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The speaker, a fine-looking woman in her fifties, used slides and video to illustrate the ambiguities of a series of images woven onto the upholstered bedsteads of the Elizabethan aristocracy. Particularly fascinating were scenes of domestic bliss undermined by allusions to more disturbing emotions: serpents and harpies warning rapturous newlyweds of obscure calamities to come.
The speaker explained how Shakespeare had drawn on this material in his plays, but what she ended up giving us was a history of marriage, from its dynastic origins, when family was everything and sentiments were relegated to extramarital adventures, through the crisis sparked off by the tradition of courtly love, when husbands and wives began to leave their partners to follow their lovers, to the novel idea that marriage be founded on love rather than on family.
This, the speaker claimed, was the subject of three plays she had selected for consideration, the underlying theme of the allegories in the bedroom tapestries: the huge gamble of placing love at the heart of marriage, the sad discovery, fearfully embodied in Othello, that love is even more fragile than dynasty. All it takes is an unexplained handkerchief, a jealous temperament, and, as Shakespeare put it, "Farewell the tranquil mind! Farewell content!"
After the lecture, chatting with two elderly professors, I couldn't help praising the woman's marvellous dispatch, the energy and passion and relevance of her analysis of marriage. "A brilliant lecture," I insisted.
"No mystery about that," remarked one of the two. His smile was at once sad and wry. "Her husband just left her for a 25-year-old."
Love and dynasty, passion and family. It was around this time that Alistair's story got into full swing. (Names, of course, and some details of the story have been changed.) I was his confidant. We played squash together twice a week, and over beers afterward he would tell me all about it.
As he spoke, his voice was full of laughter and his face burned with excitement. "You've blown your marriage," I warned him. He laughed out loud and used sports terminology: playing away, scoring in extra time, next week's game plan. "The logistics can be so complicated," he said, chuckling. He even giggled. And you could see what an enormous sense of release he felt in this first affair after eight years of marriage. Alistair was a very sober, solid, reliable man, but now the great dam of vows and virtue was crumbling beneath a tidal wave of Dionysiac excitement.
We worked together at the university, and in the corridor I showed him a passage from a book I was translating, Roberto Calasso's The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony. "Dionysus is not a useful god who helps weave or knot things together, but a god who loosens and unties," it said. "The weavers are his enemies. Yet there comes a moment when the weavers will abandon their looms to dash off after him into the mountains. Dionysus is the river we hear flowing by in the distance, an incessant booming from far away; then one day it rises and floods everything, as if the normal above-water state of things, the sober delimitation of our existence, were but a brief parenthesis overwhelmed in an instant."
"You're possessed," I told him. Alistair nodded and laughed. He had been a weaver for so long. He had woven together family-house-career-car. But the following evening, after squash again, he described how in that family car his mistress had pulled up her skirt - they were on the turnpike from Verona to Venice - and started masturbating, then rubbed her scented hand across his face, pushed her fingers in his mouth. Since we live in Italy, and have both lived here a long time, he occasionally broke into Italian. "Evviva le puttanelle!" he said, and laughed again. "Long live the little whores!" He was in love with her.
For those of us still safely married, it's hard not to feel a mixture of trepidation and envy on seeing a friend in this state. Clearly, it is very exciting when you start destroying everything.
Alistair referred to his wife as the "Queen of Unreason" or "She Who Must Be Obeyed". She was still a weaver. They had two young children. In the way that feminism has changed everything and nothing, she was in charge at home; she felt primarily responsible for the children.
Men, of course, now help in the home, and Alistair, being a reasonable and generous man, helped a great deal - more than most. But he was not in charge. His wife's conscientiousness and maternal anxiety, heightened no doubt by her decision to stay at work despite the kids, must have frequently looked like bossiness to him. Their arguments were trivial - whose turn it was to do this or that. He felt himself the butt of her imperatives, his behaviour constantly under observation.
Making love is difficult in these circumstances, though doubtless these two people loved each other. Or perhaps with everything now achieved, it was time for something else to happen. All of us have so much potential that will never be realised within the confines necessary to weave anything together. Job and marriage are our two greatest prisons. When Alistair asked his wife what was wrong and how could he understand if she didn't tell him, she said if only he spared her a moment's attention, he would understand without being told. Every intimacy is a potential hell. Alistair referred to sex with his wife as "duty-fucking".
The affair began. Chiara was a young divorcee, 33, with a 10-year-old daughter and an excellent job in education administration which took her to the same conferences Alistair attended. Rather than a decision, infidelity was a question of opportunity coinciding with impulse -no, with a day when Alistair felt he deserved this escape. Sex was new again.
They made love in Rome, Naples, Geneva, Marseilles. They made love in cars, trains, boats. They made love in every possible way. Anal sex, water sports, mutual masturbation: I had to listen to it all. The complicated logistics of their encounters seemed to be at least half the thrill - the advantages and disadvantages of mobile phones, the dangers of credit cards. They adored each other's bodies, inside and out. Alistair was in love with Chiara. Wasn't she beautiful?
After lovemaking they had such intelligent conversations: philosophy, psychology, politics, their lives. They gave books to each other. They swapped stories. They experienced the delirium of all that information flowing back and forth - your own retold, another life discovered. There is always something to talk about when one is falling in love. As so often, there is not in the long-haul mechanics of marriage.
But how could Alistair leave his children? He loved his children. His wife, though, was becoming more and more difficult. He would interrupt his long descriptions of frantic sex to tell me self-justifying stories of his wife's unreasonableness. Why did she always object to the way he did even the most trivial things: the way he hung a picture; the way he left his toothbrush -get this - turned outward from the tooth glass, so it dripped on the floor, instead of inward, so it didn't? "Can you imagine!" he protested. Not to mention the fact that she never gave him blow jobs.
But Alistair admitted that he couldn't be sure any more whether his arguments with his wife were purely between them or had to do with his mistress. Perhaps he was deliberately stirring up these petty conflicts in order to justify his eventual departure. Perhaps they weren't arguing about a toothbrush at all.
Out of nostalgia, or guilt, or just in order to see what it felt like, Alistair would try to be romantic with his wife. He would bring flowers. When the children were safely asleep, he would persuade her to make love. And immediately he would realise he didn't really want to make love to her. He felt no vigour, no zest. He wanted to be with his mistress. "I told her I'd heard the baby coughing," he said, and he laughed, sadly.
Passion, family. Was it time for Alistair to leave home? I thought so. But he said that when he and his wife sat together of an evening, playing with the children or catching a movie on TV, they were perfectly happy. Not to mention the economics involved. And perhaps the thing he had with Chiara couldn't be turned into long-term cohabitation. He lived in the ecstasy of the choice unmade, the divided mind. Convinced that he was trying to come to a decision, he relentlessly applied the logic that was so effective in his research, as if this were a technical problem that it must be possible to solve somehow. It's the Cartesian legacy that has filled the stores with self-help books: life is a problem to solve if only you know the formula. I was equally glib. "You've just got to work out which means most to you," I told him. "Perhaps it's only sex with Chiara."
"You must never put the word `only' in front of `sex'," he objected. "Or not the kind we have. It's an absolute."
"So you're only staying at home for the children," I tried. "You should leave."
But then he said that you couldn't put the word "only" in front of "children", either. Passion and children were both absolutes. You couldn't weigh them against each other. In the end, Alistair managed to prolong a state of doubt and potential, of anything-can-happen precariousness, for nigh on 18 months. Later, he would appreciate that this had been the happiest time of his life.
But now Chiara was cooling. There were limits to this feverish equilibrium. Finally, Alistair and his wife decided to take separate holidays. The months of July and August would be spent apart. "Are you sure you mean it?" I asked him. He had phoned me to say he'd told Chiara he was leaving his wife. "After all, that's not strictly true," I said. "You only decided on separate holidays." He said he thought he meant it. Anyway, the point was that he felt he had to make something happen. The expression stayed in my mind. It gnawed - because it was unusually honest. As I think back on the many people I know who have divorced, or separated, or left each other and got back together, then left each other again and got back together again, or divorced and married someone else and divorced again and married someone else again, it occurs to me that while most of them talk earnestly of their search for happiness, their dream of the perfect relationship, what really drives them is a thirst for intensity, for some kind of destiny, which often means disaster.
It's the same endearing perversity that made Paradise so tedious that, one way or another, that apple just had to be eaten. Man was never innocent. Marriage was never safe. "I have to make something happen," Alistair said. In this finely managed, career-structured world that we've worked so hard to build, with its automatic gates and hissing lawns, its comprehensive insurance policies, divorce remains one of the few catastrophes we can reasonably expect to provoke. It calls to us like a siren, offering a truly spectacular shipwreck. Oh, to do some really serious damage at last!
But Chiara said no. Chiara didn't want to live with Alistair. She didn't want to risk the happy routine she had built up with her daughter after her divorce. She didn't want to risk love again. She didn't want to be responsible, she said, for ruining Alistair's marriage. They must stop seeing each other completely.
Alistair collapsed. The gods abandoned him. Intoxication was gone, and he couldn't live without it. He couldn't live without joy, he said. His smoking shot up to 60 a day. He drank heavily. His wife, alarmed, became excessively kind. This infuriated Alistair. He could barely speak to her. He could barely speak to his children. He could barely see his children. Unable to sleep at night, he dozed all day. His work went to pieces. He tortured himself with the thought that if he had asked sooner, Chiara would have said yes. His procrastination had destroyed her passion. He should have trusted his instincts. Finally, I managed to persuade him to see an analyst.
As I said, we live in Italy. It's a country where people divorce significantly less than in the UK, but probably have more affairs. It's a country which perhaps never fully believed that romance should be the lifeblood of marriage, or not after the children have arrived; a country where a friend of mine told me that at his wedding his grandmother advised him to try to be faithful for at least the first year. In short, it's a place where people expect a little less of each other, and of marriage. Above all, they don't expect the privilege of unmixed feelings. Hence a country where analysts give different advice.
The analyst told Alistair that only the wildest optimist would divorce in order to remarry, presuming that things would be better next time round. Why should they be? Was there anything intrinsically unsuitable about his wife, anything intrinsically right about his mistress? Alistair's problems sprang from his Anglo-Saxon puritan upbringing, from the fact that he'd never been unfaithful before. This had led him to attach undue significance to the sentimental side of his new relationship in order to justify the betrayal of values - monogamy, integrity - that would not bear examination. He had "mythicised" it.
What he must do now was take a few mild tranquillisers, settle down, and have another affair at the first opportunity, being careful to attach no more sentimental importance to it than an affair was worth - some, but not much. And keep it brief. Meanwhile, he might remember that he had an ongoing project with his wife. They were old campaigners. Think of the practical side. Think of your professional life. He told Alistair that every family was also a business, or hacienda, as the Spanish say, a family estate, a place where people share the jobs that have to be done.
Is such advice merely cynical? Or, in a very profound way, romantic? Old campaigners. Discussing it with Alistair after he had put in a decidedly lacklustre performance on the squash court, I felt it wise to agree with the analyst - at least about the ingenuousness of imagining that things would be better next time. I also told him that during the Italian referendum on divorce in 1974 one of the arguments against divorce put forward by some intellectuals was that it would change the nature of affairs. I tried to make him laugh. You'd never know if your mistress wasn't planning to become your second wife!
But visions of such consummate convenience leave little scope for myth and misery. Alistair had been in love with Chiara. He had given his heart. Such cliches do count for something, whatever an analyst says. Trying and failing one evening to have sex with his wife, unable to feel stimulus at all, Alistair suddenly found himself telling her the truth. He didn't decide to tell her, as indeed he had decided nothing in this whole adventure. Every thing had been done, usually after enormous resistance, under an overwhelming sense of compulsion. Perhaps this is the way with anything important. He told her the whole truth and got his catastrophe.
The wife was destroyed. Alistair had spared no details. She insisted he leave. He did, discovering as he did so what a large space home and children had played in his life. Most of this he struggled to fill with whiskey and Camel Lights in a lugubriously tarnished apartment in a cheaper area of town. Legal proceedings had just begun when Chiara came back. At this point, there was a brief hiatus, since Alistair no longer felt the need to be in touch with me. He was happy, or so I heard later. He had won his dream. The hell with the analyst. The hell with squash. His wife was more than generous with access to the children; Alistair was more than generous with money. All was well - indeed, perfect. It was about three months before I got another call.
I suppose what fascinates me about divorce is how tied up it is with our loss, our intelligent loss, of any sense of direction, of any supposed system of values that might be worth more than our own immediate apprehension of whether or not we are happy. We are not ignorant enough to live well, or too arrogant to let old conventions decide things for us. For many of us, and especially for men, who do not bear children and do not breast- feed them, the only thing that is immediately felt to be sacred, the only meaningful intensity, or the last illusion, is passion. DH Lawrence puts this very simply in Women in Love. Birkin says:
"The old ideals are dead as nails - nothing there. It seems to me there remains only this perfect union with a woman - sort of ultimate marriage - and there isn't anything else."
"And you mean if there isn't the woman, there's nothing?" said Gerald.
"Pretty well that - seeing there's no God."
"Then we're hard put to it," said Gerald.
Perfect union with a woman: over beers again, depressed and tranquillized, Alistair was explaining how he thought he'd got that, until one night after lovemaking when Chiara casually asked him if he wanted to know the real reason she had refused his initial proposal that they live together. It was because she had just started an affair with another man. With Alistair being married and mostly absent, that had been inevitable. She'd wanted to see how it would work out with this man - quite well, as it turned out. "Though he wasn't at your level in bed," she said, laughing. Alistair hit her.
Alistair now became obsessed by the fact that there really had been no great love. Quite gratuitously, Chiara had exposed the illusion around which he was rebuilding his life. She went on to confess to three or four other lovers during their affair. Why should she have put all her eggs in one basket, she asked? Alistair, who had never hit anybody, hit her again. The analyst explained to him that hitting her was his way of trying to preserve some sort of myth, albeit negative, about the affair - trying to insist on its importance.
Disturbingly, Chiara appeared to like being hit. She came back for more, told him more. It took them another year and two trips to hospital to stop seeing each other. It was always Chiara who came back. Alistair told the whole story to his wife, and she commiserated. They made love. They started seeing each other more often, but without interrupting the divorce proceedings. Alistair began a long series of affairs whose main purpose seemed to be to relive the passion of the earlier affair, whose main purpose, perhaps, had been to rediscover the enthusiasm that had led him to marry in the first place.
Marriage and divorce are so tangled up with our sense of mortality. One lives such a short time, yet wishes to do everything, and then to recapture everything. Start again, the springtime says. Unfaithfulness never fails to rejuvenate. But if we start again too often nothing will be brought to completion. And happiness? That long-term monogamy is unnatural is something that every male of the species has felt. Yet where would we be without some repression? The perfect union begins again. Another intimacy beautifully galvanized by the unbridgeable distance between men and women. A radical incomprehension. The children arrive. There are disagreements. The project falters. Our biology cares little for wholesome values and domestic routine now that the reproduction is done. The sound of a river in the distance lifts your head from the loom. The sound of rushing water. Time to batten down the windows, sandbag the doors. Old campaigners will take their kids to baseball, or take up baseball themselves. Or piano. Or drawing classes. Or martial arts.
In a chaos of receding floodwater, Alistair surveys his rearranged landscape. He has the kids alternate weekends, eats regularly with them and their mother. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether they're separated or not. The analyst has become a friend, plays squash with Alistair and swaps stories of affairs over beers. His main boast is three in three days at a conference in Palermo. The divorce has come through at last. And, as divorces will, both Alistair and his ex-wife assure me, perhaps a little too insistently, that this is the ideal solution
Tim Parks's new novel, `Europa', will be published next April by Secker & Warburg
- More about:
- Marriage
- Shakespeare
- Southern Europe
- Squash


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Combat Casualty Care Research: From Bench to the Battlefield
- First Online:
DOI: 10.1007/s00268-004-2052-4
- Cite this article as:
- Alam, H.B., Koustova, E. & Rhee, P. World J. Surg. (2005) 29(Suppl 1): S7. doi:10.1007/s00268-004-2052-4
- 216 Downloads
Hemorrhagic shock is the leading cause of death in civilian and combat trauma. Effective hemorrhage control and better resuscitation strategies have the potential of saving lives. The Trauma Readiness and Research Institute for Surgery (TRRI-Surg) was established to address the core mission of the Uniformed Services University, "Learning to Care for Those in Harm's Way," by conducting research to improve the outcome of combat casualties. This article highlights the salient achievements of this research effort in the areas of hemorrhage control, resuscitation, design and testing of devices, and some novel concepts such as the use of profound hypothermia. The impact of these basic science research findings on changes in military medical care and outcome of injured soldiers is also described.

subset: commoncrawl


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Cardinal Basketball Camp, July 7-10, held on the campus of William Jewell College in Liberty, Mo. This is the 35th year that this basketball camp has been held, under the direction of Larry Holley (head men's basketball coach) and Jill Cress (head women's basketball coach). First row, from left, Jacob Israelite, Gus Beaird, Peyton Cole Second row, from left, Kelsea Kilmer, Tanner Hoiland, Alex Kochman Third row: coach Jill Cress, Conor Johnson, Hank Beaird, Oliver Wegner, Alex Israelite and Coach Larry Holley.
Copyright 2017 . All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Moving beyond right and wrong: touchstones for teaching and learning constructionist therapy
Philp, Kay & Geldard, Kathryn (2011) Moving beyond right and wrong: touchstones for teaching and learning constructionist therapy. Journal of Systemic Therapies, 30(2), pp. 1-10.
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|ID Code:
|Item Type:
|Journal Article
|Social Constructionism, Therapy, Pedagogy
|Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification > PSYCHOLOGY AND COGNITIVE SCIENCES (170000) > PSYCHOLOGY (170100) > Health Clinical and Counselling Psychology (170106)
|Current > QUT Faculties and Divisions > Faculty of Health
Current > Institutes > Institute of Health and Biomedical Innovation
Current > Schools > School of Psychology & Counselling
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|19 Jul 2012 06:27
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|03 Dec 2012 02:06
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The Illini All-American wasted no time making her presence felt in the Big Ten opener.
Illini Week in Review
Just one match for Illinois last week, but it was the Big Ten opener against the previously unbeaten Iowa Hawkeyes. For the second straight year, Iowa came into this conference opening matchup unbeaten and untied, and like last year, the Illini gave the Hawkeyes their first blemish. Last year, it was a 2-2 tie in Iowa City. In 2012, it was a 2-1 loss for the Hawkeyes in Champaign. In her first match since winning gold at the U-20 World Cup, Vanessa DiBernardo notched her first goal of the season, on her first shot of 2012. The Illini's 1-0 lead wouldn't last too long, as Alex Melin scored with a header off a free kick in the 23rd minute.
The Illini had a chance to get back on top in the 29th minute, when always active freshman Nicole Breece drew a foul in the box for a penalty kick opportunity. But, Hawkeye goalkeeper Meg Goodson guessed right on the attempt by DiBernardo and made a diving save. It didn't take long for the Illini to jump back on top, as Breece headed home a Megan Pawloski flip throw about a minute later for the final 2-1 score.
Illinois notched a season-high 28 shots, to Iowa's 13 attempts, with eleven of the Illini shots coming from DiBernardo. Goalkeeper Steph Panozzo made five saves in net for the orange and blue. The Illini improved to 4-3-1 overall, and are a perfect 4-0-0 at home.
Big Ten Week in Review
Friday 9/14
Nebraska 2 Northwestern 0
Saturday 9/15
Michigan 3 Indiana 0
Sunday 9/16
Illinois 2 Iowa 1
Michigan State 2 Purdue 1 OT
Ohio State 2 Minnesota 1 OT
Penn State 2 Wisconsin 1
Nebraska 1 Northern Colorado 1
Northwestern 1 Oakland 1
Team of the Week: Ohio State. Don't look now, but the Buckeyes are on a roll. After dropping their first two non-conference games on the road, OSU has raced to six straight wins, including a pair of 1-0 wins over Maryland and Missouri. The only caveat: all six of those games were at home.
Team of the Weak: Northwestern. After what had been a pretty good non-conference season for the Wildcats, including a win at Kansas and a tie vs. Colorado, they stumbled in the Big Ten opener at home vs. Nebraska, and followed that up with a tie at the Horizon league's Oakland. Their task doesn't get any easier this week with Penn State and Ohio State coming to Evanston.
To the Polls
This week's NSCAA Top 25 Coaches Poll [4] shows Penn State unchanged at #11, with Wisconsin falling just one spot to #14 this week. Michigan and Ohio State are receiving votes.
The NSCAA Great Lakes [5] regional rankings don't have many surprises, with Penn State, Wisconsin, Michigan and Ohio State as the top four. Illinois checks in at #8 this week with a great chance to move up with a win or two this weekend.
In the Top Drawer Tournament 64 [6], there's a big gap between Penn State (#9) and everyone else. Wisconsin is next at #29, followed by Illinois (#34), Iowa (#35), Michigan State (#39) and Ohio State (#43).
Ohio State made a big jump into the Soccer America Top 25 [7] this week, entering the poll at #16. Penn State moves up one spot to #9, while Wisconsin falls seven slots to #21.
The same three Big Ten teams are in this week's Our Game Magazine Top 25 [8], with Penn State unchanged at #6, Ohio State entering the poll at #22 and Wisconsin falling two spots to #24.
Finally, in this week's Soccer Times Top 25 [9] (a.k.a. the small sample size poll), Penn State moves up to a tie for 9th, with Wisconsin falling a pair of spots to #17. Michigan State, Iowa and Ohio State all received votes.
What's on Tap
Getting a late start on picks this year, with a family wedding keeping me from wading into the fray in the Big Ten's opening weekend. Let's see if I can get off to a good start this season, after finishing last year with a 104-40-8 record in my picks last season. Away we go:
Friday 9/21
Ohio State at Illinois. This should be a good one, as it usually is between these teams. The Illini went 1-0-1 against the Buckeyes last season, winning in Columbus and advancing via penalty kicks in the Big Ten Tournament (officially a tie). With home teams going 5-1 last weekend, that's which way I'll go here.
Indiana at Iowa. Indiana opened with a poor performance at Michigan, while the Hawkeyes looked pretty good in defeat in Champaign. The Hawkeyes should get a few goals against the shaky Hoosier defense.
Penn State at Northwestern. With Maya Hayes and Taylor Schram back in the fold, it will be a tall order for the Wildcats to slow the Nittany Lions down on the quick surface in Evanston.
Michigan at Minnesota. Along with the OSU-Illinois game, this should be the best matchup of the night. The Wolverines are also back to full strength with the U-20 World Cup coming to a close, while the Gophers have the always dangerous Taylor Uhl. Gophers in a close one in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.
Michigan State at Wisconsin. Despite losing several players in the offseason, it's been a very good start to the season for Paula Wilkins' squad. MSU has feasted on a weak schedule up to this point. I have a feeling they'll leave Madison still hungry tonight.
Purdue at Nebraska. I really have no idea about this one. The Cornhuskers still have offensive firepower, but can be shaky on defense. They've been better lately, allowing two goals in their last four games, so I'll go with them at home against Purdue.
Sunday 9/23
Penn State at Illinois. Last season's Illini victory in the Big Ten Tournament Final was just their third ever against the Nittany Lions, with two of those coming in the Big Ten Tourney. Illinois is a little banged up and inexperienced on the back line, which could spell trouble against Hayes and company.
Ohio State at Northwestern. The Wildcats usually spring an upset against someone at home during the Big Ten season. I'll pick the Buckeyes, but a Wildcat win here wouldn't shock me.
Michigan State at Minnesota. The feast probably ends on Friday night for the Spartans, but I don't expect them to get much better treatment in Minneapolis.
Purdue at Iowa. Once again, I think the Hawkeyes have too much firepower at home against the Boilermakers.
Indiana at Nebraska. The Hoosiers do have some firepower on offense, so a high-scoring game here wouldn't surprise me.
Michigan at Wisconsin. Probably the game of the day in the conference. Waiting to see if the Wolverines can win a big one on the road before getting too high on them.
On the Air
We'll have the Illinois-Penn State game on Sunday, but tape delayed. The game kicks at noon, but because of our Illinois Volleyball coverage, it won't hit the airwaves until at least 2:30pm central time.
Thanks for listening.
email@example.com [10]


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Researchers at the University of Arizona are developing a novel power plant using technology from sophisticated telescope mirrors and high-efficiency solar cells developed for space exploration. Their system promises to generate renewable energy twice as efficiently as standard solar panel technology with highly competitive costs and a very small environmental impact.
The researchers are working on focusing as much as possible of the sun's energy onto a precise point. Instead of the usual mirrors shaped like a cylinder, the team has developed dish-shaped mirrors that focus light onto a small glass ball that is about 12 centimetres in diameter.
The glass ball contains a specially coated lens that redirects the light to an array of 36 small, high-efficiency solar cells. These cells, which were originally developed for space applications, can absorb light over a broader spectrum than standard cells.
Professor Roger Angel, who is coordinating the research, said that "By using mirrors to focus on small but super-efficient photovoltaic cells, we have the potential to make twice as much electricity as even the best photovoltaic panels."
The system could be adapted for producing solar thermal energy rather than for photovoltaic electricity.


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Everyone knows the socially responsible thing to do these days is to buy local groceries. Local eggs, local milk, local handmade goods — you name it. It's good to put that money you'd spend anyway back into your community. But buying local is sometimes more expensive, sometimes it's out of the way, and sometimes it means going to more than one store to get all your goods — no one-stop superstore shopping.
American's political knowledge shows an interesting parallel — we don't buy local when it comes to politics. Most people are in tune with President Barack Obama and major news on the national front, and many are at least somewhat in touch with major players in Congress, Senatorial elections, and major Supreme Court rulings like the recent Hobby Lobby decision. But as FiveThirtyEight so eloquently put it this week, American's knowledge of and interest in many state's governors is just sort of "blah" and "meh." Some are more unheard of than others — many will have heard of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) as a result of the bridgegate scandal. But he was also on Jimmy Fallon's talk show taking jokes about the whole series of events. That's not something common to most governors.
FiveThirtyEight suggests the disinterest is due to the fact that many even living in states under governors don't care about their governors, so it comes as no surprise that citizens in other states don't have high interest in other state's gubernatorial leadership. FiveThirtyEight then accumulated old data from 35 states' polls to see which state governors have earned the least attention, or are "the most 'meh' chief executive[s]." They base this on "don't know, don't care, refuse" percentage of answers. Mississippi Governor Phil Bryant (R) — not shocking if you haven't heard of him — had one of the highest percentages, at 28 percent.
After him came New Hampshire Governor Maggie Hassan (D), Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe (D) — who is new to the office — Tennessee Governor Bill Haslam (R), and Indiana Governor Mike Pence (R), all above 17 percent reporting that they don't care, don't know, or won't answer. Wisconsin's governor, Scott Walker (R), shows the lowest percentage (3 percent), followed by Hawaiian Governor Neil Abercrombie (D) and Texas Governor Rick Perry (R). FiveThirtyEight couldn't find polls for quite a few states though, so results should be taken with a grain of incomplete salt. But ultimately, who is "leading in the Most Boring Governor competition" is besides the point.


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Editorial Round-Up: After the Super Committee
Newspaper editorials this week took a look at what comes next now that the supercommittee has failed to reach a deficit reduction deal.
To the surprise of few, the Congressional joint deficit reduction committee, commonly called the supercommittee, announced this week it would be unable to reach any deal to reduce the federal budget deficit by $1.2 trillion over the next 10 years. As part of a deal conceived this summer to raise the federal debt ceiling, sequestration cuts divided evenly between defense and domestic discretionary spending will likely now be enacted on Jan. 15, 2012.
On editorial pages nationwide, newspapers condemned the committee's lack of agreement as a failure or some other ready-made pun. Some, though, offered thoughts on the lessons to be learned from that failure and hinted at solutions to addressing the federal budget deficit in the long term.
The Newark Star-Ledger focused its criticism on the Republicans' unwillingness to include more revenues -- they peaked at $300 billion -- as any part of a bargain. The newspaper suggested that the upcoming battle over extending the Bush tax cuts would likely be the next fulcrum over which the debate would continue. But in the meantime, the Star-Ledger warned against allowing a Social Security tax cut to expire or letting the extended unemployment. Those policies are necessary to keep the already slow economic recovery going, the newspaper said on Nov. 23.
"Republicans are balking, saying this spending will add to our debt in the short term. That's true," its editorial stated. "But most economists, liberal and conservative, say the economy needs the stimulus spending now."
"The headlines about the congressional supercommittee are all screaming 'failure,'" wrote the Contra Costa Times in its Nov. 22 editorial. "The parties' inability to find common ground on deficit reduction was not a shining moment for Washington, but it may turn out to be a good thing." Because, the newspaper argued, the focus would now be on each party's "spending and taxing priorities." Higher taxes on the highest earners are "what the majority of Americans want," the Times said, while reductions in payroll tax cuts or programs such as food inspection don't make sense.
The Kansas City Star called for mutual sacrifice in a Nov. 21 editorial, saying: "Middle-income Americans must accept adjustments in entitlements and very wealthy households must return to 1990s tax rates." The newspaper emphasized its point by comparing the sacrifices made by American troops who are overseas compared to the relatively simple sacrifices that a shared effort to reduce the deficit would demand.
Newsday saw a silver lining in the supercommittee's failure: it likely means Bush tax cuts will expire next year. Their expiration would reportedly fill a $4 trillion hole in the overall deficit, the newspaper noted, while encouraging President Barack Obama to veto any attempt to undo the automatic cuts as he has already pledged.
"There is no shortage of blame to go around for the dismal state of our finances," Newsday asserted. Letting the tax cuts expire would be a worthwhile first step, the editorial board added, and some cuts to entitlement programs are probably necessary. "The only danger is that all this fiscal tightening will set in while our economy is still perilously weak," it concluded in the Nov. 22 editorial. "[A]ll we can do is hope growth picks up before the cuts and taxes bite too deeply."
The Baltimore Sun turned its attention to the public following the supercommittee's failure, saying they must apply pressure to Washington where "Republicans and Democrats have been rushing to point fingers." The newspaper pointed to opinion polls as proof that Americans largely sided with Democrats in their call for increased taxes for top earners. It called for an extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance, a measure the editorial said should have been addressed by the supercommittee, as part of the effort to keep the economy going. Cuts for the military and domestic programs, a key element of the debt deal, are also needed, the newspaper stated.
"[T]he American people need to make clear to their representatives and senators that the consequence they face for failing to come to a fair and responsible agreement to cut the deficit is one they fear more than automatic defense cuts: losing an election," the Sun concluded in its Nov. 22 editorial. "If that prospect is not enough to persuade them to do the right thing, they deserve what they get."
The Cleveland Plain Dealer accorded blame to both sides, calling the failure to reach an agreement a "bipartisan flop." Both sides, the newspaper said in its Nov. 22 editorial, failed to make the "politically distasteful calls" on spending cuts, including those for entitlement programs, and revenue increases, including taxes on the more affluent. If there is going to be a resolution to the deficit crisis, the editorial board said, politicians on both sides must willing to make those difficult choices.
"This is not a moment for partisan trifling. It is a moment to think big and go big in reforming our fiscal home," the Plain Dealer asserted. "For the sake of all of our futures, the national interest -- for once -- must trump the politicians' interests."
We invite you to discuss and comment on this article using social media.


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Patrick Sharp scored 1:34 into overtime to complete a three-point night as the visiting Chicago Blackhawks posted a 3-2 road victory over the New York Islanders on Thursday.
Marian Hossa added a goal and two assists and Ray Emery made 31 saves for the Blackhawks, who have won five of seven to maintain first place in the Central Division.
In overtime, Hossa picked off a pass in the Chicago zone and turned up ice on a 2-on-1 rush. Hossa sent in a wrister that Al Montoya blocked, but Sharp was right there on the other side to pick up the rebound and tap it in for his 15th tally of the season.
The Islanders earned a point in their sixth straight game after losing 14 of the previous 16 contests.
The Blackhawks built a 2-0 lead before New York stormed back, cutting it to 2-1 when P.A. Parenteau sent a quick pass to Travis Hamonic, who blasted a slap shot from above the left faceoff circle and over Ray Emery's shoulder.
The Islanders tied it on a similar tally with 9:11 left in the third period. Frans Nielsen got a long pass off to Steve Staios, who blasted his first goal from above the right circle.


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UK Department Store Invites Tweets About Walks Of Shame & Shows How To Avoid Them [Video]
Harvey Nichols' TV advert shows a woman in one of their dresses still looking good the morning after a big party.
British department store Harvey Nichols' holiday TV ad features a number of women making their way home the morning after a big party, still wearing their dresses and heels but feeling self-conscious rather than glamourous as they avoid making eye contact with the morning commuters. Harvey Nichols wants to rescue women from this "walk of shame" during the Christmas party season and we are shown at the end of the advert that a flattering outfit from their collection turns it into a "stride of pride." A woman in a Harvey Nichols dress still looks fresh and beautiful, holding her head high and smiling at the postman as she returns home.
The ad, created by DDB London, ends with a call to action, asking people to share their own experiences on Twitter using the hashtag #walkofshame. Julia Bowe, group press and marketing director at Harvey Nichols, said:
We love taking something true to life and having fun with it and seeing how Harvey Nichols can make things better. We know that a fabulous outfit can cover a multitude of sins.
Check out the Harvey Nichols walk of shame TV ad below:


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Sacred Spiral
Michelle Matisse(see more by this artist)
No previous art experience required.
Please contact us to schedule at your event, home or venue of choice. Allow for 2 hour duration.
Minimum 8 participants, $95- / person
includes materials
Travel cost and accommodations will be added if outside of San Diego County.
A perfect way to investigate the symbol of the spiral across time, cultures and religions.
The sacred spiral is an ancient symbol of creation, growth and evolution. It dates back many centuries and has been used by many ancient civilizations.
Through the mists of time the spiral has been a symbol of transformation, of magic and of eternity.
The spiral also represents the inner journey that we all must make. The journey to the very center of our being that is about both personal and spiritual growth.
In this workshop you will be guided to create your own personal Sacred Spiral on a canvas. You will learn how to apply, mix and paint with acrylic paints and optional collaging. All materials will be provided.
You can see art created in previous workshops in the Participants' Art section.
Please e-mail us for more info or to schedule your Sacred Spiral Art Group Workshop at email@example.com.


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Items where Author is "Othman, S."
Group by: Item Type | No Grouping
Jump to: Article | Conference or Workshop Item
Number of items: 17.
Eng-Chong, T.; Yean-Kee, L.; Chin-Fei, C.; Choon-Han, H.; Sher-Ming, W.; Li-Ping, C.T.; Gen-Teck, F.; Khalid, N.; Abd Rahman, N.; Karsani, S.A.; Othman, S.; Othman, R.; Yusof, R. (2012) Boesenbergia rotunda: From Ethnomedicine to Drug Discovery. Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine, 2012. p. 473637. ISSN 1741-427X
Othman, S.; Abd Rahman, N.; Yusof, R. (2012) Induction of MHC Class I HLA-A2 promoter by dengue virus occurs at the NF kappa B binding domains of the Class I regulatory complex. Virus Research, 163 (1). pp. 238-245. ISSN 0168-1702
Rothan, H.A.; Han, H.C.; Ramasamy, T.S.; Othman, S.; Rahman, N.A.; Yusof, R. (2012) Inhibition of dengue NS2B-NS3 protease and viral replication in Vero cells by recombinant retrocyclin-1. BMC Infectious Diseases, 12 (314). ISSN 1471-2334
Rothan, H.A.; Abdulrahman, A.Y.; Sasikumer, P.G.; Othman, S.; Abd Rahman, N.; Yusof, R. (2012) Protegrin-1 inhibits Dengue NS2B-NS3 serine protease and viral replication in MK2 Cells. Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology. ISSN 1110-7243
Tan, E.C.; Karsani, S.A.; Foo, G.T.; Wong, S.M.; Abdul Rahman, N.; Khalid, N.; Othman, S.; Yusof, R. (2012) Proteomic analysis of cell suspension cultures of Boesenbergia rotunda induced by phenylalanine: identification of proteins involved in flavonoid and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways. Plant Cell, Tissue and Organ Culture (PCTOC), 111 (2). pp. 219-229. ISSN 0167-6857
Tan, E.C.; Karsani, S.A.; Foo, G.T.; Wong, S.M.; Rahman, N.A.; Khalid, N.; Othman, S.; Yusof, R. (2012) Proteomic analysis of cell suspension cultures of boesenbergia rotunda induced by phenylalanine: identification of proteins involved in flavonoid and phenylpropanoid biosynthesis pathways. Plant Cell Tissue and Organ Culture, 111 (2). pp. 219-229. ISSN 0167-6857
Chong, T.E.; Teck, F.G.; Ming, W.S.; Rahman, N.A.; Khalid, N.; Karsani, S.A.; Othman, S.; Yusof, R. (2011) Optimization of two-dimensional gel electrophoresis protocols for boesenbergia rotunda in vitro suspension culture. Journal of Medicinal Plants Research, 5 (16). pp. 3777-3780. ISSN 19960875
Abdullah, A.; Othman, S. (2011) The influence of self-owned home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) on primary care patients with hypertension: A qualitative study. Bmc Family Practice, 12. ISSN 1471-2296
Abdullah, A.; Othman, S. (2011) The influence of self-owned home blood pressure monitoring (HBPM) on primary care patients with hypertension: a qualitative study. BMC Family Practice. ISSN 1471-2296
Othman, S.; Rahman, N.A.; Yusof, R. (2010) All serotypes of dengue virus induce HLA-A2 major histocompatibility complex class I promoter activity in human liver cells. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 104 (12). pp. 806-808. ISSN 0035-9203
Wong, Y.L.; Othman, S. (2010) Neighbourhood & interpersonal violence: gendered impact, secondary trauma & chronic stress among young malaysians in urban low cost housing. International Journal of Behavioral Medicine, 17. pp. 132-133. ISSN 1070-5503
Ishak, I.H.; Low, Wah-Yun; Othman, S. (2010) Prevalence, risk factors, and predictors of female sexual dysfunction in a primary care setting: A survey finding. Journal of Sexual Medicine, 7 (9). pp. 3080-3087.
Robson, N.Z.M.H.; Aziz, N.; Aziz, A.F.A.; Hamid, M.Z.A.; Mohamed, M.; Othman, S.; Hussein, N. (2009) The need for 'good clinical practice' in health care research. South African Family Practice, 51 (3). pp. 202-205.
Wong, Y.L.; Othman, S. (2008) Early detection and prevention of domestic violence using the women abuse screening tool (WAST) in primary health care clinics in Malaysia. Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health, 20 (2). p. 102. ISSN 1941-2479
Robson, N.Z.; Othman, S. (2008) A case of cutaneous larva migrans acquired from soiled toilet floors in urban Kuala Lumpur. Medical Journal of Malaysia, 63 (4). pp. 331-332. ISSN 0300-5283
Junit, S.M.; Othman, S.; Yusof, R.; Billett, M.A.; Harun, F. (2003) Ala519Thr mutation in exon 11 of LDL receptor gene in members of a Malaysian family with hypercholesterolaemia. Asia Pacific Journal of Molecular Biology and Biotechnolog, 11 (2). pp. 77-82. ISSN 0128-7451
Conference or Workshop Item
Othman, S.; Liew, S.; Abdullah, A.; Lee, Y.K.; Lee, P.Y.; Jiwa, M. (2014) Precepting as a teaching modality: views and experiences at the primary care trainers. In: 11th Asia Pacific Medical Education Conference, 15 - 19 January 2014, NUS Yong Loo Lin, School of Medicine, Singapore.


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at Dekalb's Champion Middle School
A Collaboration of Champions Charging Towards Excellence
I, Cheryl D. Pappy, am delighted to be a member of the trailblazing faculty at The Champion School. My early childhood years were spent on the campuses of Tuskegee University in Alabama and Cornell University in upstate New York. I later became a boarding student at The Westminster Schools in Atlanta and subsequently earned the Bachelor of Science Degree in Electrical Engineering at Duke University and the Master's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Miami.
Several years after leaving corporate America, I became interested in teaching Mathematics. I purchased a Kumon Math and Reading franchise and taught both subjects for approximately five years. Because of my steadfast belief that all children can learn Mathematics, I was invited to work in The Options Program at Seward School (TOPS) in Seattle, Washington. After relocating to Atlanta, I began looking for new opportunities to share my passion for teaching, which led me to The Champion School in 2006. I have taught 8th grade and 6th grade Mathematics at The Champion School.


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Link don't work!
This is a discussion on Good - Legally Licensed Handgun carrier shoots multiple suspects - Tulsa, OK within the In the News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly forums, part of the The Back Porch category; KRMG.com By Michael Purdy Tulsa, Okla. — A man licensed to carry a gun shoots two men attempting to rob him at a motel Friday ...
By Michael Purdy
Tulsa, Okla. —
A man licensed to carry a gun shoots two men attempting to rob him at a motel Friday evening.
(I guess he did not quite get what he expected when he went to her room.......................)
Linky Thingy fixed - thanks.
Socialism Kills! Time proven, with a very large body count! We are a Constitutional Republic....... not a Democracy, get it correct!
Don't be mistaken for a Gecko45: http://lonelymachines.org/mall-ninjas/
ANGLICO Images
Mors est libertas
Poor target selection. I hope all of them are caught.
ΜΟΛΩΝ ΛΑΒΕ: Buy These Stickers Here
"A man without ethics is a wild beast loosed upon the world" Albert Camus
"The investigation shows the victim was invited into a motel room by a female, where multiple men were waiting to rob him."
Lucky for the shooter that the woman and her male accomplices weren't undercover cops doing a prostitution sting.
Just saying.
"...people who carry a gun understand that they are arming themselves against a very unlikely event... People who arm themselves are not confused about the odds. They are concerned about the stakes. -Kathy Jackson
NRA Life Member
How does the saying go, "the best gunfight is the one you can avoid" ?
Helpful hints on pushing back and strengthening the 2A:
I get tired of hearing about the bg killing people and getting away with it. Nice to see the bg being taken down. BUT what is wrong with you men lol. If he hadn't gone there to begin with he wouldn't have been in any danger.
Our House Is Protected By The Good Lord And A gun. You Might Meet Both Of Them If You Show Up Inside My House Uninvited.
The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety), by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary. by H. L. Mencken
This happened at an Economy Inn and we are surprised? I wonder if the shooter had to explain his intentions of going to the room?
The old, "If its too good to be true" phrase comes to mind.
Unknown woman:
"Hey good lookin', wanna come back to my place for a great time?"
Unsuspecting gomer:
Cloud above his head "WoW!, I can't believe my good luck, this chick I just met wants to get ME back to her motel room"
What a dummy. Glad it was innocuous, and wasn't a police sting, and he was prepared to bail himself out of a very dicey situation.
Bet he won't make that mistake again.
I would rather die with good men than hide with cowards
If you want to make God laugh, tell him your plans
Don't ever think that the reason I'm peaceful is because I don't know how to be violent
M&Pc .357SIG, 2340Sigpro .357SIG
Happens quite often.
Guys have girl rent hotel room. Guys have girl go out to a near by bar/night club and find a guy that's flashing his bank roll. Girl leads him back to the hotel room where the guys are waiting in the closet/bathroom, girl gets guy to let his guard down (use your imagination) then they come out and rob him. Old trick.
-- I don't always post from my mobile but when I do, I prefer Tapatalk.
"Rebellion against tyrants is obedience to God." - Benjamin Franklin
"Experience: that most brutal of teachers. But you learn, my God do you learn." - C.S. Lewis


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This is a super bright Keychain LED Flashlight. It is 6v and runs off 2 3v lithium CR2025 button cell batteries. The life span is estimated at 6 months with a usage of 1-10 minutes a day. The sitting life span is many years.
What makes this LED light a need to have item is because it is focused and not a flood light. Standard floodlight versions makes a good light as well for general use, but pushing a focused beam is much more tactile.
Order today and save yourself from the rip-off prices in the retail stores.
$4.75 + Free Shipping Via USPS
10mm Focused LED Keychain Flashlight - Black
Labels: bright, cheap, flashlight, flashlights, key ring, keychain, LED, long life, mini, super, torch | 6 comments
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Alzheimer's Reading Room
A simple proposition, does touch (tactile communication) benefit patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease?
- 60 Good Reasons to Subscribe to the Alzheimer's Reading Room
- Alzheimer's CareGiving -- Insight and Advice
- Test Your Memory for Alzheimer's (5 Best Self Assessment Tests)
- Communicating in Alzheimer's World
- Worried About Alzheimer's Disease -- You Should Be
- What is Alzheimer's? What are the Eight Types of Dementia?
- Does the Combination of Aricept and Namenda Help Slow the Rate of Decline in Alzheimer's Patients
- Alzheimer's Disease Statistics
- Is it Really Alzheimer's or Something Else?
- Ten Symptoms of Early Stage Alzheimer's
- Ten Tips for Communicating with an Alzheimer's Patient
Original content Bob DeMarco, the Alzheimer's Reading Room


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Risks is the TUC's weekly online bulletin for safety reps and others, read each week by over 18,000 subscribers and 1,500 on the TUC website. To receive this bulletin every week, click here. Past issues are available. This edition contains Useful links TUC courses for safety reps Disclaimer and Privacy
Editor: Rory O'Neill of Hazards magazine. Comments to the TUC at [email protected]
Union News
TUC warning on Clegg's call for inspection cuts
A new system of regulation which could cap the number of workplace inspections of small businesses has been criticised by the TUC as dangerous and unwanted. Commenting on an announcement by deputy prime minister Nick Clegg this week that the government is set to cap workplace inspections for small companies to just two a year to cut back on 'red tape', TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said: 'This is another example of the government putting the right to make a fast buck before our health and safety and our lives - although at least the deputy prime minister acknowledges the dangers of the 'scrap it all' line peddled by the Tory diehards.' He added: 'Regulation is there to protect us all from businesses that rip us off, trash our environment, and risk our health - or even our lives. However, it is only of use if it is enforced. Enforcement should not be seen as a burden on business, but instead a way of ensuring that good businesses are not undercut by cowboys who disregard the law and cut corners, whether it is on paying VAT or not polluting our rivers. Cuts in enforcement will put even more of us at risk of damaged health or injury or death in our workplaces.' He added that the government was responding to the shrill calls of business lobby groups who were not representing the real concerns of small firms. 'A brand new survey of small and medium-sized enterprises published by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS), shows that employment law and health and safety regulation do not even feature in their list of concerns,' he said. 'It would appear that employer organisations are pursuing a fanatical right wing agenda that does not actually reflect the concerns of their members.'
- Deputy Prime Minister's news release and speech extracts. TUC news release.
- SME Business Barometer, BIS, October 2011 and related TUC Touchstone blog posting.
Campaign and safety groups back TUC line
Concerns about the latest government move to reduce workplace inspections and enforcement activity have been echoed by safety groups and campaigners. Speaking to business groups this week, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg said the job of enforcement agencies including HMRC, the Environment Agency and the Health and Safety Executive 'is to make your life easier, not harder. So there will be a major shake up of business inspection - going through the regulators, asking 'are they still necessary?'; 'Should they still exist?'; making sure that, yes, they intervene when necessary, they offer advice and support, but otherwise they let you get on with it.' Mr Clegg added enforcement agencies including HSE, which polices criminal breaches of workplace safety law, 'will have to make sure they aren't breathing down your necks. Why, for example, should regulators be able to turn up at your door whenever they want and as often as they want? Why can't we limit the number of inspections to, say, two a year, ensuring these bodies coordinate amongst themselves to stick within that limit?' The union-backed Hazards Campaign accused the deputy prime minister of talking 'utter cobblers'. A spokesperson added: 'Not only is it cobblers, it is dangerous, toxic, life threatening cobblers.' Safety inspections have already fallen to a rate of once in a working lifetime, the campaign said. It noted that even before a recent government demand for pro-active HSE inspections to fall by a third, only 1-in-every-19 major injuries reported to HSE was even investigated. Richard Jones, head of policy and public affairs at the safety professionals' organisation IOSH, was also critical of the Clegg line. 'Good health and safety isn't 'red tape' - it saves lives, supports enterprise and sustains the economy. The government must ensure standards of public and worker protection will be maintained, before considering further cuts to health and safety inspections.' He added: 'It's important to remember that, sometimes, health and safety inspectors may need to make unannounced visits following serious complaints, concerns, or incidents in order to ensure people's safety is not being put at risk. This must not, under any circumstances, be impeded.'
Unions and good jobs delivered Olympic safety
Construction union UCATT has said an official report on safety lessons from the London 2012 construction project has ignored the critical safety factors - the role played by unions and direct employment in delivering an unprecedented safety record. Launching the Health and Safety Executive's (HSE) 'Leadership and worker involvement on the Olympic Park' report, Stephen Williams, the safety watchdog's director for London 2012, said: 'The report shows how strong leadership and worker involvement are key to a safer working environment. The ODA's [Olympic Delivery Authority] creation of a no scapegoating culture allowed workers to raise issues without fear of reprisal, learning lessons to apply across the site and reducing the risk in hazardous activities.' But UCATT believes the telling factor was an agreement reached in 2007 between unions and ODA that only directly employed workers should be employed on the Olympic Park. The union said this ensured that workers, supported by union representatives, had the confidence to raise safety concerns without the fear of being sacked. It points to the significantly higher injury rate on the adjacent and far less demanding Olympic Village site, which was not covered by the agreement. UCATT acting general secretary George Guy commented: 'It is vital to understand why the Olympic Park achieved a very low accident rate. If the construction industry really wants to learn the lessons from the Olympics it is that sites where workers are directly employed are far safer, especially when this is combined with strong union involvement from an early stage.' UCATT regional secretary Jerry Swain added: 'The difference between the accident rates on the Olympic Village and the Olympic Park is stark. Direct employment allied with full-time union representation created the environment in which worker involvement could be achieved.'
Proposals would leave pilots drunk on fatigue
Proposed European Union flying hours limits would see pilots working with levels of fatigue-related incapacity equivalent to four times the legal alcohol limit for flying, BALPA has warned. This new evidence, presented to MPs by the pilots' union this week, is calculated using the Civil Aviation Authority's (CAA) own computer programme called SAFE. Dr Rob Hunter, BALPA's head of flight safety and security, said: 'Alcohol and lack of sleep affect our abilities in similar ways. Using the CAA's own scientific model for calculating fatigue the proposed EU regulations would see pilots landing their aircraft with the equivalent performance detriment of being four times over the legal alcohol limit for flying.' He added: 'The limit on pilots' blood alcohol is rightly set down in law. The government cannot say on the one hand that flying while over the alcohol limit is unsafe - which it is - and at the same time do nothing to oppose regulations which would allow pilots to be flying equivalent to four times that same limit.' BALPA chair Captain Mark Searle said ministers must 'call a halt' to the EU's flying hours plans. 'We must have safe, scientific flight time limitations for pilots which don't allow pilots to be flying over built up areas on approach to airports with the equivalent of five cans of lager in them,' he said.
Union recipe for a safe journey to work
Retail workers are concerned about the threat to their safety on the journey to and from work, a survey by the union Usdaw has found. After quizzing more than 2,500 union reps and members, the union has found 'many of our members, particularly women, can feel unsafe on their journey to work. Dark car parks, missing the last bus home at the end of a shift and isolated staff entrances can all be a source of worry.' Usdaw said the survey 'gave us a clear picture of the problems members are having travelling to and from work. Now we know more about the problems, we'd like to help develop solutions so that more of our members feel safer on their journey to work.' The union has developed campaign materials to highlight the problem and to encourage members to turn to the union for help. In addition to posters and advice leaflets, the union is providing union reps with a short survey form so they can identify problems in their own workplace.
- Usdaw news release, survey form, poster [pdf], reps leaflet [pdf] and What's happening on your journey to work? leaflet [pdf].
University condemned for safety 'nuisance' claims
The University of Sheffield has come under fire after labelling a union's call for adherence to health and safety regulations as a 'nuisance'. Lecturers' union UCU had told its members, who are working to rule as part of a pensions dispute, to be extra vigilant and 'to undertake no duties in breach of health and safety policies,' including refusing to use equipment that has not been safety-checked. But guidance issued by university managers says: 'Members of staff are encouraged to consider the implications of participating in such 'nuisance' activities both in terms of damaging the reputation and potential future success of the university, and in relation to areas such as health and safety regulations.' UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, commented: 'I find it extraordinary, even during a dispute, that an employer should describe health and safety as a nuisance. We will be writing to the Health and Safety Executive and asking them to take the matter up.' She added: 'This kind of macho strategy is all too typical and I urge the university to withdraw its briefing. Rather than down playing health and safety the university should be joining with us to get the national negotiations back on track so we can resolve this dispute as swiftly as possible.'
UCATT drives safety improvements at Kier
Construction union UCATT this week surveyed over 5,000 workers at housing maintenance specialist Kier's about their safety concerns. The activity on 26 October - National Inspection Day - is part of a long running campaign by the union. Following pressure from UCATT, Kier last week held the inaugural meeting of its national safety committee. The union's campaign was given additional impetus after the death in December 2009 of UCATT member Raymond Jessop, who worked for Kier's in Hull. He died after falling from a ladder while painting the outside of a house. As part of this week's survey, Kier workers were asked to identify the worst and best safety practice in their workplace and to suggest how safety could be improved. Steve Murphy, UCATT's Yorkshire regional secretary, said: 'This is a vitally important initiative, UCATT are ensuring that workers at Kier are fully involved in ensuring that their workplaces are safe.' He added: 'Where bad and dangerous practices are identified UCATT will swiftly ensure that workers safety is no longer put in danger.'
- UCATT news release. Morning Star. TUC National Inspection Day inspection guide [pdf].
Occupational dermatitis led to lower paid job
A manual worker who developed a painful skin condition after being exposed to skin allergens at work has received £75,000 in compensation. Unite member Gary Rigby, 50, has had to move into a much lower paid job after being exposed to hexamine, a type of resin coated sand, in his job at pipe fitting manufacturer St Gobain PAM UK. The foundry worker's exposures occurred when he worked in the core shop of the Telford plant. Within three weeks his hands began to blister and soon the itchy and painful rash spread to his arms, chest, neck and feet. The 34-year veteran was provided with leather gloves and boots to wear in the foundry, but they failed to protect him from the irritant. His GP diagnosed work related dermatitis and he had to take two weeks off work. When he returned he was moved to another department until his skin cleared up. Six weeks later he was again exposed to the resin and had an allergic reaction, which led to him taking another two weeks off. Eventually the firm found him a warehouse job as a picker, which meant he was no longer exposed to the irritant. He is now stuck in a low paid job with no prospects of earning more. Solicitors brought in by Unite to pursue a compensation claim argued St Gobain should have undertaken a risk assessment which would have highlighted the need for proper protective equipment. The company settled the claim out of court. Stefan Blasczyk from Unite said: 'With fit for purpose gloves and footwear Mr Rigby would never have developed this skin condition. Now his years of experience on the factory floor are wasted, and the company has an overqualified warehouse picker.'
RMT to take action over Tube train safety
Tube train drivers are to refuse to follow what the union RMT considers to be 'cost-led' and dangerous new instructions from London Underground Limited (LUL). The decision came when members voted by a margin of four to one for industrial action over train safety. From 28 October, RMT train operators and instructors will not co-operate with the 'unsafe' and 'reckless' aspects of LUL's 'Operational Effectiveness Programme'. Instead the union 'will continue to use the proven safe procedures for reversing trains and carrying passengers over shunt signals.' The union says members will also refuse to follow an instruction to over-ride 'sensitive-edge' equipment that prevents trains on the 'sub-surface' lines moving off if a passenger or object is caught in the doors. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'London Underground is attempting to impose dangerous operational changes that are cost-led, will undermine established safety procedures and will put our members and the travelling public in potential danger. It is nothing short of reckless to expect drivers to over-ride door failsafe systems after a potentially fatal incident in which a passenger jumped from a moving train and another was caught in its open doors.' He added: 'These unsafe procedures are being bulldozed through in a dash for cuts, and to cover up the impact of reductions in station staff - and LUL has the gall to call it 'operational effectiveness'. We have tried to make LUL see sense, but it has continued to put cash and job cuts ahead of passenger safety and imposed these dangerous changes without agreement. But it is our members who have to deal with the consequences and they have voted by a huge majority for action that will keep maintain safety standards. LUL should pull back from the brink and start talking.'
Tube blueprint for 'safety carnage'
A leaked London Underground report is 'a blueprint for jobs and safety carnage,' the rail union RMT has said. The union said the confidential 'Operational Strategy' paper spells out cuts-led proposals that include the axing of more than 1,500 jobs and the introduction of automated, driverless trains. All ticket offices would close under the proposals, with just 30 stations having all-purpose 'travel centres'. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'This document tells us everything we need to know about the operational strategy of London Underground - massive increase in fares alongside an unprecedented attack on jobs and safety. Every single ticket office would be closed, stations left unstaffed and drivers would be thrown out of their cabs without a single thought for passenger safety.' He added: 'In recent months we have seen from an escalation in cuts-led breakdowns just why the train and platform staff are so critical to safety on the system. This ill-conceived and finance-led document ignores reality in favour of austerity and would impact on every single staff member on London Underground. It would leave passengers stranded in tunnels with no means of evacuation and would turn the platforms and stations into a muggers and vandals paradise. RMT will work with our sister tube unions and passenger groups on a campaign to ensure that this document and its proposals are consigned to the dustbin of history.'
Save our railways campaign goes to parliament
Rail unions, passenger groups and community supporters descended on parliament on 25 October as part of a national campaign to stop the government from implementing the cost- and job-cutting recommendations of the McNulty Rail Review (Risks 528). A government response to the proposals, which would lead to dramatic job losses unions say will compromise both services and safety across the rail network, is thought to be imminent. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: 'Staff and passengers have a common interest in resisting an attack that would wipe out safety-critical jobs, de-staff trains and stations and jack up fares in the name of private profit. We all have a stake in stopping this carve-up dead in its tracks.' He told a rally McNulty's report seeks to create a 'humanless' railway with stations and platforms set to be staffed by fewer and in some cases no staff at all. Manuel Cortes, TSSA assistant general secretary, said the proposals 'make no sense and are driven by political dogma.' Frances O'Grady, TUC deputy general secretary, also opposed the McNulty reforms. 'The choice is simple,' she said. 'We urge the government to put the interests of taxpayers and passengers first and put an end to the disastrous privatisation experiment on our railways.'
Other news
Bladder cancer strikes 30 years after exposure ends
A man from Yorkshire developed occupational bladder cancer three decades after being exposed to dangerous chemicals at work. The 57-year-old from Leeds, whose name has not been released, was exposed to harmful chemicals whilst working for Hickson and Welsh, a chemical manufacturer in Castleford. Starting at the firm aged 15, he trained and then worked as a mechanical engineer from 1969 to 1978 and was exposed to dangerous fumes on a daily basis. He was never provided with a face mask nor warned of the health risks of working with dangerous chemicals. The firm is known to have used chemicals linked to bladder cancer, including methylene bis orthochloroaniline (MbOCA). He left the firm in 1978 to work for British Coal. In April 2008 he began to notice blood in his urine and was subsequently diagnosed with bladder cancer. He has since received chemotherapy but has been told he has a 50 per cent chance of the cancer reoccurring. He said: 'Over the years many of my former colleagues have suffered from bladder cancer as a result of their work and though it had been hanging over me it was still a shock when I was diagnosed. I feel let down and angry that we were allowed to be exposed without any protection to chemicals that were dangerous enough to cause us ill-health.' Law firm Thompsons secured an undisclosed provisional settlement out of court which allows him to make a further claim if his cancer comes back. Solicitor Marion Voss said: 'Exposure to certain chemicals can increase the chances of bladder cancer and workers at Hickson and Welsh during the same time as our client are in the group at risk.' She added: 'The provisional settlement means he can make a further claim for compensation to recognise the very serious consequences for him if the cancer does return.' The Health and Safety Executive's 'conservative' estimates indicate that over 500 people develop occupational bladder cancer each year, and around 250 people die of the work-related condition.
Vital clues sought in PVC cancer death
A widow is appealing for her late husband's former work colleagues to come forward and help with an investigation after he died of a cancer linked to exposure to chemicals used when making PVC. Geoffrey Osborne died on 1 August 2010 after a battle with angiosarcoma of the liver, aged 58. Although angiosarcoma is an uncommon disease, it is seen in people who work with PVC plastic - especially if they have been exposed to vinyl chloride monomer (VCM), the raw material for the manufacture of PVC. The family's lawyers believe it is possible that Mr Osborne was exposed to VCM while working at Rotherham bath manufacturer William Heaton & Co Ltd. Mr Osborne worked at the company for two years as a labourer from 1967-1968. Janet Osborne, who lived with her husband in Rawmarsh near Rotherham, said: 'It's devastating to think his death may have been caused by nothing more than carrying out his daily duties at work. During his time at the company Geoff worked as a labourer on the construction of baths, and this included filling bath moulds and clearing up. It is likely that the baths were made from PVC, and it is possible that he was exposed to VCM.' Denis O'Gorman, an industrial illness expert at Irwin Mitchell, the law firm representing the family, said: 'Angiosarcoma of the liver is one of the most aggressive forms of cancer. PVC is a widely produced plastic which is used extensively to manufacture household goods, and it is concerning to think how many other people may suffer as a result of exposure to VMC.'
- Irwin Mitchell Solicitors news release. Anyone who is able to help should email Denis O'Gorman (or telephone 0870 1500 300).
Seven years after Morecambe Bay, cocklers still at risk
Cocklers have had to be rescued from the Ribble estuary in Lancashire 23 times since its cocklebeds were opened in September. RNLI lifeboat crews had to tow a boat with five cocklers on board back to shore on Wednesday this week after the vessel's engine failed in bad weather. Two days earlier, two helicopters, four lifeboats and two coastguard crews were used to save three boats. There have been fears among locals of a repeat of the Morecambe Bay tragedy. Twenty-three Chinese cocklers drowned in the bay in February 2004, a tragedy that prompted the creation of the Gangmasters Licensing Authority and that led to a gangmaster receiving a 14-year jail term for manslaughter (Risks 250). Fylde Conservative MP Mark Menzies this week called for cockling in the estuary to be banned unless greater controls are introduced. The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) said the North Western Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority (NWIFCA) limited the number of cocklers in the estuary and all permit holders had to be fully trained in health and safety. The Gangmasters Licensing Authority is investigating whether gangmasters were involved in the recent incidents. The cockle bed at Foulnaze near Lytham, attracts about 300 cocklers a day. Their hauls can fetch up to £1,200 a tonne at fish markets.
- BBC News Online, report on the GLA investigation and related earlier report.
Bad bosses are bad for business
Employers that neglect concerns about trust in senior leaders, stress in the workplace or job satisfaction risk losing key staff, new research has concluded. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development's (CIPD) quarterly Employee Outlook survey has found that employees are much more likely to be among the 22 per cent currently looking for a new employer if they express low trust in their senior managers, are dissatisfied with their job or are under excessive pressure every day. Only 8 per cent of employees that are satisfied with their job are looking for a new employer, compared to 57 per cent of dissatisfied employees. People who face excessive pressure in their jobs on a daily basis are almost twice as likely to be looking for a new job (39 per cent) than those who only experience excessive pressure once or twice a month (21 per cent). CIPD's Claire McCartney commented: 'Trust forms a key part of the employment relationship and if employees feel there is a gap between what directors say and do, or that there is a lack of transparency or fairness in terms of how people are recognised and rewarded, they are likely to feel disenchanted. The openness, quality and frequency of communication from the top is also critical to trust, as is the extent to which any consultation is meaningful and happens before decisions are taken.'
Firm failed to protect workers from asthma risk
A South Tyneside company has been prosecuted for putting workers' health at risk by exposing them to a potent cause of occupational asthma. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched an investigation at Variable Message Signs Limited after an inspector visited the company's premises in Hebburn and identified serious failings in the way the company was controlling the risk of employees developing occupational asthma during soldering work. South Tyneside Magistrates' Court heard soldering was carried out by test engineers carrying out repairs using rosin based solder flux, the fumes of which are known to be a significant cause of occupational asthma. Workers soldered for up to four hours a day with no extraction system in place, despite previous advice from HSE. Magistrates were told the company had failed to consider whether an alternative, less hazardous solder could be used and the control measures needed when using rosin based solder flux. The company has since moved to the use of rosin-free solder. The company also failed to provide appropriate health surveillance, a legal requirement when employees are exposed to substances capable of causing occupational asthma. Variable Message Signs Ltd pleaded guilty to three criminal breaches of the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002 and was fined £5,500 and ordered to pay £4,291.25 in costs.
TV stonemason is done for dust
A stonemasonry business has been fined for exposing workers to potentially deadly stone dust after a viewer spotted its dangerous practices on a BBC television programme. Atelier 109 Limited featured in March 2010 in the BBC2 series Mastercrafts, presented by Monty Don. After the programme, a viewer contacted the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) to express concern over inadequate precautions to protect Atelier workers from dust that can cause serious lung diseases. HSE inspectors visited the company's workshop in May 2010 and served an improvement notice compelling Atelier to take action immediately to cut exposure to stonemasonry dust to within the legal limit. When a further check was made, it was clear that, although improvements had been made, the ventilation system still had not been thoroughly examined and tested, so a second improvement notice was served on 12 February 2011. A third HSE visit on 16 June this year found that the action recommended had still not been carried out, despite earlier tests revealing that dust levels for employees were up to three times the official limit. Atelier pleaded guilty at Peterborough Magistrates' Court to a criminal safety offence and was fined £5,000 and ordered to pay costs of £1,400.10. After the hearing, HSE inspector Alison Ashworth said: 'We understand the pressure that small businesses are under and this company was given ample opportunity on a number of occasions to make the necessary improvements. HSE only brought this prosecution when it became clear that the company was dragging its heels and failing to treat this issue with the seriousness it deserved.'
Chicken firm's safety bypass led to injuries
A major European food business producing raw and prepared chicken products has been fined £230,000 after two incidents at its Suffolk factory, one of which led to an employee losing his right hand. Night shift supervisor Shaun Alexander, 42, was helping a member of his team to clean equipment at the 2 Sisters Food Group's plant at Flixton in December 2009 when his hand was pulled into two rotating cogs and crushed. He lost four fingers, part of his thumb and some of the palm of his right hand. A month later, in January 2010, forklift driver Malcolm Raven, 54, was left in charge of a pre-slaughter area for chickens. He entered an enclosure to clear a blockage and his arm was trapped and broken. A Health and Safety Executive (HSE) investigation found a safety guard had been removed from equipment Mr Alexander was cleaning when his hand was injured. HSE inspectors also found a device had been fitted to override a safety control in the system Mr Raven was clearing when he was injured. At Norwich Crown Court, 2 Sisters Food Group admitted two criminal safety offences and was fined £230,000 and ordered to pay costs of £24,350. After the hearing, HSE inspector Julie Jarvey said: 'Both these incidents were wholly avoidable. Shaun Alexander was failed by the company's lack of proper training, inadequate assessment of risks, absence of safe working practices and effective measures stopping access to dangerous equipment. He will have to live with the consequences of someone else's mistakes for the rest of his life.' She added: 'Malcolm Raven's injuries could have been much more serious. Similar failings were shown up in his case, made worse by the fact that he hadn't been properly trained for a task that was outside his normal working duties.'
Food worker injured in unguarded machine
A food processing firm has been sentenced after one of its employees suffered serious injuries in a machine that had gone unguarded for more than a decade. The worker, who has asked not to be named, needed a metal plate in her left arm after it became caught in a potato blanching machine at the Bakkavor Foods Ltd plant in Ince, where the multinational packages salads and fresh vegetables for major supermarket chains. Trafford Magistrates' Court heard the 22-year-old hygiene worker dislocated her elbow and broke three bones in her arm after it became caught between a conveyor belt and rollers on 28 June 2010. She was off work for eight months. The HSE investigation found that the machine had been used without a guard for more than a decade, and that the rollers were regularly cleaned while they were still spinning. Bakkavor Foods Ltd pleaded guilty to a criminal breach of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998. It was fined £10,000 and ordered to pay £2,026 in prosecution costs. Helen Mansfield, the investigating inspector at HSE, commented: 'A young worker has suffered a life-long injury that could easily have been prevented if Bakkavor had put more thought into the safety of its employees. Sadly the machine had been operated without a guard for more than ten years, making it almost inevitable that someone would be injured if they came into contact with the dangerous moving parts. The company has now installed a simple mesh guard over the rollers which means they can be cleaned without the risk of workers' arms being dragged in.'
Knee-kicker damaged carpet fitter's knee
A carpet fitter has had to give up his job after suffering an occupational knee injury. The worker, whose name has not been released, required surgery on his right knee as a result of using a 'knee-kicker', a standard piece of equipment used to stretch and fit carpets. His solicitors argued he had not been provided equipment that could be used safely. He was required to use the top of his right knee to forcefully strike the pad on the knee-kicker in order to stretch the carpet. This caused or contributed to the development of pre-patellar tendonitis, with the injury subsequently requiring surgery. His lawyers argued the employer had failed to comply with requirements of the Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations 1998 and failed to consider the risks of the work. He was unable to return to work as a carpet fitter, but has since found alternative full time employment. Simpson Millar personal injury lawyer Emma Roberts commented: 'Liability was denied throughout and the medical evidence on this case was complicated and establishing causation was difficult, but we met with our client and the expert to address these issues and work out a way forward. We stayed strong even when his employer tried to diminish our client's credibility which was unfounded.' He was awarded £6,250 in compensation for his injuries.
International News
New Zealand: Global backing for safe fishing regulation
A call for a complete overhaul of the way the fishing industry is regulated in New Zealand and beyond is being backed by the global transport workers' union federation ITF. Unions in the country have been pushing for action following the case of the Oyang 75, a Korean fishing vessel abandoned in Lyttleton, New Zealand, with the Indonesian crew claiming underpayment and physical and verbal abuse. Twenty six charges against Korean officers have resulted from an investigation by the New Zealand ministry of fisheries into the case. Reports say the ship was chartered by Christchurch based Southern Storm Fishing, the same company who chartered the Oyang 70 which sank off the coast of New Zealand in 2010, killing six crew members. An official inquiry into the foreign charter of vessels in the New Zealand fishing industry began on 17 October. The Maritime Union of New Zealand (MUNZ) is using the opportunity to call for the phasing out of foreign charter vessels, which it says are often hotbeds for sweatshop conditions and safety contraventions. Jon Whitlow, ITF seafarers' section secretary, commented: 'We support our New Zealand affiliates in their efforts to bring about a change in fisheries regulations. But we believe it is not just New Zealand authorities that need to act. The authorities of other countries with sizeable fishing fleets should also take appropriate action to improve working and living conditions on board fishing vessels, including through full consideration and implementation of the recently adopted International Labour Organisation (ILO) Work in Fishing Convention No 188, 2007.' The convention calls for workers in the sector to have access to occupational health and safety and medical care and to have protection from excessive working hours.
- ITF news report and 'From catcher to counter' campaign. MUNZ news release.
USA: Union accuses mine firm of 'industrial homicide'
The US mine workers' union UMWA has accused Massey Energy Co and its managers of 'industrial homicide' for creating the conditions behind the 5 April 2010 explosion that killed 29 men at a southern West Virginia coal mine. The union says there were many factors that led up to the deadly blast, but the union's scathing 'Industrial Homicide' report concludes 'there is only one source for all of them' - a 'rogue corporation' that established conditions 'that can only be described as a bomb waiting to go off.' The union charges that the company established a working environment where, operating through subterfuge, fear and intimidation, management prevented any opportunity for the workers to know the full range of dangerous conditions in the mine, or to effectively protest about them even if they did know. The report concludes that Massey Energy 'must be held accountable for the death of each of the 29 miners.' It adds: 'Theirs is not a guilt of omission, but rather, based on the facts publicly available. The union believes that Massey Energy and its management were on notice of and recklessly tolerated mining conditions so egregious that the resulting disaster constituted a massive slaughter in the nature of an industrial homicide.'
- UMWA news release and full report, Industrial homicide: Report on the Upper Big Branch mine disaster, October 2011 [pdf]. AFL-CIO Now blog. ABC News.
Events and Courses
TUC courses for safety reps
Useful Links
- Visit the TUC www.tuc.org.uk/h_and_s website pages on health and safety. See what's on offer from TUC Publications and What's On in health and safety.
- Subscribe to Hazards magazine, supported by the TUC as a key source of information for union safety reps.
- What's new in the HSC/E and the European Agency.
- HSE Books, PO Box 1999, Sudbury, Suffolk CO10 2WA. Tel: 01787 881165; fax: 01787 313995
Issued: 28 October, 2011


text:
In the media aftermath of the H5N1 transmission debate we've been hearing an awful lot about the possibilities of bringing synthetic biology to the field of virology. In fact, one of the best analyses of this situation is Carl Zimmer's piece in the New York Times. In it, Carl explores the capabilities of DIY, amateur biologists to investigate how viruses infect and cause disease. The pro's and con's of utilizing synthetic DNA to make viruses versus the more traditional methods are looked at briefly but really how easily can it be done? and how different is this new wave of synthetic virology versus earlier methods?
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text:
Rider 4, Saint Peter's 2
- Click Here for Box Score
College Baseball
Rider University 4, Saint Peter's University 2
LAWRENCEVILLE—Senior Adam Wayman (Wilkes-Barre, Pa./G.A.R. Memorial) hit a three-run double with two outs in the eighth inning to give Rider a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference win over Saint Peter's Sunday afternoon.
With the victory, Rider (23-15, 9-3 MAAC) wins its fourth consecutive conference series and remains in first place in the MAAC. "Winning the series is always the goal," said Rider head coach Barry Davis. "The way we did it was very satisfying. Hopefully this can be a spring board for us."
In the eighth inning sophomore Justin Thomas (Richboro, PA/Council Rock South) singled and with one out sophomore Mike Parsons (Liverpool, NY) reached base on an error. With runners on second and third Saint Peter's (13-22, 6-6 MAAC) intentionally walked junior Jerry Mulderig (Langhorne, PA/Council Rock South), setting up Wayman's game-winner.
"I wanted to make them pay for intentionally walking Jerry to get to me," Wayman said of his game-winner. The hit was the 207th of his career, ninth most ever at Rider and just two hits away from sixth. "When it was full count I got the fastball I was looking for and was able to put a good swing on it."
"Adam was behind in the count 1-2 but battled back to get the count full and put a good swing on the ball," Davis said. "A timely hit."
"Jerry has been smoking the ball so I thought they'd pitch around him," Wayman said, "and I'm glad they did."
Thomas had two of Rider's five hits.
Peacock pitcher Zack Hopf was perfect through four and two-thirds innings. "Their kid pitched great," Davis said. "He was in command. We kept battling him and we got a pitch to hit."
Sophomore Kurt Sowa (Bensalem, PA/Fr. Judge) started, seeking his eighth win of the season and pitched seven innings, leaving the contest trailing 2-0. "Our starting pitching has been good," Davis said. "Kurt was fine. He got us through seven (innings) and kept us in the ball game."
Senior Sean Kuberiet (Branchburg/Somerville) pitched the eighth inning for the win and freshman Vincenzo Aiello (Staten Island, NY/Tottenville) pitched the ninth inning, collecting three strikeouts for his second save. "Sean did a good job and Vinny was coming in initially to hold the game and he gets the save. He looked like he was comfortable out there."
The Broncs also won two of three games at Saint Peter's last year. The Broncs had won 11 straight meetings with Saint Peter's before the loss last year. Rider has only lost to the Peacocks six times in 63 games since the series began in 1941.
The Broncs are 12-4 at home this year, including 7-2 in home MAAC play.
Rider travels cross-town to Princeton Wednesday before a MAAC weekend at Siena. "We just need to hit a little better," Wayman said, "and we'll be fine."