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2011 Nissan Xterra SUV Pro-4X 4dr SUV 4WD (4.0L 6cyl 6M)
I bought my Xterra strictly for it's offroad capabilities and here is my opinion after 36k miles: I bought a manual tranny model cause I was unsure if Nissan fixed the automatic tranny problem. First gear on the 6 speed is pretty good ratio wise for crawling around technical rocky terrain, I live in NV where that is most of the terrain. The stock tires were terrible offroad and should not be used in hard wheeling conditions. My Xterra would climb like a billy goat, but performed terribly in snow and mud as it wouldn't allow wheel spin to get through such. I blew up the front axle when I pulled the fuse to allow me to actually get the front wheels spinning in snow. Towing is sketchy!!!
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Rate Dr. Tord Alden
Dr. Tord Alden's Ratings
Our son had been suffering for 7 years with massive daily headaches that lasted for 12-18 hours. Dr Alden gave us hope and the confidence we needed to schedule surgery when all of the other doctors we saw only gave us more doubt. It's impossible to thank him enough for giving us our son back. He will always be a hero in our house, not simply for his skill as a surgeon, but for his confidence and ability to inspire confidence in his patients.
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Dr. Alden is simply as close to a miracle worker as there is on all levels. He not only saved our 6-yr old son's life by removing an osteoid osteoma near the base of our son's brainstem, but our son was able to leave the hospital on Memorial Day only 3 days after surgery. Dr. Alden's bedside manner is unmatched, both with the children, as well as w/the parents. My wife & I searched the midwest for 3 months to find a specialist willing to help our son before we found Dr. Alden. Our family is blessed to have many family friends who are doctors in various fields, all of whom believe our son was given a second chance due to the unbelievable expertise of Dr. Alden. Our son, who other doctors told us would either not survive the surgery, or at least suffer paralysis of some type, was in a neck brace for only 2 months, and 3 years later, shows not even a single scar from Dr. Alden's work. We trusted this man with our son's life, and would do it 1,000 times again if we had to.
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Dr. Alden was instrumental in my care. His clinical skills are unmatched. While operating on the brain is incredibly technical, he is able to convey the complexities in english that a anyone can understand. I hope I never have to see him again, but if I do, I know I'll be under excellent care.
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Ocean Prime's Truffled Deviled Eggs
Ocean Prime
- 8 hard-cooked eggs, peeled, cut in half, and yolks mashed in a bowl
- 1/3 Cup mayonnaise
- Juice from 1 lemon
- 1 Teaspoon white truffle oil
- 1 Teaspoon dry mustard
- 1 Teaspoon kosher salt
- White pepper, to taste
- 1 Tablespoon American sturgeon caviar
- 1/2 Ounce black truffle slices
- 1 Tablespoon minced chives
Popular Recipes
If you can't resist the taste of truffles, all you need is a little truffle oil in your life. The work of chef Jason Shelley, this recipe for deviled eggs shows you how easy truffle oil can be incorporated into the classic dish.
Push the yolks through a small strainer and combine with the mayonnaise, lemon juice, truffle oil, mustard, and salt and pepper to taste.
Put the yolk mix into a piping bag, or into a sandwich baggie, and cut off one of the corners. Pipe the mixture into each egg white shell, with mix extending up about 1 inch high.
Garnish each egg with a small piece of truffle slice, about 8-10 caviar eggs and sprinkle all with minced chives.
Calories per serving:83 calories |
Dietary restrictions:Low Carb Sugar Conscious, Low Potassium, Kidney Friendly, Dairy Free, Gluten Free, Wheat Free, Milk Free, Peanut Free, Tree Nut Free, Soy Free, Shellfish Free, Alcohol Free, No Sugar Added |
Daily value:4% |
Servings:16 |
See detailed nutritional info
Have a question about nutritional data? Let us know.


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Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan Interview Questions
Interview Experience
Interview Experience
Getting an Interview
Getting an Interview
Interview Difficulty
Interviews for Top Jobs at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan
- Intern (4)
- Customer Service Representative II (4)
- Senior Business Analyst (3)
- Health Care Analyst (3)
- Business Analyst (2)
- Manager (1)
- Operations (1)
- Analyst (1)
- IT Internship (1)
- Marketing Intern (1)
- Underwriting (1)
- Senior Manager (1)
- Auditor III (1)
- Team Leader II (1)
- Accounting (1)
- Finance (1)
- IT Audit (1)
- Regional Manager (1)
- Human Resources (1)
- Programmer (1)
- Project Manager (1)
- Senior Analyst (1)
- Web Editor (1)
- Call Center Supervisor (1)
- Customer Service Representative (1)
- Corporate Strategy Intern (1)
- Value Partnerships Analyst (1)
- Entry Level Staff Accountant (1)
- Rocessor II (1)
- Group Processor II (1)
- Application Details
I applied through an employee referral – interviewed at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in February 2012.
Interview DetailsGood practical sales as well as skilled related interview process.
Interview Questions- Regarding positive and negative aspects. View Answer
Accepted OfferPositive ExperienceDifficult Interview - Application Details
I applied through college or university – interviewed at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Interview DetailsI talked to a senior underwriter at a campus recruiting event and then was invited to interview at HQ in Detroit. Mostly behavioral questions to see how you think and reason through a problem.
Interview Questions- If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go? Answer Question
No OfferNeutral ExperienceAverage Interview - Interview Details
Wonderful process. My interviewer was extremely knowledgeable and well-spoken. I appreciated her promptness and her ability to conduct an interview. She was interested in who I am and what I know.
Interview Questions- Nothing too difficult. I was prepared. Answer Question
Negotiation DetailsSimple. An offer, counter-offer, negotiation, acceptance.Accepted Offer - Application Details
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks – interviewed at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Interview DetailsBasically filled out online application and waited about week. Got call from pre-screener who asked some very general questions about availability and explained compensation and that position would initially be temporary with possibility of being hired permanent.
Proper interview, was about a week later. Interviewed by managers in one-on-one setting for about 45 minutes. Simple situational questions were asked (How do you deal with irate customers?). Also more in depth questions about work experience.
In hindsight, this was a very laid back interview.Interview Questions- What would you do if you noticed your colleagues were calling off in protest of some change? Answer Question
Negotiation DetailsThere wasn't a negotiation.Accepted OfferPositive ExperienceEasy Interview - Application Details
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks – interviewed at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Interview DetailsApplied online and completed a brief set of prescreening questions. Received a phone call within a couple of days for a phone interview, followed by a phone interview with the hiring manager, and finally one on-sire interview that included meeting with three employees.
Interview Questions- How would you handle a situation where your peers and colleagues were not available to assist. View Answer
Negotiation DetailsI was treated well. I was honest about all of the compensating factors and BCBSM exceeded expectations.Accepted OfferPositive ExperienceAverage Interview - Interview Details
I discussed my previous experience and was asked the basic interview scenario questions i.e. Describe a time when you had to carry out a difficult task. Tell me about your experience working with a team etc.
Interview Questions- What does accountability mean to you? View Answer
Accepted Offer - Interview Details
Phone interview followed by on site interview which occurred 6 months later. Had written off any interview by month 2 to 3. The on-site 1/2 day interview was round robin. Mangers used scripts and I did meet members of the team.
Interview Questions- How to determine if reported systems information was accurate Answer Question
Reasons for DecliningCulture was not a good fit
Declined Offer - Application Details
I applied online – interviewed at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Interview DetailsApplied online. Took a test online along with mock customer service call. Received a phone call and had a telephone interview. Simple question. Must of passed because I was scheduled for a Face to Face interview. Went to a panel interview in from of 3 people . Basic questions, most were situational. Interviewers were nice. Said they would let me know. Applied online, 3 days later received phone interview, week later went to Panel Interview. Havent heard anything yet and it has been a week since my interview.
Interview Questions- How would you handle it if you gave a customer the wrong information and found out about the error days after your phone conversation with customer. Answer Question
No OfferPositive ExperienceAverage Interview - Application Details
I applied online – interviewed at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.
Interview DetailsApplied online and did not hear back for a couple months. Had a Skype interview and there were 4-5 managers there asking questions. All behavioral-based with some accounting questions thrown in as well.
Interview Questions- A journal entry question that included unearned revenue Answer Question
No Offer - Application Details
I applied online. The process took 2+ months – interviewed at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan in September 2014.
Interview DetailsHad an online assessment and then had the recruiter call and schedule an interview - had two interviewers who were super nice asking template questions, but they were certainly personable and conversational in the process.
Interview Questions- How would you respond to a customer on the phone asking questions that you don't know the answer to? View Answer
Reasons for DecliningI wasn't offered the initial job - over qualified - they did call back to interview by phone for a different position about 3-4 weeks after the initial interview but since I thought the first interview went really well but didn't hear back from them sooner, I assumed I wasn't being considered further and accepted a position with another company.
Declined OfferPositive ExperienceEasy Interview
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Commerce Police Department arrests
Posted by
Mark Beardsley
Public Safety
Friday, August 20. 2010
Comments (0)
The Commerce Police Department announced the following arrests or citations for the past week:
•Jack Eugene Garrett, 33, 774 Wilson Cemetery Road, Nicholson, driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol, leaving the scene of an accident and driving with an expired tag. Garrett was the driver of a truck that struck another truck just before midnight Saturday at the corner of Wilhard Street and Cherry Street. When police arrived, Garrett was not on the scene and a young woman claimed she'd been driving. However, the driver of the other vehicle went to the nearby Wing Slingers restaurant to use the restroom and when she returned she told the officer that the man who had been driving the truck that hit her was at the restaurant and "accosted her." The woman who had claimed to be driving the truck, under questioning from the officer, admitted that Garrett was the driver. The officer went to the restaurant, where a witness said a woman had picked him up and taken him home. Two officers then went to Garrett's house, where his wife allegedly told them that he'd just left for Toccoa with his brother. She left a message on Garrett's phone advising him the police were seeking him in connection with the incident. At about 2:35 Sunday morning, the report said, Garrett turned himself in at the police station and admitted that he'd been driving under the influence after spending almost seven hours drinking at Wing Slingers. Asked how much he'd had to drink, he said "I don't know. I lost count. It was a lot," the report said. There was no indication that the woman who lied to police about driving his vehicle was charged.
•Jessica Lee Farley, 30, 192 Barber Road, Commerce, disorderly conduct following an incident at a doctor's office in which she allegedly cursed in the waiting room where the woman's daughter was being treated for a "severe" cut to a knee. According to the report, the child's grandmother took the child to the doctor when Farley would not. Officers arriving found Farley outside arguing with her husband. She came into the waiting room cursing, the report said, and an officer advised her to go back outside. When she ignored him, the officer picked her up, carried her outside and arrested her.
•Summer Sauls Payne, 35, 706 Michael Drive, Winder, DUI-drugs and failure to maintain a lane. She was stopped by an officer working I-85 after a motorist pulled off the interstate and told him of an approaching vehicle that had almost caused a wreck. The officer spotted the vehicle as it exited at Banks Crossing and pulled it over on U.S. 441. Farley allegedly flunked a field sobriety test but admitted to taking Lithium and Xanax. A search of the vehicle turned up bottles for hydrocodone, Xanax, lithium, soma and other prescription medications, plus two bags containing residue of marijuana. The charges are pending the outcome of blood and urine tests.
•Weyman Howell, 53, 212 Harmony Street, Commerce, picked up on a probation violation warrant from Madison County after he was found sitting on the front porch of an abandoned house drinking beer.
•William K. Lee, 60, 10641 Hwy. 334, Nicholson, speeding, obstruction of officers and fleeing and attempting to elude. The charges came after an officer attempted to stop Lee for doing 68 in a 55 mph zone on the bypass. According to the report, Lee turned off on Mount Olive Road and continued to proceed west at 45 mph. The officer turned on his siren, assuming Lee had not seen the lights, but Lee continued until he turned into the parking lot of the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. According to the report, Lee was argumentative and angry and when the officer had heard enough, he slapped on the handcuffs and arrested him.
•Amber Christina Coggins, 20, 1125 Whitehead Road, Sugar Hill, speeding (91/70) and driving with a suspended license.
•Lonnie Bonds Jr., 46, 344 Duncan Circle, Commerce, picked up on a felony child support warrant by an officer who saw him in his yard and was aware of the warrant.
•Logan Alexander Roach, 21, 286 Shankle Road, Commerce, criminal trespass after he got into an argument with his grandmother, broke a mirror and caused other damage in the house.
•Ricardo Perez-Reyes, 26, 935 Homer Road, Commerce, driving without a license. Perez-Reyes, an employee of a local Mexican restaurant, had a Mexican ID and driver's license but no Georgia license.
•Brandi Kay Boggus, 30, 211 McClure Road, Gillsville, entering an auto, She was charged after a witness identified her as the person who had taken a pair of sunglasses and other items from a vehicle parked behind BJC Medical Center. Boggus denied the allegations. None of the missing items were recovered.
•Shirley Dean Dean, 50, 1255 South Elm Street, Commerce, forgery after she allegedly tried to cash a counterfeit check at a Maysville Road business. According to the arrest report, Dean said she got the check in the mail and did not know it was bad. She left the store abruptly when the clerk called the police because she "needed to go home and pick her son's kids up that were getting off the bus," the report said.
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Archaeology as a vital US strategic interest
An opinion piece by me on the above subject on Fox News, and on why US National Science Foundation (NSF) funding of archaeology should be (i) supported, and (ii) if anything increased (rather than reduced in real terms), is at:
The current specific problem or issue is the FIRST Act (Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology (FIRST) Act), which seeks greatly to reduce NSF support for social, behavioral, and economic sciences areas like Archaeology, and especially to reduce support for work outside the USA. For a recent statement by the American Schools of Oriental Research highlighting the (negative) problems this act would cause for US scholars working in the east Mediterranean and Near East, see:
(Previously, see e.g. statements of the Society for American Archaeology; Society for Historical Archaeology; American Anthropological Association)
For some other statements highlighting the general problems/flaws in the FIRST Act (in particular: its drastic reduction of overall social science support, and its attack on the peer-review system and addition of levels of politically-motivated review – rather than letting scientists best judge what is good and important science), see e.g.:
National Science Board Statement
Association of American Universities
David Skorton, President of Cornell University
David T. Takeuchi, Associate Dean for Research at the Boston College Graduate School of Social Work
Scholarly Publishing and Academic Research Coalition critique
And, for a range of other information, and for links to several other commentaries, see: http://community.apsanet.org/Advocacy/issues/competesact
For a collection of reports on the FIRST Act and its progress, and on the debate around this act from Science magazine, see: http://news.sciencemag.org/tags/first-act.
For a debate in Scientific American for and against the FIRST Act, see: http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/is-social-science-research-in-the-national-interest/
One of the targets of the FIRST Act cuts to funding for the NSF's Directorate for Social, Behavioral & Economic Sciences would be support of graduate student dissertation research via Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grants in these areas (e.g. Archaeology, Anthropology, etc., etc.). This would especially affect those seeking to conduct research projects outside the US. For a discussion by a US PhD student in Anthropology supported in part by the NSF, who works on a Japanese topic (and is presently in Japan doing research), on how the FIRST Act would affect work like hers, and why we should instead support and value such research, see: http://www.anthropology-news.org/index.php/2014/07/07/a-defense-of-nsf-funding-from-the-field/.
It is important also to realize that the FIRST Act is not the only serious current threat to the small amount of funding available to archaeology in the USA, and, broadly, to funding for research in the 'social sciences' and 'humanities'. The budget of the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is currently (summer 2014) under active attack. See the 9 July 2014 blog post by the National Humanities Alliance, stating:
"On July 9, the House subcommittee that oversees funding for the National Endowment for the Humanities passed a bill to fund NEH at its lowest level (in constant dollars) since 1972. If enacted, this $8 million cut would bring NEH's funding level to just $138 million for 2015. NEH's funding has already been severely cut over the past four years, and additional cuts would fundamentally erode NEH's capacity".
And, in case you are wondering about the photo in the Fox News piece? The photo was taken at the Late Bronze Age site of Kalavasos Ayios Dhimitrios, Cyprus. The Late Bronze Age on Cyprus dates between ca. 1700-1100 BCE. With me are (left) Jeffrey Leon and (right) Catherine Kearns, both currently completing PhDs at Cornell. I post here a different version of the photo showing some more actual archaeology (photo taken by Andrew Viduka).
Thera/Santorini date debate: what's new, and why is it important?
The Thera (or Santorini) volcanic eruption in the southern Aegean is the largest known of the past 12,000 years (Johnston et al. 2014) and sent ash (tephra) and tsunami over a large area of the east Mediterranean (the latter reached the Levant: Goodman-Tchernov et al. 2009). The eruption buried, Pompeii-like, a large Bronze Age town at Akrotiri on Thera (Santorini) – disrupting long-established trade and communications networks in the region (Knappett et al. 2011). This great mid 2nd millennium BC volcanic eruption appears self-evidently an event of historical importance. When precisely did it occur?
A correct answer has proved a long, difficult, and controversial topic over the past several decades, pitting an established archaeological synthesis based around linkages of material culture and stylistic traits across the Aegean and east Mediterranean to proto-historical Egypt, against science-based dating techniques. The story up to 1999 was surveyed in Manning (1999), but this volume has now been out of print for a number of years. A new book (Manning 2014) – http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/test-of-time.html – provides a reprint both of the original text, as well as a 200-page update and revisit of the topic of the date, critically presenting and analyzing evidence available through 2013.
Why now? Despite the decades of often trenchant debate, and the strong rejections of the scientific evidence and an insistence by some scholars that the standard archaeological scenario cannot be radically revised, a considerable range of new information and reassessment have become available very recently which seem at last to point to a resolution of the Thera date question. Hence the new book (and hence of course this blog).
It has been clear since the mid-1970s that radiocarbon indicated an earlier date than the previously orthodox archaeological estimate of ca. 1500 BC, and more recent radiocarbon dating on materials from both Thera and the region, allied with sophisticated forms of modeling, have firmly pointed to a date in the later-late 17th century BC (Manning et al. 2006; Manning and Kromer 2012). Possible concerns that volcanic carbon dioxide could have affected the samples from Thera itself were shown to be irrelevant, since similar ages were determined from contemporary archaeological contexts elsewhere in the Aegean. Nonetheless, it was argued by critics for many years that radiocarbon did not work for some reason, and, in particular, it was believed that radiocarbon gave different results versus Egyptian history and so could be questioned – but a key large-scale study by Bronk Ramsey et al. (2010) demonstrated that radiocarbon analyses could indeed give accurate and precise dates for Egypt and Egyptian history in the second millennium BC. Thus, if radiocarbon worked in mid second millennium BC Egypt, then it should work also in the Aegean. Manning (2014) offers detailed discussion and analysis of the radiocarbon evidence from the Aegean (and also Egypt), and finds that the radiocarbon evidence clearly indicates a date for the Thera eruption in the late 17th century BC (and not a date after ca. 1530 BC as required by the conventional archaeological chronology). Claims and arguments to the contrary are reviewed, and it is explained why these are unlikely, implausible, or incorrect.
Olive branch? An olive branch was found buried in the Minoan eruption pumice on Thera (Friedrich et al. 2006). The outer preserved part should give a date for, or close terminus post quem for, the eruption. A sequence (from inner to outer parts of the sample) of radiocarbon dates on the sample gave a date shortly before 1600BC in agreement with (but more closely defined than) radiocarbon studies based on short-lived plant materials buried by the eruption at Akrotiri, or finds elsewhere associated with the eruption. All seemed clear. But, because the group publishing the olive branch claimed they could approximately recognize annual growth increments (tree-rings) – whereas most agree this is problematic to impossible in olives beyond the juvenile stage – much debate ensued. The tree ring issue unfortunately has come to hide the obvious: whether or not any growth rings are evident the simple inner to outer (oldest to most recent) time series of radiocarbon ages from the branch (and no supposed tree-ring information) still leads to almost the same conclusion: a late 17th century BC date, as stated by Friedrich et al. (2014) responding to claims by Cherubini et al. (2014) that a lack of clear tree rings somehow undermined everything. The other tactic is to argue that maybe the olive branch was long-dead by the time of the eruption. While possible in isolation, unfortunately for the rejectionist case, a second olive branch has been found, and there was clear evidence in both cases that there were leaves associated, which rather undermines claims that the branches were not living when buried by the eruption (I thank Jan Heinemeier for highlighting this to me while I was visiting Aarhus recently, and saw his fabulous new AMS radiocarbon laboratory).
Other scientific work (as, or even after, Manning 2014 went to press) has recently added further evidence either in favour of a late 17th century BC date for the Thera volcanic eruption, or against the low archaeological chronologies as especially promulgated by Manfred Bietak for the Levant, and from there for the east Mediterranean:
(i) There is now a reasonably strong circumstantial case for identifying the major volcanic eruption detected in the Sofular speleothem in NW Turkey as Thera, and this eruption is dated by the independent timescale established for the Speleothem to the late 17th century BC (Badertscher et al. 2014); and
(ii) A detailed radiocarbon analysis and chronological framework for Tell Megiddo, Israel, while yet to reach the Middle Bronze Age, already indicates that the ultra-low chronological model for the Middle Bronze Age to Late Bronze Age transition in the southern Levant, which places this transition as not occurring until during the earlier 15th century BC (e.g. Bietak 2013: Fig.8.1), is unlikely (Toffolo et al. 2014: 241), as does further analysis of the dates from the Middle Bronze Age destruction at Jericho which supports a date range no later than during the 16th century BC (Dee and Bronk Ramsey 2014: Fig.5).
Tell el-Dab'a (ancient Avaris)? This great site – a super-city of the world in the earlier to mid second millennium BC – was long held to prove that Thera could not have erupted around 1600 BC – a position restated time and again by the long-time excavator of the site, Manfred Bietak (most recently in Antiquity arguing against the olive branch date's relevance). Tell el-Dab'a supposedly had a secure archaeologically based chronology linked to Egypt which showed that the relevant cultural horizon in the Aegean was late 16th century BC at the earliest, if not later. This certainty has proved to be rather insecure. A detailed radiocarbon dating programme at the site found a chronology on average around 100 years older than the one claimed by Bietak (Kutschera et al. 2012). Since radiocarbon dating – and by the same laboratories – found a good correlation with Egyptian history from other material from other sites, then it starts to suggest that there is something seriously wrong with the supposed archaeological chronology at Tell el-Dab'a when this site alone yields such discordant dates. It is in fact notable on critical examination that there is very little sound basis to the Bietak archaeological chronology. For example, nothing actually ties the supposed Tuthmosid palace platforms to any of the evidence of named New Kingdom kings (scarabs) (carefully read Bietak et al. 2007: 27) – and hence these platforms were originally dated (in the early 1990s) by Bietak and his team as pre-New Kingdom before being later re-dated as 18th Dynasty – a first assessment which now seems likely to have been correct all along according to the radiocarbon evidence, and as suggested in Manning 1999: 93-94).
New archaeological finds meanwhile also dramatically undermine convention. At Tell Edfu in Egypt, finds of sealings place the well-known Hyksos king Khayan around a century earlier than usually assumed (Moeller and Marouard 2011). Bietak placed Khayan about 1600-1580 BC, and linked him with a palace at Tell el-Dab'a, but now Khayan and this palace would match the much older radiocarbon chronology for the site, and seem to confirm the need radically to revise all existing arguments based around the evidence at Tell el-Dab'a – such as when Cypriot ceramic types appear (which were again held previously, based on links from the Aegean to Cyprus and the reverse, to disprove the radiocarbon-based date for the Thera eruption, and so on). The lid with the inscribed name of Khayan found by Sir Arthur Evans at Knossos was also held for many decades to stop a raising of Aegean chronology, as otherwise indicated by the radiocarbon evidence – this too may go by the wayside now, and, indeed, it may instead be held as evidence indicating that an earlier date is necessary.
Of course, it will take time for such new realities to seep, drift, or sweep over the academic field of Aegean and east Mediterranean archaeology. A Canute-like tendency seems something of an archaeological trait in the east Mediterranean field. The text of A Test of Time Revisited in Manning (2014) reviews and analyses much of the evidence regarding the dating of the Thera volcanic eruption, including numerous figures to illustrate especially the radiocarbon dates and analyses. It also provides discussion and critique of scholarship which has sought to undermine or reject the radiocarbon-based evidence and date range.
Is the Thera date question important? Yes: the new evidence provides an important context and time-frame to reassess the history of the mid-second millennium BC east Mediterranean. In his The Making of the Middle Sea, Broodbank (2013: 383-386) states that the Hyksos capital, Avaris (Tell el-Dab'a), went "supernova after 1650 BC", and Broodbank rightly notes the enormous scale and potential importance of the Hyksos world, and wonders what would have happened if the Theban polity of Upper Egypt had not militarily defeated and erased this brilliant civilization. But, with the new timeline indicated by archaeology and science for Thera, Tell el-Dab'a, and Khayan, we have a new quantum. Rather than being squeezed into the years before the rise of the 18th Dynasty of Egypt, Avaris and its world can now rise in the late 18th century BC, with its great king Khayan – attested from finds bearing his name from Crete to Iraq to the Levant – around or shortly after 1700 BC, and then there are nearly another 150 years until the conquest of Avaris by Ahmose from Thebes. The Hyksos world, of trade and culture, is thus very clearly the critical milieu in which the transformational processes of Middle Cypriot III/Late Cypriot I Cyprus (first polities), latest Middle Helladic through Late Helladic I southern Greece (the Shaft Graves and emergence of Mycenaean polities), and Middle Minoan III through Late Minoan IA Crete (the floruit of the Neopalatial period) should be placed and viewed – and not the New Kingdom of Egypt. It is time for the Hyksos finally to get a better press. Re-dated, their world, driven out of the huge port city at Avaris in the Nile Delta, may become seen as a central force in the development of the wider east Mediterranean and Aegean, and the creation of a trading world and elite culture koine (observed notably in one aspect via its 'Aegean'-style wall-paintings as best known at Akrotiri on Thera but also found from mainland Greece, Crete, western Anatolia, Rhodes, the Levant, and at what might be re-dated as late Hyksos palatial buildings at Tell el-Dab'a). Several issues in early Aegean/Greek culture and history, from language to mythology, can find a better context with this new time-frame and milieu. The key is the correct chronology: read the book! To find out more, go to: http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/test-of-time.html.
Badertscher, S., Borsato, A., Frisia, S., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Tüysüz, O. and Fleitmann, D. 2014. Speleothems as sensitive recorders of volcanic eruptions – the Bronze Age Minoan eruption recorded in a stalagmite from Turkey. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 392: 58-66.
Bietak, M. 2013. Antagonisms in historical and radiocarbon chronology. In A.J. Shortland and C. Bronk Ramsey (eds.) Radiocarbon and the Chronologies of Ancient Egypt: 76-109. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Bietak, M., Marinatos, N. and Palyvou, C. 2007. Taureador scenes in Tell el-Dab'a (Avaris) and Knossos. Wien: Verlag der Österreichischen Akademie der Wissenschaften.
Broodbank, C. 2013. The Making of the Middle Sea: A History of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World. London: Thames & Hudson.
Cherubini, P., Humbel, T., Beeckman, H., Gärtner, H., Mannes, D., Pearson, C., Schoch, W., Roberto Tognetti, R. and Lev-Yadun, S. 2014. The olive-branch dating of the Santorini eruption, Antiquity 88: 267-73.
Dee, M.W. and Bronk Ramsey, C. 2014. 2014. High-precision Bayesian modeling of samples susceptible to inbuilt age. Radiocarbon 56: 83-94.
Friedrich, W., Kromer, B., Friedrich, M., Heinemeier, J., Pfeiffer, T. and Talamo, S. 2006. Santorini Eruption Radiocarbon Dated to 1627-1600 BC. Science 312: 548.
Friedrich, W.L., Kromer, B., Friedrich, M., Heinemeier, J., Pfeiffer, T. and Talamo, S. 2014. The olive branch chronology stands irrespective of tree-ring counting, Antiquity 88: 274-277.
Goodman-Tchernov, B.N., Dey, H.W., Reinhardt, E.G., McCoy, F. and Mart, Y., 2009. Tsunami waves generated by the Santorini eruption reached Eastern Mediterranean shores, Geology 37: 943-946.
Johnston, E.N., Sparks, R.S.J., Phillips, J.C. and Carey, S. 2014. Revised estimates for the volume of the Late Bronze Age Minoan eruption, Santorini, Greece. Journal of the Geological Society, London, 171: 583-590.
Knappett, C., Evans, T. and Rivers, R. 2011. The Theran eruption and Minoan palatial collapse: new interpretations gained from modelling the maritime network. Antiquity 85: 1008-1023.
Kutschera, W., Bietak, M., Wild, E.M., Bronk Ramsey, C., Dee, M., Golser, R., Kopetzky, K., Stadler, P., Steier, P., Thanheiser, U. and Weninger, F. 2012.The chronology of Tell el-Daba: a crucial meeting point of 14C dating, archaeology, and Egyptology in the 2nd millennium BC. Radiocarbon 54: 407-422.
Manning, S.W. 1999. A Test of Time: the volcano of Thera and the chronology and history of the Aegean and east Mediterranean in the mid-second millennium BC. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Manning, S.W. 2014. A Test of Time and A Test of Time Revisited. The volcano of Thera and the chronology and history of the Aegean and east Mediterranean in the mid-second millennium BC. Oxford: Oxbow Books.
Manning, S.W., Bronk Ramsey, C., Kutschera, W., Higham, T., Kromer, B., Steier, P. and Wild, E. 2006. Chronology for the Aegean Late Bronze Age. Science 312: 565-569.
Manning, S.W. and Kromer, B. 2012. Considerations of the scale of radiocarbon offsets in the east Mediterranean, and considering a case for the latest (most recent) likely date for the Santorini eruption, Radiocarbon 54: 449-474.
Moeller, N. and Marouard, G. (with a contribution by Ayers, N.) 2011. Discussion of late Middle Kingdom and early Second Intermediate Period history and chronology in relation to the Khayan Sealings from Tell Edfu, Ägypten und Levante 21: 87-121.
Toffolo, M.B., Arie, E., Martin, M.A.S., Boaretto, E. and Finkelstein, I. 2014. Absolute chronology of Megiddo, Israel, in the Late Bronze and Iron Ages: high-resolution radiocarbon dating. Radiocarbon 56: 221-244.
Graduate study in Classical-Mediterranean Archaeology in the USA – why, how, where? Some comments and general advice
At this time of the year would-be graduate students think about what to do, where to apply, and what is the meaning of 'life, the universe and everything'. As a Professor of Classical Archaeology, I get a range of inquiries from students who would like to pursue study in the general area of Classical-Mediterranean archaeology. Cornell has a concentration in Classical Archaeology in its Classics Field (see: http://classics.cornell.edu/graduate/concentrations/archaeology.cfm; for the Cornell Graduate School, see: http://www.gradschool.cornell.edu/; for Cornell's Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies, see: http://ciams.cornell.edu/about-ciams/).
Thus I offer a few thoughts on the general topics:
(i) Why Classical Archaeology?
(ii) And what should you know when considering this choice?
1. First a caveat: other areas of archaeology are fabulous too! Archaeology overall is unique in the humanities and sciences as it seeks to explore, understand, and explain the total time-span of human activities and material engagements on Earth. But this blog is focused on the areas of Classical-Mediterranean archaeology. Classical archaeology today covers all aspects of the study of the regions of the Earth within or neighboring the area of the greater classical world within a time-span typically from the origins of farming and the first towns (the Neolithic) through the post-Roman world of Late Antiquity.
2. If? Suppose you read below and feel you are not quite prepared yet, or firmly committed, but you really want to study graduate archaeology? The answer may be to consider taking an MA or equivalent first, both to establish background and CV, and to clarify what you really want to go on to study and work on. One example, shamelessly recommending my own University and its Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies, is the MA in Archaeology at Cornell: see http://ciams.cornell.edu/ma/. If lack of ancient language preparation is an issue – see below on this topic – then one option is to consider a Post-Baccalaureate program in classics as offered by a number of institutions (for a list of institutions in North America which offer graduate programs in Classics – the first column indicates those with a Post-Baccalaureate Program offering – see: http://apaclassics.org/education/list-of-graduate-programs-classics).
3. Why? Classical Archaeology is very much the original interdisciplinary field, the literal cornerstone of much of the western tradition. It combines the rich classical worlds and their history, culture and literature with the study of the material culture, monuments, art, landscapes and entanglements of the humans who lived in and around the area of the Greek and Roman civilizations and their neighbors, and their predecessors, and successors. See Map for approximate main area (plus then neighboring areas). The field engages with several thousand years of human lives, thoughts, actions, experiences and desires which intellectually and materially shaped much of the world around us, from central Asia to western Europe, North Africa to Scandinavia, and, via relatively recent European transplants, North America, Australia, New Zealand, and so on. Shelley in the preface to his Hellas (written 1821, published 1822) famously stated "We are all Greeks. Our laws, our literature, our religion, our arts have their root in Greece", and a recent book by C.J. Richard, 2010, Why We're All Romans: The Roman Contribution to the Western World, makes some similar claims for the Romans. (For those interested – which would hopefully include would-be graduate students in classical archaeology, see, on the history of classical archaeology and art in the USA, the book by S.L. Dyson, 1998, Ancient Marbles to American Shores. Classical Archaeology in the United States; and, for a history of classical archaeology in general by the same author, see S.L. Dyson, 2006, In Pursuit of Ancient Pasts: A History of Classical Archaeology in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries). This centrality is because the Mediterranean, south-west Asia, and classical worlds were home to several of the key early civilizations of the world, produced many of the most recognizable and beautiful objects and buildings known to humanity, and shaped and inspired much subsequent human history and material expression. The greater Mediterranean region, the 'Middle Sea', formed an extraordinary cradle and conduit in the history of humanity – a relatively small region compressing an enormous range of geographies and resources around a navigable, almost inland, sea. It was a central region (and actor) in the wider human story from the Last Ice Age to the modern period. Exploring and trying to understand this complex record is both fascinating, and fundamental, as made clear in two key synthetic studies which every would-be student of classical archaeology should aim to read: (i) Broodbank, C. 2013. The Making of the Middle Sea. A History of the Mediterranean from the Beginning to the Emergence of the Classical World; and (ii) Horden, P. and Purcell, N. 2000. The Corrupting Sea: A Study of Mediterranean History.
Classical archaeology at a North American university comprises the study of the material culture – that is the landscapes, monuments, sites, artifacts and art – of the ancient Mediterranean world and western-central Europe north to Britain, as well as the neighboring regions and cultures. The field typically explores the period from the prehistoric era through to the Late Roman-Byzantine world, with a central focus on the civilizations of Greece and Rome. In recent years more emphasis has gone to considerations of those civilizations and areas on the margins of the Classical World, but which exerted significant influence from prehistory to late Antiquity, in particular to the east: Egypt, the Near East, and central Asia. It is important to remember that the Roman Empire, and its Hellenistic fore-runner, was merely the western end of a set of empires which formed and re-formed across the mid-latitudes of Eurasia from late prehistory to the modern period.
4. Requirements? How can you aim to be suitable for admission to a graduate program in classical archaeology (and of course win funding)?
(i) Ancient languages. Yes, it is classical archaeology, but all major programs require some background in at least one classical language (i.e. either ancient Greek or Latin) even to be seriously considered. Further, most major programs require students to achieve at least a reasonable competence in one of these languages before moving to the all-but-dissertation (ABD) stage. And you will be recommended to try in fact to acquire some standing in the other language if possible. This language requirement makes sense for two reasons. First, looking forward, if your aim after the PhD is a faculty position in a Classics Department, then competence in one or both languages is something of a sine qua non. Second, unless you plan solely to work in the prehistoric period, knowing one or both languages is relevant/useful/essential for your research. So, as an undergraduate, you should try to acquire at least a couple of years, or more, of either ancient Greek and/or Latin. If you are reaching the end of your undergraduate career, and you do not have much ancient language background, then options to consider are looking for intensive summer courses, and looking at Post-Baccalaureate Programs in classics (see 2. above).
(ii) Archaeology. Take some courses that give you evidence of background in classical archaeology and art-history, and also wider archaeology (so look at anthropological archaeology courses, Near Eastern archaeology courses, for example). If possible, seek to volunteer to be part of an archaeological project. This is likely going to be a highlight of one or more of your summers. If this is in the classical world, fine, but anywhere (including locally) is OK. The point is for you to see if you actually like fieldwork, and to impress a graduate committee that you have sought out real archaeological experience and worked successfully on a project. For suggestions of possible projects, ask the archaeology professors at your university, or look at e.g. the Archaeological Fieldwork Opportunities Bulletin (http://www.archaeological.org/fieldwork/afob).
(iii) Modern languages. Most programs will require you to pass a (fairly basic) reading exam in two modern languages – typically French and German –before becoming ABD. It is also important: a great deal of significant literature relevant to many topics in classical archaeology is written in non-English European languages, especially French and German (but for some areas Italian, Spanish, modern Greek, etc., may be as or more important). Thus to make yourself a strong applicant, and to get a head start, take one or more foreign language classes as an undergraduate, and especially consider French or German.
(iv) Personal statement. Make sure you have carefully researched the PhD programs you wish to apply to. Contact some of the professors, and especially those you think you would be interested to take courses with, and to work with. Your personal statement should make it clear that you want to come to the X (e.g. Classics) Department at Y University for their PhD (if general) or specific program/concentration (if there is one) for reasons based on your research of the program and mentioning some of the professors you want to work with and why. Explain your background and preparation and why you are suitable for admission. Give some indication of the research areas that interest you and why – but not too much detail and especially do not be too definite and determined that you will only study one specific topic (remember part of the point of the first couple of years of a PhD program is to experience additional areas and approaches, and you should seem open to development and seem teachable and able to develop – you may not, perhaps even should not, clearly identify your specific PhD topic until a couple of years into the program having read much more, taken new classes, talked more with faculty and other graduate students, and experienced more in classes, in labs, and in the field). Minimize dramatic 'my whole life has been preparation for this' type paragraphs – go factual and positive and professional.
(v) Writing sample. Utterly key. Yes you need good grades (obvious), and GRE scores (obvious) and yes you need some (three) professors who are prepared to write strong recommendations for you (obvious), but by far the most important thing is an impressive writing sample. This will likely be read both by professors interested in classical archaeology and those in other areas of classics. You need to impress both with a well written, interesting, and engaging paper. The paper should show evidence of thoughtful writing – independent critique and analysis by you – and the ability to use (and not just describe or list) evidence to make an argument. It should be properly referenced. Talk with your undergraduate professors. Select your best paper(s), discuss how they could be better. Consider a re-write. If there is an option to write a senior thesis – do so. Hopefully this can form a suitable writing sample. If you do not enjoy doing a senior thesis then reconsider your plans for graduate school.
Is this not all dreadfully conservative? Is archaeology not as important as, and independent of, the text-based approach to the classical world? Are we not breaking away from old stereotypes, and accessing a past beyond the world of the elite (almost exclusively) male literature studied for centuries from the Greek and Roman worlds? What about new anthropological approaches, archaeological science approaches, visual culture approaches, etc? Yes, yes. But… In the North American model (contrast Europe where there are regular departments of 'Archaeology'), you have to fit at least somewhat into the disciplinary structure or you will simply not gain admission. Nor will there be any job for you to go to afterwards. You have to sort of fit the mold in order to then break (or re-shape) the mold. Plenty of exciting and radical work is on-going in graduate classical archaeology right now in the USA – but you have to gain admission first. Then you can seek to blend new interdisciplinary directions, ask new questions of previously non-studied data, push frontiers, use or develop archaeological science or IT techniques, and so on. And you do so starting from a solid platform, as a substantive scholar.
5. Where to apply? There are some strong general programs, including those well integrated with cognate departments/fields at their university, but key is to identify some faculty you want to study and work with. Do research: that is what the web is for. If you are really interested in the earlier, prehistoric periods, then do not apply somewhere which only does later material and topics. If you really want to do art-history in the classical period, then again choose appropriately. Do not apply somewhere where there is just one suitable faculty member – pick places with at least a small group of relevant faculty. See what resources are there – in particular: the library. If possible, visit and have a look, and meet some of the faculty (faculty are usually very happy to meet prospective students and to discuss their options – faculty want to recruit applications from good applicants too).
The top programs are much over-subscribed and so very competitive in terms of getting a place. But, of course, every year students get places at each of these programs – so it is a case of you making the best application you can (see above). Only apply to programs you really would like to go to. If you get one offer: be delighted. Do not apply to somewhere you do not want to go to. Graduate school to PhD is 5-7 years of your life – the decision to go to graduate school is a very important one in your life; you should only go to a place you really want to go to and which seems right for you. Your application list should all be first choices. If you get more than one offer: wonderful – you then have to decide among good choices.
Top programs? This depends on your preferences. It is not a case of picking a famous university. Study the offering and faculty in classical-Mediterranean archaeology (and related) carefully at each institution. A number of the 'top' universities in the USA at present do not in fact have strong Classics Departments, and especially classical archaeology programs. Centers of gravity change over time: you should try to go to a currently strong, or up-and-coming, center. Look for faculty who are not already emeritus or very close to. Check the scholars are research-active. Again look at the Department webpages, but also check out e.g. Academia.edu to see what the faculty have been doing in the recent (last 5 years) period. You want major active scholars who will be good to shape your studies and career, and write recommendations, for the next 10+ years. You of course do want a university with a major research library and associated resources – check.
A few programs strong in (interesting) classical archaeology (or classical archaeology and art) in the US at present, in no order of ranking nor as a comprehensive list by any means, are (author's personal opinion):
Berkeley: Ancient History and Mediterranean Archaeology Program at the University of California, Berkeley, http://ls.berkeley.edu/dept/ahma/
Brown: The Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology and the Ancient World at Brown University, http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Joukowsky_Institute/
Cincinnati: The Department of Classics at the University of Cincinnati, http://classics.uc.edu/
Cornell: Concentration in Classical Archaeology, Field of Classics, Cornell University,
Michigan: The Interdepartmental Program in Classical Art and Archaeology at the University of Michigan, http://www.umich.edu/~ipcaa/
Stanford: The Department of Classics and the Archaeology Center, Stanford University, http://www.stanford.edu/dept/classics/home/index.html
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill: Department of Classics, UNC, http://classics.unc.edu/academics/graduate-programs-in-classics
North of the border it is also worth looking at both the University of Toronto and the University of British Columbia.
NSF Funding and Archaeology
In an opinion piece (USA Today 30 September) entitled "Rethinking science funding", Eric Cantor and Lamar Smith (respectively Majority leader of the U.S. House of Representatives and Chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee) argue that the US National Science Foundation (NSF) is wasting US tax payer dollars, citing concerns with funding research in the areas of the "social, behavioral and economic sciences" (http://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/09/30/cantor-gop-budget-science-spending-column/2896333/). Cantor and Smith go on to identify some grants which they state are questionable and not directly of benefit to Americans. They make the emotive statement that "Congress is right to ask why NSF chooses to fund research on Mayan architecture over projects that could help our wounded warriors or save lives". They identify 10 projects they regard as particularly inappropriate for funding, of in total $3,203,154 (and in fact, ruling out one large project, 9 of the 10 account for $1,703,436); several are 'archaeological'.
Some reaction seems appropriate since the Cantor and Smith argument is not only narrow and emotive, but worryingly sloppy, untrue, and in fact seeks a path which would impoverish the USA in several ways. One of their targets is the Bronze Age in Cyprus – a research interest of this author – thus I declare a personal interest. For some other reactions and similar arguments, see also: http://blogs.berkeley.edu/2013/10/01/why-fund-studies-of-maya-architecture-instead-of-saving-lives/ and http://blogs.cornell.edu/adamtsmith/2013/10/02/archaeology-as-high-priority-research/ and http://jamesdoyle.net/2013/10/02/why-research-on-mayan-architecture-saves-lives/.
(i) Cantor and Smith create a false claim. Applications to the NSF for the funding of, for their example, Mayan architecture, compete only against other applications in the area of archaeology. They are not directly competing against, or taking money away from, medical research (or any other large, high-priority, areas). This archaeology panel represents only a tiny fraction of the total NSF budget. It offers (fairly minimal) support to a range of archaeology and related studies both in the USA, the Americas, and world-wide. This is relevant and important. Archaeology informs us about our heritage – a rich, global one for modern Americans – it also offers many relevant lessons for us now and for our future, ranging from how human societies have adapted to, or failed to adapt to, climate change in the past, to how urban settlements developed in different contexts world-wide over the past several thousand years and how and why some urban forms work and others fail over the long-term, to better understanding the development of economic paradigms and historical trends over the long term which help explain the context of today's world and its future. For one recent paper arguing the relevance of archaeology as a key social science, see Smith et al. 2012 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 109: 7617-7621 (http://www.public.asu.edu/~mesmith9/1-CompleteSet/MES-EtAl-12-PNAS.pdf). We would all be much poorer for the lack of such studies. Cantor and Smith state they are concerned that the US remain globally competitive – something history and archaeology in fact informs us about in terms of origins and future (see the book by Ian Morris, Why the West Rules–for Now: The Patterns of History, and What They Reveal About the Future, 2011) – and they specifically express concern that, for example, "High-energy physicists look to research conducted in Europe more than America". And yet, if one does look to Europe, it is notable that the European Research Council (ERC) spends much more on archaeology and related studies than the USA as well, and is not just spending on high-energy physics. If there is a point: it is the decline of US spending over the past generation on many areas of research (in preference to other things, and tax cuts primarily benefiting the wealthy – the top 20% and especially 1% – for example, see section 3. in http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2013/01/02/the-legacy-of-the-bush-tax-cuts-in-four-charts/). This is something which should worry the US population – and especially voters.
(ii) Let us consider just the money. The NSF budget is around $7 billion (2012 figure – e.g. http://news.sciencemag.org/2012/04/nsf-budget-year-starts-out-well – since NSF pages are currently unavailable). This is a little over half what goes to the three national science agencies ($13.1 billion in 2013, $13.9 billion in 2012): the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) laboratories (data from http://www.whitehouse.gov/administration/eop/ostp/rdbudgets). The NSF's $7 billion is then a little over 10% of the total non-defense annual federal Research and development budget ($64 billion in 2013, $66.8 billion in 2012). The awards identified by Cantor and Smith in their article amount to less than 0.05% of annual NSF spending, or about 0.005% (1/20,000th) of total federal research spending in a year. The projects identified are therefore so insignificant in the overall scheme of the total US spend on basic research that it is a questionable waste of the highly paid Congressmen's time to be writing such an article (attacking the 0.005%). The Congressmen are of course funded by the taxpayer (so they are wasting our money – which they claim to be trying to protect) – and they are being paid even during the current government shutdown, unlike other federal employees.
(iii) Cantor and Smith state they support medical and related research and wish to see it fulfill its goals of helping people in need. This is of course a vital national concern and an area any civilized society should prioritize. But here also is an area for the Congressmen to better concentrate their attention towards. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) receive over $30 billion a year (more than 4x as much as the NSF in total), and, despite much great science occurring as a result, there are regular fraud cases in the multi-million dollar range with, for just one example, Northwestern University this past summer (2013) agreeing to pay back nearly $3 million to resolve allegations of grant fraud by a cancer researcher (see: http://www.justice.gov/usao/iln/pr/chicago/2013/pr0730_01.html).
(iv) In general, Cantor and Smith appear to dislike any research projects not about the USA and any in the areas of the "social, behavioral and economic sciences". This highly xenophobic view seems to miss several highly relevant issues all of benefit to the USA. First, the USA does not and cannot exist in isolation – indeed Cantor and Smith note with alarm how China and Europe and Russia seem to be ahead in areas of research – and research on areas, peoples, and issues outside the USA invariably provides information, training and useful engagements of benefit to the USA (and hopefully the other partners). Even at the isolationist, right-wing, extreme, Cantor and Smith should remember the advice of Sun Tzu: know your enemy. Further, in the modern world, few topics are purely local; engagement in global research is essential if the USA is to remain at the forefront of research (in any area). The research projects Cantor and Smith critically highlight will almost all involve students from US universities. Two are of a financial level that they are likely in direct support of PhD students at US universities. Thus these projects are providing support towards training the next generation of globally aware and engaged leaders in academia and elsewhere. Whereas Cantor and Smith bemoan that these projects are overseas, look at the list of areas just for the projects they single out: Bolivia, China, Cyprus, Ethiopia, Mexico (and northern central America), Mongolia, New Zealand, Russia. These include a number of highly important, strategic, or problematic loci of considerable relevance to the USA. Research and engagement by students and faculty of US universities can only be valuable.
(v) Cantor and Smith claim it is unclear how these (to them questionable) grants are awarded and claim that there is a lack of information. This is simply untrue and dishonest. Their attack on the NSF is cynically timed such that one cannot even check facts regarding the claims made by Cantor and Smith because the Government shutdown principally forced by their Republican Party (trying to overturn the results of the last election) means that the NSF websites and similar sources of information are not presently available. The overall NSF budget and its main divisions are approved by Congress. There is (when the federal government is not shut down) considerable information on each program on the NSF website and details on how applications are to be made. An application for funding typically requires a 15 page text (some programs require more, and a few, such as those supporting doctoral candidates, less), full references, detailed budgets, CVs for the applicants and key project staff, and information on facilities, mentoring of postdoctoral students, and so on. Writing and assembling each application is a major task – daunting is an under-statement and why many university faculty never apply – and takes many weeks to months of work (usually by a group). The applications are then reviewed anonymously and, such is the small amount of funding available versus the applications received in most categories, most are rejected and receive no funding. A few, top, applications receive funding in each round of the various funding schemes. As required by the NSF, these projects will have articulated both "the intellectual merit of the proposed activity" and "the broader impacts resulting from the proposed activity". The process is rigorous if not almost masochistic. Cantor and Smith complain that only the summaries of each project are made available (these summaries are required as part of the overall applications and to be written for the general public versus a scientific readership) – as senior members of Congress they know this is not how the applications are reviewed and judged and grants are awarded – and so they mislead. If Cantor and Smith want copies of every 50+ page application sent to them as well as the NSF, then I am sure researchers all over the USA would happily bury them in pdfs/paper.
In all, in 2013, the USA is budgeted to spend over $140 billion on federal Research and Development (R&D), more than half of this on defense. To spend a tiny, tiny, amount of this vast sum on trying better to understand the world and human engagements with it, both inside and outside the USA, past and present, is an important and strategic investment. If Cantor and Smith really want to worry about value for money and priorities, then it would seem likely they should carefully examine some of the other 99.995% of federal R&D spending.
Why archaeology?
Archaeology is the study (by all available means) of how and why we have become what we are: the story of human origins and history from the earliest times to the present day and of our engagements with the world around us. It necessarily focuses on material culture and remains in the prehistoric periods, and embraces texts and other sources in the historic periods. It especially offers the potential to encounter some of the (vast majority of) people not included in the elite's written history of the world until the modern era.
Archaeology as a field has undergone a remarkable intellectual expansion over the last few decades. On the one hand, the field has embraced new techniques developed in the physical and chemical sciences for analyzing sites and objects in increasing detail. The burgeoning sub-field of archaeometry (or archaeological science) has carried archaeological analysis to the elemental and atomic level with advanced chronometric, geochemical, and radiometric techniques. At the same time, ongoing engagements with archaeological theory have pushed the field towards increasingly sophisticated accounts of the materiality of social reproduction from the remote past to the immediate present. Hence, archaeology has redefined itself from a study of past artifacts to an encompassing approach to the historical development of human relations with our material world (landscapes and things).
At Cornell we aim to pursue this conversation joining the humanities, social sciences, and physical sciences via the Cornell Institute of Archaeology and Material Studies (CIAMS): http://ciams.cornell.edu/about-ciams/.


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Wow!! Nexus is the real iPhone killer phone.. Haha..I love this.
Till now most of the Internet users must have heard about Nexus One whether thru Leaked Photos, Videos etc or different tweets. But today, Its official. Google and HTC has released the specifications and price of Nexus One which is more or less same as the speculations. Here is the Specifications details of Nexus One as released by Google.
From the specifications point of view, this Android phone looking as a strong competitor of Apple iPhone. Here is the comparison chart of both,
Specifications and Features |
Apple iPhone 3GS |
Google Nexus One |
Processor Speed |
1 GHz |
1 GHz |
Memory |
4 GB , Expandable to 32 GB |
Camera |
3 Mega Pixel (MP) |
Battery Life |
5 Hr. (Talk Time), 300 Hr. (Standby) |
7 Hr. (Talk Time), 250 Hr. (Standby) |
Yes |
Yes |
Voice Commands |
Yes |
Yes |
Multitasking |
No |
Yes |
App Store Name |
iTunes App Store |
Android Market |
Available Apps |
More than 100,000 |
18,000 |
Price |
$199 (with Contact) $599 (without Contract) |
$179 (with Contact) $529 (without Contract) |
As highlighted in the comparison chart, Google Nexus One is available for $179 on T-Mobile with 2 years of contract or you can buy Nexus One for $529 without any contract.
Wow!! Nexus is the real iPhone killer phone.. Haha..I love this.
The price is problem
The features of the new google Nexus looks cool, but the looks of the apple iPhone is far too good. Still have to wait for new version of Nexus.
Hmm.. Good one.. Keep going.
Thanks boz
Nexus One look like a cool phone with Android Os
I love all products of Google and Nexus One too
Supporting documentation can make the difference between a bit of kit that's ok or one that's exceptional at the job it was designed for. How do you know you're using something properly if you don't know it's capabilities for instance. I'm not sure why Google Nexus One Phone Revealed, Price and Specifications appeared when I was searching specifically for contract technical writer but I read it anyway and will think a bit more about it. There are some interesting points.


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16 of 56 Items
Searched for "Burgess, Henry W." as Name
Burgess, Henry W.
Hullmandel, Charles Joseph
Trees -- Great Britain
Nature Illustrated: Flowers, Plants, and Trees, 1550-1900
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building / Rare Books Division
All Any
Image ID: 1113433
Deciduous cypress, at South Lodge nr. Enfield, The Seat of GMBOX Esqr. (1827)
Permalink (click to copy):
Embed this image (click code)


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No results found.
No results found.
No results found.
Ronnie Barker |
Himself |
Ronnie Corbett |
Himself |
Rowena Cooper |
Guest Star |
Penny Irving |
Guest Star |
Kate O'Mara |
Lucy Lee |
Recurring Role |
Ronnie C: The doctor says I've got to have an operation on my nose and I'm going to have my tonsils out at the same time.
Ronnie B: Well, you be careful they don't mix the papers up. I mean, suppose they get you mixed up with a bloke who went for a sex change.
Ronnie C: Leave it out.
Ronnie B: Precisely, yeah!
Ronnie C: I used to have a fantasy that Raquel Welch would creep into my bedroom and put her hand down her blouse and bring out two cup final tickets. I actually went to see a psychiatrist about that, you know. He didn't understand at all. He wanted to buy one of the tickets, to be honest.
Music by The Aldershot Brass Ensemble and The Nolan Sisters.
User Score: 1216
User Score: 363
User Score: 66
User Score: 48
User Score: 12
User Score: 8
User Score: 7
User Score: 6
User Score: 5
User Score: 5
User Score: 3
User Score: 2
User Score: 2
User Score: 2
User Score: 1


text:
20 February 2015
Scientists from Cardiff and Swansea Universities are combining the principles of the butterfly effect and computer simulation to explore new ways of predicting and controlling the beginnings of heart disease.
19 February 2015
Cardiff University has confirmed its plans to utilise advanced MR imaging technology within its new Brain Research Imaging Centre (CUBRIC) in a bid to make the centre one of the top brain imaging facilities in Europe.
17 February 2015
New research suggests that patients recovering from bowel cancer surgery may be at a higher risk of relapse if their blood shows an immune response to a particular protein, called carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA).
16 February 2015
Clearest picture yet of cancer's immune response paves way for more accurate vaccines.
13 February 2015
Could patients' urine predict killer condition before it strikes?
Care Minister witnesses Cardiff University's ground-breaking contribution to mental health research.
12 February 2015
Cardiff researchers develop 'smart' cameras that guide police before anyone gets hurt.
Professor Peter Wells pioneered medical ultrasound scanning.
4 February 2015
Vice-Chancellor and Chancellor back healthier lifestyle call.
30 January 2015
Life-saving medical procedures are being taught in a sub-Saharan African country for the first time thanks to one of the University's flagship engagement projects.


text:
The hospitality industry comprises a vast range of fields: lodging, restaurants, event planning, theme parks, cruise lines, and various fields in the tourism industry.
Yumasoft offers software development services with a focus on lodging and restaurants.
Software development services for the Hospitality industry
Online reservation systems
booking engines integrated in your marketing website – as custom software solutions or as commercial off-the-shelf software products
Reservation management solutions
accounting for online reservation systems and other sources
Furniture placement planners
including calendar and scheduling options
Customer Relationship Management systems (CRM)
automation solutions for processes implemented by a company to manage communication with its customers
Event planning solutions
integral solutions with options for guest list management and hall planning
Point of sales solutions
touch screen ordering systems
Global distribution systems (GDS)
with Open Travel Association (OTA) standard compliance
See examples of Yumasoft's experience in the hospitality industry


text:
- Exchange: Frankfurt
- Sector: Health Care
- Industry: Medical Equipment & Devices
- Sub-Industry: Medical Equipment
Deltex Medical Group PLC
+ Add to WatchlistDX9:GR
0.036 EUR 0.003 9.09%As of 02:05:32 ET on 03/03/2015.
Company Profile for Deltex Medical Group PLC (DX9)
Deltex Medical Group plc develops and produces non-invasive cardiac function and volume status monitors. The Company's CardioQ haemodynamic monitor system is used on patients undergoing surgery and on critically ill patients. The CarioQ is produced in the United Kingdom and is marketed around the world.
Contact Information
Deltex Medical Group PLC
Key Executives for Deltex Medical Group PLC (DX9)
Ewan PhillipsChief Executive Officer | Paul James MitchellFinance Director/Secretary |
Quotes delayed, except where indicated otherwise. All prices in local currency. Time is ET.
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Bright Eyes (Conor Oberst) @ Austin City Limits. September 16th, 2011.
This set was amazing... Very excited for the after show at Stubb's tonight!
1) Four Winds
2) We Are Nowhere And It's Now
3) Take It Easy (Love Nothing)
4) Jejune Stars
5) Landlocked Blues
6) Lover I Don't Have To Love
7) Shell Games
8) Another Traveling Song
9) The Calendar Hung Itself
10) I Believe In Symmetry
11) Road to Joy
12) One For Me, One For You
www.ConorOberst.com | www.Saddle-Creek.com
All Images Copyright © Lindsey Best. Please do not steal or repost my
images without prior consent & proper credit. If you're
interested in licensing an image or acquiring a print, please email
▲rachelkay, emmalynsullivan, and 4 other people added this photo to their favorites.
This is so ethereal, I may over use that word - but this truly deserves it. I really like the softness of the background, it makes him look crisp & clean.


text:
NewTek TriCaster⢠TCXD300 at Winter X Games® Europe
HD portable live production system to provide live venue video to event audience
BORDEAUX, France â March 8, 2010 â NewTek, manufacturer of industry-leading video and 3D animation products, today announced that TriCaster⢠TCXD300 high definition/standard definition (HD/SD) portable live production system will provide live venue video at Winter X Games® Europe in Tignes, France, March 10 to 12, 2010.
"On the heels of Winter X Games 14 and the Vancouver Winter Olympics, we anticipate highly skilled competitions as we unite our world-class X Games organization with Franceâs leading pay TV broadcaster and local expertise of Tignes for the first Winter X Games Europe," said Kate Nelligan, live event programming producer, ESPN X Games.
"With NewTek TriCaster, we can create exclusive live content, delivering the ultimate experience to fans attending this premier event."
"Using NewTek TriCaster TCXD300, Winter X Games Europe can deliver HD live venue video, maintaining the network-quality coverage that audiences expect from this world sports leader," said Philip Nelson, senior vice president, strategic development, NewTek. "They can achieve this with just one portable live production unit, instead of having to incur the expense and space needed for multiple pieces of equipment."
With TriCaster, anyone can simultaneously produce, live stream, broadcast and project HD and SD network-style productions. A single operator or small team can create sophisticated productions while switching between multiple cameras, virtual inputs and live virtual sets, while automatically inserting clips, titles and motion graphics with multi-channel effects. In addition to Winter X Games Europe, TriCaster is used by sports organizations, broadcasters, schools, houses of worship, government agencies and others to provide a new level of extended programming and content to their audiences.
Pricing and Availability
TriCaster TCXD300 is available in North America for US$14,995 and in multi-standard internationally for US$17,995. The TriCaster family of products in NTSC is available in North America starting at US$3,995. The TriCaster family of products is available in multi-standard internationally beginning at US$5,995. Educational pricing is also available. For more information, please visit www.newtek.com or call NewTek Sales at 800-368-5441, international callers dial +1-210-370-8000.
About NewTek
Benefiting producers and artists with its cost-effective and groundbreaking technologies, NewTek is a leader in portable live production, video editing, 3D animation and special effects tools, including the TriCaster⢠product line, 3PLAY⢠and LightWave 3D®. NewTek has won numerous industry accolades, including two Emmy® Awards.
Clients include: Fox News, BBC, NHL, NBA Development League, MTV, Nickelodeon, the Steve Harvey Radio Show, CBS Radio, ESPN Radio, ESPN X Games, Fox Sports, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). NewTek products have been used in blockbuster films and television shows, including "Avatar," "Angels and Demons," "Battle for Terra," "The Dark Knight," "Iron Man," "Tropic Thunder," "V," "FlashForward," "Lost," "Fringe" and more.
NewTek is privately owned and based in San Antonio, Texas. For more information, please visit: www.newtek.com.
# # #
⢠The TriCaster product line includes TriCaster, TriCaster DUO, TriCaster PRO, TriCaster STUDIO and TriCaster BROADCAST, which are trademarks of NewTek.
⢠3PLAY, DataLink, TriCaster VM, TimeWarp, LiveControl, SpeedEDIT, VT[5], iVGA, LiveSet, LiveMatte, LiveText, 3D Arsenal and LightWave Rendition are trademarks of NewTek.
⢠LightWave and LightWave 3D are registered trademarks of NewTek.
⢠All other products or brand names mentioned are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.
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text:
We created Pandora to put the Music Genome Project directly in your hands
It's a new kind of radio –
stations that play only music you like
Fantasia For Piano In C Major ("Wanderer"), D. 760 (Op. 15): Presto
Features of This Track
jaw-dropping technical fireworksvirtuosic piano playing
a waltz feel
a well-known composer
These are just a few of the hundreds of attributes cataloged for this track by the Music Genome Project.
show more


text:
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Rhonda is a full time Realtor® specializing in residential new construction, existing home sales, town homes, condos, investment properties and land/acreage listings. Rhonda is committed to providing excellent customer service. She works very hard for each of her clients, handling all of the details of each transaction from start to finish. CREDENTIALS & AWARDS
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Rhonda Dodson
Beautifully updated 3 + 1 bedroom, 4 bath area 2-Story home in Bicentennial Hills - backs to a common area! The remodeled kitchen has new vinyl flooring, lights, under cabinet lighting, countertop, sink, microwave and tile backsplash. Updated bathrooms have new light fixtures, towel bars and paint. Large family room, office or 4th non-conforming bedroom, bathroom, gas fireplace and storage areas complete the finished daylight/walkout basement. Other updates in the last five years include new furnace and a/c, vinyl siding and gutters, carpet, garage door/opener and interior paint. Over-sized 2.5 car garage, 2 fireplaces, deck, patio and fenced yard. Shows well! BANK APPRAISAL FOR $220,000 in 2014!


text:
Beauty Shop
Forties hair salon-turned-dining room. Food and cocktails are served at refurbished hair dryer stations in... More
Corner Bar, Memphis
Grand old-school bar. Though you won't see The Peabody hotel's famed ducks (they stay in... More
H. Audrey
The epicenter of country music is going glam: Nashville royalty Faith Hill, Carrie Underwood, and... More
Merchants' first floor resembles a 1940s drugstore diner and serves Tennessee twists on classics, like... More
Patterson House
Übermixologist Toby Maloney is behind the drink menu at this bar named for the Tennessee... More
Congratulations to Mei Lin, winner of Top Chef Season 12.


text:
Fox unveiled the 20th anniversary re-release of "Star Wars" with a Saturday-morning preem in Westwood Village. Preemgoers, including helmer George Lucas, Carrie Fisher and Mark Hamill, feted new scenes, digitally remastered sound and new CGI effects. Also on hand were, naturally, Darth Vader, C3PO, Chewbacca and R2-D2.
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