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Healthy Pets
Pet Gift Hazards to Avoid
Most dog and cat owners consider their canine and feline friends full-fledged members of the family. That means when birthdays, major holidays, or other celebrations roll around, dogs and cats get gifts too - and lots of them.
Whether you're shopping for your own pet or for a friend's, here is what you need to know about pet gift safety regulations and possible hazards.
Holiday Guide for Pet Owners
Most dog and cat owners consider their furry friends members of the family. So when the holidays roll around, pets are often included in the festivities, too. To make sure you and your pets enjoy a safe, happy season, WebMD has pulled together a healthy holiday guide just for pet lovers.
Pet Product Safety
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission focuses solely on products made for human use. Ed Rod, vice president of government affairs and general counsel for the American Pet Products Association, tells WebMD that pet product safety is instead market driven, where manufacturers and retailers focus on these issues:
- Choking hazards and small parts
- Strangulation hazards
- Toxicity levels
Also, major retailers require that pet product makers use quality-control testing laboratories to certify product safety before allowing items on store shelves.
"Fortunately, with pet toys and pet accessories," Rod says, "there is not a big history of adverse events."
Buyer Be Smart
Individual differences in pet play styles and motivations require pet owners to examine pet products for safety issues and supervise play.
"No pet toy is indestructible. Some pets are much more destructive. In fact, the destruction is much of the fun for most dogs and some cats. It's a little bit of buyer beware," says ASPCA's Katherine Miller, PhD, a certified applied animal behaviorist.
Miller advises families to:
- Assume any pet product will be chewed up or torn apart, eventually
- Check pet gifts often for wear
- Remove any damaged items
Potential hazards include:
- Sharp pieces or edges, such as torn plastic toys, internal parts, squeakers, splintered bones
- Long strings, cords, ribbons, or unraveled fabrics
- Small parts, stuffing, or other items that pets might swallow
Don't just look at the product exterior. Figure out what's inside that could become a hazard if exposed. "Imagine the pet pulls it apart," Miller says, "what's inside might be what's most interesting."
Dog Gift Watch List
In the emergency and critical care unit at Tufts University Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine in Grafton, Mass., veterinarians worry most about things dogs swallow that they shouldn't.


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By Nathan Van Schaik, U.S. Army Garrison Schweinfurt Public AffairsMay 6, 2013
SCHWEINFURT, Germany -- The command sergeant major of the 9th Engineer Battalion relinquished his responsibilities here, May 3, in a rare ceremony signaling the eventual end to the storied battalion and the looming deactivation of the 172nd Infantry Brigade.
The 9th Engineer Battalion's Command Sgt. Maj. Jason Stewart passed the battalion colors to Lt. Col. Jayson Gilberti, commander, 9th Engineer Battalion, at a Relinquishment of Responsibility ceremony on Ledward Barracks.
"What truly impressed me the most about my battle buddy was his passion to train Soldiers, develop leaders, and most of all, his passion for the care and welfare of our Soldiers and families," Gilberti said in his remarks about Stewart. "That is the essence of what has made Command Sgt. Maj. Stewart not a good NCO, but a great command sergeant major."
The 9th Engineer Battalion is a component of the 172nd Infantry Brigade. In February of 2012, the Defense Department announced that the brigade would inactivate by October of 2013, compelling all of its components, including the 9th Engineer Battalion, to deactivate as well.
At the ceremony, Command Sgt. Maj. Stewart thanked the Soldiers, his command team, the 172nd leadership, the Command Sergeant of the Army, garrison staff, the Schweinfurt community, and his Soldiers and first sergeants.
Asked what he wanted his departing legacy to be, Steward said, "Taking care of Soldiers and families."
Command Sgt. Maj. Stewart entered active service Sept. 1, 1988, and his overseas tours have taken him to Hanau, Heidelberg and Schweinfurt, Germany, as well as Fort Polk, Fort Leonard Wood and Fort McPherson in the U.S. The Florida native has deployed to Kuwait, Iraq and Afghanistan. A highly decorated Soldier, Stewart's awards and decorations include two Bronze Star Medals, four Meritorious Service Medals and three Army Commendation Medals -- among many others
Stewart leaves Schweinfurt en route to Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., where his next assignment is still to be determined, he said.
The Relinquishment of Responsibility ceremony is a symbolic gesture freeing the command sergeant major of the duties and responsibilities of the battalion's most senior enlisted Soldier and sole custodian of the battalion colors. Typically, the command sergeant major would change responsibilities to another, but that won't be necessary since Army restructuring is disbanding the battalion in the ensuing months.
The battalion commemorates its deactivation at a casing ceremony, May 31, in Grafenwoehr along with the other components of the 172nd Infantry Brigade, including Schweinfurt's 172nd Support Battalion and 1st Battalion, 77th Field Artillery Regiment.
The majority of Soldiers in the 9th Engineer Battalion will either receive orders to permanently change duty stations or discharge from service. Others will transfer to units in the area, such as Schweinfurt's 18th Engineer Brigade while others will continue temporary work as a cadre in Schweinfurt.
Begun in 1917, the 9th Engineer Battalion cemented its importance in U.S. military history at the Ludendorff Bridge over the Rhine River, better known in World War II history as the Bridge at Remagen.

subset: commoncrawl


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— July 9, 2012
so hot
so very hot
I've been going out bicycling at night to avoid the face-melting heat during the day. One night, I got pulled over by a cop for not wearing shorts. I was wearing shorts, obviously, on a major road, under street lights. Sleep depravation? Poor night vision? Freudian slip? Either way, bike shorts do more than just keep it legal. They absorb or prevent a lot of the friction you might otherwise be getting.
Want to prevent a lot of friction in your web site? Call Roswell Studios. Our light cottony coating will keep things moving smoothly.


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Download citation file:
From University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, and University of Bochum, Bochum, Germany.
Central Registration No. ISRCTN27450856.
Acknowledgments: The authors thank Albrecht Molsberger, MD, for supporting the development of the acupuncture schemes and Christina Klose for data management.
Potential Financial Conflicts of Interest: Grants received: C. Maier, H.-J. Trampisch, N. Victor (Consortium of Allgemeine Ortskrankenkassen, Betriebskrankenkassen, Innungskrankenkassen, Bundesknappschaft, Landwirtschaftliche Krankenkassen, and See-Krankenkassen).
Requests for Single Reprints: Norbert Victor, PhD, Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 305, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Current Author Addresses: Dr. Scharf: Orthopedic Clinic, University Hospital Mannheim, Theodor-Kutzer-Ufer 1-3, D-68167 Mannheim, Germany.
Dr. Mansmann: Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University of Munich, Marchionistrasse 15, D-81377 Munich, Germany.
Dr. Streitberger: Department of Anesthesiology, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 100, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Drs. Witte and Victor: Institute of Medical Biometry and Informatics, University of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 305, D-69120 Heidelberg, Germany.
Dr. Krämer: Orthopedic Clinic, University of Bochum, St. Josef-Hospital, Gudrunstrasse 56, D-44791 Bochum, Germany.
Dr. Maier: Department of Pain Management, BG-Kliniken Bergmannsheil, Buerkle de la Camp Platz 1, D-44789 Bochum, Germany.
Dr. Trampisch: Department of Medical Informatics, Biometry and Epidemiology, University of Bochum, Overbergstrasse 17, D-44780 Bochum, Germany.
Author Contributions: Conception and design: H.-P. Scharf, U. Mansmann, K. Streitberger, S. Witte, J. Krämer, C. Maier, H.-J. Trampisch, N. Victor.
Analysis and interpretation of the data: H.-P. Scharf, U. Mansmann, K. Streitberger, S. Witte, N. Victor.
Drafting of the article: H.-P. Scharf, U. Mansmann, K. Streitberger, S. Witte, N. Victor.
Critical revision of the article for important intellectual content: H.-P. Scharf, U. Mansmann, K. Streitberger, S. Witte, N. Victor.
Final approval of the article: H.-P. Scharf, U. Mansmann, K. Streitberger, S. Witte, J. Krämer, C. Maier, H.-J. Trampisch, N. Victor.
Statistical expertise: U. Mansmann, S. Witte, N. Victor.
Obtaining of funding: C. Maier, H.-J. Trampisch, N. Victor.
Administrative, technical, or logistic support: S. Witte, C. Maier, H.-J. Trampisch, N. Victor.
Collection and assembly of data: C. Maier, H.-J. Trampisch.
This study shows that both TCA and sham acupuncture improve pain and functionality in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee more than conservative therapy. The effect was assessed by success rates based on the WOMAC scores. Surprisingly, no differences were observed between the TCA and sham acupuncture groups. Superiority of TCA and sham acupuncture over conservative therapy and no detectable difference between TCA and sham acupuncture also held true for all secondary end points. Additional sensitivity analyses with adjustment for potential influencing factors support these findings. Apart from hematomas, no obvious adverse effects due to acupuncture were detected. This supports known statements about the safety of acupuncture (29). To our knowledge, our study is the largest reported randomized, controlled trial on the efficacy and safety of acupuncture in patients with symptomatic osteoarthritis of the knee and moderate to severe chronic pain. Blinding between TCA and sham acupuncture was successful, the number of patients who left the study was kept low, and homogeneous treatment groups could be created with respect to demographic characteristics and baseline values. However, our study has several limitations. Adherence to the predefined acupuncture schemes could not be monitored. The recruited patients assumedly had an interest in acupuncture, possibly introducing a selection effect.
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The German Acupuncture Study (GERAC) for gonarthrosis (osteoarthritis of the knee with jointpain) has been potentially broadly unblinded long before the study ended. There have been plenty of print and online publications giving secret details of the study design to the public. Being a double blind study its blinding involved both patients and telephone-interviewers. The reliability of the study depended profoundly on not telling patients and telephone-interviewers, that real acupuncture points with deep needeling technique were used in the verum-acupuncture- group and non-acupuncture-points with superficial needeling technique in the sham- or placebo-acupuncture group. A third group of patients was treated with physiotherapy and / or NSAR and could therefore not be blinded.
Recruitment for this study ended on February, 27th, 2004, therefore the last telephone interview was conducted around September or October 2004. But the following online resources published the choosen study design for a worldwide audience long before the end of the study.
1. The masterplan version V9.0 was made available on GERAC`s official site www.gerac.de
URL: http://www.gerac.de/deu/download/Masternplan_V9.0_BK.doc
It is telling in chapter 9 details about sham-acupuncture.
The following news-group post proves that this plan has been in public disussion since 2002-11-09: http://groups.google.de/groups?q=gerac&hl=de&lr=&ie=UTF- 8&edition=de&selm=4e6ba8e7.0211091620.6c39e942%40posting.google.com&rnum=2
2. The studyplan version V4.2 was made public under http://www.amib.ruhr-uni-bochum.de/download/Studienplan_V4.2.pdf on the website of the Ruhr-University in Bochum,
telling in chapter 4 about the studydesign and sham-acupuncture.
3. In 2002 Trampisch et al. published in the German weekly "Deutsches Ärzteblatt" : "Trampisch, Hans Joachim; Victor, Norbert et al.: GERAC- Akupunktur-Studien: Modellvorhaben zur Beurteilung der Wirksamkeit Deutsches Ärzteblatt 99, Ausgabe 26 vom 28.06.2002, Seite A-1819 / B-1539 / C-1435 MEDIZIN: http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/archiv/artikel.asp?id=32190 ".
This article tells the medical and non-medical public "....In der Sham-Akupunktur werden Nadeln oberflächlich an definierten Nichtakupunkturpunkten gesetzt...." That means: "....In sham-acupuncture needles will be inserted superfiacially and at defined non-acupuncture- points ....".
This journal has a weekly distribution of 370.000 copies. The online- edition of this journal has 2.080.000 page impressions per month and also carries the same article freely and without password-restriction.
4. The final and complete study plan in German and English "Prüfplan GERAC - Wirksamkeit und Sicherheit von Akupunktur bei gonarthrosebedingten chronischen Schmerzen, , Heidelberg, Februar 2003"
was made public through: http://www.biometrie.uni- heidelberg.de/publikationen/44_gerac.pdf on the website of University of Heidelberg.
It gave away all and every details of the gonarthrosis-study.
This plan was also made available through theses public libraries to the general public and the patients:
a) Badische Landesbibliothek
b) Deutsche Bücherei
c) Zentralbibliothek für Medizin (ZBMED)
5. The article
"Efficacy and safety of acupuncture for chronic pain caused by gonarthrosis: A study protocol of an ongoing multi-centre randomised controlled clinical trial [ISRCTN27450856] Konrad Streitberger, Steffen Witte, Ulrich Mansmann. BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2004, 4:6 doi:10.1186/1472-6882-4-6. The electronic version of this article is the complete one and can be found online at: http://www.biomedcentral.com/1472-6882/4/6"
available as an Open Access article free of charge through the Internet contributed to the wide and unrestricted distribution of secret study details.
I believe that unblinded patients from the placebo- (sham-)group tended to apply additional therapies against their painful joint-condition without telling their acupuncturist or telephone interviewer that they did so. Easily they could have bought additional treatment from external sources because they were paid a substantial amount of money for joining and ending the study under discussion. This might also have been a reason for them to keep quiet about forbidden additional therapies: They might have feared financial sanctions when telling the truth about forbidden additional therapies. Thereby the treatment results of the sham- acupuncture-group might have been influenced on a large scale.
It is evident that telephone interviewers might have tended to classify treatment information differently (biased) when unblinded.
Therefore the GERAC study for gonarthrosis seems to be a sad example of scientific misconduct. It was unfair to both patients and acupuncturist doctors to unblind the study prematurely.
I participated in this study as a doctor performing acupuncture.
To the editor:
The results of the large-scale, well-designed trial reported by Scharf et al. provide highly valuable data but raise puzzling questions.1 Is acupuncture clinically worthless for this condition because it was shown to be no better than a sham intervention involving superficial needling at non-acupuncture points? Or is acupuncture an important therapeutic modality for knee osteoarthritis because it was shown to be substantially better than standard physiotherapy and anti-inflammatory drugs? Should practitioners of acupuncture continue to follow traditional methods or adopt superficial needling because it is less invasive and no less effective? Can a therapy still be called "acupuncture" if it no longer has the characteristics of acupuncture (e.g., precise needle location and exact depth of needle insertion) and more closely resembles peripheral sensory stimulation or counter-irritation? Although determining the mechanism responsible for the effects of acupuncture is scientifically interesting, it will not settle these evaluative questions, which deserve critical thinking and debate.
(1) Scharf H-P, Mansmann U, Streitberger K, Whitte S, Krämer J, Maier C, Trampisch HJ, Victor N. Acupuncture and knee osteoarthritis. A three- armed randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 2006; 145: 12-20.
Franklin G. Miller, Ph.D.* Department of Clinical Bioethics National Institutes of Health
Ted J. Kaptchuk Osher Institute Harvard Medical School
*The opinions expressed are the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy of the National Institutes of Health, the Public Health Service, or the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
None declared
The impressive finding in the recent study by Scharf and colleagues is that treatment outcomes do not differ significantly between patients treated with sham or verum acupuncture.1 Similar result that verum acupuncture is no better than sham acupuncture was reported in a previous study for prophylaxis of migraine.2 Inherent difficulties in the use of sham procedures make interpretation difficult. What is verum or genuine acupuncture? How does it differ from sham acupuncture? Although the protocol carefully avoided deep insertion and manual stimulation of needles in sham acupunctures, these technical modifications alone do not exclude the possibility to elicit typical acupuncture sensation of deqi. In addition, patients do not have to feel anything on needling for treatment to succeed in some Japanese acupuncture techniques.3 More importantly, the choice of verum and sham points is controversial. Diagnosis procedure of traditional Chinese medicine does not depend on blood tests or biomedical techniques but instead on observable signs and symptoms that are hardly quantified. Even granting pattern recognition is capable of consistent repeatability at least among acupuncturists of similar training, there is a considerable theoretical variety for selection of points among international experts. In addition, exact anatomical locations of many acupuncture points are contentious and international standardization is still underway. Consensus- building among experts is necessary for more accurate assessment of sham acupuncture.
1. Scharf H-P, Mansmann U, Streitberger K, Whitte S, Kraemer J, Maier C, et al. Acupuncture and knee osteoarthritis. A three- armed randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 2006; 145:12-20.
2. Diener HC, Kronfeld K, Boewing G, Lungenhausen M, Maier C, Molsberger A et al. Efficacy of acupuncture for the prophylaxis of migraine: a multicentre randomised controlled clinical trial. Lancet Neurol 2006; 5:310-6.
3. Birch SJ, Felt RL. Cultural influences on acupuncture treatment. In: Understanding acupuncture. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingston, 1999: 256-259.
Another drawback of the study under discussion is the fact that acupuncture experienced patients were allowed to participate. http://www.biometrie.uni-heidelberg.de/publikationen/44_gerac.pdf : "ž....jemals gegen gonarthrosebedingte Beschwerden durchgeführte Behandlung mit Nadel-Körperakupunktur ODER jede Nadel-Körperakupunktur im letzten Jahr, ...." That means: "Patients, who had acupuncture more than a year ago were allowed to participate, unless it was acupuncture against gonarthrosis."
These patients could easily distinguish between minimal- and verum- acupuncture. Sham-patients could then improve their results secretly with additional therapy. Even selfmedication with ASS would do the job.
In 2001 A. White wrote that placebo-acupuncture works only on acupuncture virgins: Martindale, Diane: Needlework", New Scientist, Nr. 2292, 26.5.2001, S. 42-5 ( http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg17022924.800 ), citing Adrian White: ".... The drawback is it will only work on acupuncture virgins. As long as we have a supply of those we`re OK."
The GERAC-studies, including the study under discussion, consequently were criticised repeatedly in German medical journals:
1. Ärzte Zeitung (6.7.2005, p 11): "ž"¦Ein Grund für die kontroversen Diskussionen war unter anderen, daß das Studiendesign für jeden Interessierten im Internet nachzulesen war, "¦."
That means: "One reason for controverse discussion was - among other reasons - that the study design could be read in the Internet, ...."
2. Ärzte Zeitung (1.12.2005, p 2): "ž"¦.Kritisiert wird bei GERAC- Studien etwa, daß Patienten das Studiendesign hätten kennen können, weil es im Internet einsehbar war"¦."
That means: "It is being criticised concerning the GERAC-studies that the study design was visible for patients in the Internet."
3. Ärzte Zeitung (1.12.2005, p 2): "....Andere sagten, daß die GERAC- Ergebnisse nicht aussagekräftig sein können, weil das Studiendesign für jeden, also auch Patienten, im Internet zugänglich und keine Verblindung gegeben war...."
That means: " Others said, that the GERAC results can not be valid, because the study design could be obtained through the Internet for everybody, also for patients and therefore there was no blinding...." (http://www2.aerztezeitung.de/docs/2005/12/01/217a0205.asp , http://www2.aerztezeitung.de/docs/2005/12/01/217a0203.asp )
One GERAC author even admited (http://www.gerac.de/deu/pdf/3Molsberger2.pdf , 16.11.2005 and http://www.facm.de/pages/download/presse/gerac/Molsberger.pdf ), that there were unblinded patients in one GERAC study : ""¦.So wurden zusätzlich zu allen Patienten, "¦., auch alle diejenigen Patienten als Misserfolg gewertet, die entblindet worden sind, "¦."
Because of all these problems I question the validity of this study. "Success of blinding is a fundamental issue in many clinical trials. The validity of a trial may be questioned if this important assumption is violated." .... "A fundamental assumption for this method ("Assessment of blinding in clinical trials") to be valid is that participants who answer DK ("Don`t know") are truly uncertain about their treatment assignment, not just giving a socially acceptable answer. This assumption cannot be verified in the absence of any supporting information from people who answer DK". (Bang, H. et al., Assessment of blinding in clinical trials, Controlled Clinical Trials 25 (2004) 143-56)
On 27.1.2006 it was annnounced in "Deutsches Ärzteblatt" (DÄ) that the GERAC studies were scheduled to be published in DÄ later, but they never were. ( http://www.aerzteblatt.de/v4/archiv/artikel.asp?src=suche&id=49979 : "....Die Ergebnisse des Modellvorhabens der AOK (GERAC) werden in absehbarer Zeit an dieser Stelle folgen....")
But there was already one publication (192 pages) of this study in December 2005 on the homepage of Uniklinik Heidelberg: http://www.klinikum.uni- heidelberg.de/fileadmin/inst_med_biometrie/pdf/51_geracGA_Bericht.pdf "GERAC - Wirksamkeit und Sicherheit von Akupunktur bei gonarthrosebedingten chronischen Schmerzen: Multizentrische, randomisierte, kontrollierte Studie Dezember 2005"
I participated in this study as a doctor performing acupuncture
TO THE EDITOR: Scharf and colleagues(1) reported that addition of traditional Chinese acupuncture (TCA) was superior to conservative therapy though not to sham acupuncture for osteoarthritis of the knee. They suggest that "....because complete blinding was impossible, this study does not allow us to determine whether the observed effectiveness of TCA and sham acupuncture was due to placebo effects, intensity of provider contact, or a physiologic effect of needling" However, two related points need to be emphasized.
First there is a possibility that either placebo effects or "time effects " might have led to an overestimation of the differences between blinded and unblinded arms coupled with narrowing of the discernable difference between real and sham acupuncture. For example, subjects receiving real or sham acupuncture might experience a stronger placebo effect. Conversely, those receiving only conservative therapy might report worse results because of reduced patient-provider interaction ("žritual of treatment") and their awareness that they were not given additional treatment.
However, analysis of three-armed trials with a natural-history control group in addition to treatment and placebo showed that the significance of the true placebo effect (the "meaning response") has been grossly overestimated(2). This is consistent with findings that reduced expectations for improvement are a critical factor underlying reduced placebo responding(3). Likewise, there is evidence that the "time effects " such as regression to the mean are large enough to account for the observed improvement after placebo treatment(4). Therefore, it seems possible that identification and elimination of the "žtime effects" may unmask hidden differences between placebo and real acupuncture. Indeed, recent reanalysis of acupuncture trials reversed the results of the original papers and found that effectiveness of acupuncture could not be ascribed entirely to a placebo effect.(5)
My second point relates to the fact that some other recent studies that have reported superiority of TCA over sham acupuncture involved a more intensive acupuncture regimen and less invasive sham acupuncture(6). One might therefore expect that deeper and more painful needling may produce a more powerful placebo and/or physiological effects than superficial needling. The first of these possibilities seems unlikely, because the estimates of true or false acupuncture by patients were roughly random. However, confounding by non-specific physiologic effects of needling cannot be excluded; hence minimally active forms of placebo control (e.g. Streitberger device) should be used. To further investigate whether benefits of acupuncture are specific effects of needling traditional meridians, two acupuncture treatments differing only in needling positions should be compared.
1. Scharf HP, Mansmann U, Streitberger K, Witte S, Kramer J, Maier C, et al. Acupuncture and knee osteoarthritis: a three-armed randomized trial. Ann Intern Med. 2006;145:12-20.
2. Hrobjartsson A, Gotzsche PC. Is the placebo powerless? An analysis of clinical trials comparing placebo with no treatment. N Engl J Med. 2001;344:1594-602.
3. Pollo A, Amanzio M, Arslanian A, Casadio C, Maggi G, Benedetti F. Response expectancies in placebo analgesia and their clinical relevance. Pain. 2001;93:77-84.
4. Kienle GS, Kiene H. The powerful placebo effect: fact or fiction? J Clin Epidemiol. 1997;50:1311-8.
5. Vickers AJ. Statistical reanalysis of four recent randomized trials of acupuncture for pain using analysis of covariance. Clin J Pain. 2004;20:319-23.
6. Berman BM, Lao L, Langenberg P, Lee WL, Gilpin AM, Hochberg MC. Effectiveness of acupuncture as adjunctive therapy in osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized, controlled trial. Ann Intern Med. 2004;141:901-10.
Dr. Beyerle writes in his column about the beginning of the GERAC- gonarthrosis study (My translation):
"....As a highlight of the "blinding-strategy" patients were .... invited (to participate) with the following words by GERAC:
"Welcome to GERAC.... Do you have back-pain or pain in your knees ? Then you will profit from GERAC ....
When you participate at these studies you will outdo the pain at the end....
Patients report fantastic things about acupuncture....
TCM is somehow ahead of us...."." (1)
I do not think that this kind of information was suitable to prepare patients in an objective and neutral manner.
After reading this information on GERAC`s official homepage patients could be under the strong impression, that acupuncture is somehow fantastic (much better than physiotherapy) and ahead of us, i.e. our conventional "western" treatments. Those receiving only conservative therapy might have been utterly disappointed and reported bad results.
1. Ärztezeitung, Aug., 3rd, 2006, page 14
"Die Vertragsdoktores sind frustriert: Die Nadel trifft den Akupunktur-Ballon Von Dr. Ludger Beyerle
.... Der genaue Blick legt Groteskes frei .... Als Höhepunkt der "Verblindungsstrategie" wurden die Patienten suggestiv zur Teilnahme an der Studie mit folgendem GERAC-Originalton eingeworben: "Herzlich willkommen bei GERAC"¦ Haben Sie Schmerzen im Knie oder im Rücken? Dann profitieren Sie von GERAC ("¦) Wenn Sie an den Studien teilnehmen, werden Sie am Ende den Schmerz allemal ausstechen ("¦) Ãœber die Akupunktur berichten die Patienten Fantastisches ("¦) Die Traditionelle Chinesische Medizin (TCM) hat uns etwas voraus ("¦) Bis Mitte 2003 haben Sie die Chance, sich bei einem von 400 ausgesuchten Ärzten behandeln zu lassen. Dann nehmen Sie an Studien teil, die weltweit große Beachtung finden ("¦) Wir, das Team der Wissenschaftler von GERAC, würden uns freuen, Sie als Patienten in unseren Studien begrüßen zu dürfen...."
We read the study by Scharf and colleagues(1) with great interest. When it comes to acupuncture, they found that their treatment outcomes did not differ significantly between patient groups treated with sham acupuncture and those treated with standardised Traditional Chinese Acupuncture (TCA).
The result that standardised TCA is no better than sham acupuncture was also reported in a previous study for prophylaxis of migraine(2). From these studies, the question arises whether it really does not matter where one sticks the needles? Research questions like this one depend upon a correct choice of treatment and control group. Furthermore, the choice of control group is important in particular in acupuncture studies, since there is no ideal control group.
In this study, the authors chose a sham acupuncture treatment that resembles the so called "˜real acupuncture' as much as possible. That is a good thing, however, it was found from fMRI research(3), that wherever a needle enters the skin, it influences the brain and results can be found in fMRI. Furthermore, from TCA principles, the whole body is covered not only in meridians, but also in meridian areas(4). It would only be logical from this background, to expect some results from the sham acupuncture treatment. However, we would not expect the results to be as large as in this study, because the "˜real' acupuncture points should give a much greater effect than the non-acupuncture points. Why not in this study then? One answer to this question might be found in the treatment group. The research background of this study appears to be a request from insurance companies to find out whether acupuncture adds something to pain treatment in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.
In a follow up study, it would be interesting to add another treatment group; a non-standardised acupuncture group. That would tell the difference between acupuncture, standardised acupuncture and a control group and might tell us more on the importance of point location and point choice. Finally, we agree with the statement that consensus-building among experts is necessary for more accurate assessment of (sham) acupuncture.
1. Scharf H-P, Mansmann U, Streitberger K, Whitte S, Kraemer J, Maier C, et al. Acupuncture and knee osteoarthritis. A three-armed randomized trial. Ann Intern Med 2006; 145:12-20.
3. Bosch MPC, Van den Noort MWML. Neuroimaging and Acupuncture: A Comprehensive Meta-analysis. NeuroImage 2005; 26(S1): 63.
4. Deadman P, Al-Khafaji M, Baker K. A Manual of Acupuncture. California: Eastland Press, 1999.
We thank Dr. Pijak and Dr. Muramatsu for their comments and for discussing different possibilities to explain our results. In our paper, we mentioned as possible reasons for the observed efficacy of acupuncture: effects of needling, more intensive provider interaction and differences in expectation (placebo effect in the strict sense). Like Dr. Pijak, we do not assume that the superiority of acupuncture can be ascribed entirely to a placebo effect but we assume that all three mentioned reasons contribute to the observed effect. We agree that more intensive verum acupuncture schemes and less invasive sham acupuncture schemes exist as those chosen in our study, and we agree that the definition of appropriate sham acupuncture is an unsolved problem. Our results suggest that our sham scheme is not a placebo scheme but a real minimal acupuncture. Furthermore, the definition of an optimal acupuncture concept is still in discussion and it is questionable whether an optimal point selection exists. We agree with Dr. Muramatsu that deep needling seems not to be important for specific acupuncture effects. It has to be considered that specific and non-specific effects of acupuncture as a complex therapeutic intervention are intertwined (1). Hence, as Dr. Pijak states, investigations with other schemes and devices are necessary to clarify if there are specific effects of traditional acupuncture techniques. Our study could not answer these questions as it was designed as a pragmatic approach to clarify if acupuncture as commonly used in German health care is justified as a treatment component for knee pain.
Dr. Wettig is right that we have published our study protocol in advance. He cited correctly articles informing that our study compared verum and sham acupuncture. We remain convinced that a publication of study protocols in advance is good scientific practice. Additionally, we like to remind that by ethical reasons in randomised trials study physicians are obliged to inform the patient about all possible therapies they could be allocated. We doubt that many patients studied the techniques described in the protocol publication in detail to become aware what type of acupuncture they have received. Our careful analysis showed that blinding of patient regarding acupuncture was successful. Even about half of those patients who were convinced to know the type of acupuncture they received went wrong with their guesses. Moreover, the knowledge to receive a sham acupuncture would not favour the effect in this group, but reduce a placebo effect evoked by the expectation. The constructed conjecture of Dr. Wettig regarding many unreported additional therapies in the sham group is extremely unlikely. The additional therapies including medication reported to the blinded interviewer were comparable in both acupuncture groups.
Adding Acupuncture to Physical Therapy and Anti-Inflammatory Drugs in the Treatment of Knee Osteoarthritis
The summary below is from the full report titled "Acupuncture and Knee Osteoarthritis. A Three-Armed Randomized Trial." It is in the 4 July 2006 issue of Annals of Internal Medicine (volume 145, pages 12-20). The authors are H.-P. Scharf, U. Mansmann, K. Streitberger, S. Witte, J. Krämer, C. Maier, H.-J. Trampisch, and N. Victor.
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This study will have to go national in its next life, which inevitably means also talking about rural building. This sign gives much to contemplate. I'll have to dig up the codes for Luce and Alger County!
Posted in field work | Leave a Comment »
Because I am busy writing a chapter, here's a lazy blog post by way of an amazing poster from 1885. Sent out by the Egan Company, a machine manufacturer from Cincinnati Ohio, ideally this would have been posted up in carpentry shops and mill work factories for easy ordering. As trade and advertising material it was certainly unique. The company's effort to stand out from its competitors resulted in an intriguing piece of ephemera: measuring a little over 28″x 21″ and featuring 112 machines, its a thing of beauty. My (personal) research notes when I found it: "Oh my god, it's so big and wonderful!"
It's now housed at the Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library and you can look at it in their library (here's the call number).
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
Bringing machines into the nineteenth century shop made sense. Critical mass, particularly in the cities, meant that craftsmen had to meet demand and maintain a competitive edge. One way to do that was saving time and labor (read: money) by doing rudimentary and routine tasks like planing wood, making stock moulding (contemporary spelling), and tenoning door and window parts with machines. Lately I've been thinking about these machines in the shops of Philadelphia craftsmen during the 1860s, 70s, and 80s. How much did they cost? What work did they actually save? How did people know how to use them?
Jesse Vogdes, a carpenter who operated a shop in West Philadelphia in the 1860s and 1870s, likely had some in his shop. He often planed lumber for a nearby lumberyard. He also sold stock parts like doors, window, and molding to local builders. His ledger is available at Winterthur Museum, Garden, and Library. He likely had a tenoning machine and a molding machine, both of which were commonly used by that time. Craftsmen like Vogdes had a wide range of machine manufacturers to choose from within Philadelphia and further afield.
Although published later, a 1883 catalog from the H. B. Smith Machine Company, available at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, provides some indication of the capital investment getting machines into the shop would have been. Based in Smithville, NJ, the Smith Machine Company sold its wares downtown at 925 Market Street. If a craftsmen like Vogdes wanted to make stock molding, he could choose from a range of machines. A low-cost, 6 inch moulding machine that cut one side cost $100 in 1883, approximately $2200 today (below, left). A higher-end model, which could cut up to four sides and had larger framing capable of taking larger stock, cost $260, approximately $5700 (below, right). Compared to a journeyman's wage ranging from $3-$4 a day during this period, the capital necessary to buy these machines and save on the labor was tremendous.
Unfortunately, I have yet to find any letter, diary entry, or other source describing the experience of acquiring, setting up, and using a machine for the first time in a shop. Most ran with belts, had complicated adjustment settings, and levers and pulleys for controlling the angle, tension, and momentum of cutting. Use of these machines surely required a new set of skills, or at least instruction.
However, I have found a source for assessing the look and feel of these machines. If you're interested in seeing what these machines look like today, hop over to the Vintage Machinery.org. They have an incredible index of manufacturers, with contributors from all over the country who compile company histories and provide photos of machines, some even still working. There are 57 machines produced by the H. B. Smith Machine Company, though none that appeared in the 1883 catalog.
Posted in Sources, Uncategorized | Tagged gadgets, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, history of technology, Industrial Revolution, Second Industrial Revolution, Winterthur | Leave a Comment »
New chapters mean new case studies, and I've zoned in on one that happened circa 1880 at 1921 Arch Street in Philadelphia. The Parry family (including Charles T. Parry, executive at Baldwin Locomotive Works), perhaps bored with their 1871 Renaissance-revival house, hired the Wilson Brothers & Company architectural firm to renovate the interior, including the Aesthetic woodwork, grille and fret work, and ornate leaded and colored glass.
We wouldn't know anything about this project if it weren't for a few unique preservation efforts. Much of the woodwork was salvaged from the house before its demolition, and it is now at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Here's the mirror. And another. Before the pieces were removed, they were also recorded by the Historic American Building Survey. The entire project is online here.
These kinds of sources enabled a detailed investigation into the woodwork by curator Jennifer A. Zwilling, which was published in Winterthur Portfolio.
This is a unique set of primary sources and secondary research that let's me dig into the Parry alteration project. I'm looking at what they did, and how those choices intersected contemporary design trends and modes of commerce in the building industry.
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I've been thinking about the place of home alteration within the long arc of human history–and how conceptions about maintenance are defined by place and time. I'm looking for old references to home remodeling. There's got to be one in the Bible, right? Here's my favorite from Colley Cibber's 1707 The Double Gallant:
"Old houses mended, Cost little less than new before they're ended."
Have your own favorite? Let me know!
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Perhaps I'm projecting a twentieth-century notion of love as it applies to marriage, but I stumbled across an analogy between marriage and home renovation today:
"To those who contemplate "making over" an old house, the famous advice to candidates of matrimony is supposed to be always pertinent,— 'don't.' But as in the one case, in spite of this prohibitory counsel, the children of men still continue to marry and be given in marriage, so in the other, notwithstanding much apparently disastrous experience, men persist in renovating, remodeling, rebuilding, enlarging and other wise attempting to rejuvenate their old houses.
-From the Builder, 1884
I'll have to keep my eye out for other examples of this in the future.
(Source: Making Over Old House," Massachusetts Ploughman and New England Journal of Agriculture June 28, 1884, 4.)
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »
I put this blog on a bit of a hiatus, but its back!
A writing fellowship has me finally fleshing out full chapters. It also means that my nights are spent on projects around the house instead of burning-the-midnight-oil writing sessions. This weekend's project ended in failure, and it has me chewing over issues of skill, naïveté, and ambition on this Monday.
For a moment, my new jig saw ordered via Amazon seemed like a means for endless possibilities, including this cat door. However, without guidance and experience, I missed some simple details of this small project. This was the perfect experiment for my newest section, which looks at the development of mechanized woodworking in the late nineteenth century. I'll be exploring how people got them, who used them, and how they changed the building industry.
Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a Comment »


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Miss Fildor Dapheline
Miss Fildor Dapheline – Nurse, Hope for Haiti's Infirmary Saint Etienne
Jennifer Lang, Program Manager – August 13, 2012
"I've always wanted to be a nurse. When I was little and people around me got sick, I would try to take care of them. I always knew I would be good at this, and I always want to keep learning more," says Miss Fildor Dapheline, a nurse at Hope for Haiti's Infirmary Saint Etienne in downtown Les Cayes. Miss Fildor joined our team in 2009, as one of the organization's first full-time staff members. The brand new primary healthcare facility hadn't opened yet to the public, but Miss Fildor knew she had the opportunity to contribute to something special. "It's important to have courage and be the first part; the beginning is never easy, but you have to start somewhere."
The Infirmary Saint Etienne caters to the poorest of the poor in rural Haiti, a mission that resonates with Miss Fildor. "Our work is important because healthcare is extremely difficult for people to get. We don't have enough hospitals. People come from really far away for services. And when you get to a hospital, most can't afford medication or lab tests. People die because they don't have the means to pay. So we're giving a huge service to the country. Medications are given for free, even the really expensive ones. If we didn't have the clinic, people wouldn't have places to go. Many people would die."
During her coursework at the National nursing school here in Les Cayes, Miss Fildor chose to focus on pediatrics and surgery. "Kids, especially sick kids, can be hard to understand. When you're good at pediatrics, you can enter a room and know what's wrong even when the patient can't explain it to you." Miss Fildor has also been integral in developing the Infirmary's growing specialty in wound care.
Patients presenting with complications from diabetes, suffering after an accident, or recovering from surgery all fuel the nurse's continued passion for knowledge. "Cases that I am not used to seeing surprise me. I like when I see something new every day, I keep learning." Many of the wound care patients, who come every day for bandaging, return happily because they notice improvement. "I like the recuperation period after a surgery, when people are getting better. You feel like you're a part of their joy."
When reflecting on the past three years of her work, Miss Fildor described her work comforting patients. Sharing a story of the healthcare team's emergency response following the January 2010 earthquake, she beamed with pride as she remembered inventorying medications and supplies and working with visiting medical missions. As a nurse, "I feel like I play an important role in society. I live in a country without enough medical personnel. Almost everyone in my country needs care. We need professionals to work in medicine, so I feel like I'm doing my part. I give service to my country."
For the future of Haiti, "I hope all Haitians come together, put our heads together, for the country to develop. Especially in newspapers, they only talk about the lack of security. But we have pretty places, pretty beaches, pretty people. We have la joie de vivre. We are a people who are extremely strong, who are always fighting, even those who have nothing." Miss Fildor Dapheline exemplifies the strength of the Haitian people. "I'd like to travel and visit other countries, visit my mother and brother in Saint Maartin. I'd like to become an anesthetist and work in the operating room. I'd like Hope for Haiti's Infirmary to expand and provide surgical care, and also open up locations in other areas so we could see more people." The future holds high hopes for Haiti.


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Greece Destroys Biotech Cotton
Athens - The Greek agriculture minister recently announced that the country will destroy over 9,000 acres of fields planted with biotech-mixed cotton.
The Greek government will pay affected farmers an estimated Euro4 million. According to Greek officials more than six tons of cotton seed imported last year contained GMOs, none of which are approved for commercial planting in the country.
By destroying the mixed fields, the Greek government hopes to avoid problems with its major cotton exports to
other European countries.


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Haunting, stylish, suave, and well bred, the 2001 Dehesa La Granja is simply great Spanish wine and a tribute to the viticultural revolution sweeping Spain. It is also the finest example of Dehesa La Granja released to date. The 2001 Dehesa is deeply colored, full-bodied, and highly polished. It is, also, highly extracted, intense on the palate, and redolent with the aroma of sandalwood, spice and crushed black fruits. Each sip reveals more ripe fruit and additional nuances of flavor that nearly explode in a long, lengthy finish. Furthermore, extended breathing time only heightens the hedonistic pleasure inherent in this wine. It, also, discloses the ripe voluptuous fruit that stands at the core of this complex wine. As with all fine vintages of young Dehesa La Granja (and 2001 is an outstanding vintage), further aging will improve this tour de force in winemaking. The question is whether or not you are disciplined enough to wait any longer to try it or smart enough to lay down an ample supply for future gratification. After tasting the 2001 Dehesa La Granja, one has to wonder if Spanish wine has ever been better. As one long time panel member commented, "this is the real deal when it comes to Spanish reds." If you like sophisticated, full-bodied wines, the 2001Dehesa La Granja will more than fill that bill. For optimum enjoyment, we suggest serving this Spanish classic at cool room temperature (62º - 66º F). Anticipated maturity 2006-2010.
In Spain, it is traditional to serve full-bodied red wines with grilled meats, rich stews, and heady paellas, and we see no reason to deviate from tradition in the case of the 2001 Dehesa La Granja. In fact, Dehesa La Granja pairs quite well with nearly all meats. We especially recommend beef and lamb as ideal accompaniments. Yet, we also like the Dehesa La Granja with pork and homemade Italian sausage. A spicy bean cassoulet is another one of our favorite dishes with this wine, and we would not hesitate to serve the comely 2001 Dehesa with venison tenderloin, prepared with glazed onions and served in a rich black currant sauce. Yum! Rich winter soups, served with crusty brick oven bread and a few slices of a great Spanish cheese like Manchego or Roncal, provide other beautiful pairings. A garlic and herb roasted rotisserie chicken provides another excellent accompaniment to the Dehesa, as does a combination of marinated eggplant, zucchini, roasted red peppers, garlic and olive oil. Whatever you decide to serve, enjoy!
Editor's Note: The 2001 Dehesa La Granja is a natural wine that is made with a minimum of intervention or manipulation. In keeping with a course of natural winemaking, Dehesa La Granja has been bottled unfiltered. Consequently, it is likely that many bottles of this fine, handmade wine will precipitate some natural sediment. This harmless precipitate is not a flaw in the wine. Rather, sediment is the result of expert, natural winemaking practices. To alleviate or eliminate the sediment in this wine, the contents of the bottle may be carefully decanted after the bottle has stood upright for at least an hour. Enjoy!
Dehesa La Granja is one of the four jewels in the tiara of splendid wine estates that Alejandro Fernandez of Ribera del Duero fame has brought to fore. Dehesa La Granja and the three other Fernandez gems: Condado de Haza, El Vinculo, and Pesquera rank among the finest wine estates in all Spain. In the case of Dehesa La Granja, the estate is located on a 1,800 acre ranch that borders the Duero River in Zamora, just west of the Ribera del Duero. Beginning in the 17th century and for nearly two hundred years, La Granja Valdeguerena was a major wine producing estate, before it was converted to one of Spain's greatest bull fighting ranches in the 19th century. At an enormous expense and in his usual fastidious fashion, Alejandro Fernandez resurrected and reconverted La Granja and its extensive 17th century cellar to their original vocation – the production of one of the Duero's finest wines.
Since the restoration, Dehesa La Granja has fashioned intense, traditional Tempranillo wines that have consistently garnered major critical acclaim. These wines spend two years in oak barrels and are bottled completely unfiltered, so it is likely that they will precipitate some harmless, natural sediment. This sediment is in no way a flaw. Instead it is a sign of the natural winemaking process that prevails at Dehesa La Granja and Fernandez's other estates.
In order augment the current small production at Dehesa La Granja, an additional 300 acres of Tempranillo vines have been planted at La Granja on their own rootstock (due to the property's compact sandy soil that is resistant to phylloxera), which will eventually supplement the old, un-grafted Tempranillo vines in the Guerena Valley that La Granja is presently using for the property's newest, full-bodied red. It is the likes of Dehesa La Granja that underscore the Renaissance in winemaking that has gripped Spain in the past decade – a rebirth that is transforming the potential of the world's third largest producer of wine into a veritable repository of outstanding and affordable treasures.
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Sign-up for our FREE eHealth newsletter at CNE Talks (Your) Health.
Children are growing up in a different world, before the explosion of cable television, video games, sugary drinks, and fast food.
With the increase of options comes a consequence: Childhood obesity more than doubled in children – and tripled in adolescents – in the last 30 years, according to figures from the Centers for Disease Control. Left unchecked, obesity can contribute to a number of health issues in adulthood - diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, arthritis, back pain, and sleep apnea.
While many factors have contributed to the rise in childhood obesity, it is primarily a result of behavioral changes, most notably the increase in time spent in front of the television, and a decrease in the amount of fresh food that children eat, according to David Anthony, MD, MSc, of Memorial Hospital of RI and assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at The Warren Alpert Medical School of Brown University.
"More people are purchasing prepackaged food or food prepared at a restaurant, which tend to have a lot more calories and sugar than food prepared at home," he said. These people are also more apt to buy sweetened drinks (soft drinks, fruit or energy drinks) which also can contain a large amount of sugar and empty calories.
Dr. Anthony said parents can do a few simple things to help ensure children maintain a healthy weight:
Dr. Anthony stressed that parents not put children "on a diet." Rather, they should focus on lifestyle changes.
"We don't want kids to focus on losing weight because they are still growing and it's important that they continue to grow," he said. "The goal is to have them maintain a weight as their body grows taller. It's important to remember it's a marathon, not a sprint. Small changes you can sustain in their lifestyle will have a big impact over the years. If they learn to eat a healthy diet and be active, that's a life skill they will have."
Because infants and very young children often have extra body fat, a good time to start paying attention to a child's weight is around the time they enter school. Dr. Anthony said of obese preschool children, a quarter of them will be obese adults. But by ages of 10 to13, 80 percent of obese children will remain obese.
"What's most important is that you live a healthy lifestyle, irrespective of weight," he said. "Even if you are a few pounds overweight, if you are eating a healthy diet, getting exercise, and avoiding smoking or drinking in excess, you can be considerably healthier than someone who weighs less. There are many people who are overweight but active, and their prognosis is excellent. It's the combination of obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle that you want to avoid."
There is also some good news – evidence that childhood obesity is leveling off.
"In the last 10 years, the rates of child obesity have been fairly steady, and in just the past couple of years, the CDC has reported there's been a slight decrease in some states," Dr. Ashley said. "The Rhode Island rates have been steady (at slightly higher than the national average)."
- Pamela Berard


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Discover a selection of top forums since pacific on the internet. Come to share your passion on forums since pacific and meet other fans of since pacific. Then, why don't you create your own forum of since pacific ?
Forum for the Northwest Players. Northwest Gamers. Free forum, pacific, northwest, nw, pmc


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i have been looking for a good plugin for a photo gallery in WordPress... good thing i found it!!! Free http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/iframe-embed-for-momentme/
Fixed the problem of a script from an associated site that kept getting stripped out. Just added a custom field, pasted in the script in the custom field description, and put the shortcode on the page. Easy fix.
It's a rare thing these days to get something that actually works and does so painlessly and quickly. Iframe preserver does just that. I used it today to embed links to a pdf and a YouTube video and it was beautiful! Now my readers can stay on my page. Exactly the solution I was looking for. Thank you so much for taking the time to create this plugin and for sharing it with us!
Very easy to set up and use - 5 stars
We needed a plugin to do just what it does -- preserve IFrames on WordPress installations!
We even created a helpful tutorial showing how to install + activate the plugin and embed AudioAcrobat IFrame code in a Post or Page:
BIG Thanks to Mr. Fuller for the stellar coding!
You must log in to submit a review. You can also log in or register using the form near the top of this page.


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Here's a problem that occurs in automatic program analysis. For a set of variables x1,..., xn, you are given some equality constraints, of the form "xi = xj" and some disequality constraints, of the form "xi ≠ xj." Is it possibl to satisfy all of them?
For instance, the constraints
x1 = x2,x2 = x3, x3 = x4, x1 ≠ x4
cannot be satisfied. Give an efficient algorithm that takes as input m constraints over n variables and decides whether the constraints can be satisfied.


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Journal: Sensors, 2013
Volume: 13
Number: 12218
Article: MARS, a Multi-Agent System for Assessing Rowers' Coordination via Motion-Based Stigmergy
Authors: Marco Avvenuti, Daniel Cesarini and Mario G. C. A. Cimino
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The Associated Press
TRENTON, N.J. — The top Republican in the Assembly says the Legislature's investigation into politically motivated traffic jams at the George Washington Bridge should be suspended.
Minority Leader Jon Bramnick says the bipartisan panel should suspend hearings until the U.S. Attorney concludes his criminal investigation.
Federal authorities and the legislative panel are trying to determine who ordered approach lanes to the bridge shut last September. That caused gridlock in Fort Lee, the town at the base of the busy span linking New Jersey and New York.
The plot was hatched by loyalists to Gov. Chris Christie to retaliate against Fort Lee's mayor, a Democrat who didn't endorse the Republican governor.
Assemblywoman Amy Handlin, a Republican on the panel, says the focus should be on reforming the bridge agency.
The Democratic co-chairs have emphasized the importance of continuing the investigation.
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New Music
Karneef: "Bring You Back" Video Premiere
Apparently Montreal's answer to David Byrne, retro-pop weirdo Karneef's "Bring You Back" is an INSANELY catchy track full of 80s bass plucking and breathless vocals. As in, it somehow manages to sound fresh, but also makes you feel like you're an extra dancing demurely in the background of Cocktail without being cheesy as shit, y'know?
We saw Karneef this week at the M For Montreal Festival, where he did an amazing collaboration with Ruby from Yamantaka//Sonic Titan. It was an incredible ambient electronic set, and (like everything else at the festival) it changed our lives forever.
The video, directed by TOPS' bassist Thom Gillies, sees him busting out some pretty special dance moves, while crooning earnestly down the camera at us. New favorite Montrealer?


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|Women, Girls
Hello, I'm Anne Kuo Lukito. I'm a hand-knitting designer and my works have been published in many books and top magazines, such as Knitty, Interweave Knits, Knitscene and Twist Collective,. I've also ...
Hello, I'm Anne Kuo Lukito. I'm a hand-knitting designer and my works have been published in many books and top magazines, such as Knitty, Interweave Knits, Knitscene and Twist Collective,. I've also contributed designs to and worked with several yarn companies. Recently, I designed the Fall Collection for Manos del Uruguay yarns.
While knitting is my dominant craft now, I've always been a crafter and sewer. I used to make my own clothes in high school and made jewelry. Two years ago, I got a bit into silversmithing as well.
Aside from freelance design work, I am also have a couple of publishing projects coming down the pike. I also have a small boutique business, Crafty Diversions (craftydiversions.com), which distributes other designers' patterns and products to yarn shops and retailers.
web: annekuolukito.com
ravelry: annekuolukito
facebook: annekuolukito
twitter: annekuolukito
instagram: craftydiversions
Even though she is most famous for being the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean and for her mysterious disappearance, Amelia Earhart (July 24, 1897 - missing July 2, 1937) was a true pioneer in many fields, both as an aviator and as a woman. She set a staggering array of aviation records, authored best-selling books and founded an organization for female pilots. She accomplished all this in a time when women had few rights and even less career options.
Amelia Earhart is worked flat then seamed together with the shirred panel. Stitches for the visor are then picked up from the brim and worked in the round. Instructions for several different accessories will allow you to personalize and change the the look of your hat.
(Sample shown worked in size M using ShiBui Knits Sock (100% superwash merino, 1.75 oz/ 50 g, 191 yds/ 175 m); color: periwinkle, 2 skeins.)
30 sts and 44 rows = 4"/ 10cm in St st with larger needles


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Anna Hazare Ends Mumbai Fast
Anna Hazare, India's high-profile anti-corruption activist, called off his latest fast in Mumbai, saying he'll pick it up again Friday in New Delhi, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
It comes as doctors warned Hazare, who is 74 years old, of kidney failure. He was already showing signs of dehydration, his heart sounds were "distant," and he is running a higher-than-normal temperature of 100 degrees Fahrenheit, according to an earlier report.
"I have seen the current picture and I have decided to end the fast today," Hazare said Wednesday at a press conference in Mumbai. "There is only one road to take and I have decided to protest in the five poll bound states [Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Manipur, Goa] instead of continuing my fast here."
India's lower house of parliament on Tuesday passed anti-graft legislation that would create the office of a Lokpal, an ombudsman responsible for investigating charges of corruption by politicians and bureaucrats at all levels, including the prime minister.
But the Lokpal wasn't given constitutional status—the bill didn't achieve a two-thirds majority approval—nor is the Central Bureau of Investigation under its purview, a central demand of Hazare and his allies, known as Team Anna.
"What is this that we are calling democracy today? A few parties get together and make a majority and think they can do as they please. Good democracy will only happen when we pass good laws," Hazare was quoted as saying by the Journal.


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Washington's source for compelling television and inspiring classical music. Donate Online
WETA Kids is excited to announce the Peg + Cat + Holidays one-hour special! Read on for air
dates/times and descriptions of the episodes within the special!
Airs on WETA KidsDecember 21 at 10amDecember 24 at 8:30am, 3:30pm, 8:30pmDecember 25 at 1pm, 6pm, 11:30pm
Airs on WETA TV26December 24 at 7am, 10:30amDecember 25 at 6am
Episode Descriptions:"The Hanukkah Problem" - When Albert Einstein has Peg and Cat over on Hanukkah, he shows them how to make a 2D piece of paper into a 3D dreidel. Later, they need to use this process to bring peace to Al's home and save his Hanukkah.
"The Christmas Problem" - When Santa Claus is in trouble, Peg and Cat have to solve their biggest problem ever: how to make and wrap presents for all the children of the world, and then deliver them using 100 sleighs.
"The Penguin Problem" - Peg and Cat coach a team of skiing penguins, who would have a shot at the Olympic gold medal if only they knew "over," "under," and "in between."
This brand new show features two young agents, Olive and Otto, who are part of Odd Squad, an
agency whose mission is to save the day whenever something unusual happens in their town. A math concept is embedded in each of their cases as Olive and Otto work together to problem-solve and set things right. Hear more about the show from Olive actor Dalila Bela.
The program is aimed at kids ages 5-8 and premieres on Wednesday, November 26, 2014 with a special one-hour broadcast of two back-to-back episodes: "Zero Effect/Bad Luck Bears" and "Soundcheck/Double Trouble." Watch on WETA Kids at 10am or WETA TV26 at 9am. Watch a preview here!
After the Odd Squad premiere on November 26...
Watch Odd Squad on the WETA Kids channel Mondays-Fridays 8am & 8:30pm.
Watch Odd Squad on WETA TV26 Mondays-Fridays at 7am.
Next week on WETA Kids, catch the premiere of Wild Kratts: Swamp Things!, FIVE brand-new
swamp-tastic episodes set in Flordia's Everglades and Cypress Swamp. Continue reading for descriptions, air dates, and sneak peeks of the episodes!
"Slider, the Otter" premieres Tuesday July 22 at 8amAlso airs Tuesday July 22 at 6pm, Thursday July 24 at 8:30am & 6:30pm, Saturday July 26 at 7:30pmThe Wild Kratts discover a lost otter cub. Assuming he is lost, the bros attempt to find his family, while introducing him to life in the Cypress Swamp of Florida.
"Search for the Florida Panther" premieres Wednesday July 23 at 8amAlso airs Wednesday July 23 at 6pm, Saturday July 26 at 6:30pm, Monday July 28 at 8am & 6pmWhen the Wild Kratts Team gets an alert from a Wild Kratts kid that an injured endangered
Florida Panther was just spotted off the Alligator Alley highway, the team springs into rescue mode.
"Opossum in My Pocket" premieres Thursday July 24 at 8amAlso airs Thursday July 24 at 6pm, Saturday July 26 at 7pm, Tuesday July 29 at 8am & 6pmWhile on a mission to find Chris' night vision goggles lost in the Cypress swamp, the brothers discover a marsupial opossum with a similar problem.
"Mosquito Dragon" Premieres Friday July 25 at 8amAlso airs Friday July 25 at 6pm, Saturday July 26 at 6pmWhen Koki and Jimmy get walloped by mosquitoes in the Cypress Swamp, Aviva, Martin and
Chris go on a fact-finding adventure to find out exactly why mosquitoes try to steal our blood in the first place!
"Crocogator Contest" Premieres Friday July 25 at 8:30amAlso airs Friday July 25 at 6:30pm, Saturday July 26 at 5:30pmA pop Creature Quiz challenge question about what the differences are between a crocodile and an alligator turns into a full-blown Crocogator contest to find out why these two very similar creatures are different at all.
Arthur and his friends explore the outdoors in a week of fun, outdoor-themed episodes called "Outdoor Week". This is a part of the PBS Explore the Outdoors campaign which encourages families to celebrate nature and the outdoors this spring. "Outdoor Week" includes the premieres of two all-new Arthur episodes, "Pets and Pests/Go Fly a Kite" which airs on April 29 and "Speak Up Francine/Waiting for Snow" which airs on April 30. These episodes focus on teaching important values, such as speaking up for what you believe in, patience, sharing and teamwork. Other episodes include "War of the Worms/I Owe You One", "Fernfern and the Secret of Moose Mountain/Thanks a Lot, Binky", and "Buster's Garden of Grief/Through the Looking Glasses". Read on for episode descriptions and air dates/times.
"War of the Worms/I Owe You One"April 28 at 7:30am & 4:30pm"War of the Worms": Fern tells a story about an explorer in a forest and Brain is taking the fun out of it by correcting her facts.
"I Owe You One": Buster always asks Arthur for favors and fears that one day he'll have to repay the favors all at once.
"Pets and Pests/Go Fly a Kite" *NEW*April 29 at 7:30am & 4:30pmMay 28 at 4:30pmMay 29 at 7:30am"Pets and Pests": There's a mouse loose in the Read home!"Go Fly a Kite": While playing in the park, Binky, Muffy, and Ladonna stumble upon an abandoned kite.
"Speak Up Francine/Waiting for Snow" *NEW*April 30 at 7:30am & 4:30pmMay 1 at 7:30am
May 23 at 4:30pmMay 26 at 7:30am"Speak Up Francine": The local creek is polluted and Francine is determined to get the word out at the annual Earth Day rally."Waiting for Snow": Ladonna can't wait to experience her first blizzard but there are no signs of snow.
May 23 at 4:30pmMay 26 at 7:30am
"Fernfern and the Secret of Moose Mountain/Thanks a Lot, Binky"May 1 at 7:30am & 4:30pm"Fernfern and the Secret of Moose Mountain": Fern can't wait to climb Moose Mountain but she and Francine end up fighting all the way up the trail."Thanks a Lot, Binky": Binky saves Rattles but when Rattles doesn't seem to appreciate it, Binky swears off good deeds.
"Buster's Garden of Grief/Through the Looking Glasses"May 2 at 7:30am & 4:30pm"Buster's Garden of Grief": Buster is in charge of the community garden, but it proves to be too much for just one person."Through the Looking Glasses": Arthur can't find his glasses and has to get new ones, but all the attention he is getting from these new hipper glasses has gone straight to his head.
On Rechov Sumsum (Sesame Street), Grover is excited to celebrate Passover at his first Seder,
PASSOVER GROVER Grover and boy.JPG
or Passover meal. Shoshana, Avigail, Anneliese, and Grover prepare for the Seder but realize they don't have any maror (bitter herbs) for the Seder plate! The gang visits their friends to try and find maror to begin the Seder. Shalom Sesame: It's Passover, Grover! demonstrates the Passover story, holiday preparations, and Hebrew words and phrases related to Passover. In this special Shalom Sesame episode, viewers meet families whose holiday traditions originate in Ethiopia and Morocco, providing a glimpse into the diversity of the Jewish people. Check ou
PASSOVER GROVER Anneliese and Moshe.jpg
t the PBS website to learn more about Passover, get Passover recipes, and read tips for parents.
t the PBS website
Shalom Sesame: It's Passover Grover airs on WETA Kids:Friday April 11 at 10:00-10:30amFriday April 11 at 5:00-5:30pmSaturday April 12 at 8:00-8:30amSaturday April 12 at 12:00-12:30pmSunday April 13 at 8:00-8:30amMonday April 14 at 6:00-6:30amMonday April 14 at 6:00-6:30pmTuesday April 15 at 11:30am-12:00pmWednesday April 16 at 7:00-7:30pm
WETA Kids premieres Wild Kratts season 3 and all new episodes April 7-11, 2014! Wild Kratts features Chris and Martin Kratt as they encounter wild animals while combining
science education with fun and adventure. Each episode explores a science concept central to an animal's life and showcases a unique wildlife experience. This new season kicks off PBS' "Explore the Outdoors" initiative and Earth Month which encourage families to celebrate nature and the outdoors this spring. Tune in next week to explore animals from across the globe, including bison, black-footed ferrets, flying fish as well as learning science concepts such as adaptation and habitats.
Watch Wild Kratts on WETA Kids Mondays-Fridays at 8am and 5:30pm then catch every weekday episode back-to-back Saturdays from 5:30pm-8pm
Wild Kratts: Hermit Crab Shell Exchange - NEW!Monday April 7, 2014 at 8am & 5:30pm & Saturday April 12, 2014 at 5:30pm
Wild Kratts: Where the Bison Roam - NEW!Tuesday April 8, 2014 at 8am & 5:30pm & Saturday April 12, 2014 at 6pm
Wild Kratts: Bandito the Black Footed Ferret - NEW!
Wednesday April 9, 2014 at 8am & 5:30pm & Saturday April 12, 2014 at 6:30pm
Wild Kratts: When Fish Fly - NEW!Thursday April 10, 2014 at 8am & 5:30pm & Saturday April 12, 2014 at 7pm
Wild Kratts: Osprey - NEW!Friday April 11, 2014 at 8am & 5:30pm & Saturday April 12, 2014 at 7:30pm
New episodes of Thomas & Friends begin Monday March 17, 2014 on WETA Kids to kick off "To The Rescue Week"! All week watch Thomas the Tank Engine and his group of friends go on rescue missions at 12:30pm on WETA Kids! Read on for descriptions of the shows.
Monday March 17 at 12:30pm "Taking Turns"
Thomas and Duck learn to work together while transporting Harold the helicopter to the Sodor Search and Rescue for repair.
Tuesday March 18 at 12:30pm "Tricks and Tales"Bill and Ben play a trick on a new engine that nearly causes an accident; an engine known for telling jokes can't get anyone to take him seriously when he claims an elephant is blocking the tracks.
Wednesday March 19 at 12:30pm "Out and About"Thomas tries to catch a runaway kite all by himself. Later, he totes new bee hives to Farmer Trotter, but makes a mistake when he takes them by way of a flowery field instead of the shady woodland that Hiro suggested.
Thursday March 20 at 12:30pm "Fire and Water"Belle thinks he's not needed after inspectors question the need for two fire engines and Flynn beats him to two fires in a row; the proud Gordon doesn't want to stop to be checked out after a stone hits his boiler.
Friday March 21 at 12:30pm "Just Be Yourself"Scruff wants to quit collecting rubbish trucks after he's repainted; Winston, Sir Topham Hatt's track inspection vehicle, accidentally goes for a roll on his own.
March 3-7, WETA Kids will premiere a week of new adventures with the Cat in the Hat to
celebrate Dr. Seuss' birthday. "Dr. Seuss' Birthday Cat-ebration" kicks off on Monday, March 3 with the debut of a one-hour The Cat in the Hat Knows A Lot About That special episode and new half-hour episodes also premiere next week. The new episodes follow the Cat, Nick and Sally as they explore a variety of animal attributes: from the benefits of crickets' chirps and birds' feathers, to the mimic octopus' remarkable ability to imitate other sea creatures. Viewers also learn how glass is made, how multi-legged creatures walk and how cotton is spun into fabric.
Read on to learn more about the new episodes that will air on WETA Kids during "Dr. Seuss' Birthday Cat-ebration" – March 3-7, 2014.
Four Episode, One-Hour Special Premieres Monday March 3 at 3pm and Tuesday March 4 at 9am"Step This Way": The kids are playing dress-up, with Sally wearing her mom's shoes and Nick wearing his dad's shoes. They're having trouble walking, and the Cat thinks it's because their feet are the wrong shape. But doesn't everyone have the same shaped feet? Not at all! The Cat takes them to the Jungle of Bingle-Bungle Boo to meet his friends Emily the Teal, Mikey the Lemur and Greg the Gecko. They see that animals have differently shaped feet to help them do different things! You need the right feet for the right job!Educational Objective: Creatures have different feet for different uses.
"Anything You Can Do": Nick and Sally are pretending to be the Cat in the Hat.
But there's only one Cat, no doubt about that! Pretending to be other people is hard. The Cat takes Nick and Sally to meet his good friend Mimi the Mimic Octopus to learn some tips on how to pretend to be someone else. They learn how to observe, pick out something special about the person and then copy it. Mimi does it to protect herself, but now Nick and Sally can pretend to be the one and only Cat!Educational Objective: The mimic octopus has a remarkable ability to imitate other sea creatures.
"Name That Sound": Sally and Nick are trying to stump each other by guessing the animal sounds they're making. The Cat stumps them both when he tries to make the sound of a cricket! But that didn't sound like a cricket. They all try but just can't figure out how a cricket makes its noise. Well, Cat's friend Clarence the Cricket can surely show them! Off to the Grassy-Grove-Dell to meet him! He shows him his wings, one that is comb-like, the other a scraper; when he rubs them together, he makes his wonderful cricket noise. Back at home, Nick and Sally find things around the house they can use to mimic Clarence — a deck of cards and a comb!Educational Objective: Male crickets make a chirping sound by scraping one pegged wing against the other wing, which is ridged. This is done so fast one doesn't hear the individual clicks, rather a trilling chirp, which is why it is hard for us to copy. The sound is used to get the attention of other crickets, either as a warning or for mating.
"Fabulous Feathers": Sally is playing
dress-up, but her favorite hat no longer has any feathers on it. Where can they find more? The Cat's good friend Puranjay might be able to help! He's a peacock who lives in Feathery Flats; he has plenty of feathers! Sally collects the feathers that have fallen out of Puranjay and discovers that each one has its own distinct job. But it's his tail feathers that are just jazzy and snazzy enough for her hat! They are the most fabulous feathers!Educational Objective: Feathers serve a variety of functions, including flight, heat conservation, waterproofing, camouflage and display.
New Episode: "Balancing Act/Marvelous Marbles" – Premieres Tuesday, March 4 at 3:30pm and Wednesday March 5 at 9am"Balancing Act": Sally and Nick are trying to walk across a beam in their backyard, but are having trouble staying on it! Can the Cat help? Why of course! His friend Zappa the Snow Leopard is an amazing balancer! He uses his big wide feet and his long tail to help him keep his balance. Nick and Sally don't have tails, but they see how Zappa moves carefully to keep his
weight balanced. Now they know what to do at home. Using broomsticks to help them stay balanced, Nick and Sally are able to cross the balance beam. And just in time to have some yummy bran berry muffins!Educational Objective: Sally and Nick learn how a snow leopard balances.
"Marvelous Marbles": The kids are playing with glass marbles, until one of them rolls away! It was Nick's "extra luck never miss marble." Now what is he going to do? Cat will take the kids to a sandy beach that's full of marbles! But when they get there, all they see is sand. Cat's friend Sharky McGee explains that sand makes glass. He shows them how sand is turned into glass and all the wonderful things you can make with it — including marbles!Educational Objective: Glass is made from tiny particles of sand, then formed into all sorts of useful items.
New Episode: "Take a Walk/Cotton Patch" – Premieres Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 3:30pm and Thursday March 6 at 9am"Take a Walk": Sally and Nick are practicing to be in a three-legged race, but walking on three legs is hard! Well, if anyone knows about walking, its Cat's friends Sid the Centipede, Spinny the Spider and Bugsy the Beetle! They all teach the kids how they walk on many legs by keeping a steady pace and walking in a rhythm and a beat. Back at home, Nick and Sally practice what they learned by using their own special rhythm!
Educational Objective: Nick and Sally discover how creatures with more than two legs (centipedes, spiders and beetles) walk.
"Cotton Patch": Oh no! Nick has torn his favorite shirt! He needs a perfect patch of cotton to fix it. Good thing Cat's friend Dr. Twiggles knows all about cotton! Off to Fluff'n Stuff Fields to see him! Once there, the kids are astonished to learn that you can make clothes from plants! Dr. Twiggles shows them how to pick the cotton, clean and dry it, comb it and spin it into thread. Finally, he demonstrates how the thread comes together to make a patch by using his loom. They even learn how to dye the cotton by using berry juice. Nick's favorite shirt is as good as new!Educational Objective: Nick and Sally discover how the cotton fibers of the cotton plant can be cleaned, carded, spun and woven to make clothes.
WETA Kids presents five new episodes of Daniel Tiger's Neighborhood that focus on the big emotions that young children experience. In "Daniel's Big Feelings Week", Daniel Tiger and his friends help children and families learn strategies for dealing with feelings of jealousy, disappointment, frustration and empathy. Read on for episode descriptions!
"Daniel's Big Feelings Week" airs on WETA Kids Tuesday February 18-24, 2014 at 11:30am!All five episodes will air back-to-back on Saturday February 22 from 12:30pm-3pm.
"Duckling Goes Home/Daniel Feels Left Out" – Premieres February 18 at 11:30am"Duckling Goes Home": Today at school, the children find out that Ducky has grown too big to be their classroom pet and it's time to take him back to the farm. This news is very upsetting, especially to Daniel and Miss Elaina. The children cope with their sadness in different ways and soon they feel a little bit better."Daniel Feels Left Out": On their way home from the Neighborhood grocery store, Dad and Daniel stop by the Treehouse to say "hello." O the Owl and Katerina Kittycat have been playing together all day, and are even going to have dinner together. When it is time to go home with Dad, Daniel feels left out and sad. Back at home, Mom and Dad Tiger help Daniel with his sad feelings and he soon starts to feel better.Strategy: It's ok to feel sad sometimes; little by little you'll feel better.
"Daniel Gets Frustrated/Frustration at School" – Premieres February 19 at 11:30am"Daniel Gets Frustrated": Daniel is staying at home with Mom Tiger today. He really wants to play with Prince Wednesday, but the prince is visiting his
cousin Chrissie. He asks Mom if they can go to Music Man Stan's shop, but they can't because it is closed. Daniel gets really frustrated when it seems that he's unable to do anything he wants to do. With some guidance from Mom, Daniel learns how to work through his frustration."Frustration at School": Daniel and his friends are playing "restaurant" at school and Daniel feels frustrated when he can't find the toy he is looking for. Teacher Harriet helps him realize that the right thing to do is to take a step back and ask for help.Strategy: When you're frustrated, take a step back and ask for help.
"Daniel Is Jealous/Jealousy at the Treehouse" – Premieres February 20 at 11:30am"Daniel Is Jealous": Daniel and Katerina are playing "airplane" with Grandpere. Daniel thinks Katerina is getting too much attention from Grandpere and starts to feel jealous. Daniel explains his feelings and is reassured that he is Grandpere's one and only Daniel."Jealousy at the Treehouse": Daniel and Katerina are at O the Owl's house today, playing with his new science kit. Daniel and Katerina feel jealous of O because they want science tools just like his. After talking about their feelings, the children realize how they can all enjoy O's special science kit.Strategy: When you feel jealous, talk about it.
"Someone Else's Feelings/Empathy at School"– Premieres February 21 at 11:30am"Someone Else's Feelings": Daniel and O the Owl are pretending to be handymen, using their toy tools to make "repairs" to Daniel's playhouse. Daniel is having lots of fun hammering loudly, but it's upsetting O, who would rather do something quieter. Daniel loves hammering so much
that it's hard for him to see why it upsets O. Mom helps Daniel be empathetic and think about how O is feeling: Daniel remembers a time when he was upset because Miss Elaina was being way too loud for him. He doesn't want O to feel this way, and he realizes that they can both have fun as quiet handymen!"Empathy at School": Chrissie and Daniel are playing together at school today, but when Chrissie loses her special bracelet, she doesn't feel like playing anymore. Daniel has trouble understanding why, until Teacher Harriet shows him how to be empathetic and think about how Chrissie may be feeling. Daniel remembers just how worried he was when he thought he had lost Tigey and decides to stop playing and help find the bracelet.Strategy: Think about how someone else is feeling.
"Line Leader Daniel/Neighborhood Jobs" – Premieres February 24 at 11:30am"Line Leader Daniel": The children are getting new classroom jobs at school. Daniel really wants to be line leader! When he doesn't get the job he wants, Daniel is disappointed. Soon he learns that all of the jobs are necessary to keep the classroom running smoothly."Neighborhood Jobs": Daniel and Mom Tiger are visiting the library today. Unfortunately, X the Owl isn't feeling very well and needs to go to the doctor. Daniel learns the importance of all the Neighborhood jobs when he and Mom Tiger fill in as librarian for X so he can see Dr. Anna.Strategy: Everyone's job is important; we all help in different ways.
Celebrate Christmas with WETA TV26 & HD! We have family friendly special programming December 25 all day long. Check out the cartoons and musical performances we're sharing this holiday season.
Curious George: A Very Monkey Christmas at 6am
Curious George and The Man with the Yellow Hat are having a wonderful time getting ready for the holidays. There's only one problem; neither of them can figure out what to give the other for Christmas! In the end, both gift-giving dilemmas are simply and beautifully resolved, revealing the true spirit of the holiday season.
Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About Christmas at 7amJoin the Cat, Nick, and Sally on a journey around the world to help a lost reindeer find his way home to Freezeyourknees Snowland in time for Christmas. On the way, the Thinga-ma-jigger breaks down, and they depend on a variety of animals – from African bush elephants to bottlenose dolphins to red crabs – and their remarkable abilities to help them make an amazing journey home.
Arthur's Perfect Christmas at 8amEveryone's favorite aardvark shows children that there are many ways to celebrate the holidays and gives them a new spin on seasonal traditions in his first one-hour primetime special. Plans are underway in Elwood City for the best holiday season ever as Arthur, D.W., their family and friends prepare for the perfect Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and even "Baxter Day" (Buster
and his mom's special celebration). When things don't go as planned, they all learn valuable holiday lessons about family, friends, and the gift of giving.
LA Holiday Celebration at 9:30amThis festive holiday show features highlights from the annual Los Angeles County Holiday Celebration. The annual festivities feature offbeat takes on holiday classics and a sampling of how world cultures celebrate the season. Celebrate Christmas west coast style this year while you enjoy the wonders of the LA Holiday Celebration!
A Christmas Carol: The Concert at 10:30amEnjoy Christmas Day more than ever before with this brilliant retelling of the timeless Charles Dickens story A Christmas Carol. Through magnificent, unforgettable and irresistible new songs this instant holiday classic will change your perspective on the season of joy. Follow the tale of Ebenezer Scrooge as he learns valuable life-changing lessons in A Christmas Carol: The Concert.
Christmas at Luther: Tidings of Comfort and Joy at 1:00 pm
Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, hosts their annual Christmas celebration that features traditional carols and sacred anthems performed by the college's internationally acclaimed musicians. Holiday music, thousands in the audience and glowing candlelight will fill you with the wonder and joy of the holiday season.
Christmas at Belmont at 2:00 pmFeel the joy and cheer of the holiday season as the Nashville Children's Choir joins the Belmont School of Music faculty and student musicians to sing traditional holiday classics like "The First Noel." Join Broadway and country music star Laura Bell Bundy as she hosts the touching annual Christmas concert at Nashville's Schermerhorn Symphony Center. Watch Christmas at Belmont 2011 at 2pm, followed by Christmas at Belmont 2013 at 3:00 pm!
Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir: Jane Seymour and Nathan Gunn at 4:00 pmEmmy and Golden Globe-winning British actress Jane Seymour and Grammy Award-winning Opera singer Nathan Gunn join the Mormon Tabernacle Choir in Salt Lake City for this holiday event. Listen to the season's most-loved songs at this annual concert, attracting thousands to
Temple Square each December. The Mormon Tabernacle Choir lives up to its impeccable reputation, displaying a perfect pairing of classical holiday songs and modern Christmas tunes.
Christmas with the Mormon Tabernacle: David Archeleta at 5pmAward-winning pop sensation David Archuleta and Grammy Award nominee Michael York join the renowned Mormon Tabernacle Choir for a lively holiday concert at Salt Lake City's Conference Center. Watch in awe as these highly-talented musicians perform classics like "Silent Night" and "Joy to the World." Enjoy the performances of your favorite holiday tunes in an 80,000-seat concert hall from the comfort of your home. Sit by the fire, relax with your family, and end Christmas Day on a high note with this uplifting and inspiring musical performance.
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Delegates ready to converge on Philadelphia for Democratic National Convention.
Authorities say they seized a dozen rifles and six handguns from man's home.
Little relief likely over the weekend.
Joint Justice Center to replace courthouse.
TV host: RNC 'felt like parody.'
Teens charged with aggravated murder, involuntary manslaughter after Incident during impromptu anti-violence rally.
Man charged pleaded guilty to another abduction in 1990.
Blistering temperatures expected for weekend.
In-flight instructions used by astronaut during 1962 Mercury spaceflight.
State unemployment rate is 5%, jobs up 12,400.


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The cure for the winter blues is to extricate from the cupboard all of your greens, pinks, yellows and whites... glassybaby, that is... and queue them pleasingly on the kitchen windowsill. Fill generously with flowers, fruits, candies, feathers, marbles (if, in the winter doldrums, you have any left) or anything that lifts your spirits. I have a friend who displays decorative old hatpins in hers.
The result is a sublime moment's breathing-room every time you glance their way. Sounds fantastical, I know, but try it and you'll see. (Above, I used 'grass' and 'smooch'.)
A visitor who came to our Madrona store, is, as my young friend, Cole, used to say, "a-big-dorable"! Her name is Tuscon and to show you how "a-big-dorable" she is... she gained seven pounds just this past week!
The little lady is a St. Bernard puppy who will eventually weigh 130 lbs, living up to her relative who starred in the movie 'Beethoven'. Tuscon's masters, the owners of Fetch, a doggy daycare next to the glassybaby offices, declared that we at glassybaby are such dog lovers that when they walk by our offices, they sometimes think it looks as if we are running a doggy daycare too!! (We do adore our furry, wet-nosed, four-footed friends and think that Tuscon is just as cute as a bug's ear! Woof!)
Last week I promised you a look at Courtney's fetching floral-with-glassybaby drawings. They were used to support our same day delivery event on Valentine's Day, but I just had to share them. Aren't they enchanting?
(To enlarge click on the illustration)
Tracy reported some appealing narratives from the stores this week:
A faithful customer who frequents the University Village store is celebrating her 50th birthday. And how will she mark the special occasion each month leading up to the big day, you might inquire? By purchasing for herself a new glassybaby every four weeks. Sounds like a woman after my own heart! Happy Five-O and happy gb lighting!
On Feb. 14th in the Bellevue Store, a very sleepy, tired little Valentine's party munchkin arrived in the arms of her nanny. They wanted a 'gregory' drinker for a Valentine's gift but BV was fresh out. She said she would drive across the lake to the UV store, but no... those wonderful workers at the BV store drove over and fetched it and delivered it to her nearby door. The customer was very excited and thankful, as was her little sleepy-time gal (we can only presume!).
I must say, I have the pleasure of working with the most caring people in the world!
On Saturday, Tracy and Jacque drove the van up to the Issaquah Plateau and set up shop at Klahanie from 12-4 for all of the many glassybaby admirers up there. According to Tracy, "There were so many wonderful people, thrilled to see us!" What fun!
Take care my glassybaby friends.
I hope you always find a reason to smile.
Until next time,


text:
Definition of Banbury cake in English:
Banbury cake
A flat pastry with a spicy currant filling.
Example sentences
- Modern Banbury cakes are small and oval, made of light flaky pastry with a crisp top achieved by a powdering of sugar before baking.
- Our Banbury cakes are available in trays, individual packs of three or in woven baskets for counter display.
- For example, Banbury cakes and Staffordshire Oatcakes are not widely available outside their own localities.
Late 16th century: named after the town of Banbury in central England, where it was originally made.
For editors and proofreaders
Line breaks: Ban|bury cake
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