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January 8, 2014
Edward Snowden is telling us he sees all and knows all but in fact he is a traitor and should face a military firing squad. He sold this country out along with all its citizens who rely on the N.S.....
"" It doesn't excuse the American public. They did not care until Snowden revealed what was going on. ""
Well, Gee, CMReeder...!!
How do you expect the American Public too be Outraged by something they did not know was happening...???
Or did I miss all the Public Announcements issued by the NSA clearly explaining they were gathering & storing every communication of every American in the United States or America...?
Are you Outraged by the 20,000 people that were Hung to death in China yesterday.....!!
Of curse not, How could you be outraged. especially since 20,000 people were not Hung to death in China yesterday.....!!
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Chuck maybe the people you associate with didn't care but that doesn't mean everybody didn't. I'm a bit confused where you stand on this issue. Were you against it when Bush was in office, but suddenly it's ok?
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Now it is porous borders and you have friends in the military who objected to the NSA yet a General runs it. It is obvious the military has a hand in the NSA.
It doesn't excuse the American public. They did not care until Snowden revealed what was going on.
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Personally Chuck I think it's a joke that the government spends millions of dollars on these spy programs "in defense of this nation" yet we continue to have the porous borders that we do, allowing thousands of illegals to cross each day. Those that want to do us harm are well aware of that weakness.
See Islamic Terrorists working with drug cartels.
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Chuck, there is no cry to cut military spending because they are already planning to cut it one trillion dollars over the next ten years and reduce troops to levels that haven't been seen since World War II. And like I said, when the patriot act was first passed, there was a nation in fear and many lashed out at those that were against the Act because of that fear. As time went on and people once again felt safe and actually understood what the Act was about, they no longer supported it, democrats and republicans alike. Personally I never supported it nor did many of my military friends that I worked closely with following 9/11.
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Sorry but people did not care. Many wrote in and posted comments that said they had nothing to hide and if the government wanted to listen in on their conversations. Now all of sudden it is wrong. Your communications have been collected and stored and they are still looking through it.
Now you want to compare what has happen under the Patriot Act and in the NSA to the ACA.
Apparently the public thinks terrorism is in the past and is no longer relevant.
The American public allowed this there was no movement to run our elected officials out of office because of spying. There is no outcry to cut defense spending or homeland security or federal law enforcement. No we push for more guns and lack gun laws and more military spending.
The American public said yes, I have nothing to hide, you can listen in all you want. They don't like the fact that it is stored and search on a regular basis for irregularities.
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The government did it with our blessings there was no mass uproar from the people until Snowden. -Reeder
You can blame the government all you want, it doesn't let the American public off the hook for their role in letting it become law in the first place. -Reeder
Chuck, the American public had no input or control over this legislation. Even if there was an uprising about it, which there has been in recent years even before Snowden, Congress took no action to abolish is. Now we know even more as a result of Snowden and the majority of the public spoke out against these actions, and still NOTHING is done. I agree that many in fear spoke out mistakenly against those that saw these actions for what they were, but even after the hysteria died down and people objected, it had no influence on Congress or the President from both Administrations. The majority of Americans have spoken out against the ACA since before it was passed but you don't see that having any influence either.
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of course no one wants to put President Obama in front of a firing squad, they want to lynch him and then make it a national holiday.
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The public okayed it and those fighting the terrorists wanted this program and still defend it.
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Gee, if this LTR was suggesting Obama be put in front of a firing squad (which no one should do) the police would be making an arrest.
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Copy and paste link to address or search box and change the DOT to a PERIOD.
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Bobbie2 - 10:23 PM
"As I pointed out previously Curt Weldon, a sitting Congressman, attempted to expose this. Where is he now?"
Bobbie2.....I have "saved" Weldon's "ABLE DANGER" speech to congress. Everyone should read it.
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The public isn't doing the spying, the government is and if not for Snowden we'd have no idea how far it goes.
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Some people wash their own guilt away from it and place it all on the government. The public is as guilty as the government. Those who questioned what the government was going to do were shouted and down and those who supported the endeavor called themselves patriots. Those who supported this action are as complicit in the fallout as any in Congress who voted in favor of it.
You can blame the government all you want, it doesn't let the American public off the hook for their role in letting it become law in the first place.
Warnings were given that this would happen and many did not heed it including members of both parties. Fear trump any concerns any one else had.
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Some want to make it a left or right thing, but it's a government thing.
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The government did it with our blessings there was no mass uproar from the people until Snowden.
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It isn't a left or right thing but yet most are quick to blame the left for it. It is a transgression that we allowed from the very beginning. Those who disagreed with it and were warning of the dangers were quickly shouted down. Many did not see any danger with it until Snowden open the doors to it.
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This matter isn't a right or left thing, it's an issue of how our government and courts are defying the Constitution and infringing upon our right to privacy without any probable cause for a warrant. Snowden brought it to our attention; some will consider him a hero for it and others will consider him a traitor for exposing another federal government transgression of it's Constitutional authority.
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spike2, I agree with you. People have expose their lives so much with our technology their really isn't much that is private anymore. It doesn't stop with social web sites. People give personal histories to employers, banks, hospitals, and all kinds of services. The government has had information on you since the day you were born. But it is information we gave freely.
The problem lies in not information collected it is the how. It is an abuse of freedom. Every communication you and every one else have sent is in their possession. All without you knowledge or permission but through a stealthy written law that only a few warned as dangerous to our freedoms.
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Spying on citizens, maybe in an age where 70% of the world puts their entire life on Facebook. Doesn't take much spying, just a computer and a few research skills.
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You don't know that.
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"George W. Bush, was the 1st President to authorize the NSA to listen in on the domestic phone calls of American citizens in the aftermath of the 9/11" - CarlHiller
That is not quite true. Bush authorized listening in on overseas calls involving American citizens. That gave some wiggle room, Constitutionally speaking. The NSA has been eavesdropping on Americans for many years, but no President specifically ordered them, though all Presidents since Clinton knew about it. Presidents and lawmakers from both parties knew about this and no President and only a few lawmakers tried to stop it and even those who tried refused to go public. It's not a party problem, it's a big government problem. When the government gets so big that it can't be controlled, it runs out of control. Knowledge is power so the NSA is gathering all the knowledge they can and they were doing it before 9/11. It just picked up speed then.
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The NSA spying on citizens is not a Republican or Democrat issue.
We have a federal gov't that is spiraling out of control, grabbing power and doing whatever it wants with no fear of consequences.
We have gov't officials who openly lie to Congress and the American people.
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George W. Bush, was the 1st President to authorize the NSA to listen in on the domestic phone calls of American citizens in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks in violation of the constitution and the laws. It amazes me that many of those who were the most vocal in criticizing Bush for violating the Constitution have gone curiously silent in the face of Obama's repeated violations. The NSA operates outside the constitutional system of checks and balances only because Congress has never passed a law defining the NSA's responsibilities and obligations another example of Congress not doing it's job. Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA had not only broken privacy rules and overstepped its legal authority thousands upon thousands of times every year but has been actively working to disregard any attempts at oversight and accountability, aided by the current administration. This is not a party issue, both sides are as much to blame. Clinton - Bushes - Obama they are all the same.
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CMReeder - I agree with you on this. I get amazed and frustrated all the time when I hear Republicans who support these type programs.
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HourlyHours to be determined
We have created a website which allows users to sign up and manage their finances online. We are looking for an individual to take on smaller projects related to testing our sign-up system. You will be working with our development team who created the sign-up process to do testing and debugging. The information users input through the sign-up process is validated through JavaScript, stored in a PHP session, and inserted into a MYSQL database.
The project will be focused on testing and debugging our user Sign Up System. This will include creating test data, recording the results and error logs, and assisting in fixing application bugs. Specifically, the project includes the following tasks:
• Create various datasets (50-100) of dummy inputs (i.e., email@example.com for username)
• Test if JavaScript validation is working correctly
• If validation cannot filter inputs correctly, pass correct data formats, or if there are any errors, then fix JavaScript validation functions
• Test if data inserts into database correctly
• If inputs pass the validation function, but does not insert into the database correctly, then read PHP error logs and records and communicate to development team the problem. Possibly assist the development team in fixing errors
• Test that the sign-up process works and displays correctly in different browsers (Firefox, Chrome, Safari, etc.)
• If the sign-up process does not display properly, then help the development team modify CSS for that page
• Check PHP session data is stored properly (including after session timeout)
• Basic Object Oriented Programming (OOP) and MVC framework knowledge
• Understanding of PHP Sessions
• Understanding of Relational Database Systems
• Experience with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• Experience in any of the fundamental languages (C, C++, Java)
Our Current Work Environment:
• WAMP (Windows, Apache, MySQL, PHP)
• NetBeans IDE (flexibility with IDE for personal preferences)
• MySQL Workbench
• GitHub
About the Client
United States
New York 08:29 PM
Job Posted
100% Hire Rate, 1 Open Job
Total Spent
2 Hires, 0 Active
Avg Hourly Rate Paid
8 Hours

subset: commoncrawl


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Star Tracks: Monday, May 16, 2016 42 years, 2,191 covers and 55,436 stories from PEOPLE magazine's history for you to enjoy
Latest News!
- Former Power Rangers Star Ricardo Medina Jr. Denies Killing His Roommate with a Sword
- Read the Cover Story: Brad & Angelina Split After 12 Years: It's Over
- Family Love! Tracee Ellis Ross Shares Cute Snapshot of Mom Diana Ross and Sisters
- Robin Williams' Widow Susan Pens Emotional Essay About Actor's Final Months
- Hugh Hefner Squashes Rumors That He's 'Sick' – and Enjoys Movie Night with Wife Crystal!
People Top 5
LAST UPDATE: Tuesday February 10, 2015 01:10PM EST
PEOPLE Top 5 are the most-viewed stories on the site over the past three days, updated every 60 minutes
- March 16, 1992
- Vol. 37
- No. 10
Bedford Hills, 10507
In a Book of Her Letters from Prison, Jean Harris Tells a Bleak Story of Life Behind Bars
After 11 years in the maximum-security prison 40 miles north of Manhattan in New York's Westchester County, Harris has learned to treasure such artifice. Serving a 15-year-to-life sentence for the 1980 shooting death of Dr. Herman Tarnower, her longtime lover and the creator of the celebrated Scarsdale Diet, Harris, 68, is four years away from being eligible for parole and light-years from the life she once led as headmistress of the exclusive Madeira School for girls in McLean, Va. But Harris, who describes prison as a place where "good is bad and black is white and decency and truth are held laughable," has little use for bitterness. "You find very quickly in here that you've been one of the lucky ones," she says. "To sit around and nurse your wounds just makes you look like an idiot."
Instead, Harris, the mother of two grown sons, fills her days teaching parenting classes to the pregnant women and new mothers among her 690 fellow inmates. She spend-six hours a day caring for the infants in the prison nursery (inmates are allowed to keep infants under 12 months of age at the prison) and also helps Sister Elaine Roulet, founder of the prison's children's center, organize a summer visiting program in which local families host children of inmates. "You're lucky if you find a place where you can do some things that are useful." she says.
Her other outlet is writing. In her tenure at Bedford Hills, she has written three books, the latest of which, Marking Time, is a heart-wrenching collection of letters she wrote to author Shana Alexander. The two met when Alexander covered Harris's trial (her book Very Much a Lady detailed Harris's relationship with Tarnower) and became fast friends. "Jean's emotional strength is so powerful," says Alexander, who is currently teaching advanced nonfiction at the University of Southern California. "She didn't have that in the beginning. She just cried all the time."
Written between January 1989 and February 1991, the letters roughly chronicle Harris's life between New York Gov. Mario Cuomo's second and third refusals to grant her an early appearance before the parole board—a sore point with her supporters. While revealing Harris's bouts of frustration and despondency over her failing health (she has suffered two heart attacks during her time at Bedford Hills), the letters also paint a tragic portrait of her fellow inmates and their children. Says Harris: "I know a hundred women who make Job look like a crybaby."
Galvanized by what she has seen in prison—a woman who, along with her infant, is dying of AIDS; another who had the first of her 14 children when she was raped at the age of 10—Harris has become a crusader for the care and education of children. She has written Barbara Bush to encourage passage of national child care legislation (the First Lady wrote back offering her support), sent information on the Bedford Hills children's programs to other prisons around the country and studied everything she could about child development. "I hope that people will listen to some of the things I say about babies when I get out of here," she says. "It's illogical to be so careless about our children. It's coming back to haunt us."
As close as she is to the infants at Bedford Hills, Harris says that most of her fellow inmates remain strangers. "We've sort of gotten used to one another," she says. "Most of them have a lot of respect for their grandmothers, and I'm the closest thing to a grandmother around."
As for her own children (from her 19-year marriage to salesman Jim Harris, which ended in 1965), Jim, 38, owns a property management business on Long Island, and David, 41, a banker, lives in nearby Connecticut. Both visit their mother frequently.
Although she lives on an honor floor, "the cleanest and brightest housing" at Bedford Hills. Harris says that prison life can be grim. Up each morning at 5:30 for the first of the day's many head counts, Harris works in the nursery until 4 P.M., when she returns to her 6-foot by 10-foot cell to read "the mail, the paper, my magazines, anything I can get my hands on." She cannot answer all the thousands of letters she has received since she was put behind bars. Still, the letters have comforted her during her imprisonment. "There are an awful lot of women in this country who have had a lot of tragedy in their lives because of a man they loved," she says. Harris, who maintains that the shooting of Tarnower was an accident (she says she intended to kill herself, and the gun went off during a struggle), does not like to discuss him. "I'm sick of seeing book reviews that talk about the famous diet-doc murderess," she says. "I've grown far beyond that, and I deserve better."
Harris packs up all the letters she receives and ships them off to be stored at her alma mater, Smith College, in Northampton, Mass. "They don't have too many people convicted of murder who went to Smith," she laughs. "The library wanted them."
Almost every evening, Harris has dinner with two other honor-floor inmates in the unit's rec room. They prepare their meals in a small kitchen shared by 30 to 50 women. "I make the salads and wash the dishes, but they do most of the cooking," she says. "Until I started eating with these women, I had cereal and toast." Afterward she watches the MacNeil-Lehrer NewsHour, then has the guards lock her into her cell early to read until she falls asleep. "I get out of prison by reading," she explains.
Unsuccessful in their attempts to persuade Cuomo to allow Harris an early parole hearing, her lawyers are now petitioning the U.S. district court to overturn her conviction on grounds that her trial lawyer—Joel Aurnou—did not present the argument that Harris was severely emotionally disturbed at the time of the shooting. A hearing is expected next spring, but Harris isn't getting her hopes up. "I'd have to be an idiot to be optimistic," she says. "I've lost every appeal unanimously."
Sometimes, though, Harris does let herself dream about what life will be like when she is finally able to leave Bedford Hills. She has a cabin in New Hampshire where every fall friends plant crocuses and tulips in the hope that Harris will be home to enjoy them come spring. "I used to lie in bed and redecorate the living room and think about what I was going to do, but I've stopped doing that," she says. "Now I think I'll worry about that when I get up there. If I can just keep breathing long enough."
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For ladies who like all-mountain fun with effortless float.
The Venus is a directional-rockered board for the lady who likes the whole mountain and loves a floaty feeling. Take this to the side country and enjoy effortless turns and watch that leg burn disappear or keep it in bounds for a full day of riding your favorite features. A sintered 4000 base keeps your board looking good and riding fast when you need it.


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At this very moment 11 years ago I was in the intensive care unit at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center fighting for my life. On November 21, 1997 at 10:45 in the morning I was traveling down the interstate thinking of the appointment I had at 11:00 and listening to local sports radio. It was a regular drive on a regular day.
Just then I heard what sounded like a shotgun going off in my left ear. It was my front left tire exploding. My handicap accessible van traveled across the three lanes of traffic heading southbound, went through the median, and into the oncoming traffic. The next thing I knew I was waking up to the voice of an EMT. I was obviously dazed and confused as to why I was looking up at the clear blue sky.
As I looked around I saw my van's radio antenna. I remember thinking to myself that that was odd being that my antenna was on the passenger side of the car. There I was lying half in and half out of the passenger side of my van. Scared, frightened, and afraid that further neurological damage had been done I came in and out of consciousness while the emergency workers used the "Jaws of Life" to get me on a gurney and into the ambulance.
I was rushed to the ER where Kolette met me. I'll never forget watching her enter the room unsure of what her response to this possibly fatal injury would be. It was then when I experienced one of the sweetest moments of my life. When Kolette first saw me her face turned white and she looked as though her knees were going to buckle. Then, in vintage Kolette style-she stood up straight and gained her bearings. She walked over to me and put her arms around me as best she could while whispering in my ear, "We're going to be okay." It is difficult for me to express in words what that quiet vote of confidence from the mouth of the woman I loved with all my heart meant to me.
After things were stabilized in the emergency room I was rushed off to seven hours of surgery. The weeks that followed were harrowing at best. On one of the very first days the doctors pulled my family aside and told them that if they wanted to say goodbye to me they'd better do it immediately. As my family tried to understand what my odds were really were, the doctors told them I wouldn't live through the night.
Luckily, doctors aren't always as smart as they think they are. I made it through that night, and through the nights that followed. My situation was serious enough however, that I was hospitalized for a full 13 months.
When I broke my neck in a diving accident at 15, I was in the hospital for three months. At that time I was convinced I could never do another day in the hospital. Thirteen months seemed an eternity. But, the damage was that serious and extensive.
I will never forget 12 months later, November 21, 1998. I was still in the hospital and all I could think about on that day was how much my life had changed the year before. It reminded me of July 13, 1986, one year after my diving accident. As that day approached I had to make a decision. I had to decide if I would spend that day wallowing in self-pity, thinking of all the bad that happened, or if I would concentrate on the improvement I had made over the previous 12 months. I had to decide if I would put my energy and time into thinking about how I had become a quadriplegic, or if I would concentrate on the fact that I was still alive.
I chose to celebrate. On July 13, 1987 one year after my diving accident I invited all of my friends over my house and we had a party. We celebrated my "anniversary." We celebrated life.
Following suit, on the first "anniversary" of my car accident I did the same–I celebrated. Kolette and I had some friends up to my hospital room and we had a party, being joyful about the life I still had to lead, about the gift simple existence was.
In every year that has followed, July 13 at November 21 are days that I celebrate. Every member of my family takes a moment to call me on the phone and congratulate me. Kolette and I always go out and do something special.
So today on my "anniversary" I invite you to join me. I invite you to take a moment and leave a comment telling me of something that is good in your life. I will give away one of my DVD's to the winner (I'll even autograph it). It will be your "anniversary" present to me.
Join me in focusing on all the pleasure you get and forgetting the pain. Join me in realizing the blessing every minute in every day is. Join me and celebrate life.


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CHARLESTON - A bill to address property rights involving sewer and water hookups will have to wait until the next legislative session.
Delegate Larry D. Kump, R-Berkeley, introduced a bill, HB 4007, to prohibit any municipal or state public service district from forcing those in owner-occupied private residences to participate in a water or sewer system, except when private systems are proven unsafe or a public safety hazard.
The bill was placed on the agenda for the House Political Subdivisions Committee for Wednesday, the last day to report House bills out of minor committees, but time ran out before the committee could consider the legislation, said Delegate Tiffany Lawrence, D-Jefferson.
Article Photos
Delegate Larry D. Kump.
Delegate Tiffany Lawrence.
"I actually was looking forward to a healthy debate-free and full discussion of the issue-because we heard so much on the issue from Delegate Kump and certainly from my constituents," said Lawrence, who chairs the committee. "I was disappointed that we didn't get to it Wednesday."
Kump said he didn't attend the hearing because he was unaware the bill had been added to the agenda because of a mix-up. Kump said he was testifying for another bill in a committee hearing."
"Whether the bill would have passed is another issue," Kump said. "Since the committee did not get to the bill, there was no way there could be discussion.
Lawrence said the hour-long hearing had six bills on the agenda. She said she extended the hearing five minutes but got through four, which had lengthy discussions. The other bill, SB 415, that did not go under consider regarded changing the due date of certain county commission tax reports.
Kump said it usually takes several tries for a bill to get through the Legislature and get passed.
"The prospect for passage is not good," Kump said. "The eventual process is excellent because I'm going to keep working on the issue."
Kump said he will work on local ordinances involving forced sewer and water system with residents and official in the Eastern Panhandle.
"I'm going to push forward, and sooner or later, I think we will have a resolution that is will be amenable to both the property owners and the sewer systems," Kump said.
Lawrence said there is always a way for bills to be revived. Lawrence said she and Kump will put the legislation in a study resolution for the interim process once the session adjourns.
She said the process allows legislators to give full review of pending legislation, which would be ready once the next session begins.
"There's always potential that the section of code is opened up in another bill," Lawrence said. "You could strike and insert all of the contents of this bill into another if it applies to the same section."
Lawrence said they should have a draft by next week.
- Staff writer Erika Elaine Wells can be reached at 304-263-8931, ext. 215, or twitter.com/ewellsJN.


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IPCC Produces Introduction to the IPCC 2006 Guidelines
21 August 2008: The IPCC National Greenhouse Gas Inventory
Programme (NGGIP) has produced a short introduction to the IPCC 2006
Guidelines, entitled "Primer." This Primer is suitable for users of the 1996
guidelines who wish to understand the changes in the new 2006 Guidelines and to
start using them, and for those who are compiling inventories for the first time.
The NGGIP has also produced short brochures introducing the NGGIP itself,
the 2006 Guidelines and the Emission Factor Database (EFDB). In addition, the
website contains material to assist inventory compilers, such as a list of
Frequently Asked Questions and presentations made by the Technical Support Unit
about the guidelines and greenhouse gas inventories. [Guidelines]


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Lawrence Randy Baca remained out on $700 bond after a judge denied the District Attorney's request for an increase to $50,000 cash-only bond. The family of Tina Romero, who suffered a broken neck and fractures in her skull, back and pelvis in the accident was disappointed in the judges decision.
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Featured Golf News
Singh's 63 Leads Greenbrier Classic
Three-time major champion Vijay Singh fired a 7-under 63 Thursday to take the opening-round lead in the Greenbrier Classic. The $6.1 million PGA Tour event is being held at the Old White TPC at Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, W.V.
The 49-year-old carded eight birdies and a bogey in steamy conditions. The "Big Fijian" hit 71 percent of the fairways and needed only 25 putts en route to forging a one-stroke lead over fellow veteran Jeff Maggert, Martin Flores and Jonathan Byrd.
It's been awhile Singh's last visit to the winner's circle; the most recent victory for the World Golf Hall of Fame member came at the 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship. "I don't know where that came from," Singh told PGATour.com of his round. "I've been playing pretty good golf for a while but just never got any scoring going . . .
"It's my first good round of the year, I would say, that I felt really comfortable with. It's a good way to start a tournament. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week."
J.B. Holmes, reigning U.S. Open champion Webb Simpson, Garth Mulroy and Andres Romero carded 65s to share fifth, while another stroke back are several players.
Simpson played in the Travelers Championship immediately following his Open victory in mid-June at Olympic Club - finishing T-29, but took last week off to rest up. "It was good for me to play in the Travelers and kind of get in the tournament atmosphere again," he told PGATour.com. "So (the U.S. Open win) has sunk in. Off the golf course nothing's changed, I'm still the same guy, but obviously when it comes to golf it allowed me to be more confident."
Defending champion Scott Stallings, who in 2011 finished at 10-under 270 then beat Bob Estes and Bill Haas for his first PGA Tour victory, opened with a 67 and is tied for 16th with several other players.
Tom Watson, the pro emeritus at Greenbrier, shot an even-par 70 in the opening round. The 62-year-old had two birdies and a like number of bogeys Thursday. "I don't treat this tournament any different than any other tournament I play in," Watson told PGATour.com.
"I'm here to compete the best that I can compete. This course doesn't favor my game because of its length, but I have a few tricks up my sleeve. I might be able to get around some of the long holes and make it up on some of the shorter holes."
Last week's winner in the AT&T National, Tiger Woods, started out on the 10th hole. The 74-time Tour winner began okay with two birdies in his first three holes but bogeyed the 13th (his fourth hole) and doubled the par-5 17th (his eighth). Woods played the home half with two birdies and two bogeys for a 1-over day. He needed 31 putts, a factor he mentioned later.
"I was a little bit off with my game, and on top of that I didn't have the speed of these greens at all," Woods told PGATour.com. "My last three tournaments, the greens were awfully quick and they have a lot of swing at the end because of how fast they are. I missed literally every single putt high today."
Woods was paired with Simpson and his good friend Steve Stricker, who carded a 69.
In 2011 Phil Mickelson brought along his wife and kids to the Greenbrier; the facility has all manner of family-friendly activities and "Lefty" treated the stop as a working vacation. But not this week as Mickelson is trying to get his game back in a groove and erase the bad taste of missing the cut last year - the only time that happened in 21 starts. "I'm going to have to let everything else take a back seat," Mickelson said Wednesday after the pro-am.
But such renewed focus didn't help Mickelson, as he opened with a 1-over 71 that included three birdies, two bogeys and a double on the par-4 fifth hole.
Earlier in the week PGA Tour officials announced that it had signed an extension with the Greenbrier Classic to ensure that the tournament will be held through 2021. The owner of Greenbrier Resort, Jim Justice, was thrilled with the new agreement.
"The first three years of our contract with the PGA Tour have been a thrilling ride," said Justice. "The entire state of West Virginia and the region as a whole have embraced the tournament from the very beginning. Without the passion and support of our local and regional communities, the Greenbrier Classic could not have grown so quickly into one of the premiere events on the Tour."
For all the scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/r/leaderboard.
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How often does the U.S. nationwide household food consumption survey take place?
Which of the following methods provides more qualitative than quantitative
A measurement of which of the following provides the best screening test for
Which of the following surveys collects data on anthropometic measures,
biochemical tests, and physical and dental exams?
Food records are usually collected for what period of time?
Which test for vitamin A would NOT be useful for assessing vitamin-A levels in
populations consuming preformed vitamin A?
Which dietary assessment method determines nutrient intake by asking how often
certain foods are consumed?
The National Nutrition Monitoring and Related Research Act of 1990 provides a
ten-year plan for all of the following activities EXCEPT:
Which of the following provides information on annual food production,
distribution of food within the country, and imports and exports?
Which of the following can be used to formulate agricultural policies, monitor
changes over time, and compare food supplies among countries?
In a zinc-tolerance test, a normal response is the doubling of plasma zinc after
a period of:
Commercial market databases can be used to do what?
What is the average percent body fat for a man?
For which of the following nutrients does there not exist a reliable method of
storage-level assessment?
What kind of measurement provides the traditional "gold standard" for measuring
body fat?
Estimates of nutrient intake per capita can be estimated by doing what?
The calculation for measuring basal metabolic rate (BMR) includes all of the
following EXCEPT:
Which of the following is not used to determine energy expenditure?
What is another name for the "What We Eat in America Survey"?
What value results from weight in kilograms divided by height in meters-squared?
In which method does the interviewer ask a person to report all food used by the
household on an as-purchased basis?
The Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) provide the essential-nutrient intake
levels required to meet the known nutritional needs of whom?
What is the name of the energy used by cellular processes crucial to the
maintenance of life?
Which of the following statements is NOT true regarding body measurements?
For an adult, severe starvation leading to death can occur at a change in weight
of what percent?
The "Likelihood of Malnutrition Score" includes all of the following parameters
Which of the following has been correlated with postoperative complications and
Breath pentane and ethane levels are increased in cases of what?
How is malnutrition defined in a hospital setting?
Doubly-labeled water contains isotopes of what element?
What do waste-to-hip circumference ratios measure?
Which of the following causes transferrin levels to increase?
According to the standards of the World Health Organization, normal body mass
index (BMI) is:
Taste acuity tests may be given to determine a deficiency of what element?
Which of the following is the best indicator of selenium status?
Ceruloplasmin levels decrease in all of the following conditions EXCEPT:
Which survey's data has been used for the educational publications Dietary
Guidelines for Americans and Healthy People 2000?
Where is most of the body's vitamin A stored?
Mid-upper arm muscle area is calculated from which of the following values?
Which of the following is not a reliable method of assessing vitamin C?
What is the half-life of 25-OH-D?
Which of the following methods measures respiratory gas exchange?
Which of th4e following is a test based on the ability of hydrogen peroxide to
liberate hemoglobin from red blood cells?


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For consumers who've grown weary of reading about pain at the gasoline pump, there's another twist — the pain could extend to the thermostat, too.
According to Dominion East Ohio, which provides natural gas service to 1.2 million customers in northeast Ohio, current rates are soaring above last year's prices.
Dominion customers are experiencing a 34.8 percent increase in their mid-June to mid-July service prices from last year. The current average monthly bill is $50.47, compared to $37.43 last year, company spokesman Neil Durbin said.
This comes on the heels of news The Associated Press reported last week that the state's Home Energy Assistance Program (HEAP) was cut by more than $7 million this year, leaving about $2.5 million for relief statewide. There was more demand for the money last winter, when $3 million more was spent on heating homes due in part to the struggling economy.
Because of this, the program is being delayed by a month statewide and will serve less than half the people it assisted last year. Health experts said they believe that this will expose more Ohioans to heat stroke and breathing problems.
''This is all resulting from the weather,'' Durbin said. ''We had colder than normal winter weather that extended into February and March.''
Also, the extended heating season put a strain on natural gas supplies, something an unusually hot summer also could do.
''A lot of natural gas is used to generate electricity, which is the main factor that increases natural gas prices,'' Durbin said. ''In previous years, summer was usually the time when natural gas costs would go down.''
That trend reverses during especially hot summers, when temperatures force consumers to operate more air conditioners, again putting stress on the natural gas supply.
Only time will tell if the upward pressure will extend into the winter months, typically viewed as heavy fueling season.
''A lot will depend on what happens in July and August to see if the upward trend in prices will continue,'' Durbin said. ''If it's cooler, we could see a decrease.''
Durbin said the company offers a variety of modified payment plans to help consumers avoid shutoffs in the coldest months. Government administered programs, including HEAP and Percentage of Income Payment Plan (PIPP), also are available.
Durbin stressed the need for consumers anticipating financial difficulty to contact the company as soon as possible. Customers may call the company's toll-free number at 800-362-7557 for more information on payment plans.


text:
Lawmakers, activists and lobbyists appear to be gearing up for a legislative fight over expansion of the Medicaid program in Louisiana.
The state Democratic Party announced earlier this week that Medicaid expansion would be one of its priorities in the upcoming state legislative session that starts March 10. Meanwhile, the local chapter of Americans For Prosperity -- an national advocacy group founded by the conservative Koch brothers -- is asking all Louisiana lawmakers to sign a pledge saying they won't vote for Medicaid expansion this spring.
Medicaid expansion is a key component of President Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, sometimes referred to as Obamacare. The federal government structured its health care reform assuming the states would agree to offer Medicaid benefits to a larger swath of low-income people. It's one of the primary ways the legislation expected to achieve almost universal health care coverage for all Americans.
But several states, including Louisiana, refused to accept an expansion of the Medicaid program, even though the federal government agreed to support it with lots of extra funding. Gov. Bobby Jindal and others said Medicaid expansion would eventually eat into state budgets, once the federal government stopped footing most of the program's bill in a few years.
Given Jindal's opposition, Sen. Ben Nevers, D-Bogalusa, plans to introduce two bills to expand Medicaid that could bypass the governor completely. Nevers has proposed constitutional amendments, which a governor can't veto if they garner two thirds of the legislators' votes. If the lawmakers pass either one, Louisiana voters would ultimately get to decide whether to expand Medicaid on next November's election day ballot.
Many people think it is unlikely Nevers' proposed constitutional amendments will make it out of the legislature and into the voting booth, particularly since lawmakers killed similar Medicaid expansion measures last year. Still, U.S. Rep. Vance McAllister, R-Swartz, won an upset victory in his congressional race last fall, after publicly supporting Medicaid expansion for Louisiana.
Again, do you think Louisiana should expand its Medicaid program? Please participate in our poll and leave your thoughts in the comments section below.


text:
Android 2.2 Froyo makes its way to the T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide
0. phoneArena 04 Apr 2011, 06:01 posted on
The T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide remained stuck with Android 2.1 until a brink of hope for an update remained. To the joy of all believers left, HTC has finally released the update and the myTouch 3G Slide can now…
This is a discussion for a news. To read the whole news, click here
posted on 02 Feb 2012, 11:06 0
1. nmlobo78 (Posts: 1; Member since: 02 Feb 2012)
Love 2.2, but it is rather upsetting how it freezes up when attempting to use the slide out keyboard!!!
Comments for : Android 2.2 Froyo makes its way to the T-Mobile myTouch 3G Slide


text: United States v. Moon, PICS Case No. 14-0239 (E.D. Pa. Feb. 6, 2014) Baylson, J. (9 pages). U.S. DISTRICT COURT - EASTERN The Legal Intelligencer February 25, 2014 share share on linkedin Facebook share on twitter share on google+ Share With Email Send Thank you for sharing! Your article was successfully shared with the contacts you provided. print reprints Jury Instructions • Unavailability of Witnesses • Improper Prosecutor Comments ADD COMMENT


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Old Town Oktoberfest
Thu, 10/21/2010 - 12:43pm — oldtownadmin
Event Date:
October 7, 2011, 6:00 pm - October 8, 2011, 11:00 pm
Old Town Oktoberfest is mid-Michigan's authentic German Oktoberfest and the easiest reason to bust out your favorite pair of Lederhosen and polka away to hits like "Smoke on the Water" sung to your favorite polka beat. This is paired with some of the most delicious German foods around.
$13 in advance, $17 at the door.
Call OTCA office for complete information: 517-485-4283. Or http://www.oldtownoktoberfest.com/


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The home, known around its Highland Park, Illinois, neighborhood as the Ben Rose House (for Ben and Francis Rose, who commissioned the structure), recently sold for $1.06 million. That's quite a steal: Originally listed at $2.3 million in May of 2009, the home's price was dropped to $1.5 million in August of 2013.
The Ben Rose House is as revered in architectural circles as in pop culture ones, valued for both its distinctive style and ties to famous architect Mies van der Rohe. It was designed by A. James Speyer, a student of van der Rohe's, and the pavilion (from which Cameron's dad's Ferrari is expelled in the movie) was designed by a student of Speyer's, David Haid, twenty years later.
Watch the iconic Ferris car crash scene below:
All images courtesy Realtor.com.
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Greg Iles
Greg Iles was born in Germany, where his father ran the US Embassy Medical Clinic during the height of the Cold War. He was raised in Natchez, Mississippi, and graduated from the University of Mississippi in 1983. Iles worked for several years as guitarist and vocalist for the band Frankly Scarlet, but after getting married in 1989, decided that a more stable lifestyle was in order.
His first novel, Spandau Phoenix, a thriller about Nazi war criminal Rudolf Hess, was published in 1992 and became a New York Times bestseller.
Iles's second novel, Black Cross, a thriller set during the Holocaust in Germany, was awarded the Mississippi Author's Award for Fiction. Previous winners include Richard Ford, and Donna Tartt. Black Cross also received the Bertelsmann Award for New Fiction, after Iles was nominated for the prize by John Grisham.
In 1997, with his third novel, Iles shifted settings from Europe to his native South. Mortal Fear, a New York Times bestseller, traces a duel between a computer sysop running an exclusive sexual-fantasy chatroom and the serial killer who haunts it. Of Iles's next novel, Jeffery Deaver wrote: "What a compelling story! The Quiet Game takes us on an engrossing, page-turning ride into the heart of terror, past and present, in a Southern town." Iles' last book, 24 Hours, was hailed by critics as "a tour de force of suspense" (The Memphis Commercial Appeal), "diabolical" (People), and "brilliantly plotted bone-chilling suspense" (Publishers Weekly). Iles's writing is so immediate that we feel we know his characters personally, and that Penn Cage's search for justice becomes ours."
Iles lives in Natchez, Mississippi, with his wife and two children, and is now at work on his sixth novel. For relaxation, he writes and records original music with a few close friends from his "former life."


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SOMERVILLE — The jury selection process in the long-delayed murder and aggravated sexual assault trial of David Granski Jr. has begun.
Granskie is the third of three accused in the 2009 Memorial Day murder and aggravated sexual assault case of Carolyn Stone at her home in the Bradley Gardens section of Bridgewater. His trial is moving forward after, on Aug. 4, Judge Robert B. Reed ruled his confession in the case could be admitted as evidence.
Granskie, wearing a grey shirt, grey tie, hands cuffed behind his back, was escorted into the courtroom by Somerset County Sheriff's officers to sit with his attorney Katharine Errickson and co-counsel Monica Hoopes, after which the potential jurors were brought into the courtroom.
Reed told the jurors he estimated the trial will last about a month to five weeks.
Over the course of two sessions, 56 men and women were dismissed out of a total jury pool of 143 people. The remaining members of the pool are to return at 10 a.m. Monday to continue with a questionnaire and interview portion of the selection process.
Granskie is one of three people who had been charged with sexually assaulting and murdering Stone, the girlfriend of Granskie's father.
An appellate court previously said the state's case against Granskie rests mainly on the confession. Granskie's attorneys had argued he gave a false confession during heroin withdrawal and didn't voluntarily waive his Miranda right to remain silent. The prosecution has said forensic evidence in the case was "inconclusive."
Wilson was sentenced to 45 years in prison after pleading guilty to murder in July 2011, with the remaining charges against him to be dismissed.
DiTaranto pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit aggravated sexual assault and received a five-year sentence as part of a plea agreement with the Somerset County Prosecutor's Office. He was released last October with time served. He had spent four years, five months in jail awaiting trial.
On Aug. 1, Reed interrupted the reading of a victim impact letter from Kelly Stone and her brother, Charles Stone Jr., — Carolyn Stone's son and daughter — to assure them DiTaranto would satisfy the terms of his plea deal.
"You should have no concerns that Mr. DiTaranto will comply with his end of the bargain," Reed told. "I will enforce that plea agreement. I will bring him back and he will be facing murder one (if he doesn't comply)."
Walter O'Brien may be reached at firstname.lastname@example.com. Follow him on Twitter @wobriensomerset. Find NJ.com on Facebook.


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Author Affiliations: Department of Surgery, University of Hong Kong Medical Centre, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China.
Intraoperative quick parathyroid hormone (PTH) assay for tissue aspirate facilitates the confirmation of parathyroid tissue identity and allows a more selective use of frozen section examination during parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism.
A retrospective review of a prospective protocol of the applicability and accuracy of quick PTH assay for tissue aspirate as a biochemical frozen section tool.
A university hospital department of surgery.
Quick PTH assay for aspirate obtained from suspected parathyroid gland excised during parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism.
Main Outcome Measures
The accuracy of this biochemical identification of parathyroid tissue identity was correlated with histological examination and outcome.
Quick PTH assay was performed for aspirate from at least 1 excised parathyroid gland in 122 (98%) of 125 patients while 13 patients (10%) had PTH aspirate for nonparathyroid tissues including thyroid (n = 10), thymic (n = 2) and lymphatic (n = 1) tissues. Frozen section examination was performed for 15 patients (12%), including the 3 patients who did not undergo tissue aspirate for quick PTH assay. All except 3 patients had an aspirate assay value of greater than 1500 pg/mL (range, 625 to >1500 pg/mL) for parathyroid tissue while the value of PTH aspirate for nonparathyroid tissue ranged from 27 to 229 pg/mL (median, 72 pg/mL) in 13 patients. The median size of abnormal parathyroid gland was 70 to 15 000 mg (median, 775 mg).
With the availability of quick PTH assay, tissue aspirate for PTH assay can be adopted as an alternative to traditional frozen section examination to confirm parathyroid gland identity. Frozen section examination can be employed more selectively.
Minimally invasive parathyroidectomy has been shown to be as effective as bilateral neck exploration in achieving a surgical cure1- 3 and it has become an accepted means of surgical treatment for patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (pHPT).4 The adoption of minimally invasive parathyroidectomy has revolutionized the standard practice and operative strategies of bilateral neck exploration during parathyroidectomy for pHPT. The shift of operative strategy toward minimally invasive parathyroidectomy depends on an accurate preoperative localization and the availability of intraoperative quick parathyroid hormone (PTH) assay3 to provide a rapid and accurate confirmation of surgical success as well as to facilitate the removal of all hyperfunctioning parathyroid tissues.
In the era of bilateral neck exploration, frozen section examination was routinely employed to confirm the identity of tissue excised to be abnormal parathyroid tissue.5- 7 Frozen section is a highly reliable means of identifying tissue type during parathyroid exploration.6- 8 On the other hand, tissue aspiration for PTH assay has been applied in preoperative confirmation of parathyroid tissue identified during imaging.9- 12 However, this technique has not been viable for intraoperative confirmation before the availability of quick PTH assay because of the long turnover time required during the standard PTH assay. With the adoption of quick PTH assay, we have attempted to apply this technique as a biochemical assay tool to confirm the identity of excised parathyroid tissues and to employ frozen section examination more selectively. This study evaluates the applicability and accuracy of this tool in confirming parathyroid tissue identity, and in conjunction with intraoperative quick PTH assay, its impact in reducing the number of frozen section examinations.
Since 1999, our institution has routinely employed quick PTH assay to confirm surgical success and to facilitate the adoption of either focused parathyroidectomy or minimally invasive parathyroidectomy for pHPT.3 The quick PTH assay was measured with a commercially available 2-site antibody immunochemiluminometric assay (QuiCK-Pak System; Nichols Institute Diagnostics, San Clemente, Calif) and was carried out in the operating room by a trained technician using a portable laboratory contained on a cart. Blood samples were collected at induction, immediately after the excision of the parathyroid gland (zero minutes) and repeated at 10 minutes postexcision. A delayed sample at 30 minutes would be obtained in addition if the assay at 10 minutes failed to show a greater than 50% decline in PTH compared with that of induction or at zero minutes. Suspected parathyroid tissues were aspirated for quick PTH assay immediately after excision to determine their identity. A 23-gauge needle connected to a 2.5-mL syringe was punctured into the suspected parathyroid gland or adenoma (Figure 1). It was then moved back and forth to aspirate its content into the needle, which was then rinsed with a 2-mL aliquot of saline solution. The sample was sent for quick PTH assay together with the zero-minute postexcision blood sample. The result of the quick PTH assay for the tissue aspirate is available 15 minutes after sampling. Frozen section examination is then performed more selectively in cases of diagnostic difficulty or challenging decision-making situations. Patients with multiglandular hyperplasia revealed during preoperative imaging as well as those with multiple endocrine neoplasia syndromes diagnosed preoperatively based on characteristic family history or concomitant syndrome manifestations were excluded because frozen section examination was routinely performed in these cases. Informed consent was obtained from all patients prior to the procedure.
A 23-gauge needle connected to a 2.5-mL syringe was punctured into the suspected parathyroid adenoma. It was then moved back and forth to aspirate its content into the needle (arrow), which was then rinsed with a 2-mL aliquot of saline solution.
Patients with sporadic pHPT who underwent parathyroidectomy were selected for minimally invasive parathyroidectomy with preoperative localizations utilizing technetium Tc 99m sestamibi scintigraphy and ultrasonography. Routine intraoperative quick PTH assay was performed for all patients under a standard protocol and excised abnormal parathyroid gland tissue underwent aspirate for quick PTH assay. In case of diagnostic difficulty, aspiration was performed for suspected parathyroid tissue to facilitate parathyroid tissue identification. Data were collected prospectively with regard to the following patient specifications: demographics, indications of operation, preoperative biochemistry, operative details, intraoperative quick PTH assay results, use of frozen section examination, histological examination of excised tissues, and postoperative outcome. The accuracy of quick PTH assay in confirming the identity of parathyroid and nonparathyroid tissue was studied and the potential impact of application of this technique in reducing the number of frozen section examinations was evaluated.
From 2000 to 2003, 133 patients underwent surgical treatment for pHPT with intraoperative quick PTH assay performed. Eight patients with multiglandular hyperplasia diagnosed before the operation were excluded. Quick PTH assay for tissue aspirate was attempted in 125 patients who were subsequently proven to have abnormal parathyroid tissue during histologic examinations.
There were 41 men and 84 women with a median age of 56 years (range, 19-93 years). Forty (32%) of 125 patients underwent open exploratory surgery, while endoscopic-assisted or focused minimally invasive parathyroidectomy was accomplished in 78 (92%) of 85 patients. One patient underwent mediastinal exploratory surgery for a mediastinal adenoma located at the aortopulmonary window, while another underwent reexploratory surgery for a recurrent adenoma after a previous incomplete excision. Aspiration was not attempted in a patient with a negative preoperative localization, and multiglandular hyperplasia was diagnosed during the operation. In addition, this technique was not used for 2 patients; one whose intrathyroidal parathyroid adenomas failed to be recognized after hemithyroidectomy, and another whose 125-mg adenoma was ruptured during dissection. This assay was successfully performed in 122 (98%) of 125 patients.
Intraoperative frozen section examination was performed on specimens from 13 patients (10%), including the 3 patients without quick PTH assay for tissue aspirate. Frozen section examination was requested for other patients because of the failure to identify the parathyroid adenoma during the initial exploration (n = 8) and the surgeon's need for tissue confirmation (n = 2). The final histological results revealed a solitary adenoma in 123, multiglandular hyperplasia in 1, and double adenomas in 1 patient. All patients had a decline of quick PTH assay of greater than 50% at 10 minutes after excision of the adenoma or at the end of the procedure compared with that at induction or immediate postexcision.
Of the 123 parathyroid aspirates, the value of quick PTH assay ranged from 625 to greater than 1500 pg/mL. The quick PTH result was greater than 1500 pg/mL in all except 3 aspirates; the results of 3 other aspirates were 625, 754, and 929 pg/mL. The median size of the adenomas was 775 mg (range, 70-15 000 mg) and 78 adenomas (63%) were 1000 mg or smaller. Thirteen patients underwent aspiration of nonparathyroid tissue with quick PTH assay value of 27 to 229 pg/mL (median, 72.7 pg/mL). The nonparathyroid tissue included thyroid nodule (n = 10), lymphatic tissue (n = 1) and thymic tissue (n = 2). Figure 2 shows a scatterplot of the quick PTH levels from parathyroid adenomas compared with nonparathyroid tissue aspirates as well as those from serum at different time intervals with reference to the excision of adenomas. During a median follow-up of 10 months, all patients remained normocalcemic.
A scatterplot showing the quick parathyroid hormone (PTH) assay aspirate values of parathyroid compared with nonparathyroid tissues. The quick PTH assay for blood samples at different time intervals is illustrated. A delayed assay at 30 minutes (end) was performed for patients who failed to show a greater than 50% decline in the 10-minute assay compared with that at induction or at 0 minutes.
Parathyroid aspirate for PTH assay or cytologic examination under imaging guidance has been applied to confirm the identity of the imaged parathyroid adenoma as shown in preoperative localizations.9- 12 However, this technique has not been used for intraoperative confirmation before the availability of quick PTH assay because of the long turnover time required for the standard PTH assay. On the other hand, frozen section examination is widely used to identify tissue type during parathyroid exploration in patients with pHPT. It is used to confirm that excised tissue is parathyroid in origin as well as to determine if it is abnormal hypercellular tissue.6,7 Frozen section examination is a highly reliable means of identifying tissue type during parathyroid exploration.6 Intraoperative frozen section confirmation is routinely performed during parathyroid exploration, although a more selective biopsy has been recommended to decrease the risk of postoperative hypoparathyroidism. This biopsy is performed for the suspected abnormal gland instead of performing a routine biopsy of all normal glands.5
The availability of intraoperative quick PTH assay has revolutionized the operative strategies adopted during parathyroid exploration. Aside from confirming surgical success and identifying the presence of functioning parathyroid tissue, the potential application of the quick PTH assay during parathyroidectomy has been extended. Quick PTH assay has been used to predict postoperative hypocalcemia during thyroid13 and reoperative parathyroid surgery.14
The need for routine frozen section confirmation has also been challenged with the availability of quick PTH assay. A significant decline in PTH level after excision of a suspected parathyroid adenoma may be confirmatory of operative success and provides the operating surgeons indirect evidence of removal of all hyper-functioning parathyroid tissue.1- 3 Frozen section examination of the excised specimens may no longer be required. However, it is not uncommon for the operating surgeons to send the parathyroid tissue to the pathologist for histological confirmation by frozen section examination despite the use of quick PTH assay because they are concerned about false-positive results and want tissue confirmation. For radioguided parathyroidectomy, the gamma probe can be used to confirm the identity of the excised parathyroid tissue. It has been shown that ratio of ex vivo count to background count of greater than 20% can be used to confirm the identity of parathyroid tissue and no frozen section examination is required.15
Perrier et al16 has shown that aspirate for quick PTH assay can be used as a biochemical frozen section to confirm the identity of parathyroid tissue. Frozen section examination was routinely performed even though aspirations successfully identified either parathyroid or nonparathyroid tissue. In our study, we evaluated the accuracy as well as the feasibility in the application of this technique to confirm tissue identity during parathyroidectomy for pHPT. In addition to the use of quick PTH assay in blood samples to confirm surgical success during parathyroid exploration, aspirate from excised parathyroid tissues for quick PTH assay can be performed expeditiously. This technique is highly accurate in confirming that excised tissue is abnormal parathyroid tissue and distinguishing parathyroid from nonparathyroid tissue. If a cut-off quick PTH aspirate level of 500 pg/mL was used, the sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values in identifying abnormal parathyroid glands were 100%. However, quick PTH assay of aspirate from a nonparathyroid tissue might be exceptionally high in the presence of a grossly elevated serum PTH level. Such false-positive results can lead to diagnostic difficulty and potential pitfalls in interpreting the results without performing the quick PTH serum assay. In addition, it might be technically difficult to aspirate enough content from a small adenoma, but our results showed that adenomas as small as 70 mg were successfully confirmed by this assay method. Because of similarities to parathyroid adenoma identification, application of this technique to hyperplastic parathyroid glands is feasible. For a normal parathyroid gland, this technique is not reliable and is not recommended because of the technical difficulty involved in performing the aspiration.
Parathyroid tissue confirmation can reassure the operating surgeon of the high probability of operative success and eliminate the need for frozen section confirmation. The results are readily available, sooner than the results from the delayed quick PTH blood sample at the end of the procedure. It provides an alternative tool as a biochemical frozen section and does not add additional cost if quick PTH assay is adopted for minimally invasive parathyroidectomy because the assay can be accomplished by the same measurement kit. In fact, in our institution, savings of $180 were made by eliminating the need of a frozen section histological examination.
Similar to other operative strategies during thyroid and parathyroid surgery,17 routine frozen section examination is not necessary during parathyroid explorations for pHPT. When quick PTH assay is adopted for parathyroid explorations, tissue aspiration for quick PTH assay will be used as a biochemical frozen section tool. This technique is an alternative to the traditional frozen section examination, which can be employed in a more selective manner.
Correspondence: Chung-Yau Lo, MS(HK), FRCS(Edin), FACS, Division of Endocrine Surgery, Department of Surgery, University of Hong Kong Medical Centre, Queen Mary Hospital, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China (firstname.lastname@example.com).
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Alternative names
Abies grandis var. concolor, balsam fir, Colorado white fir, Picea concolor, Pinus concolor, silver fir, and white balsam. There are two varieties of white fir, sometimes recognized as separate varieties and sometimes grouped under the white fir blanket. They are Rocky Mountain fir (Abies concolor var. concolor) and California white fir (Abies concolor var. lowiana, also known as Sierra white fir).
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A hearing is set for today in U.S. District Court in Charleston regarding plans to implement South Carolina's new immigration law.
The matter will be aired at 10 a.m. in federal Judge Richard Gergel's courtroom.
Opponents of the new law have filed suit, asking that the court overturn the law, and also asking for an immediate injunction to keep it from going into effect Jan. 1 as planned. South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson has filed suit asking that the legal challenges be put aside until the U.S. Supreme Court can rule on a similar law passed in Arizona, possibly late next year.
A Supreme Court ruling on the Arizona law will likely resolve most or all the issues being raised with the South Carolina case, Wilson has said.
The new law will require law enforcement officers to check immigration status during a traffic stop or an arrest if they suspect the person is in the country illegally.
The American Civil Liberties Union and a coalition of civil rights organizations, labor groups and individuals filed suits challenging the law in October.
The federal government, via the U.S. Justice Department, also is suing the state, maintaining the law's provisions are unconstitutional and interfere with the nation's powers to set and enforce immigration policy.
Locally, challengers of the law include the Lowcountry Immigration Coalition; Charleston-based Mujeres de Triunfo; Nuevos Caminos, which serves the tri-county area; and Service Employees International Union.
Victoria Middleton, executive director of the ACLU's state chapter, maintains the law is unconstitutional, interferes with federal law and will lead to racial profiling.
"It's very important that the law not go into effect. It could do serious harm to the residents of our community," Middleton said.
Middleton said opponents of the law plan to rally at 9 a.m. today at Washington Square Park, beside City Hall, at Broad and Meeting streets.
- Keywords


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by Category:
With 15 Exclusive Teaching Videos to View Online
Lorna Knight - All books by this author
Online Movie Book Guides - All books in this series
This new addition to Barron�s Online Movie Book Guides combines the comprehensive detail of an illustrated manual with the classroom-style benefit of video tutorials to offer readers one of most in depth guides on dressmaking available. Inside the book, readers will find QR Codes and URLs that they can use with their computer, smartphones or tablets to access 15 video demonstrations that expand on the book�s contents.
Starting with the essentials for new sewersfrom common terminology to the basics on equipment, fabric, and stitching Complete Dressmaking Skills offers in-depth guidance and step-by-step instruction on everything readers need to know about making their own garments, including:
About The Author:
Lorna Knight designs and produces lingerie and runs workshops in the U.K., where she teaches a wide range of sewing skills, passing on tips and techniques from both the couture and the High Street fashion worlds. She is the author of Dressmaking for Real Women, also published in North America by Barron�s
Paperback / 256 Pages / 7 � x 9 / 2014


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Delays on water metering threaten UK rivers
12 August 2010
Water meters offer a key part of the solution to Britain's water crisis yet figures from the water regulator Ofwat show there continues to be a worryingly low take up around the country with just over a third of households benefiting from being on a water meter. Following a summer of dry weather and water shortages, WWF-UK is calling on the new Government and water companies to take action now to ensure universal water metering is in place by 2020.
Water meters offer a key part of the solution to Britain's water crisis yet figures from the water regulator Ofwat show there continues to be a worryingly low take up around the country with just over a third of households benefiting from being on a water meter. Following a summer of dry weather and water shortages, WWF-UK is calling on the new Government and water companies to take action now to ensure universal water metering is in place by 2020.
Current legislation allows water companies, with government approval, to install compulsory water meters for customers who live in 'water scarce' areas, largely in the south and east of England. Yet this opportunity is being sidelined around the UK with some companies metering barely a fifth of homes (1) despite warnings of severe water shortages.
Rose Timlett, Freshwater Policy Officer at WWF-UK says:
"Not only is the current water charging system unfair and outdated, it is also piling huge pressure on our rivers and their wildlife. One third of our river catchments are facing damage because we are simply taking too much water out of them, a problem that is set to get worse with climate change and a rising population. With the current water shortages across the country, water companies and the Government should be doing all they can to help more households install a water meter."
Last year, the government published a review into metering and charging (the Walker Review) which recommended that England and Wales should move to 80 per cent metering by 2020, acknowledging this as the fairest way for customers to pay for water. Yet progress on these targets has been limited, with only 37 per cent of households in the UK currently metered. The latest company 5 year plans show that this number is planned to rise to 50 per cent by 2015 – still only half of what is required.
Rose Timlett says:
"The UK remains one of the only European countries where the majority of households do not pay for water on the basis of what they use. We pay for most things by what we use, as it seems the fairest way, so it is ludicrous that most households have no idea how much water they are using and how much water – and money- they could potentially be saving. Universal metering will lead to better awareness and understanding of water use by the householder, but also better understanding of water demand by the water companies and more innovative demand reduction schemes."
WWF is working with water companies to support their metering projects. In addition WWF is working with the water industry, the Government, and its regulators, as part of its Rivers on the Edge project to restore water flows to English rivers by reducing demand for water. One such scheme, Save Water Swindon is challenging Swindon's residents to reduce their water use by 20 litres per person per day. However, there is a need for a nationwide approach to ensure that we stop using water wastefully and protect the future security of our water supplies.
Rose Timlett adds:
"The new government has committed to examining the Walker recommendations and reforming the water industry. WWF looks forward to working with the Government to ensure the new Water White Paper includes a requirement for every home to have a water meter by 2020."
- ends -
Editor's notes
Figures on water metering:
% of household metered
Water and sewerage companies 2009/10 by 2014-15
Anglian 63 81
Dŵr Cymru 29 41
Northumbrian 21 43
Severn Trent 31 42
South West 64 79
Southern 38 92
Thames 26 37
United Utilities 26 38
Wessex 44 58
Yorkshire 35 48
Water only companies
Bournemouth & W Hampshire 53 66
Bristol 31 46
Cambridge 61 70
Dee Valley 46 58
Portsmouth 12 24
South East 40 68
South Staffs 22 35
Sutton & East Surrey 30 47
Veolia Central 36 44
Veolia East 45 71
Veolia Southeast 45 90
Industry total 37 50
Source: Ofwat, 2009.
WWF is one of the world's largest and most respected independent conservation organizations, with almost 5 million supporters and a global network active in over 100 countries. WWF's mission is to stop the degradation of the earth's natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature, by conserving the world's biological diversity, ensuring that the use of renewable natural resources is sustainable, and promoting the reduction of pollution and wasteful consumption. For further information visit www.wwf.org.uk
For further information, please contact:
Debbie Chapman, Senior Press Officer, WWF-UK, tel: 07900 670282, email: firstname.lastname@example.com


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Have you heard of the flipped classroom? Imagine inverting the way instruction and homework is assigned. Instead of students passively learning during class time, students learn at home receiving instruction at their own pace. Class time is then open for an active learning approach where students get access to valuable time with the instructor. The instructor's role changes from presenter of content to learning coach.
Jon Bergmann and Jerry Overmyer discovered this solution when students were frequently missing class for school activities. They began by recording and annotating their lectures and posted them on-line for absent students. Not only did the absent students use these materials, but, many students who did not miss class used the on-line materials to reinforce the classroom lessons.
There is no one exact model, but a flipped classroom typically includes:
- Resources like videos and PowerPoint presentations that take place of direct instruction
- Time outside of school where students watch videos, follow lecture slides, take notes, and create questions.
- Class time for working on group projects, homework where they can have the teacher's immediate assistance.
Providing students with videos of instruction and PowerPoint presentations to be reviewed outside of school allows them to learn at their own pace. They may pause the video, take notes, write questions, re-wind the video, review for clearer understanding, or perhaps fast-forward. The lecture material is always available for review allowing students to return and use these powerful resources to study and prepare for exams.
While in class, the once "home" work assignments become much more meaningful and have a greater potential of sticking in their memory. Flipping the classroom gives students the chance to first study at home and then use class time to really learn and understand through doing. Think of the science class. Instead of spending 3/4 of class time lecturing and only 1/4 conducting lab experiments, students can spend nearly all of class time in the lab!
If you would like to provide more in-class learning experiences give the flipped classroom a try. There are many on-line resources available.
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The Greek Election and Economic Crisis – Something Happening Far Far Away?
June 16, 2012 - Ray Tsuchiyama
New York Times Editorial How Greece Squandered Its Freedom
Greece's population is about eleven Hawaii's – 11 million citizens – or about the size of Ohio. Even the "Sunshine State" of Florida is far larger with 19 million citizens than Greece, the historical "cradle of democracy".
Greece has an illustrious and proud past: recall Homer, Sparta, the Athenian democracy, Alexander the Great, Greek letters and literature, the Olympics, beautiful classical buildings like the Parthenon.
Yet the 20th century was not kind to Greece with German occupation, a terrible post-war civil war, and many years of frustrating economic stagnation.
In the 1980s Greeks believed that their government (and economy) got its act together and their country became a real member of Europe (1981), with the adoption of the Euro* (1999), a part of the European Union. However, the Euro, though a solid currency (shared by 17 countries and 350 million people daily, plus 150 million more in African states with their currencies linked to the euro), would make Greek exports less competitive, causing widespread unemployment, less consumption – an economic death spiral.
In order to fuel government social programs, Greek bank borrowing (in Euros) in spite of lower tax collections (realistically speaking, no future tax revenues exist to pay back huge government loans). Soon other European Union countries (especially Germany and France) and their central banks became seriously impatient with Greece and told Greece to shape up, stop spending, start saving, and clean up its finances, including collecting all taxes due from Greek citizens (this is extremely frustrating to Greeks, as there is now 23%+ unemployment and the specter of curtailing government social spending, since that was paid by loans from other countries), plus levying even more taxes.
In response, panicked Greeks had a knee-jerk reaction (although totally understandable): they withdrew billions of Euros out of banks (estimates are over $40 billion), exacerbating the crisis even further – like throwing gasoline on a house fire.
Greece has a $300 billion economy, the 35th largest Gross Domestic Product in the world, yet within the European Union is dwarfed by Germany, with a $3.5 trillion economy or ten times as large. European banks – led by Germany and France (with aging populations that save a lot and have government fiscal discipline with low inflation) -- lend in Euros and expect to be repaid in Euros, not in the drachma (the Greek currency before Euros). If Greece bolted from the Euro currency zone, everything in Greece will be re-denominated in drachmas, from jeans to cars to gyros – and to a German or French tourist, everything will be cheaper, since the drachma will decline in value vis-à-vis the euro (yet for Greeks, everything imported, like oil, would increase dramatically in value).
Tomorrow on Sunday the Greek national elections will be held. But Greek national elections were held just a month ago in May. But the results were inconclusive – no one Party had a majority. As the New York Times editorial (see above) described one party choice: " . . . New Democracy, a center-right party (has) done much to undermine Greece's economic reform and revival over the past two years. It refused to support the bailout agreement signed by the Greek government, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund on the grounds that it would stifle growth and so it undermined initiatives like tax reform that would have helped combat tax evasion by self-employed professionals and businesses. Yet it is now presenting itself as the responsible force that will stick to austerity and keep Greece in the euro zone."
According to the editorial writer, the other political choice is Syriza, "a fractious coalition of 12 radical groups that has anointed itself the herald of leftist change throughout Europe and declares that it will immediately annul the bailout agreement while demanding that our partners continue to lend (Greece) money. The latter course could lead to the country's swift exit from the euro and a chaotic and unpredictable future".
Between these two parties, a far-right group has emerged in the economic crisis: the Golden Dawn party exhorted Greek nationalist identity with an anti-foreigner, anti-immigrant platform and won 7% of Greek votes in the May elections. In the post-elections press conference, the Golden Dawn leader presented a frightening scene, like a bad dream evoking European fascist leaders of the post-World War I economic and political turmoil:
Golden Dawn Political Party Press Conference May 2012
This video post is very scary for a Greek citizen living in the Athens, the capital city – the financial crisis has begat a political crisis. That is, 7% of all Greeks agree with Golden Dawn that the Greek economic crisis is due to immigrants and foreigners, and if they all left tomorrow, Greece would be a prosperous country once again.
A country moving from the stable Euro backwards to its own previous currency is unprecedented in history. No one really knows all the "extreme" things that could happen if little Greece dropped the Euro.
And how would it affect people in Kahului or Honolulu or Hilo? Why would a Hawai'i family care about Greece's problems?
There is no financial expert who will argue otherwise that when Greece stops using the Euro as its currency, this will trigger some turmoil throughout the global financial system.
However, although the "extreme" case has the Greek government defaulting on debts, and then failures of European banks (which hold Greek bonds, which are like loans to the Greek government) – which impacts liquidity and a "freeze" on credit globally (like the aftermath of the September-November 2008 "Lehman Shock", no one can say if these "extreme" extreme projections will happen.
One thing is certain: the Euro, second largest reserve currency, as well as the second most traded currency in the world after the U.S. dollar, will be under siege, as other countries with economic problems may re-think their financial positions, and decide it could do better (for the future of its citizens) to return to its own currency.
This is like a country-government level "every man for himself" political strategy.
Yet, from the early 2000s the euro has become a dominant currency in the world**: by early 2012, with more than €890 billion in circulation, the Euro has the highest combined value of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world, having surpassed the US dollar.
The nightmare scenario at other at-risk countries (like Spain, Portugal and possibly even Italy) is a repeat of what Greeks are doing every day – withdrawing Euros from banks. Greeks fear that the Greek government will suddenly convert all Euros into drachmas, and drachmas would be worth half or less than Euros (when you have a loan in Euros, that is like doubling all your loans and credit card debts overnight).
Cash-strapped European governments may come for loans to the International Monetary Fund, but the IMF has 188 member countries; from the U.S. to Japan to South Korea to Australia to even India government leaders will balk at losing more money if the $28 billion already loaned to Greece is written-off, which looks inevitable.
At this point the financial crisis in a little country in southern Europe begins to impact people in Hawai'i. For example, there are millions who hold IRAs or have invested in money market mutual funds. Many funds have bought European stocks or currency – if they tank, so do the returns on mutual funds, affecting consumption (people, Mauians included, buy more things or travel more based on a good mutual fund returns or the sense that their stock portfolio is of higher value than before – so this economic turmoil may affect tourists coming to Hawai'i, contributing to uncertainty for tourism for this year).
On the other side of the Atlantic, European banks buy U.S. mortgage bonds, and if they start selling, this triggers a rise in U.S. mortgage rates, slowing-down the current cautious rising Hawai'i real estate market. (The U.S. stock market will also suffer, just like in fall 2008, as foreign investors leave the market and domestic investors buy gold or just park their money in a safe deposit box.)
Just like after the "Lehman Brothers" shock, oil prices would go into free-all, and gasoline prices will drop down perhaps 20 - 30 cents a gallon – and ironically this would increase car sales, delay conservation, and slow Electric Vehicle adoption in Hawai'i – a mixed blessing. Finally, the disturbing longer-term projection is what happens to Greece -- as citizens actually vote for the Golden Dawn party -- in the next year, the next three years?
*On a business trip to Europe as late as 1998 I remember my pockets overflowing with four different currencies when I traveled from London to Paris to Brussels to Amsterdam. Even then I thought it would be advantageous to have a single currency. One user-friendly feature of Euro banknotes is that as the bill increases in value (from 5 to 10 to 20 Euros), the paper bills are larger – a positive design move for visually-challenged people. But this is not a recent innovation, as Japanese and People's Republic of China paper currency sizes are also based on value.
**Probably very few Mauians have seen a euro bill and will be surprised by how brightly-colored they are, with designs of different architecture and regions in Europe, from Portugal to France to Germany to Italy. There are no human faces on the bills, as no country representative is highlighted over another. South African currency has many wonderful native animal images.
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In the Studio Arts building where students in LSU's nationally ranked ceramics program harden their bowls, vases and other work in massive oven-like kilns, a more than 100-pound chunk of concrete ceiling collapsed during Thanksgiving break over the room's only sink. "Luckily, no one was there to work," said Molly Gleason, a junior sculpture student from Shreveport.
Early in the fall semester, at least one student fainted during class as temperatures climbed toward triple digits inside the building, which doesn't have working air conditioning. Senior Alaine Dibenedetto said the university's handbook gives students the option to skip class if the temperature in their classroom exceeds 80 degrees. "But where would we go? You can't just close a working studio and haul all this (supplies) somewhere else."
Under the high-traffic sink in the painting studio, a piece of string binds together the ends of a blue, black and white pipe as they empty chemical-filled arts supplies into a floor drain. But discarded liquid regularly slushes past the corroded drain cover, leaving a dark stain littered with clumps of discarded paper, clay and other materials now embedded in the floor and colored pink or blue over time.
Student artists contend with broken windows, rodents and flooded hallways. A homeless person was reportedly living somewhere in the building this summer after likely letting himself in in because of faulty or deficient locks. On a Facebook page raising awareness of the poor conditions, one student posted a photo of a small animal skeleton discovered in the building. "We don't know if it was a cat skeleton or possum or raccoon that was found in one of the hallways," Dibenedetto said.
Gleason said while she's at the building she forces herself to take five-minute breaks outside. She spends about 26 hours a week there between class and work, and she worries the mold, asbestos and lead paint that LSU's own facilities department confirmed is on most every surface might be harmful to her health. "It's a concern," she said.
When maintenance crews worked over the Christmas break to scrape asbestos off of steam pipes in the building, they removed some insulation, too. The steam got so hot, it ruined a student's artwork nearby, Gleason said. These type of maintenance efforts occur regularly, costing a "couple hundred thousand dollars" a year, LSU Office of Facility Services Planning, Design and Construction Director Roger Husser estimated. His department, too, is eager to permanently solve the building's problems rather than continue the Band-Aid method that's driving up maintenance costs. But it's not his call.
As the building's conditions worsen, maintenance costs grow and students question their safety, renovation plans sit on the shelf, awaiting $15 million from the state needed for renovations. To show they won't sit idly by as their needs get trumped by programs with big donors or lucrative ticket sales, students have planned protests on Thursday (April 3) at LSU's campus and Tuesday (April 8) at the steps of the Capitol to ask for better working conditions and a safe environment.
But unless what's sure to be creatively designed picket signs inspire a change in the political will of the Louisiana Legislature and Gov. Bobby Jindal's administration -- their protests this week and next, according to one lawmaker, will be in vain.
Tapped out
Sen. Dan Claitor, R-Baton Rouge, a self-proclaimed cheerleader for the arts who toured conditions of the Studio Arts building last fall, said if it were up to him the project would get the needed funding, but "a handful of legislators are not going to be able to (get enough support) to fund it on their own."
Without private funding matches, the arts building simply doesn't rise to the priority level of other donor-backed projects, which tend to get bumped up the list much faster. Though Husser said the Studio Arts building has been in the capital outlay que for "a very long time," if the state sees an opportunity to take advantage of private match, it will usually take it. But that means projects without donor support will keep slipping down rungs of the ladder as privately aided ones climb up. "The pie is not unlimited," Claitor said. "The budget is tapped out."
The Patrick F. Taylor Hall Engineering Building, for instance, will likely get $12.5 million in Priority 1 funding, which was part of an announcement Jindal made last month. LSU External Affairs Director Jason Droddy said donors have pledged to fund half the cost of that multi-million dollar engineering building project. Anytime donors raise money to match state funds, it puts pressure on the state to pony up the money within a certain timeframe. "You have to strike while you can," Droddy said. "The Old Shops don't have that window pressure like that."
One reason for the high cost of the renovation project, Husser said, may be that the Studio Arts building is historic, and the renovation will serve as a preservation project of sorts. Also call the Old Engineering Shop, it was built in 1924 as part of the original "LSU quadrangle" and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The high cost may be the part of the hold up, though as Droddy noted: "It's a pretty high priority in the sense that it is, if I'm not mistaken, in the worst condition on the campus."
Around 2012, the state gave the project got $1.3 million, which is has already been spent on planning and development. Those plans were completed about a year ago. Though construction for the Studio Arts building has been on the list for lower priority funding in recent years, it's not risen to the level where the money's accessible. The construction would cost about $12 million and the remainder would fund furnishings and equipment. "The theory is the state legislature will then fund construction funds once planning is done," Husser said. But other projects keep jumping ahead.
Claitor he doesn't foresee the state handing down $15 million for the project anytime soon "in the current environment." The students, Legislature and administration "need to figure out another way to skin this cat," he said. "We need another plan that does require a $15 million capital outlay." He suggested the LSU arts community explore a partnership with a private entity, the way the LSU Digital Media Center did with EA Sports, for a possible solution. Meanwhile, Students started a change.org petition to support funding the renovation in House Bill 2, which has more than 250 signature and a student journalists completed a three-part series on issues facing the building in The Daily Reveille.
Until the have is in hand, Husser said the "biggest concern is what we have to do to overcome and keep the building safe."
'Embarrassing' conditions
A study completed as part of the renovation plan process found the building, like many old buildings on campus, Husser noted, contains asbestos and lead paint on the floors and walls. He maintains the building is not dangerous unless those surfaces are sanded or manipulated in a way to form particles that people can breathe, but students said they don't feel safe.
Would the governor, Dibenedetto said she wondered, send his children to LSU if they desired to pursue arts? "Would they be in that studio -- with homeless people above them and critters falling through the ceiling and the hall flooded?"
Student Stephanie Binning Huye noted when LSU tours prospective students, they carefully avoid the building, ushering them instead to the wood shop or design building. "They're embarrassed," Dibenedetto said.
The students already work with harsh chemicals, and Gleason said she fears using the supplies in a harsh environment puts double the stress on her body.
Claitor said safety of citizens is at the top of many lawmakers' list, but they have to depend on the LSU's administration to tell them if a building is safe or not. "My information says (the building) is safe but unsightly," he said. If it's not safe and the money's not there, perhaps "we need to seal it up."
Art students said they know they can't produce the ticket sales of Tiger football or the donors of the business and engineering schools, but they feel discouraged that their basic needs seem to be swept under the rug. "School is my No. 1 priority, and knowing that (the studio arts program) is so far down on the school's priority list," Gleason started, pausing. "We're put even below extra curricular activities," she added.
Dibenedetto said the message students receive is the state doesn't value the arts as a program or a profession. "We're not in there finger-painting, we're contributing," she said. "I don't mind being a starving artist; I just don't want to be dead or cancer-ridden."
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