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It's a big claim, but Washington University in St. Louis planetary scientist Frédéric Moynier says his group has discovered evidence that the Moon was born in a flaming blaze of glory when a body the size of Mars collided with the early Earth.
The evidence might not seem all that impressive to a nonscientist: a tiny excess of a heavier variant of the element zinc in Moon rocks. But the enrichment probably arose because heavier zinc atoms condensed out of the roiling cloud of vaporized rock created by a catastrophic collision faster than lighter zinc atoms, and the remaining vapor escaped before it could condense.
Scientists have been looking for this kind of sorting by mass, called isotopic fractionation, since the Apollo missions first brought Moon rocks to Earth in the 1970s, and Moynier, PhD, assistant professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences — together with PhD student, Randal Paniello, and colleague James Day of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography — are the first to find it.
J. Day Cross-polarized transmitted-light image of a lunar rock reveals its hidden beauty. In broad daylight the rocks are an unprepossessing — even an ugly — gray.
The Moon rocks, geochemists discovered, while otherwise chemically similar to Earth rocks, were woefully short on volatiles (easily evaporated elements). A giant impact explained this depletion, whereas alternative theories for the Moon's origin did not.
But a creation event that allowed volatiles to slip away should also have produced isotopic fractionation. Scientists looked for fractionation but were unable to find it, leaving the impact theory of origin in limbo — neither proved nor disproved — for more than 30 years.
"The magnitude of the fractionation we measured in lunar rocks is 10 times larger than what we see in terrestrial and martian rocks," Moynier says, "so it's an important difference."
The data, published in the Oct. 18, 2012 issue of Nature, provide the first physical evidence for wholesale vaporization event since the discovery of volatile depletion in Moon rocks, Moynier says.
According to the Giant Impact Theory, proposed in its modern form at a conference in 1975, Earth's moon was created in a apocalyptic collision between a planetary body called Theia (in Greek mythology the mother of the moon Selene) and the early Earth.
This collision was so powerful it is hard for mere mortals to imagine, but the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs is thought to have been the size of Manhattan, whereas Theia is thought to have been the size of the planet Mars.
The smashup released so much energy it melted and vaporized Theia and much of the proto-Earth's mantle. The Moon then condensed out of the cloud of rock vapor, some of which also re-accreted to the Earth.
This seemingly outlandish idea gained traction because computer simulations showed a giant collision could have created a Earth-Moon system with the right orbital dynamics and because it explained a key characteristic of the Moon rocks.
Once geochemists got Moon rocks into the lab, they quickly realized that the rocks are depleted in what geochemists call "moderately volatile" elements. They are very poor in sodium, potassium, zinc, and lead, says Moynier.
"But if the rocks were depleted in volatiles because they had been vaporized during a giant impact, we should also have seen isotopic fractionation," he says. (Isotopes are variants of an element that have slightly different masses.)
"When a rock is melted and then evaporated, the light isotopes enter the vapor phase faster than the heavy isotopes, so you end up with a vapor enriched in the light isotopes and a solid residue enriched in the heavier isotopes. If you lose the vapor, the residue will be enriched in the heavy isotopes compared to the starting material," explains Moynier.
The trouble was that scientists who looked for isotopic fractionation couldn't find it.
Asked how he felt when he saw the first results, Moynier says, "When you find something that is new and that has important ramifications, you want to be sure you haven't gotten anything wrong."
In 2003, Paniello restored a 25-year-old's voice, which had been lost to cancer, by constructing a new larynx out of tissue taken from her arm. It was the first time the surgery has been performed successfully in the U.S. In 2005, Paniello relocated a patient's salivary gland to restore moisture to a tear duct, groundbreaking surgery that has saved or restored the eyesight of several patients. More about Paniello.
" I half expected results like those previously obtained for moderately volatile elements, so when we got something so different, we reproduced everything from scratch to make sure there were no mistakes because some of the procedures in the lab could conceivably fractionate the isotopes."
He also worried that fractionation could have occurred through localized processes on the moon, such as fire fountaining.
To make sure the effect was global, the team analyzed 20 samples of lunar rocks, including ones from the Apollo 11, Apollo 12, Apollo 15, and Apollo 17 missions — all of which went to different locations on the Moon — and one lunar meteorite.
To obtain the samples, which are stored in Houston at the Johnson Space Center, Moynier had to convince committee that controls access to them of the scientific merit of his project.
"'What we wanted were the basalts," Moynier says, "because they're the ones that came from inside the Moon and would be more representative of the Moon's composition."
But lunar basalts have different chemical compositions, Moynier says, including a wide range of titanium concentrations. Isotopes can also be fractionating during during the solidification of minerals from a melt. "The effect should be very, very tiny," he says, "but to make sure this wasn't what we were seeing, we analyzed both titanium-rich and titanium-poor basalts, which are at the two extremes of the range of chemical composition on the Moon."
The low and high titanium basalts had the same zinc isotopic ratios.
For comparison, they also analyzed 10 Martian meteorits. A few had been found in Antarctica but the others were from the collections at the Field Museum, the Smithsonian Institution and the Vatican.
Mars, like the Earth, is very rich in volatile elements, Moynier says. "Because there is a decent amount of zinc inside the rocks, we only needed a tiny bit to test for fractionation, and so these samples were easier to get."
Compared to terrestrial or martian rocks, the lunar rocks Moynier and his team analyzed have much lower concentrations of zinc but are enriched in the heavy isotopes of zinc.
Earth and Mars have isotopic compositions like those of chondritic meteorites, which are thought to represent the original composition of the cloud of gas and dust from which the solar system formed.
The simplest explanation for these differences is that conditions during or after the formation of the Moon led to more extensive volatile loss and isotopic fractionation than was experienced by Earth or Mars.
The isotopic homogeneity of the lunar materials, in turn, suggests that isotopic fractionation resulted from a large-scale process rather than one that operated only locally.
Given these lines of evidence, the most likely large-scale event is wholesale melting during the formation of the Moon. The zinc isotopic data therefore supports the theory that a giant impact gave rise to the Earth-Moon system.
"The work also has implications for the origin of the Earth," Moynier points out, "because the origin of the Moon was a big part of the origin of the Earth."
Without the stabilizing influence of the Moon, the Earth would probably be a very different sort of place. Planetary sciences think the Earth would spin more rapidly, days would be shorter, weather more violent, and climate more chaotic and extreme. In fact it might have been such a harsh world, it would have been unfit for the evolution of our favorite species: us.
Washington University St. Louis


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Dominick Stanin
Aug 21, 2014
Andre S. Watson
Aug 14, 2014
Jose Alberto Miranda
Jul 24, 2014
Juan Sanchez-Rodriguez
Jul 16, 2014
Home » News » Crime
Plaistow mother, boyfriend face witness-tampering charges in abuse case
Jessica Linscott, 23, now faces the prospect of state prison time after first being charged with six misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of a child. Her boyfriend, Roland Dow, 27, is headed to trial next month on charges of first- and second-degree assault for allegedly striking 3-year-old James Nicholson in the head and burning the boy's wrists and fingers.
The couple's latest troubles came to light during a bail hearing for Linscott Wednesday morning. Linscott and Dow remained on the run for two weeks beginning in late November until they were apprehended by U.S. Marshals at Universal Studios in Orlando, Fla.
Judge Marguerite Wageling denied a request by Linscott on Wednesday to have phone and in-person contact with her son.
Wageling decided that Linscott will be able to write letters to her son, but they first must be sent to county prosecutors before being passed on to the boy's therapist. Prosecutors say they obtained a computer video file that recorded Dow and Linscott talking to the boy on Oct. 23 just prior to a well-being check by a worker from the Department of Children, Youth and Families.
"Roland Dow and Jessica Linscott are speaking at different times," said Michael J. Zaino, assistant Rockingham County attorney. "The conversation ranges over lots of topics, but (includes) very specifically what he is allowed to say, what he is not allowed to say. He is not allowed to say he knew she was coming. It ranges from whether he gets bloody noses, whether he gets spanked, this takes up a span of 20 minutes."
Part of Wednesday's hearing was determined to be non-public by Wageling. Instead of holding the hearing in chambers, she called lawyers, Linscott and a witness to the bench. Wageling spent several minutes talking to the witness called by the defense, and then had lawyers make their arguments in open court. State law allows for matters concerning the Division of Children, Youth and Families to be shielded from the public.
Linscott and Dow are expected to each face two counts of witness tampering for the computer video recovered by investigators. Zaino said the file was recovered while executing a search warrant for a computer.
- Police: Activist in chicken suit was warned not to pester Shaheen prior to arrest - 0
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June graduate of St. Paul's School indicted on sex assault chargesREADER COMMENTS: 0
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NH Fisher Cats slam way to win over TrentonREADER COMMENTS: 0
Derry to NH: Take Exit 4A
Editorial: Garcia gains Lambert lies
- Mass. Supreme Judicial Court has found upskirt photos taken on a subway aren't illegal. Should such voyeurism be a crime?
- Yes
- 83%
- No
- 17%
- Total Votes: 917

subset: commoncrawl


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Opportunistic theft after window left ajar (From The Argus)
Get involved: Send your news, views, pictures and video by texting SUPIC to 80360 or email us.
Opportunistic theft after window left ajar
Updated 1:03pm Friday 20th June 2014 in News
Opportunistic thieves struck a property after a window was left ajar in the hot weather.
At 1am on June 17 people in a property in Trafalgar Close, Peacehaven, went to bed, leaving windows slightly open and a purse on the sill. Five hours later it was missing.
At 2.15am the same day a man, 18-25, was seen examining a purse in Heathy Brow, opposite Abbey Close, Peacehaven.
Realising he was being watched he ran off, dropping the purse which was later identified as the one stolen from Trafalgar Close.
Anyone else who saw the man or any suspicious activity in the area during the early hours is asked to phone Sussex Police on 101 or email firstname.lastname@example.com, quoting serial 450 of 18/6.
Sussex Police are offering these tips to deal with the risk of thefts in the warm weather.
- Keep all wallets, purses, credit cards, car keys and other valuables secure and out of sight.
- If leaving the house empty or a room unoccupied - even when just in the garden - lock all doors and windows, including fanlights. Be especially careful about those on the ground floor and above flat roof areas.
- Lock garden tools and ladders in a shed or garage after use. They could be used to break into your home or that of your neighbours if left lying around.
- Double check fences and boundaries to make sure they keep intruders out.
- If leaving windows open while asleep, fit window restrictors so they cannot be fully opened, or make sure they are not large enough to allow access.
- Fit outside security lighting or a visible alarm to help deter burglars.
If you would like a visit for crime prevention advice, contact your local Police Community Support Officers by visiting www.sussex.police.uk.
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By Len Kiese - bio | emailOctober 28, 2008
ALBANY, GA (WALB) - Albany City Manager Alfred Lott says gang members are committing numerous and serious crimes and it's time to get the situation under control.
Tuesday night, Albany city commissioners approved about $1-million for the creation of a gang unit consisting of two supervisors and ten officers.
The unit's sole purpose will be to tackle the gang problem in the city.
"It gives us an organization that will know who these gang members are, what their backgrounds are, who their family members are, who their friends are and anybody who participates in a gang operation and we can get after all of them," said Lott.
Money from the Municipal Electric Authority of Georgia will fund the unit for the first six months. Next fiscal year, city leaders will look at a proposed property tax increase to help pay for the unit.
The unit should cost about $800,000 a year after startup. Lott says it's worth the cost to help keep the city safe.
P.O. Box 3130
Albany, GA 31706
(229) 446-1010
FCC Public File
(229) 446-4005
EEO Report
Closed Captioning


text: Once again, i am honored & blessed to be a guest blogger over at Simon Says Stamp. Simon carries a ton of products including lots of my stencils, both new & older releases. Today on their Blog, i show you how stencils can be a simple background or the star of the show. Basically, you get two step by step tutorials, complete with pictures, on one blog post! So hop on over and tell them i sent you!


text:
By now, you're likely familiar with Christel DeHaan and her wonderful charity, Christel House, that helps break the cycle of poverty by giving impoverished children and their families something that we all take for granted: education. You've heard stories of children who have gone through the program and come out to be successful and happy, and to share their successes with their communities. You've heard about how Christel has helped families by providing healthcare, counseling and job training opportunities. But, how does she do it? How is one person able to help so many?
If you ask Christel, she'll tell you, "Poverty is an immense problem in our world. No single person can solve it alone." And she's right. Christel thinks of the children, now over 3,300 in the program, as her own. That's why she continues to fund the efforts with her own money, and the generous donations of people like you. In fact, 100% of the donations she receives directly benefit those children and support their hard work to make a better future for themselves. That's one of the best things about donating to Christel House – you can go here and see exactly what your donation will cover and who it can help.
Christel House has helped transform the lives of many children around the world. I'm honored and humbled to be so close to such a fantastic organization, and to its founder. I've met a lot of these children in person, and the drive and passion they demonstrate is absolutely moving. I encourage you to learn a little more about Christel House for yourself. Check out www.christelhouse.org.


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Lisa W. Foderaro wrote for the New York Times Sunday about student Web sites like Cramster and Course Hero, and how they're changing the way students study and teachers teach.
On one hand, the sites are a great way for students to learn from each other, to investigate what they got wrong on a test, to find the correct solution to math equations they missed. On the other, it can be a strong temptation to cheat.
How do you use student help sites? Have you ever been tempted to cheat?
There is a teaching side to this issue.
"As faculty, we need to be better educated about what the possibilities are, and the truth is you can't put the genie back in the bottle," said David A. Sachs, an associate dean in the Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems at Pace University.
What are your thoughts about this? As either a student or a teacher.
- May 19, 2009 at 3:30 pm(1) Michelle says:
I'm a college student and I've been using Cramster for about a year now.
The site has never tempted me to cheat… because I only access it when I'm doing homework (which my prof. assigns for practice) or when I'm studying for a test. I'd like to know how professors feel about it. Hopefully they're ok with it because it has really helped my grades.
I've heard of CourseHero but haven't tried it yet.
- May 20, 2009 at 8:08 am(2) Deb Peterson says:
Hi Michelle,
Thanks for sharing your experience with Cramster. I have a feeling most students use it like you do, for honest help. People who use it for cheating will probably cheat any way they can. I, too, am hoping we'll hear from some teachers.
- May 27, 2009 at 3:12 am(3) John says:
Sorry, Deb. Most students use cramster to have other people do their homework for them. How do I know? I found cramster in January 2008. I knew some of my students never came to me for homework help and they were doing weird things with their homework. So I searched the web and found cramster. I've been active on cramster since then, primarily to make sure that none of my students are using it. But most of the users simply post their homework on cramster and wait for someone to do it for them. They only give the highest rating to a response if you give a full solution, with all calculations and answers. Most of the students have online homework, so they just copy the answer from cramster into their homework system. This isn't just a feeling… this is my conclusion from my first-hand experience, spending more hours than you can imagine on cramster in the past 18 months.
- May 27, 2009 at 7:36 am(4) Deb Peterson says:
I was wondering. Thanks for sharing your experience, John. How disappointing, but not really surprising, I guess. I hope there are other students like Michelle who use it honestly. What a shame that you've had to spend so much time investigating. How do students who cheat with Cramster on homework pass the test?
- May 27, 2009 at 1:17 pm(5) Carleigh McKenna says:
You raise an important question about the irresponsible use of Cramster and test scores. A student who wants to do the minimum and copy homework, grab a friends lecture notes instead of attending class, or collaborate on a take-home exam, can find the medium that suits his desire whether that medium is in a library or on Cramster. But in the end, exams are the great equalizer. For the most part, students are judged by their performance on exams the students who take short-cuts along the way will be penalized.
I am sorry to hear that you have a poor perception of Cramster.com. The instances you describe of students copy/pasting solutions are instances of plagiarism. We do not tolerate plagiarism, and invite you to email email@example.com with any questions or concerns. For more information, please see our
Anti-Cheating Policy.
I recently posted a blog questioning readers about the ethics of online homework help, and found the user-submitted comments to be quite insightful– read them here.
Finally, John, I would like to continue this conversation and use your experiences and suggestions to improve upon the Cramster.com learning model. I can be reached via email: email@example.com, or phone: 626.737.0393×707.
Carleigh McKenna
Marketing/Communications Associate
- May 30, 2009 at 1:21 pm(6) Samir says:
Well guys I've never used cramster for asking doubts but I do indeed feel quite similar to John. Some students like Michelle here are very much thoughtful and some even ask not to or don't expect you to give away the final answer. However how many are indeed sincere students ? So, it's not got much to do with cramster. They would get the answers from their friends anyway. And some are pathetic enough to rate you not helpful for just leaving out the final answer !!!
- January 10, 2010 at 6:38 pm(7) Brandy says:
I am currently Graduate Student and I discovered Cramster and Course Hero about a year ago. I have only used these websites as a study aid.
While I wouldn't ever condone cheating, I do think collaboration amongst students can help improve a student's performance. If the goal is truly for students to learn and perform well, collaboration between students can enhance learning not hinder it, and isn't that in the best interest of both students and educators? There are many students (including myself) who want to know how to study effectively, where to concentrate their focus, or how to meet the expectations of a particular professor in a particular course. When used for these purposes, I would say websites like these can help students collaborate and improve.
As for the professor who has searched for his students on these websites, I can certainly understand (and applaud) his desire to keep academic dishonesty in check by checking the websites to make sure his students are doing their own work. However, there should be a way for students to obtain help from peers without it being considered cheating. As for myself, I didn't even know you could post homework on the website and have someone do it for you…but then again, I am not a math major, nor do I have any desire to cheat. In addition, I would be afraid to use a solution that was provided to me by someone else (especially someone I didn't know) without first checking to make sure that it was actually the right answer. Not only that, but if I didn't actually understand how the individual arrived at that answer, how would I be able to explain myself if questioned, replicate the work on an exam, or be able to follow the same steps if I was given another problem? Helping students solve complex equations can be a helpful learning tool, but only if it helps them understand HOW to do it themselves, so that their learning is enhanced, rather than circumvented.
I have always wanted to make sure the work I turn in is accurate and thorough, but I do want it to be my own work. I participated in many study groups and study sessions as an undergraduate, where several of us would meet, look over each other's notes, quiz each other, hand out study guides, etc., in order to prepare for exams. I have seen classmates proof each other's papers, correct each other's homework, and give each other ideas on how they could improve. If I knew someone had already taken a class that I was interested in taking, I would ask what the individual thought of the class, how difficult the course work was, what material would be covered, etc., in order to know going into the course what was expected. I've never viewed these types of interactions amongst students as cheating, and I never felt that my professors did, either.
The fact that there are now websites available which allow more students to interact and collaborate can be a good thing, when used appropriately. Yes, there are always going to be a percentage of students who are simply looking for shortcuts and want to get an "Easy A" but those students have always existed. The fact that some individuals cheat shouldn't stop students who are honest from trying to do everything they can to perform well in their classes. If the objective is to have highly motivated students who are willing to use all available resources to increase their knowledge and improve their ability to perform well in class and on examinations, then I would contend that websites such as these can be a good thing. I would hate to see a few "bad apples" spoil it for the rest of us.
- January 11, 2010 at 9:25 am(8) Deb Peterson says:
Hi Brandy,
Thanks for such an insightful post. It's nice to hear how sites likes these are used by students with integrity. I'm so glad they have been helpful to you, and appreciate that you shared your experience with others on the site. Thank you! I hope you'll stick around and share your thoughts about other topics.
- January 13, 2010 at 3:30 pm(9) Laura says:
I've been using Course Hero and its been a useful tool in supplementing me in my notes and study guides. I agree with Brandy and feel that this site has effectively and efficiently help students study. I'm a hard working student who goes to all my classes, takes notes and does well on exams. But I know sometimes my notes might not be as thorough as I would like and finding material on Course Hero helps fill in those gaps. And so my studying has become more concentrated and effective on certain subjects that I would of missed without using notes other students have complied on the site. I think sites like these are the future for students and have changed the way students can become deeper and well rounded to succeed in their courses.
Education is a source of empowering knowledge and Course Hero has become another outlet for more of that knowledge. I think ultimately it will help students perform and meet all areas of academia.
- February 22, 2010 at 11:11 pm(10) Stuart says:
Despite what Ms. McKenna says above, the bare fact is that Cramster's primary use is cheating. If a student merely wanted to find a similar problem to the one on which they are stumped a simple Google search will almost always provide what they want free of charge. Students who are willing to pony up $20 a month to be a "platinum member" on Cramster demand answers to their specific problems, right down to the last significant digit. They get those answers too, usually within 15 minutes after they post.
Why are people so motivated to help others cheat? Let's follow the money. Those who solve problems for students are paid with "karma points" that can be traded for prizes (iPods and game systems are featured) and gift cards. Each karma point is worth roughly five cents and a solver can earn up to 15 karma points by solving a problem for a platinum member and receiving a rating of "lifesaver" from that member. Solvers receive less points from lesser "gold" members and even less for helping non-paying free members. What college student with an already-flexible moral compass can resist solving a few hundred easy (for them) problems in exchange for a PS-3?
Students who post problems often promise "lifesaver points" right in the subject line and there is an ever-present reminder on the page that solvers receive more karma points for helping the higher-paying members. Students often pay for multiple platinum accounts to get around the three-question-per-day limit. Cramster turns a blind eye to this, except when a student with mutiple accounts tries to answer his own questions to win prizes. Cheating is OK, as long as they aren't trying to cheat Cramster! Even when they detect this, all they do is flag it as "possible abuse" and disallow karma points. This demonstrates how little Cramster pays attention to their own honor code.
Cramster also allows the posting of copyrighted material on their site without permission. The vast majority of posted problems come from copyrighted sources and neither the students nor Cramster have the right to publish them on the web.
The other dirty little secret about Cramster is that those subscribing to the service are unknowingly signing up for automatic renewals. Their credit card (or more likely, Mom's card) will be charged automatically until they figure out how to unsubscribe from the service.
If Cramster were serious about not allowing cheating they would never allow final answers to be posted by their solvers. Instead, they follow the most profitable path, hiding behind a toothless (and ignored) honor code and extracting money from lazy or desperate children who don't really understand how much those easy answers will hurt them in the long run.
It's sad that the web is so good in some ways and so bad in others. Cramster and similar sites is a prime example of how the web can go wrong.
- February 23, 2010 at 8:55 am(11) Deb Peterson says:
Yow. I have to admit I didn't know about the karma points. Thanks for sharing the economic side of this kind of service.
I guess given the various sides we've explored so far, I'm most willing to agree with those who have said it all depends on the integrity of the student who goes to Cramster for help. If you go intending to cheat, that's what you'll get. If you go looking for help only, not the answer, perhaps that's what you'll get.
- February 26, 2010 at 1:54 pm(12) Shaun says:
Well, I am currently an undergraduate student within an engineering major. I have just recently discovered cramster via friends and it has been a major study aid.
We use it by first attempting the problem, and then compare our work to the explanation provided. We can then see, step-by-step, what we are doing correctly, and what we have made a mistake in.
Because of the "budget crisis" our school is severely impacted and teachers aren't available to answer questions as much as they used to be. Cramster is like having a teacher in your back pocket at all times. Quite helpful in my opinion.
- February 26, 2010 at 8:04 pm(13) Curt says:
I teach high school physics and physical science. Cramster is great. I was recently taking classes in differential and partial differential equations at the Ohio State University. Cramster was an exceptional amount of help. I used it to help with completing my homework and managed to get "A"s on the midterm and final exams.
For professors who are worried about students using it to cheat, simply make the homework worth less or don't grade it at all. Just assign it and provide the solutions. Then base your grade on the midterm, final exam, and quizzes. You should increase the number of quizzes so that they are a substantial portion of the final grade.
Your students are adults or close to it. Time to let them take care of their own preparation. Give them lots of problems with lots of solutions, and then take the time to write new problems for your quizzes and exams.
This takes the negative aspects of Cramster out of the equation.
- March 3, 2010 at 1:47 am(14) Chris says:
As an undergrad electrical engineering student, I can attest to the enormous value of cramster. The fact is, cheaters will cheat. Period. Cramster has been of INCREDIBLE assistance to me in my studies. I recently took my Calc III midterm, and I scored a 100% (The average grade was a 68%). I feel that I owe this grade in part to cramster. My Linear Algebra professor even told our class to buy a membership to cramster.
In the end, each student must decide how dedicated he is to his own education. We are adults, and we can make our own decisions. I absolutely loathe professors whom treat us like kids, and try to parent us. Do your part and teach. Help us learn, but don't try to force us to learn, because you can't! In the end, the cheaters will fail, and the hard workers will utilize invaluable resources such as cramster to fuel their own success. Don't try to take away effective tools like cramster based on the irresponsibility and immaturity of the under-achieving minority.
- June 2, 2010 at 12:42 am(15) Marko says:
I just started high school and cramster is very big help. I use it to study for exams and midterms. I have it open when doing homework, and use it to ensure that I am doing my homework right. To be honest, I have no way of using to cheat, and in the end if I copy it to do my homework, I don't learn anything, and in turn could end up doing poorly on my tests. I would only be cheating myself. But either way, without it I would never be able to get the solutions to those long calculus questions.
- July 26, 2010 at 10:19 pm(16) Tim says:
I don't use cramster or course hero but at my university so many people cheat by finding old tests. The professors only change the wording or sometimes a few questions and if a student has access to so many exams, then they have a clear advantage. Studying just those old exams will guarantee them at least a "B" grade.
I have a friend who knows someone else that always tests a course only when she has all the old tests for that course.
I consider having old tests as cheating but for these online services like course hero and cramster…if it's only for homework then it's fine but when it comes to old tests…..the cheaters are screwing up us hard working students. Simply put, I hate cheaters with a passion. In my school, there's a certain group of people that are known to cheat, and they always sit in a huge group during test time… If I go and report them…I'll be called a racist … I'm a minority by the way.
- August 20, 2010 at 4:18 am(17) Robbyrobby says:
I have been a menber of Transtutors sicle march 2009. Not abusing Cramster which was my first experience, i feel that transtutors were really fast in there approach. I have completed 12 assignments till date. I think they carry much large and huge section of study material as i completed a few assignments by my own just a few sample material was needed. well its all upto each individual, try Assignment Help of Transtutors.com , well yes in terms of design and site appeal Cramster Rocks but, I think i'm here for some serious material.
- August 30, 2010 at 4:26 pm(18) Megan says:
I have just recently found Cramster, because I was looking for someone to help me figure out my math homework as well as help me study for tests and I have found it to be really helpful. I don't use it to cheat I use the step by step process to learn. I don't just take the answer because for my homework I have to show all the work, but this site helps me understand certain steps and processes. I use it honestly and have not even been tempted to cheat because I only use it when I have trouble with the homework and don't understand it or have to study for a test. So far I'm beginning to understand what the teacher is lecturing on because of Cramster. I hope people don't use it to cheat because that is not what it is there for. But people will cheat if that is how they decide to get through school and life. Cramster is there to help the students learn the material instead of just giving them the answer. I feel bad for the people who just take advantage of the answers given and decide to skip the actual learning process that Cramster makes available with the step-by-step process as well as explanations of the problems.
- September 8, 2010 at 2:59 pm(19) Austin says:
Re auto-renewal on Cramster: I'm a grad student using Cramster and just received a surprise $100 bill on my credit card from Cramster's autorenewal service. I thought I had canceled that long ago and received no warning from Cramster whatsoever that it was about to be renewed. Then I checked my credit card statement last night and saw this surprise.
So a warning to everybody out there – make sure you're cancelling your subscription, because it can be confusing (and, I presume, intentionally so. There's a reason, after all, they don't email you before the subscription renews).
- September 10, 2010 at 7:46 am(20) Deb Peterson says:
Wow, that's awful. Thanks for the good advice. Can you get the charge reversed?
- September 11, 2010 at 12:12 am(21) student says:
honestly you guys are idiots. Teachers are not meant to baby their students. If you have a problem with them taking information from online make the homework for practice and supply the answers or tell them about cramster, at least they see how problems are worked out. Most professors at universities care less to teach and are interested only in their research(ucla the school i attend is one example). I used cramster and am not willing to cheat but I didn't do amazing on the test because I was worried about the homework POINTS. Make the homework and let them decide what to do with it we are mature after all aren't we and the ones wanting to learn will learn.
By the way it is hillarious imagining you old teachers trying to figure out how students "cheat". whatever makes you happy I guess
- October 20, 2010 at 3:06 am(22) George says:
I think this is just leveling the playing field for everyone. I know people who copy homework from others or hire tutors to do their homework for them.
Of course, that's not ethical or even allowed by the universities. However, can anyone honestly say that if we were to remove sites like Cramster or Course Hero then cheating would go away?
I think the better solution would be to just stop making homework worth marks. That way the students would have no incentive to copy their homework online.
I think teachers are naive to think that if they make the rules then the students would follow them. There are some teachers who don't release old midterms because they are too lazy to make new questions. Guess what? People get old midterms from their friends who took the course. Well, suddenly the people with access to those materials have a huge advantage over those who lack those resources.
Ultimately, I think it's the teacher's responsibility to design fair (and cheat-proof) grading systems rather than the students' responsibility to act as monks and never take shortcuts.
- November 10, 2010 at 1:09 am(23) J says:
I recently began using Cramster, and I find it extremely helpful as an undergraduate student. My teachers have told us that they don't care how we get our homework done as long as we learn from it. One teacher makes sure of this by weighing the homework grade with the final exam grade. As in, if you get 100% on homework, but a 60% on the final, (.60)(100)=60%, your final homework grade. If a teacher wants to make sure a student is actually getting something out of the homework instead of copying answers, there are extremely easy ways, like this, to do it.
When I look for homework answers online, I'm looking for someone who can show me how to work the problem out, not just give me the answer. I understand some students want to just get it done, but these sites also help the greater number of us who want to use these responses to learn. There are always ways to use the system immorally, but that's no reason to condemn the people who use it for the right reasons.
- December 23, 2010 at 6:55 am(24) kuu says:
cramster homework tempting the students to cheat and crmaster also cheating the students with rewards.
- December 23, 2010 at 7:00 am(25) kuu says:
yes, cramster homework tempting the students to cheat
- February 5, 2011 at 3:44 am(26) Nicolas says:
Cramster & Course Hero are good for students!
I agree with all those who emphasized the importance of each individual doing well their part. My Prophet has always emphasized the following quote, "Whoever thou art, do well thy part." This means that if you're a teacher, you should teach well. There is no such thing as a bad student, but a bad teacher. Remember, just because you are a good professor does not mean you are a good teacher.
Students should do whatever it takes to learn. So, in a world of so many fine resources (i.e. electronics) they should take advantage of as many of these things as they can. This is not only for memorization, but understanding which will surpass the power of memorization. This is most beneficial when the teacher teaches not only with quantity, within reason, but quality. Remember, if you cheat, you only cheat yourself. The moment you truly understand this will be the moment you will no longer want to cheat. It will be at this point that you will want to learn with pure motives. It is for this purpose that we have Cramster.com, Transtutors.com, CourseHero.com, and many more online resources. As a TA in BYU's Electrical Engineering program, I encourage my students and any who inquire to refer to whatever resource is necessary to help them receive enough practice for superior understanding of the concepts. Anything is understandable through good training/teaching guides.
I encourage all to refer to these resources because they truly want to understand what they need to for the prospective job. If you have a solutions manual without understanding, refer to something else. Whether you realize it or not, you are merely seeking for a better textbook for you as an individual. If you have nothing to study, especially refer to these resources and anyone else who can help. Nationwide statistics do show that students working in groups provide the means for greater understanding and success in their future.
- March 14, 2011 at 3:59 am(27) Carrie says:
In life it's not about where you got the answers it's about knowing where to find them. I even had a professor that did all open book tests for this reason and honestly in a lot of ways if you are not prepared it's quite obvious if you have to spend all your time digging in the book you probably didn't study at all.
- March 14, 2011 at 6:47 am(28) Deb Peterson says:
That's an interesting point of view, Carrie. Knowing how to ask the right questions is an important part of knowing where to find the answers. I like it.
Here are a few related articles on the site:
- April 5, 2011 at 1:48 pm(29) kevin says:
I have recently just started using Cramster as a study aid to practice the problems other people have which are similar to the ones i am currently learning while earning points for practicing what i need to learn. It is true that many of the users will just use it only for answers. As funny as this sounds other people cheating has helped me learn because i have to solve what they don't want to so it is a great practice incentive for me. I first started posting the steps to solve a problem with no numbers and just the equations needed and i was getting not helpful ratings from people who only wanted answers. I really don't mind doing the work and explaining it as i go but if people are cheating they are only cheating themselves and exams tell the truth because you can't use cramster to cheat on an exam. It can be a great tool when your stuck and can't get any help. I have also found that you don't even need to ask a question to get an answer. In most cases someone else has already asked the same question you have but with different numbers. A simple search on the site will bring you to a similar solution with different numbers which forces you to rework the problem with your numbers which i think helps to learn the steps. Overall I have used it to benefit me and there will always be people that will use a good tool for wrong. I really appreciate the people who specifically ask for an explanation and not the exact solution along with clear steps they are the ones who benefit from this tool.
- April 6, 2011 at 7:26 am(30) Deb Peterson says:
It's all about intent, isn't it? Thanks for sharing how you use Cramster, Kevin. Smart.
- June 9, 2011 at 8:41 am(31) Samir says:
Hi Everyone. I'd left a comment around 2 years ago, comment(6).
In the past two years, I've experienced the "college life" from end to end in the best Technical College in India (IIT), and have arrived at the following conclusions:
1. Integrity and sincerity as a student don't count as long as you know your stuff. However, most students just ignore the "know your stuff" part, and draw a blank during their exams. That has nothing to do with sites like Cramster.com, and everything to do with what you think of education.
2. Using Cramster.com responsibly to grasp concepts and share your expertise can ONLY help you! Temptations are everywhere and all the time, so if you feel Cramster.com and similar sites are going to tempt you away from sincerity as a student, better stop studying and try something new
- June 13, 2011 at 8:09 am(32) Deb says:
Nicely said!
- July 18, 2011 at 9:30 pm(33) Dennis says:
I was wondering that cramster would be a perfect help source for me since im going to face 4 ap classes on my senior year. I would be able to get good grades on them but i wanna be able to get at least a 4 on all of them in order to acquire that i need outside help since i work part time and i won't be able to get help from my teachers
- September 20, 2011 at 10:20 am(34) Josh says:
This might be a problem for high schools, but most college courses don't grade HW, or if HW is graded it doesn't count very much toward the final grade.
At least when it comes to quantitative subjects, these sites show you how to do problems, but when it comes time for the tests you are on your own.
- February 17, 2012 at 1:03 pm(35) Clay says:
The teachers at the college I attend don't use textbook problems as homework, so the pre-solved problems only help me learn the process. As for the teacher searching for his/her students, I'm sure most cheaters don't use their real name.
- November 4, 2012 at 7:15 pm(36) ron says:
I have been a menber of Transtutors sicle march 2009. Not abusing Cramster which was my first experience, i feel that transtutors were really fast in there approach. I have completed 12 assignments till date. I think they carry much large and huge section of study material as i completed a few assignments by my own just a few sample material was needed. well its all upto each individual, try Assignment Help of Transtutors.com , well yes in terms of design and site appeal Cramster Rocks but, I think im here for some serious material.
- November 5, 2012 at 11:32 pm(37) reptos says:
As Ron said in terms or design and site appeal cramster rocks but there is one thing similar all these website I see all these websites offer homework or assignment help services which is somewhat hidden. The thing we see in cramster is book providing services, coursehero lectures videos and flash card for transtutors it is live tutoring, although transtutors provides this services openly. I came across one new website in the market http://enlightenedtutors.com and I loved their customer support and tutors and students 101 sessions.
- January 9, 2013 at 3:24 pm(38) Newt says:
I'm a grad student that used Cramster for physics as part of my undergrad. The proper way to use it, is to *do the problems first*, then check your answer to find out if, & why, you screwed it up…before the useless, non-English speaking TAs "go over" the problems in recitation. They do a bad job of it; a lot of recitations wouldn't be worth it if they didn't force you to attend with points. Cramster answers are usually more correct, and much more direct & streamlined, than what you'll get from a grad student TA.
Cheating? Let's get something straight; you still have to pass finals, any points you get for homework are a pittance. Anyone who just writes down the answers and turns it in will be dead meat on exams.
- August 21, 2013 at 12:45 pm(39) The Big Tutor says:
I have been a menber of The Big Tutor since 2010. Not saying that Cramster is not good but i feel that Helpinassignments.com were really fast in there approach. I have completed 20 assignments till date. I think they carry much large and huge section of study material as i completed a few assignments by my own just a few sample material was needed. well its all upto each individual, try Assignment Help of Helpinassignments.com , well yes in terms of design and site appeal Cramster Rocks but, I think im here for some serious material.
- November 20, 2013 at 3:36 pm(40) Kate Walsh says:
I have had a disappointing experience with Course Hero as a tutor. I signed up to be a writing tutor because I have an English degree and thought it would be fun to make a little money editing papers and helping people locate resources. Every question I got from Course Hero was a request from a student for me to write a paper for them, usually for $3-$10. Teachers and educators, I highly recommend blocking this site on your school computers and devices, it just makes it too easy to cheat.


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How can you laugh when you know I'm down?
We suffered a four-plus hour server crash this morning. Second time this month, and with my Mac failures on top of that, I am quite ready to be rid of February. My apologies if you tried to visit and were unable to get in.
Technorati Tags: blogging, real estate, real estate marketing, technologyRelated posts:
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Greg Cremia February 29th, 2008 2:39 pm
It always seems to happen all at the same time.


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Budget jump proposed for ORISE
According to the Department of Energy's 2011 budget documents, the requested amount for the Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education is $47.5 million. That's up substantially from the FY10 appropriation of $33 million.
The biggest increase comes from the DOE Office of Science, with a huge jump in workforce development for teachers and scientists. That program would go from the current level of $2.4 million to $17.7 million.
ORISE is managed by Oak Ridge Associated Universities for the Dept. of Energy.


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An driving guitar rock riff and powerful groove of drums and bass, acoustic gutar and synthesizer.
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Archive for January, 2012
BBL power records
Today's BBL was quite a ride … Strava marked it in the "Extreme" category, and I set two new power records. Ironically, they both came in the first attack zone where I went too early and got caught in the last 50m before the line. The power map is quite colorful in the attack zones where you can see some of the tactics playing out. Here are the graphs!
Here is the link to the ride data on strava – http://app.strava.com/rides/3338627
Sweet Home Alabama
It was an awesome trip to the midwest to visit Kristine's family and enjoy a brief winter vacation, but now it's back home to sweet home Alabama. Our long road back home started with a 9 hour drive from Shell Lake, WI to La Porte, IN. We went right by Madison, WI where cyclocross nationals is currently being held. It felt weird to be simply driving by such a major cycling event without stopping, but we had to get the kids back for school. There was no snow at all in Madison or anywhere in southern Wisconsin even though we had just left an 8 inch snowstorm in northern Wisconsin. There was also no snow in Illinois, but shortly after crossing the border into Indiana we ran into a pretty big lake effect snowstorm.
We finished the drive pretty slowly on snow covered roads, but made it safely to Kristine's grandmother's house in La Porte. It was 11PM and the kids had been sleeping for a while so Kristine went in with Analise first while I took a few pictures of the snow with Josiah still asleep in the car. It was very cold so I only took pictures for a minute and by then Josiah had woken up. So I helped him get his coat and boots on and told him to run to the front door while I got the suitcase we needed. A few seconds later I entered the house and Kristine asked where Josiah was? I thought she was joking at first and then thought he must have gone straight into the bedroom or bathroom. We looked briefly in the house and after not finding him ran back outside calling out for him. I ended up following his footprints in the snow to find him standing in front of the door of the house two doors down from Grandma Vivian's. It gave us all a big scare for a minute because it was really cold and the wind was blowing 20+mph steady with higher gusts. I guess Josiah was still half asleep!
The next morning we had a 12 hour drive in front of us. I started about 2 hours early on my bike heading south hoping to make it 60 or 70 miles with a nice tailwind, but during the night the wind had changed direction so that is was a nasty side/headwind. I averaged 15mph on very flat roads to give you an idea of the nastiness of the wind. When I left La Porte, I had to negotiate about 1/2 mile of unplowed roads before making it to the state highway which was still slushy and wet, but at least had two clear tracks between the snow. I knew that this wouldn't last long so I rode my road bike fishtailing through the snow for that first half-mile. Then it was just really wet with an air temp of 15 degF and a constant 15+mph sidewind. This was by far the coldest ride I did during our trip. Also, because of the slow speed I was traveling I didn't get a chance to make it through the flatlands to the nice hills around the Wabash river basin. Instead, I took Kristine on a drive through those same roads that I would have been riding. There was some really fun hills and drop-offs in the car. The kids loved it!
Here are a couple Garmin screenshots that illustrate how flat the ride was that I did.


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Sunday Routine
Prominent New Yorkers recount their weekend rituals.
Articles in the Series
Carmen Fariña: An Old-School Abuela
On weekends, Ms. Fariña, chancellor of the New York City Education Department, is first and foremost an active and engaged grandmother.
August 31, 2014, Sunday
Reader Idea | Personal Writing Based on The Times's Sunday Routine Series
This Reader Idea uses Sunday Routine columns as writing models for students who write and revise their own versions.
August 25, 2014, Monday
Julien Farel: Hair Today, Hair Tomorrow
Mr. Farel, a hairstylist who is running a pop-up salon for athletes at the United States Open, spends his Sundays with his wife and daughters at their East Hampton home.
August 24, 2014, Sunday
Meredith Monk: Tune Body and Voice. Feed the Tortoise.
On Sundays, Ms. Monk, the composer, singer, director and choreographer, spends some time rehearsing, but also makes time for family and her box tortoise.
August 17, 2014, Sunday
Khajak Keledjian: Zero to 60, and Back Again
Mr. Keledjian, 41, is the co-founder and C.E.O. of Intermix, a luxury fashion retailer. In the summer, he and his wife spend most weekends at their 4,000-square-foot home in Sagaponack, on Long Island.
August 10, 2014, Sunday
The Best of West and East
How Dale Jamieson, who runs the Animal Studies Initiative at New York University, spends his Sundays.
August 3, 2014, Sunday
Mark Fisher: A Day Away From the Ninjas
Mr. Fisher, who opened Mark Fisher Fitness two years ago, spends time on Sunday thinking about fitness, but also finds room for dessert.
July 27, 2014, Sunday
Hitting the Ground Running
For Sarah Johnson, the director of Weill Music Institute, Sunday is a day to spend with her boyfriend and her cat, if she's not busy working a weekend music event.
July 20, 2014, Sunday
Matt Long: Trading Surf for Turf
Mr. Long, a professional sand sculptor, spends most of the summer carving castles along the Jersey Shore and Coney Island, but he saves spaghetti omelets, guitar playing and gardening for Sunday.
July 13, 2014, Sunday
Jin Soon Choi: Sometimes, She'll Even Do Nails
Even on weekends, Ms. Choi is never far from her nail business, dropping by her salons and getting inspiration in museums.
July 6, 2014, Sunday
Rss Feeds On Sunday Routine
Subscribe to an RSS feed on this topic. What is RSS?


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Pepper spray is an invaluable resource in all sorts of situations. Police use it to subdue unruly criminals. Women use it to fight off unwanted advances from date-rapey frat boys. The TSJ staff uses it to spice up our yearly chili cook-off. The list goes on and on.
But pepper spray isn't without its drawbacks. For example, maybe because it amounts to throwing food in someone's face, people tend to get a little trigger happy with pepper spray. That's when stuff like this happens. Here are five things you won't believe got hit with pepper spray.
Two Actors Hugging On a Sidewalk
In Shreveport, Louisiana, Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright were enjoying a night out with some of the cast and crew of the movie W, or at least enjoying it as much as one can be expected to enjoy a night in Shreveport, Louisiana. Apparently, an altercation broke out at some point inside the bar they were at. A bar fight is certainly a reasonable enough place to break out the pepper spray, but by the time police get around to Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright, the two actors were standing on the sidewalk hugging.
Sensing that danger was most certainly afoot during this public display of man-fection, a police officer casually strolls up and hits Brolin dead in the grill with a blast of pepper spray. Either Brolin is one tough as nails son of a bitch or the pepper in said spray was a green pepper, because the actor just kind of stands there and asks the police to stop. Meanwhile, Jeffrey Wright is taken to the side, laid out on the ground and repeatedly hit with a taser, you know, because he's black and therefore exponentially more dangerous.
And for one night, the streets of Shreveport, Louisiana were safe again.
A Toys 'R Us Store
We're on the fence as to whether this qualifies as bizarre or perfectly reasonable, but Toys 'R Us is apparently ground zero for pepper spray wielding shoppers. The above video is from a Memphis news report which tells of police being called out to control wild Black Friday crowds at a Toys 'R Us store where an angry mob, some armed with tasers and pepper spray, tried to force their way past shoppers who had been lined up for hours to get their hands on the same deals that normal people just wait to buy online the following Monday. Remarkably, this isn't the only crazy pepper spray story to emerge from the child-infested bowels of Toys 'R Us.
At the Toys 'R Us flagship store in Times Square, three shoppers were hospitalized and 17 more were treated at the scene after someone released pepper spray in the store's elevator. Our inquiries as to whether the law of "he who smelt it dealt it" applies to pepper spray in an elevator went unanswered by law enforcement officials.
An 8-Year-Old Child
Remember the days when naughty outbursts at school were handled by way of a swift paddling by the school principal? It had a magical way of keeping all but the most wildly unhinged of us right in line. But those days are gone now, and teachers are left with nothing but harsh words and the threat of detention when some parent's demon spawn gets out of line. Unfortunately, words alone aren't enough to settle today's young hellions.
That was especially true for 8-year-old Aidan Elliott of Lakewood, Colorado. This youngster got so out of line during class that police had to be called in to settle him down. After he broke off a piece of wood trim and attempted to stab the officers with it, they pepper sprayed those violent thoughts right out of his head.
During an interview a few days later on the Today show, little Aidan conceded that he "kind of deserved it." We concur, young man. We concur.
An Entire School District
An 8-year-old student getting the spicy face spray treatment might seem insane, but in Birmingham, Alabama, it's just standard operating procedure. A lawsuit was filed in December, 2010 by the Southern Poverty Law Center to end the practice of police and school officials pepper spraying Birmingham students for little more than talking back to teachers.
In one instance, a student accused of mumbling a profanity at a teacher was pinned to a locker and pepper sprayed by the assistant principal. In another case, a young girl was held on the ground by five men and pepper sprayed for having the gall to smoke on school grounds. That's especially harsh, unless of course the student was hit with taunts of "Yeah, what's burning now?!?!" immediately after being pepper sprayed, in which case it's especially harsh but also kind of comical in a way you'll never get us to admit to in a court of law.
A Baby Squirrel
Hey man, it's one thing to traumatize school kids by spraying them with pepper spray, but when you traumatize them by spraying an adorable baby squirrel, well, that's just crossing the line.
That's exactly what happened in Mesquite, Texas though. The officer in question feared that the cuddly little animal was actually a rabies infested killing machine with student blood on its mind. In an epic display of bravery, he got between the squirrel and the students who would undoubtedly soon be its prey and attempted to scare it off. When that didn't work, he just straight pepper sprayed the poor thing. Sad.
Even sadder — the animal wasn't rabid at all. Workers at a local animal shelter nursed it back to health and released it back into the wild after the incident. When the inevitable animal uprising finally happens, expect this guy to be the first to fall.


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How To Register
Summer 2014 Class Registration
Summer registration, which began on April 26, is under way for available classes. Walk-in and fax-in registration for winter classes is also available.
How to register
Registration for summer classes begins Saturday, April 26, for phone-in and online registration. Out of District registration for spring classes begins Friday, May 2.
- Online Registration Login: myTHPRD
- Registration Phone Number: 503/439-9400
Patrons registering by computer for the first time must establish an online account in advance at myTHPRD.
The current activities guide is available to view.
- Printed guides are available at all THPRD facilities and various community centers
This page was last updated on Thursday June 05 2014 at 11:27 AM.


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Drag the home icon in this panel and drop it onto the "house icon" in the tool bar for the browser
Select "Yes" from the popup window and you're done!
Jason Kuiper, World-Herald Staff Writer The Omaha World-HeraldCopyright 2006 The Omaha World-Herald Company
A man wanted by authorities for questioning in a double shooting in Illinois died in a gunfight with Nebraska State Patrol troopers Tuesday afternoon.
The shooting happened about 3:30 p.m., following a 60-mile chase on westbound Interstate 80 that started near Alda and ended about five miles west of the Overton interchange. Overton is about 30 miles west of Kearney.
Full story:
Neb. troopers kill armed fugitive after chase


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ADHD: Focusing, Learning, Teaching
Prepare to gain a deeper understanding of Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD/ADHD), including diagnosis and specific behavioral interventions. Research based, applicable methods for increasing appropriate behaviors and removing inappropriate behaviors will be addressed at length. This course also provides relaxation and stress management techniques for you, the educator. Appropriate for all grade levels.
As a result of this participation in this course, students should:
1. Gain a deeper understanding of ADHD characteristics at various developmental levels
2. Explore research-based management strategies for the ADHD student
3. Improve instructional strategies for a direct impact on the classroom and students
4. Design a low distraction classroom environment
5. Develop a behavior intervention process for school/grade level
6. Craft an intervention plan to incorporate reinforcers for positive actions, and infuse behavioral strategies for removing inappropriate behaviors
The required reading is found in the following text:
Flick, Grad. (2010). Managing ADHD in the K-8 Classroom. Thousand Oaks, CA Corwin Press.
Brown, Thomas. Educational Leadership, ASCD. Feb 2007. A New Approach to Attention Deficit Disorder.


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Also posted over at Rogue Medic (now at EMS Blogs) and at Research Blogging.
The most recent EMS Research podcast is available – Spine Immobilization in Penetrating Trauma: More Harm Than Good?: EMS Research Episode 6.
I let my biases get the better of me when I wrote about this earlier.[1]
While I spent a significant portion of that review explaining why evidence of benefit was not present in this study, I ignored the problems with the data when the authors concluded that there was harm.
That was a mistake on my part. While I do believe that harm is likely, this study does not provide evidence to support that belief.
The study uses data from the NTDB (National Trauma Data Bank®). The problem is that the NTDB does not appear to provide reliable data. I described a lot of the problems in posts about the use of the NTDB to examine the effect of prehospital fluid on survival of trauma patients.[2] I will not repeat that here.
One example is this –
The percentage of spine immobilized patients with penetrating trauma is small. This suggests an appropriate lack of immobilization, consistent with PHTLS (PreHospital Trauma Life Support) guidelines. The total percentage of spine immobilized patients is also small – much smaller than anyone should expect in any EMS (Emergency Medical Services) system in the US.
How many of the trauma patients were fully immobilized, but did not have the data entered accurately?
Penetrating Trauma -
4.3% spinal immobilization.[3]
All Trauma -
8.1% spinal immobilization.[4]
Moving the decimal place one digit to the right (81%) might still underestimate the actual percentage of all trauma patients immobilized. If the data may be off by more than a factor of ten, can we draw any conclusions from this paper?
What needs to be done to improve the quality of the data being recorded by the NTDB?
I apologize for the misleading post. I looked at my notes on the paper and I had the problems noted, but when it came to writing about the study, I ignored the problems where they supported my biases.
[1] Spine Immobilization in Penetrating Trauma: More Harm Than Good?
Rogue Medic
[2] Prehospital Intravenous Fluid Administration is Associated With Higher Mortality in Trauma Patients – Part I, Part II, and Part III
Rogue Medic
Part I
Part II
Part III
[3] Spine immobilization in penetrating trauma: more harm than good?
Haut ER, Kalish BT, Efron DT, Haider AH, Stevens KA, Kieninger AN, Cornwell EE 3rd, Chang DC.
J Trauma. 2010 Jan;68(1):115-20; discussion 120-1.
PMID: 20065766 [PubMed - in process]
[4] Prehospital Intravenous Fluid Administration is Associated With Higher Mortality in Trauma Patients: A National Trauma Data Bank Analysis.
Haut ER, Kalish BT, Cotton BA, Efron DT, Haider AH, Stevens KA, Kieninger AN, Cornwell EE 3rd, Chang DC.
Ann Surg. 2010 Dec 20. [Epub ahead of print]
PMID: 21178760 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]
Full Text in PDF format from www.medicalscg


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Since we're in awards season (and The Soth aside, we're not going to see much action there), I thought I'd craft some alternative awards to recognize some of the more obscure achievements of the 2009 edition of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Rather than drifting into cliché and repetition (I'm not dishing out an award to Bobby for unsung hitting coach of the year, for instance), these have a vaguely quantitative feel (vague in the sense that there are numbers involved, but for the most part I have no idea what they really mean)*.
* - I have recently discovered Fangraphs and, notwithstanding some of the smug self-aggrandizing bollocks spoken by the numbers fascists over there, there are a couple of things which do tickle the interest, not least this bloke who is at least introducing some random poetry to his analysis (emphasis on the 'random' part)
And without further ado, the envelopes please…
1. The Buy-one-get-two-free award goes to Juan Rivera. To much howling derision from our divisional rivals and stats gimps everywhere, the Angels signed Juan Rivera to a 3 yr $12.75m deal this time last year. According to Fangraphs measurement of salary derived from WAR (or something similarly fancy), Juan Rivera was worth exactly $15.1m in 2009 (or to put it another way, $100k less valuable than Curtis Granderson). Clearly he wasn't worth that - the market establishes value not a group of baseball propellerheads - but I do like the idea that Juan has already paid out his contract with his performance this year* and that from here on in it's all gravy.
* - I think Sam Miller at the OCR was first to pick this, but it's still worth an prize in my book
2. The That's-why-Mike-loves-Jeff award for defensive incompetence behind the dish goes to Mr Side Salad himself - Mike Napoli. See, I always assumed that the reason Mike loves Jeff is because his inner catchers instinct told him that Jeff is a defensive genius. Turns out that's only partly true. It's because Jeff is a genius compared to Mike Napoli. According to this measure of catcher's defense* produced over at Driveline Mechanics, Jeff ranked 90th out of 114 catchers in the Majors (you could probably strip a fair few of these out due to the small sample size), his defence having cost us about 2 runs. Nipples on the other hand, came dead last and in his limited time behind the plate cost us about 10 runs, or roughly a win. Perhaps our search for a full-time DH has now run its course?
* - I'm not sure I buy these metrics completely. According to this measurement, Mathis was in the black for throwing out runners, something I wouldn't have credited, and in the red for agility behind the plate - blocking pitches and so on - something I think he's pretty damn good at and there is no measurement of the catcher's ability to call a game for Mr CERA. Having said that, most of the good guys are at or near the top of the list.
3. The Mr Clutch award for making it happen when it counts goes to a certain Gary Matthews Jr. According to the Fangraphs 'clutch' score, which is a measurement of how much better or worse a player does in high leverage situations than he would have done in a context neutral environment (?!), Gary Matthews scored 2.11 whatchamacallits which was twice what our next highest batter scored (Jeff Mathis since you're asking) and in marked contrast to Messrs Anti-Clutch, Guerrero and Aybar (which may explain where the 'Failbar' moniker came from. Only 2 everyday players, Ryan Howard and Franklin Gutierrez, scored higher than HGH. Now, while I'd certainly appreciate it if he took his award home with him and buggered off to another ball-club, you do have to ask yourself what qualities you want in a pinch-hitter above and beyond making it happen when it counts and when called to. Perhaps there is some value in our most pharmacologically enhanced substitute fielder?
4. The Jobu award for mashing the curveball* is this year awarded to Kendry Morales. According to Fangraphs there was no player in baseball who did a better job of hitting the curveball this year. As measured by something exotic that I don't really understand, Kendry gives us a +11.3 thingamajigs (if you can tell me what unit this shit is measured in, you're a better man than I) worth of value for hitting the curveball, no-one else in baseball scored higher than an 8*. 2nd place for your LAAofA, was Aybar with a 5.3 which was good for a top 20 finish.
* - sort on wCB
5. The Choose-your-next-pitch-carefully-Mr Santana-it-could-be-your-last award goes to Ervin Santana. Following on from Kendry's ability to mash certain types of pitches, I thought it might be interesting to look at which of our pitchers had the most* and least valuable pitches. Turns out it was the same guy - Mr Voodoo himself, Ervin Santana. On the credit side of the ledger, Ervin's slider is filthy to the tune of +14.8, on the debit side, his fastball is a disgrace -17.4. Clearly magic comes at a price.
* - The best offerings by pitch type - Curveball, take a bow Jason Bulger +12.8, Changeup, Jered Weaver +10.3, Fastball Scott Kazmir +7.0.
Feel free to dive in with your own alternative awards (preferably with a better explanation of what these numbers are supposed to mean than I have provided).


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Wow this list is awesome... I have a really good friend of mine who is Dutch, but I STILL did not know some of these things.
Did you know....
1. Holland and the Netherlands are not synonymous.
2. The Dutch love sprinkles on toast.
3. The Dutch will only eat one hot meal a day.