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|Obesity, Health, and the Liberal Self
Transatlantic Perspectives on the Late Nineteenth and the Late Twentieth Centuries
September 26-28, 2013
Conference at the GHI
Conveners: Nina Mackert/Jürgen Martschukat (University of Erfurt), Susan Strasser (University of Delaware), Uwe Spiekermann (GHI)
Participants: Nora Binder (GHI Washington and University of Konstanz), Bart Elmore (University of Alabama), Michael Gard (Southern Cross University), Deborah Lea Frommeld (University of Ulm), Jan Logemann (GHI Washington), Rachel Louise Moran (Penn State University), Ava Purkiss (University of Texas, Austin), Kathleen Robinson (University of Wisconsin, Madison), Ulrike Thoms (Charité - Free University Berlin), Katharina Vester (American University), Alice Weinreb (Loyola University Chicago), Psyche Williams-Forson (University of Maryland)
Conference Report
Obesity has been identified as a crucial social and health problem in the Western world and beyond. While doctors describe obesity as a modern epidemic and a major threat to individual health and well-being, obesity is analyzed in the humanities as a social marker, an element of defining and redefining social order. In public, obesity is often linked to the responsibility of the individual and the ability to remain a fit, productive member of business and society. The conference "Obesity, Health, and the Liberal Self: Transatlantic Perspectives on the Late Nineteenth and the Late Twentieth Centuries" sought to historicize these observations. The GHI invited sixteen historians, sociologists, cultural anthropologists, and specialists in American Studies to discuss this pressing contemporary topic and to compare the different cultures of obesity and obesity perception in Europe and the U.S. over these time periods.
Two brief introductions by Jürgen Martschukat and Uwe Spiekermann outlined an agenda for the presentations and discussions: For Martschukat, obesity is a key to understanding how society is organized and how the individual is integrated into power relations. But there is more than repression: Discussing obesity is always linked to the bigger topic of freedom and its consequences. In modern, liberal societies, a rational and efficient use of the body is preferred. Size is therefore a signifier: it marks winners and losers. Analyzing obesity can help to define moments of crisis and give a better idea of the Westernization of the world and the fierce debates on the consequences of globalization. From a more historical perspective, Uwe Spiekermann saw obesity as a concept useful for questioning common ideas of historical linearity. Obesity is more than a narrative about the loss of our natural foundations or an inherent decline of mankind since industrialization. It shows history in action and sharpens our awareness of differences and choices. In contrast to doctors with their clear-cut distinction between healthy and unhealthy, the history of obesity allows us to realize complexity and contingency. Defining obesity is always about creating a hierarchy of different rationalities-that is, different knowledge regimes. The objective knowledge of experts and the subjective knowledge of people are in constant struggle, and public advice and guidance is always contested. Finally, obesity as a concept makes it possible to analyze human beings not only as cultural but also as natural beings.
The first panel "Obesity and Normativity," chaired by Susan Strasser, focused on such differences between ideals and reality in exploring public health politics and the epistemology of natural sciences. Michael Gard, in his talk on "Schools, Public Health and the Responsible Self," gave a taste of a book project exploring the crucial and long-lasting debate on liberality versus education in twentieth-century school systems in the U.S. Public health topics were introduced into schools from the 1930s to enable pupils to make their own responsible choices and to demonstrate the state's determination to improve individual health. Although never uncontested, schools continue to hold this position today. Underfinancing, a lack of reliable teacher training, and pressure from companies led to an educational system driven by campaigns and based on corporate sponsorship. Gard gave many examples of the commercialization and commodification of today's schools and stressed that public health education today is based on "illiberal" politics rather than a culture of knowledge-based decision-making by strong individuals. While Gard focused on teaching, Deborah Lea Frommeld discussed a basic and often unquestioned concept in medicine today. "Lipolitics: The Body-Mass-Index (BMI) as an Instrument of Power" started with the current significance of the BMI as a tool for categorizing people by weight and health. The index is closely linked to ideas of normality and abnormality that its creator, Belgian statistician Adolphe Quetelet (1796-1874), developed within the bourgeois mentality of the nineteenth century. Frommeld stressed the unintended consequences such hidden morality had in the implementation and execution of several World Health Organization campaigns since 1997.
People have always questioned the normativity of companies and doctors, however. Panel 2, "Concepts of Obesity," chaired by Jan Logemann, presented rather different ways to understand and deal with obesity. Nina Mackert, one of two colleagues whose travel expenses and accommodation were paid by the Fritz Thyssen Foundation, presented a case study on the Connecticut fat men's club, whose members had to be wealthy men with a weight of at least two hundred pounds. Her paper, "'I want to be a fat man / and with the fat man stand': Fat Men's Clubs and the Meaning of Body Fat in the United States around 1900," showed that being fat could be regarded as a positive value and celebrated in opulent public banquets. Fat men, within the understanding of the clubs, embodied the promise of material success; the members perceived themselves as a climax of evolution. In contrast to the dominant discourse criticizing the appetite of these fat people as a threat to society, these happy ignoramuses understood fat as an expression of upward mobility in the new world. Obviously, fat has ambivalent interpretations. Fat, however, is not only a social marker distinguishing wealthy white men from the rest. As Kathleen Robinson demonstrated in her presentation "'Militant Fats:' Contesting Obesity as Illness: NAAFA, and Its Heirs, 1969-2004," the small National Organization to Advance Fat Acceptance has tried to change the public perception of predominantly female bodies since its foundation in 1969. Members have primarily been fat white women. who met regularly, published pamphlets, brochures, and books to promote "fat power," and attempted to convince the public that fat is not unhealthy (although it can become so). Robinson discussed the often hidden background of the organization, which was supported by many men who loved fleshy women, but she made clear that the positive effect on society more than outweighed this: By questioning diet products and cosmetic surgery, they had some effect on regulating these new body-related markets.
This example already foreshadowed some aspects discussed in more detail in the third panel, "Obesity, Gender and Race," chaired by Uwe Spiekermann. First, Katharina Vester examined the writings of French gastronome Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin (1755-1826) and English publisher William Banting (1797-1878) to understand how the idea that educated people could control themselves was developed. In her talk "Diets and Gender in Late Nineteenth-Century America," she showed how Brillat-Savarin presented dieting as a question of knowledge and rationality and thinness as a difference between males and females that had to be produced. Banting's low-carb diet dismissed the idea of weight as a hereditary and developed individualized treatment for overweight people. Within this framework, obesity became an expression of laziness and lack of self-discipline. The U.S. market was flooded with self-help guides that celebrated the disciplined and thin self-made man. Dieting was to become a good habit of the educated classes. Thinness among women came to be perceived as a sign of strength, while being overweight came to be associated with greed. Restraint became an expression of white superiority, while overeating and overabundant body forms became loaded with racial connotations. The obvious racism of body discourses changed at the end of the nineteenth century, when modern physiology offered new explanations for moderate eating. Rachel Louise Moran referred in her lecture "'The Good Wife and Mother does not Understand': Federal Expertise and Authority in American Nutrition Science, 1880-1935" to the modern (German) scientific approach of Wilbur O. Atwater (1884-1907). He publicly propagated a family economy in which women were to develop a rational plan for purchasing food and learn to cook in a male-oriented way. This approach was propagated and promoted by the U.S. Bureau of Home Economics after Louise Stanley (1883-1954) took on leadership of the institution in 1923. The agency established a balanced approach to promoting a slim body combined with common concern about motherhood. Advice literature highlighted the prestige and practicability of rational food choices without using quantification; rather, it tried to appeal to the public's common sense. The rational consumer, it was assumed, needed to make purchases according to the findings of modern physiology, but she should also have some freedom in composing a proper and tasty diet. White women were the main addressees of such approaches, but there was a broad discourse on fatness in the African-American community at that time as well. Fat shaming, as Ava Purkiss pointed out in her talk on "'Beauty Secrets: Fight Fat': Black Women's Physical Culture, Health, and the Beautiful Body in the Early Twentieth Century," was well established among black women before World War I. But while white women were supported in their efforts to remain or to become slim, female African Americans had to deal with a long list of obstacles, concentrated in the image of African American nannies and a lack of respect for thin bodies, which were often associated by the (white) police with prostitution and intellectuality. The "white" ideal of thinness, however, shaped the lives of many black women during the entire twentieth century - now perhaps embodied in the iconic body model of Michelle Obama. Psyche Williams-Forson focused on the current discussions on food in political, social, and popular debates in the U.S. In "'What's this in my Salad?' Black Women, Food, and the Quandary of Self-Identity," she presented food as an expression of basic rights. Eating right should not adapt to predominantly "objective" ideals of healthy and rational diets but on values of good diet and good eating. This would lead to eating and body patterns shaped by rather diverse cultures, values, and ideologies. William-Forson told some stories about young African-American girls in vicious cycles of excessive eating and exercising. She urged communities to incorporate healthier cooking techniques and ingredients into foods already rich in cultural meaning. Discussing food and the body is essential in questioning the artificial borders between healthy and unhealthy foods and eating patterns.
Most of the contributions during the first day focused on public discourses and the discussions between experts and the public, often excluding economic interests. This was different in panel 4, "Obesity as a Market," chaired by Nina Mackert. Uwe Spiekermann's lecture "Options for the 'Slaves of Culture': Light Products, Diets and Laxatives Diets in Imperial Germany" showed that the new scientific knowledge system, based on new ideas of nutrients and metabolism, opened the horizon to new generations of food products: Processed food could balance "natural" processes and keep the body in balance. Modern balneology established not only a market for advice and cures but offered nuanced mineral waters and salt essences to balance out-of-balance bodies. From the 1890s, stimulants were detoxified: Coffee without caffeine, cigars with less nicotine, and beer with very low alcohol content were the harbingers of a product world of both enjoyment and responsibility. Effective diet products, however, were rare. But from the 1890s, hormone preparations offered an effective (yet risky) way to reduce body weight. More prominent and widely used by bourgeois women were laxatives. Even before World War I, the food industry offered the first "light" products with either reduced or enriched nutrient content. This opened a knowledge-driven path to growing profits for entrepreneurs and experts-and new options for consumers, who did not want to eat differently but to eat something different. The overlapping field of food and health marketing was also examined by Ulrike Thoms in her contribution "Obesity and Diabetes: A Complicated Connection, and Its Role for the Development of the Health Market, 1880-1980." Growing awareness of diabetes began in the 1880s when the disease was already linked to undisciplined lifestyle and eating choices. Before the invention of insulin therapy in the 1920s, the treatment of the disease was based on dietary restrictions to prevent this deadly threat and to help those affected. Thoms showed how diabetes was linked to obesity, how biochemical research distinguished between diabetes type I and II, and how experts and specialized companies developed diets helpful for living a "normal" life even after contracting the disease. Diabetics had to take responsibility for themselves by preventing obesity and living a balanced and moderate life. While the first two papers of the panel focused on specialized markets, Bart Elmore concentrated on one company. In "Coca-Cola and the Battle of the Bulge: Defining the Solution to Obesity, 1990-Today," he explained the soft drink producer's successful strategy to fight regulation. Coca-Cola is a company that chooses not to own most of the value chain except the syrup and to share the profits with a large number of local and regional stakeholders. This engenders an ever-changing coalition that is able to fight any regulation of soft drinks, the consumption of which is surely linked to widespread and growing obesity. The coalition partners' strong financial stakes establish networks to fight any "threats," even without the Coca-Cola Company's direct involvement. Philanthropy, engagement in communities, developing "healthier" products (mineral water, Diet Coke), and advertising a healthy lifestyle were additional strategies the company developed to reduce its appearance of responsibility for the growing obesity problem.
Coca-Cola is a surely a model for global capitalism in the twenty-first century. The spread of knowledge and practices and the question of national differences were discussed in more depth in panel 5 "Transatlantic Differences, Transnational Entanglements," chaired by Jürgen Martschukat. Nora Binder presented the successful career of an immigrant in her talk "The Obese within the Group: Kurt Lewin's Method of Changing Food Habits and its Limits (1940s-1950s)." German-American psychologist Kurt Lewin (1890-1947), who had to leave Germany in 1933, became one of the most influential social scientists of his time. His ideas on group psychology and chain management aimed to close the gap between knowledge and activity and to trigger social change. As a member of the U.S. Committee on Food Habits, established in 1941, Lewin developed new and "democratic" methods of group decision-making processes to rationalize food choice among housewives and to reduce poor eating habits resulting in obesity. His research, later continued and specified by members of his group at MIT, analyzed subjects' resistance to eating recommendations. Three consequences were drawn from Lewin's research: Obesity treatment must be long term, it must be recognized as an individual problem, and it should be embedded in a group environment. This led to new public health approaches, most notably self-help groups and group therapy. While Levin transferred the core elements of his social psychology from Berlin to the U.S., the effects of specific political systems for defining the causes of and treating obesity were a broader and more complex phenomenon, discussed by Alice Weinreb in the final presentation "Fat in the Cold War: East and West German Struggles with Obesity." For her, fat has to be recognized as a problem of modernity, which has been politicized wherever it has been debated. In West Germany, fatness was perceived as the result of a prosperous postwar economy contrasting with the hunger years between 1944 and 1947. Similarly, in East Germany, growing body sizes were understood as the result of the success of establishing the socialized planned economy in East Germany. Both Germanys, however, had to deal with the obesity epidemic starting in the early 1950s. In the West, the manager's disease became a symbol for the threats of too much: Bourgeois males were affected and their spouses were trained to improve their families' diets to keep their husbands healthy and fit. This changed in the following decade when obesity became a less exclusive and "ugly" problem for most people. In contrast, in the East obesity was perceived as a problem of labor productivity, especially a problem among working women. Collective responses, like healthy canteen meals and improved convenience foods were intended to reduce the problem and the body sizes.
The final discussion emphasized not only confusion on a higher level but also discussed strategies of using topics like obesity to conceptualize history in a different way. The concept of the "liberal self" and "liberal" societies were questioned: Sick people often do not have freedom of choice and often end up in hospitals, public service institutions, and retirement homes. The vanishing point of responsibility-the liberal self, the group, or larger communities-remained unclear. The economy mattered, but how did it interact with culture, how did values and prices interfere? How did different elites, either in politics, science, business, or the media, interact? What were the interests of individuals, and did they correspond to common perspectives?
Obesity appeared to be a multi-faceted, often puzzling creation, not a clear-cut concept. It varied from time period to time period, across regions, knowledge bases, classes, races, genders, ages and life situations. Obesity therefore gives us a tool for rethinking our yardsticks for comparison and our research categories. It opens a new perspective on the narrative and the reality of modernity: Freedom as a problem, the organization of society under constant threat, individuals and groups in an ongoing search for responsibility, business as a solution and a problem, knowledge as a burden and mode of dominance. And how can we combine this with more compelling ideals of perfection and efficiency, of beauty and a good life, of community and fellowship around the table? The GHI obesity conference opened up a wide field for further research.
Uwe Spiekermann (GHI)
Obesity, Health, and the Liberal Self: Transatlantic Perspectives on the Late Nineteenth and the Late Twentieth Centuries
September 26-28, 2013
Conference at the GHI
Conveners: Nina Mackert/Jürgen Martschukat (University of Erfurt), Susan Strasser (University of Delaware), Uwe Spiekermann (GHI)
Program (as of September 6, 2013)
Call for Papers
Obesity has been identified as an important contemporary social and cultural problem in many European countries and the United States. Often described as an epidemic, obesity is perceived as a major threat to the health and wellbeing of individuals. At the same time, obese individuals are often perceived as lazy and incapable of making the right choices or of taking care of themselves. Self-responsibility is always linked with the underlying idea that a rational subject will make the right choices to secure the needs of the body and to remain a fit and productive citizen.
The proposed conference seeks to historicize these observations. It wants to investigate the interwoven histories of food, health, and the modern self from a transatlantic perspective. By comparing perceptions and practices, we aim to explore the social and cultural embeddedness of the interconnections between the body, health, fat, and food in the late nineteenth and late twentieth century.
During the nineteenth century, a capable and efficient body came to be understood as an indicator of the individual's ability to function properly as a liberal subject. A new socio-cultural order, rooted in the Enlightenment, rested upon the idea of a free, rational, self-governing subject who acted wisely and in compliance with liberal paradigms. A culture of advice emerged that assisted people in navigating the pitfalls of liberal society and in avoiding "wrong" choices. Medicine and nutritional science established themselves as scientific disciplines and were accepted as the guarantors of a healthy living. Individual deviance was widely discussed and, generally, denounced. At the same time, a growing market of interventions for the best of both individual and society was established. Large groups of people - women, non-whites, immigrants, the lower classes - were denied full autonomy and on account of their alleged inability to act in compliance with the requirements of liberal society.
This conference seeks to address the self-definition of modern societies in the fields of obesity, health, and eating. It will compare discourses and practices during the period 1880-1920 with those of the late twentieth century (1970 to the present). We would prefer papers with a transnational/transatlantic perspective but welcome innovative case studies covering American and European history as well. Class, gender, and race issues should be reflected in all contributions.
We are especially interested in the following topics:
As the study of food and eating practices is highly interdisciplinary, we are looking for scholars from a variety of disciplines in historical, social, and cultural studies. We also hope that nutritionists and medical experts can contribute to these topics.


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Disney's Prom opens April 29. It stars Aimee Teegarden, Thomas McDonell, DeVaugh Nixon, Danielle Campbell, Yin Chang, Nolan Sotillo, and more. Joe Nussbaum directs a script from Katie Wech. Reviews, picture and the trailer are below.
Let's start with Marshall Fine's review, in which he states that "girls need this kind of princess-y tale the way boys need adventure stories; it's a rite of passage." Thank you, for another reminder of what's wrong with gender imbalances in the media and the messages we're sending to children. At least the stars have "sweet, unaffected chemistry," according to TimeOut's Keith Uhlich. With lighting like this, how could they not? But Heath Ledger and Julia Stiles already nailed the hate=love formula in 1999's Ten Things I Hate About You (an adaptation of Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew), which we'll call the thinking teen's Prom. Get ye to your Netflix queue.
The soundtrack may be the most promising thing; preview it at the Prom Facebook page.
"I'm obviously not the target demographic for Disney's "Prom." Still, I'd like to think that, even if I were a teen-age girl, I'd be smart enough to see this for the formulaic b.s. that it is. Yes, I know, girls need this kind of princess-y tale the way boys need adventure stories; it's a rite of passage. So "Prom" seems relatively harmless; also, lifeless and pointless."
Ed Gonzalez, Slant:
"The film, a wish-fulfillment fantasy through and through, sounds as if it was scripted by a tween, but it acknowledges the sincerity of its characters' desires without denying that the ritual of prom is by and large a frivolous one. The plot is clogged with rote incidents familiar from countless teen movies about heartache and college-initiated separation, but the low-budget aesthetic choices—from the frequent use of handheld to the use of music (Passion Pit and M83 are prominently featured, but Katy Perry has to wait until the big night to be heard)—give the whole thing a semblance of the real."
Nick Pinkerton, Village Voice:
"The prophecy of Nova's opening voiceover—'One night has a way of bringing everyone together'—is fulfilled by the last reel, sincere hearts are rewarded, bad boys are harnessed into cummerbunds, and traditions are called into question and then quickly validated. The self-reinforcing system of Prom's universe is so perfectly worked out in advance that all the movie needs to do is fulfill its requirements. It deserves nothing more or less than a Perfect Attendance award."
Brian Lowry, Variety:
"In a way, Prom performs a cinematic service -- assembling several decades worth of high-school movie cliches in one tidy package, all building toward a prom night conveniently free of sex, drugs or other traditional forms of youthful debauchery. Essentially, this is a Disney Channel movie on a larger screen -- skipping the intermediate step that preceded High School Musical hitting theaters."
Keith Uhlich, TimeOut:
"High on the movie's list of soul-shattering conundrums is the difficulty of telling your long-term boyfriend you got into Parsons. But the majority of the drama comes courtesy of prom committee head Nova (Teegarden) and school bad boy Jesse (McDonell), who are forced to work together after the decorations for the gala—theme: Starry Night—go up in flames. They hate each other, of course. Which means they love each other. Fortunately, Teegarden and McDonell make up for the hand-me-down plotting with a sweet, unaffected chemistry."

subset: commoncrawl


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Kylie Minogue needed family support through cancer battleKylie Minogue says her family helped her through her cancer battle.
The 'All The Lovers' hitmaker was diagnosed with breast cancer in May 2005 and while she successfully fought the illness, she wouldn't have been able to do it with the support of her loved ones.
When shewas congratulated on her "brave" battle with the disease by interviewer Molly Meldrum on Australian TV show 'Sunday Night', Kylie said: "You might have seen the bravery. I don't think the public saw... well, I stayed indoors. My family got me through really rotten, dark moments."
The 42-year-old star says seeing other people battle life-threatening illnesses, especially children, was very emotional and she still finds it hard to talk about.
As tears welled up in her eyes, Kylie said: "I was talking to some parents across the other side of a bed and their child was there. I was saying the things that I would normally say in that situation, just making conversation with the child, with the parents, giving them some support as well.
"And then, they really caught me off guard, they just eyeballed me and said, 'How are you, and we hope you get through it' and it's like..."
Kylie - who is dating Spanish model Andres Velencoso - recently revealed she feared her cancer had made her infertile and is considering surrogacy or adoption in order to have a family with Andres
She said: "I do think about surrogacy and adoption and I would absolutely look into those options because children and family are very important to me. It's something in my mind."
Have an question? Get it answered by AskMen's guyQ.


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Thunder Horse Soldiers uncase colors, take on Operation New Dawn
October 13, 2010
By Pfc. Angel Washington, 4th AAB PAO, 1st Cav. Div.
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FORWARD OPERATING BASE WARRIOR, Iraq - Soldiers of the 2nd Battalion, 12th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Advise and Assist Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, took part in a transfer of authority ceremony in Kirkuk, Oct. 11.
While Soldiers of the 1st Battalion, 30th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Advise and Assist Brigade, 3rd Infantry Division, cased their colors, 2-12 Cav. Soldiers uncased theirs, accepting authority for the same area of operations while supporting Operation New Dawn.
"This marks the formal transition from 1-30th Infantry to us, it means we now own the mission," said 2-12 battalion commander, Lt. Col. Joseph Holland. "It is important because we no longer have anyone over watching us. The training wheels are off now and we're riding on our own."
For the last month, Cav Soldiers have worked with 1-30th counterparts, the Iraqi police and the Iraqi Army to get them ready for their year-long deployment.
"Our mission is to impartially advise and assist the Iraqi Security Forces in our area of operation in order to neutralize the violent extremists, secure the people of Kirkuk, and reduce the tensions politically," said Holland.
Conducting joint patrols and assisting in check point security, Soldiers will use this time to help the Iraqis become independent, enabling them to take control of their country.
"We're the closers, we've built the lead and have had great success with our Iraqi counterparts, we just need to be able to hand off the security mission to the ISF and have them do it as well as they want to; not as good as us or how we want them to, but as well as they want to be to provide for their country, Holland said."
Making history, Soldiers are eager to work with their counterparts and help stabilize the country.
"I'm expecting to see the IA and IP really stand up and show us what they have as far as protecting themselves, civilians, and the land," said Spc. Raymond Copeland, an infantryman from Lawton, Okla. " We've been training with the Iraqis for years, to see them take the front row seat, it's like watching a child grow and learn. I'm expecting to see good things."


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Foreclosures flood the market3 of 7This year, sellers' biggest competition might not just be a neighbor with a pool. Bargain-basement foreclosures have flooded most markets, putting the prices of others' homes at a competitive disadvantage.But sellers can beat the deadbeats.If you're a homeowner who has been paying on time, that can go a long way with buyers.Provide market analysis of comparable homes sold in the last few months, with foreclosures broken out.Forget about making a killing on your home. Price aggressively.« Back to Mortgage trends. Related Articles:Celebs: Take my mansion!Why get a cash-in refi?Mortgage costs will riseBig mortgages cost moreRelated Links:Spoil home descriptionRich but foreclosedOutselling foreclosuresA home-buying checklist advertisement
This year, sellers' biggest competition might not just be a neighbor with a pool. Bargain-basement foreclosures have flooded most markets, putting the prices of others' homes at a competitive disadvantage.
But sellers can beat the deadbeats.
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Maybe the rent isn't too high. Or maybe it's way out of whack. It depends on your perspective.
... Read more


text: Law Enforcement Agency Identifiers Crosswalk [United States], 2000 United States Department of Justice. Office of Justice Programs. Bureau of Justice Statistics crime mapping crime patterns databases information systems law enforcement agencies Researchers have long been able to analyze crime and law enforcement data at the individual agency level (see UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING PROGRAM DATA: [UNITED STATES] [ICPSR 9028]) and at the county level (see, for example, UNIFORM CRIME REPORTING PROGRAM DATA [UNITED STATES]: COUNTY-LEVEL DETAILED ARREST AND OFFENSE DATA, 1997 [ICPSR 2764]). However, analyzing crime data at the intermediate level, the city or place, has been difficult. To facilitate the creation and analysis of place-level data, the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS) and the National Archive of Criminal Justice Data (NACJD) created the Law Enforcement Agency Identifiers Crosswalk. The crosswalk file was designed to provide geographic and other identification information for each record included in either the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) files or BJS's Directory of Law Enforcement Agencies. The main variables for each record are the UCR originating agency identifier number, agency name, mailing address, Census Bureau's government identification number, UCR state and county codes, and Federal Information Processing Standards (FIPS) state, county, and place codes. These variables make it possible for researchers to take police agency-level data, combine them with Bureau of the Census and BJS data, and perform place-level, jurisdiction-level, and government-level analyses. 4082 http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR04082.v1 09-16-2004 administrative records data (1) Federal Bureau of Investigation files, (2) CENSUS OF STATE AND LOCAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES (CSLLEA), 2000: [UNITED STATES] (ICPSR 3484), (3) custom version of the Governments Integrated Directory (GID) supplied by the Census Bureau, (4) FIPS 55 file, (5) Census Bureau gazetteer files for 2000, and (6) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY IDENTIFIERS CROSSWALK [UNITED STATES], 1996 (ICPSR 2876) United States 2000


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Based on the best seller of the same name, Guadalcanal Diary is one of the greatest war movies of all time. This strikingly realistic film follows a devoted platoon of Marines through the terrors of war in the South Pacific.
The all-star cast includes Lloyd Nolan, William Bendix, Preston Foster and Anthony Quinn as soldiers battling disease, treacherous terrain and unrelenting weather, as well as a human enemy. Poignantly narrated, and with explosive action rooted in a solid historical context, Guadalcanal Diary is action-packed entertainment from beginning to end.


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Gold and more gold taken from the soil of Africa.
The great commodity riches of Africa are legendary. African oil, African diamonds, African gold, African uranium, platinum, chrome, gems such as emeralds, sapphires, rubies, as well as food stuffs such as cocoa, the ever useful cotton plant, edible oils and numerous other commodities, far too many to mention here.
Africa is responsible for given the world some of its most popular and useful foodstuffs. For example did you know that Africa was the home of the watermelon, of okra? Let us not forget delicious seafoods such as lobster, many varieties of fish and shrimp that are plentiful in the waters of Africa.
Did you know that African woods are among the finest in the world. Woods such as ebony and mahogany head the list.
Let us examine a few of these commodities. Take gold for example. Gold can be found in several African areas,Ghana, Zimbabwe... but the largest source of gold is Azania (aka South Africa).
One South African gold dealer boasts (Gold Eagle - South Africa Section) Since 1886 South Africa has been the Gold Producing Mecca of the world. ... Today, South African gold mines supply about 25% of the world's yearly supply...
You have probably heard less about the fact that areas such as Zimbabwe, South Africa, Ghana, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria are excellent sources of emeralds. (Here is it important to make a distinction between emeralds that are found in Africa and a gem stone called African Emeralds which is a green gem that is not an emerald.)
Did you know that areas such as Tanzania and Kenya are the source of rubies that are among the world's finest stones and in many instances sapphires also. But these riches have not enriched Africans. This essay on the theft of wealth from Tanzania is sufficient to serve the point:
When it came to the endowment of natural resources, nature was not stingy to Tanzania. We are told there is petroleum in Pemba, gold and other precious metals on the Mainland, including a gemstone that is unique to the country - tanzanite.
This is not to mention marine and forestry resources, arable land and water bodies. Tourist attractions are also phenomenal, including the highest peak in Africa, Kilimanjaro.
Historical sites, abundant and varied wildlife ... the list is endless. It is a surprise, therefore, that Tanzania is a virtual basket case in the global context, instead of being a breadbasket.
That, however, is gradually being unravelled through lurid, kaleidoscopic revelations by parties who have the interests of the country at heart. The problem is not lack of resources. It is a question of ineptness, mismanagement, sleaze - or a combination of all three.
Take, for example, the minerals sector. A recent document by the Lawyers and Environmental Association of Tanzania (LEAT) has laid bare shocking statistics. In its July 28 letter to President Jakaya Kikwete, LEAT revealed that Tanzania has lost around $755 million in the past five years over "deals" that led to the operations of three major mining companies... it cost the Kahama Mining Corporation (Sutton Resources) a mere $3,000 to evict 400,000 artisanal miners from the Bulyanhulu auriferous area.
Three years later, the company sold that property to Barrick Gold for a whopping $280 million. Canadian Samax Gold Inc acquired the Lusu Goldfields in Nzega District and later sold them to Ashanti Goldfields for $213 million.
On September 1, 1998, Ashanti sold the property to Resolute Mining Ltd of Australia. Afrika Mashariki Goldmines of Australia displaced artisanal miners, farmers and other residents in Tarime District in Mara region to acquire their land and other properties... the company sold its new acquisition to Placer Dome for $252 million.
In due course, Placer Dome was itself acquired by Barrick Gold, making the new entity potentially the biggest gold producer in the world.
The point here is that the companies acquired the three mining properties at Bulyanhulu, Lusu and Tarime for a song. They later made millions of dollars through merely selling them among the mining fraternity, all foreign. In the event, the original owners of the property - the locals in particular, and Tanzanians and the nation in general - ended up the losers.
taken from a column by Karl Lyimo
Monopoly Capital and Pan-Africanism
African Union Government -- Union Government is a prerequisite for control of Africa's wealth.
The African Economic Community (AEC) -- Statement prepared by the Economic Co-operation and Development Department (EDECO)
African Slavery a Crime Against Humanity - UN document on the findings of the UN's Durban meeting on Racism, Colonialism et al, (WCAR) establishing the Triangular Slave Trade as a Crime Against Humanity
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights -- OAU document delineating the rights of all people and those of Africans in particular.
African Commodities -- analysis from the UN on the artificially low prices of raw materials from Africa
Science, Culture and Revolution -- A discussion of scientific method, Pan-Africanism and African fractals.
Free Pan-African Calendar (2011)
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05 May 2016:
With Climate Change, It Is
Survival of the Oldest, Not the Fittest
When it comes to climate change, the world's oldest species are more likely to survive than newly evolved ones, says a
new study
published in the journal
BMC Evolutionary Biology
Brian Gratwicke/Flickr
The logic is relatively simple: The reason they're so old is that they've been tested by abrupt environmental shifts before and have come out on top. This group includes species like the cane toad and California sea lion. More specifically, the study found the planet's oldest animals all share at least one of the following characteristics: They come in various colors, give birth to live young (as opposed to eggs), and live at low latitudes. The research could help "predict which [species] could be better able to deal with current climate change and to better predict the threat status of species on the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature,"
Sylvain Dubey, an ecologist at the University of Lausanne in Switzerland and co-author of the new study.
28 Apr 2016:
Half of All Farmed Fish Have
Deformed Ear Bones That Cause Hearing Loss
Farmed fish have become an increasingly larger share of the world's seafood market in recent decades—now accounting for 50 percent of global seafood consumption.
At the same time, however, debate about the ethics, safety and health of farmed fish versus their wild counterparts has also intensified. A
new study
published in the journal
Nature Scientific Reports
finds that half of all farmed Atlantic salmon have deformed ear bones that lead to hearing loss. These salmon are 10 times more likely to have the deformity than wild fish. The findings "raise questions about the welfare of farmed animals,"
Tim Dempster, a biologist at the University of Melbourne involved in the study. It may also explain why efforts to boost wild populations by releasing farmed juveniles have proven unsuccessful. Hearing loss would prevent farmed fish from detecting predators, or restrict their ability to navigate to breeding sites, the scientists said.
27 Apr 2016:
Wooden Skypscrapers Grow in
Popularity in Effort to Reduce Emissions
Architects are increasingly abandoning traditional steel-and-cement skyscrapers in favor of wood-and-glue designs — a move that experts say could help drastically reduce CO2 emissions from the world's building sector.
Acton Ostry Architects
Creating steel, iron, and non-metallic minerals — including concrete — is an energy-intensive process that accounts for more than 10 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions. In the 1990s, developers created a product known as cross-laminated timber — planks of wood glued together by a polyurethane adhesive — with the strength and durability of traditional building materials, and far fewer CO2 emissions. With concern for climate change mounting,
wood-based skyscrapers have been popping up around the globe in recent years
. The University of British Columbia, for example, approved an 18-story, wooden housing complex in 2015. "This revolution has happened rather quietly and happened rather slow," Kris Spickler, a heavy timber specialist at Structurlam,
Popular Science
. "But I think we're in a year right now where we're going to see it explode."
26 Apr 2016:
Historical Citizen-Scientists' Ice
Records Confirm Global Temperature Rise
Centuries-old records from Japanese priests and European shipping merchants are helping scientists confirm that the earth has warmed substantially — and freshwater ice formation significantly decreased — since the Industrial Revolution.
These early record keepers tracked annual freeze dates and the breakup of ice each spring on lakes and rivers for hundreds of years, beginning in the 1440s in Japan and 1690s in Finland. The data represents the oldest known inland ice records. An international team of scientists published a
study this week in
Nature Scientific Reports
examining how ice behavior changed over the records' years. They found that from 1443 to 1683, for example, the annual freeze date of Lake Suwa in Japan moved back 0.19 days per decade. From the start of the Industrial Revolution, however, that trend grew 24 times faster, pushing back the date of ice formation on the lake by 4.6 days per decade.
20 Apr 2016:
Entries Invited for Third
Annual Yale Environment 360 Video Contest
The third annual
Yale Environment 360
Video Contest is now accepting entries. The contest honors the year's best environmental videos. Submissions must focus on an environmental issue or theme, have not been widely viewed online, and be a maximum of 15 minutes in length. Videos that are funded by an organization or company and are primarily about that organization or company are not eligible. The first-place winner will receive $2,000, and two runners-up will each receive $500. The winning entries will be posted on
Yale Environment 360
. The contest judges will be
Yale Environment 360
editor Roger Cohn,
New Yorker
writer and
contributor Elizabeth Kolbert, and documentary filmmaker Thomas Lennon. Deadline for entries is June 10, 2016.
Read More.
19 Apr 2016:
Thirty Years After Chernobyl,
Wildlife Thrives in the Contaminated Zone
Thirty years after the meltdown of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine, humans remain relatively scarce near the accident site.
Jim Beasley/Sarah Webster
A gray wolf is caught on camera near Chernobyl.
Wildlife, however, is thriving, according to a
recent study
by scientists at the University of Georgia. The researchers set up cameras at 94 sites in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone—a 1,000-square-mile area where radiation levels remain high—and applied a fatty acid scent to attract animals. In total, they saw 14 mammal species in the footage, most frequently gray wolves, boars, red fox, and raccoon dogs. Since carnivores tend to accumulate radiation faster that animals further down the food chain, finding so many of them was good news. "We didn't find any evidence to support the idea that populations are suppressed in highly contaminated areas,"
James Beasley, an ecologist at the University of Georgia who helped lead the study.
18 Apr 2016:
The Complicated Case of
Global Warming's Impact on Agriculture
Scientists have long debated whether climate change could help or hurt the world's agricultural systems. Theoretically, additional CO2 in the atmosphere should help fuel crop growth.
Ananth BS
A farmer plows his fields in southern India.
But global warming's other impacts, such as shifting rain patterns, higher temperatures, and extreme weather, could reduce crop yields. A
new study in the journal
Nature Climate Change
by researchers in a half-dozen countries finds the answer depends on where you live. The scientists found yields of rain-fed wheat could increase by 10 percent, while irrigated wheat, the bulk of India and China's production, could decline by 4 percent. Maize will decrease almost everywhere, down 8.5 percent. Rice and soybean could flourish in some areas and falter in others. "Most of the discussion around climate impacts focuses only on changes in temperature and precipitation,"
Delphine Deryng, an environmental scientist at Columbia University who led the study. "To adapt adequately, we need to understand all the factors involved."
12 Apr 2016:
Scientists Reimagine The
Tree of Life With New Microbe Knowledge
Following years of intense exploration and research into the microbial world,
scientists have reimagined the tree of life
—the iconic visual representation of the living world first proposed by Charles Darwin in 1859.
Banfield/UC Berkeley
The new tree of life.
The project was led by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, who over the last decade have been gathering DNA from across the globe—from everywhere from meadow soils and river mud to deep sea vents—to reconstruct genomes and describe thousands of new microbial species. Curious how their findings fit into the tree of life, the scientists
used a supercomputer
to visualize how more than 3,000 new and known species related to one another. They discovered that eukaryotes, the group that includes humans, exist on a thin twig compared to the microbial branch of the tree. "The tree of life as we know it has dramatically expanded due to new genomic sampling of previously enigmatic or unknown microbial lineages," the authors
For James Hansen, the Science
Demands Activism on Climate
Climate scientist James Hansen has been a prominent figure in the global climate conversation for more than 40 years. His 1988 congressional testimony on climate change helped introduce the problem of rising greenhouse gas emissions to the American public,
James Hansen
and he has led study after study examining how our world will change as a result of global warming. Eight years ago, Hansen made the rare decision to begin engaging in climate activism—a move that has earned him both praise and criticism from the media and scientific community. In an interview with
Yale Environment 360
last week, Hansen opened up about his unconventional career path and what he believes the world could look like a century from now. "I don't think that I have been alarmist — maybe alarming, but I don't think I'm an alarmist," he said. "We have a society in which most people have become unable to understand or appreciate science, and partly that's a communication problem, which we need to try to alleviate."
Read the interview.
07 Apr 2016:
How Ancient Algae Could
Help Cure Brain and Breast Cancer
One of the oldest life forms on earth may hold the key to battling hard-to-treat cancers, according to
new research
by scientists at Oregon State University. The compound, coibamide A, is found in blue-green algae, organisms that have existed for at least two billion years. It was found during a diving trip in Panama's Coiba National Park eight years ago and run through the National Cancer Institute's database of potential anti-cancer compounds. Coibamide A was tested on mice and found to be more effective at killing brain and triple negative breast cancer cells—two of the most aggressive and hard-to-treat types of the disease—than anything ever tested before. "The chemical diversity found in nature has always been a significant source of inspiration for drug design and development, but… marine environments remain relatively unexplored," said Jane Ishmael, a cellular biologist at Oregon State University and lead author of the new study.
06 Apr 2016:
Half of World Heritage Sites Are
Threatened By Industrial Development
Since 1972, the United Nations has worked to protect 229 locations in 96 countries known for their "exceptional natural beauty" and "cultural significance." These spots, known as World Heritage Sites,
Brian Kinney/Shutterstock
The Great Barrier Reef
range from Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania to the Great Barrier Reef in Australia, China's panda sanctuaries, and the Grand Canyon in the United States. A new survey by the World Wildlife Fund, however, has found
half of these sites are under threat
from oil and gas development, mining, illegal logging, overfishing, or other industrial activities. Eleven million people live in or near these sites, the report says, and depend on them for their housing, food, water, jobs, or ecosystem services like flood protection and CO2 sequestration. "We are not going to develop a just and prosperous future, nor defeat poverty and improve health, in a weakened or destroyed natural environment," the authors wrote.
01 Apr 2016:
Scientists Study the Skies
To Create a Map of the World's Biomes
Curious where certain species live? Don't look down. Rather, study the skies, according to
new research published in the journal
PLoS Biology
. Scientists from the University of Buffalo and Yale University
Daniel Boyd/Flickr
used images from NASA satellites to build a database of cloud cover for every square kilometer of the planet from 2000 to 2014. They then used the information to map the world's biomes. They found that cloud patterns are a much more accurate way of predicting species distribution than using extrapolated on-the-ground observations, the method most conservationists use today. "Sunlight drives almost every aspect of ecology," Adam Wilson, an ecologist at the University of Buffalo who led the study,
New Scientist
. "So when you put something in between the sun and plants, that is going to have implications on the amount of energy they are receiving, soil moisture, leaf wetness, and humidity—almost everything that is important."
Interview: How Ocean Noise
Wreaks Havoc on Marine Life
Bowing to public pressure, the Obama administration recently reversed an earlier decision to allow oil drilling off the U.S. East Coast. But the five-year moratorium on drilling does not prohibit exploratory seismic air gun surveys
Christopher Clark
used to locate oil and gas reserves under the seabed, and those surveys are expected to be authorized this spring. Cornell University marine bioacoustics expert Christopher Clark says the testing, which can go on for weeks at a time, will only add to the rising din in the oceans. "Imagine that every 10 seconds there is an explosion that is rattling grandma's china out of the cupboard," he says, "and it is falling on the floor." In an interview with
Yale Environment 360
, Clark explains how noise, most of it from ship traffic, severely disrupts marine life, especially among whales. But the good news, he says, is that technologies are being developed to drastically reduce the noise from ships and geological surveying.
Read the interview.
22 Mar 2016:
Old Photos Used to Study
The Fate of a Swedish Seabird Colony
Nearly 100 years of old tourist photos got a second life recently when researchers used them to
reconstruct the rise and fall
of a colony of seabirds on the Swedish island of Stora Karlsö. The island, designated a nature preserve in 1880 and a popular tourist destination since the 1920s, hosts a large population of common guillemots, one of the biggest species of auks. Ecologists Jonas Hentati-Sundberg and Olof Olsson of Stockholm University spent five years collecting images of the island from archives, museums, and island visitors in order to count guillemot numbers decade-to-decade. They found that the colony declined in the 1960s and 70s, when contaminants like DDT and PCB were prevalent, but has since rebounded to historically high numbers today, possibly because of an increase in the numbers of forage fish consumed by guillemots. "The population is currently
increasing at an unprecedented rate
of about 5 percent annually," said Hentati-Sundberg. "This is interesting in that many common guillemot populations are decreasing worldwide."
17 Mar 2016:
The World's Economy Grew,
But Greenhouse Gas Emissions Didn't
Despite a 3.1 percent growth in global GDP in 2015, greenhouse gas emissions remained flat for the second year in a row, according to the International Energy Agency.
Oregon DOT
A man installs new solar panels in Oregon.
The decoupling of emissions from economic growth is "welcome news," IEA executive director Fatih Birol said in the press statement. "Coming just a few months after the landmark COP21 agreement in Paris, this is yet another boost to the global fight against climate change." The world's nations released 32.1 billion metric tons of greenhouse gases last year, equal to—or perhaps even a slight downtick from—2014, the agency said. The stabilization is likely due to the booming renewable energy industry and global cutbacks on the use of coal, particularly in the U.S. and China, the two largest emitters of carbon dioxide. Chinese emissions, for example, declined 1.5 percent last year.
16 Mar 2016:
Storks Stop Migrating South
In Favor of Food Waste From Landfills
White storks are no longer migrating to Africa every winter, choosing instead to stay near landfills and other garage heaps in southern Europe that provide scavenged food year round, according to new research published Wednesday in the journal
Movement Ecology
University of East Anglia
Storks feeding in a landfill.
Sticking close to uncovered trash piles in Europe means the birds no longer have to expend energy flying all the way south to Africa, and can arrive at the best northern nesting sites and breed earlier in the year. As a result, storks have been having bigger broods and higher fledging survival rates. "Portugal's stork population has grown 10-fold over the last 20 years," Aldina Franco, a conservation ecologist at the University of East Anglia in Britain who led the study,
in a statement. "The country is now home to around 14,000 wintering birds, and numbers continue to grow." Franco and her colleagues' findings build on the
growing scientific understanding
of how our waste is altering the world's wildlife.
08 Mar 2016:
JP Morgan Will No Longer Invest
In New Coal Mines, Citing Climate Change
JP Morgan will no longer finance new coal mines or support new coal-fired power plants in "high income" countries, the banking giant
in a policy statement on its website.
Coal mine in Jharia, India
Bank of America, Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Wells Fargo have made similar pledges in recent months, all part of a larger divestment movement aimed at transitioning the world's economies off fossil fuels. The anti-coal campaign has dealt a blow to an already struggling industry. The price of coal has dropped from $140 per ton in 2009 to $42 in 2016 as cheap, abundant natural gas and renewables have flooded the U.S. energy market. At the same time, support for climate action has grown, with the signing of an international climate agreement in Paris last December. "We believe the financial services sector has an important role to play as governments implement policies to combat climate change," JPMorgan
in the document.
17 Feb 2016:
Reintroduction of Beavers Can Be
Beneficial to the Environment, Study Finds
The reintroduction of beavers to Scotland has proven beneficial to the environment,
according to a new study
by researchers at the
Beavers have been reintroduced to Scotland
University of Stirling. Beaver dams increased the retention of organic matter by as much as seven times, and the level of aquatic plant life by 20-fold, researchers said. They also found that the levels of pollutants from agricultural runoff were reduced, with concentrations of phosphorus halved, and nitrate levels lowered by more than 40 percent. "Their dam building skills help restore degraded streams and increase the complexity of the surrounding habitat, increasing the number of species by 28 percent," lead researcher Nigel Willby said. "The beavers' engineering is
transforming low-quality habitats in regions where the animals have long been absent
29 Jan 2016:
European Summers Hottest Since
Roman Empire, Tree Ring Analysis Finds
For the past three decades, Europe has been experiencing its warmest summers since the days of the Roman Empire, according to a study published in the
Environmental Research Letters Journal
. The study, compiled by 40 academics, concluded that average summer temperatures have been 1.3 degrees Celsius hotter than they were 2,000 years ago. Heat waves also occur more often and last longer. The temperature figures were calculated by analyzing the tree ring analysis of three pine species found in Austria, Sweden, and Finland, as well as climate modeling and historical documents. The report says that summers were particularly warm between Roman times and the third century, before cooling until the 7th century. Temperatures warmed up again during medieval times, then dropped again from the 14th to 19th centuries. The recent warming, however, is
unprecedented and cannot be explained by natural variability
, but is directly related to manmade climate changes, the scientists said.
14 Jan 2016:
Europe's Remaining Orcas
Threatened by Banned Toxins, Study Finds
Orcas and other dolphins living in European waters are facing a severe threat from lingering toxic chemicals that have been banned for decades,
Two orcas ply the waters
according to a study led by the Zoological Society of London and published in the journal
Scientific Reports
. The research, which was based on long-term studies of more than 1,000 biopsied whales, dolphins, and porpoises in European waters, found that the blubber of these cetaceans contain some of the highest concentrations of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the world. Without much stronger restrictions, "PCBs will continue to drive population declines or suppress population recovery in Europe for many decades to come," the study's authors wrote. PCBs are a group of man-made chemicals previously used in the manufacture of electrical equipment, flame-retardants, and paints.
12 Nov 2015:
Two Billion People at Risk of
Losing Water Supplies Due to Snowpack Loss
Roughly 2 billion people are at risk of declining water supplies in the northern hemisphere due to decreasing snowpack, according to
Snowpack in the Lesser Caucasus mountains.
researchers at
Columbia's Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory
. Researchers identified 97 basins with at least a two-thirds chance of declining water supplies. Nearly 1.45 billion people rely on snowpack in just 32 of those basins for a substantial proportion of their water. Among them are the basins of northern and central California, where much of U.S. produce is grown; the basins of the Colorado and Rio Grande rivers, which serve much of the American West and northern Mexico; the Atlas basin of Morocco; the Ebro-Duero basin, which feeds water to Portugal and much of Spain and southern France; and the volatile Shatt al Arab basin, which channels meltwater from the Zagros Mountains to Iraq, Syria, eastern Turkey, northern Saudi Arabia, and Iran.
06 Nov 2015:
Austria's Largest State Now
Generates All Electricity from Renewables
The electricity supply in Lower Austria, the largest state in Austria,
is now fossil-free,
state officials have announced. The state in northeastern Austria, which has a population of 1.65 million, now gets 63 percent of its electricity from hydroelectric power, 26 percent from wind energy, nine percent from biomass, and two percent from solar. While hydroelectric power has always generated a large portion of the state's electricity, Premier Erwin Proell said that $3 billion in investments since 2002 in utility-scale solar and other renewables had helped the state reach the 100 percent renewables target. Proell said the expansion of renewables has created 38,000 green jobs in the state, with the aim of generating 50,000 jobs in the renewables sector by 2030. Throughout Austria, 75 percent of electricity generation now comes from renewable energy sources.
19 Oct 2015:
Oslo, Norway, to Ban
Cars in Its City Center By 2019
Oslo, Norway, will
ban cars
from its city center by 2019, becoming the first European capital to adopt a
Bikes line the streets of central Oslo, Norway.
permanent prohibition on cars in its downtown area. The newly elected city council announced that the city would also build at least 60 kilometers (37 miles) of new bike lanes by 2019 and provide a "massive boost" of investment in public transportation. Business owners in central Oslo fear that the car ban will reduce revenues, but leaders of the new council said the ban could even increase visitors to downtown and that the city would take steps to reduce negative impacts, including allowing vehicles to transport goods to stores and conducting trial runs of the ban to work out problems. Oslo, with 600,000 inhabitants and almost 350,000 cars, would be the first major European city with a permanent central car ban.
02 Oct 2015:
Brown Carbon Plays Larger Role
In Climate Than Assumed, Study Says
Climate models are underestimating the effects of so-called brown carbon from sources such as forest fires because the models
Wood-burning stove
do not account for regional factors — such as areas where wood-burning stoves are common — when estimating brown carbon's climate-warming impacts. Black carbon, primarily from urban combustion sources like vehicles and factories, absorbs the most sunlight, the researchers explain, and it's well-accounted for in climate models. However, most models don't properly account for brown carbon, the researchers say. Brown carbon "can be a significant absorber of sunlight, making it as bad for climate warming as black carbon," said co-author Manvendra Dubey of Los Alamos National Laboratory. The study, published this week in
Nature Communications
, stresses the differing effects of black and brown carbon on the climate: Solid wood combustion, a source of brown carbon soot, is pervasive during United Kingdom winters, but very uncommon in other study locations, such as Los Angeles, which generally sees more black carbon soot from vehicles.
01 Sep 2015:
European Project Recruits
Smartphone Users to Collect Pollution Data
A European project that begins today asks smartphone users to collect data on air pollution in major cities across the
Smartphone with the iSpex accessory
continent. In the
iSpex-EU project
, volunteers will use a free accessory attached to their smartphones to capture the spectrum of sunlight reaching their phones. Using those readings, scientists can determine levels of fine particles and aerosols in the atmosphere. Once enough data has been collected, the researchers plan to create maps showing where ground-level air pollution poses the highest risks. A recent study from King's College in London estimated that, in London alone, roughly 9,500 premature deaths each year are linked to high levels of air pollution. After smoking, air pollution is the second-largest public health challenge in the region, researchers say.
12 Aug 2015:
Warmer Winters Are Leading to
More Wild Boars in Europe, Research Finds
As Europe experiences more mild winters — very likely an effect of climate change, researchers say — the continent's wild boar
A young wild boar
populations are growing exponentially, according to
from the University of Veterinary Medicine - Vienna. The scientists identified the trend by comparing up to 150 years of data on annual boar population growth to temperature and precipitation records from 12 European countries. One factor behind the population surges is body-temperature regulation, the scientists say. In mild winters, wild boars need to use less energy to stay warm, leaving more energy for reproduction and piglet rearing. Another factor is bumper crops of the boars' food sources, primarily acorns and beechnuts, which have become increasingly common over the last few decades. Wild boars are more likely to survive harsh winters if they have been preceded by a good year for their food sources, the researchers note.
24 Jul 2015:
European Union Is Increasingly
Turning to Wind Power, Analysis Finds
The European Union met 8 percent of its electricity demand with wind power last year, up from roughly 7 percent in 2012,
Wind farm off the coast of the Netherlands
according to a
by the Joint Research Center, the European Commission's in-house science service. That's equal to the combined total electricity consumption of Belgium, Ireland, Greece, and the Netherlands, the report notes, and it is a heartening sign for the E.U. wind power sector, which had seen turbine installations decline in 2013. Denmark generated enough wind power to meet 40 percent of its electricity demand, and in Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, wind's share made up between 19 and 25 percent of final consumption. Fifteen other E.U. nations generated 4 percent or more of their electricity from wind. By 2020, wind energy will provide at least 12 percent of Europe's electricity, the analysis says. Globally, wind power has grown dramatically over the last two decades, soaring from 3.5 gigawatts in 1994 to roughly 370 gigawatts by the end of 2014.
01 Jun 2015:
Six Major Fossil Fuel Companies
Call for Governments to Set Carbon Price
Six leading oil and gas companies have
called on
governments to enact a carbon-pricing system, saying this would be the most effective way to cut greenhouse gas emissions. The chief executives of Total, Statoil, Royal Dutch Shell, BG Group, BP, and Eni, in a joint letter to the head of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, said that governments should use regulatory measures to discourage carbon-intensive energy options and to level the playing field for all energy sources, both renewables and fossil fuels. The executives said the companies are willing to do their part, but that governments need to provide a clear, stable, and long-term policy framework. Total chief Patrick Pouyanne said in a news conference that a carbon price of roughly $40 per ton is needed to spur the replacement of coal-fired power stations, which produce twice as much CO2 as those that use natural gas. And a price of $80 to $100 per ton, he said, would justify investing in carbon capture and storage systems.
13 May 2015:
Car Travel Is Six Times
More Expensive Than Bicycling, Study Finds
Traveling by car costs society and individuals six times more than traveling by bicycle, according to
a study
Bicycles parked in downtown Copenhagen
transportation trends in Copenhagen, one of the planet's most heavily bicycled cities. The analysis considered how much cars cost society and how they compare to bicycles in terms of air pollution, climate change, noise, road wear, public health, and congestion in Copenhagen. If the costs to society and the costs to private individuals are added together, the study found, the economic impact of a car is 0.50 euros per kilometer, whereas the cost of a bicycle is 0.08 euros per kilometer. Looking only at costs and benefits to society, one kilometer by car costs 0.15 euros, whereas society
0.16 euros on every kilometer cycled because of improvements in the public's health.
08 Apr 2015:
Clay Shows Promise in
Capturing CO2 from Power Plants
Common clay can be just as effective as more advanced materials in
capturing carbon dioxide emissions
from power plants, according to research by Norwegian and Slovak scientists. One particular type of clay mineral, known as smectite, was especially effective in absorbing CO2 emissions, the researchers said in the journal
Scientific Reports.
One possible use for clay would be to incorporate it into filters or scrubbers in smokestacks at power plants, the scientists said. They said their research into clay's CO2-absorbing capabilities is preliminary and would not be available for commercial use anytime soon. But the scientists said clay offers many benefits compared to some other expensive and potentially toxic CO2-scrubbing materials.
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text:
The Weight Loss Shift: Be More, Weigh Less
We've all blamed our weight gain on emotional eating. The truth, however, is that emotional eating is not the exclusive domain of the overweight. It's universal.
Your Emotions Are Here to Teach You Lessons, Not Make You Fat
We've all blamed our weight gain on emotional eating. The truth, however, is that emotional eating is not the exclusive domain of the overweight. It's universal.
We all eat foods for emotional reasons. We reach for one food because it reminds us of our childhoods, for another because it makes us feel safe or secure. We stock up on our favorite feel-good foods when we're sick or trying to mend a broken heart. We eat when we're sad and when we're happy and in celebration.
If emotional eating is such a normal part of our lives, the question becomes: Why do some people gain weight when they do it while others don't?
The difference is not in what or when we eat. It's in how we eat, and how we deal with the underlying emotions causing us to eat.
Both thin and overweight people may use a pint of ice cream to deal with a break up, but they do so very differently. While overweight people may dig into the ice cream when they're already full, thin people will wait until they are hungry to eat it. Then, unlike overweight people who often rush through the treat, berating themselves for their lack of willpower, thin people will be present with the food as they eat, taking their time with it and savoring each feel-good bite. Finally, when it's done, it's done, no follow-up serving of guilt or judgment.
When we eat out of emotional hunger without any physical hunger, we introduce negativity into the experience from the very beginning. Right away, we acknowledge that we are ignoring our body, which we don't like, and then we proceed to make ourselves physically uncomfortable. Our discomfort causes us to withdraw from the eating experience, making it largely unconscious. When we do this, we also withdraw from our emotions. Then, because we haven't been present, we do not get the feel-good experience we were expecting, and we look for more. Suddenly, the pint of ice cream turns into a pint-and-a-half of ice cream, plus a bag of chips, and ten cookies.
Once we snap out of our emotional binge, we feel overly full, guilty, and judgmental of ourselves. In the end, we feel worse than we did when we started. Instead of feeling like we've taken care of ourselves, we feel betrayed. Instead of loved, we feel pained. And, we are still left to deal with the emotion that caused us to want the ice cream in the first place, which means the entire process inevitably will repeat itself, unless we figure out how to break the cycle. Learning how to effectively handle painful emotions is one way to do this.
More from Beliefnet


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December 12, 2008; News 12 This Morning
We all know clipping coupons can save you dough at the supermarket, but there are some more subtle ways you can lower your bill.
My mom always told me to make a list when I head to the grocery store and stick to it. She says that's the easiest way to save money. It does work, but here are three more things that could really change the way you shop.
1. Play it "Cool."
Before you leave the house, dress like you are heading out into the cold, even if it's warm outside. Why? Well, grocery stores tend to be a bit chilly, and guess what? Experts say, if you are cold, it will make you put more food in your buggy. Being chillier makes you hungrier, and hungrier people buy more impulse food, which leads me to number 2.
2. Snack before Shopping
Eat something before you go to the store. Eat a meal, or eat a snack, but eat something.Your wallet will thank you!
You can also save money just by knowing number 3.
3. Product Placement
Product placement in a grocery store is no accident.
Everything is set up to make sure you spend more money. So, the food at eye level tends to be the most expensive.
Take a look up or down, and you will usually find better prices.
Happy shopping.


text:
Yesterday's bipartisan last minute "Fiscal Cliff deal" exhibits or signifies an example of the unjust and immoral distribution of political-economic privileges (which favors those with political connections or the political class)
From ABCNews.go.com (hat tip Zero hedge)
The "fiscal cliff" compromise has been heralded as a saving grace for middle class taxpayers, their families and the unemployed.But buried in the fine print of the 150-page deal are also some lesser-known New Year's gifts to some of Washington's favorite industries.
So what industries are these?
From the same article (bold original)
$430 million for Hollywood through "special expensing rules" to encourage TV and film production in the United States. Producers can expense up to $15 million of costs for their projects.$331 million for railroads by allowing short-line and regional operators to claim a tax credit up to 50 percent of the cost to maintain tracks that they own or lease.$222 million for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands through returned excise taxes collected by the federal government on rum produced in the islands and imported to the mainland.$70 million for NASCAR by extending a "7-year cost recovery period for certain motorsports racing track facilities."$59 million for algae growers through tax credits to encourage production of "cellulosic biofuel" at up to $1.01 per gallon.$4 million for electric motorcycle makers by expanding an existing green-energy tax credit for buyers of plug-in vehicles to include electric motorbikes.
Unnamed in Washington's favorite industries is Warren Buffett's Burlington Northern Santa Fe who will be one of the major beneficiaries (perhaps compensation for being Obama's mouthpiece).
Add to the above:
Wind farms, motorsports tracks, global banks and other businesses won revived tax breaks in a $75.3 billion package included in a last-minute budget deal Congress passed yesterday… (Bloomberg)
Political power blocks, special interest groups and pet projects of politicians accounts for as the main beneficiaries of the latest fiscal deal.
The above hardly has been about "unregulated capitalism", but about cronyism via state capitalism or participatory fascism
As Professor Thomas DiLorenzo at the Mises Institute aptly described,
It is a system of crony capitalism financed by a central bank, government borrowing, and pervasive taxation. It is a system that is of plutocratic elites, for plutocratic elites, and by plutocratic elites (to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln, the true founding father of this system). The massive welfare state is merely used to buy enough votes to maintain the "legitimacy" of the system.


text:
HP CEO Whitman: Microsoft, Intel Now Rivals
Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman tells analysts longtime partners in innovation Intel and Microsoft are now competitors. This shows how technology disruptions and shifting opportunities are redrawing the competitive landscape.
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[caption id="attachment_14296" align="alignright" width="300"] HP CEO Meg Whitman[/caption]
Once upon a time, Microsoft Corp. and Intel Corp. were the drivers of innovation and growth through an extended channel ecosystem that included major manufacturers such as Hewlett-Packard Co. Now, these two powerhouses are competitors to their longtime allies, says HP CEO Meg Whitman.
Since last year's launch of the Surface tablet, rumors have persisted HP and other PC manufacturers were upset Microsoft would field its own devices rather than rely on OEM partners. Only Acer Inc. was public about its discontent with Microsoft's device ambitions.
On the eve of Surface's first anniversary and the launch of the tablet's second generation, Whitman says Microsoft and Intel are competitors as much as partners.
"HP's traditional highly profitable markets face significant disruption. Wintel devices are being challenged by ARM-based devices," she said at an analyst meeting last week. "The disruptive forces are very tough and very real, and they are accelerating. We are seeing profound changes in the competitive landscape. Our competitors are expanding across the IT stack. Current partners like Intel and Microsoft are turning from partners to outright competitors."
For more than two decades, Intel and Microsoft have acted more than just suppliers of components that make PCs run; they've been primary drivers of form and function.
Intel, the world's largest supplier of computer processors, has dictated form factors, features and device layouts by designing chipsets, hard drives and motherboards around which chases and cases are designed.
Microsoft Windows, the dominant operating system powering more than 80 percent of the world's PCs, have worked with companies such as HP and Dell to integrate embedded software with devices to accrete value.
Both Intel and Microsoft have supplied funding, too, to OEMs and partners. Through this funding and smart marketing, businesses and consumers have become accustom to buying devices certified as compatible with Microsoft software and having Intel's processors.
Just as Microsoft is plying the device waters, HP is diversifying its PCs by adopting more of Google's products. Last week, HP launched two new Chromebooks, PCs built on Google's Chrome operating system and integrated with its cloud-based products. And, unlike many of the previous Chromebooks released by vendors such as Acer and Samsung, HP is pushing these Chromebooks through the B2B channel.
"An opportunity clearly exists in this space, as research from NPD Group has found that Chromebooks have – in just the past eight months – snagged 20 percent to 25 percent of the U.S. market for laptops costing less than $300. Our experience has seen demand across the B2B space, as more and more of our business customers understand the value of these affordable notebooks," HP said in a statement to Channelnonmics.
PC sales are expected to slide up to 9 percent this year. This follows last year's decline of nearly the same amount as end users and businesses migrate to tablets and smartphones. HP and other PC vendors blame part of the decline on Microsoft's Windows 8, the company's first touch-based operating system, which came to market three years after Apple's iOS on tablets.
But the rising competitive posture of Intel and Microsoft go well beyond PCs. Whitman cited Intel's entry into security software and systems, namely the 2011 acquisition of McAfee, as a source of competitive tension. At McAfee's Focus conference earlier this month, the vendor pushed concepts of greater security intelligence though next-generation firewalls and security information management. These are two products that HP has well-established presence.
Microsoft, too, is competing with HP in enterprise systems, providing the tools and operating systems for data centers and server management.
The notion that Microsoft and Intel are competitors is not new. While Cisco will publicly call Microsoft a strong partner, insiders and partners say Cisco is vexed by Microsoft's ambitions in unified communications. Cisco even tried to block Microsoft's acquisition of Skype. Microsoft is also competing against virtualization vendors such as VMware and Citrix with its Hyper-V products.
Similar competitive shifts are happening across the tech marketplace. And these shifts will continue to accelerate as vendors look to replace revenue from declining products and push into new technologies and markets to drive incremental growth. Whitman's admission is the first major acknowledgement of this shift and how it's rewriting the competitive landscape.


text:
June 08, 2011 at 09:00 AM EDT
Catalyst Resource Group Appoints New CEO to Position Company for Next Phase of Growth
LOS ANGELES, CA -- (Marketwire) -- 06/08/11 -- Catalyst Resource Group (PINKSHEETS: CATA) (OTCQB: CATA), a precious metals recovery and technologies company, today announced the appointment of Douglas Berkey, a leader with over 30 years of experience, as the new Chief Executive Officer to build on Catalyst Resource Group's patented technologies and assets and form a top tier company focusing on growth and innovation.
A graduate of Wheaton College and seasoned business leader, Douglas formerly served as National Sales Director for a Traveler's Insurance Group subsidiary. He founded and managed a securities brokerage firm with over 28,000 independent representatives and also led a non-profit organization, which built housing for the homeless in the Philippines.
Douglas Berkey said, "I am excited to join Catalyst Resource Group and look forward to advancing the company to the next level. With a unique combination of breakthrough leading technologies in mining and applications for other industries, this company is poised to be an industry standard."
About Catalyst Resource Group
Safe Harbor: This news release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those projected on the basis of such forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are made based upon management's beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to, management pursuant to the "safe-harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.
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text:
Girls Dress Up & Girls Halloween Costumes
Bring on the fun and the fancy with cool Halloween Costumes for girls at Sophias Style. She can dress up as a lovable, furry monster, a bumble bee of glitter bug, a witch or cheerleader – the list goes on. She can find beautiful Princess Dresses or Girls Halloween Outfits and complete the look from our Girls Accessories. Girls Halloween Costumes come in all sizes .
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text:
int SPI_execute_with_args(const char *command, int nargs, Oid *argtypes, Datum *values, const char *nulls, bool read_only, long count)
SPI_execute_with_args executes a
command that might include references to externally supplied
parameters. The command text refers to a parameter as $n, and the call
specifies data types and values for each such symbol. read_only and count
have the same interpretation as in
The main advantage of this routine compared to
SPI_execute is that data values can be inserted
into the command without tedious quoting/escaping, and thus with
much less risk of SQL-injection attacks.
Similar results can be achieved with
SPI_prepare followed by
SPI_execute_plan; however, when using this
function the query plan is always customized to the specific
parameter values provided. For one-time query execution, this
function should be preferred. If the same command is to be
executed with many different parameters, either method might be
faster, depending on the cost of re-planning versus the benefit
of custom plans.
command string
number of input parameters ($1, $2, etc.)
an array of length nargs, containing the OIDs of the data types of the parameters
an array of length nargs, containing the actual parameter values
an array of length nargs, describing which parameters are null
If nulls is NULL then
SPI_execute_with_args assumes that no
parameters are null. Otherwise, each entry of the
nulls array should be ' ' if the corresponding parameter
value is non-null, or 'n' if the
corresponding parameter value is null. (In the latter case,
the actual value in the corresponding values entry doesn't matter.) Note that
nulls is not a text string, just
an array: it does not need a '\0'
true for read-only execution
maximum number of rows to return, or 0 for no limit
The return value is the same as for
SPI_processed and SPI_tuptable are set as in
SPI_execute if successful.
Please use this form to add your own comments regarding your experience with particular features of PostgreSQL, clarifications of the documentation, or hints for other users. Please note, this is not a support forum, and your IP address will be logged. If you have a question or need help, please see the faq, try a mailing list, or join us on IRC. Note that submissions containing URLs or other keywords commonly found in 'spam' comments may be silently discarded. Please contact the webmaster if you think this is happening to you in error.
Proceed to the comment form.


text: Photo zooms unavailable for this product Mishka The Lamour Casper Tee in Black $23.95 THIS ITEM IS OUT OF STOCK Want to know if it comes back in stock? SUBMIT Preparing your subscription Thank you for signing up, you will get an email when the product is back in stock. Shop Short Sleeve Graphic Tees or Shop Mishka Please enter a quantity. Sorry, you've requested more of this item than is available.


text: I don't know of any way to generate a DEM, though it would definitely be a very nice capability. I've not played with Wilbur, but it may have DEM support. And unfortunately...the level of customization you seek is currently not available in any fractal world editors I know of...I would love to know though.


text:
search the archive
search the archive
bibliography and history of the book
cultural studies and historical approaches
ecocriticism and environmental studies
ethnicity and national identity
humanities computing and the internet
journals and collections of essays
CFP: Performing Theory, Theorizing Performance: Conceptualization, Execution, and Documentation, due December 22, 2012
full name / name of organization:
A Graduate Student Conference with the Theatre and Drama Department at University of Wisconsin Madison
contact email:
March 16, 2013
With keynote speakers:
As graduate students we often find ourselves struggling to find a creative outlet for our own theoretical interests, to either put them into practice or test their viability. Even when we find ourselves in the position to create our own work, this creativity may be divorced from the theoretical material we produce. We are often challenged to consider what the applications of our theoretical research, asynchronous of any specific performance, might be. Theory and artistic practice are informed by the world we live in, its histories, languages, cultures, and economic structures. The ways in which performance can recontextualize how we write and what we write are numerous, complex, and instrumental to academic research in the fields of theater, performance studies, and beyond. In this interdisciplinary conference, we want to critically analyze not only how we and others make performance happen but also how those performances then come to inform the writing we do. We welcome proposals from all areas of the humanities, arts, and social sciences that broadly explore the concept of the relationship between theory and performance with particular interest in elements that are theatrical and performative in nature. Possible topics include:
· Theories of theater, acting, or design
We welcome presentations from graduate students in all areas including acting, directing, design, technology, and theatre research. Graduate students from any and all department are encouraged to submit abstracts. While this conference will feature traditional forms of papers and panels we also encourage non-traditional forms of presentation including performances of texts and visual presentations. Please send abstracts or project proposals of 250 words or less in Microsoft Word (.doc or .docx) or Pages or PDF format to James Burling and Katherine Lieder at firstname.lastname@example.com by December 22, 2012.
Please include the title of your paper, your name, affiliation, short bio, and A/V requests. Accepted papers will be grouped into panels with papers of similar thematic material. Papers should be 20 minutes in length.
cfp categories:


text:
Most people find themselves in the unfortunate predicament where they have to pay out high interests on multiple loans that they took out a long time ago. To add onto these unfortunate situations, others are usually hit with high penalties for failing to pay the loan in the time stipulated by the contract they signed with their loan lenders. To some people, this is usually the worst times of their lives; they are normally left hopeless and destitute, not knowing where to go and what to do.
If you are one of those who find themselves in such a situation, getting payday loans could be the only way out of your troubles. Payday loans help gadcapital offer you a fast and easy solution to deal with your debt problems. The loans normally offer you a way of combining all your existing loans into one law. This is done under new terms, therefore, the old terms for your multiple loans do not apply when it comes to getting the payday consolidation loan.
Therefore, instead of making multiple payments to your loan lender, payday loans ensure that you make a new payment towards a new loan at much lower interest. The payments you make are then channeled to your original loan lender and with time, you get to repay your loan. The advantage of using payday loan consolidation is that your monthly payment are going to be much smaller, thus they become manageable.
Seeking the services of an established debt consolidation company will ensure you have an easier time making your payments. This is because the company takes over the loan repayment schedule and advises you on the best way to repay your loan. The company also starts negotiating with your loan lending company and comes up with lower interest rates for their clients. Therefore, if you decide to use the payday loan consolidation company, you are assured of spending less money and getting your loans repaid in the shortest time possible. See more also at BBC news.
If you work closely with your debt consolidation company, you will notice that you will be shielded from your loan lender. All calls will be directed to the payday loan company. Therefore, you will not deal with your lender anymore. Before signing up with any payday loan company, check out if they are legitimate. This can be done by checking whether they are registered under the relevant authorities and checking out how they do their transactions.
You also need to know the interest rate by which they will charge you for their services. This ensures you get the best services at subsidized fees and that you are comfortable as they help you clear off your debt. Once you have clarified that the company is legit, you could sit down with one of their personnel and get a briefing of how the payday loan consolidation works. If you feel, it suits your needs, you then sign up and you start to enjoy an easy way to a debt free life, without worrying about what is going to happen to our valued property.


text:
ELKHART – Teresa Shultz-Miller has joined Ruoff Home Mortgage as vice president and branch manager.
Shultz-Miller has been in the banking and lending industry since 1996. Her recent experience includes six years as vice president and residential lending manager at First State Bank.
Her responsibilities will include overseeing branch operations and business development in the Goshen and Elkhart area. She'll also originate home loans on a limited basis.
MISHAWAKA – Christopher Putt is a 2014 recipient of the Client Choice Award.
Putt, a partner at the Mishawaka law firm May Oberfell Lorber, is the only employment and labor attorney from Indiana this year to receive the international award, according to a press release.
The Client Choice Awards recognized a total of 251 individuals in the United States.
Putt has worked for the law firm as an attorney since 1998, providing counsel and representation in various employment matters.
ELKHART – ASA Electronics recently made two personnel appointments.
Jim Holtsberry was appointed as senior enterprise resource planning programmer and analyst. His decades of experience in information technology began in 1976 when he began programming as a hobby. He graduated from Tri-State University in 1983 with a bachelor's degree in computer science.
Kirk Youell was been appointed as a customer service representative at ASA Electronics. Youell brings 13 years of technical and customer service experience to this position.
MILFORD – Mark Myers has been promoted as product marketing manager at Brock Grain Systems. He'll be responsible for developing and executing marketing strategies for Brock's product lines.
Myers has worked for Brock since 1995, most recently serving as an international product manager. He's also worked at Brock as a national accounts project manager.
Prior to joining Brock, Myers spent 20 years employed in the grain industry.
ELKHART – Ed Snyder and Dottie Dressler have accepted new positions with Shoff Security Systems.
Snyder has been appointed to lead the company's alarm response division. He has served in the United States Army, where he earned his degree in electronics and worked as a radio communicator for 25 years. Snyder is a former training lieutenant for the New Mexico County Sheriff's Department.
Dressler has joined the company as an alarm response officer. She has 12 years of experience working in college and mall security. Dressler was previously employed by an armored truck service.
SOUTH BEND – Beth North has joined Force 5 as director of business development.
North's responsibilities will include assisting clients with marketing strategies and building relationships with new organizations.
She has more than 30 years of experience building company and product brands. She most recently served as vice president of marketing for Hygieia in Ann Arbor, Mich. She has also worked in marketing and management for Home Diagnostics and Bayer Healthcare.