7. Curiosities of human nature: By the author of Peter Parley’s tales, © 1846, by Goodrich, Samuel G. 8. A discourse of the Baconian philosophy, © 1844, by Tyler, Samuel 9. A discourse of the Baconian philosophy (2nd ed.), © 1846, by Tyler, Samuel 10. The doctrine of the will, applied to moral agency and responsibility, © 1841, by Tappan, Henry P. 11. Eclectic moral philosophy, prepared for literary institutions and general use, © 1847, by Boyd, J. R. 12. An essay on transcendentalism, © 1842, by Anonymous 13. Fundamental philosophy, or, Elements of primitive philosophy; being the first division of a complete system of philosophical science, © 1848, by Krug, William Traugott 14. The human brain: Its structure, physiology and diseases, with a description of the typical forms of brain in the animal kingdom (2nd London ed.), © 1848, by Solly, Samuel 15. Introduction to ethics, including a critical survey of moral systems (Vol. 1), © 1848, by Jouffroy; Channing, William H. (Trans.) 16. Introduction to ethics, including a critical survey of moral systems (Vol. 2), © 1847, by Jouffroy; Channing, William H. (Trans.) 17. Memory and intellectual improvement applied to self-education and juvenile instruction (25th ed., improved), © 1850, by Fowler, O. S. 18. Parental instructions; or, Guide to wisdom and virtue designed for young persons of either sex, selected mainly from the writings of an eminent physician, © 1847, by Percival, Thomas 19. The Philosophy of life, and Philosophy of language, in a course of lectures, © 1847, by Schlegel, Frederick von; Morrison, A. J. W. (Trans.) 20. Psychology, elements of a new system of mental philosophy, on the basis of consciousness and common sense, © 1842, by Schmucker, S. S. 21. The revelation of rights (2nd ed.), © 1847, by Ellmaker, Elias E. 22. Sketches of modern philosophy, especially among the Germans, © 1842, by Murdock, James 23. A treatise on man and the development of his faculties (A facsimile reproduction of the English translation of 1842 with an introduction by Solomon Diamond), © 1842 (Reprinted 1969), by Quetelet, Lambert A. J. 24. Youth’s book on the mind, embracing the outlines of the intellect, the sensibilities, and the will: Introductory to the study of mental philosophy, © 1842, by Pearl, Cyril Note: To read any of the these ebooks – go to the Articles, Books, and More page. Scroll down and click PsycBOOKs. Once in the database, type in the title. ~Jennie Posted: February 18th, 2010 under Resources, What's New?. Tags: ebooks

By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM) 11/22/2013 (1 year ago) Catholic Online () The death toll from Typhoon Haiyan continues to climb. According to official government figures, the death toll no officially is at 5,209 - but this figure only includes fatalities of identified bodies. The real death toll may never be accurately given, with many victims having been washed out to sea. The number of injured was at set at 23,404, with 1,582 still missing. By Catholic Online (NEWS CONSORTIUM) Catholic Online () 11/22/2013 (1 year ago) Published in Asia Pacific Keywords: Typhoon Haiyan, Philippines, Tacloban, death toll LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Six Philippine islands were devastated by the typhoon on November 8. Many are still without immediate access to food and medical care. Three million people remain displaced. Perhaps the most devastated city, Tacloban, has left longtime residents reeling. One resident in her 80 years here can't imagine anything comparable to the typhoon. AFTER THE UNSPEAKABLE, WE SPEAK HOPE. Support Catholic Online's response to Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines. DONATE NOW ... "I really thought it was already the apocalypse -- that I wasn't going to survive," she says. She remembers many typhoons striking Tacloban, but she "never experienced" anything like Haiyan, which is known as "Yolanda" in the Philippines. She says she can remember World War II, during which General Douglas MacArthur waded ashore at Red Beach, not far south of Tacloban, in 1944. Douglas led U.S. troops in the campaign that liberated the Philippines from the Imperial Japanese Army. The war to her "was a picnic," as there was no school, and adults were distracted much of the time. More than three-quarters of the dead have been reported in the province of Leyte, of which Tacloban is the capital. looking back to see how unusual the typhoon was. Meteorologists rate it as one of the most powerful storms to hit land anywhere in the world. Nothing comparable to the super typhoon appears to have ravaged Leyte in more than a century. In November 1912, a powerful storm was reported to have caused widespread devastation in the region. News reports from the time are reminiscent of coverage of Haiyan's impact today. At that time, Tacloban "was almost entirely destroyed with great loss of life," reads a report in The Washington Times of November 29, 1912. The exact death toll from the earlier typhoon was unclear.." A birth foretold: click here to learn more! --- St. Brigid of Ireland Keychain St. Barbara Keychain St. Florian Keychain St. Christopher Keychain St. Joseph Keychain St. Isidore the Farmer Keychain St. Matthew Keychain St. George Keychain St. Gerard Keychain St. John the Baptist Keychain St. Francis of Assisi Keychain St. Benedict Keychain St. Anthony Keychain St. Joseph of Cupertino

Hudak speaks 2:10 Ontario's Progressive Conservatives will have a new leader in the "near future," though Tim Hudak wouldn't say exactly when that change in leadership will occur or whether he will be replaced in the interim. The Tories held a three-hour caucus meeting at the legislature on Monday, their first since the party took losses and saw the Liberals gain a majority government in the provincial election last Thursday. Tim Hudak's austerity campaign flop a lesson for Ottawa Ontario election 2014: Tim Hudak to step down as PC leader - Ahead of the meeting, word was leaking out that some members were caught off guard by Tim Hudak's controversial campaign pledge to cut 100,000 public-sector jobs. Doug Holyday, who lost his seat in Etobicoke-Lakeshore, told reporters that the party didn't do a great job explaining the plan to the public. The Canadian Press reported that several Tory members say they were totally surprised by Hudak’s public-sector plan. They say they were confronted on the issue by voters when canvassing. The pledge became a focal point of criticism from Wynne and from New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath. After the results came in on Thursday night, Hudak said that he would not be leading the Tories into the next election. The party lost nine seats, compared to what they held when the legislature was dissolved prior to the election. After the caucus meeting on Monday, Hudak said he was proud of the campaign he ran, even though voters did not reward the Tories with the chance to govern. "Voters ultimately made a choice not to go with a PC government," he said. Hudak, who plans to retain his seat and continue to serve as an MPP, said the party will decide the process for selecting a new leader. "We'll have a new leader hopefully in the near future," he said. But there are signs that some Tories may want to see a new leader taking the reins of the party sooner rather than later. Ahead of the caucus meeting, Todd Smith said that he would be telling his party that Hudak has to go immediately. "This was an anti-Tim Hudak election," said Smith, who was just re-elected in the riding of Prince Edwards-Hastings.

Twitter Youtube RSS The latest version of Adobe Flash Player is required to watch this video. Please click on the link below to download the latest version. Thanks! After squeaking through a brutal confirmation process, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is vowing to strengthen America's ties around the globe. Hagel, who was sworn in Wednesday, also said he would work to ensure U.S. troops and Defense Department workers are treated fairly. The U.S. Senate confirmed the former Nebraska senator Tuesday in a 58-41 vote. Four Republicans joined Democrats in backing President Barack Obama's choice for replacing Leon Panetta in the Pentagon's top post. Although Hagel is a Republican, several senators from his own party voiced strong reservations about his qualifications following unpersuasive testimony during his confirmation hearings. "There is simply no way to sugarcoat it," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, argued in Tuesday's debate. "Senator Hagel's performance before the Senate Armed Services Committee was remarkably inept, and we should not be installing a defense secretary who is obviously not qualified for the job and holds dangerously misguided views on some of the most important issues facing national security policy for our country." Democrats read letters from a parade of former defense secretaries and top generals who back Hagel. They said Republicans shouldn't stall on a position as important as the head of the Pentagon, especially with the nation's military facing budget cuts sequestration during a time of war. "Our men and women in uniform need a Secretary of Defense to lead them through these difficult challenges," Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., said. "They need a secretary of defense to defend their interests in the budget battles that we know are about to come. They need a secretary of defense to speak out and ensure that Congress and the country understand the consequences of sequester." At the heart of the controversy over Hagel are statements he made about Israel and the Jewish lobby in Washington, leading to concerns that he won't give sufficient support to what most senators believe is the strongest U.S. ally in the Middle East. Some senators also worry that Hagel won't do what it takes to prevent Iran from building a nuclear weapon. Both Congress and the White House must now face the likelihood that America's adversaries will test an administration whose top defense official is politically weak. "I like Chuck Hagel as an individual. But the fact is, in modern times, we haven't had one defense secretary that's had more than three votes against him," Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., told Fox News Sunday. "That sends a signal to our allies as well as our foes that he does not have the broad support in the U.S. Congress, which limits his ability to carry out his job," he added. Senate Republicans Block Hagel Confirmation Vote Showdown Brewing over Hagel

Twitter Youtube RSS The latest version of Adobe Flash Player is required to watch this video. Please click on the link below to download the latest version. Thanks! A New Jersey pastor told the leaders of his church to give up Facebook -- or resign. Rev. Cedric Miller of the Living Word Christian Fellowship Church in Neptune said he has counseled 20 couples in 18 months who are having marital problems because their spouse reconnected with an old flame on the social networking Web site. "I've been in extended counseling with couples with marital problems because of Facebook for the last year and a half," Miller said. "What happens is someone from yesterday surfaces, it leads to conversations and there have been physical meet-ups," he said. "The temptation is just too great."Rev. Miller recently spoke with CBN News about what prompted him to ban the popular social networking Web site. Click here to listen to the interview.As a result, he has ordered around 50 married church leaders to give up Facebook or resign their leadership position in the church. On Sunday, he plans to strongly suggest that all married people stop using Facebook, unless they want to put their marriage at risk. In the past, he has advised married couples to exchange passwords to the site. "Some did. Others got scared and deleted their accounts right away. And some felt it was none of my business and continued on," he said. Miller also has a Facebook account that he uses to keep in touch with six children, but he will also cancel his account

Apr 9 2013, 1:59am CDT | by Luigi Lugmayr Isla Negra (Chile), April 9 (IANS/EFE) The remains of Chilean poet Pablo Neruda (1904-73) were exhumed here Monday to determine if he died of cancer or was murdered by agents of the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. After several months of preparations, the procedure to extract the remains of the 1971 recipient of the Nobel Prize for Literature took no more than an hour. Neruda died Sep 23, 1973, 12 days after Gen. Augusto Pinochet toppled Chile's Socialist government in a bloody coup. The poet and former diplomat's death was officially blamed on cancer, but an investigation was opened in mid-2011 after a complaint was filed by Neruda's Communist Party colleagues based on charges by former chauffeur Manuel Araya that Neruda was murdered's remains were immediately transported to Santiago where a dozen Chilean and foreign experts will perform "all the tests that may be necessary", according to a judge's order. Witnessing the exhumation were Chilean Communist Party leader Guillermo Teillier, plaintiff's attorney Eduardo Contreras, Araya, relatives of the poet and representatives of the Pablo Neruda Foundation. "Neruda received an injection on Sep 23 (1973). If they would not have given him that injection, Neruda would not have died," Araya insisted. "He had to travel on the 24th to Mexico, and on the 23rd he received this injection and died six hours later. Besides, there is the coincidence that they sent me to find a medication and detained me and left Pablo Neruda alone. There is sufficient evidence that Neruda was murdered," he said. Contreras said that "this is not just about the scientific (aspect of the case), which certainly would help a lot, but also about the strange circumstances revealed in the process, contradictions, doctors who didn't exist, files that aren't showing up, that were lost". -

Gwen Blodgett, 78, of Skowhegan, is weighing nursing home options for her husband of 60 years, Gerald, who has Alzheimer’s disease. Gerald is living at an Alzheimer’s care center in Gardiner, but she knows at some point he won’t be able to care for himself. “You just never know how long it’s going to be,” she said. “That’s why they call it a long goodbye.” When the time comes, Blodgett said, she is leaning toward Cedar Ridge, a 75-bed home in Skowhegan. She’s comfortable with the staff, who she’s seen care for family members and friends over the years. Others whose opinions she knows and trusts — including her neighbor and her hairdresser — have also reported positive experiences at Cedar Ridge. Blodgett doesn’t expect perfection from a nursing home and knows that they all have some problems. “It’s probably unavoidable,” she said. Ceder Ridge is one of five central Maine nursing homes that show no serious deficiencies in a batch of reports recently released on Medicare’s website. The most recent batch of reports, which are published periodically, cover about 40 of Maine’s 107 nursing homes, including five in central Maine. The five central Maine nursing homes, in Augusta, Hartland, Pittsfield and Waterville, had deficiencies, but they were less serious than those found in other areas of the state. The ability to track nursing home problems became easier in July 2012 under a provision in the Affordable Care Act, which requires the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services to publish the full report of each federal nursing home inspection on its website, Nursing Home Compare. The reports help consumers learn which residences have the highest quality healthcare and can also lead to improvements, according to Courtney Jenkins, a spokeswoman for the federal center. With Cedar Ridge’s inspections and ratings online, Blodgett can see what problems have been documented. The most recent inspection found two deficiencies, neither categorized as serious. The first was for having separated seams in the floor of the whirlpool room, while the second was for having a freezer that allowed condensation to drip and freeze on items including sealed bags of frozen Brussels sprouts. Overall, Cedar Ridge gets four of five possible stars from the government, a quality rating of above average. As it turns out, Blodgett’s positive impressions of Cedar Ridge match its positive rating, but that’s not always the case. Causing harm About 40 reports documenting inspector visits between March and August were recently published online by Pro Publica, a journalism and public advocacy organization. The results are published and analyzed under Nursing Home Inspect on Pro Publica’s website. Some are minor, such as a failure to record the temperature of food or a missing thermostat cover. Of about 1,600 deficiencies documented during the last three years, the large majority resulted in no actual harm. Industry leaders say the transparency is welcome, but deficiencies should be put in the proper context. Maine’s rate of serious deficiencies, 0.06 per nursing home, is 10th lowest in the nation, according to a data analysis by Pro Publica. One Waterville administrator said Maine’s good record is the result of effective state oversight and programs that allow residents to take more control over their environment. Federal inspectors visit each of Maine’s 107 nursing homes annually to document deficiencies, categorized into different levels of severity, depending on the level of harm caused. Nursing homes typically respond with a correction plan. The most serious violations documented in the state during that inspection period were at Narraguagus Bay Health Care Facility in Milbridge and Mercy Home in Eagle Lake, two nursing homes rated below average by the federal government, with two of five stars. At Narraguagus Bay, a 35-bed home, a March 20 inspection documented three deficiencies in which harm occurred. According to the report, in November a doctor ordered that one resident walk only with a rolling walker and the assistance of two staff members, because of a high risk of falls. The doctor’s orders were not followed, which resulted in the resident falling in December and again in January. The first fall resulted in bruises and severe pain, while the second resulted in a fractured hip, according to the report. Attempts to contact Narraguagus Bay administrators for comment were unsuccessful. At Mercy Home, a 40-bed residence, an April 17 inspection documented the case of a resident who twisted an ankle on Feb. 5. The next day, when the resident complained of pain, a doctor ordered an X-ray, but one wasn’t made for nine days. The resident complained of high pain levels every day, refused to do a range of motion exercise with the foot, and was only given Tylenol by staff. When an X-ray was finally done on Feb. 14, it showed the resident had a bone fracture, according to the report. A message left for Denise Raymond, Mercy’s administrator, was not immediately returned. Central Maine shines None of the five recently inspected central Maine nursing homes had serious deficiencies. Mary Ford, owner of the 57-bed nursing home Pittsfield Rehab, said Maine’s nursing homes try to avoid serious deficiencies because they know the state response will be swift. “I think Maine has been regulated heavily for a long time, so compliance has been good in our state,” she said. Pittsfield Rehab gets five of five stars from the government, a rating of much above average. A July 12 inspection documented two nonserious deficiencies, for not giving patients showers according to their preferences and not communicating a medication order from a resident’s doctor to that resident’s pharmacist. Ford said the state accepted a correction plan and that the facility is now in full compliance. Sara Sylvester, administrator at Waterville’s 90-bed Oak Grove Center, said there haven’t been any serious deficiencies because comments from an active resident council allow residents to have more control over their lives. In addition to organizing outings and choosing meals, the residents voice concerns about problems with the staff and the home. “If they’re not being treated correctly, if a nurse or an aide is curt with them, those people have to go home,” Sylvester said, “and an investigation has to happen immediately.” The most recent inspection at Oak Grove, on May 9, found five non-serious violations, including a urine odor in one area, a failure to best manage each patient’s drug regimen and failure to cycle out expired calcium vitamins. Sylvester said the state approved a correction plan and Oak Grove, rated above average with four of five stars, is now in full compliance. The Augusta Center for Health and Rehabilitation in Augusta, a 72-bed residence, is also rated above average, with four of five stars. During a May 16 visit, inspectors documented five non-serious violations at the center, including separated bathroom floor seams, failure to update a patient’s care plan to reflect a worsening pressure ulcer and failure to keep an ice machine clean. Administrator Cathleen O’Connor said the state accepted a correction plan and the center is now in full compliance. At Augusta’s MaineGeneral Rehab & Nursing at Graybirch, a May 14 inspection uncovered four non-serious deficiencies, all related to an incident in which a resident left the building and was missing for hours before being brought back by family members. Graybirch has three of five stars from the government, a rating of average. Connie McDonald, Graybirch’s administrator, did not immediately return a call for comment. At Sanfield Rehab & Nursing Center in Hartland, inspectors found four non-serious violations on April 4, including failure to notify a resident’s family about the expiration of a particular Medicare benefit; stains in the kitchen; and failure to update a resident’s medication orders. The federal government rates Sanfield as much above average, with five of five stars. Administrator Sheila Beasley referred questions to Sanfield Rehab’s owner, North Country Associates, but a call to North Country’s chief operating officer, Mary Richards, was not immediately returned. Transparency The nursing home industry welcomes the added transparency, according to Nadine Grosso, vice president of the Maine Health Care Association, which represents nearly every nursing home in the state. She said prospective residents should pay attention to the scope and severity of deficiencies, rather than the number. “For example, if a person in the kitchen forgot to wear a hairnet, is that a big deal in the scheme of things?” she said. Grosso said serious or recurring deficiencies should be taken into account, and the information should be one component of a larger information-gathering strategy. “If they’re looking at a particular facility and they look at a deficiency report and they see something that they now have a question about, it would be really good to go talk to the facility about that,” Grosso said. Matt Hongoltz-Hetling — 861-9287 Were you interviewed for this story? If so, please fill out our accuracy form. Send questions/comments to the editors.

Backyard bash an ‘epic’ show Big scope, sweeping vision, epic payoff. When describing Saturday’s incredible Bands in the Backyard Music Festival, held on the Tommy Giodone property on the Mesa, “epic” is indeed an accurate adjective. An estimated 13,000 party-happy fans converged in a dirt field-turned concert venue to hear five country-flavored bands, including headliner Gary Allan and the hot stars on the scene, Parmalee and Florida Georgia Line. The turnout was more than even Giodone — no stranger to big, blowout productions — could imagine. While the gates opened at 10 a.m., the music started later in the afternoon, with regional acts Overton Road and Charley Jenkins warming up the crowd. By 6 p.m., when the North Carolina-based Parmalee took the stage, the party mood was in overdrive. And brothers Matt and Scott Thomas were only too happy to add fuel to the festive fire. With a look and style more rock than country, Parmalee’s theme was simple but universal: good times and groovy feelings. In addition to the group’s big hit “Carolina,” Parmalee blasted the tune that encapsulates the band’s attitude toward life and music: “Musta Had a Good Time,” complete with a “good time” call and response with the audience. And how can you not love a band that creates a medley from songs by the Allman Brothers, Charlie Daniels Band and Marvin Gaye? Like Parmalee, Florida Georgia Line is part of the “new wave” of country rock that has captured the attention of the nation. Composed of charismatic and talented co-lead vocalists and guitarists Tyler Hubbard and Brian Kelly, with help from four crack musicians, FGL tore through a lengthy set of songs that focused on — big surprise — partying, having a good time and liquid refreshments. There were plenty of shout-outs to Pueblo and the state of Colorado, the firefighters battling blazes, beer, women and clubbing. All the charting hits were delivered, including the smooth “Dayum Baby,” “Get Your Shine On,” the chart-topping “Here’s to the Good Times,” “It’z Just What We Do,” and, of course, “Cruise,” the No. 1 smash that broke the band in a big way. Like Parmalee, FGL wisely exploits its good looks and rock star aura, and the throngs of young women pressed hard against the steel stage barrier couldn’t have been happier. The “elder statesmen” of the bill, Gary Allan put on a no-frills show that put the spotlight on the multitude of solid songs he has released in his long career. Dressed simply in a blue T-shirt and black jeans, Allan — with help from his skilled band — amply demonstrated why he has earned “iconic” status in the country scene. For the most part, Allan’s set centered around the mid-tempo, bittersweet songs of love and loss that have become his stock and trade. The best of these were “It Ain’t The Whiskey,” “Watching Airplanes,” “Man to Man,” “Still Learning How to Bend,” “Get Off on the Pain” and “Best I Ever Had.” A pleasant change of pace was the hard-tinged “Bones,” which Allan referred to as one of his few “ticked off” songs. Covers of Del Shannon’s “Runaway” and INXS’ “Never Tear Us Apart” were nice touches. It seems that Bands in the Backyard will become an annual event, as Giodone announced plans to release next year’s lineup within the coming weeks. If things continue at this pace, Tommy G is going to need a bigger backyard. jpompia@chieftain.com">jpompia@chieftain.com

John Lennon's killer says Jesus has 'made the difference' in his life The man who shot John Lennon more than 30 years ago claimed at his parole hearing that God has taught him to see that there are other people in the world. Mark David Chapman shot and killed the ex-Beatle outside his New York apartment on 8 December 1980. Chapman stalked Lennon for months in New York prior to killing him, despite the fact he lived with his wife in Hawaii at the time. He was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison and was denied parole at his eighth hearing on 20 August. A transcript of the hearing was posted to Scribd and reports Chapman as saying that he had "extremely selfish motives for my own self-glory" at the time he murdered Lennon. "That bright light of fame, of infamy, notoriety was there. I couldn't resist it," he told the parole board. He also described being depressed, drinking and being suicidal. But he goes on to claim that he is no longer interested in the media attention he has received for killing Lennon. "I haven't had an interview in 24 years and believe me they come. It's not my interest anymore at all... "Believe me I am not interested in any press whatsoever at all, and there has been many times where I could have and very recently too. I won't mention names, but you would be surprised," he said. And he attributes the shift in his focus to a faith in God. "I had extremely selfish motives for my own self-glory. Thats the best way I can say it," Chapman told the board. "My focus is totally, it isn't on me anymore. God has helped me through the years to see, 'hey, there is other people in this world.' "I am not perfect, still working on some things. Jesus has helped me to see that he loves me, and that is what has made the difference in my life is him." He adds: "God loves us all whether we're celebrities or not, and he demonstrated his love by sending Christ to us."

Funerals begin for victims of fertilizer blast Retiree lived in apartments close to site of deadly blast By Scott Huddleston and Vianna Davila | April 23, 2013 | Updated: April 23, 2013 10:32pm - Photo By Charlie Riedel/STFHeavy equipment is put to work Tuesday at the site of the fertilizer plant explosion in West, nearly a week after a massive blast at the local fertilizer plant killed 14 and forced many of the town's families from their homes. - Photo By Johnny Hanson/StaffThe West Fertilizer Co. plant smolders on Thursday, the day after a massive explosion at the rural facility killed 14 people. WEST - Five years ago, Mariano C. Saldivar moved from California to the Central Texas city of West to be near his family, settling here after retiring. On Tuesday, family and friends remembered the 57-year-old, killed in last week's explosion at a fertilizer plant, as a loving husband and father who was called home by God. "Today, our hearts are heavy. We know there has been so much tragedy," the Rev. Ed Karasek said about Saldivar, who died in an apartment complex, one of the closest buildings to the West Fertilizer Co. The funeral Mass at St. Mary's Catholic Church of the Assumption was the first of many from the April 17 blast that killed 14 people. Investigators are still trying to determine a cause of the explosion, which occurred as firefighters were trying to douse a blaze at the plant. Officials on Tuesday ruled out a railcar filled with ammonium nitrate as the cause. Assistant State Fire Marshall Kelly Kistner called the railcar "a victim of that explosion." Agents sifting debris On Monday, Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Chairman Bryan Shaw raised the possibility that the railcar had caused the blast that also injured scores of residents in this tiny town of 2,800 people. Kistner said officials still don't know how much ammonium nitrate was stored at the facility at the time of the explosion. More than 70 federal and state agents are examining the blast site, going "shovel by shovel" through the debris, Kistner said. Officials have concluded the explosion was not due to natural causes, he said. West Mayor Pro Tem Steve Vanek said it's still unclear when residents who lived in the area closest to the decimated fertilizer plant will be able to return to their homes. "It is not safe," he said. Crews are still trying to restore utilities; residents on the south side of town have water that can be used for showering and washing clothes, but not for drinking. Memorial at Baylor A large memorial for the fallen first responders will be Thursday at Baylor University. President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama plan to attend. At Tuesday's funeral service, Karasek said Saldivar, who had a wife, daughter, three sons and 12 brothers and sisters, would come to church with "his little girl in a wheelchair" and "had a mustache just like mine," that was getting gray. "We're not here today to say goodbye to Mariano, but hasta luego (until later)," said Karasek, explaining that all souls are reunited in heaven. "Until that day, may we stay strong in our faith," he said. A native of Mexico, Saldivar moved to California and worked in the warehousing industry, according to an obituary released by a Waco funeral home. He retired in 2008 and moved to West. Saldivar will be buried in Portland, Ore.

He graced the stage of Newcastle’s City Hall as a fledgling musician and now ex-Lindisfarne member Steve Daggett is on a mission to save the venue for future generations. Singer-songwriter Steve will join a host of the region’s stars for a one-off “protest concert” on Sunday night. The gig at The Cluny in the Ouseburn, Newcastle, will also feature Paul Liddell of North East folk group Prelude. The city council announced in November that it plans to sell the 85-year-old venue as part of efforts to save £90m. Steve said: “A lot of people still don’t know the City Hall is at risk and we’ve got to make more noise to raise awareness. “It’s iconic and it’s part of the history of rock and roll. The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry ... it’s almost harder to find someone who hasn’t played at the City Hall.” The night will also include the official launch of the single Save The City Hall, which has been recorded by Steve and a star-studded North East line-up. Featured on the track is Roxy Music drummer Paul Thompson, Lindisfarne’s Ray Jackson and Charlie Harcourt, former Sting counterpart John Hedley and bass player Steve Martin. The release also features a previously unheard version of the Alan Hull song All Fall Down recorded by Billy Bragg for a tribute album to the late Lindisfarne singer which never came to fruition. Bragg donated the track on which he duets with folk singer Eliza Carthy. Sunday’s concert is between 2pm and 6pm. Tickets cost £7 and include a free CD. Call 0191 230 4474 for details. The tracks can also be downloaded from iTunes or bought via mail order from Road Goes on Forever Records, PO Box 109, Washington, Tyne & Wear.

- Filed Under Think for a moment about high-school sports in Florida. Under the Florida High School Athletic Association - which is to Florida's schools what the NCAA is to college athletics - teams compete for championships in about 30 sports. Florida athletes are prized throughout the country. And those athletes compete on a level playing field, thanks to the oversight and enforcement of the FHSAA. Is there a problem here that needs to be fixed? Apparently, because the Legislature is back with a bill similar to one that stalled in the Senate last year. Under the guise of protecting the rights of student-athletes, the Legislature would clamp down on the FHSAA and make it much more difficult to stop the handful of schools that cheat. House Bill 1279 (which passed out of the Choice & Innovation Subcommittee on Wednesday and now is in the Education Appropriations Subcommittee) and the similar Senate Bill 1164 would punish the FHSAA with new requirements for reports and audits, new terms of office for the board of directors and even restrictions on the travel expenses of the executive director. It also includes a death penalty, borrowing language from last year's effort: "If the FHSAA fails to meet the provisions of this section, the commissioner shall designate a nonprofit organization to govern athletics with the approval of the State Board of Education." But the most contentious provisions of the bill are the ones "providing procedures for student residence and transfer approvals" and "providing that the burden is on the FHSAA to demonstrate by clear and convincing evidence that a student is ineligible to participate in a high-school athletic competition." Translation: When an unscrupulous coach illegally recruits a star athlete, the FHSAA will be hamstrung in its efforts to stop it. Larry Metz, R-Eustis, who is the sponsor of the House bill, says, "We have a lot of students and parents who are not well-positioned to challenge an organization with the resources and institutional knowledge of an FHSAA-level organization, and so it's sort of a little guy against the big guy." The FHSAA sees it differently, saying in a statement: "This policy change would jeopardize the integrity of high-school athletic competition by creating the equivalent of 'free agency' for student-athletes." For 93 years, the FHSAA has done a good job in keeping high-school sports fair and fun. To repeat what we said last year: These bills are overkill; legislators should recognize them as such and bench them for good.

John Kaarbo plans to marry girlfriend who stabbed him You know those nights when things get a little "crazy," a little "out of control," or just "drunk and dumb"? For John Kaarbo, that night ended with his girlfriend stabbing him twice with a butcher knife. That was Nov. 28. Now Kaarbo says everything is great and the two are getting married. It will be a good story to tell the kids! On Nov. 28, police were called to a Solway Township home. Shawn Marie Melton, 45, had called police and said her and Kaarbo, 41, were fighting and being "drunk and dumb". When police arrived, they found Kaarbo on the couch, holding his chest. He had two stab wounds to his torso and claimed Melton stabbed him. After she stabbed him once, he told her to stab him again to finish him off. So she did it. Kaarbo's injuries were so severe that he was listed in critical condition and could have died from his injuries. Melton wasn't injury-free either. She had two black eyes, a broken nose and bumps on the back of her head. Sounds like a classic "drunk and dumb" night to us too. Melton pleaded guilty in May to first-degree assault. She was ordered to serve 60 days in a female offender program and a five-year probation. She has to avoid booze and drugs. We'd personally take this moment to say sayonara to this woman. But Kaarbo says he forgave his girlfriend and they are now engaged to be married. They have both been sober since that incident. Happily ever

4.1: Atoms Lesson Objectives - Explain the law of conservation of mass, the law of definite proportions, and the law of multiple proportions. - Describe John Dalton’s atomic theory. Lesson Vocabulary - atom - law of conservation of mass - law of definite proportions - law of multiple proportions Early Atomic Models Democritus was a Greek philosopher who lived from 460 B.C. until 370 B.C. He was among the first known individuals to suggest the idea of the atom as the basic unit of matter. The word atom comes from the Greek word atomos, meaning “indivisible.” Democritus (see Figure below) was indeed ahead of his time, but his ideas were not useful at that time in describing chemical behavior because there was no experimental evidence to support it. His approach was a philosophical one rather than a truly scientific one. Many centuries would pass before the notion of atoms was merged with modern scientific experimentation and thought. Democritus believed that all matter consisted of tiny, indestructible particles called atoms. Beginnings of Atomic Theory By the late 1700s, chemists had accepted the definition of an element as a substance that cannot be broken down into simpler substances by ordinary chemical means. It was also clear that elements combine with one another to form more complex substances called compounds. The chemical and physical properties of these compounds are different than the properties of the elements from which they were formed. There was some disagreement, however, about whether elements always combined in exactly the same ratio when forming a particular compound. In the 1790s, a greater emphasis began to be placed on the quantitative analysis of chemical reactions. Accurate and reproducible measurements of the masses of reacting elements and the compounds that must always be conserved. The law of conservation of mass is demonstrated in this video: (1:05). The discovery that mass (Figure below). Regardless of its source or its form (solid, liquid, or gas), water always has the exact same elemental composition: 11.19% of its mass is hydrogen and 88.81% of its mass is oxygen. Experiments also began to demonstrate that the same pairs of certain elements could combine to form more than one compound. Consider the elements carbon and oxygen. Combined in one way, they form the familiar compound called carbon dioxide. In every sample of carbon dioxide, there is 32.0 g of oxygen present for every 12.0 g of carbon. By dividing 32.0 by 12.0, this simplifies to an oxygen/carbon mass ratio of 2.66 to 1. Another compound that forms from the combination of carbon and oxygen is called carbon monoxide. Every sample of carbon monoxide contains 16.0 g of oxygen for every 12.0 g of carbon, which simplifies to an oxygen/carbon mass ratio of 1.33 to 1. In other words, a given mass of carbon needs to combine with exactly twice as much oxygen to make carbon dioxide as it would to produce carbon monoxide. Figure below illustrates the law of multiple proportions. Whenever the same two elements form more than one compound, the different masses of one element that combine with the same mass of the other element are in the ratio of small whole numbers. Carbon monoxide, on the left, contains 1.333 g of oxygen for every 1 g of carbon. Carbon dioxide, on the right, contains 2.666 g of oxygen for every gram of carbon. The ratio of oxygen in these two compounds is 1:2, which is a ratio of small whole numbers. Sample Problem 4.1: Calculating Mass Ratios Copper reacts with chlorine to form two compounds. Compound A contains 4.08 g of copper for every 2.28 g of chlorine. Compound B contains 7.53 g of copper for every 8.40 g of chlorine. What is the lowest whole number mass ratio of copper that combines with a given mass of chlorine? Step 1: List the known quantities and plan the problem. Known - Compound A = 4.08 g Cu and 2.28 g Cl - Compound B = 7.53 g Cu and 8.40 g Cl Apply the law of multiple proportions to the two compounds. For each compound, find the grams of copper that combine with 1.00 g of chlorine by dividing the mass of copper by the mass of chlorine. Then, find the ratio of the masses of copper in the two compounds by dividing the larger value by the smaller value. Step 2: Calculate. Compare the masses of copper per gram of chlorine in the two samples. The mass ratio of copper per gram of chlorine in the two compounds is 2:1. Step 3: Think about your result. The ratio is a small whole-number ratio. For a given mass of chlorine, compound A contains twice the mass of copper as does compound B. Dalton's Atomic Theory In 1808, an English chemist and schoolteacher named John Dalton (1766-1844) formulated an atomic theory based on the law of conservation of mass, the law of definite proportions, and the law of multiple proportions. His theory can be summarized in the following statements, illustrated in Figure below. - All matter is composed of extremely small particles called atoms. - Atoms of the same element are identical in terms of size, mass, and other properties. Atoms of one element are different from the atoms of any other element. - Atoms of different elements can chemically combine with one another in simple whole-number ratios to form chemical compounds. - Chemical reactions can be described as the separation, combination, or rearrangement of atoms. Atoms of one element cannot be changed into atoms of a different element as a result of a chemical reaction. Dalton’s atomic theory states that chemical reactions are due to rearrangements of atoms. On the left, hydrogen molecules are shown as two H atoms, while oxygen molecules are shown as two O atoms. The chemical reaction forms water as the atoms rearrange. There are identical numbers of hydrogen and oxygen atoms before and after the reaction. Sizes of Atoms The graphite in your pencil is composed of the element carbon. Imagine taking a small piece of carbon and grinding it until it is a fine dust. Each speck of carbon would still have all of the physical and chemical properties of carbon. Now imagine that you could somehow keep dividing the speck of carbon into smaller and smaller pieces. Eventually, you would reach a point where your carbon sample is as small as it could possibly be. This final particle is called an atom, which is defined as the smallest particle of an element that retains the properties of that element. Atoms, as you probably know, are extremely small. In fact, the graphite in an ordinary pencil contains about 5 × 1020 atoms of carbon. This is an almost incomprehensibly large number. The population of the entire Earth is about 7 × 109 people, meaning that there are about 7 × 1010 times as many carbon atoms in your pencil as there are people on the Earth! For this to be true, atoms must be extremely small. Can we see atoms? It’s not easy, but a modern instrument called a scanning tunneling microscope allows scientists to visualize the atom, as shown in Figure below. Images of individual gold atoms can be seen on the surface of a smooth sheet of gold metal using scanning tunneling microscopy. Lesson Summary - The Greek philosopher Democritus believed that matter is composed of indivisible and indestructible building blocks, which he called atoms. - John Dalton transformed the ideas of Democritus into a scientific atomic theory, which began to explain the law of conservation of mass, the law of definite proportions, and the law of multiple proportions. - Matter cannot be created or destroyed in chemical reactions. - Elements react to form compounds in fixed proportions by mass. - Elements combine with one another in simple whole-number ratios. - An atom is the smallest unit of an element that retains the properties of that element. Lesson Review Questions Recall - Describe the contribution of Democritus to modern atomic theory. - What happens to the total mass of a system during a chemical reaction? - What does “fixed composition” mean with regard to chemical compounds? - What law explains the relationships between different chemical compounds that contain only the elements carbon and oxygen? - What are the four essential points of Dalton’s atomic theory? Apply Concepts - Alchemy is an ancient tradition that predated the modern science of chemistry. One goal of the alchemist was to change base metals such as iron or lead into valuable metals such as gold or silver. Explain, using Dalton’s theory, why alchemists were unable to do this. Think Critically - If an atom of element A has a mass of 2 units, while an atom of element B has a mass of 5 units, what would be the ratio of element A to element B in a compound that had a mass of 11 units? - Sulfur reacts with oxygen to form two compounds. Compound A consists of 1.89 g of sulfur for every 1.89 g of oxygen. Compound B consists of 3.72 g of sulfur for every 5.57 g of oxygen. What is the lowest whole number mass ratio of sulfur that combines with a given mass of oxygen? - Hydrocarbons are a class of organic compounds that contain only carbon and hydrogen. Methane, an important hydrocarbon fuel, has a carbon/hydrogen mass ratio of 3:1. An 80-g sample of a hydrocarbon compound is analyzed and found to contain 64 g of carbon. Is the hydrocarbon sample methane? Explain. - The mass of 6.02 × 1023 atoms of iron is 55.85 g. What is the mass of one atom of iron? Further Reading / Supplemental Links - For more information about Dalton's contributions, go to the video Early Ideas About Atoms at.

Claflin student editor wins award as top S.C. collegiate journalist Congressman James E. Clyburn was at Claflin University on Sunday to sign copies of his memoir, Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black. Ministers’ Hall was filled with individuals eager to get their hands on a copy of the newly released book. “Many of you in this room are friends of Jim Clyburn, and you know, as I do, that when he’s passionate about something, his commitment is unwavering,” said Janice Marshall, ’70, a Claflin University Board of Trustees member and the executive director of the James E. Clyburn Research and Scholarship Foundation. “He walks the walk and talks the talk.” “It is fitting that we’re holding today’s celebration here, in Minister’s Hall,” she continued. In addition to Clyburn’s commitment to education, Marshall said, “Historic preservation is another of his passions, and this building was lovingly restored with federal resources he secured.” Clyburn “has always been a steadfast advocate for those without a voice and a committed leader,” Marshall said. “His tenacity, endurance, fortitude, patience and faith provide a living example of what it means to be genuinely Southern and proudly black.” Claflin President Dr. Henry N. Tisdale said Clyburn is a great friend of the institution. “In fact, he’s been a tireless servant and friend of higher education throughout his career as an elected official,” Tisdale said. “I say with tremendous appreciation to the Congressman that Claflin University has benefitted from the commitment and from the friendship. “Through his book, our children and grandchildren, and future generations, will have a source to inspire them to dream big, understanding that a setback can be a setup for something grand.” Clyburn shared with the audience his inspiration for Blessed Experiences and its title. In the book, he tells in his own inspirational words how an African-American boy from the Jim Crow South was able to beat the odds to achieve great success. “The epilogue in this book is a letter to my children, my grandchildren, and all other children and grandchildren similarly challenged,” Clyburn said. “I wrote this book to take into account all of the challenges that I’ve had, and how I have dealt with those challenges in hopes that children coming along will benefit from them.” Clyburn said Blessed Experiences has been nearly 30 years in the making. He wrote the first chapter in 1985. “I set the book aside because I came to the conclusion as I was writing that I had not lived long enough nor had I had enough experiences to write the kind of book I wanted to write,” Clyburn said. “I wanted to write a book that would be motivational, informational, and a book that would tell exactly what … I wanted to pass on to future generations. “I want this book to be a textbook for young people.” The title comes from two episodes in the congressman’s life, he said. “Bill Howell taught me my second year at South Carolina State, and Bill Howell and I were a bit combative in class,” Clyburn said. “One day, we were going back and forth, and he said to me, ‘Young man, you must understand, you will never be any more nor will you ever be any less than what your experiences allow you to be.’ That struck me, and it stuck with me. So I decided that my book had to be about those experiences. But about halfway through the book, I hit a wall and couldn’t write. And I remembered that my father used to spend all day Saturday reading, writing and humming his favorite hymn, Blessed Assurance … so I read the hymn Blessed Assurance. And there it was – I could see what my dad got from that hymn.” The subtitle comes from an episode Clyburn recalled during his early days at the South Carolina State House. A legislator made a comment that Clyburn felt crossed the line. He approached the legislator after the meeting and was told that he needed to understand that the legislator spoke that way because he was a Southerner. “I, too, am a Southern,” Clyburn said, adding that was the working title of his book for many years. “My parents were Southerners, and they didn’t talk that way, they didn’t use that kind of language, they didn’t insult people gratuitously. I wanted to make the case that we, too, are Southerners. … But we are a proud people, proudly black. “The whole thing is to say to every child – black or white – in this state that you have a stake in being a South Carolinian. This state is as much yours as anybody elses, and you should be proud of the contributions you make to this state. Throughout this book, you will see time and time again I make the case for being a genuinely Southern and proud black person. And I never ever stray from that.” Blessed Experiences: Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black is $34.95 and available wherever books are sold. Clyburn said he has plans to write a sequel.

Cleveland Museum of Art Acquires Benkaim Collection of Deccan and Mughal Paintings For more information, please contact: Caroline Guscott, 216-707-2261, cguscott [at] clevelandart.org Saeko Yamamoto, 216-707-6898, syamamoto [at] clevelandart.org CLEVELAND (December 23, 2013) – The Cleveland Museum of Art announced today the acquisition of the Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim Collection of Deccan and Mughal Paintings, an unparalleled private collection of 95 works from India’s major Islamic courts. The Benkaim Collection contains extremely rare folios and has been represented in many publications, exhibitions and research projects on Indian painting for the last several decades. The acquisition, made possible in part through the support of an anonymous donor, immediately elevates the museum to a world-class leader in this field. Nine of the works will be on view in the museum’s permanent collection galleries of Indian and Southeast Asian art, opening on December 31, 2013 as part of the grand opening festivities for the museum. “It is thrilling to have the opportunity to announce an acquisition that fulfills the central mission of the Cleveland Museum of Art: to bring the best of the world's art to the people of Cleveland,” stated Fred Bidwell, interim director of the Cleveland Museum of Art. “The Benkaim Collection beautifully augments our holdings in an area for which the museum is world renowned. These masterworks come to us at an extraordinarily opportune moment, as we prepare to celebrate the opening of the Indian and Southeast Asian galleries on New Year's Eve.” The Mughal Empire was established in 1526 and expanded to include most of the Indian subcontinent as well as the regions of present-day Pakistan and Afghanistan by the end of the 17th century. The homeland of the Mughals was in Ferghana, in present-day Uzbekistan, and though they spoke the Turkic language of Chagatai, they admired and emulated Persian art and literature. The unique blending of Persian and Indian themes and styles, along with European elements adopted from paintings and engravings brought by the Jesuits, resulted in a new type of art form known as Mughal painting. “Imperial Mughal painting of India has been a highly prized art form, celebrated for its international vision and exquisite refinement and sophistication,” said Sonya Quintanilla, George P. Bickford curator of Indian and Southeast Asian art. “The illustrated tales and luxurious album pages that reflect the taste and personalities of their imperial patrons have been a source of inspiration and delight to scholars and connoisseurs for centuries, both in Asia and the West.” The works in the Benkaim Collection range in date from the 1550s, the very beginning of painting practice in the Mughal court, through the late 18th century. The collection also includes 15 paintings from the court ateliers of the Deccan, located in India’s southern regions, which are contemporaneous with the imperial Mughal centers to the north. This acquisition significantly expands the museum’s existing collection of Deccan and Mughal paintings and adds rare works of the highest quality and scholarly importance. Highlights include: Emperor Shah Jahan Holding a Crest Jewel, a portrait from the album of the emperor who was responsible for building the Taj Mahal; A Floral Fantasy of Animals and Birds (Waq-waq), which presents a vision of creatures effervescing from the most remarkable of plants, inspired by descriptions of a talking tree in the Koran; and a rare, full-page illustration from the Five Treasures (Panj Ganj) of Jami depicting Zulaykha preparing to seduce Yusuf—a Persian poetical version of the Biblical and Koranic story of Joseph and Potiphar’s wife. “The Benkaims meticulously selected each work with an eye to quality and a scholar’s desire to represent key passages in the history of Mughal painting,” added Quintanilla. “With the acquisition of the Benkaim Collection, the importance of Indian painting at the Cleveland Museum of Art becomes commensurate with the museum’s peerless collection of sculpture. When the paintings are rotated in the galleries twice yearly in accordance with conservation guidelines, the museum now has sufficient depth in its holdings to support engaging and dazzling installations on an ongoing basis. I cannot imagine a better match for Cleveland.” About the Collectors All of the paintings are from the collection of Catherine Glynn Benkaim and Ralph Benkaim of Beverly Hills, California. Catherine Glynn Benkaim is a widely published, highly accomplished scholar in the field of Indian painting. She holds a Ph.D. in Indian art history from the University of Southern California, and she was a curator of Indian art at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. In 2009, she received the Award for Museum Scholarship presented by the American College Art Association for the 2008 catalogue and exhibition, Garden and Cosmos: Indian Painting from the Jodhpur Royal Collections. Ralph Benkaim (1914–2001), an entertainment lawyer based in Los Angeles, became enamored of Persian painting when stationed in Iran during World War II. After an initial Islamic purchase while on a business trip to Denmark in late 1961, Ralph turned his attention to building an exceptional collection of Persian and Indian paintings, both Islamic and Hindu. He primarily acquired works at auctions throughout the 1960s, which was a critical time when important Indian paintings were coming on the market in the decades after Independence. In 1970, Catherine, who was attending graduate school at UCLA, was hired to work in the newly formed Indian and Islamic department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Within a few months it was inevitable that Catherine would meet the one person in Los Angeles who shared an interest in Indian and Islamic painting, Ralph Benkaim. A friendship and then a courtship developed with Indian and Islamic painting at the foundation. Beginning in the early 1970s, developing and increasing the Benkaim Collection was an immensely pleasurable joint effort which included travel to auctions, visits to museums with Indian and Islamic collections, and most satisfactorily, acquiring a worldwide network of friends and colleagues. Though Ralph’s death in 2001 ended their thirty year partnership in building the collection, Catherine went on to spend another decade refining the collection to its essential core. The Deccan and Mughal paintings offered to Cleveland form a distinguished and historic collection lovingly assembled over a fifty-year period.

The Cleveland Browns earned a 20-14 victory over their chief AFC North Division rival in the Pittsburgh Steelers Sunday at Cleveland Browns Stadium, the team’s first since Dec. 10, 2009. But when the coaches returned to Berea on Monday morning, the focus had shifted to this week. After going through the corrections from the win over the Steelers, coach Pat Shurmur and his staff began their preparations for this Sunday’s game against the Oakland Raiders at the O.co Coliseum. “I’m truly happy for our players; I’m happy for our coaches,” Shurmur said. “We’ve got to find a way to win division games at home. That’s the big picture, winning division games at home and the challenge this week is to go on the road and win two in a row. Each week presents a new challenge. “We’re all aware of the rivalry with the Cleveland Browns and Pittsburgh Steelers. We haven’t done very well against them in recent years and so, there’s maybe a little bit added there. We’re fast approaching our preparation and guys are working on playing the Oakland Raiders. Although that may sound a little crazy, that’s how we, as coaches, approach it.” Part of the task for the coaches now lies in repeating the process they had during Steelers week leading up to game day against Oakland. “When you beat a fine opponent and however you do it, and it’s a physical contest like that, then, you develop the confidence that you can do it again,” Shurmur said. “Now, the challenge is to be consistent and that will be the challenge for this week, to get back to work here and get ready to play the next team.” The Browns forced the Steelers into eight turnovers -- five lost fumbles and three interceptions -- which was Cleveland’s best total since they registered eight in a 51-0 win against Pittsburgh on Sept. 10, 1989. They also held a team that averaged 106.8 rushing yards over its first 10 games to just 49 yards on the ground, an average of 2.5 yards over 20 carries. The Browns also had touchdowns from tight end “I felt like our guys fought and it wasn’t always pretty, but we did what we had to do to win,” Shurmur said. “Once again, I thought special teams contributed positively to what was a winning performance. I’m looking forward to the preparation as we get ready to play the Raiders. “At field level against the Steelers, that’s a big man’s game. It’s a physical game. I’ve got a lot of guys that are sore and I’m sure the Steelers are the same way. That’s real football and I was proud of our guys for how they battled throughout.” HEALTH UP FRONT In the two games that defensive tackles Rubin made two tackles and forced one fumble against the Steelers and had a sack against the Cowboys. Taylor registered a sack on Pittsburgh quarterback Charlie Batch and recovered one of the five fumbles lost by the Steelers Sunday. “It’s like baseball; you need to strong up the middle,” Shurmur said. “When you have two big, sturdy guys in there that can play the run on first and second down and that can get push when it’s time to throw the football, I think that definitely helps.” Shurmur feels that Rubin and Taylor can help set a tempo for the rest of the Browns’ defense. “Now, we have more defensive linemen that are healthy, and when you have that, it all starts up front,” Shurmur said. “Then, we had TEAM DEFENSE In 2011, the Browns collected nine interceptions and recovered 11 of their opponents’ 20 fumbles. Through 11 games this season, the defense has intercepted 13 passes and recovered 12 of 19 fumbles by the opposition. “Each turnover is a different story, but we went into the year saying, if we just caught the ball better offensively and defensively, we’d have more completions and interceptions and we’ve done that from a defensive perspective,” Shurmur said. “Of course, if you do a better job of addressing your gap and defeating your blocks and all the things you’ve got to do in the run game, then, in theory, you have more guys around the football, so, if you knock the ball off them, you can recover more fumbles.” INJURY UPDATE Weeden left Sunday’s game in the fourth quarter with what was reported as a “head injury” and later, confirmed to be a concussion. Currently, Weeden is “going through the process” of being cleared to return to the field, according to Shurmur. !

If the atmosphere this week in Chicago was any indication, professional investors remain largely in denial that the looming fiscal disaster in Washington will come to very much. True, the words "fiscal cliff" were never far from most lips among the throng of 4,000 at the Charles Schwab Impact 2012 conference. But for the most part, the tones were dismissive, cognizant of a worst-case scenario, but relatively secure in the belief that it will not come to fruition. "I'm concerned, but I'm confident both sides realize that we're going to have a compromise," said Joseph M. Moran, senior vice president and head of wealth management for Oppenheimer Funds. "The last thing either side wants on their plate is to be responsible for another recession." And another recession is almost a certainty if Washington chooses to continue to play politics and go over the cliff. (Read More: What Traders Hope For—and Fear— in DC 'Fiscal Cliff' Talks) The risks involve $600 billion worth of spending cuts and tax increases that will take effect unless warring Democrats and Republicans agree to deficit-reduction targets. The cliff is less a black swan than a hovering falcon, a bird of prey that will not sneak up on the market as was the case with the 2008 financial crisis, but rather has been in plain view for months. Stock market prices fall an average of 30 percent during recessions and most of the market chatter has attributed the recent slide to cliff fears. But you wouldn't feel much of the danger by talking to attendees at the Schwab conference. "At the moment there's just so much opportunity because there's so much negativism out there in every shape and form," said William Smead, portfolio manager for the Smead Value Fund, a Morningstar five-star-rated fund. Quick to quote Warren Buffett, Smead is emphatic that investors who stick to their knitting, look to the long term and avoid falling into emotional traps posed by issues such as the cliff are the ones who prevail over time. (Read More: Warren Buffett Wants to Make the World More 'Fun') "When everyone shares the same psychology, the marginal profitability for whatever that psychology is is very low and allows people with the opposite side of that psycholgy to do very well," he said. Smead's fund is historically spread among 25 or 30 of what its managers feel are the best of the best. The top current top holdings are eBay, Cabelas, and Gannett — a seemingly disparate group that nonetheless share qualities such as competitive edges and lots of free cash flow. He makes it sound easy, but it's not. The mood at the conference was one clearly of trepidation even if the concerns spread beyond the cliff ramifications and into the troubles in Europe and a generally slowing global economy. Conversations with dozens of investment pros revealed a feeling that the market was changing, that just following the U.S. Federal Reserve and its band of merry money-printers might not be enough anymore. That mood was exacerbated by the notable presence of some market heavyweights at a conference that often attracts mostly plain-vanilla fund managers bandying about the "stocks are cheap" mantra to anyone who will listen. The signs of an evolving marketplace were unmistakeable. Here was Mario Gabelli enthusiastically greeting passers-by. There was private-equity legend George Roberts, of KKR, manning a booth and touting an unlikely fund alliance with Charles Schwab. (Read More: Great Time for 'Grave Dancers': KKR, Schwab) And, of course, there was the tag-team of Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, authors of the now-famous deficit-reduction manifesto, spending an hour on CNBC and another hour on the mainstage, urging — practically pleading with — investors not to take the cliff lightly. (Read More: Obamacare Will Have to Be Slashed: Simpson-Bowles) "You have to be honest with people, because Erskine and I don't do B.S. or mush," Simpson said. But in spite of the Simpson-Bowles admonitions, many managers remain convinced at least a temporary solution will come to pass, and are planning their investment choices accordingly. "We're looking for growth in the 2 percent range next year, assuming we get some resolution on the fiscal cliff," said Michelle Stevens, managing director and senior portfolio manager at Robert W. Baird. "We see fiscal spending cuts as a downside risk, close to a recession domestically. We're not assuming that now because we're hopeful that Washington can get it back together." But what if it doesnt? What if the cliff deadline comes and goes with no resolution, and a market that already has lost more than 5 percent of its value since President Barack Obama was re-elected has to face the prospect of an even worse economy ahead? Greg Valliere, chief political strategist at Potomac Research Group, tried to assure the convention-goers that the most likely scenario was some kind of compromise, but even he didn't seem quite so sure. "I think that will be enough to get them home for the holidays," he said of Congress. Later, however, he added that the solution won't be long-term. "We could be looking at several more months without a resolution on this issue, and that is not a great story."

The MoGo Talk XD takes that concept and brings it to the iPhone, putting a skinny Bluetooth headset inside an iPhone case (there are versions for the iPhone 3G/3GS and the iPhone 4). The MoGo Talk XD works great as a protective case, with its rubber sides and carefully molded cutouts that fit the iPhone's controls perfectly. There are openings for the speaker, the camera, the charging jack, the headset jack, and the mute switch. The volume buttons and power key on the top are precisely covered by a rubber bumps so they're easy enough to press. Bear in mind that the current MoGo Talk XD is only designed for the AT&T iPhone. What sets the Talk XD apart from other cases is its thick humpback, where the Bluetooth headset is housed. There's a Micro-USB port at the bottom of the case for charging the headset. The headset itself is supremely skinny--when laid flat inside the case it doesn't protrude at all. It has a different look from the rest of the case, as while the case is black, the headset has silver and gray markings. To take the headset out of the case, simply press down on the left of the headset and it will pop out. That's because the charging cavity has a slightly deeper divot on the left side. To put the headset back in, you insert it on the left side first too. The headset by itself measures around 2.25 inches long by 1 inch wide by 0.2 inch thick, and is very lightweight. The multifunction call button is on the right side. It's a very tiny button, but it's raised enough that we could still find and press it. The charging points are on the left side. On the back of the headset is the earpiece, which can be rotated in and out to open and closed positions. At the tip of it is the earbud. The MoGo Talk XD comes with two different kinds of earbuds in three different sizes. The rounded earbuds are for increased noise isolation, while the slim-line earbuds are to allow more ambient noise. We found the rounded earbuds good enough for our needs. To fit the earpiece to your ear, you need to rotate it out at least a couple of clicks. Then you place it in your ear, and close it back down by a click so that the headset feels snug. The mic should be pointed toward the mouth. For such a skinny headset, the fit is surprisingly comfortable, and it feels just like an in-ear headphone.

Narrow your search From March 24 through 30, Barnes & Noble will throw in a free Nook Simple Touch when you buy its larger HD+ tablet. Ahead of an expected new tablet unveiling, Barnes & Noble announces Nook Video with content from the likes of HBO, Sony, Starz, and Disney. iRex has announced a new line of digital readers that feature next-generation technology--but they're very expensive and geared more toward businesses than average consumers. Amazon's next-generation e-reader may look the same as the original, but it's noticeably improved. The new version of Kindle's back-lit Paperwhite e-reader is available locally from Big W and Dick Smith. Sony has announced that its newest e-reader will be arriving in Australia for a suggested retail price of AU$149. Amazon has introduced a new version of its Paperwhite e-reader, now available for pre-order. Fresh off raising $50 million, Kobo has announced a new touch-screen e-ink e-reader, the $129.99 Kobo Wi-Fi Touch Edition. CNET reporter Daniel Terdiman is canvassing readers for ideas on where to take his Road Trip project this summer. Suggest an idea he uses and you could win a prize. There's a lot of buzz about Mirasol's reflective color display technology. But the company has yet to announce an actual product and some say we might not see one until next year.