text:
Yosemite's Lyell Glacier may be receding
Yosemite's famed Lyell Glacier has stopped moving downhill and may actually be shrinking - another probable sign that the world's climate is warming, scientists report.
"It appears to have stagnated, and we strongly suspect that it has thinned to less than half the size that would keep it moving," said Greg Stock, Yosemite National Park's geologist who has been measuring the Lyell and nearby Maclure Glacier for the past four years with Robert Anderson of the University of Colorado.
The Lyell is small by world standards - only about a quarter of a mile wide and less than that long - but it stands atop the headwaters of the Tuolumne River, which feeds San Francisco's Hetch Hetchy reservoir.
The glacier is the largest of 14 in the High Sierra that have shrunk by more than half during the past century, according to a recent survey by geologists at Portland State University in Oregon.
"The most logical reason for the shrinking is because of more loss from melting snow as the climate warms," Stock said.
At Yosemite, Stock has monitored the 12,000-foot-elevation Lyell glacier with stakes driven into the ice at its margin and made the most recent measurements during four climbing trips there last summer. It has shrunk by about 60 percent since 1900 and has thinned by about 120 vertical feet, which is probably the reason it has stopped moving, he said.
The two scientists also measured the Maclure Glacier, at 11,400 feet, and found that although it has lost a similar amount of ice as the Lyell, it is still moving downhill at about an inch a day. Although it has thinned considerably, the scientists said, it is still thick enough to move and flow because of increased amounts of meltwater.
The Lyell Glacier's continued shrinking mirrors the fate of hundreds of glaciers worldwide that are also losing ice. Bruce Molina, a glaciologist with the U.S. Geological Survey, recently reported he has photographed 2,000 of the world's glaciers during the past 35 years and has found that at least 1,975 are clearly receding.
Although the Lyell glacier is at the top of the 150-mile Tuolumne River, any loss of ice would have no effect on the supply of water to Hetch Hetchy, Stock said. Far more water flows into the river from all the streams that make up the river's huge watershed, which covers almost 2,000 square miles, he noted.
David Perlman is The San Francisco Chronicle's science editor. E-mail: firstname.lastname@example.com


text:
Personal tools
|Volume 19, Number 2
|The CPSR Newsletter
|Spring 2001
Way Out There Indeed
A Review of Frances Fitzgerald's Way Out There in the Blue: Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War (Simon & Schuster, 2000, $30.00)
by Chris Gray
Also discussed in this essay: William Broad, Star Warriors, Simon & Schuster, 1988; Carol Cohen, "Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals" in Signs 12, no. 4, Summer; and Bruce Franklin, War Stars: The Superweapon and the American Imagination, Oxford University Press, 1988.
Things such as the Star Wars programs have many causes. They are over-determined. But that doesn't mean we can't look closely at them and try and analyze exactly why they have come to pass. This is particularly important, and interesting, with the various Star Wars proposals because they make so little sense on the surface. Of course, in the context of mutually assured destruction, little does in contemporary war planning, but still, as a technological or a military program all of the proposed Star Wars are irrational. Yet, politically, economically, and psychologically they obviously make some sort of twisted sense, enough to exist.
Of these three basic forces in policy formation, one in particular is little understood: psychology. There are only a handful of books and articles that directly analyze how individual psyches have influenced public policies around nuclear war in general, let alone missile defense. Among the best, Bruce Franklin's War Stars and Carol Cohen's justly famous essay "Sex and Death in the Rational World of Defense Intellectuals." Many other works have seriously considered the psychodynamics of apocalyptic war planning but have not made it a central focus of analysis, and certainly not of such a key player as Ronald Reagan. And when it comes to the psyche of Ronald Reagan, well a whole book is clearly needed.
Why did Ronald Reagan make the idea of Star Wars a central program? Back in the 1980s I interviewed high-ranking military officers involved in space war who were mystified. "It just won't work," they'd exclaim in befuddlement. But they didn't grasp what a political success Reagan's dreams would have, even if they were a total failure in terms of putting together a working technology.
Francis Fitzgerald shows why Reagan fixated on Star Wars and not on some other superweapon. When read along with the work of William Broad, who concentrated on the scientific players, Fitzgerald's book goes a long way toward explaining why we have Star Wars. Fitzgerald, author of the haunting and justly famous Fire in the Lake about the Vietnam War, has done this topic proud. Way Out There in the Blue is as thoughtful and beautifully written as Fire in the Lake, and just as important.
She explains "Reagan's success in tapping into the mother lode of the American civil religion..." (p. 15). It is a yearning of our whole culture for the "blue sky", a yearning Reagan understood. Just as at a particular time in their history the French wanted a Maginot Line, today many in the U.S. desire a technological panacea against the threat of nuclear war; seldom articulated it profoundly colors our thoughts. Much of Fitzgerald's book explores this terrain. It is speculative by necessity, but she crafts a convincing story.
In doing so she has also written a careful history of the political decisions around The Strategic Defence Initiative and other Star Wars programs. In particular, her accounts of the infighting among the pro-Star Wars lobby is illuminating. Despite severe differences, they always manage to cooperate in the end. All giant military-industrial projects involve intense interservice, corporate, and political party rivalries, which overwhelmingly focus in on who is going to benefit from the gravy train. Yet, almost always the spoils end up being shared among the major players. No zero-sum games for them.
For many of us, this book is a reminder of the horror of the way things are done. I joined CPSR during the first Star Wars campaign and wrote about the militarization of space all the time and still, when faced with the irrational and gleeful misuse of evidence and logic. I am continually flabbergasted. For example, consider the role of the Patriot missile in this debate.
The Patriot is not designed to defend against intercontinental ballistic missiles but it is supposed to work against their little brothers that are unequipped with counter-measures, such as Iraqi Scuds, so the performance of Patriot batteries in the Gulf War has been a key talking point in Star Wars debates. As Fitzgerald shows, within hours of the first Scud being launched The Wall Street Journal wrote that it was "a great advertisement for SDI." Within days Patrick Buchanan was citing the Patriots as proof of the basic idea of SDI and within weeks Pres. George Bush (the senior) was declaring their success "remarkable" as he rededicated himself to Star Wars. (p. 485)
But, as we all now know, the Patriot was a miserable failure in the Gulf War, perhaps with no hits at all, certainly with very, very, few. And this despite the fact that its test record was perfect. (p. 498) This makes no difference whatsoever to the debate. In place of the Patriot's now lost success, and in light of the test failures, the rationale behind Star Wars has become the inevitable fecundity of science.
But that's what so many of our military policies are based on -- our faith in science. Which brings us back to the beginning and the main story of this book: the American psyche. The very crisis of weapons of mass destruction, that earlier discoveries have created, is to be solved with yet more technologies. It is a vicious, but certainly not infinite, circle. This book casts some much needed light on this maze; perhaps it can help illuminate a way out.
The only disappointment I had in Way Out There in the Blue was that I found no references to CPSR. This is too bad because even in this thoughtful book the technological and scientific issues that underlay programs such as Star Wars are slighted. I could find and only a minimal discussion of the technical issues and the large mobilizations of scientists against Star Wars. Deeper issues, such as key philosophical struggles around the limits of computing specifically and epistemology generally, were not addressed at all. It may seem arcane, even to some computer scientists, but the relationship between technology and knowledge is also one of war and peace.
Chris Gray, Ph.D. email@example.com is Associate Professor of Computer Science/Cultural Studies of Science and Technology at the University of Great Falls, Great Falls, Montana.
What's inside...
P.O. Box 717
Palo Alto, CA 94302-0717
Tel. (650) 322-3778
Fax (650) 322-4748
|[ top ]
|Newsletter Index
Created before October 2004

subset: commoncrawl


text:
NEW YORK � Why, oh why, didn't I know the president of Nigeria's name?
I had swept through nine questions and logged $60,000 by the time I made my fatal guess as a contestant on "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire."
The correct name of Nigeria's leader? It's Goodluck Jonathan. My good luck had run out.
"Millionaire" host Cedric "The Entertainer" dispatched me with a sympathetic farewell. The audience applauded warmly. I exited the stage. My moment in the spotlight and my bid to be a millionaire was over.
The loss I felt was only slightly eased by the fact that this was all for practice. No actual prize money was ever at stake. I had been invited to take part in a rehearsal show that will never be aired and no one will ever see. (Which means no one will ever know my lame-brain final answer.)
On September 2, the new season of "Millionaire" premieres for real (check local listings for time and channel), ushering in new host Cedric "The Entertainer," who follows Meredith Vieira's 11 seasons and, of course, Regis Philbin, who emceed the prime-time ABC version from 2000 to 2002.
The "Millionaire" run-through I appeared on was one of a couple Cedric would host just days before beginning the real-deal, five-a-day, five-days-per-week regimen that yields a season's requisite 175 shows in only 35 production days.
Cedric's credits include the "Barbershop" films, "The Original Kings of Comedy," a Broadway revival of David Mamet's "American Buffalo," and his current TV Land sitcom "The Soul Man," along with his thriving standup career. Clearly, he's a seasoned pro, complete with dapper wardrobe and signature trove of jaunty headwear.
Even so, hosting a game show calls for special skills, as he noted after our taping earlier this month on the "Millionaire" stage in upper Manhattan.
"You're standing beside someone who's playing for real money while you're entertaining an audience that's watching from the sidelines," he said. "You want to be funny for the audience, but you don't want to throw the contestant off."
Cedric isn't privy toi answers to the questions he asks, which suits him fine.
"It's not really my job to act like I'm the smartest guy in the room, so I can relax," he said. "But you have to know the game. They're serious about the rules."
Yes, they � the producers � are very serious. "Millionaire" even has a production attorney, Scott Greenberg, whose job includes making sure those rules are obeyed.
"There can't be even the appearance of cheating," he said.
Greenberg gives each contestant a detailed briefing as part of the lengthy preparation process.
"Be careful how you use the word 'jump,"' he cautioned me at one point, referring to the newfangled life-line ("Phone a Friend is gone) where you don't know an answer and want to bail. "If you say, 'Cedric, I think I'm gonna have to jump this question,' that may trigger an actual jump. So try not to use the word 'jump' unless you really mean it."
Another briefing comes from executive producer Rich Sirop, whose tenure with the show goes back to 2000, when he was hired to answer the phones for one day.
Sirop shares strategies on how to best decipher a question. He should know: He leads the team that, isolated from the rest of the staff to ensure security, writes the questions � about 3,000 of them each season.
I guess I didn't listen well enough to what he had to say.
A question that stymied me had an obvious answer among its four choices, which happened to be the names of four department store chains. Never mind what the question was, Target seemed to scream "Choose me" over, say, Sears or Walmart. But I missed that verbal target and, instead, jumped the question.
For anyone who's somehow unfamiliar with "Millionaire" (which currently airs in 95 percent of the country and captures a daily viewership of more than 3 million), the game is played with a series of multiple-choice questions each of which, when correctly answered, has a monetary value. If the player clears the first 10 questions, the final four lead to really big money � like a million bucks.
But just one incorrect response sends you packing with a thousand-dollar consolation prize.
That wasn't going to be me. As I was introduced by Cedric at the top of the show and greeted with applause from the studio audience, I positioned myself across from him at the Plexiglas countertop, facing the huge video screen where my questions would appear. I was briefed, mic-ed and powdered. I felt jittery, sure, but I was primed to go all the way.
The first question was a gimme.
"Which of these hair-related phrases," Cedric asked, "is used to describe someone who suddenly starts acting crazy?"
The answer was (B): "Wig Out." I had scored a fast (make-believe) $7,000.
Thinking out loud is recommended by the producers. Not only does it help the player parse the trickier questions, it also builds suspense among viewers.
So I even agonized theatrically over all the options seeking which Washington landmark was described by Eleanor Roosevelt as "that simple shaft, so tall and straight" � a question that, of course, gave Cedric a mile-wide opportunity for cracking wise.
After answering the Washington Monument, I was (mock) richer by $1,000.
By then I was enjoying a surge in confidence. Nothing could stand in my way, I told myself, as my (pretend) earnings mounted.
"What would you do if you won all this money?" Cedric asked me just before the question that ended it all.
"I'd buy a collection of hats like you've got," I fired back smartly.
"You would look smooth in this, brother," Cedric chuckled.
Oh, well. It was fun to pretend.


text:
Injured sea turtles receive CT scans
Two sea turtles from the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island received CT scans at the Sentara Kitty Hawk outpatient campus, to help determine how they are recovering from injuries.
Vortex, a loggerhead, suffered a propeller strike in May of 2013 that caused a skull fracture. Aquile, a green turtle, suffered frostbite and lost part of her carapace, or outer shell, in January, exposing part of her spine.
"Turtles are precious to us," said Janet Jarrett, executive director of the Sentara Kitty Hawk campus. "Many of us here volunteer to guard nests when the eggs are ready to hatch, and we're glad to help the Network for Endangered Sea Turtles and the North Carolina Aquarium to rehabilitate them."
The Aquarium's rehabilitation team was glad to avoid a long drive to the veterinary school at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.
"We were nervous about how hard the trip would be on them," said Christian Legner, curator at the North Carolina Aquarium on Roanoke Island, which cared for a record 104 injured turtles in 2013. "It's great to be able to drive just a few miles up the road, and we appreciate Sentara Kitty Hawk providing the CT scans." With continued progress, Legner hopes Vortex might be released back to the wild sometime in August.
Loggerhead turtles are a protected species in North Carolina waters. Green turtles are on the endangered list in Florida waters. Barely one in 100 young turtles makes it to the Gulf Stream, and just one in 1,000 survive to adulthood. Turtles don't reproduce until they are 25 to 35 years old, and most of their cookie-sized hatchlings are devoured by predators during the perilous scuttle to the ocean after they hatch in nests on ocean beaches.
"If you've ever seen a nest boil, you never forget it," said Janet Jarrett of hatchlings spilling forth from a nest all at once. "Not many survive, and we're committed to helping these injured juveniles make it."


text:
Story highlights
- In Moscow, metro riders can trade 30 squats for a free ticket
- Machine registers their movements
- If they don't do all 30, they have to pay up
- The ticket would cost the equivalent of about 92 cents
Just did some power lunges. Quads getting huge. Can only speak in fragments. Because my quads are so huge.
Quads. Huge.
Admit it. Your favorite part of working out is actually telling people that you just worked out, especially when you can filter this information into a completely unrelated conversation.
"Dude, earlier today I swear I saw a pigeon eating a pigeon. It was insane. Happened right when I got out of the gym ... that's where I exercise. My muscles."
Deep down, for some reason, you just want people to know that your morning was spent inside a weight room, sweating, as opposed to, say, inside a bathroom, thumbing through an old Garfield book.
Of course, some people don't even try to be coy about their workout brags. Instead, they flat out share their stats and results with the world via social media. And it's the worst.
"Just biked 70 miles. Time for a beer. LOL."
This is unacceptable behavior, and it needs to stop. I would do something about it, myself, but I've got a big run coming up.
"Twenty miles. LOL."
Just kidding. I don't run. It requires pants.
However, in Moscow, there's a perfectly good reason for working out in public and letting everyone know without having to be one of those people. Because at the Vystavochnaya subway station, riders can now perform 30 squats in exchange for a free metro ticket.
It's all a part of a promotion for the upcoming Winter Olympics in Sochi, and the Russian Olympic Committee is hoping to "add elements of sport into daily life."
Though, to be fair, this was accomplished many years ago when the two-piece track suit legally became the country's official outfit for business casual.
To earn the free metro ticket, which costs about $0.92 American, commuters have two minutes to complete their squats in front of the ticket machine's special counting camera. But you have to do all 30. No fewer.
Otherwise, a bear crawls out of the machine and mauls you. In Mother Russia, failure has consequences.
But, really, if you fail to do all 30, you just have to pay for your ticket. There's no reward for participation.
And squats are no easy task.
Right now I'm in week four of the Insanity home workout program -- see how I slipped that in there? -- and it's basically 40 minutes of squats, broken up by short moments of lashing out with profanities toward Shaun T and Tania.
I cry during the 30-second rest breaks, and check my e-mail during Level 1 drills. Because ain't nobody got time for that.
The point is that squats are hard, and the following activities may prove to be far more satisfying:
1) Sleeping
2) Eating
3) Being trapped in a car fire
Regardless, the squat machine in Moscow will remain at the station until the beginning of December, and the Olympic Committee is planning more chances for people to get fit in public with exercise bikes that charge your phone and bus handles converted into stretchy exercise bands.
So, remember Russians, drink your recovery fluid and log onto Team BeachBody dot com.
And good luck with that bear.
Follow @JarrettBellini on Twitter.


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10 September 2012 at 11.32am | 1 Comment
Brazilian Royal Ballet Principals Thiago Soares and Roberta Marquez danced last night with a troupe of blind ballerinas at the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Paralympic Games.
The performance, part of the 'Festival of the Flame', was to celebrate the passing of the Paralympics from London to Rio, where the Games will be held in 2016.
Four dancers from São Paulo-based Fernanda Bianchini Association of Ballet for the Blind performed with the principals in Green and Yellow, an eight-minute-long work intended to symbolize the beginning of a new Games cycle.
Dancer Marina Guimarães said about the performance, "It's a wonderful and unforgettable experience for us, an opportunity that I could never imagine. I used to swim and some said that I might one day participate in the Olympics. I never thought I'd be here as an artist. If there are only a few athletes who make it here, there are even fewer artists."
Thiago, Roberta and the ballerinas performed alongside the likes of Coldplay, Rihanna and Jay-Z. Their dance contribution followed that of other Royal Ballet artists Edward Watson, Gary Avis, Nehemiah Kish and Jonathan Cope who danced with Darcey Bussell at the London 2012 closing ceremony last month.
Prior to taking to the stage, Thiago tweeted pictures from backstage.
Watch the closing ceremony online.
Thiago will perform in Swan Lake (alongside Marianela Núñez), Las Hermanas and The Nutcracker over the coming months. Roberta will perform in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker during the same time period.


text:
Quick Arch Linux Install
This is a quick walk-through for those who do not yet know what Arch is and what it is capable of. It is written mainly for those people who already have an existing Windows partition on their hard drive and want to set up Arch Linux without harming the Windows install, and do not want too much hand holding.
This guide is for "normal" hardware; nothing special (e.g. SCSI) is documented.
Windows is assumed to exist on the first partition of the hard drive; otherwise, GRUB will not be able to find it.
- The Arch Linux Base-Installation-CD or Full-Installation-CD. Get it from here.
- Either one free hard disk or free space on one partition. You have to separate this free space from an existing partition in Windows with a partitioning utility (e.g. PartitionMagic).
Installation from CD/USB stick
- Insert the CD/USB stick in your drive, reboot, and check that your BIOS will boot from the CD-ROM drive first.
- It will present you with a menu. For the installation, choose the "Boot ArchLive" option. It will go through the process to set up the live system.
- Now it should look like this:
http://home.arcor.de/Langeland/1.png Default Arch Live screen
To start the installation, login as root and type:
# /arch/setup
If you got the net install (FTP) image, or wish to get the latest packages from the servers, choose net install. This is the preferred method. If you have the Core image, you can optionally install the packages on the CD/USB stick with the CD install option. If you use the net install, try to choose a server near to you physically. (e.g. ftp://cs.uwaterloo.com is closest for people in the Greater Toronto Area.)
The Main Menu will appear:
http://home.arcor.de/Langeland/6.png Main Menu
For the net install, you need to configure the network. If you have a DHCP server connected to your computer with an Ethernet cord, odds are the auto-configure will work automatically. You can also use ctrl-alt-F2 to set up the network connection from the command line, using ctrl-alt-F1 to go back to the installation script.
If you are installing from the CD/USB stick, there is no need to configure the network now.
If you have an empty hard drive, you may skip these steps and choose Auto-Partitioning. Please note this will erase all partitions from your hard drive. If you want to keep any partition on your hard drive (Like saving a Windows install), follow the steps below:
- Select Prepare Hard Drive
- Select Partition Hard Drive
- Select the disk you want Arch Linux to be installed on
- The cfdisk partitioning utility will open and allow you to create the partitions. For Arch base installation, there is only one partition needed. A swap partition is optional.
- At this point the display may look like this if you have an NTFS partition for Windows XP. Vista or Windows 7 may have 2 NTFS partitions.
http://home.arcor.de/Langeland/9.png cfdisk
- Do not touch the NTFS partition/s in any way; otherwise, you may lose Windows.
- The type of the swap partition should be set to 82. Swap space is generally recommended to be twice the amount of RAM you have, but you can use less.
- You must have at least one primary partition and a swap space is recommended. A safer setup is to have one primary partition of 100MB and all other partitions for Arch Linux can be logical partitions. The primary partition must be marked bootable.
- If you want to quit cfdisk without saving anything, then select quit; otherwise, select write. Use quit if you accidentally change a setting on a Windows partition.
- Remember which partitions you want to use for what. Note the partition's number to the right. (e.g. sda1, sda2, etc.)
- Select point 3: Set Filesystem Mountpoints
- Select the partition you wish to use as '/' and use set it to mount to '/' (no quotes). The most common choice for file system is ext4, but any will work.
- If you have a partitions to use as '/boot', set '/boot' (again, no quotes) as the mount point and ext2 is the recommended file system.
- Select the partition to use as swap space, and choose the mount point of swap. No file system need be specified.
- Select 'DONE'.
This last step is very important: many people skip this step, but no actions take place until you select 'DONE'. If you do not do this, the install will appear to work, but it will not install any files.
- Select Choose Packages (Or something similar - it is selected automatically after setting mount points).
- Now it should look like this:
- For now, you should select only base. All packages already marked should not be unmarked unless you know you wont need them. Anything else you need not already marked should be installed later unless you need it for the setup.
- This is rather easy: Just select install packages, select 'OK', and everything will be copied from the CD/server you selected to the file-system.
- Choose nano to edit the files unless you already know Vi. Nano's commands are listed at the bottom and you use the arrow keys to move the cursor. You have to edit the rc.conf if you want to change your keyboard layout. For example, de is German.
- Set a host name in the 'HOSTNAME=' field. (e.g. HOSTNAME='Taco')
- nano is easy to understand: (Ctrl-X) saves the file and exits nano.
- Be sure to change the root password in the last step.
When you are done editing the config files, choose the 'Install Bootloader' option from the main menu.
- Choose to install GRUB unless you will setup a bootloader yourself. If you do not install a new bootloader, only Windows will boot.
- You will see a file like this:
http://home.arcor.de/Langeland/13.png Menu.lst
- Everything should be set up correctly to boot into Arch To dual boot, uncomment the following section at the end (remove the # symbol from the beginning of the line:
#title Windows rootnoverify (hd0,0) chainloader +1
Save it and quit nano.
- Choose done at the main menu, type reboot, and the computer should reboot.
- Remove the CD before it tries to boot from it again.
- You should be able to choose between Windows and Arch; default is Arch. The timeout is 5 seconds.
Alternative install methods
Alternative instructions
Here is a video installation if helps you to visualize: YouTube ArchLinux Installation


text:
Help:Getting Started
Welcome to Grand Theft Wiki
This page will help get you started and contributing to this site!
Step 1 - Get an Account
You need to be logged into an account before you can edit any pages:
If you have an account on Wikia, you'll need to create a new one for Grand Theft Wiki
Step 2 - Verify your Account
Grand Theft Wiki requires you to provide an email address and verify it before you can edit.
We will send you an email instantly - click on the link to verify your account.
Step 3 - Practice editing in our Sandbox
Grand Theft Wiki has a Sandbox - this is a page you can play around with and test out editing without breaking anything.
To edit the sandbox:
- Go to the Sandbox page
- Click the 'Edit' button in the top-right
- Type in some text
- Click 'Preview Edited Page' - see if it shows up the way you expect
- Click 'Publish this Edit' to save the page
- Your edit is now visible on Grand Theft Wiki for all the world to see
Step 4 - Get going
You're now ready to start editing any page on Grand Theft Wiki!
Have a look around the wiki -
- Start at Template:Gta, find some subjects you know about, and add in any
- If there's a page we don't have, go to Help:Create to make it
Step 5 - Hone your skills
Once you've had some practice editing, it's time to learn some more advanced editing skills
Check out our Help pages, including:
- Help:Editing - Learn how formatting and syntax works
- Help:Images - Advanced image formatting and syntax
- Help:Categories - Categories help us organise the wiki
- Help:Templates - Templates are tools for making complex pages easier
- Help:Infoboxes - Infoboxes are templates at the side of pages that contain lots of information


text:
by Tyler Peck, sports information graduate
PENSACOLA, Fla. - The No. 19 women's tennis team at Georgia College & State University (7-6) defeated the University of North Alabama earlier today (March 24) at the opening match of the White Sands Invitational.
Georgia College was able to capitalize after starting the matches 2-0 due to North Alabama not playing at third doubles match or at the sixth singles position.
The schools split the doubles matches as Gabby Acuna (Peachtree City, Ga.) and Marjorie Ceppo (Sao Paulo, Brazil) of GCSU won 9-8 against Yuliya Zelenskaya and Lenka Hola of UNA in the first slot. The Lions' Victoria Rees and Mallory Waites defeated the Bobcats' Diane Danna (Paris, France) and Bertille Lion (Lyon, France) 8-1.
At number one singles, Ceppo upended Rees 7-6, 6-2. Danna defeated Zelenskaya 6-0, 6-2 at second singles. Danna's doubles partner, Lion, fell 7-6, 4-6, 10-3 to North Alabama's Waites at the number three singles spot.
Acuna was also defeated 6-0, 6-3 by Hola. Angy Cuellar (Bogota, Colombia) beat Ashley Alfonso 6-2, 6-0 at fifth singles.
Doubles and singles records will be posted following the last match of the White Sands Invitational.
Georgia College faces No. 6 University of West Florida tomorrow (March 25) at day two of the White Sands Invitational.
Visit www.GCSUBobcats.com to nominate your favorite former Bobcats and Colonials to the GCSU Athletics Hall of Fame. The GCSU Department of Athletics sponsors 10 varsity athletic programs at the NCAA Division II level. As a Division II program, GCSU prides itself on balancing the life of the student-athlete, evidenced by the Bobcats' multiple appearances in post-season competition as well as documented academic success and community-service involvement. Sign up at Twitter.com username GCSUSID for up-to-the-minute reports.


text:
We've all seen the "Before and After Photoshop" versions of photographs, displaying the ways in which various media distort our perception of ideal beauty. But what would these images look like in other countries? With her series Before & After, Esther Honig, a radio journalist based out of Kansas City, asked just that. With the help of Fiverr, a website for freelancers, she got in touch with artists from forty different countries; emailing each a self-portrait, she wrote, "Hi, my name is Esther Honig. Make me look beautiful." When they did not understand the assignment, she simply told them to make her look like the most popular fashion models.
When artists from twenty-seven countries replied, she was astonished with the results. Some edits were so dramatic that she yelped aloud; others, like the image from Morocco, in which she was given a hijab, stole her breath. Some cultures favor a bare face where others apply makeup. Perhaps the most shocking aspect of the work is the overwhelming presence of Western feminine ideals: pale white skin, pink cheeks, a dainty nose, and wide eyes contoured with trimmed brows.
In the end, the series expresses the extend to which often oppressive beauty ideals are meaningless; where a woman is declared beautiful in one culture, she might be plain in another. Yet for all women, regardless of ethnicity and background, the pressure to be beautiful remains, propagated by the whims of the contemporary media. Writes Honig, "Photoshop allows us to achieve our unobtainable standards of beauty, but when we compare those standards on a global scale, achieving the ideal remains all the more illusive." (via Buzzfeed)


text:
Promote your beer to thirsty patrons looking for it.Learn More
Heads up! Libertine Stocking Stuffer may not be available near you. Follow this beer to get notified when it's available nearby, try searching in a different area, or discover some similar beer.
Berliner Weisse4.5% ABV4 IBU
Burley Oak BreweryBerlin, MD
Fruit Beer3.2% ABV9 IBU
Stieglbrauerei Zu Salzburg Gmbh (Stiegl)Salzburg, Austria
Real fruit juice gives this radler a distinct tart aroma and natural cloudiness.
Fruit Beer4.7% ABV
Narragansett BeerPawtucket, RI
The 'Gansett Del's Shandy has just the right balance of malty sweetness and citrus tartness. The Shandy is the ultimate summertime refresher


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I truly can't say enough about this trial!
Here are the threads I have written about it for the past three years.
Last year, I pushed, begged and pleaded for them to add an Obedience Only category so that I could trial Ruby. There were a handful of entries and Ruby came home with a be-au-ti-ful, 18 inch long, third place ribbon!!!!! So, this year, not only are they having a beginner level, but they are opening it up for Intermediate as well!!!! I'm so excited!
The DSO is a "training trial" - and unlike any trial I have ever seen or heard of. What is a training trial? It's a trial where you learn as you go. Cheryl dreams up the themes and the obstacles and then Paul Hebler is the force behind the construction. We have ridden in "elevators," lifted our dogs up onto giant A frames, been shot at with paint balls, and had a horse gallop across the field. I know, it all sounds crazy... but there is a method behind the madness. Of course, you are there to compete, but you are also there to learn.
You can bring treats and toys on to the field, you can also have a martingale, choke chain or prong collar on your dog. All of them cost you some points, but it's what's works for you and your dog that is most important.
At the 8th annual DSO, A Nightmare on Lowell St., you had to deliver a pizza. (The "nightmare" part is getting lost.) Part of that pizza delivery was driving your dog across the field in a golf cart. Some of the dogs freaked out. When a dog flatly refused to get on the cart or if it wouldn't stay on the cart, the trial stopped. A trainer would come out on the field and help you work through the issue with your dog. Once the dog would ride on the cart the trial continued as planned. Sure, you're probably not going to "win" the trial if you need that kind of assistance, but you and your dog NEVER leave the field without success. Now, if there was no solving the problem, the scenario would be changed to suit your dog specifically - because it's more important for your dog to leave the field a winner than for you to leave the field a winner.
Ok, you can lose a lot of points if your dog needs help though some of the scenarios, but you can also gain them. If you think on your feet and do things to help your dog, you get bonus points. Smart handling is rewarded every time. At "Jail Break" I was quite sure that Riggs was going to break his sit when we were in the jail cell waiting to be let out by the decoy. So, I put him in a sit facing the wall, then I straddled his body to hold him in his sit and block his view; I got 10 points for that - because I thought about what was best for my dog and worked with him to succeed.
The trail was created as a protection trial, but now that they have an obedience only category, it's open to EVERYONE!!! Beginner is all on lead, intermediate is off leash.
It's soooooooo fun!!!!
I would highly recommend this trial if you can make it out. It's not like anything you've ever done before, I promise.
Here is the link to the entry form:
http://www.ccdsa.info/images/DSO_2008_I ... y_form.pdf
The obedience only entries are $35, no they are not on the form, you'll just have to trust me.
Here are two questions I was asked recently:
1. During the DSO, I assume my dog can be out wandering the grounds with me, watching people compete?
Yes and no. People are welcome to have their dogs with them the entire time at the trial. However, any dogs that are not completely social to both people and dogs are allowed to "hang out" and watch. Any dog that doesn't get along with the world has to hang out in a crate when it's not on the field.
2. Are they going to laugh at me & my dog? I have this deep fear that the "working dog" people will laugh at me and my pet dog.
Absolutely not. You might see some good natured ribbing between club members, but that's it. I can say with certainty that any heckling by anyone would cause that individual to be dumped off of the property very quickly (and probably rather roughly ). Everyone involved in running the trial is there to get the very best out of you and your dog, no one is there to belittle you.
The place to ask questions if you have any:
http://members3.boardhost.com/dogsports ... 1249351086


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With membership that includes all major daily and weekly newspapers in Idaho, or with a significant circulation in Idaho, NAI's newspapers are read by more than three-quarters of Idahoans every week.
Should you be a member?
We offer four types of membership: Professional, Allied Professional, Student Newspapers, and Affiliate and Honorary Memberships. Learn more about what each membership includes and figure out which type of membership is best for you by clicking the button below.


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Hi, guys! Did anyone experienced same issue with valves?
Looks like it is breaking by itself, from both sides, starting slowly with small hole. Kite is new 2013 RPM, 20-25 times on water, no crashes on hard surface, only handlepasses and flat water. Central strut, so it is not because of twisting.
This is my second same accident with SS valves, first one they've sent me new bladder
Can this be prevented somehow? Why this happens?


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Sunol Real Estate
Sunol is a small rural town in Alameda County, located along the Niles Canyon Railroad for which it is known. The railway stops in Sunol, carrying passengers from all over, as does the Altamont Commuter Express en route to San Jose and the Central Valley. Sunol is steeped in history with the preservation of The Depot, built in 1884, and the Roman-inspired Sunol Water Temple, that pipes water to San Francisco. There is also the Little Brown Church, built in 1885, which hosts weddings and community events, and the Repertory Theatre, which produces plays and musicals. A small community with a big heart, Sunol lies at the southern tip of the Pleasanton Ridge Regional Park and is alive with vineyards and olive groves. It is a great escape from the bustle of the city life, but only minutes away from Fremont on its famous seven-mile scenic drive along Niles Canyon Road. Offering fresh air and good living, Sunol is Alameda County's hidden treasure.
Sunol Property Info
area data
While overarching trends in real estate such as interest rates, economic factors, and consumer confidence all influence the purchase or sale of a home, smaller monthly changes in our local markets can affect your transaction just as much. Our real time market data gives you the most accurate and timely snapshot of your city or neighborhood.
Sunol Market Report
Market News, May 2019
All residential. Information obtained from the Multiple Listing Service and/or public records. This third party information has not been independently verified.
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Sunol Homes For Sale
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Create new web pages or edit your files with editing tools provided to you by AlterVista: Control Panel > Publish > Editors.
One click to install a Content Management System in order to run a Blog, a Gallery, a Forum or mix them together to grow your powerful website
Widgets and enhanced tools in a colorful way


text:
1. organically - adverb
· as an important constituent; "the drapery served organically to cover the Madonna"
2. organically - adverb
· involving carbon compounds; "organically bound iodine"
Antonym(s): inorganically
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· in an organic manner; "this food is grown organically"
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Add to Calendar
May 1, 2019 @ 2:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Please plan to attend the meeting from your computer. The meeting will be at https://cpcrn.adobeconnect.com/sc/, and full details on using Adobe Connect for CPCRN meetings can be found here (links open in new tabs).
If you are connecting via phone only, call 800-977-8002 and use Participant Code 33525225. If you are unable to be at a computer, we encourage you to try the Adobe Connect Mobile App to see meeting content on your smartphone rather than connecting via audio only.


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I have gotten a deal on some 18650 Li ion batteries at 200dollar/kWh so i would like to buy an used Nissan leaf and extend its battery with about 24kWh which would cost 4800dollar (weigh 130kg)and extend its range with more than doubble of todays since i can depleat them more the few times i actually have to use the full range. Usually i get 100km from the leafes i have driven. With this i could easily get 200km.
I read something about this being done by a company in The US. Does anyone know of it has ben done by a private person, how Hard it is and if i can get any information on "how to" somewhere?


text:
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The XXIII Stars of the White Nights festival is being run with a
focus on Tchaikovsky to mark one hundred and seventy-five years since the birth
of the great Russian composer. The festival opens with a new production of the
operaĀThe Queen of Spades directed
byĀAlexei Stepanyuk and
conducted by Valery Gergiev. All of TchaikovskyÆs operas and ballets in the theatreÆs repertoire
will also be performed at the festival ¢ Eugene Onegin, Iolanta, Mazepa, Swan Lake,ĀThe Sleeping Beauty and
The Nutcracker. One
special facet comes with the rounds of the vocalists at the International
Tchaikovsky Competition which will take place at the Mariinsky-II.ĀThe third round and the gala
concert will be held at the Concert Hall of the Mariinsky Theatre. Jury membersĀOlga Borodina and Mikhail Petrenko, pianistsĀBarry Douglas and Denis Matsuev, cellistĀLynn Harrell
and violinistsĀLeonidas Kavakos and
James Ehnes will be performing recitals as well as together
with the Mariinsky Orchestra under the baton of Maestro Gergiev. Festival premieres
include a new production of VerdiÆs operaĀLa traviata (directed by
Claudia Solti and designed by Isabella Bywater), a concert performance
ofĀDallapiccollaÆs opera Il prigioniero and the premiere of Maxim PetrovÆs one-act ballet Le Divertissement
du Roi, specially staged for Principal Dancer Igor Kolb. As always, performances at the
Mariinsky Theatre will feature international opera stars including Ferruccio Furlanetto, Rafał
Siwek, Vitaly Kovalev, Oksana Dyka, Mikhail Kazakov, Albina Shagimuratova, Maria Guleghina, Tatiana Serjan, Marco Berti,
Gevorg Akopyan, Asmik Grigorian and Aleksandrs Antonenko. At the Concert Hall and at
the new theatre there will be concert with such outstanding international
musicians as Daniil Trifonov, Pinchas Zukerman, Ilya Gringolts, Pyotr Laul, Alexei Volodin, Christian Blackshaw. The festival will see several monograph programmes ¢Āthe Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie
Bremen underĀPaavo Järvi
in two concerts of all of BrahmsÆ symphonies, Viennese pianistĀRudolf Buchbinder will be
appearing as a soloist and conductor inĀnine Mozart concerti and
theĀAtrium quartet will be
performing BeethovenÆs ōRussianö quartets. The Mariinsky Orchestra will
be conducted by world-renowned conductors including Christoph Eschenbach, Emmanuel Villaume, Vladimir Ashkenazi and John
Axelrod. Over the sixty-eight days of the festival at the theatreÆs three
main venues alone there will be one hundred and seventy-five concerts and
About "The Stars of the White
Nights" FestivalsĀ
The Stars of the White Nights is one of the brightest stars of
the music and theatre universe and has emerged to be one of the most popular and
grandiose music forums in its context and scale.The Stars of the White
Nights Festival was created in 1993 by Maestro Valery Gergiev,
Mariinsky Theatre Artistic and General Director. Maestro Gergiev says that he
conceived the first Festival as a "musical gift" to the city from the Mariinsky
and its star-artists. From the very beginning the Festival has been focused on
the masterpieces of the world's music discovering for its audience some rarely
performed or undeservedly forgotten pieces. The Stars of the White Nights
Festival has gained in strength, popularity and international acclaim. The
duration for the Festival it has expanded from ten days to three months during
the last sixteen year. Renowned conductors and star-artists take as great honour
the invitation to perform at the Stars of the White Nights. Each year the
Festival programme includes the Theater's finest opera and ballet productions,
great symphonic works, masterpieces of chamber music and new premieres.
During the last years the Festival programme has included the
works created by the great classical composers ¢ĀBeethoven symphonies, Prokofiev's and Tchaikovsky's operas, ballets and symphony music.
Major events at the Stars have included the production of Wagner's Der Ring des
Nibelungen, in addition to the Shostakovich and Mahler Symphonies
This festival is a must for ballet, opera and classical music
amateurs. The annual Stars of the White Nights Festival takes an inspiration for
its name from the short summer season when the sun never sets, and the beauty of
St-Petersburg White Nights contributes to the festival's special atmosphere and
its world-class programme of concerts, as audience comes out of the historic
theatre at midnight into daylight to stroll along the streets of the theatrical
setting of St Petersburg.Ā
WHITE NIGHTS 2014: Mariinsky (Kirov) Opera and Ballet theatre | Mariinsky hall plan | Mariinsky Slide Show | Mariinsky 3D View | About Valery
2012 |
2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005
| 2004
| 2003
| 2002
| 2001
| History (before 2001)


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Wossamotta U was the alma mater of Bullwinkle, an early teacher of the social innuendo. This episode examines the university as the self-perpetuating goal of education. We review the NY Times article "Placing the Blame as Students Are Mired in Debt," the Washington Examiner article, "Higher Education's Bubble is About to Burst," and the eye-opening new book by Anya Kamenetz, DIY U. From her book, we cite statistics on drop-out rates, question the cost/benefit ratio, and take a jaundiced look at college from "The Economics of Education and the Education of an Economist."
But from the last episode, we reconsider our conclusions from a Pew Center survey showing Republicans are happier than Democrats. And we ask, who funds the Pew Center anyway? We hypothesize that it's the same group that's grooming Presidential candidates, as John Perkins reveals they do for economic hit men. We end with a new educational paradigm, that compares apples to apples to measure the success of schooling.
- "When the Shoe Fits" by Chuang Tsu
- "Straight Talk from Fox" by Mary Oliver
Songs and/or Music Videos
- "A Day Without Rain" and "Tempus Vernum" by Enya
- "Same Old, Same Old" by Chumbawumba
- "Someday" by Brett Dennen
- Question related to California's Budget Crisis and Cabrillo College
To listen or view the multimedia transcript, click here!
Tags: Anya Kamenetz, Brett Dennen, Chuang Tsu, Chumbawumba, DIY U, Education, Enya, John Perkins, Mary Oliver, Obama, schooling, student loans, universities


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The first thing you notice when you step inside the tony boutique in Boca Raton is the gleaming table of Louis Vuitton handbags surrounded by Manolo Blahnik, Christian Louboutin and Jimmy Choo shoes.
But at Encore Plus, one of several high-end consignment shops in South Florida, you won't find stratospheric retail pricetags that put these brands out of reach for most of us.
If you dream of owning arm candy from LV, Chanel or Hermes that costs thousands new, the consignments sell these luxe looks for less, offering up to 75 percent off gently used designer duds, accessories and jewelry for women and men.
"You will find the most wonderful things at terrific prices in these stores. Many of the items are new or were worn only once," says Paulette Cooper Nobel, Palm Beach author of "Bargain Shopping in Southeast Florida," a guide to 250 consignment and thrift stores ($17.95 at ShoppingInFlorida.net).
These high-end shops are like tiny exclusive department stores where the proprietors know the 411 on all the top designers and offer service that rivals Neiman Marcus.
At Couture Upsale Consign in Fort Lauderdale, owners Sandra and Tomas Wedle guarantee the handbags they sell are authentic. They're happy to show how to spot a fake.
Noble says you don't have to spend a hundred to look like a million.
"You can't return merchandisee, so thoroughly check to make sure it's in good condition before you make a purchase and if you see it, buy it, because it won't be there tomorrow," she says.
Price isn't the only reason to stop and shop.
"There is great variety in these stores that makes it fun to shop. You'll find European fashions and unusual and interesting things to buy that make it very serendipitous."


text:
Author Notes: This summer there was this cricket world cup series going on. And, being a cricket fan my husband was home watching the match between India and Australia. I don't like cricket. I decided to make something to eat while he is enjoying his match. So , I had some marinated artichokes from whole foods and pastry dough at home. I decided to create something new. So this recipe is basically a result of experiment. —PistachioDoughnut
Serves: 2
Puff Pastry Base Store bought
packet Seasoned Artichokes , herbs and spices
cup mayonnaise
cup Marinara sauce
4 to5
tablespoons Fresh rosemary,roughly chopped
Salt to taste
Black Pepper to taste
cup Gruyere Cheese
cup Grated Parmesan cheese
In This Recipe
- Roll out the pastry sheets or if using frozen pastry sheets, just thaw them for sometime don't let it get too soft. Spread the mayonnaise, marinara sauce and spread the chopped artichokes. Add chopped rosemary on top of it. Add the salt and pepper. Sprinkle the parmesan cheese and grated gruyere cheese. Bake them about for 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees F. Time varies with each oven differently. So please keep a watch at it.
- Variation for this dish- It can be prepared with basil pesto, cilantro chutney or sun-dried tomatoes pesto instead of marinara sauce. For toppings , you can use Zucchini and roughly grinded wasabi peas (comes as a snack). Can be prepared ahead. And, baked at the time of guests arrival. The flaky crust gives it a totally different twist. For a sweet treat, dust the puff pastry sheet with some cinnamon and sugar , bake it for few minutes , spread nutella on top of it let it bake for another few minutes and add a dollop of mascarpone cheese , decorate it with fruits like strawberries, kiwis, bananas etc.
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Hors d'Oeuvre
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best Pub Food
- This recipe was entered in the contest for Your Best One-Bite Party Snack
More Great Recipes:
Pizza|Artichoke|Cheese|Mayonnaise|Vegetable|Serves a Crowd|Make Ahead|Christmas|Father's Day|Mother's Day|Valentine's Day|Vegetarian


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"Discount brokers did a better job shepherding clients through the stock market upheaval of the past year than traditional investment banks, according to Consumer Reports survey of the most satisfying brokerage firm services.
Topping the list in overall satisfaction was USAA, available only to current and former military personnel and their families. USAA earned high marks for account service, Web site ease of use, transactions and phone services. Vanguard followed closely in the Ratings and Edward Jones had high marks for phone services.
Consumer Reports National Research Center surveyed almost 9,000 online subscribers asking them about their experiences with their brokerage firms regarding several services including transactions and general customer service, Web site ease of use, online transactions and their instances of problems with phone and personal service between January 2008 and 2009.
Rounding out the list of brokerage firms that respondents found to provide high scores for services were Schwab, Scottrade, Fidelity, TD Ameritrade, and T. Rowe Price. Though half of survey respondents said their investment portfolios plummeted, most respondents were relatively happy with the level of service and advice they received.
However, bigger brokerages, such as Merrill Lynch and Ameriprise, placed lower in the Ratings earning below average scores for their Web sites. Ameriprise also received relatively low marks for phone service. The survey revealed some additional complaints, even among discount brokers. E-Trade clients reported a higher number of phone-service problems and said they were unable to find information on the company's Web site 35 percent of the time.
E-Trade, Scottrade, and TD Ameritrade were among the lower-rated companies for financial advice, which is not surprising because they are bare-bones discounters. Unexpected fees continue to irk clients, about 4 percent said they were hit with unexpected fees. Banc of America clients reported the most, with 11 percent saying they were charged unexpected fees. For more information on the survey and complete broker service ratings check out Consumer Reports May issue or visit www.ConsumerReports.org starting May 6, 2009. "
— 30 —


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The House's failure on Friday to even vote on a Republican bill to repeal The Affordable Care Act — something party leaders promised for seven years and President Trump campaigned on — was a huge defeat for Trump and the GOP, in a number of ways.
It showed that Republicans — now in control of the House, the Senate and the presidency — couldn't band together on a major priority. It suggests that the divides among Republicans, a theme of the Obama years, remain a problem for the party. In fact, those divides could be even wider in the Trump era: In the health care debate, not only did the deeply conservative House Freedom Caucus break with party leadership, as it often has (arguing the legislation was not conservative enough), but a bloc of more centrist members emerged from the other side of the political spectrum, arguing that the bill was too conservative. And Trump, who has cast himself as a master negotiator, couldn't get fellow Republicans behind him, making him look ineffectual in comparison to his three predecessors as president, who all got their first legislative priority through Congress in their first year in office.1
I think the GOP and Trump will have a much easier time passing tax reform/tax cuts. Giving away money is much easier than taking away people's stuff. The fact that it'll cause budget problems down the road will be the future Democrat's problem.


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Baseball celebrates Fourth at the ballpark
Patriotism was on display throughout Major League Baseball on Thursday, as teams and fans celebrated our nation's 237th birthday on Independence Day.
The National Anthem and "God Bless America" were heard and red, white and blue were seen across the nation -- especially at Major League ballparks, as many celebrated Independence Day watching America's pastime.
Patriotism was on display throughout Major League Baseball on Thursday, as teams and fans celebrated our nation's 237th birthday on Independence Day.
The National Anthem and "God Bless America" were heard and red, white and blue were seen across the nation -- especially at Major League ballparks, as many celebrated Independence Day watching America's pastime.
All MLB players wore specially designed "Stars & Stripes" caps from New Era as part of MLB's ongoing fundraising and awareness initiatives for the Welcome Back Veterans organization. Giants left-hander Barry Zito also planned to donate $500 for every Major League strikeout to the organization in honor of his father, Joe, who died last month.
Independence Day action began in our nation's capital, where the Nationals hosted the Brewers and legendary signer Neil Diamond debuted his new song, "Freedom Song (They'll Never Take us Down)," after the third inning.
The song draws inspiration from Washington, D.C. and Boston -- where Diamond's "Sweet Caroline" is sung during the eighth inning of every game. Diamond wrote the song following the tragic events at April's Boston Marathon and a visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in the Washington suburb of Bethesda, Md.
"I, like so many other Americans, felt helpless during the recent attacks in Boston and wanted so much to reach out and not only help those people affected in a direct way but to lift their spirits as well and let them know they were not alone; that the entire American community felt a close kinship with them," Diamond said in a statement. "I was inspired to devote myself to the creation of a new song which expressed my love for this country and its two greatest assets: the spirit of its people and the freedoms it has afforded us all by law."
"Freedom Song" starts off with the lyrics, "Two hundred years and more; And here we are today; With freedom still our guiding light; Defending it with all our might." The chorus talks about how America won't be taken down "though some may try," because the country will "stand our ground," and hold onto freedom that "can't be denied." The song ends with the verses, "We know that they can never take us down; And freedom's why; Together we can raise up freedom's flag; Where eagles fly."
At Target Field, Twins mascot TC sported a beard and star-spangled top hat in the likeness of Uncle Sam, while the team honored active military and veterans before the game.
The Astros also honored uniformed military personnel prior to their game against the Rays, with some honored as they stood along the baselines with both Houston and Tampa players during the pre-game introduction. All fans also were offered a mini American flag as they entered the park.
"Today just speaks baseball, it speaks family and it speaks hot dogs," Astros manager Bo Porter said.
The White Sox honored World War II veterans before their game against the Orioles, while the Royals' Fourth of July celebration started early Thursday morning when fireworks unexpectedly went off at 3 a.m. CT after the team's early-morning victory over the Indians.
While patriotic songs blared throughout MLB and grills and fireworks were lit across the country, Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said he was caught up in the importance of Independence Day and baseball's role in helping the country celebrate.
"It's a cool day," Hurdle said. "And the whole day, as we continue to get through this day and work toward a day of independence. Baseball, the freedom baseball brings. For me, it's always had a lot of significance. It should never be taken lightly. "
Before Thursday's Mariners-Rangers game in Texas, more than 150 individuals were inducted into the U.S. Air Force. The Air Force presented the colors and the 531st Air Force Band played the national anthem with a flyover of Warbirds from Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison.
Angels reliever Michael Kohn, who tweeted the lyrics to "Proud To Be An American" on Thursday morning, said July 4 has always had special meaning to him as both of his grandfathers served in the millitary -- one in the Army and one in the Navy.
"It's a special day to me to honor not only my grandfathers, but the people that are serving right now for us," Kohn said.
Cash Kruth is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @cashkruth.


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I'm looking forward to starting instruction on the 6 week Solution once I close on my club (we close this Friday, January 12th YEAAAA!!!!).
It will be hard to teach people to eat specific meat items when I would never eat them myself!
Do any of you that teach the 6 Week Solution have the same issue?
I don't see many vegetarians in my daily life, but I know they're out there!


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OHAUS Navigator NVL2101 precision scale
Click Image for Gallery
OHAUS Navigator NVL2101 - 2100g x 0.1g precision scale
- OHAUS raises the bar in value-oriented scales…again!
- The Navigator NVL2101 offers a unique combination of features, including touchless sensors, ultra-fast response time and superior overload protection for use in a wide variety of weighing applications
- With its best-in-class combination of features, versatility and performance, the OHAUS Navigator NVL2101 offers a wide range of use in industrial, food and laboratory weighing applications
- This model is very popular as a coffee shop scale
Standard features include:
- Touchless Sensors – Navigator is designed with two touchless sensors that will free up your hands so you can focus on handling samples. The touch-free control of the zero, print, function or tare operations helps to avoid transferring sample residue to the keypad. In addition, the two sensors can be set up independently to control up to 36 combinations of operations
- One Second Stabilisation Time – Navigator is designed to accurately stabilise in less than one second to provide fast and accurate weighing results, improving operator efficiency, productivity and throughput
- Superior Overload Protection – Navigator is designed with a superior mechanical overload protection system that allows the scale to withstand loads up to 400% of its rated capacity. This prevents damage to the scale and helps it withstand undue shock or overloading. In addition, an integrated shipping lock further protects the weighing cell from damage during transportation or storage
Unsurpassed cleanliness:
- Designed with two touchless sensors that free up your hands, allowing you to focus on handling samples and keeping the scale free from contaminants. The touch-free control of tare, zero, print, function and display back-light helps to minimise touching the keypad, thereby avoiding cross-contamination or unwanted residue on or from the scale
- A polished stainless steel pan, corrosion-free plastic housing and spill-resistant pan sub-assembly embodies a hygienic design that is easy to clean
- The optional full-body in-use cover wraps over and around the housing and keypad to guard against spills, dust and contamination
Unmatched productivity:
- Stabilises in less than one second to provide fast, accurate and repeatable weighing results. This helps improve operator efficiency and increase productivity
- The optional internal rechargeable lead acid battery can operate up to 100 hours (or over twelve 8-hour days) of normal use on a full charge. With maximised portability, the scale can be transported and used where power outlets are not readily available. The rechargeable battery also helps minimise battery replacement and maintenance costs
- A wave of the hand over the touchless sensors eliminates the extra effort or time to press the keys, which helps increase convenience and efficiency
Unbeatable durability:
- Built to hold up to serious loads, the superior mechanical overload protection system enables the scale to safely bear loads up to 4 times its rated capacity
- Constructed of a high-strength 304 type stainless steel pan and impact-resistant ABS plastic housing that helps the scale stand up to years of use or abuse
- The touchless sensors minimise the need to press the keypad with your hand, a knife or other sharp objects, reducing wear and tear of the keypad and increasing the effective life of the scale
|Full Specifications
|ABS housing, stainless steel weighing platform
|Stabilisation Time
|≤1 second
|Weighing Units
|Gram, Kilogram, Pound, Ounce (decimal or fractional), Pound:Ounce (decimal or fractional), Ounce Troy, Grain, Newton, Carat, Pennyweight, Hong Kong Tael, Taiwan Tael, Singapore Tael, Tical, Tola
|Application Modes
|Weighing, percent weighing, parts counting, check-weighing, display hold, accumulate/totalize
|Display Type
|LCD - 20mm high digits with white LED backlight
|Pan Size
|19.4cm x 20.3cm
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Arlene Schnitzer has given $2.3 million to Portland State University in memory of her late husband Harold to build a new three-story glass tower in Lincoln Hall that adds visible performance space to the historic Portland building. The gift coincides with the public announcement of the creation of the College of the Arts, a new college at PSU that includes the School of Architecture, School of Art and Design, School of Music, and School of Theatre and Film.
"This is the culmination of years of hard work by our faculty, staff and students," said Wim Wiewel, president of PSU. "It's because of their hard work and the support of the arts community in Portland that we decided to create this new college."
The College of the Arts, formerly known as the School of Fine and Performing Arts, has some of the fastest growing programs at PSU, including architecture, film and graphic design. More than 2,200 students are majoring in Arts programs.
"The college name reflects the stature of our programs and the work of our faculty locally, nationally and globally, the increase in our professional and liberal arts degree programs and in the numbers of our majors, the expansion of our partnerships, private donations, and the funded research that our faculty conduct," said Barbara Sestak, dean of the College.
Pictured left: Arlene Schnitzer/Keene Studio
Schnitzer's gift will help pay for the construction of a glass tower at Lincoln Hall, home of the College Dean's office and the School of Music and School of Theatre & Film. The tower will complete the renovation of the 102-year-old building and provide space for instructional studios, an art gallery and a black box theater. It will face Southwest Broadway and allow those walking or driving by to see the arts in action. Lincoln Hall performance spaces also serve as sought after venues for many arts organizations in Portland with 17 community organizations staging more than 85 events in Lincoln Hall in 2012.
Both Arlene and her late husband Harold attended high school in Lincoln Hall before it became Portland State University.
"Before it was a university, Lincoln Hall served as a reminder to the early arrivals in this community that education was the key to a progressive city and individual success," said Schnitzer. "I am proud to be making a gift to help build this tower in memory of my husband, Harold. The education he received in this building led to his ability to have a strong vision for the future of this city and state, which he loved very much. Hopefully this iconic tower will serve as inspiration for a continuing vision of a great and creative education within the halls of this building."
Schnitzer said she hopes her gift will inspire others to do likewise. The university needs $1.1 million to complete its funding campaign for the $37 million Lincoln Hall project.
Lincoln Hall is PSU's seventh LEED certified building on campus and its first LEED Platinum building. It was built in 1911 as a high school before it became the first building of the current PSU campus in 1952.


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MINNEAPOLIS - As a sometimes torrential rain pounded down on the fabric roof of the Metrodome Thursday morning, top shortstop prospect Oscar Mercado took a look around the artificial playing surface and proudly took account of the company he had surrounded himself with.
"There's a lot of talent out here," Mercado said with a smile. "Everything's good. I like it a lot. It means a lot to be competing with the top baseball players in the country."
Mercado will be here the next several days with more than 300 of the country's other top prospects in the class of 2013 for the 2012 Perfect Game National Showcase. It's an event that has evolved into the most prestigious one of its kind in all of amateur baseball since its creation in 2001.
Every year, an extraordinary number of prospects that attend the PG National are selected in the early rounds of the following year's MLB amateur draft, and Mercado is certain to be in the discussion as a possible first-round selection in 2013.
A 6-foot-2, 175-pound senior-to-be at Gathier High School in Tampa, Fla., Mercado came into the PG National as the nation's No. 3-ranked overall prospect and the No. 1-ranked shortstop in the high school class of 2013.
"I'm just coming here to do the best I can," Mercado said when asked if he came into the event with certain expectations. "There are obviously going to be some mistakes that are going to be (made), but I'm not a robot; I'm just going to try my best."
An interesting analogy, considering Mercado sometimes plays with robot-like efficiency. In Thursday morning's workout portion of the showcase - which included about 160 players from six of the 12 teams that will eventually be here over the next days - Mercado threw 89 mph across the infield and ran a very fine 6.61 60-yard dash. He also went through a batting practice session.
He played last summer for top travel ball organization Marucci Elite with head coach Chad Raley. Marucci Elite won both the 2011 PG WWBA Underclass World Championship (in Fort Myers, Fla.)and 2011 PG WWBA World Championship (Jupiter, Fla.) titles last year. Mercado was one of only four prospects who played with both championship teams.
"Oscar has been an absolute joy to coach," Raley said Thursday. "He's extremely humble; he doesn't look at the rankings - he doesn't care about that - he just wants to play and have fun."
This is the 10th Perfect Game event Mercado has attended since he first played with the Tampa Bay Warriors Black in the 2010 16u PG BCS Finals in Fort Myers. His last big showcase was the 2011 PG National Games - Class of 2013 in San Diego, an event held in the days right before the Perfect Game All-American Classic is staged each year.
At the PG National Games, a PG scout seemed most impressed with Mercado's defensive skills, writing that Mercado showed "smooth and easy defensive actions, moves through the ball very well, loose and flexible, soft hands; has all the shortstop tools."
Raley had no argument with that report.
"The game comes extremely easy to him," Raley said. "Defensively, he's as good as I've ever coached. He learns well and he can see it and be able to do it. I've seen him see something in BP or at the plate and he's doing something with his hands, and I'm thinking 'He just saw it and now he's able to do it.' That's something special."
The highlights of Mercado's summer of 2011 were the WWBA World and WWBA Underclass World championships Marucci Elite won. By doing so Marucci became the first organization to win both WWBA World tournaments in the same year (it was also the organization's second straight WWBA Underclass World title).
The real thrill came when Marucci Elite won the upper class WWBA PG World Championship title while hundreds of professional scouts and college recruiters took in the five-day tournament in Jupiter. Mercado had a picked up a ring two weeks previous while helping Marucci win the Underclass World and was now getting fitted for a second one.
"It was a tough tournament with a lot of good competition and a lot of hard work," he said. "It was also a lot of long days ... but in the end we won it all and that's all that matters."
Mercado got this summer started by playing with the FTB Pride at the PG WWBA East Memorial Day Classic in Fort Myers, an early season tournament the Pride won. Mercado was named to the All-Tournament Team after going 11-for-24 (.458) with two doubles, two triples, four RBIs and eight runs scored.
"There was a lot of good competition down there and we won it all," Mercado said. "I thought it was a real good tournament."
Oscar Mercado Sr., a native of Columbia, was at the Metrodome on Thursday to watch his son perform, and seemed genuinely appreciative of the fact that he was able to attend.
"I'm very excited and very happy to be here," Mercado Sr. said in halting but serviceable English. "I am very grateful to Perfect Game to invite Oscar and I'm very happy with that. I'm happy that I'm able to spend the time to be with him because my son Oscar plays hard. I'm so happy to be with him and this is the best time to follow him and I will be with him always."
The stage Mercado was performing on Thursday was as big as it gets for high school-aged prospects, but he will be playing at a different level next summer. He'll either be contemplating a professional career after studying the final results of the 2013 MLB amateur draft or he'll be heading to Tallahassee, Fla., to play for head coach Mike Martin and the Florida State Seminoles. The Seminoles are in Omaha this weekend preparing to play in the NCAA Division I College World Series.
"I took my visit there and I really liked it a lot," said Mercado, who boasts an eye-popping 4.6 GPA. "I was a really big fan of Florida State before I even visited and I liked (assistant coach) Mike Martin Jr. a lot'; he was the one I talked to the most. It's a great program and you see where they are right now. I didn't hesitate one bit."
Kind of like the way he plays the game. No hesitation whatsoever.


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Sunday was a day to hear a lot of talk about Jackie Robinson. It was 65 years to the day since he broke the color barrier in major-league baseball.
But the one person who was worth listening to was Vin Scully, the longtime voice of the L.A. Dodgers. He covered Robinson for seven years, became friends with him and has more than a unique perspective on Robinson's career and what it has meant to the game and to society.
The coverage of Jackie Robinson is fine to a point and is almost insulting at other times. The rest of the yakkers proved they can read books, go online and do lots of research.
Scully lived it and can relate it far better than a bunch of talking heads. I wish the networks would use him as a resource more.
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Qualified job candidates are required to take and pass a drug test and a criminal background check.
Heinzerling Community requires job applicants have, at a minimum, a high school diploma or GED
Title: Direct Care Assistant II
Job Responsibilities
Pay Rate:
Benefits: Outstanding Attendance Pay; Employee Referral Bonus; 6 paid holidays, sick leave, vacation, personal days; tuition reimbursement; health, dental, vision life insurance; 403b Retirement Plan; Employee Assistance Program
Shifts: Full time
The Heinzerling Foundation serves a community of non-ambulatory residents with severe or profound mental retardation and multiple disabilities. They range in age from infancy to mature adults, with some spending their entire lifetime at the Foundation.
Residents are admitted to the Foundation based upon their individual development criteria, without regard to race, religion, or the ability to pay. Operating costs for the facilities and residents' basic needs are provided by state and federal funds. Gifts, grants, bequests and special events make possible the specialized programs and costly equipment essential to meet the needs of each resident.
The Heinzerling Foundation provides around the clock, personalized care for every resident within its facilities. Every action at the Heinzerling Foundation begins with a resident's unique needs and preferences. All services are provided in a warm and stimulating home environment to give residents an exceptional quality of life.
Bedrooms come to life with colorful linens, curtains, pictures and family mementos. Therapists custom-modify wheelchairs and beds to support each resident's health and comfort. The Foundation's kitchens prepare more than 100 different meals three times a day to meet each resident's special dietary needs. Family and staff select comfortable and attractive clothing for each resident.
Although the Heinzerling Foundation is their home, residents whose health allows outside trips enjoy a wide range of educational and recreational activities. Many residents receive educational and vocational services at West Central, the Southeast Schools, Living Skills Centers, ARC West and ARC South, and other facilities within the Franklin Country Board of MR/DD system. They enjoy camping, zoo trips, movies, Kings Island trips, swimming, dances, and other recreational activities.
The staff goes beyond highly trained caregivers. To the residents, they are trusted friends, family, and supporters, who encourage and make living worthwhile. They never pass in the hall without a warm smile, a loving hello, or a personal touch. The extra love and personal involvement they bring to their work is largely responsible for the progress displayed by many of the residents.
The staff includes a variety of specialists:
registered nurses
practical nurses
social workers
consulting psychologists
educational specialists
direct care specialists
In addition, auxiliary services are provided by the:
dietary department
laundry department
housekeeping department
maintenance department
volunteer department
While we have put into words a brief description of what each department has to offer the residents, we cannot possibly express the love and care given to each resident every day.
Dietary - Residents enjoy three meals, and as many as three snacks throughout the day. The menu, written by a registered dietitian, contains a variety of wholesome, nutritious foods. Every food is prepared in several textures to meet eating skill levels. An initial interview with families includes how the person eats at home, food likes and dislikes, dining utensils, height and weight, and any nutritional concerns. That way, preferences and abilities are a part of the individual's dining program. Further, each resident is weighed monthly and evaluated by the clinical dietician assuring response to diet is meeting nutritional needs. The dietary staff focuses only on resident needs and is proud to offer quality food, prepared under the most sanitary conditions.
Housekeeping - The mission of the Housekeeping/Laundry Departments is to provide our residents with the cleanest, safest, and most pleasant environment possible. We accomplish this through the dedication and caring of our well-trained staff.
We provide daily cleaning of all areas including resident rooms. We also provide special scheduled project cleaning of wheelchairs, carpets, med-carts, etc, and refinishing of floors. We are not only responsible for the cleaning of resident beds, but also for providing them with clean linens and personal clothes that they need on a daily basis.
Our personal property department maintains an up-to-date inventory of all resident clothing, making sure that they are properly marked with their name and kept in good repair, thanks to our wonderful sewing volunteers. We also properly store and distribute seasonal clothing to each resident.
Human Resources - The Human Resources Department makes every effort to recruit and retain qualified caring individuals who are committed to providing the best of care for our residents. In addition, the HR staff assists associates with benefits and other personal and family needs often through referral of our Employee Assistance Program. The HR staff also provides training for staff on various topics including policies, substance-free workplace program, and retention. The Human Resources Department is committed to creating a positive and stimulating work environment in which all staff feels that their work is meaningful and appreciated.
Maintenance - The Maintenance Department is comprised of nine individuals with a combined experience of over one hundred years in the upkeep and care of a facility such as the Heinzerling Foundation. We try to perform any work the way we would in our own homes, with pride for our craftsmanship and the safety and comfort of our residents.
Nursing - Nurses at the Heinzerling Foundation provide high quality medical care for the residents. Medication administration, respiratory treatments, skin and wound care, and ostomy care are among the many services the nurses provide. Our staff of RN's and LPN's provide 24-hour a day routine and emergency medical services, and they continually assess the residents for medical concerns.
Medical/Dental - Our physician is present for weekly and as needed visits and is available by phone to address medical concerns. Our dentist is on site weekly for routine cleaning appointments and other dental procedures. We also have a Certified Dental Associate on staff to address daily dental concerns.
Programming - The Programming Department is the heart of care at the Heinzerling Foundation. The programming staff includes a team of direct care assistants, unit managers, and teachers who work together to provide quality care for each resident.
This round-the-clock programming staff provide personal care, as well as recreational and educational experiences. Although we realize that our staff can never replace the love of family, we encourage direct care assistants to develop special bonds with 3 to 5 residents who they will care for on a regular basis. Direct care assistants provide personal care for those residents who are not able to participate in their care. For those residents who are able to participate in daily living activities, we encourage maintenance of current skills while fostering continued growth toward independence.
Each resident has an Individual Habilitation Program, which outlines the priority and non-priority goals that the resident will be working on throughout the year. Along with the team, our staff of teachers develops individualized goals for each resident. The focus of these goals may be to develop skills in communication, socialization, leisure or daily living activities. We believe that every resident has the potential to learn, and we strive for each resident to function as independently as possible.
The unit managers and teachers also work together to plan a variety of social activities for our residents. These activities include: camp, zoo trips, movies, dances, Kings Island trips, weekly swim trips, seasonal parties, etc. Staff is encouraged to involve our residents in a variety of these recreational experiences.
Social Services - The Social Services Department is the initial contact for parents or guardians and outside referring agencies in both the admission and discharge process. The Foundation's Social Service Directors provide significant assistance in working through the maize of paperwork involved with Medicaid and Social Security, and in establishing the level of care required for all new residents.
Once admitted, the Social Service Director serves as the resident's primary advocate in all matters relative to their residency, and ensures adherence to resident rights. Additionally, Social Service Directors chair all Individual Habilitation Plan (IHP) meetings, and are part of the Habilitation Team, whose purpose it is to deal specifically with single issues relative to a resident.
The decision to place a loved one outside the home is the hardest decision a parent or guardian will ever have to make. No one can make the decision for them. Even thinking about long-term placement is difficult; there are so many questions to be answered. The Social Service Directors in particular, as well as the entire Foundation staff, understand this and will make every effort to ensure the transition is as easy as possible for the entire family.
Therapy - The Therapy Department is staffed with licensed occupational therapists, licensed physical therapists and therapy aides. As a part of the multidisciplinary team, therapy staff provides services to assure our residents are able to participate in their activities of daily living with comfort, utilizing their best functional skills. Therapy assessments and treatments concentrate on musculoskeletal and sensorimotor status as well as developmental skills for daily activities. To enhance mobility and range of motion, the therapy staff (with the assistance of a carpenter) design, fabricate and monitor seating systems for wheelchairs and other orthotic equipment for our residents.
The Therapy Department partners with Columbus Children's Hospital to provide two specialized clinics on site. These include an Orthopedic Clinic, which along with the consultation of an orthopedic surgeon, evaluates and monitors the growth and orthopedic status of our residents and conditions such as scoliosis and hip joint disorders and a Physical Medicine Clinic, along with the consultation of a physiatrist, evaluates and monitors neuromuscular conditions, mobility skills, and seating systems for wheelchairs.
Volunteers - Heinzerling Foundation has an established corps of volunteers with time, energy, patience, understanding and love to share. Direct care volunteers serve as program aides, volunteer buddies, direct care aides and foster grandparents to our residents. For the resident's relaxation, volunteers spend time each week with a specific resident to play games, to take them for wheelchair rides, to talk and to be their friend. The goal of the Foundation is to improve the quality of life for each resident. Volunteers provide valuable and much needed assistance to the Foundation in meeting this goal.
The Heinzerling Foundation is dedicated to ensuring that we provide the highest quality of services possible. And while we can't change a person's destiny, we can help to make "A Life Worth Living."


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It was 25 years ago when Ziporah Lam's family frantically called 911 over and over, telling Fire Department dispatchers that the Chatsworth mother was in pain, with tingling arms and hands. Dispatchers variously diagnosed her ailment as the flu, food poisoning or an anxiety attack — and did not send help.
"Sir," one dispatcher told her husband in the midst of the drama, "we don't come out for people that aren't feeling well — OK?"
Only after Lam's son called back to report his mother was foaming at the mouth and choking was a paramedic ambulance sent. By the time it arrived nearly 30 minutes after the first call, Lam was in full cardiac arrest. She later died.
Lam's death was a seminal moment for the Los Angeles Fire Department. It made national headlines and prompted a drive to reform the LAFD's 911 system. Dispatcher training was improved and new standardized procedures for assessing medical emergencies were adopted.
When problems persisted, the department pledged to secure an independent accreditation of the dispatch center to ensure it met professional standards.
Today, the center still is not accredited and it continues to be plagued by performance deficiencies, according to recent reports and interviews.
Last month, The Times reported on systematic delays in a crucial dispatcher duty: getting callers to begin CPR on cardiac arrest victims. The Times also examined 2011 cardiac arrest cases and found that the agency failed by a wide margin to meet a national standard that rescue units be alerted within one minute on 90% of 911 calls.
Advances have been made since Lam's death, but many of the LAFD's current dispatch center troubles reflect shortcomings in quickly and consistently handling calls that have persisted for years, according to a review of public records and interviews with experts and department officials.
In a statement to The Times, Fire Chief Brian Cummings acknowledged the "urgency of this issue" and said he is committed to improving dispatcher performance in cardiac arrest calls. He also vowed, once again, to seek accreditation for the dispatch center.
The LAFD's struggles partly reflect a long-running debate in the profession about the best way to assess medical emergencies over the phone. With a limited number of highly skilled paramedic ambulance teams available, assessing the seriousness of each call for help is critical. That is especially true at the LAFD, where budget cuts in recent years have stretched resources thin. The department has 89 paramedic ambulances and handles more than 700 medical calls a day.
How consistently, accurately and quickly LAFD dispatchers evaluate the 911 calls they receive has been a recurring concern at City Hall. Studies dating to the late 1970s warned that dispatchers lacked adequate training and should be required to use tightly scripted medical questions — known as protocols — when processing calls.
After Lam's death in 1987, fire officials implemented a new call-handling system developed by a Utah physician, Jeff Clawson, that now is used by dispatch centers around the world.
Under Clawson's system, dispatchers were given color-coded flip cards with scripted questions designed to methodically elicit information on the caller's location, the nature of the emergency and whether victims were breathing and conscious. The answers guided dispatchers toward decisions about whether to send EMTs with limited first aid skills or paramedics authorized to administer drugs and perform advanced life-saving procedures.
But the cards failed to fully resolve the problems.
A few years later, an LAFD study found that dispatchers did not ask key questions in nearly half the 911 calls they handled. And The Times reported in 2000 that at least three patients died in heart attack and cardiac arrest incidents after dispatchers strayed from the standardized questions.
Fire officials again vowed to fix the problem by obtaining accreditation and meeting statistical targets in eight different categories. Cities with accredited dispatch centers include San Diego, San Jose and Miami-Dade County.
LAFD officials acknowledged in recent interviews that they never completed the accreditation process because they lacked the staff needed to analyze how dispatchers handle thousands of 911 calls. Cummings said he now plans to assign several additional firefighters to the task.
As part of the package of reforms approved in 2000, the department also promised to purchase a high-tech version of Clawson's system that tracks dispatcher compliance with call-handling protocols by requiring them to enter callers' answers to medical questions into computers.
Officials said the upgrade would increase accountability and speed up call handling, but it only became operational in 2008.
Now, that upgrade is being faulted by the department for exacerbating delays in getting CPR instructions started.
An LAFD study of 166 cardiac arrest calls received last October found that CPR was started just 31% of the time. And it took an average of 4 minutes and 12 seconds to get chest compressions going in those cases — after the point at which brain death typically begins.
The study partly blamed the delays on a question dispatchers are required to ask. The answer relies on often panicked callers to judge whether victims are breathing. Changes to the Clawson software were needed, the study concluded.
Clawson told The Times the LAFD has it wrong. Echoing past criticisms of LAFD dispatchers, he said the problem is city firefighters not consistently following his scripts when they take 911 calls.
"It never has a bad hair day," Clawson said of his software program. "People who follow it by the numbers don't have these types of problems."
Cummings has acknowledged his dispatchers sometimes "jump to a conclusion about a call as opposed to listening to what's being said and following a script." But he said his dispatchers do a "tremendous job" overall.
The San Francisco Fire Department uses the same Clawson program as the LAFD. Dr. Clement Yeh, the agency's medical director, said it is effective and user-friendly. "We've had some spectacular successes with this," Yeh said.
Still, many experts agree that gauging whether a patient is breathing can be difficult. One reason is that cardiac arrest victims sometimes gasp in ways that can be mistaken for normal breathing.
Like the LAFD, Houston officials have struggled with the problem. They recently rewrote in-house dispatching software to try to deal with the issue.
Houston dispatchers now ask callers "Are they breathing normally?" rather than "Are they breathing?"
David Persse, a physician who is the Houston Fire Department's medical director, said the new approach is an improvement, but not perfect because it still depends on the subjective judgment of callers.
"They don't have a medical background," Persse said. "They're nervous, they're scared."
Los Angeles fire officials now are pursuing a new round of reforms. Procedures allowing dispatchers to more quickly start CPR instructions will take effect shortly, they say. And the LAFD's medical director, Dr. Marc Eckstein, said that within a month the department will streamline other rules to ensure the closest fire engine and paramedic ambulance are immediately sent on critical emergencies, like cardiac arrests.
The LAFD must improve its dispatch center performance, Cummings said in an email to The Times. "I am committed to seeing this accomplished."


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Poster-Sized Satellite Map of New Mexico, June 28, 2001
SOCORRO, N.M., June 28, 2001 -- The New Mexico Bureau of Geology and Mineral Resources (NMBGMR) recently published a poster-size map of New Mexico which offers a satellite view of the entire state on a single, albeit large, sheet of paper.
"Satellite Image of New Mexico" provides a spectacular view of New Mexico, a composite created from a mosaic of images obtained from Landsat satellites orbiting the Earth. The 47- inch-by-54-inch satellite map, printed on a scale of 1:500,000, incorporates varying shades of green, blue, and red for a natural-looking likeness of the state.
Residents of New Mexico will easily recognize many of the state's unique landforms, such as the White Sands National Monument, the verdant valleys of the Rio Grande and San Juan and Pecos rivers, Valle Grande, Elephant Butte Reservoir, and El Malpais lava flows near Grants and Carrizozo. For those not familiar with New Mexico's geologic landmarks, these and many more distinctive features are clearly labeled on the map.
"Satellite Image of New Mexico," or Resource Map 23 as the poster is designated, is available for $20, plus $10 for shipping and handling (rolled and shipped in a thick cardboard tube), from the NMBGMR, a service division of New Mexico Tech. For more information about this map or other NMBGMR publications, write to the Bureau Publications Office, New Mexico Tech, 801 Leroy Place, Socorro, NM 87801, or call (505) 835-5410, or visit the website at http://geoinfo.nmt.edu.


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ORLANDO, Fla. — Back in 1971, Disney promised us the World. And that's precisely what it delivered — in spades.
Walt Disney World's castle door flew open Oct. 1 that year, unwrapping an entertainment complex that would go on to vastly overshadow its Western sibling, Disneyland.
I was there, as a youngster, during that inaugural year, after begging my parents to take me.
I clearly remember my first Mark IV monorail ride, excitedly sliding across the car's seats, the four swinging doors loudly clacking open. Then my first wondrous glance at the gleaming turrets of Cinderella Castle. I was hooked!
The Walt Disney World experience became indelibly entwined with fond...