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December 2004
"How often have I said to you that when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth?" Those famous words uttered by Sherlock Holmes to Doctor Watson long ago ring very true for the tricks considered below. (This isn't the first time they have been exploited in this context either!)
We begin by reviewing a well-known elimination deal first published in 1936 as "The Spectator's Choice," by Stewart Judah.
A volunteer is invited to shuffle a deck of 52 cards. You take the deck back and fan the cards face down from hand to hand, requesting that one be chosen and remembered; this card is then replaced in the deck. Have the volunteer deal the cards into two piles on a table, A to your left, B to your right, starting with pile A. Have pile B picked up, and again dealt into two piles, by first adding to the existing pile A, while creating a new pile B beside it. Have this repeated, always dealing to pile A first, until one card remains; in the hand or preferably in a new and much deminished pile B.
Before this card is revealed, stress that the deck has been in the volunteer's hands throughout the dealing process. One pile grew steadily thereby increasing the chance that the chosen card was in that pile. The chances were 26 in 52, or 50%, after the first deal, then 39 in 52, or 75%, and now that the elimimation is complete the chances are 51/52, which is over 98%, that the card is in this big pile here. "The very last place you'd expect it to be is over here alone," you say teasingly, pointing to the lone card beside the larger pile.
Ask the volunteer to look through the larger pile of 51 cards seeking the card selected. It will not be found. Say, "As Sherlock Holmes once said, `When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth'" and have the card named. The last card is revealed to be precisely the named card. "Sheer luck!" you say, feigning surprise.
The secret is simple:
Claim 1: The card eliminated by this deal will always be the one that started in the 22nd position from the top of the deck.
The easiest way to verify this is just to note the 22nd card of any full deck and do the elimiation deals. We can trace that card's journey as follows: the 22nd card from the top in the original deck becomes the 11th from the bottom of the initial 26-card B pile, and is thus 16 from the top at the start of the second deal. After that deal, which adds to pile A, this card ends up 8 from the bottom of the new 13-card B pile, and thus 6 from the top. After the third deal it's 3 from the bottom of the next 6-card B pile, and thus 4 from the top. After the fourth deal it's 2 from the bottom of a 3-card pile, and hence is the sole remaining card in pile B after a fifth and final deal.
To perform the trick indicated, the chosen card is in position 22 at the outset. One way to achieve that is to fan the cards from hand to hand in clumps of 3 or 4, silently keeping count, until 21 cards are in one hand. With the hands still together, and maintaining a clear (to you and you only!) break under the 21st card, invite the volunteer to take a card. It's not too hard to force the card to be chosen from the remaining cards past this break, and while it is being inspected and remembered, simply break the deck at the 21st card and have the card returned on top of the lower portion, before reassembling the deck.
If the volunteer insists on taking a card from the first 21 cards, just add one card from the lower portion before having the card returned. If the card is placed in any position near the 22nd, that's fine too, as long as you know exactly where it is. You can casually shuffle some cards from one end of the deck to the other to adjust for this, if necessary, and following that you can shuffle large clumps of cards on either side of the replaced card (which is near the middle of the deck) with impunity before directing the elimination deal.
Let's look this more analytically, and see what else we can learn. Given a packet of k cards, there exists a unique position i from the top such that the card that starts in that position ends up being the last card dealt. We can determine i as follows: Order the cards from top to bottom in some specific order, such as: A♣, ..., K♣, A♥, ..., K♥, A♠, ..., K♠, A♦, ..., K♦---so that, e.g., the 15th card is 2♥, omitting the cards past the kth one if fewer than 52 cards are used. Next, perform the elimination deal and observe what card is dealt last.
For instance, with a full deck of 52 cards, ordered as above, the last card is 9♥, which was originally the 22nd card. This establishes Claim 1.
Imagine now placing this eliminated card on top of pile B, so that we have a full deck again, and performing a second round of elimination dealing.
Claim 2: The original 36th card is the one remaining if the elimination deal is repeated with the full deck.
To see why this is true one need only observe what the 22nd card is after the first elimination deal: it's 10♠, which was the 36th card originally. This will be the last card if the elimination deal is repeated.
This suggests another "out" if the volunteer resists placing the card at the desired position 22: have the card inserted in position 36 instead (note this is position 17 counting up from the bottom), and then have the elimination deal done as before. It will fail, and must be seen to fail, so simply flip over the last card, and have it confirmed that it is not the selected card. Now place it on top of the other 51 cards, and repeat the elimination deal yourself, commenting, "Let me show you how a real magician does it." Or simply have the volunteer do it again, having first incanted some magic words, such as Abracadabra or Banach-Tarski Paradox. At the end, proceed with the "Sheer luck" finale as suggested before.
Of course you may wish to leave the failure card to one side and not include it in the second round of elimination dealing, and if so, you will be working with a packet of 51 cards, which is quite different. That provides you with another option (just why it works we will discover in due course):
Claim 3: The card in position 48 (i.e., 5 from the bottom) in a 52 card deck is the one remaining when a double round of elimination dealing is done, and the first "failure" card is placed to one side before the second round of dealing.
(You may wish to wrest triumph from the jaws of defeat, by using the failure card to tap - as if it were a magic wand - the last remaining card after the second elimation dealing, "thereby" turning it into the selected card!)
All of this also suggests a trick in which two volunteers pick one card each, and then find each other's selections.
Proceed as before, having two card selected and remembered, and returned to the deck in positions 36 and 22, respectively, and direct the elimation dealing for each volunteer in turn. When only one card remains for the first volunteer, say, "Wouldn't it be amazing if that were your card?" It turns out not to be that card of course, but the second volunteer should recognize it!
Congratulate first volunteer, saying "You clearly have some magic talent, let's see if you both do! There was 1 in 52 chance of finding one card the way you did, and so there is only a 1 in 52 squared, i.e., a 1 in 2704 chance, of both cards turning up. That's pretty unlikely!"
Now have the second volunteer do the elimination deal; needlesstosay, this turns up the first card selected. Congratulate both volunteers for a job well done.
One way to gain some insight into the Judah elimination deal applied to the whole deck is obtained by considering it as a permutation of cards numbered 1--52, assuming the last card is placed on top of the others at the end of the deal. After a single deal, the cards are in order 22, 38, 6, 14, 30, 46, 50, 42, 34, 26, 18, 10, 2, 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32, 36, 40, 44, 48, 52, 51, 49, 47, ..., 5, 3, 1.
This permutation turns out to be the product of a 49-cycle, a 2-cycle and a 1-cycle; specifically, using standard cycle notation, it's:
(1 52 26 10 12 16 17 44 24 19 43 31 37 34 9 48 25 40 23 41 32 21 42 8 15 45 30 5 50 7 49 28 20 18 11 47 29 38 2 13 46 6 3 51 27 39 33 36 22) (4 14) (35).
From this we can see that the original 22nd card becomes the last one dealt (i.e., the 1st one in the reassembled deck) after one deal, and also that the original 36th card is the last one dealt after two deals.
Any of the above methods — a simple verification deal is hard to beat — confirms that when the elimination deal is applied to a packet of just 51 cards, the last card remaining is the one that started 24th from the top. This observation, in conjunction with an examination the cycle decomposition above for the elimination deal on a full deck, establishes Claim 3.
Note also, that for a full deck the cards in positions 4 and 14 switch positions with each deal, and hence return to their original positions after two deals. Furthermore, one card is fixed by the deal: the 35th, which is 9♠ in the order suggested earlier. These observations can be used to come up with numerous other card effects.
Note that this type of elimination deal partitions the deck into clumps of 26 even and 26 odd numbered cards, and hence tranforms a deck in which the cards alternate black/red into a black and red separated deck.
Another twist on the basic plot when going for a double revelation is to include the original 22nd card the second time around, but to add it to the bottom (not the top) of the other 51 cards. That would, of course, require some advance planning!


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Curbing the Urge to Drink; Drug to Treat Alcoholism Sets Off Controversy in U.S.
By DAVID J. MORROW
Published: July 31, 1998
A drug widely available in Europe that may reduce the urge to drink is being tested in the United States, which has an estimated 13.7 million alcoholics. Its French maker hopes to have it on the American market in 2000.
Many experts on dependency say the drug -- acamprosate, which would be sold in the United States as Campral -- is badly needed. Only two other medications can treat alcoholism, and both can have unpleasant or potentially dangerous side effects.
Doctors say they can prescribe acamprosate to help alcoholics remain sober, possibly saving thousands of people from painful relapses while reducing the cost of rehabilitation, which was $5 billion last year.
Acamprosate's expected arrival, though, has ignited a controversy in the health care community, pitting specialists who argue that alcoholics should be treated with counseling alone against doctors who insist that drugs are crucial tools.
The debate has become rousing at times, with acamprosate's champions deriding opponents for their ''medieval'' outlook. Advocates of drug-free treatments say their approach has worked for decades; why take chances?
Acamprosate's maker, Lipha S.A., a unit of the German drug maker Merck K.G.a.A., is undeterred. It plans to take on an American marketing partner and stress acamprosate's success rate.
In 11 clinical trials with 3,338 alcohol-dependent patients in Europe, 50 percent of those patients using acamprosate abstained for three months -- the period when alcoholics are most likely to regress -- compared with 39 percent of those using a placebo. The research was published in Europe, including in the journal Lancet.
A United States trial, with 600 alcohol-dependent patients at 21 sites nationwide, should be completed early next year. Lipha officials are so excited about acamprosate's benefits that they hope it will eventually be available over the counter.
''Acamprosate has been shown to help prevent relapse,'' said Dr. Karl Mann, a professor of medicine at the University of Tubingen, who conducted the trial in Germany. ''Once patients give up alcohol and go on with their lives, they see it, smell it, dream about it. Acamprosate helps them get through all that.''
The drug is no substitute for detoxification. A patient's alcoholism must be treated before it can do any good. But moderate drinkers might also turn to it to try to control their drinking.
For some patients, acamprosate has worked well. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 1981, Gudrun Hellinger, a 57-year-old school secretary who lives near Munich, began sipping wine and Champagne to cheer her mood. Ms. Hellinger gradually became a heavy drinker and tried repeatedly to quit, always failing within about two months. In 1995, she became suicidal and was hospitalized.
''I took acamprosate for six months,'' Ms. Hellinger said. ''I've been sober for three years. I just didn't want a drink anymore when I was on acamprosate. I don't think I could have given up drinking without it. But you need more than the drug to do it. I'm still in counseling.''
Some doctors, however, noting that only two other medications for alcoholism have been introduced here since 1951, have renewed their criticism of the pharmaceutical industry for not developing more drugs to help addicts through withdrawal.
Drug companies ''wouldn't get their money back from these drugs,'' said Dr. Herbert D. Kleber, medical director of the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
The captains of large drug companies won't spend money on medications to treat alcoholism, doctors say, because addicts frequently do not take their drugs. Other patients simply make better customers. As evidence, doctors note that while only 1.8 million American men were treated for erectile dysfunction last year, according to I.M.S. Health, an industry consultant, six new treatments are in the works.
Nearly as many Americans were treated for alcoholism last year -- 1.4 million, according to addiction experts -- but only two drugs, including acamprosate, were being developed to aid withdrawal.
For acamprosate's advocates, the strangest twist in the controversy is that the debate exists at all. Alcoholism, after all, is a devastating illness, one that tears families apart, ruins careers and kills tens of thousands of people a year. A study by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism found that alcoholism and its treatment cost American businesses $67.7 billion in lost productivity in 1992, the latest statistics available. Treatment is not cheap, either: A two-week stay in a clinic can easily cost $450 a day.
''Fourteen percent of the U.S. population will be dependent on alcohol at one time in their lives,'' said Barbara Mason, director of the Division of Substance Abuse at the University of Miami School of Medicine and the principal investigator of the nation's clinical trials on acamprosate.
Many experts call the synthetic drug a therapeutic breakthrough. Invented by Lipha in 1980, acamprosate, also known as calcium acetylhomotaurine, is thought to work by restoring normal activity on certain neurotransmitters in the brain that become overexcited by the withdrawal of alcohol. This hyperactivity can last a year, experts say, leaving the alcoholic prone to relapse.

subset: commoncrawl


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Vanilla 1.1.10 is a product of Lussumo. More Information: Documentation, Community Support.
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I created an AMA (American Medical Association) style CSL. Anyone who wants to test this can follow these steps:
- CommentAuthorCodec
- CommentTimeNov 3rd 2007
1) Go to the ticket. https://www.zotero.org/trac/ticket/632 (its stashed under a Harvard trac report currently)
2) Click on the attachment labelled ama-raw.csl . Scroll to the bottom of the attachment page and click "Original Format" under "Download in other formats".
3) Open the downloaded CSL file in a text editor (e.g. drag into Notepad or TextEdit) and copy the contents to the clipboard.
4) In a Zotero-enabled Firefox, load chrome://zotero/content/tools/csledit.xul. Open the Zotero pane and select some items. Paste the CSL contents into the large text area, and you should see a preview of the items in the AMA style.
I'm not sure I've got everything covered yet, so let me know.
One thing - at least in Word 2007 it gives an citation superscript, but without page numbers or [] around it. Not sure why.
Kudos on this codec. If you can, please make a list of terms you think should be added based on your work on these styles, and post them to the xbib dev list so I can add them to the schema and the locales files.
- CommentAuthorbdarcus
- CommentTimeNov 3rd 2007
Oh, for Dan, I'd suggest that instead of this:
- CommentAuthorbdarcus
- CommentTimeNov 3rd 2007 edited
... Zotero hosted styles use something like:
E.g. a) all lower-case, b) strip the extension, and c) more compact/direct syntax.
Also, remember: one can include an optional cs:link element if you need to point to a different URL for some reason.
Bruce: Yup—I was planning to change all our styles to use URLs like that. Thanks.
- CommentAuthorDan Stillman
- CommentTimeNov 4th 2007
Do we have a time frame for release of this style? I've been singing the praises of Zotero to my MPH grad students all semester, only to find out (yesterday) that their term papers need to be submitted in AMA style. Our web people are going to see if they can make this into something you can download from our site, but it'd be great if it were an automatic option.
- CommentAuthoresevetson
- CommentTimeNov 29th 2007 edited
Never mind, Dan Cohen just emailed me w/ the location.
I have the same question as previous post. My students must also submit their papers using AMA style.
- CommentAuthorbmckiernan
- CommentTimeDec 2nd 2007
Checking back in--I understand that the style will be released w/ 1.0.2, but do we know when that release will occur?
- CommentAuthoresevetson
- CommentTimeDec 12th 2007
For now I'm going to instruct the students to download the dev. version of 1.0.2., at
then install the dev style of AMA, and then we'll just hope for the best.
1 to 7 of 7


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Chess in Newspapers
Twenty years ago I used to write a column in the local Telegraph & Argus. This is an evening newspaper which supplies the Bradford and surrounding district. It contained results and reports of matches and at the time was the main way to keep up with the local chess results and news.
With the advent of Internet Sites such as ours you may think that there is less need for Newspapers to report local chess news. I think this is wrong on so many levels and would strongly argue otherwise.
· When a newspaper hits the doormat it reaches so many people.
· It is a way of perpetually advertising the local league and how healthy it is.
· It allows the league and local clubs to blow their own trumpet about how successful they have been locally, in Yorkshire and even nationally.
· It allows you to feature and promote new initiatives such as junior training, beginner's classes or even an open day for a recruitment drive.
Although all this can be done on Internet Sites, and undoubtedly done far better, there is one significant difference, a telling factor that screams out at me.
You don't have to be searching for chess in a newspaper to see it in front of you!
People would generally only reach our internet site if they bother to search for it. This means they will already be interested in finding something out about chess or already have an interest in it. But what if you want to reach the former school player who has suddenly got too old to play in his Sunday league football team? Or the parent who's child has shown an interest in playing games? Or the divorcee who is in sudden need of a hobby?
If they open their local newspaper which runs stories like the following links wouldn't it be likely to stimulate the interest we are looking for?
Bradford youngsters learn lessons in life
Chess reaches out to underprivileged children
Once the interest is there then the Internet Site comes into its own. Especially if it is easily found on search engines, tells people who to contact and how to join a club.
So my questions to the chess players in Yorkshire is which of our local Newspapers have either a regular chess column or regular chess articles?
Does your league or chess club have a regular contributor or columnist who writes for the paper concerned?
Bradford & District league have tried continue to keep a regular column going in all this time through a press officer. The current Press officer is the league President John Holliday.
I have started a thread in the forum for you to let us know what you think.


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Kids Craft Made by Me Junior Piggy Bank: Teach children the importance of saving money Includes ceramic paint, paintbrushes, a ceramic piggy bank Easy to follow instructions Create your one-of-a-kind personalized bank. Price: $6.40
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Lala is launching her own line of makeup for women of color. With help from Motives Makeup, she'll be creating a collection of lipstick, lip gloss, eye shadow, eye liner, shimmer and more that complement our skin tones.
On New Year's Eve, she Tweeted this message to her fans: "Guess what I have coming in 2012? can't wait!!" along with a picture of the new cosmetics.
From the looks of it, nothing seems to be over $21, and we can't wait to try 'em on.


text:
a1 Departments of Anatomy and Physiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
a2 Diagnostic Medicine and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, USA
Innate immunity provides frontline antiviral protection and bridges adaptive immunity against virus infections. However, viruses can evade innate immune surveillance potentially causing chronic infections that may lead to pandemic diseases. Porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome virus (PRRSV) is an example of an animal virus that has developed diverse mechanisms to evade porcine antiviral immune responses. Two decades after its discovery, PRRSV is still one of the most globally devastating viruses threatening the swine industry. In this review, we discuss the molecular and cellular composition of the mammalian innate antiviral immune system with emphasis on the porcine system. In particular, we focus on the interaction between PRRSV and porcine innate immunity at cellular and molecular levels. Strategies for targeting innate immune components and other host metabolic factors to induce ideal anti-PRRSV protection are also discussed.
(Received September 19 2011)
(Accepted October 18 2011)
(Online publication November 29 2011)
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c1 Corresponding author. E-mail: email@example.com


text:
I'm intending to install Debian and I was thinking if I can install it
from a "testing" CD image (available at
[url]http://cdimage.debian.org/pub/weekly/i386/[/url] )
If so, what images would I need? Only CD1?
If installing "stable" and upgrading to "testing" afterwards is a
better choice, please tell me how it can be done.
Thanks a lot and sorry if this has been asked before,


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Rubbermaid Slim Jim Waste Receptacle - Gray - 23 gal.
by Rubbermaid Commercial | Item #: 423470 | Model #: RCP354000GY |
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Slim Jim efficient size and shape fits into tight spaces. Its durable, all-plastic construction is easy to clean and provides long life. Most specified container used behind bars and beside desks. Use to create a recycling center near copiers, printers and mailrooms.
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Learn more about selecting the perfect liner. (PDF)
- Efficient size and shape fits tight spaces
- Durable, all-plastic construction is easy to clean and provides long life
- Most specified containers behind bars and desk side
- Create a recycling center near copiers, printers and mailrooms
- Color: Gray
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The Trucker News Services
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pilot Flying J's internal auditors correctly calculated the amount the truck stop chain owned trucking companies that were victims of a rebate scandal which company CEO Jimmy Haslam says he was unaware.
Ten former Pilot employees have pleaded guilty in the criminal investigation and are cooperating with prosecutors who are conducting an on-going criminal investigation.
Based on the settlement of a class action suit filed in federal court in Little Rock, Arkansas, the accounting firm of Horne LLP, which has offices in Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee and Texas, reviewed the work of Pilot's own internal auditors and concluded Pilot had accurately identified customers that were owed money and reimbursed them, adding 6 percent interest and paying attorneys' fees as the settlement required.
Horne said in its reported filed with the Arkansas court that it tested the defendants internal audit (DIA) calculations to obtain assurance to a 95 percent confidence level that there was a 5 percent or lower error rate in the amounts that were calculated by DIA.
The settlement agreement allowed a 5 percent precision rate and the PFJ internal audit met that criteria.
Horne said its testing work began on Aug. 20, 2013, and concluded on May 15, 2014, and said the project required approximately 8,375 team member hours to complete.
Approximately 18 team members worked over 100 hours each on the project, Horne said.
"Our team members were at Pilot Flying J's headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee, for approximately 15 weeks, and worked remotely from Horne offices for the balance of the project," the report said. "In our opinion, the process of DIA's calculation of customer payments and the oversight and review function performed by Horne has worked as intended."
Horne said Pilot audited 7,853 accounts active between Jan. 1, 2005 and July 15, 2013, which was three months after the FBI and the IRS raid on Pilot offices that alerted the public to the federal government's claims of rebate fraud.
The settlement resolved some but not all of the lawsuits against Pilot. The company still faces seven lawsuits that have been consolidated in a federal court in Kentucky.
In the class settlement, Pilot paid out $68.7 million to trucking customers, which included $9.6 million in interest payments, Horne said. The settlement also had $14 million for attorney fees that went to nine different firms and administrative costs.
"We believe that Pilot has fulfilled its duty and responsibility under the agreement for the areas that we were charged with reviewing," the Horne report said.
Horne said Pilot's information technology department designed "recalculation software" to determine the proper pricing for all the accounts that needed to be revised.
"This was an extremely complex program because of the length of time covered, data sources used, and pricing information needed to properly compute what the customer's price should have been," Horne said in its court filing.
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text:
Course type: Group Meditations
Drop-in session with 60 min group meditation followed by discussion
This is a good opportunity to relax, enhance your meditation skills and meet with other meditators. The meditation is always followed by a discussion of the experience. This stimulates reflection on the meditation practice and the application of its principles, which helps you to access more of your potential for personal growth.
The course is arranged by
Acem UK School of Meditation
Kurslærer i Acem. Fagspesialist i DNB.
Copyright © 2016 Acem. All rights reserved.


text:
Recent Feedback about the Sun Software Library
By Ari Shamash on Jun 18, 2009
I thought I would anonymous share some of the feedback we've received recently regarding the Sun Software Library:
- "Very good looking user interface, I mean the Sun Software Library webpage, congrats." and "Site is well laid out and easy to use." - these are the ones I'm most proud of, especially given all the flack we've received along the way regarding our Web UI. This is somewhat ironic, since we initially designed the site to be purely a set of web services that others would use to build UIs - we never planned on building a real UI. Our initial UI's were really just "reference implementations", which many mistook to be production quality Web UI's. Funny how things evolve. You can read a bit about our original ideas here.
- "It would be cool if the user can access to an application live demo, obviously web based apps." - the publisher can always associate a screencast with the software demonstrating how the software works, this screencast would show up at the bottom of the software detail page. But even better, we're working on a feature that would allow the publisher to upload a Virtual Machine Image (e.g. VMI in OVF format) that users can instantiate and use (either on their desktop, e.g. via Virtual Box, or on a public cloud).
- "i am regular visitor of this site" - awesome, we like to hear that!
- "in the morning i regularly checks this site." - so do I, but only after my coffee fixes (most days, one cup just doesn't do it).
- "This site keeps me Updated."
- "i can get all the news and technical stuff from here."
- "I want to wirte a review to get a free T-shirt, but I found the web did not work!I try serveral times.The System always displays a error mesg saying "a inner error please try again the later" when i set my screen name. you know I can not write review unless i set my screen name." - looks like there is a bug in the section of our WebUI that enables setting the screen name. We are working on a fix. Until then, you can use this page to set your screen name: https://reg.sun.com/createscreenname.
Keep the feedback coming, folks, we always want to hear from people who are using the Sun Software Library.


text:
From: Handledare
To: betygskommitteen
Subject: PhD defence
Dear all,
Thanks again for accepting to be in the examination committee för <PhD student's name>. The faculty will contact you as soon as a formal decision has been made.
I enclose a summary of the work, a list of contributions, a list of publications and a draft of the thesis.
1- Could you please confirm that you received this mail and were able to print or inspect the files.
<name of the PhD student> will continue working on the thesis. We will need to send the thesis for printing by <date>.
2- According to our department´s policy, before sending the thesis for printing we would need a confirmation (by e-mail) by the examination committe that the contributions and the quality of thesis comprise a foundation for the public defence of the thesis. Could you please inform me of this by latest <date - should be one month before defence date minimum>.
3- Finally, we appreciate any feedback or comments on the thesis.
Best regards,


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My husband and I have used magnetics for 15 years.
Basically, magnetics aid your own circulatory system to get moving. With increased circulation to a specific site, the body can remove the toxins or debris in the area that are causing pain or impairment.
Magnetics don't cure anything, but they aid your body's own marvelous ability to cure itself.
For example, my 90 yr old mother-in-law came to visit us. She had a horrific ugly black bruise on the back of her hand (from a fall she'd had a week earlier). You know how bruises are on old folks! They linger a long long time.
I applied a magnet the size of a credit card to the back of her hand after dinner, wrapping her hand gently with ace bandage.
In the morning at breakfast, the bruise was almost gone, being the yellow color.
So if that doesn't tell you something!
I have used magnetic bracelets on both wrists, and a magnetic necklace for shoulder cramping. I sit on a magnetic seat pad in my knitting chair! My husband wears magnetic insoles every day. Also, he wears a large magnetic pad for his lower back.
We buy our magnetics from Nikken. It's the best quality in our opinion. Just take a look around on their website, Jan. The magnetics technology is awesome.
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With Instructables you can share what you make with the world, and tap into an ever-growing community of creative experts.
Just like most things that come out of our kitchen, this one was inspired by food we got from a local restaurant. One of the things we really ...
The ingredient list for this is fairly short. Note that beef can be substituted for the chicken for tasty beef teriyaki! Ingredients: 1-2 lbs Chicken (I normally buy ...
The Prep Skewers Add water to a shallow pan that is long enough to accommodate the skewers Let the skewers soak while the meat marinades - at least ...
This next step is fun but a bit dangerous. If you hadn't noticed before, the pointy end of the skewers are sharp. Now would also be a good ...
Make sure your grill is hot Place the skewered chicken carefully on the grill Because of the long sticks, you may not be able to close the lid ...
Quick and Easy Teriyaki Marinade by Mr_McFLUFFELS
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Enter the qorld of crocodilians at this beloved annual event as you meet five distinct species of…Details
More Florida fun in one space.
The list of things to do during a visit to Florida's Space Coast could begin with a trip to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex where Space Shuttle Atlantis is on display. Or the vacation could start with a slower pace at one of the area's many hidden gems such as Manatee Cove Park where visitors can experience manatees in the wild. The list of possibilities is long and all over the map – literally and figuratively speaking.
The Space Coast is also down to earth with plenty of natural activities such as a full slate of beach and mainland parks for recreation including hiking, surfing and a wide range of fishing. Be inspired by the arts scene with venues big and small showcasing artworks of all kinds, dance and theatre productions or music that ranges from symphonic to surf guitar.
Stroll the shops. Swing the rackets or clubs. Win at the slots. Whether it's chillin' on the Cocoa Beach Pier or thrillin' on Brevard Zoo's Treetop Trek, there are MORE things to do here on the Space Coast – which keeps visitors coming back.
Enter the qorld of crocodilians at this beloved annual event as you meet five distinct species of…Details
SpaceX will launch the Amos 6 communications satellite for Spacecom of Israel, which will support the…Details
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, designated AV-066, will launch the U.S. military's third…Details
A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, designated AV-066, will launch the U.S. military's third…Details
Trail of Terror is a haunted attraction featuring live actors, elaborate sets and terrifying special…Details
Call for reservations at 855-468-4286 and pay $25 for boarding, dining, $10 in qualified slot play, free…Details
Leave the worries about transportation to and from Port Canaveral behind with this Fly, Stay and Cruise…Details
Make the boat on time with Comfort Inn & Suites Resort Hotels & Conference Center's FLY, SNOOZE & CRUISE…Details
Going on a cruise, then consider a pre- or post - stay at Econo Lodge Cocoa Beach! Their Snooze and Cruise…Details
Fly into the Orlando, Sanford, or Melbourne International Airport and shuttle transportation will pick you up…Details


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Bullet Points: When a Resume's Too Good to Be True
- It's a jungle out there, and it looks to HR folks as if more and more job candidates have been "inflating" their experience, titles, and just about everything else. [CNBC]
- Business cards are often pretty. But are they also irrelevant? [Lifehacker]
- Given that we want to teach the children well, should they be learning how to be entrepreneurs rather than employees? [The Next Web]
- Giving your just-bought Android phone a tune-up. [BI slideshow]
- Are smart phones ushering in the "death of street smarts"? Sara Goodyear, writing for The Atlantic, argues that maybe we should all be spending more time with the GPS off.


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We share our expertise and resources to accelerate solutions to combat sexual exploitation.
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Our initiatives advance the development of stronger, targeted legislation and policy to combat injustice and protect victims.
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Advocate for improvements in public justice systems by contacting policy leaders and media outlets about sex trafficking laws in your state.
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Monitor and support pending state and federal legislation related to domestic minor sex trafficking.
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Learn more about child sex trafficking in America by ordering your copy of Renting Lacy: A Story of America's Prostituted Children today! This riveting account exposes the dark underworld of the trafficking industry through the stories of those who live there.
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Ready to turn your knowledge to action? We offer training opportunities around the nation to equip first responders and community members to identify survivors and engage in effective response.
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Find out how your state scored on protecting children from sex trafficking.
Protected Innocence Challenge Report Card


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The man has over a dozen solo albums and seems to be a bottomless well of imagination - the usual extremes of emotion love, life and death, sprinkled with large grains of humour. A fabulous guitarist who can hold his own with one of the best rhythm sections there is. Live and in combination the output is consistently excellent. A multi-layered psychedelic sound that bites.
See more info at robynhitchcock.com
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She didn't do too many movies or model all that much. But Janki Shah has incredible jugs and she dared to show them off in mainstream Hindi cinema – and that's something!
Since our lame Censor Board believed seeing her boobs would lead to rioting, mayhem and general degradation of our nation's culture it had the scene clipped from Shaque.
Like it works these days – the deleted sequence, where she strips off her shirt to show friends' that girls can do everything guys could, eventually made it to the internet. Recently that clip even circulated as a 'Rani Mukherjee topless video' providing much publicity to both the actresses.
While the audience never liked the movie, possibly because of the missing scene, thanks to the internet Janki Shah's 'performance' has won her incredible numbers of fans!


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Kenova White Pages (WV)
Find People in Kenova
Kenova Phone Directory
Latest Phone Numbers Searched in Kenova, WV. Use the box at the top to search the Kenova White Pages for the owner of any phone #.
304-486-5566 - Smith Auto Sales , 3261 Sandy River Rd (9 days ago)
304-486-9005 - Bev's Get N Go & Deli , 3272 Big Sandy Rd (16 days ago)
304-453-4300 - Tri-State Air Cond & Htg , 1301 Chestnut St (20 days ago)
304-272-5486 - Honorable Robert G Chafin , 1755 Route 75 (1 month ago)
304-486-5651 - Zims Bagging Company , P.O. BOX 455 (1 month ago)
304-486-5068 - Automatic Transmission Clinic , Whites Creek Rd (2 months ago)
304-453-4355 - Evaroni's Pizza , 914 Oak St (2 months ago)
304-453-2040 - Curves For Women , 2000 Oak St (2 months ago)
304-486-9101 - Mike's Garage , 3272 Big Sandy Rd (2 months ago)
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Area Codes in the Kenova, WV Region: 304
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Professor of Biology
B.S., University of Hartford (1972)
Ph.D., Syracuse University (1977)
017 Winston Hall
(336) 758-5318
Area of Interest
Cell Biology
In my present research, I am collaborating with Dr, Gloria Muday on a study of the localization of the the auxin transport protein PIN2 in Arabidopsis. PIN2 is a member of a family of protein whose asymmetric localization in the plasma membrane determines the direction of polar auxin transport. PIN2, which is responsible for shootward transport of auxin, is localized on the apical surface of cortical cells in the root.
The polar localization of the PIN proteins is thought to occur through cycling of proteins between endosomes and the plasma membrane. In the Arabdidopsis mutant scd1-1, PIN2 is mislocalized, appearing not only on the apical surface of the cells but also in small vesicular structures throughout the cytoplasm. Using scd1-1 seeds crossed with PIN2-GFP and fluorescently-labeled markers of various endomembrane compartments, we are using the scd1-1 mutant to better understand intracellular trafficking of the PIN2 protein.
Pre-Allied Health Advisor
As the Pre-Allied Health Advisor, I advise students interested in health professions careers other than in medicine, dentistry, and veterinary science. This includes physician's assistant, physical therapy, nursing, pharmacy, public health, health care administration, and others.
Click here to visit the Pre-health program site
Selected Publications
CL Browne, JR Tobin, and ML Voytko. 2009. Effects of two years of conjugated equine estrogens on cholinergic neurons in young- and middle-aged monkeys. Brain Research 1264:13-23.
CL Browne, JB Swan, EE Rankin, H Calvert,S Griffiths, and M Tytell. 2007. Extracellular heat shock protein 70 has novel functional effects on sea urchin eggs and coelomocytes. Journal of Experimental Biology 210:1275-1287.
WL Silver, and CL Browne. 2000. Integration of laboratory exercises in development and neurobiology courses using the Xenopus oocyte expression system. Journal of Industrial Microbiology and Biotech. 24:353:358.


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Last month the world's population reportedly reached 7 billion people, which means that human reproduction is almost keeping pace with the number of "Nutcracker" productions.
I exaggerate, a bit. When the holiday season rolls into sight, the dance world takes on a monomaniacal fixation on a young girl's dreamy adventures, sugarplum ferries and the heroic exploits of a utensil.
Why does this particular ballet loom so large in our holiday landscape? Oakland Ballet artistic director Graham Lustig believes its enduring status as a holiday ritual is self-perpetuating, as family outings inculcate new generations into Nutcrackerdom.
"I think the boys are captivated by the battle scenes, and there's magic for the young girls throughout," Lustig says. "And you can't underestimate the score. I find there to be so much beauty in Tchaikovsky's writing, the color, the sense of playfulness, the leitmotifs he develops."
Lustig is responsible for the most welcome recent addition to the Bay Area's "Nutcracker" landscape. The English-born choreographer spent much of his dance career in the U.K. and Holland (realms where "Nutcracker" mania is far less pervasive), which explains how he retired from the stage without ever performing in a "Nutcracker" production. He brought a fresh eye to his beautiful version of the ballet, which hews closely to the original plot.
His re-imagined "Nutcracker" premiered in 2000 at New Jersey's American Repertory Ballet, and he brought the brilliantly staged production with him when he took over the Oakland Ballet last year. Harking back to his Austrian roots, Lustig set the ballet in late 19th-century Vienna, when it was the culturally vibrant capital of a vast empire. Working with set designer Zack Brown, he drew inspiration from the paintings and graphics of Viennese master Gustav Klimt.
"I didn't want to do anything as radical as 'The Hard Nut,' though I love what Mark Morris did," Lustig says. "And I didn't add any psychodrama. It's a straightforward uncle/niece relationship. But we replaced the Victorian trappings with a burst of modernism. Gone are all the lace doilies and flock curtains. You're in a white room with floor to ceiling windows. It was an era of women's emancipation, and the gowns were free-flowing, and the hair was looser."
The Oakland East Bay Symphony, conducted by Michael Morgan, will perform Tchaikovsky's score with the Mt. Eden High School Women's Ensemble or the Pacific Boychoir Academy.
Details: Oakland Ballet performs Graham Lustig's "The Nutcracker" at 2 and 7 p.m. Dec. 22 and 23, and 11 a.m. Dec. 24 at Oakland's Paramount Theatre, 2025 Broadway. Tickets are $20-$59.50; contact 800-745-3000, www.paramounttheatre.com or www.oaklandballet.org.
A veritable army of Nutcrackers and other holiday danceworks will be marching through the Bay Area over the next month. Here are several notable productions.
Contact Andrew Gilbert at firstname.lastname@example.com.


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- Destinations
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Offers valid on new bookings only. Prices shown are per-person, land only based upon double occupancy, except if expressly noted otherwise on the offer. Offers are subject to availability at time of booking and may be changed or discontinued at any time without notice. Blackout dates, minimum night stays, minimum stay requirements on air, seasonal surcharges, resort fees (if any), and other restrictions may also apply. Individual offers may require purchase of Travel Smart Plan or travel waiver. Offers are not valid for Group Travel. Some booking and travel dates may vary. Other promotions and departure dates available which may result in a different rate and/or hotel inclusion. Customer may be responsible for hotel taxes and fees on free nights and other offers, where applicable. Ask your Travel Specialist for details. Classic Vacations CST# 2079429-20
8 Duke Street
Save up to $203 per couple
Executive Room with Spa
Sofitel Suite with Spa
Travel from 04/01/2012 through 03/31/2013
Blackout Dates: May Apply
Minimum Night Stay: 3 Nights
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Sofitel Queenstown
Hotel Ratings
Insider Tip
- Right in the centre of town, the Sofitel Queenstown is just a short walk (less than 500 metres) from the shores of Lake Wakatipu. Follow the lakeshore promenade to the left, which leads around a promontory with views of the town and, later, the Remarkables mountain range. Part of the promontory is a botanic garden that is often overlooked by many Queenstown visitors despite its unique alpine setting.
Hotel Overview
What to Expect:
- An intimate lobby decorated with artwork and black-and-white photography greets tourists and business guests, as well as skiers during the winter season, to the modern-style Sofitel. To one side, low sofas and tables surround a fireplace and small bar that features mood lighting and sophisticated modern décor. Contemporary New Zealand art, glass, and sculpture, changed seasonally, is showcased on the walls.
Amenity Highlights:
- The Sofitel Queenstown has a wine cellar, lobby bar, and à la carte restaurant. A small library, outfitted with high-backed armchairs, low sofas, and an open fire, offers an Internet station and a bookcase of reading material. The hotel also has a small fitness centre and small boardroom.
8 Duke Street
New Zealand
- Queenstown
Airport:Frankton ZQN
The hotel features 82 luxury rooms and suites, all with their own private double spa bath and most featuring private balconies with mountain or lake views. All rooms are equipped with LCD television, CD and DVD player, espresso machine, wireless LAN, and an additional LCD television in the bathroom.
Room Amenities:
- Air conditioning
- Balcony
- Bathrobes
- Bathroom telephone
- Bathroom TV
- Blackout drapes
- Bottled water in room (complimentary)
- Cable/satellite TV
- CD player
- Child care (in room, surcharge)
- Climate control
- Clock radio
- Coffee/tea maker
- Complimentary toiletries
- Cribs (infant beds) available
- Designer toiletries
- Direct-dial phone
- DVD player
- Electronic/magnetic keys
- Hair dryer
- Housekeeping
- Hypo-allergenic bedding available
- In-room safe
- Internet access - high speed
- Internet access - surcharge
- Iron/ironing board
- Jetted tub
- Makeup mirror
- Massage - available in room
- Minibar
- Multi-line phone
- Non-smoking rooms
- Pay movies
- Premium bedding
- Premium TV channel(s)
- Refrigerator
- Remote lighting/drapery control
- Rollaway beds
- Sewing kit
- Slippers
- Turndown service
- Voice mail
- Wake-up calls
- Window opens
Property Amenities
Part of a building complex that includes several restaurants and cafés, a night club, and a shopping mall, the Sofitel Queenstown also has its own à la carte restaurant, wine cellar, and lobby bar. The lobby bar leads into a small library with high-backed armchairs and low sofas. Decorated with abstract prints, it offers an Internet station and a bookcase of reading material. The hotel also has a fitness centre and small boardroom. Complimentary on-site parking is available for guests in an open-air car park behind the hotel complex. Valet parking: NZ$5-$15 (AU$4-$13) per 24-hour period. Fees do not include tax and are subject to change without prior notice. Business services at the Sofitel Queenstown are available through reception. An Internet station in the lobby library costs NZ$7 (AU$6) per 30 minutes' use. An 84-square-metre boardroom, seating up to 32 around the table, or 50 for cocktails, offers high-speed wired and wireless Internet access, and video conferencing. Fees subject to change without notice.
- 24-hour front desk
- Air-conditioned public areas
- Airport transportation (surcharge)
- Audio-visual equipment
- Banquet facilities
- Bar/lounge
- Business services
- Complimentary newspapers in lobby
- Concierge services
- Conference room(s)
- Currency exchange
- Doorman/doorwoman
- Dry cleaning service
- Elevator/lift
- Event catering
- Fireplace in lobby
- Fitness equipment
- Internet access in public areas - high speed
- Internet access in public areas - surcharge
- Library
- Medical assistance available
- Multilingual staff
- Parking (free)
- Parking (valet)
- Porter/bellhop
- Restaurant(s) in hotel
- Room service (24 hours)
- Safe-deposit box - front desk
- Shoe shine
- Television in lobby
- Tour assistance
- Video library
Extra-person charges may apply and vary depending on property policy.Rollaway beds and cribs (infant beds) may be available and should be requested at the time of booking; fees may apply.Photo identification and credit card or cash deposit are required at check-in for incidental charges.Special requests are subject to availability upon check-in, cannot be guaranteed and may incur additional charges.
- American Express
- Diners Club
- MasterCard
- Pets not allowed
- Visa
Check-in time:
Check-out time:
Jervois Steak HouseOwned and operated by Masterchef Simon Gault the Jervois Steak House serves extraordinary steaks from rib eye and filet cuts to rack of lamb and tuna steaks. For guests seeking the ultimate steak try one of the specialty Wagyu steaks.
Vie RestaurantSophisticated bar area attached to main restaurant. Cheese and wine tasting available, with more than 100 wines offered. Wine bottles displayed in glass cabinets. Benches with high stools. Corner nook with cream leather sofas. Open from lunch to late evening.
Nue LoungeLight lunches, desserts, wines, cocktails, and champagnes. Small bar area surrounded by low sofas and high-backed chairs. Contemporary artwork. Part of the lobby and library space. Open mid-morning to late evening.
Left Bank CafeA new addition to the Sofitel Queenstown, hotel guests and other patrons can enjoy breakfast and lunch in charming Parisian style, without ever having to leave the heart of Queenstown.
The Sofitel Queenstown has a fitness room containing two exercise bicycles, a treadmill, rowing machine, free and pinned weights, and Swiss balls.Known as the adventure capital of New Zealand, Queenstown has a host of sports and activities on offer, from skiing at nearby fields (the nearest, Coronet Peak, is from the hotel) to paragliding and parasailing on Lake Wakatipu (300 metres). Bungee jumping originated in Queenstown and can be enjoyed at several locations. Jet boating is another famous activity; the nearest venue to the Sofitel Queenstown is Kawarau Jet (). Arrowtown Golf Course () is open to the public and costs NZ$55 (AU$45) per round. In addition, the shores of Lake Wakatipu and surrounding valleys offer plenty of opportunities for walking and hiking, as well as vineyard visits. Fees subject to change without notice. The recreational activities listed below are available nearby; fees may apply. Known as the adventure capital of New Zealand, Queenstown has a host of sports and activities on offer, from skiing at nearby fields (the nearest, Coronet Peak, is from the hotel) to paragliding and parasailing on Lake Wakatipu (300 metres). Bungee jumping originated in Queenstown and can be enjoyed at several locations. Jet boating is another famous activity; the nearest venue to the Sofitel Queenstown is Kawarau Jet (). Arrowtown Golf Course () is open to the public and costs NZ$55 (AU$45) per round. In addition, the shores of Lake Wakatipu and surrounding valleys offer plenty of opportunities for walking and hiking, as well as vineyard visits. Fees subject to change without notice.The recreational activities listed below are available either on site or nearby; fees may apply.
- Bird watching
- Boat launch
- Fishing
- Golfing
- Hiking/biking trails
- Jet skiing
- Motor boating
- Mountain biking
- Parasailing
- Rafting
- Rowing or canoeing
- Running track/path
- Skydiving
- Water skiing
Special Offer Details
Super Special Reduced Rate3 nights from $419 per person
Save up to $203 per couple
What's Included?
- A reduced room rate
Available Room Types:Superior Room with Spa
Executive Room with Spa
Sofitel Suite with Spa
Important Dates:Book from 01/11/2012 through 03/28/2013
Travel from 04/01/2012 through 03/31/2013
Blackout Dates: May Apply
Minimum Night Stay: 3 Nights


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This American Life Show Feed
#447: The Incredible Case of the P.I. Moms
August 22, 2016
What do you get when you take a private investigation firm, toss in a bunch of sexy soccer moms, then add official sponsorship from Glock firearms, a lying boss, and delusions of grandeur? This week's show. That's what you get.
Pete Crooks' original article and book about the P.I. Moms.
Pete Crooks' original article and book about the P.I. Moms.
#594: My Summer Self
August 15, 2016
Summer is a time when change seems more possible than ever. But is that really how it happens? Can people actually reinvent themselves in the warmer months? This week we present stories — and some comedy — about people and their summer selves.
#593: Don't Have to Live Like a Refugee
August 8, 2016
We return to Greece with stories of people trying to move on with their lives in whatever way they can. We meet a couple who fell in love even though they weren't expecting anything like that to happen, and even though her family didn't approve. We also meet a shopkeeper in a camp who's running what amounts to a cigarette charity. INTERACTIVE TOUR | PART ONE
#592: Are We There Yet?
August 1, 2016
A bunch of us from our show went to refugee camps all over Greece. We found people falling in love, kids mad at their parents for dragging them to Europe, women doing their laundry in a baseball stadium locker room, and hundreds of people living at a gas station—sitting next to the pumps, smoking. Also: wild pigs. 57,000 refugees are stuck in Greece, making homes in some surprising locations. We hear what that's really like. INTERACTIVE TOUR | PART TWO


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Preconception and Interconception Health, Utah 2009-2011
Prematurity Symposium Synopsis 2012
Infant Mortality from Perinatal Conditions, Utah 2003-2008
Utah Adolescent Reproductive Health Report - 2010
Teen Pregnancy Statistics - 2004 Update
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Infant Mortality 1995 - 1998
Gestational Diabetes in Utah
Infant Mortality in Utah 2001 - 2003
Maternal Mortality in Utah 1995 - 2002
Hispanic Infant Mortality from Perinatal Conditions
Utah Health Disparities Summaries 2009
Infant Mortality from Perinatal Conditions, Utah 2004 - 2006
PRAMS Perspectives Reports
Barriers to Adequate Prenatal Care in Utah
Unintended Pregnancy in Utah
Tobacco Use Before, During and After Pregnancy
Prenatal Education in Utah
Breastfeeding in Utah
Preterm Birth in Utah
Utah PRAMS Data Book 00 - 01
Maternal Prepregnancy Body Mass Index and Pregnancy Outcomes in Utah
Domestic Violence in Utah
Short Interpregnancy Spacing in Utah
Utah PRAMS Data Book 02 - 03
Births from Unintended Pregnancies and Contraceptive Use in Utah
Sexually Transmitted Infections and Other Maternal Infections During Pregnancy
Pregnancy Weight Gain in Utah
Preconception Health and Health Care Among Utah Women
Utah PRAMS Data Book 04 - 05
HIV/AIDS Testing Among Pregnant Women in Utah
Infertility Treatments and Pregnancy Outcomes in Utah
Influenza Vaccination among Pregnant and Postpartum
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Utah PRAMS Data Book 2007-2008
Gestational Weight Gain in Utah: Populations and Interventions
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Utah code requiring brochure
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Baby Your Baby Provider and Utah Clicks Training Manual - revised July 2014
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Pregnant Medicaid Clients Eligible for Nutrition Counseling
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Ski Buyer's Guide
These top skis will help you take on the whole mountain.
These top skis will help you take on the whole mountain.
Check out 8 of the best all-mountain snowboards we've ever ridden.
Active Junky gear testers picked out these 12 gifts for those mountain lovers, the ones who wear everything from skirts to snowshoes in the same day.
While fair-weather camping mistakes lead to "we'll laugh about it later," winter is less forgiving; know where you're going, what you're taking, and trust who you're going with.
We tested out the Evo4 Beacon and the Light 2.40 Compact Probe in the backcountry terrain outside of Telluride, Colorado and found there were pros and cons to both products. Here's the full scoop:
We ran through the Basin and Range line this fall and early winter, and these are four of our favorites.
Those familiar with such sacred AM reveries don't mind setting alarms, knowing that adventure is at its finest in the AM.
Planning a climbing trip? Going international? Follow these tips and you're sure to have an experience of a lifetime.
Watch and share with your backcountry partners. Make sure to follow up on the five steps outlined in the film:
A basic ski wax, done by hand, involves three major steps.
Wintery conditions don't always lend to the best photos, so make sure you arm yourself with these basic tips.
Compass fundamentals are imperative in any backcountry endeavor. Silly as it sounds, accelerated compass competence begins with a rhyme.
U.S. brewers are doing tastings in cities once revered as the bastions of traditional brewing, with lots of room to grow their current 9.5% share of the market.
By Active Junky's analysis, the biggest problem would be riding-and-eating where triple-deckers distract from traffic ahead. Or ketchup throws derailleurs out of adjustment.
According to a study fielded by the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants, five categories top the charts for most executive turnover
YETI takes us to the remote Cosmoledo Atoll to fish the GT capital of the world as well as a number of other sport fish in the area.
From Thursday to Sunday, fees are waived to let solo explorers and groups walk, pedal or paddle among windy trails and deep blue lakes.
From giant doubles off of cliffs, to triple corks off of giant backcountry booters, this trailer is sure to get your blood pumping.
Active Junky's taking these three along for more than the ride.
Scientists at, no really, the Center for Wearable Sensors, are putting their San Diego-based brains to work on a skull-rattling problem.
From 9am to 9pm, Windy City men get groomed for whatever's ahead in their day — without leaving home or office.
We spent three months evaluating so you can choose from the best sleeping pads possible to put a smile on your face as the golden sun rises above the horizon and reminds you that not only is every day precious, but yours to enjoy.
Active Junky puts some of the best road cycling gear to the test on one of the most iconic rides in the country: the 31st annual Ride the Rockies.
Cyclists who aren't ready to swap out their current components or invest in a smart bike can upgrade their ride with a Shoka Bell.
This invasive East-Asian cousin of America's aphid is wreaking havoc on eastern hemlock trees. Nearly 95% of stands in Shenandoah National Park, Virginia have been killed in less than 15 years.
Outdoor Retailer Summer Market attracts nearly 30,000 industry professionals experiencing new tech, gear and apparel. More than 1,600 exhibits filled a 515,000 square-foot convention hall and three enormous outdoor pavilions.
Five iconic brands command attention well past the Swedish borders, each with a story that supports another lesson (the third) garnered in a trip to Jamtland County.
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TEXAS FAITH: Why isn't the West getting any better at handling religious conflict? Or are we?
We are headed once again into a drama in the Mideast in which religious conflict is playing a serious role. The tension between Shia and Sunni Muslims is part of the dynamic in play in Syria and the broader Mideast. The New York Times' David Brooks does a good job explaining some of this tension in this column titled, "One Great Big War."
Of course, twelve years ago this month, religious extremism played itself out in horrific ways in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. And we have seen outbursts of it here in the United States in other ways, whether in the form of Major Hasan in Fort Hood or the Tsarnaev brothers in Boston.
So, here's my question:
Why aren't we in the West and other parts of the world getting any better at handling religious conflict? Is it because we have not had to deal with this like we have had to face nationalistic or ethnic strife? Or are we getting better and it's just hard to see?
PHILIP JENKINS, Distinguished Professor of History, Institute for Studies of Religion, Baylor University
I'm taken aback by the implication that the West is at all good at handling nationalistic or ethnic strife! And the evidence for that is… what? Yugoslavia in the 1990s?
I could answer this at great length, but let me make a couple of major points.
High on the list of "reasons the U.S. goes wrong" is the common perception that "we" are neutral, objective, rational, and even secular, and we have to deal with "their" irrational extremism. Not so. The West in general and the U.S. in particular actually operates from principles that are quite as uncompromising and as puzzling to much of the rest of the world as "their" religions are to us. Yet "we" are incapable of recognizing our own dogmas for what they are.
Human rights ideology is an example. We treat this as if it is an absolute and self-evident value – but based on what guiding principle?
Somewhere in the 1990s, gender rights got included in this package, as gay rights are being added today. These issues may be critical, and fully justified, but the West presents them to the rest of the world as if these ideas have always been absolute imperatives, rather than quite recent adoptions.You'll forgive the Chinese (for example) for scoffing at what they see as the West's irrational fanaticism on these issues.
For the Muslim world too, uncompromising U.S. support of Israel looks like a wholly religious-inspired dogma, especially when it is advocated so fervently by Christian Zionists. Try telling an Iranian (say) that this policy is purely secular in nature, and that person will sneer. Is he wrong to do so?
Having said that, yes, the U.S. has learned many lessons from its past experiences. It was in 1979 when, political folklore says, a baffled Vice President Walter Mondale asked "What in hell is an ayatollah anyway"? Since then, U.S. intelligence has got much better at paying due attention to the force of religious ideologies worldwide.
The problem is that they have focused so much on Islam that they have underplayed other critical global players. Buddhism is one critical example, Hinduism another. The last and most intriguing example is Christianity, which increasingly is a majority non-Western religion. U.S. policymakers could take generations to figure that one out.
HOWARD COHEN, Lecturer in Jewish/Christian Relations and member of Congregation Shearith Israel and Congregation Beth Torah, Dallas
I have a problem with the question distinguishing between religious conflict and nationalistic or ethnic ones as if we are actually any better at solving either. Maybe we can start by recognizing that these are no more religious in nature than the conflict in Northern Ireland was.
The warring parties may pay lip service to different sects of Islam, but those are only convenient labels. The bases for these "religious" wars have remained the same for most of western history: economics, politics, social life with religious differences providing the labels and superficial motivation.
Although there may have been religious differences that distinguished these groups early in their history, the sources of the present Middle East conflicts are the same ones they have always been, again, politics, economics, and desire for power.
Anyone who actually thinks there is such a place as Iraq doesn't understand the history of the region. The three ethnic groups of Kurds, Sunnis, and Shiites were held together by someone that they were more afraid of than each other, much like the former made up country of Yugoslavia was held together by Tito. The same could be said for Lebanon and Syria. The boundaries of these so-called nations were drawn by colonial powers after World War I, throwing together disparate groups that did not share a common allegiance but were only devoted to their tribal sects.
I don't know of any good options for us in Syria, but no one else has idea one either. Columnists, pundits, and American politicians can all summarize the problem, but I have not heard one viable option that would come close to solving anything. Let's at least stop calling them religious conflicts that need to be handled differently from ethnic ones.
CYNTHIA RIGBY, W.C. Brown Professor of Theology, Austin Presbyterian Theological Seminary
I think religious conflict is especially hard to negotiate because it is "built in" to many religious traditions to have THE right answers to the most important questions: questions about life and death, about what God wills for this world and what will happen in the life to come.
On a small scale, when someone thinks he or she has not only A right answer but THE ONLY right answer, they will have conflict with those who think differently. They will conflict, especially, with others who think they have THE ONLY right answer, if the "answer" these others have is different than their own.
In the western world we pride ourselves on valuing religious tolerance. But to be religiously tolerant, it seems that we have to let go of the idea that we have THE ONLY right answer to important questions. In my own religious tradition, Christianity, this matter plays out in relation to that which is at the very center of our faith. The question is: is Jesus Christ the ONLY way to salvation?
To answer that Jesus is the ONLY way is to risk (potentially serious) conflict with those who disagree. But to say Jesus is only one of many possible ways is also problematic, for those of us who truly understand, experience, and want others to know Jesus Christ as "the way, the truth and the life" (John 14:6).
I'm still thinking on a small scale, here, about the question put before us. But I'm wondering if we could manage religious conflicts on a larger scale if we started by working on the character of our personal confessions. Perhaps there is an approach other than saying either "my way is the ONLY way" or "my way is just one among many, so whatever."
Somehow, in our lives and in our politics, we need to find approaches that tolerate the views of others while still honoring the uniquenesses, passions, and convictions that give religions heart.
DANIEL KANTER, Senior Minister, First Unitarian Church of Dallas
I want to think we are getting better at it. I don't know if we will solve the geo-political issues by trying to break down our own misunderstandings about each other but I think it is worth a shot.
What I see in my community is an increase in curiosity about those we don't fully understand. This happens when we are put into closer proximity with the 'other' which is happening in all urban settings in our nation and when we get honest with ourselves about our own ignorance.
After September 11th classrooms in churches and places of higher learning filled up with people who wanted to understand Islam. That urge to understand led us to get the difference between Islam and terrorism. It showed us that we had misunderstood even the questions we were asking in trying to make sense of those horrendous events.
When we can identify the gaps in our experiences and notice the desire to cross metaphorical borders then we are on the path to reducing the kind of conflicts we see around the world. Without curiosity and the willingness to be changed we will never solve the conflicts in our lives or in our world.
AMY MARTIN, Director Emeritus of Earth Rhythms and Writer/editor Moonlady News Newsletter
This weekend I had lunch with a Bible church pastor and his wife, a Young Life couple who are evangelizing Christianity in Germany, an elderly Methodist, and a conservative homeschooling Anglican family. We never discussed their Bible or my lack of one. We talked about gardening, vacations, football and pets. We shared food and watched children play. You know, the important things in life.
It's these countless acts of interfaith across the dining table that pundits rarely see. Vignettes like that and many others that I hear lead me to believe religious conflicts are abating. Violence over religion is sporadic at best in Australia, Canada or Europe, even in the heavily Catholic regions of Mexico, Central and South America. These Mid East conflicts are all about politics. Sunnis and Shiites are not fighting over religious fine points. They fight over power.
MIKE GHOUSE, President, Foundation for Pluralism and speaker on interfaith matters, Dallas
We are indeed getting better at handling religious conflict, as long as we know it is not the best, and we have room to improve. I am glad the religious folks are speaking up.
Twelve years ago on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001, I was called by AM Radio 1150 at 10 A.M. to address the crisis. The 9/11 attacks had left every one speechless and frozen from doing anything. I was shaking but was committed to make sense out of the chaos and bring coherence to the day, and pave the way for relevant action. I was on the air for seven straight hours.
Indeed, we have made big strides in Dallas from that day forward. Interfaith prayers were initiated. Blood donations causes labs to overflow. And many religious leaders jumped in to find a peaceful solutions.
Texas Faith panelists have written some of the most beautiful pieces whenever there were conflicts within the United States, particularly in reference to the Ground Zero Mosque and Mormonism. The interfaith groups routinely get together and issue joint statements of solidarity. The progress is there, but not up to speed. There is a lot more to do.
And now, we have another situation where Pastor Jones will burn 2998 Copies of the Quran. It is not the burning I am concerned with, but the reaction to it that worries me. The Polk County, Florida folks have jumped in at the opportunity to find comfort in unity and solidarity and have come together to commemorate Unity Day USA in Mulberry Florida. This is a Dallas event that has moved to Florida to find solutions.
The Shia-Sunni conflict has been around, but rarely did it flare up until we messed with the delicate fabric of cohesion in Iraq. It was a crime on our part to mess with Iraq and get messed up ourselves in economic terms, with the loss of jobs and foreclosure of homes of millions of Americans. There were no major conflicts between the two sects in the last several centuries except with our meddling. Maybe an apology to the Iraqis — and repentance — will restore our spiritual balance so we can find solutions.
Instead of getting the Shia Iran and Sunni Saudi to sit down together and make peace, our hatred for Iranians has caused us to place wedges between the two. We may feel good in isolating Iran, but we will harm the fabric of the globe with our short-sightedness. At the end we will pay a price but may feel good in pushing others around.
In the United States, we reluctantly upgraded the Mormon faith from a cult to a Christian religious denomination. Thanks to Mitt Romney for being the catalyst. The Shia and Sunni Muslims have come together jointly for understanding. I am blessed to have moderated a dialogue at Rice University's Boniuk Center and am planning to moderate another one at Harvard University. There is a lot of effort going on and there is hope.
JIM DENISON, Theologian-in-Residence, Texas Baptist Convention and President, Denison Forum on Truth and Culture
Before 9/11, America had never fought a religious war. From our War for Independence to the Persian Gulf War, our forces were involved in at least 92 "named" wars. None was motivated primarily by religious beliefs or agendas, at least on our side.
Nor would a religious war be plausible within our culture today. It is conventional wisdom that "truth" is personal and subjective. As atheists and agnostics continue to grow in numbers and influence, more and more Americans view religious beliefs as outdated superstition, certainly not worth fighting over and dying for.
I view our culture as "ignostic" more than "agnostic" — many are deliberately ignorant regarding faith commitments and their value. Our refusal to recognize the significance of religious convictions could not be less congruent with the non-Western world today.
The military conflicts making headlines are fueled primarily by religious issues. For instance, the Assad regime in Syria has been at war with the Syrian Muslim Brotherhood since 1982, a conflict that is fueled by Sunni vs. Shia/Alawite convictions and cultures.
Saudi Arabia is funding and arming Sunni insurgents in a proxy war with Iran, which is funding and arming Shia insurgents.
Albert Camus gave voice to his atheistic Western convictions when he claimed, "There are causes worth dying for, but none worth killing for." Clearly, much of the world disagrees. An earthquake doesn't cause fault lines — it reveals them.
DARRELL BOCK, Executive Director of Cultural Engagement, Howard G. Hendricks Center for Christian Leadership and Cultural Engagement, Senior Research Professor of New Testament Studies Dallas Theological Seminary
It is unrealistic to think one can control hate when those who support it are willing to go to any lengths to sustain it. What we are seeing is not religious conflict, as much a raw human animosity. The indiscriminate use of chemical weapons shows how low things have gone in Syria.
Our society is based on some semblance of respect for law and a desire to limit to some degree how violence is used. None of those "rules" apply in the Middle East. Where our local ideological battles involve a war of words, there it is weapons, suicide, and violence that are used to talk.
So we are left with dealing with the deck of cards that are on the table at any particular point, doing what can be done to contain the amount of damage to a specific and limited region. This will not be easy as the dynamics are too rooted in violence to be able to have confidence that control is possible. The only hope is that those who come to exercise power in the future in the region will try to govern with a different calculus than is currently being applied.
WILLIAM NOAKES, Attorney Adjunct Professor, Cox School of Business, Master of Divinity Student, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
[T]hey shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks;
nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.
Isaiah 2:4 (NRSV)
As the conflict in Syria draws the United States and other Western powers closer to armed intervention, we face the question: Why aren't we in the West and other parts of the world getting any better at handling religious conflict?
We in the West and in other parts of the world are unable to adequately address religious
conflict for many reasons. In an address entitled, "The Fog of Religious Conflict," David Hempton, Dean of the Harvard Divinity School, spoke on the difficulties inherent in addressing religious conflict. As a student at the University of Belfast in the 1970s, he witnessed the ethno-religious clashes between Catholics and Protestants in Northern Ireland. Reflecting upon events such as Bloody Sunday – the 1972 incident in which the British army fired upon and killed unarmed civilian protestors – Dean Hempton formulated eleven reflections on religious conflict; two of which I shall enlist in addressing this week's question.
First, religious conflicts are more complicated than we think. They are a part of an
inter-connected set of causes. While religious differences may play a large role, other factors may include competing ethnic identities; disparities in economic and social power; existence of long-standing grievances that are exacerbated by emotive symbols; and residential and cultural separations, among others.
Taking the conflict in Northern Ireland as an example, Dean Hempton points to disparities in the economic and social power of the majority Protestants and the minority Catholics; the segregated residential patterns of the two ethno-religious groups; and the identification of the minority Catholics with an independent Ireland and the Protestant majority with an Anglican England.
Too often, in the West, in general, and in the United States, in particular, we look at conflicts as though they were given by a singular cause, one that is subject to easy explanation. As we can see from the example of Northern Ireland, the cause of that conflict was multifaceted — not subject to easy explanation. To the extent we do not appreciate the complexities of religious conflict, we venture into misadventure as in Beirut in 1983 and as in Iraq, post-Saddam Hussein, in 2003 and beyond.
Second, as Hempton asserts, "violence radicalizes people." While we see the violence in Syria escalating with the Assad regimes' alleged use of chemical weapons and believe the United States must do something, we should be mindful that the situation could always get worse.
Given the historical primacy of military power over diplomacy in the United States, our default position is too often military action, whether by cruise missile, drone attack or armed troops on the ground. Yet, this interventionist violence may serve to increase significantly the intensity and duration of the religious conflict.
Indeed, the conflict may become one of potentially far greater violence layered over with implications of East v. West; Christianity v. Islam; cries of Western hegemony in the Mideast; the United States doing Israel's bidding, and so on – all of which could further radicalize the Syrian people and make a bad situation worse.
We in the West are not getting any better at addressing religious conflict because we dismiss the complexities of the situation, attempt to simplify it and reduce it to a singular cause or explanation. Further, we fail to see that intervention by an outside power may increase the level of violence, leading to a greater radicalization of the people such that the conflict will increase rather than diminish in intensity and duration. Until we incorporate these factors into our calculus of how to address religious conflict, we in the West will continue to mishandle religious conflict.
LARRY BETHUNE, Senior Minister, University Baptist Church, Austin
Religion reflects the most deeply held values and identity of people and always includes ethnicity, culture, and nation. Religious people naturally invoke the ultimate powers in life and death issues of human life. For this reason religion has inspired countless acts of benevolence through the ages. Conversely (and perversely) religion has also inspired violence, oppression, and war, especially deadly when connected to the powers of the state.
For this reason, the American Founders (influenced by certain religious leaders!) insisted on religious liberty in the American democracy and a strict separation of church and state. Their awareness of European and especially English history made the Founders well aware of how easily demagogues could use religion as a means to manipulate people towards state-sponsored violence.
Most religions have core values that seek peace, mutual respect, and harmony in the human family. Most religions also have tribalistic impulses that seek peace through enforced uniformity of belief and conversion by coercion, even by violence. The rise of fundamentalism in many religions has been one reaction to a pluralistic world where people feel their identity threatened. Another reaction has been a growing ecumenical and interfaith dialogue which seeks peace based on shared values, mutual understanding, and respect for religious liberty.
The rise of fundamentalism coupled with the development of weapons of mass destruction make religious conflict more dangerous than ever before. American arrogance has often led to disastrous results in disregarding, underestimating, or misunderstanding the power and the particulars of religious conflict. But we are learning to take the religious differences seriously and to seek negotiated win/win solutions which appeal to the best values and best interests of both sides. What I am not sure we have learned is that violence begets more violence and a forced peace based on threat of violence is more likely to postpone than resolve such conflicts.
WILLIAM LAWRENCE, Dean and Professor of American Church History, Perkins School of Theology, Southern Methodist University
While it may be convenient to think of conflicts that erupt in the world as disputes over single issues, they rarely are. They are almost always entangled with economic, class, cultural, political, ethnic, racial, and linguistic differences. They are almost never reducible to matters of spiritual faith or religious belief.
Moreover, it may be convenient to reduce the religious elements of conflicts to wars between religions. Yet, the aspects of a conflict that can be identified in sectarian terms are often internal to major bodies of faith. For example, the "troubles" in Northern Ireland were within the Christian community, dividing Protestants and Catholics. The war between Iran and Iraq was about many things, including differences that are internal to Islam. During his ministry on earth, Jesus had to deal with divisions that remained internal within his own religious community, including Zealotry, and he reportedly included among his cohort of disciples one Zealot.
We misread our own history in the United States if we imagine that we have escaped religious strife. The Ku Klux Klan based its identity and marshaled its strength by relying on many factors, but certainly one of them was a skewed interpretation of the Christian faith. We have had intense disputes involving Protestants and Catholics, especially at the time of immigration from Ireland, Italy, and other predominantly Catholic countries. Problems arose in all sorts of social institutions in the nation, from volunteer fire departments in small towns to public schools in big cities, over ethnic and cultural and linguistic differences that manifested themselves in religious terms.
In my childhood in Pennsylvania, I belonged to a Cub Scout Pack that had many Roman Catholic boys and met monthly in a Methodist building. But various forms of prejudice surfaced on "Scout Sunday" when Catholic boys felt truly unwelcome in Methodist worship, and vice versa. Anyone who doubts these religious frictions must examine the 1960 presidential campaign where a candidate's Catholicism became a political question.
Now we appear to be at a national stalemate over immigration. Some insist it is a matter of legality, insisting that there be no "amnesty" for persons who came here illegally. But that is a veneer, superficially painted over other attitudes that create division over matters of ethnicity, race, class and language, as well as religion. The dispute is intense and unsettled. Baptists and Methodist previously accommodated themselves to each other, knowing that they controlled the religious ethos of Dallas. However, those days are over. A new cultural, ethnic, and religious majority is emerging. Unless we examine these matters, along with our unresolved differences over race and class, our city will have challenges for a long time to come.
JOE CLIFFORD, Head of Staff and Senior Minister, First Presbyterian Church of Dallas
We are not getting any better at handling religious conflict because we do not understand the complexities of those conflicts, especially in other cultures, nor do we accept responsibility for what we've done to perpetuate such conflicts.
In the article cited, Brooks differentiates between clashes within civilizations and clashes between civilizations. What happened on 9/11 and in Boston and at Fort Hood embodies a clash of civilizations. What's happening in Egypt and in Syria and in Iraq are clashes within civilizations. We're not good at managing either. In the case of clashes between civilizations, we are blinded by the horror of their actions, demanding justice for the perpetrators without seeing the injustice of the policies that bred such maniacal terrorists.
When it comes to clashes within other cultures, the West has been trying to control that region since parceling out the remnant of the Ottoman Empire after World War I. We've backed brutal dictators then overthrown them when they got out of line. Then we've tried to manage the mess that emerges in the aftermath.
In the process, the consequence of our sin is compounded from generation to generation. Inserting the United States military into the current clashes within that culture may create some short-term stabilization, but it will not accomplish any long-term change. In short, Western powers can't fix the Middle East. For there to be any peace in the region it must be brokered by a neutral party, like the United Nations in consultation with the Arab League. It cannot be fostered by the United States and our allies. Our hands are too bloody.