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By John Sena: The New Mexican
Hopes that Santa Fe will have a four-year public university next fall were kept alive Monday as the House of Representatives voted 49-16 for a bill authorizing a state institution to take over the College of Santa Fe campus.
However, the proposal still faces a major hurdle: Clearing the New Mexico Senate.
Officials from the college have already announced that the private college will close in May, and students and employees are relying on a state take-over — possibly by New Mexico Highlands University — as their last hope for keeping programs going here.
Monday's House vote prompted brief applause and cheers from about 80 supporters of the college who wore purple College of Santa Fe T-shirts and sweatshirts, waved purple college pennants and took up most of the seats in the House gallery.
"It's so encouraging that there's so much support from these legislators," said Nick Kunz, the college's disabilities services coordinator. "Overall, it's an investment for the state that we can't pass up."
Keith Murphy, a student at the college, said he and others expect an "uphill climb" in the Senate.
He stressed that he hopes legislators remember that if they don't approve a take-over now, they won't get another chance. "If we go away," he said, "we're gone for good."
House members expressed concerns about the $35 million it would take to buy the campus and the approximately $3 million yearly in state funds needed to operate it. They also questioned how the college arrived in its current situation.
Rep. Candy Spence Ezzell, R-Roswell, asked how much a state institution would pay in debt service if it takes over the campus.
Rep. Lucky Varela, D-Santa Fe, a College of Santa Fe alumnus who introduced House Bill 577, said the debt would be paid over 30 years at a rate of 3.9 percent and would cost $1.8 million per year. It would be paid with student fees, he said.
Another concern was how the college would pay for operations if tuition is reduced as proposed by Highlands — students currently pay about $27,000 per year, but tuition would drop to about $5,000 for in-state students and $15,000 for out-of-state under the Highlands' plan.
Varela argued that operating in the state system would mean efficiencies and that more students would enroll if tuition was decreased.
Varela said the final vote was an indication that his answers eased concerns and may have moved representatives to vote for the bill.
Others, primarily Democrats from Northern New Mexico, expressed their support for the proposal, citing both the college's educational and historical importance.
"It's a fantastic liberal arts college that rivals any in the country," said Rep. Antonio Maestas, D-Albuquerque.
The House has already approved a state budget that includes $3 million for operations of the college.
As the take-over proposal moves to the Senate, the bill could face greater scrutiny. Already, Sen. John Arthur Smith, D- Deming, has said that approving new state money for any project represents a challenge under the current financial climate.
The two-thirds approval of the proposal by the House maintains an emergency clause attached to the bill. If approved by two-thirds of the Senate, the clause would mean the bill goes into affect as soon as Gov. Bill Richardson signs it.


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Many types of rheumatoid arthritis medications can harm your unborn child during pregnancy. Talk to your doctor before you become pregnant, because it's best to avoid certain rheumatoid arthritis medications for several months before conception.
Rheumatoid arthritis occurs when your body's immune system mistakenly begins to attack the tissues around your joints. Many rheumatoid arthritis medications work by suppressing your immune system. Other commonly prescribed drugs control inflammation.
Different types of drugs carry different risks. Some can produce birth defects, while others can cause miscarriage. Some drugs used for rheumatoid arthritis can increase the risk of high blood pressure or diabetes for a pregnant woman.
The timing of when the drugs are taken within the pregnancy can also be important. For example, some medications may cause problems only in the third trimester, while others should be avoided completely.
Rheumatoid arthritis medications to avoid during pregnancy and breast-feeding include:
- Methotrexate (Trexall). One of the most commonly used medications to treat rheumatoid arthritis, methotrexate can induce miscarriage early in pregnancy. Taken later in pregnancy, it can cause birth defects affecting the brain and bones.
- Leflunomide (Arava). Doctors recommend avoiding this drug even before conception because it can remain in the body for a long time. Taking another medication, called cholestyramine, can help speed the elimination of leflunomide from your body.
- Biologic response modifiers. Because there is limited information about the safety of this class of drugs during pregnancy, doctors typically recommend avoidance if you're planning to conceive. Examples include anakinra (Kineret), rituximab (Rituxin), abatacept (Orencia) and tocilizumab (Actemra).
It's important for women who are taking these types of medications to use contraception. If you're planning to become pregnant, talk to your doctor about switching to different types of rheumatoid arthritis medications that are less risky during pregnancy.
Source: http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/rheumatoid-arthritis/in-depth/rheumatoid-arthritis-pregnancy/art-20091856

subset: commoncrawl


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"Over their food and over their drink they render God thanks."
~ Aristides, Christian apologist; describing the Christian practice of "saying grace" before meals (c. A.D. 123); all the more impressive because his matter-of-fact description denotes a common practice and therefore one of much earlier origin.


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Funerals held for 3 children who died in fire
Fourth victim remains hospitalized
Published On: Nov 16 2012 10:37:15 AM CST
Funerals were held for three children who died in a Racine house fire.
Nine-year-old Dayja, 8-year-old Dalija and 7-year-old Michael Scott were eulogized Friday morning at Mount Eagle Baptist Church in Racine. Deborah Scott's fourth child, 5-year-old Luther, remains hospitalized with injuries from last week's fire.
WITI-TV reported the new Golden Gate Funeral Home donated the cost of the funerals. The children's uncle, William Scott, said the support is helping the family through a difficult time.
Investigators said the fire was sparked by a candle in the bathroom of the home.
Copyright 2012 by The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


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Conveniently located within Jakarta's Soekarno-Hatta International Airport, Cengkareng Golf Club is a semi-private club where members and visitors can socialize in a sophisticated resort asmosphere.
Set within the 102 hectare area of Soewarna Business Park and adjacent to the 4-star Sheraton Bandara Hotel, the classic Californian design golf course reflects the very best in golf tradition and is only a quick 15 minute drive from the Semanggi Cloverleaf bridge.
Cengkareng Golf Club was designed by the renowned golf architects PT Pacific Andhika Internusa (PAI). Cengkareng Golf Club has been open since 1999 and has already established itself as the club of choice for the local and expatriate communities in Jakarta.
Important Information
Related Places
- Damai Indah Golf-PIK Course
Pantai Indah Kapuk (PIK) course is one of Damai Indah Golf's courses that is located along the Java Sea coastline that incorporates relaxing pools and gently winding streams as strategically positioned water hazards and bunkers, and rustic fieldstone walls made of indigenous stone. The "Spirit of the Sea" has been designed to offer enriching new perspectives within this unique 72-par, 6,048-meter golf course by skillfully integrating the natural beauty of the coastal wetlands to create playable golf rich with strategic variety.
- Padang Golf Pangkalan Jati
Carrying the motto "Challenges among natural atmosphere" Padang Golf Pangkalan Jati or Pangkalan Jati Golf Course is pleasantly situated between Depok and Jakarta. Encompassing a total area of 40 hectares with an actual natural river running through, the course is designed by Indonesia's own designer in 1976 and started operations in 1979.
- Padang Golf Halim (PGH) 1&2
Padang Golf Halim or Halim Golf Course started as the Air Force's first golf course. It is now most popular for its challenging course and low fees. Lakes used as part of the irrigation system, large, mature trees, bunkers and tricky greens are all part of the enjoyment.


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Unanimous & Unglamorous Consent
As a young boy growing up in the middling middle-class of US America, my dreams were aplenty.
In particular, I dreamed of a day when I would succeed as a professional baseball player. Wearing the mask behind the plate, I envisioned catching the called third strike to win the World Series… rushing to the mound, hugging my pitcher, shouting til I lost my voice.
Seemed glamorous.
So too did aspiring to be a great leader. Always the smooth talker with a penchant for spontaneous charm, I reckoned I had the skills to become a good politician.
Neither dream became reality; and poor old me had to settle for co-writing a hit baseball blog.
But that's okay.
I mean, I still wish I could have lived out those Major League aspirations… but when it comes to politics, I couldn't be happier that I eschewed it all the way. (Yeah, I just said 'eschewed'. I like that word. Eschew. Say it with me. Eschew.) Because to be honest, politics is boring as hell. Oh sure, the Jack Kennedys and Bill Clintons and Ronald Reagans and Barack Obamas make it look flashy and fun and cool; but most of what goes on behind the political scene is as boring as Tommy Lasorda is fat.
A lot.
Of course, you wouldn't know it by watching this clip, which just happens to be the most exciting exchange on the senate floor since Strom Thurmond admitted he still owned slaves. Okay, he didn't admit that, but he probably should have.
Will the Senator from Connecticut please continue…
Oh, sorry. You're still reading? Cool.
So, what did we learn? Franken is an ^ss. McCain is old. Lieberman is confused.
Don't hate me. 'Cuz I'm right.
Happy Friday!
PS, Thanks so much for all the kind well wishes you sent me on my birthday. Much appreciated! Fist bumps all around!
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UGH! @#$ I can't watch videos at work! I tell you work is evil, evil.
will watch when I get home. Don't know what I am going to do when the season starts and I can't listen to MLB audio while I work.
Happy belated Bday Jeff! So did you find a Cardinal Girl?
Emma, no, I haven't. If you know of any Cardinal gals send 'em my way🙂 You can't listen to the games at work? That's the only reason I keep my job… they don't care if I listen to the games. Okay, so that's not the only reason, but you know what I'm sayin'.
The last senator to speak is correct: it does happen routinely that senators are denied additional time. Franken was under orders from Harry Reid to keep the debate going, he's not being an ***. McCain is grandstanding on behalf of his buddy Lieberman.
Wait a minute, please don't speak unkindly re: our Tommy Lasorda. He is a wonderful guy!!!
I wish you did become a pro baseball player. I would want your baseball card.
Wow. Just as confusing as my history teacher back in high school. Politicians can be very amusing in their own weird demented way and they can also be, well, words fail me right now. I need a coffee.
Have a great weekend! Happy belated birthday!
Mary — I did not know that… so you're calling McCain a liar? I can't imagine a nice politician like he would be lying. LOL.
Cat — He is a wonderful guy… just a little (okay a lot) portly. That's all🙂
Ginny — Thanks and I'm gonna go get me some coffee too! Great minds…!
Jeff – I actually like McCain, but he was wrong here. If you went back over the tapes from C-SPAN, you could probably find dozens of times where senators were cut off with McCain in the chamber. You could probably find times when McCain himself got cut off. He's being very selective in his memory if he truly thinks what happened to Lieberman was out of line. I wouldn't call him a liar, he probably just wanted to jump to Lieberman's defense and went over the top. Interestingly enough, it's been rumored that he wanted Lieberman to be his VP candidate, and when that got shot down by GOP bigwigs, he chose Sarah Palin. So, if McCain had fought as hard for Lieberman then as he does here, we might have been spared having Palin as a national figure.🙂
Mary, I'll take your word for it. Though I have watched senate floor debates in the past, rarely do I watch more than five or ten minutes at a time, so I really don't know. But I trust you. You were right about Sidney Ponson, so it's hard for me to doubt you old man McCain. I was aware of the Lieberman connection… so this makes sense. Thanks as always!


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Plants behaving badly; Love that 'ornamental' plant? Not so fast, please
Myers stresses that river valleys are potential hotbeds for invasive species because they provide conditions ideal for invasive spread. Water, wind, soil, birds, animals and humans all do their part to disseminate seeds, spores and roots. But, Myers says, humans are by far the worst culprits. Not only are they more numerous than other agents, but they also travel farther and faster and cause more environmental disturbance wherever they go. Disturbed soil is the best medium for invasive plants.
Prevention is the first line of defense in any management program. Invasive species should not be planted knowingly. Surprisingly, some invaders are available from nurseries—Japanese barberry, purple loosestrife and Japanese honeysuckle among them. To guard against deliberate planting, consumers should be able to identify invaders by both name and appearance; additionally, Myers urges consumers to obtain their plants from native plant providers, plant swaps and nurseries that grow their plants from seeds or cuttings.
Methods for management and eradication of invaders vary in accordance with the individual species' methods of propagation. Options include manual removal (hand weeding), machine removal (mowing, weed whacking), herbicides, grazing (sheep and goats will eat anything edible down to and including roots), burning, and biological attack by natural enemies of the invader (insects, bacteria and fungi). Each method has both advantages and drawbacks, and no one method is safe and effective against all invaders and under all circumstances. There is one more option, to be used either as a last resort and/or a best defense—harvesting. Each plant species, however antisocial its behavior, has attributes that make it useful. Even Japanese knotweed, one of the most tenacious and pervasive invaders, has its uses. The plant's stalks are used in papermaking. Honey made from its blossoms is considered a delicacy. The plant's botanical properties are currently being used in the treatment of Lyme Disease. And bakers may find that the plant's young stalks make a delicious dessert (see Japanese Knotweed Squares recipe).


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"You have helped me in so many intangible ways! I have grown in my knowledge and wisdom by reading your excellent materials and viewing your videos. I have passed along insight to my friends and family. I'm proud, blessed and happy to be an avid (ardent, dedicated, enthusiastic, keen) Catholic!"
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"Man must be changed by what is holy, not what is holy by man."
~ Aegidius, bishop of Viterbo (from the article "Archdiocese of Zara")


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Members of the Legacy Program gave away FREE "Cardinal for Life" T-shirts to students on Jan. 19 at Kaufman Dining Hall and want to give away more.
This Saturday, Feb. 19, the Legacy Program Ambassadors will again hand out FREE T-shirts, and this time it will be during the men's and women's basketball games against Augustana. Join them in Gregory Arena from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. to cheer on the Cardinals and get your free shirt.
The purpose of this effort is to spread the message of giving back to North Central College. The Legacy Program recognizes the importance of alumni support and the direct impact this has on students' education. A large part of student scholarship money comes from the Annual Fund, which is funded completely by the financial support of alumni and other donors.
The Legacy Program is comprised of nine campus leaders who are excited about North Central's future and are celebrating 150 years of excellence. One of those members is Angie Snodgrass '11, who serves as Legacy Program chair. She says, "We're eager to encourage students and alumni to support North Central through financial giving and attending campus events. Our goal is to enhance the North Central community and provide opportunities for a lifelong connection to the Cardinal family."
Hope to see YOU Saturday. Also, during halftime of the men's basketball game, we'll celebrate the Cardinal men's program with the raising of the 2010 Indoor and Outdoor Track & Field National Championship banners.


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Scott RaymondAugust 12,2014
Scott RaymondScott Raymond
Scott Raymond, 40, of Rutland, died Saturday August 19, 2014, at the Rutland Regional Medical Center following a long illness.
He was born on June 22, 1974, in Rutland, the son of Mary Jane Messer Duval and Timothy Raymond.
Mr. Raymond grew up in Rutland graduating from the Rutland High School in 1992.
He married his best friend and the love of his life Meredith Walker on October 12, 2002.
Mr. Raymond has been employed by Sherwin-Williams Paint Store since 1992 and was promoted to store manager in 1997, transferring to Brattleboro. He returned to Rutland in 2000 as the operating manager.
He loved camping, hunting, fishing, 4 wheeling and traveling with his family in his recreational vehicle and, more than anything, his girls. Their special spot was York, Maine.
Mr. Raymond was a member of the Painters, Decorators Contractors Association of Vermont and the Home Builders and Remodeling Association of Southern Vermont and was the 2014 recipient of the Life Time Achievement Award, Mendon Fish and Game Club, the Poultney Rescue Squad for 15 years and earned his EMT training in 1993 in Rochester, Vt.
He was a proud owner of an R32 high-performance Volkswagen and member of the Bareknuckle Group of Rutland.
Survivors include his beloved wife, Meredith Raymond; a daughter, Tori Raymond; his mother of Rutland; his father and step-mother, Madeline, of Wallingford; his maternal grandmother, Gladys Messer of Rutland; paternal grandmother, Shirley Bassett of Rutland; his father and mother-in-law, Bruce and Katherine Walker of Wallingford; sister-in-law Melanie Walker of Rutland; step-sister Phyllis Raulf of Bristol, Conn.; niece Adora Mojica of Rutland; and a nephew, Tyler Gomes of Rutland; aunts and uncles.
Friends may call from 4 -7 p.m. Thursday at the Aldous Funeral Home, 44 North Main Street, Rutland, VT.
Graveside services will be held 11 a.m. Friday at the Evergreen Cemetery. A Celebration of his life will be at 4 p.m. Friday at the West Rutland American Legion Post #87, 333 Pleasant Street, West Rutland.
The family would like to thank the Norris Cotton Cancer Center of Dartmouth in Lebanon, N.H., and the Foley Cancer Center in Rutland for all their care and support.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Toris college fund: Make checks payable to
Tori Raymond and mail to: Christine Messer, VP Accounting, Heritage Family Credit Union, 30 Allen St., Rutland, VT 05701MORE IN ObituariesCharles T. Baker
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Courtesy International Council of Museums
The images above show kinds of antiquities deemed at risk of being illicitly trafficked, but the objects themselves have not been stolen. From left: A wooden ceremonial stool from the Taíno culture of the Caribbean in the 11th to 15th centuries; a terracotta Nok head from Nigeria; a Paracas mantle or cloak from Peru in about 200 B.C.; a shabti or funerary figurine from Egypt in the 13th century B.C.
LONDON -- Ancient statues from Nigeria and Cambodia, colorful cloaks from Peru, ceremonial furniture from Haiti before Columbus and clay tablets inscribed with writing thousands of years old: The illegal trade in looted cultural artifacts is vast, poorly policed and highly profitable.
But NBC News has learned that a new international body to gather "intelligence" about the illicit sale of some of the world's most beautiful and historic objects is set to be established.
Groups like the Taliban and al-Qaida are thought to raise funds in this way with suggestions that smuggling art and antiquities is the world's third most common form of trafficking after drugs and weapons, worth $6 billion or more a year.
But global policing body Interpol's response to these often-made claims is that they simply do not know.
The new body, to be called the International Observatory on Illicit Traffic in Cultural Goods, would try to improve cooperation between Interpol and law enforcement agencies, world cultural body UNESCO, research institutions and other groups, and establish the "best practice" to fight this form of crime.
It would also create a database of publicly available information, and seek to improve monitoring and research.
The France-based International Council of Museums is behind the new body, but is waiting for formal approval of funding from the European Commission.
'Invaluable scientific proof'
An ICOM official, who asked not to be named in line with the organization's policy, said that stealing culturally or historically important objects was "much worse" than ordinary theft.
"The loss is not only felt by one person, but by a whole society. The loss will also be experienced by several generations of people who feel deprived of a part of their history and cultural past," the official told NBC News. "For experts and scholars, it also marks the disappearance of invaluable scientific proof of parts of the world's history."
"ICOM felt it needed a lot more reliable information and recent analyses of trends, what one would call the need for 'intelligence' when fighting organized criminal activity," the official added.
'Emergency red list' targets Syria's looted treasures
Noah Charney, founding director of the Association for Research into Crimes against Art, told NBC News that art and antiquities crime was an "inherently international type of crime," and it needed a better global response.
Police across the world generally performed "very poorly" and it was an area that "tends to be underfunded," Charney said, partly because some authorities view it as something from the film "The Thomas Crown Affair" rather than a serious problem.
Charney said that law enforcement agencies' recovery rates of stolen artifacts generally ranged from as low as 1.5 percent to 10 percent for Italy's Carabinieri, who he said were "by far the best" agency in the world at dealing with art crime.
He estimated that about 75 percent of art crime involved antiquities. Valuable paintings tended to be sold by criminals for 10 percent of their auction value, he said, but antiquities could be sold openly for the full price with a forged provenance to get around global laws.
"Most of the objects are coming directly from the earth or the sea, so they'll never appear on a stolen art register," he said. "You'll never know what was in a tomb opened by tomb raiders."
ICOM produces a number of "red lists" detailing the kinds of artifacts that tend to be stolen in different parts of the world, partly to help law enforcement agencies catch smugglers.
Here are 10 examples -- with photographs of similar works that have not been stolen and are mainly held by museums:
Ancient Nigerian statues looted
Terracotta Nok statues, which date back to the 9th century BC in Nigeria, are "plentifully available on the art market," according to ICOM.
National Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria.
A terracotta Nok head from Nigeria. Nok art like this piece, which is not stolen but is illustrative of the kind of artifacts which can be, dates back to the 9th century B.C.
The problem is many are unidentified and some are likely to have been ultimately obtained illegally.
"Demand from the European and American art markets, combined with speculation, leads today to looting of archaeological sites, causing irrevocable destruction and final loss of information," according to ICOM's website.
The first head was rediscovered at the village of Nok in 1928 by chance and since then statues with similar characteristics have been found at 20 different sites on Nigeria's Bauchi plateau.
"These are heads of whole figurines, mainly human effigies, but occasionally representations of animals (in most cases snakes)," ICOM says. "The size may vary, some heads being life-size, whereas other full-length figurines are only a dozen centimeters high (4.7 inches)."
Cloaks of many colors from Peru
The richly decorated cloaks of the Paracas culture and its Nasca successor, which existed from about 400 BC to 700 AD on the southern coast of modern-day Peru, are another target for thieves.
The cotton mantles, which tend to be found preserved within funeral bundles, feature intense colors and are embroidered with motifs such as stylized jaguars, fish, fruit and flowers.
"However, the most important motif is the profile of a human figure whose head faces the viewer, with a mask and a hairpiece with some type of animal element (usually a feline with snake appendages), weapons and a human head fastened by the hair," according to ICOM's website.
The cloak pictured, seen in a photograph taken by the Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Peru, is about 8.7 feet by 5.1 feet and dates from about 200 BC during the early Nasca period.
Museo Nacional de Arqueología, Antropología e Historia del Perú, Peru
This Paracas mantle or cloak, dating from about 200 B.C., is about 8-and-a-half feet long. Others like this one, which is not stolen, are deemed at risk of being looted and sold illegally.
Poverty-stricken Haiti losing 'rich' heritage
The "exceptionally rich" cultural heritage of Haiti is "severely affected by illicit traffic" that is fueled by "international demand" and "extreme poverty," ICOM said.
Mariano Hernandez/Fundación García Arévalo
A ceremonial "duho" or stool from the Taino culture of the Caribbean, dating from 800 to 1500 A.D. This has not been stolen, but there is general concern about the trade in looted art from poverty-stricken Haiti.
"The earthquake of January 12, 2010, has rendered the situation particularly dire, leaving Haitian heritage sites unprotected and vulnerable to looting, theft, and destruction," its website adds.
Pre-Columbian artifacts that are deemed by ICOM to be at risk of theft include items such as stone axes, pestles and sculpted heads, ceramic bowls and plates, shell ornaments and furniture such as the ceremonial stool or "duho" pictured, which dates from 800 to 1500 AD. Like the other objects pictured, this illustrative example was not stolen.
"It should be noted that this type of object is common to all countries of Taïno origin, such as the Dominican Republic. The main characteristics of the duho, namely a carved wooden seat with a high back, can also be found in Africa," according to a statement emailed to NBC News by the ICOM official.
The Taïno people lived in several Caribbean islands and greeted Christopher Columbus when he arrived in the Americas in 1492. Millions are thought to have died because of European diseases to which they had no immunity, clashes with the Europeans and other causes associated with colonization.
Artifacts from after the arrival of Columbus such as Voodoo sculptures and jewelry; cannons, pistols and slave chains form the 18th century; and fine art paintings and sculpture from the 18th to 20th centuries are also included on the red list for Haiti.
China Cultural Heritage Information and Consultation Center, China.
A handwritten letter from a literatus dating from China's Ming Dynasty. Old letters and other handwriting from China, such as this unstolen example, are considered to be art.
Letters from the Ming Dynasty
Old letters and government and other documents from China "have always been considered as works of art, and as such are highly coveted," the ICOM statement said. They are "very fragile and vulnerable to destruction."
The letters date from as long ago as the Zhou Dynasty in 1046 BC, through the Han and Ming dynasties, to 1949, when the Communist Party took power in China.
The documents can be handwritten, carved or printed on a variety of materials such as bamboo, silk, paper and wood.
The letter pictured is described as a "handwritten letter from a literatus" from the Ming Dynasty, which lasted from 1368 to 1644.
Museo del Oro, Banco de la República de Colombia/Clark M. Rodríguez.
A mummy dating from 600 to 1600 A.D. from Colombia. Antiquities thieves loot human remains like this one, which has not been stolen, the world over.
Dead bodies and skulls
Preserved dead bodies, human skulls and other body parts retain a certain fascination for some criminals and collectors with little regard for the scruples of their suppliers.
The mummy pictured was made by the Muisca people of Colombia and dates from 600 to 1600 AD, according to the ICOM website.
"Human remains per se are also a type of object very much coveted by those interested in Egyptian antiquities, but also in Haitian Voodoo-related objects that are partly made of human remains (skulls)," the ICOM statement said.
On Nov. 6, Bolivia returned a mummy that was at least 700 years old to Peru. It was seized from antiques traffickers two years ago as a Bolivian citizen tried to ship it to an address in Compiegne, France, in a cardboard box, The Associated Press reported.
Currencies that hold their value
Coins "of all origins are highly sought after," the ICOM statement said, due to the "profitable market" and the ease with which they can be hidden and moved about.
Kabul National Museum & French National Library, Afghanistan
An Indo-Scythian silver coin from the reign of Azes I, 57 to 20 B.C. Ancient coins like this one, which is not stolen, are generally are at risk of being illicitly traded partly because they are small and easily hidden.
Silver Indo-Scythian coins from the reign of Azes I (57 to 20 BC), Indo-Greek coins from the reign of Menander I (165 to 130 BC), gold coins from the Fatimid era in Egypt in AD 1012 and silver, gilded bronze and paper currency from China are all listed on ICOM's website as examples of the kind of artifacts that are stolen and smuggled.
The statement pointed to the seizure of 18,000 coins, along with bronze eagles, pieces of jewelry and other objects -- originating from Bulgaria and dating back to the time of Ancient Greece and Rome -- that were illegally imported into Canada in 2007. They were returned to Bulgaria in June last year.
Iraq's ancient texts lost
Ancient clay tablets with cuneiform writing are among the various cultural artifacts that have been looted from Iraq following the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.
© British Museum, United Kingdom.
A clay proto-cuneiform tablet with early pictographic writing from the end of the 4th millennium B.C. Tablets like this one, which is not stolen, should be treated with caution if offered for sale.
According to ICOM's website, any object with cuneiform or "wedge-shaped" writing on it should be treated as suspicious.
Many of the objects were looted from the Iraq Museum in Baghdad, which houses artifacts dating back to 8,000 BC.
The clay tablets are usually between about 2 and 12 inches long, and can be rectangular, pillow-shaped, square or sometimes round.
"They are usually sun-dried and must be handled with extreme care. If not stored under controlled humidity, they may disintegrate," ICOM says.
"Written clay or stone tablets such as this … tablet frequently resurface during seizures or illegal sales," the ICOM statement said. "As an example, in 2007 a 4,000 year-old Iraqi cuneiform tablet was identified by a German archaeologist on eBay's Swiss website, as they are featured in the Emergency Red List of Iraqi Antiquities at Risk."
"The appropriate Swiss authorities were informed and the site stopped the sale minutes before it concluded. Police confiscated the tablet at a storage facility in Zurich," it added.
National Museum of Cambodia, Cambodia
This female divinity carved in sandstone from Cambodia stands just over four feet. Art like this piece, which is not stolen, has been looted for decades.
Such tablets are also "subject to forgeries," the statement said, adding that this was a "a real problem for collectors and museums as the fakes now produced are of very high quality and can easily fool experts, unless scientific testing is done."
Cambodia's treasures looted for years
Statues similar to the 4-foot stone goddess pictured, bronzes, religious documents, ceramics, and a whole range of other artifacts have been looted in Cambodia for decades.
ICOM's Red List for Cambodia said that a "new tide of destruction" began in recent years as thieves targeted prehistoric cemetery sites.
"Cambodia's cultural resources are very important to its people. Their pride in their heritage is symbolized by the choice of depicting the ancient temple of Angkor Wat on the nation's flag," it noted.
Statues from the world-renowned Angkor site are particularly sought after and so have been forged as well as stolen for years.
Other objects on the red list include buffalo-head rings and ceremonial drums from 5th century BC to 5th century AD, ritual objects such as bells, conches and incense burners from the Angkor period from the 9th to 13th centuries AD and items such as decorated iron swords, gongs and cymbals dating from the 14th to 20th centuries.
Centuries-old gold jewelry melted down
Gold jewelry such as this centuries-old Jaguar-head necklace from Iximché in Guatemala has long been prized by looters.
Ministerio de Cultura y Deportes, Dirección del Patrimonio Cultural y Natural, Museo Nacional de Arqueología y Etn
A Jaguar head necklace from Iximché, Guatemala, dating from 900 to 1524 A.D. Art as beautiful as this unstolen piece can sometimes be looted simply to be melted down.
But sometimes their historic significance -- the necklace pictured dates from between 900 and 1524 AD -- means little to the thieves.
"In some cases, it is not the object itself that is of value to the thief but the material it is made out of. In these cases the piece will be melted or cut into pieces so as to recover as much gold (or silver, precious stones, etc) as possible," the ICOM statement said.
In addition to the necklace, ICOM's website lists an array of treasures from Central America from museums to illustrate the kinds of artifacts are traded illegally.
Egyptian Museum, Egypt / Ahmed Amin
An unstolen limestone shabti or funerary figurine from Egypt, dating from 1279 to 1213 B.C.
These include colorful bowls decorated with paintings of humans, animals, plants and ancient writing; drinking vessels in the shape of people and animals; stamps used to print designs; and musical instruments such as flutes, drums, rattles and whistles.
Ancient statue in a shoebox
Funerary figures from ancient Egypt known as shabti are "in high demand from collectors" and because they are relatively small "can be easily hidden and transported," the ICOM statement said.
In 2011, U.S. Homeland Security officers seized a shabti that was being smuggled inside a shoebox. Other illegal shipments containing the statuettes have been discovered over the past year, leading to their inclusion on the Emergency Red List of Egyptian Cultural Objects at Risk.
Shabtis can be made from wood, Egyptian faience, a type of ceramic, pottery and stone such as limestone.
The statues, which date from 5,200 BC to 332 BC, were of men and women.
The shabti pictured, seen in a photograph taken by the Egyptian Museum in Cairo, was found in the tomb of Sennedjem, who lived more than 3,000 years ago, at the cemetery of Deir el-Medina at Thebes.
More world stories from NBC News:
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- New 'intelligence' body set to fight trade in world's treasures
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June 19, 2013 —
BETHEL, NY — The exhibit "Different Frameworks" will open on Friday, June 21 at the Stray Cat Gallery on Route 17B, with an opening reception on Saturday, June 22 from 4 to 7 p.m., featuring the photographs of Michael Bloom and Shane Cashman and the paintings of Louis Pontone.
From the idiosyncratic standpoints from which they illuminate their subject matter to the literal frames that two of them craft as part of many of their pieces, all three of these artists provide the viewer with alternative frameworks through which we can view the world around us. The familiar nude is transformed by being caught in mid-air; the familiar pet photo gets a twist when a dog is framed in a dryer drum. In Pontone's paintings, everyday landscapes are transmuted into something rich and strange; even in his domestic scenes, an incipient wildness is never too far away—what he calls an "indescribable edge.'
Hours are Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 to 7 p.m. and Sunday 10 to 5 p.m. Visit www.straycatgallery.com [1] or call 845/423-8850.


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May be, initially you would not have given enough importance to these labels. And now when you realized the importance, you may find tens and hundreds of posts in your blog with improper labels, which need to be edited, or you may even want to delete some of the labels you have already added, or you may want to add some new labels to your previous posts.
Anyways here's how you can edit, add or delete labels in Blogger.
Log in to Blogger, in the Posting section, click on Edit Posts.
As soon as you click on Edit posts, you will see all posts written by you (select posts per page as 300 in the right corner of the page).
1. Now to delete any label, click on "Select All". Then in the drop down menu "Labels action", under "Remove label" option you will see the list of all labels, click on the one, you want to remove for ever.
2. To add a label, select all the posts, you want to add the label. Then in the drop down menu "Labels action", under "Apply label" option click on New label.... Finally enter the name of the new label.
So do this, firstly in the list of labels column, present at the left side of the page, click on the label you want to edit. Now only those posts are displayed which have this label. Now add a temporary label to these posts. Then delete the label, you want to edit. Now click on the temporary label in the labels list. Now add the new label. Then finally delete the temporary label.
And finally display important labels as a link list in a widget, or display all the labels as a flash widget in your blog.
Image Credits: VectorLady


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Sebastien Nogier / EPA
French police officers stand guard Friday outside the Cannes hotel that was targeted.
Premiering this year at Cannes: "To Catch a Thief."
Someone stole a hotel room safe Friday and made off with hundreds of thousands of dollars' worth of gems by Chopard, a Swiss jeweler that decks the stars in its ritzy wares for the red carpet at the Cannes Film Festival, the most celebrated gathering in cinema.
The festival opened Wednesday, and Chopard jewels are certainly being worn by some of the biggest stars in Hollywood. But in a statement late Friday, Chopard said the jewels that were stolen weren't part of that collection.
And while it was widely reported that the stolen jewelry was worth almost 780,000 euros — about $1 million U.S. — the company maintained that "the value of the pieces stolen is far lower than those in the figures circulating in the media."
Chopard — whose full name, Le Petit-Fils de L.-U. Chopard & Cie S.A., would give any actor fits — wouldn't officially say how much they were worth because police were still investigating. But the newspaper Le Figaro said the company had valued them at between 200,000 and 300,000 euros ($250,000 to $385,000).
A police source told NBC News that the safe was torn from the wall of the hotel room of a U.S. employee of Chopard. The heist took place about 5 a.m., French media reported. Chopard said the employee wasn't in the room at the time.
It's common for employees of jewelers to stay out all night during events like the Cannes festival, either surveying jewelry lent to the stars or recovering it from them after parties.
Police swarmed the hotel, a four-star Novotel, and were combing through surveillance footage and grilling potential witnesses.
"It seems pretty unlikely to us that it was just one person," Cmdr. Bernard Mascarelli, a police spokesman in the nearby city of Nice, told The Associated Press. "There must have been either inside complicity, or people who were in contact with this person and knew that the person had jewels."
Chopard also makes the Palme d'Or, the award for best picture at Cannes and arguably the top prize in film. Festival organizers wouldn't say where the Palme was being kept Friday but reassured reporters that it was safe.
On its Facebook and Tumblr pages, Chopard features stars showing off its spectacular jewels on the red carpet.
Just Thursday, Julianne Moore wore a dazzling platinum necklace packed with 56 carats of diamonds. The English model Cara Delevingne sported glittering Chopard chandelier earrings. The singer-songwriter Lana del Rey chose Chopard for the second straight year and was photographed at Cannes in extravagant earrings of yellow and white gold set with emeralds.
The festival, which draws thousands of industry insiders to the palm-lined shores of the Mediterranean Sea, runs through May 26. One of the films premiering there this year is "The Bling Ring," a Sofia Coppola-directed drama about a group of teenagers who rob celebrity homes and brag about it on Facebook.
Among the films competing for Chopard's Palme this year are five from the United States, with other U.S. directors including Steven Soderbergh and the Coen brothers. The Iranian director Asghar Farhadi premiered a drama called "Le Passe" at Cannes on Friday to huge buzz. Steven Spielberg heads the jury.
Besides being a competition for cinema prestige — and a staging ground for legendarily lavish parties — Cannes is a showcase for jewelers and fashion designers, who drape the stars in their goods.
High-end jewelry stores along the French Riviera have been a favorite target of professional thieves for years. In February, thieves ran off with $1 million worth of luxury watches from a jewelry store along the main drag in Cannes.
A notorious ring of jewelry thieves known as the Pink Panthers has struck the French Riviera and Monaco repeatedly over the past decade. The source said investigators haven't ruled them out, but they said the break-in doesn't follow their pattern.
M. Alex Johnson of NBC News and Reuters contributed to this report.
Full movies coverage from TODAY Entertainment
This story was originally published on Fri May 17, 2013 8:40 AM EDT


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Tanka Bar Hosts 'Harlem Shake' Contest
The Harlem Shake has become the hottest dance trend and meme across the U.S. thanks to Baauer. In mid-February, at the height of the mania, more than 4,000 videos featuring the words "Harlem Shake" were posted daily to YouTube, Time reported.
Now the Oglala Sioux-owned Native American Natural Foods, maker of the Tanka Bar, a buffalo jerky and cranberry bar, has jumped on the Harlem Shake wave by launching a video contest that concludes end of day March 8.
The company is requesting submissions of Harlem Shake videos with a reference to the Tanka Bar or buffalo. "This could be anything from pretending you are the Tanka runner to actually eating the product while you 'shake,'" the instructions state. The winner will receive a Tanka T-shirt and a variety pack of Tanka products.
Below, KILI Radio creatively incorporates a buffalo head into its Harlem Shake Lakota Style video.
Go to the Tanka Bar website for a full list of contest instructions.
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This study is provided by ICPSR. ICPSR provides leadership and training in data access, curation, and methods of analysis for a diverse and expanding social science research community.
ABC News/Washington Post Inflation Poll, March 1981 (ICPSR 8012)
Principal Investigator(s): ABC News; The Washington Post
This special-topic poll is part of a continuing series of monthly surveys that solicit public opinion on the presidency and on a range of other political and social issues. This data collection focused on inflation and attitudes toward President Ronald Reagan's economic proposals. Respondents were asked to pinpoint the possible causes of inflation. They were questioned about the Reagan administration's spending cuts and who they thought would benefit from them. Respondents were also asked to elaborate specifically on the impact of inflation on their spending habits, and if inflation prevented them from buying new cars, homes, or taking vacations. Some additional questions were asked about prize fighting. Demographic information collected on respondents includes age, race, sex, religion, number of children, and occupation.
Access Notes
These data are available only to users at ICPSR member institutions. Because you are not logged in, we cannot verify that you will be able to download these data.
ASCII + SAS Setup SPSS Setup
Study Description
ABC News/The Washington Post. ABC NEWS/WASHINGTON POST INFLATION POLL, MARCH 1981. Conducted by Chilton Research Services. ICPSR ed. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [producer and distributor], 1982. http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08012.v1
Persistent URL: http://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08012.v1
Export Citation:
- RIS (generic format for RefWorks, EndNote, etc.)
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Scope of Study
Subject Terms: attitudes, budget cuts, consumers, durable goods, government spending, inflation, presidency, public opinion, purchasing, Reagan Administration (1981-1989), Reagan, Ronald
Geographic Coverage: United States
Time Period:
- 1981-03
Date of Collection:
- 1981-03-25--1981-03-29
Data Types: survey data
Data Source:
telephone interviews
Extent of Processing: ICPSR data undergo a confidentiality review and are altered when necessary to limit the risk of disclosure. ICPSR also routinely creates ready-to-go data files along with setups in the major statistical software formats as well as standard codebooks to accompany the data. In addition to these procedures, ICPSR performed the following processing steps for this data collection:
- Standardized missing values.
- Checked for undocumented or out-of-range codes.
Original ICPSR Release: 1984-05-11
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Fort Frye BOE explores options for superintendent
BEVERLY – The Fort Frye Local Board of Education met for more than two-and-a-half hours in closed, executive session Thursday to discuss the potential departure of Superintendent Tom Gibbs.
Gibbs, who also serves as superintendent of Warren Local Schools, has said he's spoken with the Athens City school district about taking a job there but no formal action has been taken. Anticipating his possible resignation, the Warren board of education held a special meeting Wednesday and approved a condensed superintendent search timeline if he does in fact leave.
The Fort Frye board took no action after exiting the executive session around 8:40 p.m. Thursday, board President Johnna Zalmanek said. They voted to move to the closed format to discuss the employment of a superintendent one minute into the 6 p.m. meeting at Beverly-Center Elementary.
Contacted after the meeting, board Vice President Charlie Schilling said he wasn't sure what the board's next step would be. He said it seems unlikely they would pursue sharing another superintendent with Warren, simply because he's not sure any potential candidates would be interested in pulling double duty.
"I think our only option (is) to get a superintendent for just Fort Frye right now," Schilling said.
If the board conducts a superintendent search, it would be the third in the last three years. Following the departure of Superintendent Matt Dill in 2010, the board conducted a search in 2011 but did not select any of the candidates. Another search in 2012 ended with the top choice of the board and community and staff members withdrawing and two other finalists being rejected.
A week later, the board voted to hire Gibbs and share his services with Warren, where he'd been superintendent for seven years. Earlier this year, he signed new five-year contracts with both districts, but, like many such contracts, there is no penalty for leaving before it's up.
Prior to and after Dill's tenure, Dora Jean Bumgarner served as Fort Frye's interim superintendent. Schilling said he's not sure whether the board would consider another interim arrangement.
Lower Salem resident Rodney West was the only member of the public to attend Thursday's meeting. He said he's been pleased with the work Gibbs has done over the last year.
"He's going to be missed," West said.


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|By Marketwired .
Article Rating:
|February 10, 2014 11:40 AM EST
LAKE ELSINORE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 02/10/14 -- In the news release, "IDST Awarded Voter Outreach and Fundraising Management Contract for California Marijuana Control, Legalization and Revenue Act 2014," issued earlier today by IDS Industries, Inc. (OTCQB: IDST), we are advised by the company that the Contact phone number should be "(714) 733-1412" rather than "(714) 433-1412" as originally issued. Complete corrected text follows.
IDST Awarded Voter Outreach and Fundraising Management Contract for California Marijuana Control, Legalization and Revenue Act 2014
Exclusive Contract Monetizes Direct-to-Consumer Capacity
LAKE ELSINORE, CA -- February 10, 2014 -- IDS Industries, Inc. (OTCQB: IDST) announced today its formation of a wholly-owned subsidiary to deliver multi-channel, direct-to-consumer advocacy, fundraising and marketing services commencing with its exclusive contract to roll out the Marijuana Control, Legislation Revenue Act 2014 (MCLR 2014) to California voters.
As part of its contract, the newly formed IDST subsidiary, Propel Management Group, Inc. (PMG) will oversee and manage all voter and donor outreach through its direct-to-consumer marketing infrastructure originally developed to build its dealer network for Charge! Energy portable power products. PMG will provide all outbound and inbound telemarketing; manage email solicitation and the ballot petition campaigns.
On January 31st, 2014, MCLR 2014 received approval by the California Attorney General's (AG) office for circulation of petitions and set an initial goal of acquiring 800,000 registered California voter signatures to achieve the 560,000 validated signatures necessary to qualify the measure for inclusion on the November 2014 state ballot.
The campaign has an initial target of $2,000,000 for IDST's PMG to fund this effort. As detailed in today's 8-K filing, the new IDST subsidiary, Propel Management Group, Inc. (PMG) will receive $2.75 per signature and a percentage of all its fundraising activities.
"The initial results of PMG's work gathering signatures in the community and the growing donations through their social media and telemarketing is impressive. We're more confident than ever we'll achieve our signature and fundraising milestones, starting with $2,000,000 in the next 6 weeks required to get the measure on the ballot and then raising an additional $18,000,000 to get it passed in November," said Dave Hodges, co-director of Americans for Policy Reform (AFPR), the initiative's primary sponsor. "We are seeing more enthusiasm growing for this measure abroad a wider spectrum of varying interests which only further drives our commitment."
The exclusive contract with Californians for Marijuana Legalization and Control (CMLC), a California campaign committee, aims to raise the roughly $20,000,000 it projects as necessary to mobilize voters to approve the grass roots, "open source" developed measure so important to a diverse range of interests including families, law enforcement and state revenue requirements. MCLR 2014 campaign has received a commitment of $500,000 to achieve the signature gathering milestone and IDST's subsidiary is committed to proactively insuring voters are rallied statewide to participate in the effort to pass the important measure in November.
Among the provisions of MCLR 2014 is the legalization of marijuana for social uses, regulation of the California marijuana trade and related funding mechanisms for state authorities. In its fiscal analysis, the AG office states MCLR 2014 will "reduce costs potentially exceeding $100 million annually to state and local governments related to enforcing certain marijuana-related offenses, handling the related criminal cases in the court system, and incarcerating and supervising certain marijuana offenders." The analysis also states, "Potential net additional tax revenues of a few hundred million dollars annually related to the production and sale of marijuana," would be realized.
"When the Board of Directors appointed Mr. Plantinga as our CEO and President we were confident his experience and skill set would guide the Company to new opportunities as well as maximize our current operations and relationships. The contract with CMLC is a testament that Mr. Plantinga can drive new revenues to the Company and harness our resources to the benefit of our shareholders," said Bruce R. Knoblich, Co-Founder and outgoing Chairman. "It is apparent that the Board's intuition regarding Mr. Plantinga was correct," emphasized Mr. Knoblich.
"As the Charge! Energy storage business continues to develop we saw an opportunity to create revenue from sales infrastructure we had created to sell portable storage products and build upon the relationships we already had with various businesses that are directly benefited from the passage of this measure," stated Scott Plantinga, CEO. Mr. Plantinga added "We have a detailed plan for success in meeting these milestones and intend to leverage this contract to grow our fundamentals and build value for our shareholders."
About IDS Industries, Inc.
IDS Industries, Inc. is a company in the fields of Advanced Energy Storage and Portable Power Generation Systems and Direct-to-Consumer Marketing.
The Company's GIIRS-rated energy storage products deliver clean stationary and portable electrical energy, targeting a diverse range of residential, commercial, and off-grid markets. The Company's proprietary integrated Battery Management and Charge Controller System (BMCCS) optimizes advanced lithium chemistry functions improving battery performance and extending battery life. Its Direct-to-Consumer business delivers comprehensive call center and online marketing solutions to brands seeking maximum reach and return on investment (ROI).
Forward-looking & Safe Harbor Statement
Certain statements in this news release may contain forward-looking information within the meaning of Rule 175 under the Securities Act of 1933 and Rule 3b-6 under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, and those statements are subject to the safe harbor created by those rules. All statements, other than statements of fact, included in this release, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential future plans and objectives of the Company, are forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove to be accurate and actual results and future events could differ materially from those anticipated in such statements. The Company cautions that these forward-looking statements are further qualified by other factors. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any statements in this release, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
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Investor Inquiries:
IDS Industries, Inc.
Email Contact
(714) 733-1412
With major technology companies and startups seriously embracing IoT strategies, now is the perfect time to attend @ThingsExpo 2016 in New York. Learn what is going on, contribute to the discussions, and ensure that your enterprise is as "IoT-Ready" as it can be! Internet of @ThingsExpo, taking place June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York, is co-located with 20th Cloud Expo and will feature technical sessions from a rock star conference faculty and the leading industry p...
Dec. 7, 2016 06:45 AM EST Reads: 1,984
"We build IoT infrastructure products - when you have to integrate different devices, different systems and cloud you have to build an application to do that but we eliminate the need to build an application. Our products can integrate any device, any system, any cloud regardless of protocol," explained Peter Jung, Chief Product Officer at Pulzze Systems, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 7, 2016 05:15 AM EST Reads: 1,053
Internet of @ThingsExpo has announced today that Chris Matthieu has been named tech chair of Internet of @ThingsExpo 2017 New York The 7th Internet of @ThingsExpo will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, New York. Chris Matthieu is the co-founder and CTO of Octoblu, a revolutionary real-time IoT platform recently acquired by Citrix. Octoblu connects things, systems, people and clouds to a global mesh network allowing users to automate and control design flo...
Dec. 7, 2016 02:00 AM EST Reads: 625
In addition to all the benefits, IoT is also bringing new kind of customer experience challenges - cars that unlock themselves, thermostats turning houses into saunas and baby video monitors broadcasting over the internet. This list can only increase because while IoT services should be intuitive and simple to use, the delivery ecosystem is a myriad of potential problems as IoT explodes complexity. So finding a performance issue is like finding the proverbial needle in the haystack.
Dec. 7, 2016 01:45 AM EST Reads: 6,163
Data is the fuel that drives the machine learning algorithmic engines and ultimately provides the business value. In his session at 20th Cloud Expo, Ed Featherston, director/senior enterprise architect at Collaborative Consulting, will discuss the key considerations around quality, volume, timeliness, and pedigree that must be dealt with in order to properly fuel that engine.
Dec. 7, 2016 01:00 AM EST Reads: 1,617
According to Forrester Research, every business will become either a digital predator or digital prey by 2020. To avoid demise, organizations must rapidly create new sources of value in their end-to-end customer experiences. True digital predators also must break down information and process silos and extend digital transformation initiatives to empower employees with the digital resources needed to win, serve, and retain customers.
Dec. 7, 2016 12:45 AM EST Reads: 1,244
The WebRTC Summit New York, to be held June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY, announces that its Call for Papers is now open. Topics include all aspects of improving IT delivery by eliminating waste through automated business models leveraging cloud technologies. WebRTC Summit is co-located with 20th International Cloud Expo and @ThingsExpo. WebRTC is the future of browser-to-browser communications, and continues to make inroads into the traditional, difficult, plug-in web co...
Dec. 7, 2016 12:15 AM EST Reads: 1,377
In his general session at 19th Cloud Expo, Manish Dixit, VP of Product and Engineering at Dice, discussed how Dice leverages data insights and tools to help both tech professionals and recruiters better understand how skills relate to each other and which skills are in high demand using interactive visualizations and salary indicator tools to maximize earning potential. Manish Dixit is VP of Product and Engineering at Dice. As the leader of the Product, Engineering and Data Sciences team at D...
Dec. 7, 2016 12:15 AM EST Reads: 1,033
The Internet of Things (IoT) promises to simplify and streamline our lives by automating routine tasks that distract us from our goals. This promise is based on the ubiquitous deployment of smart, connected devices that link everything from industrial control systems to automobiles to refrigerators. Unfortunately, comparatively few of the devices currently deployed have been developed with an eye toward security, and as the DDoS attacks of late October 2016 have demonstrated, this oversight can ...
Dec. 7, 2016 12:00 AM EST Reads: 1,278
What happens when the different parts of a vehicle become smarter than the vehicle itself? As we move toward the era of smart everything, hundreds of entities in a vehicle that communicate with each other, the vehicle and external systems create a need for identity orchestration so that all entities work as a conglomerate. Much like an orchestra without a conductor, without the ability to secure, control, and connect the link between a vehicle's head unit, devices, and systems and to manage the ...
Dec. 6, 2016 11:45 PM EST Reads: 752
"Once customers get a year into their IoT deployments, they start to realize that they may have been shortsighted in the ways they built out their deployment and the key thing I see a lot of people looking at is - how can I take equipment data, pull it back in an IoT solution and show it in a dashboard," stated Dave McCarthy, Director of Products at Bsquare Corporation, in this SYS-CON.tv interview at @ThingsExpo, held November 1-3, 2016, at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, CA.
Dec. 6, 2016 10:15 PM EST Reads: 1,160
Unsecured IoT devices were used to launch crippling DDOS attacks in October 2016, targeting services such as Twitter, Spotify, and GitHub. Subsequent testimony to Congress about potential attacks on office buildings, schools, and hospitals raised the possibility for the IoT to harm and even kill people. What should be done? Does the government need to intervene? This panel at @ThingExpo New York brings together leading IoT and security experts to discuss this very serious topic.
Dec. 6, 2016 09:15 PM EST Reads: 364
We are always online. We access our data, our finances, work, and various services on the Internet. But we live in a congested world of information in which the roads were built two decades ago. The quest for better, faster Internet routing has been around for a decade, but nobody solved this problem. We've seen band-aid approaches like CDNs that attack a niche's slice of static content part of the Internet, but that's it. It does not address the dynamic services-based Internet of today. It does...
Dec. 6, 2016 08:45 PM EST Reads: 1,085
Data is the fuel that drives the machine learning algorithmic engines and ultimately provides the business value. In his session at Cloud Expo, Ed Featherston, a director and senior enterprise architect at Collaborative Consulting, discussed the key considerations around quality, volume, timeliness, and pedigree that must be dealt with in order to properly fuel that engine.
Dec. 6, 2016 06:45 PM EST Reads: 2,161
As data explodes in quantity, importance and from new sources, the need for managing and protecting data residing across physical, virtual, and cloud environments grow with it. Managing data includes protecting it, indexing and classifying it for true, long-term management, compliance and E-Discovery. Commvault can ensure this with a single pane of glass solution – whether in a private cloud, a Service Provider delivered public cloud or a hybrid cloud environment – across the heterogeneous enter...
Dec. 6, 2016 05:30 PM EST Reads: 1,714
An IoT product's log files speak volumes about what's happening with your products in the field, pinpointing current and potential issues, and enabling you to predict failures and save millions of dollars in inventory. But until recently, no one knew how to listen. In his session at @ThingsExpo, Dan Gettens, Chief Research Officer at OnProcess, discussed recent research by Massachusetts Institute of Technology and OnProcess Technology, where MIT created a new, breakthrough analytics model for ...
Dec. 6, 2016 05:15 PM EST Reads: 411
More and more brands have jumped on the IoT bandwagon. We have an excess of wearables – activity trackers, smartwatches, smart glasses and sneakers, and more that track seemingly endless datapoints. However, most consumers have no idea what "IoT" means. Creating more wearables that track data shouldn't be the aim of brands; delivering meaningful, tangible relevance to their users should be. We're in a period in which the IoT pendulum is still swinging. Initially, it swung toward "smart for smar...
Dec. 6, 2016 04:45 PM EST Reads: 809
Everyone knows that truly innovative companies learn as they go along, pushing boundaries in response to market changes and demands. What's more of a mystery is how to balance innovation on a fresh platform built from scratch with the legacy tech stack, product suite and customers that continue to serve as the business' foundation. In his General Session at 19th Cloud Expo, Michael Chambliss, Head of Engineering at ReadyTalk, discussed why and how ReadyTalk diverted from healthy revenue and mor...
Dec. 6, 2016 03:15 PM EST Reads: 1,655
SYS-CON Events has announced today that Roger Strukhoff has been named conference chair of Cloud Expo and @ThingsExpo 2017 New York. The 20th Cloud Expo and 7th @ThingsExpo will take place on June 6-8, 2017, at the Javits Center in New York City, NY. "The Internet of Things brings trillions of dollars of opportunity to developers and enterprise IT, no matter how you measure it," stated Roger Strukhoff. "More importantly, it leverages the power of devices and the Internet to enable us all to im...
Dec. 6, 2016 03:15 PM EST Reads: 650
Information technology is an industry that has always experienced change, and the dramatic change sweeping across the industry today could not be truthfully described as the first time we've seen such widespread change impacting customer investments. However, the rate of the change, and the potential outcomes from today's digital transformation has the distinct potential to separate the industry into two camps: Organizations that see the change coming, embrace it, and successful leverage it; and...
Dec. 6, 2016 02:30 PM EST Reads: 3,355


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Laboratory Testing
Each year, we conduct more than one million tests and measurements using the most advanced technology and equipment available at our state-of-the-art, world-renowned research laboratory in Belleville, Illinois, and at our local utility labs. Since it's opening in 1981, the Belleville lab has been dedicated to drinking water analysis and quality measurement. Our local labs test the water many times each day, at set intervals, as it moves through the water treatment process.
Our skilled and dedicated team of research professionals test water samples from all over the country to protect against nearly 100 potential contaminants. Since 1993, American Water's research team has won over a dozen awards for our research, and routinely interacts with prominent researchers, universities, and organizations, including the United States Environmental Protection Agency. In fact, the Belleville lab provides input to the USEPA as they develop federal standards and guidelines for safe drinking water – a fact we are immensely proud of.
In the past several years, and all over the country, we've received more than 150 awards for superior water quality from state regulators, industry organizations, individual communities, and government and environmental agencies. Treating and delivering water is an intricate and involved process. From the moment the water leaves its source and begins its journey through our highly sophisticated treatment plants, into underground pipes, to its final destination, our teams of professional scientists and plant operators are working to oversee its passage. We closely monitor its movement, and test it frequently.
Providing the highest quality water possible to our customers is our top priority and the tests conducted in our labs help to make that possible every day.


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This dish with spicy meat eaten inside pieces of lettuce can be called lettuce wraps or lettuce cups, but I like to pile up the lettuce cup with lots of filling rather than wrapping it, so I'm calling them lettuce cups.
Start with finely minced red onion (or shallots), garlic, and ginger, which are sauteed in oil before the meat is added.
Add the chopped cilantro to the cooked meat mixture and cook a few minutes more.
Asian Lettuce Cups with Spicy Ground Turkey Filling
(Makes 4-6 servings, recipe adapted from California Sol Food, a great cookbook I got as a gift from Alice Q. Foodie, who I met when I visited San Diego.)
1 T peanut oil or vegetable oil (or slightly more, depending on the pan you have)
3 T minced red onion or shallots
2 T minced garlic (I used minced garlic from a jar but fresh garlic would be even better)
2 T grated ginger root
1 1/2 lbs. ground turkey
4 T soy sauce (I used Tamari; use gluten-free soy sauce if needed. For Paleo use coconut aminos instead of soy sauce.)
1 T Chile Garlic Sauce (or slightly more if you like spicy foods; look for a version without sugar for Paleo)
1 tsp. fish sauce (probably optional, although I like fish sauce!)
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro (about 1/2 large bunch)
1/3 cup chopped peanuts (optional, especially for braces wearers!)
1 large head or 2 small heads Boston Lettuce or butter lettuce, or substitute 1 head iceberg lettuce
Add ground turkey to frying pan (with a bit more oil if needed) and break apart and spread out with turner, then add soy sauce, chili garlic sauce, and fish sauce. Cook until the turkey is brown and crumbling apart, and the sauce is slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
While turkey cooks, wash and chop fresh cilantro to make 1 cup. Remove the core end from lettuce, separate leaves, and wash in salad spinner and spin dry (or wash under running water and dry with paper towels.) Chop peanuts and put in small bowl to serve at the table.
When turkey is done, add chopped cilantro and cook 1-2 minutes more. Serve filling and lettuce leaves in separate bowls, with chopped peanuts in another small bowl. Each person takes a lettuce leaf, fills with desired amount of turkey mixture, adds chopped peanuts, and then eats the mixture from the lettuce cup. I fold the lettuce cup over when I eat it, so it's kind of taco-shaped, but some people like to wrap the lettuce clear around the filling.
South Beach Diet / Low-Carb Diet Suggestions:
With lean ground turkey and other low-carb ingredients, this is a perfect dinner option for any phase of the South Beach Diet or other low-carb eating plans. If you use gluten-free soy sauce or coconut aminos instead of soy sauce this can easily be suitable for gluten-free or Paleo eaters.
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Nutritional Information?
I chose the South Beach Diet to manage my weight partly so I wouldn't have to count calories, carbs, points, or fat grams, but if you want nutritional information for a recipe, I recommend entering the recipe into Calorie Count, which will calculate it for you.
More Versions of Lettuce Wraps or Lettuce Cups
(Recipes from other blogs may not always be South Beach Diet friendly; check ingredients.)
The BEST Slow Cooker Lettuce Wraps with Beef, Chicken, Pork, or Turkey ~ Slow Cooker from Scratch
Lettuce-Wrapped Chicken from Rasa Malaysia
Ground Beef Gyro Meatball Lettuce Wraps with Tzatziki and Tomatoes from Kalyn's Kitchen
(Want even more recipes? I find these recipes from other blogs using Food Blog Search.)
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Discussion of new business included correspondence from M.D. Anderson and Karnes County Relay for Life. Meta Sparks made a motion to donate $200 to the Relay for Life; Mary Huffstutler seconded the motion. The ladies then voted unanimously to make the donation.
Joyce Janssen discussed the Patriotic Art project in which students from the Runge schools were given an opportunity to participate. The ladies discussed grave markers for members who are deceased. They also voted to make a donation of supplies to the Runge schools to be used for concession stands in the coming weeks.
Sr. Vice President Dinah Gallagher made a motion to submit Joyce Janssen's name to the State Auxiliary as a nominee for Hospital Volunteer of the Year. The ladies voted to go forward with this.
After the closing prayer by Meta Sparks, President Stewart adjourned the meeting. Georgia Zowarka supplied the ladies with a pina colada cake for refreshment. The next meeting of the Ladies Auxiliary will be April 23.


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Cassese, Alberici to Coach North-South Game
from press release
CENTER VALLEY, Pa. – Players have not been announced yet for the contest, but the Patriot League will be well represented at the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA)/LaxWorld Division I-II North-South Senior All-Star game, set for May 25 at Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. Army head coach Joe Alberici will serve in the same capacity for the North team, while the South squad will be led on the sidelines by Lehigh head coach Kevin Cassese.
In five seasons at Lehigh, Cassese has posted a record of 39-38 and guided the Mountain Hawks to two consecutive appearances in the Patriot League Tournament. So far in 2012, Lehigh has orchestrated its best season in school history, going 14-2 and capturing its first Patriot League championship after a 16-14 victory over Colgate Sunday in the tournament finals. Lehigh boasted a League-high eight selections to the All-League Team last week, while Cassese was named Coach of the Year by his peers and freshman Matt Poillon was tabbed Goalkeeper of the Year. Lehigh will be making its first appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and will find out its first-round opponent Sunday.
Alberici, the 2008 Patriot League Coach of the Year, is in his seventh season at the United States Military Academy with a career record of 64-57 and a 56-51 mark at Army. The Black Knights have qualified for eight consecutive Patriot League Tournaments, the last seven under his watch. He was on the sidelines when Army captured its first Patriot League Tournament title in 2010, and the Black Knights continued their season by upending defending national champion Syracuse, 9-8, in double overtime in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Army had five student-athletes named All-Leaguers last week, while senior Tim Henderson was tabbed Defensive Player of the Year and junior Brendan Buckley was named Patriot League Scholar-Athlete of the Year. Army is 7-7 this spring and concludes its regular season Saturday at 2 p.m. when it plays at No. 10/8 Johns Hopkins.
Cassese and Alberici went head-to-head Friday in the semifinals of the Patriot League Tournament. Lehigh emerged with a 13-7 victory in the programs' first meeting in the League postseason.
2012 marks the fourth straight season in which at least one Patriot League head coach is serving in the same capacity at the North-South games. Lafayette's Terry Mangan guided the South squad in the Division I-II game last season, while former Colgate head coach Jim Nagle headed up the North team in 2010. Cassese is making his second appearance as a head coach in the North-South game, as he mentored the North squad in 2009.
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Your blood offers many clues about your heart health. For example, high levels of "bad" cholesterol in your blood can be a sign that you're at increased risk of having a heart attack. And other substances in your blood can help your doctor determine if you have heart failure or are at risk of developing plaques in your arteries (atherosclerosis).
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A cholesterol test, also called a lipid panel or lipid profile, measures the fats (lipids) in your blood. The measurements can indicate your risk of having a heart attack or other heart disease. The test typically includes measurements of:
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CRP is a sign of inflammation somewhere in the body. However, CRP tests can't pinpoint where in the body this may be happening. Inflammation plays a central role in the process of atherosclerosis, in which fatty deposits clog your arteries. Measuring CRP alone won't tell your doctor your risk of heart disease. But factoring in CRP test results with other blood test results and risk factors for heart disease helps create an overall picture of your heart health.
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Learning Center Search Results
Showing 1-9 of 9 results
Apprenticeship Records for Family Historians
In this talk, Mark Pearsall, The National Archives' family history specialist, focuses on the apprenticeship system and how it worked in practice, and covers those records that survive in The National Archives, in particular the Apprenticeship Books in record series IR 1. It also suggests where to look for surviving apprenticeship records in other archives and record offices, as well as other useful sources for tracing apprentices where details of the apprenticeship indentures have not survived.
Credit Crunch Histories: Records of Bankrupts in The National Archives
Bankruptcy proceedings have been taking place in England and Wales for over 400 years. The records created by this process relate to about a million individual 'credit crunches'. This talk describes the bankruptcy records for England and Wales held by The National Archives, indicating the best ways of researching them, and referring to related records elsewhere Chris Cooper has worked at The National Archives since 1986, mainly in the public services and corporate planning areas. One of his first jobs when he arrived as a trainee was to write a guide to bankruptcy records, he has remained interested in them ever since.
Immigration—Crossing the Pond, Pt. 1: Collect Records
In order to search for your ancestor in the records in Europe, you need to know the town of origin. If you do not know the town of origin, you need to start searching in United States records. This lesson will teach you what U.S. records you can collect to help you find where your ancestor came from before arriving in the United States. Part 1 of 4. The next lesson in this series is Immigration—Crossing the Pond, Pt. 2: U.S. Passenger Lists
Livery Company Records and Furthering Your Ancestry
Livery Companies of London – what the are; their role in history; who joined them; their records and what difference their use can make in studying family history; related organizations and additional resources including Guildhall of London.
A brief overview of the history of Norway and how it affected recordkeeping.
Shop Workers: Tracing Your Retail Ancestors
We all go shopping, albeit with varying degrees of enthusiasm, and many of us have also worked in shops. It was the same for our ancestors, and although the records may not always be easy to find, they are out there if you know where to look. There is also a wealth of background material to show us what our ancestors' shopping and shopkeeping experience was like.
Sources for Tracing Agricultural Labourers
It's all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking that agricultural labourers are boring and that you can't trace anything about them. In fact they can be very interesting, and there's lots of information to be found if you know where to look. This talk covers resources available in The National Archives, parish and county records, and manor, estate and farm sources. Mark Pearsall is the Principal Records Specialist - Family History and works in the Records Knowledge team in the Advice and Records Knowledge Department. He has worked in several departments of The National Archives over the years and has contributed articles to a number of family and local history publications. He is the author of The Family History Companion and co-authored The National Archives Guides on Immigrants and Aliens and Family History on the Move. He has also produced transcriptions and finding aids for various record series.
The Metropolitan Police: An Introduction to Records of Service 1829-1958
This talk provides a basic outline of the surviving records of service for Metropolitan Police officers, with examples from the records, and an overview of the origins of the service. This will be of primary interest to those with ancestors in the Metropolitan Police, and those who have not used the records before. Chris Heather has worked at The National Archives for 25 years and is a Senior Reader Adviser in the Advice and Records Knowledge department. He has a particular interest in records of the Metropolitan Police, prisoners and transportation.
Tourists and Booking Clerks- Information for Family Historians in the Thomas Cook Archives
Paul Smith, company archivist of Thomas Cook UK & Ireland, offers a general account of the holdings of the Thomas Cook Archives, with particular reference to records that might prove useful for family historians, such as staff magazines, contracts of employment and passenger lists. The talk also provides a brief history of the Thomas Cook organisation, and explains the importance of its archives for anyone, from academics to film producers, with an interest in the history of travel since the mid-19th century.


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September 6, 2012 —
My online dictionary defines "family" in a number of ways: "A group consisting of parents and children living together in a household," "A group of people related to one another" and "People related to each other and so to be treated with a special loyalty or intimacy: I could not turn him away, for he is family." Lest we forget, American journalist and author Edna Buchanan once declared that "Friends are the family we choose for ourselves."
The definition of family is subjective these days as we embrace individuals and groups as our own. Here in the Upper Delaware valley, this notion is (IMHO) even more evident, since we encounter one another on a daily basis, at work, at play and sometimes, we gather in solidarity for a common cause. As I traversed the countryside this past week, I observed all of the various family groups gathering for one reason or another and, happily, felt connected to each.
As we all know, cats are particularly prolific and that saloon (www.dancingcatsaloon.com [2]) on Route 17B has spawned another offspring, this time in the form of the Stray Cat Gallery, a new home for local artists to exhibit their talents and share stories with friends and family on how it all comes together. The grand opening last Friday was a collage of artwork created by a diverse family of like-minded individuals and several were on hand to schmooze and celebrate during the event. Multimedia guru Ray Fiero, sculptor Zac Shavrick, woodcarver Paul Stark, potter Ellany Gable, ice sculptor Tom Holmes and jeweler Tamera were but a few of the 20 creative geniuses represented. Sullivan County entrepeneurs Stacy Cohen and Monty Sachs were both on hand at the reception and as usual, Dharma ( the "official dog of the Dancing Cat") and I ran into our incredible family of friends who embrace us as one of their own.
On Saturday, we both zipped over to Callicoon Creek Park and once again observed the family unit gathering for the final concert in the 2012 series dubbed "Under the Moon in Callicoon." www.visitcallicoon.com [3] describes the music festival as "spotlighting the energy and creativity of the Delaware River Valley and our own Catskills. Our performers will be homegrown, fresh and ready to do some pluckin'!" As families gathered on blankets on the grass, the picnic tables were filling up as well, with fresh flowers and candles enhancing the ambiance. Children played before the bands took the stage, and Dharma joined the growing family of dogs, who instantly formed a pack and cavorted down by the riverside.
Local faves "Hoy Polloy" and "Richard and the Secular Sextet" were on the bill and actually performed by the light of the silvery moon. The music was swell, the kids had a ball and the feeling of community unity was abundant and uplifting as neighbors, families and friends came together. Feeling the love, I snapped some pics ("like" The River Reporter on Facebook to see them all!) and my good humor carried over into the next day, excited to check out another great event: the DeBruce Family Labor Day Parade.
Although Debruce, NY shares a mailing address with Livingston Manor, parade enthusiast Carol Montana is careful to point out that "DeBruce is five miles outside of the Manor and very proud of who they are. They may share a zip code, but they cherish their individuality." Having never been, I had no idea what to expect, but the town was abuzz by the time I arrived, and I learned a lot about the DeBruce family and what community means to the tiny hamlet that celebrates in a very big way. The man behind the magic is Steve Dill, and wherever I wandered, I met members of the Dill clan who pointed me in the direction of Steve—but I never cornered him, as he was mobbed by friends and family throughout the day.
I learned that the parade began 20 years ago with "six people walking down to the corner displaying a flag," and that Dill continues annually to open his home to an ever growing family of friends and neighbors (the crowd was huge!) who flock to his gorgeous property to take part in the festivities. More than 50 classic cars, the Mountain Tones Marching Band and the Sullivan County Soap Box Derby winners joined the vendors, face painters, fire baton dancers and Karate demonstrators, along with entertainment provided by the "Little Sparrow" band and country crooners "Somerville," who took time out of their busy Nashville recording schedule to assist in raising funds for the Livingston Manor Free library in this year's parade, aptly themed "Cars, Crafts and Country."
According to one of the many Dills, patriarch Steve claims that he "won't be doing it again, unless he can get an elephant," since he is tired and has been at it for so long. I may be a new member of this particular family, but don't believe it for a moment. In fact, I've already placed a few calls to some of my circus friends, since I refuse to allow this amazing family tradition to fade away. I don't think this guy means it—his heart is clearly as big as all outdoors. I have a feeling that his kinfolk won't let that happen either, since the family that plays together...


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Flirty Dot Suit Pencil Skirt
Style: 570103534
Out of Stock
Woven with tiny dots, this feminine skirt packs a fun and flirty kick with chiffon-trimmed ruffles in back.
- Sits at the waist.
- Now improved with chiffon piping at front and back seams.
- Hidden back zip with hook-and-eye closure.
- Fully lined.
- Shell: 64% polyester, 34% rayon, 2% spandex. Lining: 100% polyester. Machine wash. Imported.
- Length: 23".
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