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Publications \ Articles for Reprinting \ Garlic All Year
by Jean English, Copyright 2006
Garlic planting season is coming! Mid- to late-October is the time to plant individual cloves of garlic in the ground in Central Maine, so September is the time to make sure you have cloves to plant. After they're planted, the cloves send out roots before the ground freezes, then, in spring, send up green shoots and produce multiple cloves within a bulb below ground.
If you've never planted garlic before, the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA) urges you to try some this year. You can buy bulbs from Maine's seed companies, such as Fedco and Johnny's, either through their catalogs or at their booths at MOFGA's Common Ground Country Fair, or you can buy bulbs from several vendors at the Fair's Farmers' Market or Agricultural Booths. Take the bulbs home, separate them into individual cloves, and plant the cloves about 5 inches deep and 4 inches apart in a fertile soil. Around Thanksgiving, put about 4 inches of mulch (straw, leaves or other organic material) on the planting.
In the spring, remove the mulch. As the garlic grows, keep the soil moist and fertile (by applying an inch or so of compost to the ground, for instance).
If you've planted a stiff-neck garlic, such as the Rocambole type, each plant will send up a flower stalk that curls around and produces small garlic bulbils at the end. The common advice is to remove these stalks (also known as "scapes") once they begin to curl around, in order to direct the energy of the plant toward growing larger bulbs, rather than toward producing bulbils at the top of the plant. You might want to keep scapes on a few plants, however. The bulbils can be harvested from these and sown in pots in late fall to produce on your windowsill what MOFGA-certified organic grower Tom Roberts calls "garlic grass" during the winter -- greens that you can clip, like chives, a couple of times and use to season soups and other dishes. Bulbils can also be planted, like garlic cloves, in the soil outdoors in October. By early the next year, they'll have produced what Roberts calls "garlic scallions." In two years, they'll produce garlic bulbs. (Individual cloves, on the other hand, take only one year to produce large bulbs.)
Any scapes that you do cut can be chopped and used in stir-fries or to make garlic flavored vinegar. For the latter, just soak the scapes in white vinegar for a month or two, then remove the scapes and enjoy the vinegar on salads.
When the bottom two or three leaves of garlic plants lose their green color (in late July or early August, usually), it's time to harvest the bulbs. Pull or dig the bulbs carefully and dry them for about a week in a shaded place. Then cut back the tops, rub off any soil clinging to the bulbs, and store the bulbs until you're ready to eat them.
Some garlic comes with a history. The Phillips variety, for example, is a Rocambole type that Molly Thorkildsen and Will Bonsall of the Scatterseed Project in Industry, Maine, acquired from Raymond Rowe of Phillips, Maine, who acquired it from a man living in Rome, N.Y., whose ancestors brought it from Italy in the early 1820s, when they came to work on the Erie Canal. Thanks to the efforts of the Maine Seed Saving Exchange, the Scatterseed Project, and Maine's garlic growers and seed companies, the variety is increasing in popularity. It's known for its large heads of six to eight cloves that are easy to peel and store longer than most other varieties -- sometimes for a year or more.
This article is provided by the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association (MOFGA), PO Box 170, Unity, ME 04988; 207-568-4142; [email protected]; www.mofga.org. Joining MOFGA helps support and promote organic farming and gardening in Maine and helps Maine consumers enjoy more healthful, Maine-grown food. Copyright 2006. Please let us know if you reprint this article. Thanks!


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Just bad: Diaz's 'Teacher' has audiences dropping out
Jake Kasdan's Bad Teacher immediately brings Bad Santa to mind, and suffers by the comparison. Its bad teacher is neither bad enough nor likable enough. The transgressions of Elizabeth Halsey (Cameron Diaz) are more or less what you'd expect, but what's surprising is that she's so nasty and unpleasant. Billy Bob Thornton, as the bad Santa, was more outrageously offensive and yet more redeemed by his desperation. He was bad for urgent reasons. Elizabeth seems bad merely as a greedy lifestyle choice.
As the film opens, the Diaz character is engaged to a rich guy she leeches on but doesn't love. She's dumped and has to return to middle school teaching, an occupation she has no talent for or interest in, and passes the time showing DVDs to her students and napping, drinking and doing drugs at her desk. This creates astonishment and indignation in the charmingly named Amy Squirrel (Lucy Punch), whose classroom is right across the hall. Full review.Read more on: movie review

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In Business: Fellow Countrymen
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Fellow Countrymen is excited to expand our services to include an 8-bed transitional home located at 17 Elmwood Ave in Greenville, SC 29611. This home is dedicated to Veterans who want to get back on their feet and back to work. Their mission is to ...
Higher Teacher Pay is the Path to Economic Growth
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Businesses across the Upstate tell us every day that their number one concern is the availability of a trained workforce. The essential building blocks of a strong workforce begin with a strong education system. The essential building blocks of a ...
9 Ways to Engage in 2019
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1. Stay Informed The Chamber strives to keep our Investors informed of business rules, trends, issues & updates. Stay-in-the know by receiving Chamber communications and following us on social media, and make sure your coworkers do the same. ...
In Business: Pet Suites
Wednesday, January 9, 2019on
PetSuites of America would like to celebrate the opening of their newest PetSuites location. They are so thankful to their team members and colleagues, who have been with them every step of the way, so that they could finally open. They are so ...
Introducing Greenville Chamber Young Professionals
Monday, January 7, 2019on
Resolutions. Love them or hate them, it's the time of year where we at least think about putting our good intentions down on paper to fulfill in the next year. For career-minded young professionals, a resolution might be as simple as ...
Year End Wrap Up
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As we reflect back on 2018, it's clear that Accelerate, the Greenville Chamber's economic development initiative, has seen much success. The most progress was needed in our workforce and talent space and we are well on our way. ...
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A greeting card with the image of the patent for a book urn on the front. The inside has a short, playful greeting..
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GROWTH APPETITE: Christopher Kane could well be launching a trend within new parent company PPR. Speaking during a conference call following the announcement that PPR has taken a 51 percent stake in the Scottish designer's brand, Alexis Babeau, managing director of PPR's luxury division, said further acquisitions could be on the cards.
"In luxury, we are looking for small to midsized brands with a strong identity, a strong expression, with a strong growth potential and with the ability for PPR to add value and to speed up the growth. We are looking for brands which are not going to overlap with our existing portfolio, and we think that with the Christopher Kane brand today, there is a perfect fit with our existing portfolio," he said, adding: "We cannot rule out further acquisitions, but there is nothing in the next few days, to be clear, or in the foreseeable future."
Babeau emphasized that PPR's priority is to grow its existing brands, which range from Gucci and Balenciaga to Alexander McQueen and Stella McCartney. "External growth is a very nice plus," he said.


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American Scientist Comment Policy
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Counting is something we learn so early in life that we tend to dismiss it as a trivial skill, beneath the notice of mathematics. The recent U.S. presidential election suggests otherwise. Although most of the vote-counting controversies last fall concerned what to count rather than how to count, the counting process itself also proved to be imprecise and unreliable. Counting and recounting the same batch of ballots seldom gave the same total twice. Evidently, counting is not the utterly deterministic procedure we take it to be. There is some wiggle and wobble in it.
And ballots are not the only things we can lose count of. The Census Bureau has reported the U.S. population as 281,421,906, but no one believes this "actual enumeration" of the people is exact; the Bureau will deserve congratulations if even the first two of those nine digits are correct. Similarly, a U.S. Treasury web site displays "the public debt to the penny"; the last time I checked, the amount shown was $5,719,452,925,490.54, but again it's hard to believe that the accuracy of this figure matches its precision. Other purveyors of large numbers are more modest in their claims to exactitude. The New York Stock Exchange reports daily trading volume only to the nearest 100 shares. And the sign in front of my local McDonald's is stuck on "Over 99 billion served."
If counting is not a process we can count on, it seems prudent to look into the various ways it might go wrong. A theory of counting errors would describe the relation between the true number of things counted, which I'll designate N, and the number of counts actually registered, R. If you knew enough about the errors, you could predict R for any N. The inverse problem is harder: Given an observed count R, can you estimate the true N? The answer will not settle any election controversies, but it does lead into some curious byways of mathematics and computation.
The simplest kind of counting is based on tally marks. Start with a blank sheet of paper. For each object to be counted, make a mark on the page. When you're finished, the number of marks should match the number of objects.
This kind of counting is surely ancient, but it was given a formal, axiomatic basis just a century ago by the Italian mathematician Giuseppe Peano. Peano's scheme of arithmetic begins by postulating the existence of the number zero, or 0. The next number is defined as the successor of zero, written S(0). Next comes the successor of the successor of zero, or S(S(0)), then S(S(S(0))), and so on. Continuing in this long-winded way, you can count as high as you please; it's just a matter of applying the same rule over and over.
Peano's axioms belong to the ideal world of Platonic mathematics—the same world where geometric points are dimensionless, circles are perfectly round, and lines run straight and true to infinity. In that empyrean realm, chad are never hanging, and every count is full, fair and accurate. But that's not the world we live and count in.
When considering the causes of counting errors, it's helpful to have in mind a specific counting machine. A Peano counter might be a box with a long row of light bulbs on the front panel. Events to be counted enter the machine via a single input port; the input could be a wire, and the events pulses of voltage. The light bulbs are the machine's output. Initially, all the bulbs are dark. Each time an event is recorded, a bulb turns on—and thereafter stays on forever—so that the number of lit bulbs represents the number of events counted.
Such a machine could have many modes of failure. For example, a bulb could burn out, or a fuse could blow. Here I shall focus on one specific type of error: the possibility that a count fails to register. That is, a pulse arrives at the input, but no bulb lights up in response; the input is ignored, and the state of the machine remains unchanged. Such lost counts are assumed to be random and uncorrelated accidents, so that the machine operates probabilistically. If the counter is in state R when a pulse arrives, it moves to the correct successor state S(R) with probability p, and it stays in state R with probability 1–p.
The basic mathematical properties of the probabilistic Peano counter are easy to describe. Because events can get lost but extra events are never introduced, the registered count R must always be less than or equal to the true count N. Also, the successive values of R must form a nondecreasing sequence: The counter can never run backwards. In any long series of counting trials, the mean value of R should be equal to pN. For example, with p = 0.75, a stream of 100 events will register 75 counts on the average. The extent to which individual results depart from the mean can also be measured statistically. The standard deviation of the distribution is proportional to the square root of p(1–p); thus the results are scattered most widely when p is 1/2, and the distribution gets narrower as p approaches either 0 or 1.
In a Peano counter with given values of N and p, you can easily gauge the probability of observing any value of R. However, predicting R when you know N is seldom what you want to do. More often, you are given R and you want to estimate N; that is, you know the tally announced by the county canvassing board, and you want to estimate how many votes were actually cast for each candidate. This inverse problem is subtler, especially when you don't know p. But if you can count the same set of objects many times, you can learn the shape of the distribution; then, the mean and the width yield an estimate of N.
Peano counting has the wholesome virtues of simplicity and transparency. Even in the presence of errors, it gives reasonably predictable results. There's just one problem: It never seems to accomplish anything. You start out with a heap of ballots, and after you count them you have a sheaf of papers covered with tally marks. Now you have to count the tally marks. If you do so by the Peano process, you wind up with another set of tally marks, which need to be counted in turn.
To make the count comprehensible, you have to introduce some higher-level structure. One familiar approach is to arrange the tally marks in groups, making four parallel strokes and then a fifth cross-stroke. In a second stage of counting, you can tally the groups of five, producing a page that has only one-fifth as many marks (plus a few leftovers, typically). Repeating the process, you count by twenty-fives, then by one-hundred-twenty-fives, etc. A slight variation on this procedure will have you counting in Roman numerals. But any such hierarchical scheme changes the error model. Suppose you make a mistake not in the original tally but in one of the higher-level consolidations; then the count changes not by one unit but by some power of 5.
Rather than analyze Roman enumeration in greater detail, let's proceed directly to counting in modern positional notation. Counting with tally marks is essentially a unary, or base-1, process. Adopting a base larger than 1 makes counting more efficient but also more treacherous.
Mechanical counters based on decimal notation are found in odometers and many other devices, including lever-actuated voting machines. In these mechanisms, input events drive a units wheel; each time this wheel completes a full turn, it jogs the tens wheel by a tenth of a revolution; then the tens wheel moves the hundreds wheel by the same amount, and so on.
Electronic counters are generally binary rather than decimal. A k-bit binary counter can count from 0 up to 2k–1; for example, an eight-bit counter runs up to 255 (which is 11111111 in binary). The basic building block for a binary counter is a device called a flip-flop, which has a single input, a single output and two internal states, labeled 0 and 1. In state 0, when the flip-flop receives an input pulse, it flips to state 1 but does nothing else. In state 1, when an input pulse arrives, the machine flops back to state 0 and also emits an output pulse. A k-bit binary counter requires k flip-flops. They are wired together in a cascade arrangement, with the output of each device becoming the input to the next. Initially, all the flip-flops are in the 0 state. The first input event flips the least-significant bit to 1. The next pulse flops this bit back to 0, and the output of the first flip-flop changes the next bit to 1. As successive pulses arrive, the cascade of flip-flops counts through the sequence of binary numbers: 0, 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, etc.
What kinds of errors could upset this process? For one thing, the hazard that plagues the unary counter is still present: A signal might fail to register at the input port, so that the state of the counter would remain unchanged. But now there are other weak points as well. Each of the signals between stages of the flip-flop cascade is subject to the same kind of failure. And if a pulse between stages is lost in transmission, the consequences can be more drastic than a mere failure of the counter to advance.
Consider a four-bit counter in the state 0111 (equivalent to the decimal number 7). On the next input event, the rightmost flip-flop should change state from 1 to 0, issuing an output pulse that causes the next flip-flop to make a similar transition; when the signals have rippled all the way through the cascade, the next state of the counter is 1000 (decimal 8). But suppose the input pulse is recognized successfully, and so are all the intermediate signals except for the very last one, which is lost in transmission. Then all the 1 bits in the original state flop back to 0, but the 0 bit fails to flip to 1. As a result of this single error, the counter is reset to 0000, and the entire history of the count is wiped out.
The statistics of such errors are clearly different from those of the Peano counter. It is still true that R is less than or equal to N, since there is no way for the recorded count to get ahead of the true count. But the sequence of R values is no longer guaranteed to be nondecreasing. Whenever the output of a flip-flop fails to propagate to the next stage, the count retreats; it is said to fall off a "Hamming cliff," named for the mathematician Richard W. Hamming. Moreover, the mean value of R is no longer equal to pN.
The trajectory of a cascade counter—the graph of R as a function of N—is typically a straight line ascending to the right with slope 1, interrupted at intervals by sudden falls from Hamming cliffs, after which the ascent resumes. Even with this erratic behavior, it seems possible that the mean value of R, averaged over many samples, would still be a simple function of N. But in fact the graph of the mean is neither a straight line nor a smooth curve; it has discontinuities near each power of 2. This nonlinearity makes estimating N from a knowledge of R even more challenging.
A week or two after the November election, while the perils and pitfalls of counting were still the topic of every conversation, I received two fascinating papers by Peter R. Killeen and Thomas J. Taylor of Arizona State University, giving an analysis of errors in cascade counters. The papers make no mention of ballot counting. Their motivation comes from a quite different area: the question of how people and animals judge duration. One hypothesis holds that a mental or neuronal counter accumulates pulses from a pacemaker oscillator. Killeen (a psychologist) and Taylor (a mathematician) investigate the effect that errors in the counter would have on the accuracy of biological timers. Along the way they discover a great deal about fallible counters in general.
Killeen and Taylor summarize the operation of a cascade counter by means of a transition matrix, which gives the probability of every possible transition between states. For example, here is the transition matrix for a four-state (or two-bit) binary counter that operates without error:
The first row indicates that if the current state of the counter is 00, the next state will be 01. The remaining rows show further transitions from 01 to 10, from 10 to 11, and finally (when the counter exceeds its capacity) from 11 back to 00. All other transitions have zero probability.
Now consider the corresponding matrix for a two-bit counter vulnerable to lost-pulse errors:
Here p is the probability of a correct counting transition, and q is equal to 1–p, the probability of a signaling failure. All the entries on the main diagonal are q, since this is the probability that the initial input will fail to register, so that the state of the counter remains unchanged. The entries on the "superdiagonal"—corresponding to a correct transition—are equal to p or powers of p. The transition from 00 to 01 has probability p, but the 01-to-10 transition has probability p2, because two bits must change and two signals must be transmitted. Along the "subdiagonal," some entries are the product of p and q, since the transition requires one success and one failure.
The beauty of the matrix representation is that it can trace the evolution of the counter's state through many transitions. A single application of the matrix gives the probability distribution after one input event. To find the probabilities after two inputs, simply multiply the matrix by itself. More generally, the state of the counter after N inputs is specified by the Nth power of the matrix.
From a study of the matrix power series, Killeen and Taylor measure the decay of information in a fallible cascade counter. In the low-order bits of the counter, the correlation between N and R diminishes continually, approaching a limit where the bits are essentially random. But correlations persist in the high-order bits, as long as the capacity of the counter is not exceeded. In a totally random process, the distribution of R would become flat, and all entries in the matrix would be equal to 1/N. But a fallible counter maintains a delicate balance between order and randomness. The distribution of R is neither flat (as in a random-number generator) nor smoothly peaked (as in a unary counter); it is a curve with curious lumps and oscillations and a hint of self-similarity, or fractal structure. The hint becomes patent when Killeen and Taylor examine the spectrum of the transition matrix—the series of characteristic numbers known as eigenvalues. The spectrum yields a classic fractal object called a Julia set. Viewed in this light, counting correctly is a rather dull pastime, and so is counting at random; but just the right dash of error turns it into a thing of beauty.
The main hazards to correct binary counting are those perilous Hamming cliffs. A tiny misstep—if it happens to come as a string of 1s rolls over to 0s—can put you over the edge. Engineers long ago confronted this problem in other contexts. For example, when encoding the angular position of a shaft as a binary number, the slightest misalignment can cause large uncertainty at a Hamming cliff. The standard remedy is an alternative to the ordinary binary numbers called a Gray code, which replaces the cliffs with gentler slopes.
Gray codes are named for Frank Gray, who was a physicist at Bell Telephone Laboratories in the 1950s and '60s, but the idea actually goes back to Emile Baudot, the French pioneer of the telegraph. The basic principle is to arrange the counting numbers in a sequence where each transition alters only one bit. For example, here is a three-bit Gray code: 000, 001, 011, 010, 110, 111, 101, 100. Note that all eight three-bit patterns appear in the sequence, and that each number differs from its neighbors at just one bit position. Many such codes exist, although the one shown here—called the reflected Gray code—is the most common.
Could Gray codes improve the accuracy of counting? At first, the idea seems promising: A missed event would set the count back by only one step, as in the unary Peano counter. But it's important to look at the internal details of a Gray-code counter. How does the counter generate the correct permutation of the binary numerals? For a shaft encoder, the sequence would be calculated in advance and permanently engraved in the hardware, but that's not a realistic option for a counter of larger capacity.
As it turns out, the obvious way to generate the reflected Gray code is to use an ordinary binary counter as an auxiliary. The position of the rightmost 1 bit in the auxiliary marks which bit should change next in the Gray code. But this implementation of the counter can hardly improve its error performance. At best, the Gray-code counter will inherit all the flaws of the binary counter. What's worse, when the binary and the Gray-code patterns get out of synch, the counter tends to go off on wild zigzag or crenelated trajectories. It can even start counting backwards. The behavior of the machine is fascinating, but it has little to do with the concept of counting.
I have looked for other ways to implement a reflected Gray-code counter, but the schemes I have tried turn out to be functionally equivalent to the auxiliary-counter method, and they suffer from the same error catastrophes. Of course it's entirely possible there's a clever method I've missed, or perhaps some Gray code other than the reflected one solves the problem.
Coding theory offers many other strategies for reducing error. The simplest device is a "parity bit," an extra bit that keeps track of whether the number of 1s in a binary number is odd or even. A parity check would combine particularly well with a Gray-code counter, because the number of 1s in a Gray code must alternate between odd and even. A 1990 report prepared for the Federal Election Commission recommends that ballot-counting machines be equipped with parity bits or other error-detecting devices.
After the fall election, when I began thinking about the failure modes of counting machines, the subject seemed like a cute mathematical diversion of no practical application. I assumed that the error rate in real hardware would be so low that a machine would almost never fall off a Hamming cliff. After all, the computer on which I simulated fallible counters is itself built out of flip-flops and similar circuits; if these devices had any appreciable error rate, my program could not possibly run.
Nevertheless, it does appear that voting machines have occasionally stumbled over Hamming cliffs. The 1990 Federal Election Commission report tells the following story: "Consider, for example, the case of the election director who a few nights before the election realized while drifting off to sleep that although she had had her custodians check her lever machine counters to ensure that they changed over from 9 to 10, she had not had them check to ensure that they changed over from 99 to 100. In ordering such a check the next day, she discovered that one in twenty counters failed the test."
Whatever the source of error, counting is not something we can always rely on doing with absolute accuracy. Philip J. Davis writes: "As we get away from trivial sums, arithmetic operations are enveloped in a smog of uncertainty. The sum 12345 + 54321 is not 66666. It is not a number. It is a probability distribution of possible answers in which 66666 is the odds-on favorite."
Mathematically savvy election boards might acknowledge the irreducible fuzziness of counting, and treat it as a statistical process. In a close election the canvassing board could count the votes multiple times, and from the resulting distribution of Rs estimate N for each candidate. An alternative would be never to compile or publish vote totals with greater precision than the accuracy of the process can support. If we can only count with three significant figures, then the true outcome of an election cannot be 2,912,790 to 2,912,253. Both numbers would be more honestly expressed as 2.91 X 106. Of course this policy would increase the likelihood of ties, but that's just the point. If an election is too close to call, perhaps one should not call it.
Another option is to dispense with counting altogether. Fundamentally, in an election decided by simple majority rule, there is never a need to count ballots. It can all be done by the more primitive operations of sorting and matching. The procedure could be organized like a card game. Bring the candidates together in a room with all the ballots. Then let each candidate claim his or her ballot cards. (This is the hard part, of course, when decisions must be made about dimpled chad.) Then, once all the ballots are assigned, go around the room repeatedly, giving each candidate a turn to pitch a ballot into a discard heap. A candidate who runs out of ballots is eliminated. The last candidate with ballots in hand is the winner.
© Brian Hayes
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MILWAUKEE (AP) — Wisconsin utilities will spend $1.2 billion to add pollution controls to some aging coal-fired plants and shut down others under a settlement with federal regulators.
The settlement filed in federal court in Madison on Monday also calls for the utilities to pay $2.45 million for violating air pollution laws over the years.
The deal calls for Madison-based Wisconsin Power & Light — the major player in the case — to shut down its coal-fired power plant on the Mississippi River in Cassville in western Wisconsin.
WPL spokesman Steve Schultz told the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel the company also will install additional pollution controls on one of two boilers at the Columbia power plant near Portage. It will upgrade plants in Sheboygan and Portage, which it owns with other utilities.
Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, http://www.jsonline.com


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Paris, July 1942
The girl was the first to hear the loud pounding on the door. Her room was closest to the entrance of the apartment. At first, dazed with sleep, she thought it was her father, coming up from his hiding place in the cellar. He'd forgotten his keys, and was impatient because nobody had heard his first, timid knock. But then came the voices, strong and brutal in the silence of the night. Nothing to do with her father. "Police! Open up! Now!"
The pounding took up again, louder. It echoed to the marrow of her bones. Her younger brother, asleep in the next bed, stirred. "Police! Open up! Open up!" What time was it? She peered through the curtains. It was still dark outside.
She was afraid. She remembered the recent, hushed conversations she had overheard, late at night, when her parents thought she was asleep. She had crept up to the living room door and she had listened and watched from a little crack through the panel. Her father's nervous voice. Her mother's anxious face. They spoke their native tongue, which the girl understood, although she was not as fluent as them. Her father had whispered that times ahead would be difficult. That they would have to be brave and very careful. He pronounced strange, unknown words: "camps," "roundup, a big roundup," "early morning arrests," and the girl wondered what all of it meant. Her father had murmured that only the men were in danger, not the women, not the children, and that he would hide in the cellar every night.
He had explained to the girl in the morning that it would be safer if he slept downstairs, for a little while. Till "things got safe." What "things," exactly? thought the girl. What was "safe"? When would things be "safe" again? She wanted to find out what he had meant by "camp" and "roundup," but she worried about admitting she had eavesdropped on her parents, several times. So she had not dared ask him.
"Open up! Police!"
Had the police found Papa in the cellar, she asked herself. Was that why they were here, had the police come to take Papa to the places he had mentioned during those hushed midnight talks: the "camps," far away, out of the city?
The girl padded fast on silent feet to her mother's room, down the corridor. Her mother awoke the minute she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"It's the police, Maman," the girl whispered. "They're banging on the door."
Her mother swept her legs from under the sheets, brushed her hair out of her eyes. The girl thought she looked tired, old, much older than her thirty years.
"Have they come to take Papa away?" pleaded the girl, her hands on her mother's arms. "Have they come for him?"
The mother did not answer. Again the loud voices down the hallway. The mother swiftly put a dressing gown over her night dress, then took the girl by the hand and went to the door. Her hand was hot and clammy, like a child's, the girl thought.
"Yes?" the mother said timidly, without opening the latch.
A man's voice. He shouted her name.
"Yes, Monsieur, that is me," she answered. Her accent came out strong, almost harsh.
"Open up. Immediately. Police."
The mother put a hand to her throat and the girl noticed how pale she was. She seemed drained, frozen. As if she could no longer move. The girl had never seen such fear on her mother's face. She felt her mouth go dry with anguish.
The men banged again. The mother opened the door with clumsy, trembling fingers. The girl winced, expecting to see green-gray suits.
Two men stood there. One was a policeman, wearing his dark blue knee-length cape and a high, round cap. The other man wore a beige raincoat. He had a list in his hand. Once again, he said the woman's name. And the father's name. He spoke perfect French. Then we are safe, thought the girl. If they are French, and not German, we are not in danger. If they are French, they will not harm us.
The mother pulled her daughter close to her. The girl could feel the woman's heart beating through her dressing gown. She wanted to push her mother away. She wanted her mother to stand up straight and look at the men boldly, to stop cowering, to prevent her heart from beating like that, like a frightened animal's. She wanted her mother to be brave.
"My husband is . . . not here," stuttered the mother. "I don't know where he is. I don't know."
The man with the beige raincoat shoved his way into the apartment.
"Hurry up, Madame. You have ten minutes. Pack some clothes. Enough for a couple of days."
The mother did not move. She stared at the policeman. He was standing on the landing, his back to the door. He seemed indifferent, bored. She put a hand on his navy sleeve.
"Monsieur, please--," she began.
The policeman turned, brushing her hand away. A hard, blank expression in his eyes.
"You heard me. You are coming with us. Your daughter, too. Just do as you are told."
SARAH'S KEY Copyright © 2007 by Tatiana de Rosnay


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Firefighters free driver in Pine Island Road crash
A single vehicle crash shut down Pine Island Road Thursday evening but the driver escaped injury.
Around 8:20 p.m. on Thursday Cape Coral firefighters responded to an overturned vehicle with the driver trapped inside in the 2300 block of Pine Island Road near Saddlewood Lane. When firefighters arrived they found a pick-up truck on its roof and a nurse on scene reporting a female trapped inside.
Firefighters immediately used blocks of wood called cribbing to stabilize the vehicle and after making contact with the driver, broke out the windows. The driver was able to crawl out on her own and denied any injury. She was evaluated by paramedics as a precaution. Firefighter Paramedic Eric Noble from Squad 8 said that the driver was wearing her seatbelt and that visual evidence at the scene indicated the truck was eastbound on Pine Island Road when it left the roadway and overturned.
Kassie Shelley, a registered nurse and paramedic who works for Hope Hospice, was driving by and happened upon the crash. "When I pulled up there were people around but nobody knew what to do," she said. "I was able to speak to her and touch her hand and make sure she was OK until the firefighters arrived."
Law enforcement is handling the crash investigation and can provide additional information as needed. In this situation, firefighters were able to rescue the driver by taking out the glass and did not require the Jaws of Life to remove her.
According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Florida has a higher than national average for seatbelt use with 87.4 percent of vehicle passengers buckled up in Florida in 2012. That is 0.7 percent lower than in 2011 which showed 88.1 percent compliance in 2011. The damage to the cab of the truck in this crash was significant and anytime there is a rollover crash the risk of serious injury rises dramatically for occupants not wearing seatbelts, officials said.
Source: Cape Coral Fire Department


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At this writing, two states (California and New Jersey) have enacted legislation which forbids licensed professional counselors in the state to "engage in sexual orientation change efforts with a person under 18 years of age." In 2014 Washington state considered a ban for the third straight year, and similar bills have now been introduced in several other states including Florida, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. In addition, U.S. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) has introduced a non-binding resolution at the federal level, H.Con.Res. 69, expressing support for such bans.[1]
The American Psychological Association (APA) and some other professional groups have been critical of "sexual reorientation therapy" or "sexual orientation change efforts" (often abbreviated "SOCE"). Such groups are not immune to political and ideological bias, particularly on the issue of homosexuality. Nevertheless, even the APA's statements on the subject of sexual reorientation therapy do not support restricting such therapies by law.
Q: Are people born gay?
A: No research has ever proven that a homosexual orientation is determined at birth.
The three studies in the early 1990's which were hailed by the media as providing evidence for a "gay gene" (or for an innate and biological cause for homosexuality) have long since been discredited by the inability of other researchers to replicate those results.[2]
In fact, the American Psychological Association itself declared in their most recent statement on this question that: "There is no consensus among scientists about the exact reasons that an individual develops a heterosexual, bisexual, gay, or lesbian orientation. ... Many think that nature and nurture both play complex roles..."[3]
If "nurture" plays any role in the development of homosexuality, then it cannot be said categorically that "people are born gay." Researchers from Columbia and Yale found that evidence supports "the hypothesis that less gendered socialization in early childhood and preadolescence shapes subsequent same-sex romantic preferences."[4]
Q: Can someone's sexual orientation change over time?
A: Yes -- and such changes are especially common among young people.
There is abundant evidence that sexual orientation can be fluid rather than fixed, and that evidence is particularly strong with respect to young people -- the very people whose freedom to seek change is taken away by such a law. Ritch Savin-Williams, who is the nation's leading expert on homosexual teenagers, wrote that in one major study, "[O]f the . . . boys who indicated that they had exclusive same-sex romantic attraction, only 11 percent reported exclusive same-sex attraction one year later . . ."[5] Some measure of change in sexual orientation is not only possible, but it is the norm for adolescents with same-sex attractions.
Q: Can "sexual reorientation therapy" or other "sexual orientation change efforts" (SOCE) be effective in helping people to change their sexual orientation?
A: Research, clinical experience, and personal testimonies all give evidence that SOCE can help people to change.
There are many psychiatrists, psychologists, counselors and therapists who have reported success in treating clients for unwanted same-sex attractions. Much of this research and clinical experience has been reported in the peer-reviewed scholarly literature for decades.[6] Even the APA acknowledges[7] that "there are people who perceive that they have benefited from" SOCE.[8]
Nicholas A. Cummings was chief psychologist for Kaiser Permanente for twenty years, and served a term as President of the American Psychological Association. Cummings is not a social conservative who opposes homosexuality. He wrote in USA Today in 2013, "Gays and lesbians have the right to be affirmed in their homosexuality." However, he added, "contending that all same-sex attraction is immutable is a distortion of reality." During his years of practice, Cummings wrote, "Of the patients I oversaw who sought to change their orientation, hundreds were successful."[9]
Q: Do sexual orientation change efforts threaten the well-being of clients?
A: The American Psychological Association has admitted that there is no "valid causal evidence" of harm.
Here is an excerpt of what an often-cited 2009 APA task force actually said [emphasis added]:
We conclude that there is a dearth of scientifically sound research on the safety of SOCE. Early and recent research studies provide no clear evidence of the prevalence of harmful outcomes among people who have undergone efforts to change their sexual orientation or the frequency of the occurrence of harm because no study to date of adequate scientific rigor has been explicitly designed to do so. Thus, we cannot conclude how likely it is that harm will occur from SOCE. However, studies from both periods indicate that attempts to change sexual orientation may cause or exacerbate distress and poor mental health in some individuals . . . .[10]
One cannot claim there is scientific proof that SOCE is harmful, given the numerous qualifying statements above: "a dearth of scientifically sound research;" "no clear evidence;" "no study to date of adequate scientific rigor;" "we cannot conclude how likely it is." Saying that SOCE "may" cause distress amounts to mere speculation.
At another point, the APA task force said this:
Although the recent studies do not provide valid causal evidence of the efficacy of SOCE or of its harm, some recent studies document that there are people who perceive that they have been harmed through SOCE.
In other words, the same factor that causes people to question the efficacy of SOCE -- a lack of "valid causal evidence" -- also applies to the claims of harm resulting from such therapy. To say that "there are people who perceive that they have been harmed through SOCE" suggests that the evidence of harm is largely anecdotal. Yet advocates of therapy bans dismiss similar anecdotal evidence (as well as clinical and research evidence) of the effectiveness and benefits of SOCE.
Q: Are these laws needed to prevent extreme forms of therapy that could be harmful?
A: There is virtually no evidence that the more extreme forms of sexual reorientation therapy often alleged are being practiced today anywhere in the United States.
Advocates of therapy bans inevitably trot out horror stories about extreme forms of therapy, such as electro-shock therapy; "aversion" treatments (which involve inflicting physical pain or discomfort in association with homosexual arousal); and camps or residential programs for youth. There is only one problem -- there is no evidence that a single practitioner of SOCE is using these methods today.
In the absence of evidence that these methods (some of which may have been tried decades ago) are being used today, at least one witness before a New Jersey legislative hearing simply fabricated a story of having been sent to a residential camp for reorientation and subjected to extreme forms of therapy. When the story was investigated,[11] it turned out to be drawn from the plot of a movie[12] starring noted drag queen RuPaul.
The prohibitions enacted in California and New Jersey, and proposed elsewhere, are not limited to so-called "extreme" forms of therapy. Instead, they ban any and every effort to change the sexual orientation of minors, even when it is conducted through the simplest of therapy, using talk alone.
Q: Is there any precedent for legal prohibitions of any form of "talk therapy?"
A: No. No advocate of a SOCE ban has yet presented a single example of specific form of talk therapy being prohibited by law solely because of the client-chosen goal which the therapy seeks to achieve.
Indeed, it is shocking that some state officials are willing to invade the privacy of the counselor-client relationship on the basis of such flimsy evidence of (possible, occasional) harm.
Q: Should parents or other adults be able to force "gay" kids to "convert" to heterosexuality against their will?
A: While parents do have a right to control the upbringing of their children, sexual reorientation therapy exists for the benefit of youth or adults who experience unwanted same-sex sexual attractions.
A key to the success of any sexual orientation change efforts is always the client's motivation to change. Few, if any, sexual reorientation therapists would accept a client of any age who is happy with a "gay" identity and then try to "change" that person -- even at a parent's request.
The laws against sexual orientation change efforts are not limited to involuntary efforts. They absolutely prohibit any such efforts with minors -- even if the young person does not want to experience same-sex attractions, does not self-identify as "gay," and wants and requests the therapy.
Q: Are the laws against SOCE neutral regarding content and viewpoint?
A: No. These laws allow a therapist to encourage a client with same-sex attractions to embrace a homosexual identity; they do not allow a therapist to help such a client achieve a heterosexual identity.
Laws regulating therapy related to sexuality for minors might be considered "neutral" if they were to forbid therapists from encouraging or helping with the acceptance or rejection of any type of sexual feelings; from encouraging or facilitating adoption or rejection of any type of sexual conduct; or from encouraging or facilitating the adoption of any particular sexual identity. However, that is not the case with the SOCE bans, which allow therapy that is affirming of the existing manifestations of sexual orientation, but forbid helping a client to resist, overcome, or change those existing manifestations (attractions, behaviors, or self-identification) -- again, even if that is what the client wants and requests.
Q: Are legislative bans on sexual orientation change efforts constitutional?
A: A strong argument can be made that such laws violate the First Amendment guarantee of freedom of speech.
The laws already enacted in California and New Jersey have been challenged in federal court by plaintiffs who are being represented by the legal advocacy group Liberty Counsel.
In a December 2012 decision, U.S. District Court Judge William B. Shubb granted a preliminary injunction against enforcement of the California law, SB 1172. Shubb declared, "Because SB 1172 would restrict the content of speech and prohibit the expression of particular viewpoints it is subject to strict scrutiny review." Such a standard of review requires that the law be "justified by a compelling government interest" and be "narrowly drawn to serve that interest." Judge Shubb concluded that "evidence that SOCE 'may' cause harm to minors based on questionable and scientifically incomplete studies that may not have included minors is unlikely to satisfy the demands of strict scrutiny."[13]
A different District Court in California upheld the law,[14] however, as did a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, ruling in August 2013 that the law targeted "professional conduct" rather than "speech."[15] In January 2014, a majority of judges on the Ninth Circuit denied a request for rehearing of the case by the full court, but three other judges sharply dissented. Judge Diarmuid O'Scannlain wrote:
The State of California, in the statute at issue here, has prohibited licensed professionals from saying certain words to their clients. By labeling such speech as "conduct," the panel's opinion has entirely exempted such regulation from the First Amendment. In so doing, the panel contravenes recent Supreme Court precedent, ignores established free speech doctrine, misreads our cases, and thus isolates from First Amendment scrutiny California's prohibition -- in the guise of a professional regulation -- of politically unpopular expression.[16]
On February 6, 2014, Liberty Counsel appealed on behalf of its plaintiffs to the U.S. Supreme Court.[17]
Q: Do bans of sexual orientation change efforts infringe on religious liberty?
A: Yes -- because they make it more difficult for some people to receive counseling that will help them to live in a way consistent with the teachings of their faith.
The free exercise of religion, guaranteed by the First Amendment to the Constitution, includes the right to believe, teach, and act upon the belief that certain forms of conduct, including sexual conduct, are contrary to the will of God. Some who hold such beliefs regarding homosexual conduct -- but who nevertheless experience same-sex sexual attractions -- may see sexual reorientation therapy as a way of helping them to live more comfortably in a way that is consistent with the teachings of their faith.
Although the judicial decisions thus far handed down on constitutional challenges to SOCE bans have addressed only free speech claims, claims based on religious freedom also have merit.
Laws banning sexual orientation change efforts for minors take freedom away from therapists, from parents, and from young people desiring help. The evidence does not support such bans, and they therefore represent an assault upon both truth and freedom.
Peter Sprigg is a Senior Fellow for Policy Studies at the Family Research Council in Washington, D.C.
[1] "Bill Text 113th Congress (2013-2014) H.CON.RES.69.IH," The Library of Congress THOMAS, accessed on March 20, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c113:H.CON.RES.69:.
[2] Peter Sprigg and Timothy Dailey, eds., Getting It Straight: What the Research Shows about Homosexuality, (Washington, D.C.: Family Research Council, 2004), accessed on March 20, 2014, http://downloads.frc.org/EF/EF08L41.pdf.
[3] "Answers to your questions: For a better understanding of sexual orientation and homosexuality," American Psychological Association, accessed March 19, 2014, http://www.apa.org/topics/lgbt/orientation.pdf.
[4] Peter S. Bearman and Hannah Brückner, "Opposite-sex twins and adolescent same-sex attraction," American Journal of Sociology, 107 (5) (2002): 1179-1205, accessed on March 20, 2014, http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.1086/341906?uid=3739936&uid=2&uid=4&uid=3739256&sid=21103811034373.
[5] Ritch C. Savin-Williams, "Who's Gay? Does It Matter?," Current Directions in Psychological Science, 15 (2006): 140-44. Accessed on March 20, 2014, http://cdp.sagepub.com/content/15/1/40.short.
[6] A comprehensive summary of this research, based on "600 reports of clinicians, researchers, and former clients," can be found in: James E. Phelan, Neil Whitehead, Philip M. Sutton, "What Research Shows: NARTH's response to the APA Claims on Homosexuality," Journal of Human Sexuality Vol. 1 (2009), 9-39, accessed on March 20, 2014, http://www.unav.es/icf/main/top/diciembre09/Narth_What-research-shows-homosexuality.pdf.
[7] "Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation," American Psychological Association, accessed March 19, 2014, http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/therapeutic-response.pdf.
[8] Some examples can be found in: Bob Davies with Lela Gilbert, Portraits of Freedom: 14 People Who Came Out of Homosexuality (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2001).
[9] Nicholas A. Cummings, "Sexual reorientation therapy not unethical: Column," USA Today, July 30, 2013, accessed on March 19, 2014, http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/07/30/sexual-reorientation-therapy-not-unethical-column/2601159/.
[10] "Report of the American Psychological Association Task Force on the Appropriate Therapeutic Responses to Sexual Orientation," American Psychological Association, accessed March 19, 2014, http://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/therapeutic-response.pdf.
[11] Christopher Doyle, "Transgendered 'Woman' Lies about Therapy 'Torture,'" World Net Daily, March 21, 2013, accessed on March 20, 2014, http://www.wnd.com/2013/03/transgendered-woman-lies-about-therapy-torture/.
[12] Wikipedia contributors, "But I'm a Cheerleader," Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, accessed March 20, 2014, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/But_I%27m_a_Cheerleader.
[13] Welch v. Brown, 907 F.Supp. 2d 1102 (E.D.Cal. 2012).
[14]Pickup v. Brown, 2012 U.S.Dist. LEXIS 172034 (E.D. Cal., Dec 4,2012).
[15]Pickup v. Brown, 740 F 3d 1208, (9th Cir 2014).
[16] Pickup v. Brown, 740 F 3d 1208, (9th Cir 2014) (O'Scannlain, J. 1215 dissenting from denial of rehearing en banc).
[17] "Liberty Counsel Petitions Supreme Court on Change Therapy Ban," Liberty Counsel, accessed March 20, 2014, http://www.lc.org/index.cfm?PID=14100&PRID=1404.


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Huawei LTE modem E3372H-153 working in HILINK mode (virtual network card), tested and configured to work correctly with ULARI devices.
ULARI stands for "Ultimate Linux Amateur Radio Interface" and it is intended to be a set of devices which utilize…
This product is currently out of stock. We are waiting for circuit boards delivery to build more of them


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I love this! How much is it? What if it doesn't fit? Is there an opportunity to return?
The dress is $48. You're in KC, right? You can come by my house in Overland Park to try it on or I can meet you somewhere. It should arrive by Friday. Let me know! Thanks, Kara


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Who are We? -- CoB
The Council of the Baptized is a deliberative body whose purpose is to discern the sense of the faithful in the Archdiocese and to be its voice. People of the Archdiocese, our local church, are responsible by their baptism for the mission of the church which is to proclaim the good news that Jesus brought to the world. Some institutional policies and practices serve that purpose and some do not. The people will bring their concerns of conscience regarding policies and practices that do not serve the mission to the Council in written form and the Council will deliberate on the questions and decide which concerns to address. The Council will then issue position statements (1-2 pages) or position papers (6-12 pages). They may also endorse programs that people are willing to implement and they may recommend programs to the Archdiocese to implement with staff and funding.


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BEYA Mule
Nicholas Kirkwood BEYA is a modern take on a classic mule silhouette. Crafted from black bottalato leather with a sharp pointed toe and detailed with intricate stitching, this mule strikes the balance between understated and standout style. A strong block heel finishes this hero design.
Italian sizing. Fits small to size. See Size and Fit notes.
Heel height: 55mm/2.2in
Italian sizing.
Small to size, take ½ size up.
100% calf leather
Keep the shoes clean and dry using a dry soft cloth; store them in the dust bag provided, we recommend you store each shoe in a separate bag. Always store your shoes away from light and heat, rain and moisture. Avoid contact with abrasive surfaces. Use a high-quality leather, suede and fabric protector spray, do not spray metallic, patent or Ultra Specchio leathers.


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Jason Rearick (JBR)
Thanks for checking out my page. I have been taking photographs for several year now. I started this as a hobby, but am always looking to find work and new opportunities. I have found my best work comes when it is of something that I enjoy doing, or being around. I guess that is why I really tend to shoot action sports and nature more than other areas. I have worked with the TheBayNet.com and had images in magazines, band cd covers, and won a few online contests.
Jason Rearick
Jason Rearick


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Decision Threatens Endangered Red Wolves, Other Wildlife, People and Pets
North Carolina/Washington D.C.: The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI) and Project Coyote expressed grave concerns in response to the North Carolina Wildlife Resource Commission's decision to allow unlimited night hunting of coyotes and feral pigs, which could begin this summer. The Commission approved the rules largely to provide new opportunities for hunters to expand hunting opportunities, not as a means to effectively manage wildlife populations.
North Carolina currently allows night hunting of feral pigs (with special permits) but prohibits night hunting of coyotes. The new rules allow hunters to kill an unlimited number of coyotes and feral pigs, 24 hours a day. This decision substantially increases the threat to the remaining 110 or so endangered red wolves in the state—animals that are difficult to distinguish from coyotes even in daylight, let alone at night. Approximately 7 percent of red wolves are killed annually by North Carolina hunters; a kill rate that will escalate with night hunting.
"This proposal is ethically indefensible and ecologically reckless," said Camilla Fox, Executive Director of Project Coyote and Wildlife Consultant with AWI. "As the only area where red wolves still exist in the world, North Carolina should be doing all it can to protect and recover this highly endangered species—not expanding indiscriminate killing."
In addition to the threat to red wolves, night hunting will increase non-target animal kills, endanger public and law enforcement personnel safety, result in more wounded animals, facilitate poaching, and hamper wildlife law enforcement efforts. What it won't do, contrary to the Commission's claim, is effectively control coyote or feral pig populations—as killing is known actually to trigger increases in reproductive rates and survival in these species.
"Expanding night hunting opportunities in North Carolina cannot be justified by any measure," states AWI Wildlife Biologist D.J. Schubert. "Allowing armed individuals access to North Carolina's woods and fields at night to shoot at coyotes and feral pigs is a recipe for disaster and tragedy."
As part of the rulemaking process, AWI and Project Coyote submitted substantive comments to the Commission, documenting a number of deficiencies with the rules. They also suggested that the Commission pursue alternative forms of wildlife management and more effective, non-lethal methods of reducing conflicts between coyotes, people, and their domestic animals. Sadly, although only 1 percent of North Carolinians hunt, the Commission rejected this advice and instead chose a plan that will exacerbate wildlife/human conflicts and endanger North Carolinians.
The Animal Welfare Institute has been working to alleviate the suffering inflicted on animals by humans since 1951. Project Coyote promotes active coexistence between people and wildlife and compassionate conservation through education, science and advocacy.
Media Contacts:
Tara Zuardo - AWI, (202) 446-2148, firstname.lastname@example.com
Camilla Fox - Project Coyote, (415) 690-0338, email@example.com


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Microsoft has announced that it's dropped dotFREE from its ongoing lawsuit over the Kelihos botnet.
In a blog post dated October 26, senior attorney of Microsoft's Digital Crimes Unit Richard Boscovich says neither dotFREE nor its owner, Dominique Alexander Piatti, were involved in Kelihos.
Piatti's case was unusual, in that his naming in the lawsuit was the first time Microsoft had identified a specific defendant associated with a botnet.
Rather than controlling the subdomains that hosted Kelihos, Microsoft now believes that "the controllers of the Kelihos botnet leveraged the subdomain services offered by Mr. Piatti's cz.cc domain" – making the cz.cc domain a victim rather than an offender.
Redmond now says its case against 22 "John Doe" defendants – identified by IP address only – will continue, and Piatti has agreed to either delete subdomains used by Kelihos, or to transfer them to Microsoft.
Microsoft is working hard to establish itself as a security hero in the world of botnets, having shut down the Rustock botnet in March, and the Waledac botnet last year.
As part of the settlement with Piatti, Microsoft says it will help dotFREE prevent future abuses of free subdomains and establish a secure TLD. Boscovich also notes that control of the botnet domains will give it insights into the operation of Kelihos. ®


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I have been doing some research for next week's Week That Was and figured I should share it here early as it's topical.
Recently, TFN named David Rudisha as its athlete of the year. A solid, non-controversial choice.
But the other day, I was on the site and that video of Merritt's WR was running and I watched and was reminded how big his WR was and how special his season was.
I started wondering, "Did he have the best year of anyone in 2012?"
The argument can be made that yes he did.
Here are the stats:
Rojo wrote:
Coming into the year, only 10 men in history had run 12.95 or faster. Aries Merritt ran 12.95 or faster 7 times, which means he produced 7 of the 29 fastest times in history.
Coming into the year, the world record in the 110 hurdles was 12.87 and Merritt obliterated that by .07 which is .54% faster than the old record.
Now let's compare that to what Rudisha did in the 800.
In the 800, coming into the year, the 10th fastest man in history had run 1:42.58. Rudisha beat that time 4 times, producing four of the top 17 times in history.
Coming into the year, the world record in the 800 was 1:41.01 and Rudisha beat that by .10 which is .10% faster than the old record.
Now. Admittedly, one can race the 110 hurdles a lot more than the 800. Not counting heats, Merritt ran the 110 hurdles 14 times and he put up a time that would have made him top 10 all-time prior to this year in 7 of those races or 50% of the time.
Rudisha only raced 7 times not counting heats and thus he put up what would have been a top-10 time, 57.1% of the time.
I'm not saying Rudisha didn't derve it. He ran a world record - WITH NO RABBITTS - on the biggest stage and thus he probably deserves it. The no rabbit part is so refreshing and old-school that he basically cinched the award right there.
But given the fact that Merritt brought down the world record by .54%, I think he deserves some major props. If he'd gotten the world record himself at the Olympics, we'd say he'd have had to be the TFN AOY.
Even if you go back to the old world record of 1:41.11 of Wilson Kipketer, David Rudisha has brought the 800 world record by a total of .20% as compared to Merritt's .54%.


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Finding (relative) desolation a stone's throw away
Desolation Wilderness is not to be mistaken for a secret hideaway or distant destination.
The 63,960-acre slice of Sierra Nevada backcountry butts up against the southwest corner of Lake Tahoe – practically in our back yard – and is invitingly accessible to the legions of gapers (and locals alike) who pack in to the basin.
Nevertheless, even the most reclusive of backpackers must acknowledge its natural splendor.
This past weekend was spent enjoying a spur-of-the-moment camping trip through the popular wilderness area, beginning Friday afternoon at the Meeks Bay trailhead and ending Sunday on the Bayview Trail above Emerald Bay.
What a place – certainly worthy of its designated status. In fact, requesting that half-day off of work Friday was the best decision I made all week.
My neighbor J.R. and buddies Andy and Brendan, who had been planning the trip for weeks, were to hit the trail by 11 a.m. or so. I would get out of the office as soon as possible, assemble my gear and meet the trio at Stony Ridge Lake, about 6 miles in.
Some lagging occurred in the gathering process, and I departed the Meeks Bay Trailhead between 3:30 and 4 p.m., hustling my steps to make up for lost time. Some two and a half hours later, I entered camp along the west side of the lake to discover friends squatting at the shoreline, pumping water, with 9,000-plus-foot Rubicon Peak bathing in the waning sunlight above.
I dropped my pack with a thud, prompting a surprised response as the three heads swiveled around: "We didn't think you were going to make it." J.R. offered a high five.
After unsuccessfully fishing Stony Ridge Lake that evening and following morning, we hit the trail again, climbing to tiny Rubicon Lake where J.R. caught a brilliantly colored brook trout. We continued up to Phipps Pass, which from its 8,800-foot perch opened an expansive view across glacier-scoured gorges to Mount Tallac to the southeast, Dick's Peak to the southwest and Velma Lakes below. Few lunch stops afford such a fine view.
We pushed on, descending into an old-growth forest of mostly western white pine, fir and mountain hemlock before merging with the Pacific Crest Trail, where men with large, scraggly beards – likely through-hikers – occasionally passed by. Onward we marched until reaching Upper Velma Lake (actually lower Upper Velma Lake), our spot for night two.
I was immediately encouraged. At lake's edge, brook and rainbow trout of varying sizes cruised through the crystal-clear water only feet away. We would catch and release many of them that afternoon, which also included a round of swimming that doubled as a cleansing bath.
J.R.'s dip didn't go as smoothly as he would have liked, though, as he sliced the arch of his foot on a rock while climbing out of the water. He brushed it off at the time. The next day, however, on Sunday, the foot started to bark at him as we hiked up to Fontanillis Lake. By the time we reached the lake about a mile up the ridge – a stunningly picturesque body of water near the foot of Dick's Peak – J.R. was over it.
Instead of continuing up and over Dick's Pass en route to Susie and Heather lakes, and eventually Lower Echo Lake where he and Andy had planned to exit on Monday, he made the call to stop hiking for the day and post up at Fontanillis to recover. He would exit the Bayview Trail on Monday, just as Brendan and I planned to do within the hour.
But first, there was more fishing to be done, which for me resulted in a colorful, 10-inch rainbow and couple of small brookies. J.R. and Andy said they fished Fontanillis for much of the day, with good success. But we were back on the trail in short order, hoofing it up to Dick's Lake before veering off the PCT and onto Bayview. We were to meet up with our ride, Brendan's fiance Lindsey – and her friend's dog Lilly – who hiked in to meet us on the trail.
Before long, a sparkling blue Emerald Bay, bustling with boat traffic, came into view. A quick swim at Granite Lake and we were back in the Tahoe Basin, reflecting on a fine weekend in a backcountry land tucked in our back yard.
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It's 5:00am here at my house in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, USA. The baby is sleeping, the house is blissfully quiet, and the first pot of coffee is on. I sit at my computer and begin work on updating an archaeology website I've been maintaining in one form or another for the past 16 years. This early morning ritual of job postings to archaeologyfieldwork.com is well-known amongst my colleagues (and the poor souls I've had to share a hotel room with on projects).
I've been working as a field archaeologist longer than the website has been up, but over the past few years, my employment has been sporadic. I have two young children, and I can count the archaeology projects on one hand that I've participated in since becoming a mom. Being a field archaeologist and working within cultural resource management in the U.S. usually means a life of travel. In the past, a new archaeology project may have found me in Frostproof, FL, Wilmington, DE, or Penn Yan, NY. Quite often a phone call was received on a Thursday or Friday with the news that I would be somewhere across the state, or several states away on Monday morning. I used to spend so much time on the road that I rarely bothered to unpack my truck. Once I went nearly 5 months without seeing my apartment.
Fieldwork for me is on hold for the time being, and I must be content with running archaeologyfieldwork.com. The most popular part of the website is the forum for daily employment postings. Sometimes employers come to the site and post their own jobs, and often they are mailed to me to post on their behalf. However, the bulk of job adverts are forwarded from elsewhere on the internet. Each morning and throughout the day as time allows, I laboriously search employment aggregators, government websites, archaeology groups, company websites, e-lists, RSS feeds, and have mastered the art of incredibly targeted Googling. On a good day I'm able to find 20 or 30 new jobs, and on a slow day or a holiday weekend it may only be a few. Through the years I'd guess that tens of thousands of job adverts have been posted to archaeologyfieldwork.com. In a way, finding and sharing this information appeals to the archaeologist part of me that I'm still reluctant to give up.
Once you get archaeology in your blood and find yourself doing something else (whether it's an office job, or being a stay at home mom), you miss it like crazy. I look forward to the day when a local archaeology position may manifest, or the kids are old enough and I may have the opportunity to be a shovelbum once again. In the meantime, running archaeologyfieldwork.com helps me to feel connected to the archaeology community. I'm not actively "doing archaeology" on a daily basis and getting my hands dirty, but by running the website I feel like I'm giving something back to my colleagues. The truth is, archaeologyfieldwork.com is helping me as much as it is helping others, and without this connection to the world of archaeology I would probably miss it even more.
I still have my archaeology dig kit in the closet, though. Hopefully it won't be gathering dust for too long.


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Seeing double: Del, Zion 1, Opio mix it up
Bukue One, Zion I, Haiku D'tat, Del Tha Funkee Homosapien
Thursday, October 28
at Starr Hill Music Hall
It was Eric who showed up in a long-ago early December with the first Souls of Mischief album, '93 Till Infinity. By the end of Christmas break, I had dubbed it for my whole crew. It became a symbol of our unit.
In no time, we all had the album memorized. We'd get together to rap the songs– each one of us assuming the part of a specific member in the Souls of Mischief crew. Kareem was Tajai, Chris was Phesto, and B.J. was A-Plus. I was always Opio– we were both skinny and had lots of hair.
Souls of Mischief are part of a larger crew called Heiroglyphics. Also part of Heiroglyphics is underground hip-hop icon Del Tha Funkee Homosapien. After entering the music industry with a bang in the early '90s, Del turned to more obscure endeavors, putting his talents as an emcee at the helm of the indie rap world. His mid-'90s album, No Need For Alarm, is still a cult classic and a personal favorite. Recent collaborative records such as Deltron 3030 and The Gorillaz have furthered his reputation.
Imagine my glee when I heard that Del Tha Funkee Homosapien was headlining at Starr Hill. Yeah!
Along with Del came a whole slew of other emcees with varying degrees of indie accomplishments. Bukue One is a name I've seen frequently in subculture magazines. Zion I has been rocking the underground on both coasts for nearly five years. Haiku D'tat, a veteran all-star trio from Oakland, consists of Project Blowed's Abstract Rude and Freestyle Fellowship's Micah9 and Aceyalone.
If you haven't heard of these guys, don't worry. You're not alone... as a matter of fact, you're in the majority. From the looks of Starr Hill Thursday, most people in Charlottesville haven't heard much.
But it was their loss. In a few words, this was some real Hip Hop s***, y'all. How else to explain the raw energy of bass so profound that you feel each knock deep in your chest?
With an arsenal of emcees this deep, one couldn't predict what was going to be said next, or how it was going to be said. Bukue One rhymed with a heavy island ragga influence. Zion I spit sharp calculated flows with heavy metaphors over sparse driving beats. Haiku D'tat came from three different directions, each one as exploratory as the next.
Micah9 changed the speed of his flow mid-sentence, and his rhymes were sharp but baffling. I wish I had live TiVo with instantaneous rewind and playback for the punch lines I missed.
All three opening acts were extremely entertaining. Hands were in the air. The majority of the crowd was packed to the stage– those who weren't hovering around the expansive merchandise table at the back of the room heavy with CDs, t-shirts, and vinyl. Beside the merch table, TVs with X-Boxes allowed people to try the new ESPN NBA 2K5 game. (The tour is sponsored by game manufacturers.) The artists were giving away free copies on stage.
Alas, Del's set was less impressive than the rest, and Del apologized for being sick. After using a cane to mount the stage, he looked like he could barely stand through his set. But none of that mattered to the crowd: He's a legend. The highlight for me was when he brought my double, Opio of Souls of Mischief, up to the stage to perform, the only member of the group there.
I felt like I was dreaming. I wanted to tell him that I used to want to be him in the eleventh and twelfth grade. Instead, I just nodded and chuckled when he passed. Who would have thought that 12 years later we'd cross paths?
That's pretty damn cool, if you ask me.
Local hieroglyphics


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Human activity is causing climate change. Since the beginning of the industrial revolution, human energy use, primarily the burning of fossil fuels, has caused concentrations of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases to rise substantially. The evidence shows it is extremely likely that human influence has been the dominant cause of the Earth's warming over the past 50 years.
Lines of Evidence
This video explains how scientists have arrived at the state of knowledge about current climate change and its causes. Source
You can also view each chapter individually:
Chapter 4: Increased Emissions
Tracking CO2 Emissions
Carbon dioxide emissions typically reflect patterns of energy use. These graphs track the top 10 emitters of carbon dioxide globally (rankings are as of 2010). Though the United States has a much smaller population than China, the two countries have had similar total annual energy-related emissions because the United States has had higher average emissions per person than China.
Sources of Carbon Dioxide
The vast majority of carbon dioxide emissions come from energy use. In the United States, transportation is the leading contributor of energy-related emissions, followed by industrial, residential, and commercial emissions.
Within the Transportation sector, emissions come from cars and light trucks (57%), commercial trucks (20%), air transportation (10%), rail, buses, and shipping (8%), and other uses (5%).
Within the Industrial sector, emissions come from energy use associated with manufacturing, such as iron and steel production, chemical production, and refining (85%) and non-manufacturing activities, such as agriculture, mining, and construction (15%).
Within the Residential sector, emissions come from space heating and cooling (39%), major appliances (16%), water heating (13%), lighting (11%), TVs and computers (7%) and other uses (14%).
Within the Commercial sector, emissions come from space heating, cooling, and ventilation (30%), lighting (19%), refrigeration and cooking (8%), office equipment (8%), water heating (4%), and other uses (31%).
Considering Other Factors
Other factors besides emissions of greenhouse gases can influence the Earth's climate. However, the scientific evidence shows human-influenced emissions are the primary driver of recent climate trends.
Variations in Solar Output
The recent warming trend cannot be attributed to an increase in energy from the sun. Although solar output may have increased slightly during the first few decades of the 20th century, satellite measurements conclusively indicate that the average amount of energy output from the sun has not increased since the late 1970s, and probably has decreased slightly.
Variations in the Earth's Position and Orientation
Slow variations in the Earth's orbit around the sun lead to small changes in the amount and distribution of solar energy reaching the Earth's surface. Over many thousands of years these subtle energy variations lead to the Ice Ages. However, these changes are far too slow to explain recent warming trends.
Volcanic Activity
Volcanic eruptions spew many small particles into the atmosphere. These particles reflect sunlight, and large eruptions can reflect enough solar energy back to space to cool the Earth's surface by a few tenths of a degree. However, since these particles fall back to the Earth's surface over a few years, the cooling effect does not last indefinitely. Massive eruptions may only slightly reduce annual global temperatures and temporarily mask the warming trend. Volcanoes also add carbon dioxide to the air, but humans are now putting much more carbon dioxide into the air than volcanoes.
Additional Resources from the National Academies
Climate Change: Evidence & Causes is a free, 36-page booklet produced by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and The Royal Society that describes what is well-established and where understanding is still developing in the area of climate change. It includes a Q&A, climate basics, and a figure gallery.
The materials in the Koshland Science Museum's Earth Lab exhibit are based on reports of the National Research Council and works of the U.S. government and have been vetted for scientific accuracy by a panel of expert advisors.


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Kay Arthur of Precept Ministries International in Chattanooga, Tennessee, is a Bible teacher, the author of more than 100 books and Bible studies, a radio and television hostess, and the principal spokesperson for the International Inductive Study Bible. She has experienced divorce.
Dr. Bob Barnes is the president of Sheridan House Family Ministries, a Residential Treatment Program for teenage boys and girls and a Marriage and Family Counseling Center in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. He grew up in a single-parent home.
Chris Beall is the pastor at the Oklahoma City location of LifeChurch.tv. He also ministers to couples facing issues similar to those he has faced, as he shares the story of his recovery from pornography addiction and infidelity, and the story of how his marriage was redeemed.
Cindy Beall ministers with her husband at LifeChurch.tv. She also helps couples around the world by sharing her journey through her husband's infidelity and pornography addiction in her book Healing Your Marriage When Trust Is Broken.
Sabrina D. Black, author and speaker, is CEO and clinical director of Abundant Life Counseling Center. She is a limited licensed professional counselor, certified addictions counselor, and certified biblical counselor with experience in individual, family, and group counseling.
Bill Butterworth is a communicator, addressing such clients as Disney, Microsoft, American Express, Ford, and teams in the National Football League. He was divorced and a single dad of five kids. Bill's books include New Life After Divorce and When Life Doesn't Turn Out Like You Planned.
Dr. Les Carter is a trained psychotherapist and counselor, and has experienced divorce himself. His many books include Grace and Divorce and The Anger Workbook. Known as "America's Anger Expert," he conducts anger management workshops nationwide. Learn more about his ministry at www.marriagepath.com.
Elsa Kok Colopy, speaker and author, has written many books, including The Single Mom's Guide to Keeping It All Together and Pure Love, Pure Life, a purity book for teen girls. She has experienced divorce and was a single parent for twelve years.
Rob Eagar is the author of Dating with Pure Passion. Abandoned by his wife in his twenties, he discovered the joyful, healing power of a relationship with Christ. He is a speaker, writer, and the founder of Wildfire Marketing.
Doug Easterday has ministered in over fifteen different nations on several topics, including forgiveness, marriage, and raising godly children. He has taught in Bible schools, camps, and marriage conferences for over thirty years.
Dr. Michael R. Emlet is a counselor at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Before joining CCEF, he worked as a family physician for twelve years. He has authored Angry Children (a minibook) and CrossTalk: Where Life & Scripture Meet.
Dr. Tony Evans is the founder and president of The Urban Alternative and is the founder and pastor of Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship in Dallas, Texas. He has authored over fifty books, including Marriage Matters.
Elyse Fitzpatrick is a counselor, and she has authored and coauthored many books, including Give Them Grace: Dazzling Your Kids with the Love of Jesus; When Good Kids Make Bad Choices; and Overcoming Fear, Worry, and Anxiety.
Rev. Harold Graham is an associate pastor and head elder at LifeWater Community Church in Fort Wayne, Indiana. For many years he has helped people go through the process of forgiving those who have hurt them.
Ruth Graham is a speaker and Bible teacher. Her books include In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart and Fear Not Tomorrow, God Is Already There. Ruth has experienced the infidelities of her husband and has faced divorce twice.
Brad Hambrick is the pastor of counseling at The Summit Church in Durham, North Carolina. He has authored Vulnerability and God's Attributes: Rest For Life's Struggles, and his seminar topics include false love, true betrayal, and overcoming anger.
Dr. Archibald Hart is a senior professor of psychology and dean emeritus at Fuller Theological Seminary's Graduate School of Psychology in Pasadena, California. He has experienced his parents' divorce and is the author of Helping Children Survive Divorce and numerous other books.
Dr. Laura Hendrickson is trained as a medical doctor and is a board-certified psychiatrist. She ministers as a professor of biblical counseling and a speaker. She has experienced divorce, is a single mother, and is coauthor of When Good Kids Make Bad Choices.
Linda Ranson Jacobs is a speaker and child care expert, who works with single parents, children, and teenagers. She has been both divorced and widowed. Linda is the creator and developer of DivorceCare for Kids, a weekly program helping children whose parents are separated or divorced.
Dr. Robert Jones is an assistant professor of biblical counseling at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. He is a speaker and the author of the Resources for Changing Lives booklets "Forgiveness," "Angry at God?" and "Bad Memories." He was raised in a single-parent home.
Dr. Craig Keener is the author of And Marries Another and other books. He is a professor of New Testament at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky, and the program chair for the Institute for Biblical Research.
Dr. Grace Ketterman practiced as a pediatrician and child psychiatrist. She is the author of many books, including Depression Hits Every Family and Parenting the Difficult Child. She has experienced divorce and marital reconciliation with her husband.
Mike Klumpp is a missionary pastor and the director of EASEORG (East African Service and Empowerment), teaching life skills to people through martial arts and theater arts. After his divorce, Mike raised four kids as a single dad. He authored The Single Dad's Survival Guide.
Dr. Andreas Köstenberger is the founder of Biblical Foundations and the senior professor of New Testament and biblical theology at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina. His many books include God, Marriage, and Family: Rebuilding the Biblical Foundation.
Dr. Tim Lane served as a pastor for ten years and is now the executive director at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation in Glenside, Pennsylvania. Dr. Lane is coauthor of How People Change and Relationships: A Mess Worth Making.
Dr. Crawford Loritts is an author and the senior pastor of Fellowship Bible Church in Roswell, Georgia. He is also a frequent speaker for evangelist outreaches around the world, colleges, professional sports teams, and Christian conferences.
Susan Lutz served as a counselor at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation in Glenside, Pennsylvania, for over fifteen years. She now counsels at her church, New Life Presbyterian Church of Dresher. She authored the booklet "Thankfulness: Even When It Hurts."
Dr. Wayne McDill was the senior professor of preaching at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, and has written several books. He is an expert in the area of emotions, authoring The Message in Your Emotions.
Rev. Chuck Milian is the senior pastor at Crossroads Fellowship in Raleigh, North Carolina. Previously, he was president of a statewide singles ministry called SOLO, Inc. Chuck is the author of We're Just Friends.
Dan Miller is the author of 48 Days to the Work You Love. He writes regularly for many magazines and web portals, including CBN.com, Crosswalk.com, New Man, AARP, and Success, specializing in creative thinking for increased personal and business success.
Dr. Linda Mintle is a licensed clinical social worker, specializing in marriage and family therapy. She has authored many books, including Divorce Proofing Your Marriage and A Daughter's Journey Home, and she is the resident expert of ABC Family Channel's Living the Life.
Jan Northington is a CLASS (Christian Leaders, Authors & Speakers Services) graduate and Certified Personality Trainer. Her passion is teaching and speaking. Having been separated and divorced herself, she is the author of Separated and Waiting.
Elizabeth Oates experienced the divorce of her parents at a young age and later the divorce of her mother as a teenager. She is the author of the curriculum Dealing with Divorce: Finding Direction When Your Parents Split Up and cofounder of the ministry Project Restoration.
Laura Petherbridge speaks at seminars, workshops, and retreats on spiritual growth, marriage, and divorce recovery. Having experienced divorce herself, she is the author of When "I Do" Becomes "I Don't": Practical Steps for Healing During Separation and Divorce.
Dr. David Powlison is a faculty member at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation in Glenside, Pennsylvania. He has been counseling for over thirty years and his books include Speaking Truth in Love: Counsel in Community.
Dr. Ramon Presson is a certified marriage and family therapist and the founder of LifeChange Counseling and the Marriage Center of Franklin, Tennessee. He has written several books, including When Will My Life Not Suck?.
Lou Priolo is the author of The Heart of Anger, The Complete Husband and Losing That Lovin' Feeling. A lecturer and full-time biblical counselor, he is the director of biblical counseling at Eastwood Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, Alabama.
Dick Purnell is an author and speaker, with a long history of ministry to single adults. His books include Finding a Lasting Love, Building a Relationship That Lasts, Becoming a Friend and Lover, and Free to Love Again.
Eleanor Reid is the Managing Director of Reid & Company Strategy Consultants, a corporate and personal strategy consulting firm. She has faced divorce herself and is the author of several books, including Stop My Childhood from Drowning: 39 Lessons from a Child Experiencing Divorce.
Gary Richmond is a pastor to single parents at the First Evangelical Free Church in Fullerton, California. He has authored many books for adults and children, including Successful Single Parenting and The Divorce Decision.
Paula Rinehart is a professional Christian counselor. She is a frequent speaker at women's conferences, and her books include Strong Women, Soft Hearts and Sex and the Soul of a Woman.
Dave Ramsey is a personal money management expert, national radio and television personality, speaker, and best-selling author of The Total Money Makeover.
Dr. Doug Rosenau is a licensed psychologist, marriage and family therapist, and certified Christian sex therapist. He is a speaker on the topics of human sexuality and sex therapy. He is cofounder of the Christian organization Sexual Wholeness and has authored many books, including A Celebration of Sex.
Georgia Shaffer is an author, speaker, Christian life coach, and licensed psychologist. While battling breast cancer, Georgia experienced the loss of her marriage and job. Her books include Taking Out Your Emotional Trash and How Not to Date a Loser.
Dr. Jim A. Talley is an author, and he served as a minister to single adults at First Baptist Church in Modesto, California. He now heads Relationship Resources, Inc., and is a marriage counselor in Oklahoma City. He conducts seminars on topics including dating, divorce recovery, and marriage reconciliation.
Leslie Vernick is a licensed counselor, and she has authored several books, including The Emotionally Destructive Relationship and How to Live Right When Your Life Goes Wrong.
Dr. Stephen Viars is the pastor and a biblical counselor at Faith Baptist Church and Faith Biblical Counseling Ministries in Lafayette, Indiana. He speaks at conferences, colleges, and seminaries in the United States and abroad. He authored Putting Your Past in Its Place.
Dr. Edward T. Welch is a counselor at the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation in Glenside, Pennsylvania. His books include Depression: Looking Up from the Stubborn Darkness and When I Am Afraid: A Step-by-Step Guide Away from Fear and Anxiety.
Helen Wheeler, licensed professional counselor, is a family court mediator. She was divorced and was a single mom for nine years. Helen helped establish the nonprofit organization Changing Families, providing ministry to single parents.
H. Norman Wright is a grief therapist and certified trauma specialist. He is the author of over seventy books, including Experiencing Grief and Recovering from Losses in Life.
Cynthia Yates is a gifted writer, speaker, humorist, and radio personality. She was divorced and ended up homeless and penniless with a young son. Her books include Living Well on One Income in a Two-Income World and 1001 Bright Ideas to Stretch Your Dollars.
Dr. Spiros Zodhiates is an authority on the Greek New Testament. He was the president of AMG (Advancing the Ministries of the Gospel) International for nearly forty years. He is the author of over 200 books and booklets in both English and Greek. Dr. Zodhiates passed away in 2009.


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Deaths reported in Ecuador jungle attack
The director of a foundation that works in Ecuador's rainforest says Amazon tribesmen apparently carried out a revenge attack and killed an undetermined number of people from a rival indigenous group that lives in voluntary isolation.
Foundation director Milagros Aguirre says Huaorani war party attacked a settlement of Taromenane, likely over the weekend. She says an unknown number of people were killed and at least two children were carried off in retaliation for the March 5 spearing deaths of a Huaorani couple.
It is common for the region's tribes to kidnap foes' offspring as war trophies.
An Ecuadorean Justice Ministry official said Wednesday the Huaorani involved had refused to receive a government delegation trying to investigate the attack in the Pompeya region, about 120 miles east of Quito.


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PTR is the only tennis teaching organization in the US that provides certification for coaches working with 10 & Under players. This workshop was revised in 2015 to include more time developing players on the Orange and Green court. The workshop builds on the USTA Coach Youth Tennis program. The certification consists of: Recommended four (4) hours of pre workshop preparation from the Study Guide. The on court workshop runs 8 hours. It prepares participants for the three-part certification testing: demonstration of playing and coaching skills administered on court along with a post workshop online written exam submitted within five (5) days of the workshop.PTR Certification at the PROFESSIONAL level is a prerequisite for coaches who wish to progress to the PTR Junior Development Level III Program.The Elements of the Workshop are:
Clinician: TBD Fee: $147 **If this is your 2nd, 3rd or 4th certification, please add $75 to cover the additional certification testing fee** Day(s) & Time(s) Saturday, September 14, 1PM - 6PM Sunday, Septembber 15, 9AM - 2PM