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Pictured above: Max Cembalest and Father show off a nice sail!
I have always liked Christmas week here at Crocodile Bay because the place fills up with families. I get a real charge out of seeing or hearing about a youngster's first really big catch. I wasn't disappointed at all.
Mike and Rachel Cembalest from New York brought their boys, Max, Will, and Peter over the holiday. Max had recently had back surgery and was thrilled when the doctor finally gave him the ok to go deep sea fishing just in time for the trip. They didn't have a good day offshore but caught a boatload of inshore species. They decided to give offshore another try but all the boats were already booked.
Rachel Cembalest poses with a stripped marlin
The Cembalest Family Squeezes together in for a great Sailfish
Shot – Mom must be taking the photo!
Fellow New Yorker and Croc customer for nearly a decade Mike Pizzi and his wife Ann offered to give up their boat so the Cembalest's could take the boys out again. The boys returned to the dock with 4 sailfish and a striped marlin release on their scorecard. "They caught your marlin" I poked at Pizzi who has had great catches over the years here, but at times I think he uses black cats for teasers.
Anne Pizzi Steals another Marlin from Husband Mike
Well they say good deeds pays dividends. In this case it was really true. The next day Ann caught two marlin, one at 350 pounds and another at 250 pounds and was back at the dock two hours early to visit our spa and work some of the stiffness out of her muscles.
There really are too many families that were here to not forget someone, but the Mundt, Bahl, Shore/Plavic, Garrison, Mase, and Proefke are just to name a few. Phil Bush and Terry Fisher led a group from Cummins Motors.
Nearly someone from each family took a marlin and a few sails. Hugh and Rowan Plavic brought in a couple of nice wahoo on Christmas that made some folks stay away from the turkey and stuffing. Remember the names, Anthony and J.J. Mase. The two youngsters had a hay day inshore fishing and in about a decade I predict they will both be pitching in the major leagues.
Lots of marlin have been around, not biting everyday but they are here. Don Bradley hooked two in one day on a fly rod and landed one on conventional tackle yesterday. The dorado hasn't made a good as of yet but usually bite well up into February so there is still hope. A few more sails will be working into the area as we approach peak season.
Inshore Aristides Romero has been catching big sierra mackerel just around the corner from the lodge and smaller size snapper. Mike Bailey from Toronto did manage a 35 lb cubera snapper on a popper.
Anthony and JJ on the dock with some nice amberjack!
Todd Staley, Crocodile Bay Lodge
Costa Rica Sport Fishing Vacations at Crocodile Bay Resort
Jigging and popping at Crocodile Bay Resort
If you love the sensation having a jigging rod almost ripped from your hands as a big fish inhales your butterfly jig, or the thrill of watching a tuna crush your popper, leaving a hole in the water where your lure used to be, then Crocodile Bay is the place for you.
The Gulf of Dulce, and it's surrounding waters offers some great opportunities to catch fish both jigging and on poppers. If jigging is your passion, we have some deep structure that hold Amberjack, Cubera Snapper, African Pompano, yellowfin Tuna, Roosterfish, Grouper, Trevally, Jacks and a host of other tropical fighters. It's not just the thrill of the strike, the challenge of keeping the fish out of the Rocks, or feeling every head shake through the braided line. It's the simple fact that there are such a variety of fish down there, that you often don't know what you have on the line, until you see it. It's not uncommon to catch six or eight different species in a single spot.
For the popping enthusiast, you have many options both inshore or offshore. Working the beach and shallow reefs can produce a mixed bag, including Roosters, Jacks, Snappers, Mackerel, Barracuda, Dorado, and Trevally. Over some of the the deeper structure, you can find "floating Snappers", or snappers that have come off the bottom and are holding close to the surface, as well as Jacks, Roosters, Barracuda and Dorado. Big Cubera Snappers will come up from one hundred feet or more to hit a popper. When they do, it is an awesome explosion of an angry, red fish and white water.
Offshore also, holds some great opportunities for the popper fanatic. Trolling offshore, we often find floating debris, such as logs, branches, pallets, or just about anything else that floats. These floating objects, attract baitfish. Offering a place to hide, in otherwise deep and structureless water. This bait, then attracts gamefish such as Dorado, Tuna, Sailfish, and Marlin. Usually, one pass with the trolling lures, will tell you what fish are holing on the structure. Find one that is loaded with Dorado, and you can stop and have a field day with a popper. It is not uncommon to have two or three fish hooked at once, with a dozen or more swimming around the boat.
If a big fight is what you are looking for, then Tuna is your game. We catch some very big Yellowfin Tuna here, and they will readily take a popper. It is a little bit different fishing, then what some anglers are accustomed to. We rarely see Tuna breaking on their own here. The big Tuna we catch, are always in with schools of Dolfin. Tuna run with Dolphin, such as spotted or spinner Dolphin that use echo location to find bait. Once the Dolphin locate the bait, the Tuna move in and feed with the Dolphin.
When we find a school of Dolphin, we position the boat in front of the them, and let the school come to us. When you see breaking Tuna, cast to them. It is possible to cast to hundred plus pound fish breaking right in front of you. But be careful, you never know when that two hundred pounder, is going to come out of the fray and take your popper.
Jigging and popping have become very popular in recent years. With the advent or braided lines, stronger reels, lighter, more powerful rods and better hooks, the sport has grown. Anglers now push the bounds of what is possible with spinning and light conventional tackle. For the experienced pro, we offer a variety of species to add to one's life list, as well as a shot at a trophy. For the beginner, we're more than happy to introduce you to the sport, and offer an excellent environment to begin honing ones skills.
Tight lines,
Captain Allan Smith
For More Information visit: www.crocodilebay.com
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From www.crocodilebay.com
Ok, so you're all jazzed up about catching a sail fish on the fly rod in Costa Rica. Or you might just want to try conventional fishing for sails, marlin, tuna, dorado and rooster fish..
I highly recommend it sooner than later.
As we all know FISHING = MONEY and it all boils down to that equation. .
Most equate fishing money with expendable income. Try looking at it this way:
"To me It's a necessity" Go ahead admit it. Fishing does things for you that cannot be compared with fixing the roof, buying the kids the latest hand-held electronic communication device or supplying a new 2012 survival shelter.
For the past 11 years I have watched the current state of world economic affairs in regards to sport fishing as an offshore fishing captain here in Costa Rica for Crocodile Bay Resort and for close to 30 years as a guide in Alaska.
I still say do it now as apposed to later and I'll tell you why.
In these past few years all those around us swore and still swear that we will all be begging for food long before the Mayan's doom-laden prediction that the end of the world will occur in 2012..
I have observed and noted during these past few years that almost all of my clients talk about how THESE things are affecting them. I don't raise the subject because the last thing I want to talk about on my boat is your work. I'd rather talk world wide fishing. But inevitably someone does brooch the subject of world economic events and I can't help but put in my twenty cents… accounting for inflation that is.
Most of them including myself are of the well thought out and discussed opinion that all of the people who can afford a trip outside their normal circle of fishing zones and have ventured to do so in the past three years or so, have had the same mental philosophy…
I'll delete the expletives and keep in mind that we are all fishers after all is said and done, but to put it into a nut shell… They all have the mind set that either it isn't as bad as the powers to be would lead you to believe or that even if it is and will get worse that now is the time to enjoy some of your hard earned money to treat yourself to something you've been wanting to do for who-knows-how-long.
Most have said that after looking at their current state of affairs that they decided now is the time. After all, if all turns to fecal matter I did what I wanted to do and I'll never have to say I wish I had when I had the chance.
Further more: What if the Mayans were right? In a year or so the fish could be catching us..
Do you think that if you stood on the street with a sign that read "Will Work For Sail Fishing Money" that anybody would donate? Hell no. Those that still have it will be taking this advice to heart and going fishing in Costa Rica to catch a sailfish on a fly rod or roosterfish using bait the size of the fish they are now catching from the pond next to the golf course.
I not only learned from my father about learning from other's mistakes but to also learn from their successes.
So follow the advice of not only me but the approximately 1,242 people I've taken fishing in the past 4 years despite the price of oil, the stock market, the housing collapse and the heartbreak of psoriasis. "When all else fails, go fishing."
Do you need help forming a fishing budget plan acceptable to you and the boss/wife??
Stay tuned for my next missive.
Fishingly yours
Cappy Will Kitsos
Crocodile Bay Resort
For more information about Costa Rica fishing vacations visit www.crocodilebay.com
For more information visit www.crocodilebay.com
April was a crazy month. If my hair hadn't fallen out years before it surely would have in a month's time. It was a month filled with highs and lows.
Eleventh Hour man Mark Davis from Bigwater Adventures TV filmed his second show here and like his first he fished for marlin. The currents associated with El Nino had brought 87 degree water into the area and bill fish aren't very active in bath water. Mark hung in there and put in his time and ended up with several sails and a 300 lb blue marlin that you would have thought had a Screen Actors Guild member card.
Leo Stakos from Canadian based Fish-On TV is a light tackle specialist and was here at the same time as Davis. Stakos chose to concentrate on inshore species after bagging a few sails his first day on the water. Sometimes artificial lures produce better than live bait and Stakos proved it when he brought 32 roosters to the boat in one day trolling Rapalas.
The National Fish and Wildlife Foundation www.nfwf.org auctioned off a dream trip to Costa Rica when Crocodile Bay Resort teamed up with the sport fishing yacht Typhoon for a 5 day fishing and eco adventure on the Osa Peninsula. The Typhoon is captained by Darren McClave and Donald McGuinness.
Patrick Durkin, a big National Fish and Wildlife Foundation supporter was top bidder of the trip and came down with his wife Kristen and sons Luke and Austin. Also on the trip was Patrick's twin brother Tim accompanied by his wife Liz and friends Dr. Gary and Lynn Sherman.
Several highlights of the trip included the day the twins hooked up a double on sailfish. They landed the fish at the exact same time and the two sails were the exact same size. The joke the rest of the week was "twins catching twins." Durkin invited a couple local boys out one day to fish with his sons and it was a thrill for 11 year old Eddie Robles to catch a sailfish on the "biggest boat" he had ever been on in his life. It was a great culture exchange between the boys that surely they will remember for a long time.
Little Luke Durkin is my hero. Although I love the dance of a sail fish and the adrenalin rush of a greyhounding marlin, my west coast Florida roots have always made me love bottom fishing. I have a long standing bet with all my captains about bottom fishing that I have yet to have to pay up after all these years here. When Luke showed up at the dock with a broomtail grouper more than half his size I have to admit I was just a bit jealous. When I found out he caught it on a jig, my bottom lip began to stick out. Well Luke I'm done pouting. I would be proud to go bottom fishing with you anytime.
Our fearless leader of the U.S. office Lynn Alban was down to see us with friends Mimi Burroughs, Margo Sims, and Margo daughter Suze Sims. I was lucky enough to fish with them on the worst day weather wise I have ever seen in all my years here. I giant black cloud horseshoed itself around us but not before Suze caught her first sailfish. The rain chased us inshore and then followed us. When I started hearing the theme song from Gilligan's Island in my head I decided it was time to call it a day. Suze is lead singer for The Red Hot Blues Sisters, a Seattle based blues group that has released two albums. This girl wails. I still haven't hit the eject button in my car. Will Briegel, Webmaster and Marketing Director for Crocodile Bay enjoyed his annual fishing trip inshore and filled four dinner plates with African Pompano and Black Snapper.
April meant school vacations and we had many Costa Rican families at the resort. This prompted a kids fishing class at the pier where nearly a dozen kids fished for the very first time. The fish must have known it was kids fishing and all would go back in the water because they bit like crazy. Seven year old Angelica Chacon Madrigal is going to grow up to be a great angler. When the others had none, she had patience. It paid off as she quickly learned the secret to hooking snapper and out fished everyone else.
Best Fish story of the year goes to 8 year old Angel Williams who reeled me in like a gold fish in a pond racing for fish meal. Angel who is Crocodile Bay's Beau Williams daughter was fishing along with the group of kids at the pier. She had one of my crew put a live sardine on her hook and cast it out. I got called to the hotel to check on a matter and when I returned she was holding a 10lb dorado and saying "Todd look what I caught just now." Now stranger things have happened. Long time customer Mike Pizzi once took a 60 lb roosterfish off the pier and several years ago my night guard was fishing and not guarding and he caught a 53 lb cubera snapper on a hand line. This dorado was juvenile size and I thought it believable.
She went on and on about how this fish fought and jumped. She went on to explain that she caught it because she is a really good angler and the other kids were catching little snappers and she got this big dorado. "I have to get a picture of this." I told her. "This deserves to go the website." Well to make a long story short a boat arrived while I was at the hotel and brought in the dorado that was deep hooked and couldn't be released. Angel took the opportunity to pull one over on me which she did in the most believable manner. Good luck Beau, she's good.
The Boston Whaler Group helped us wrap up the season with their 9th annual visit here hosted by President John Ward, Ben Cast, and Will Rogers. There were many first timers in this group as well as regulars like Whaler's Ron Berman who's father, Capt. Mel Berman passed away this year and was an icon to sport fishing community I grew up in and a personal friend.
Will Rogers did a Costa Rican audition if they ever make the movie "Jackass 3" when he jumped overboard into a pod of three killer whales. They came over and checked him out but decided he didn't look enough like a seal to gulp him down. He did get some amazing underwater photos and a life long memory.
Every year Boston Whaler holds a tournament here and later donates all the prize money to a project in Puerto Jimenez. They have rebuilt and tiled the floor in the kindergarten, bought new desks for the first grade, bought camping equipment for the local scouts and raised nearly $2000 for the elementary school again this year. The daily winners who donated their prize money were, Kevin Miller, Jeff Furches, Jeff Glenny, Chuck Cashman, Todd Turley, and Tony Villareale. Thanks guys.
Overall the warm water made the number of billfish caught drop this year but when a pocket of cooler water would move in the numbers would shoot up to 15 or more fish a day per boat. Just when I let out a sigh of relief, more warm water would move in. The numbers were phenomenal last year with the new laws in place and I expect next season as the climate returns to normal, the big numbers of fish will return. One immediate change we noticed this year was in the snapper fishing. We saw more fish and bigger fish. I attribute this directly to the shrimp trawlers no longer working in the Golfo Dulce. The sport fishing lobby in Costa Rica is working hard to insure we remain the premier destination for a fishing vacation.
Straight From the Catfish's Mouth
After heading up Crocodile Bay Resort's fishing program since the beginning 11 years ago, owner Robin Williams, (he's a character but not the actor) decided I should see how our U.S. office works. Shortly I will be traveling up for a few weeks to see the nuts and bolts of the other side of the operation. If you have any questions about fishing down here as far as fish, peak times, equipment, boats, tackle, captains or anything related to Crocodile Bay Resort I will be happy to give you a call while I am there. Maybe you are planning a trip for next season. No one knows how this machine operates better than myself. Drop me your number at email@example.com and I'll be happy to help you any way I can. Looking forward to seeing you next season.
On the right is Rodrigo Arias, Minister to the President of Costa Rica, and his brother.
In the middle is Olivier Jimenez, Senator of the Province of Puntarenas (our elected congressional representative)
On the left with no shirt is Gerardo Fait, president and owner of El Lagar hardware stores, one of the largest hardware store chains in Costa Rica, and personal friend of Rodrigo Arias.
They were down visiting Puerto Jimenez to inaugurate the completion of a new $50 million highway project leading from Rincon into Puerto Jimenez, as well as the new runway repaving and they took advantage of the trip to take some time out to see the beautiful Gulfo Dulce.
Oscar Arias the current president will be leaving office in May, at which time his former Vice President Laura Chinchilla who won the recent presidential elections, will be entering office as Costa Rica's first woman president for the 2010-2014 term.
Rodrigo Arias has just announced his plans to run for president in the 2014-2018 elections.
Whaler boats are fit for a president, and his brother!
For More Information about a fishing trip in a Boston Whaler, visit www.crocodilebay.com
Crocodile Bay Costa Rica
Fishing Report
March 15, 2010
For more reports and Costa Rica Fishing information visit www.crocodilebay.com
My blood pressure has dropped 20 points, which means things are getting back to normal. The crazy weather patterns last month in the states came all the way south, but this month the skies are blue and both temperature and the fishing is hot.
Allen Ryals and Steve Ulman have been coming here since before my hair turned gray. Allen is sort of a professor of fish and an inventor of many types of fishing gadgets. This year it was a teaser made from a bowling pin that he had to fine tune to keep out of the gutter but when he finished it was running straight and true. He and Ulman also customized a cedar plug that made the big tuna dizzy.
Pat Robbins brought his seven brothers down for their second reunion at Crocodile. The boys were raised in Butte Montana along with 4 sisters. By the time they finished high school all had been taught the welding trade by their father and all used those skills to attend college. Now the mix of brothers are either in the medical field or in metal casting doing business in the states and Costa Rica. They caught a list of nice fish including wahoo (which have been strangely prevalent lately) and brother Bert landed an 80 lb tarpon on light tackle after a two hour battle. Our small population of tarpon have made their way through the Panama Canal from the Atlantic side and slipped into Pacific waters without getting their passport stamped.
Bob Perimian's group hit it just right. Although Bob couldn't make the trip his crew raised an average of 10 fish per boat a day and caught some real nice snapper for dinner. Fishing has really picked up for sails. Between groups I had a day when 4 boats raised 62 sails and two of those boats spent part of the day inshore. A few marlin have made a presence and Doug Ford from Houston finished his trip with a nice blue marlin. Kirk Dill had his group down again from Bermuda and Tony Thompson made his annual trek from the Big Apple and found out he was neighbors with part of the Perimian group. There were so many repeat guests these last two weeks that I know I forgot someone so please forgive me if I make you feel like the bridesmaid.
Inshore has been extremely well for snapper and cuberas over 20 have been a regular thing as well as roosterfish. There has been the best snapper bite going on that I can remember and part might be the shrimp boats are no longer working in the gulf.
Capt. Garofano of Conn. shows off a 27lb rooster
Todd Staley
Fishing Director
Crocodile Bay Resort
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Fishing Report,
February 26, 2010
Major League Baseball Hall of Famer Wade Boggs Poses With a Nice Wahoo on His Third Visit to Crocodile Bay Resort!
Baseball legend Wade Boggs with a nice wahoo
February has been one of those month's that drive fishing directors crazy. One day the fishing is red hot and the next it's not. On the good moon the fishing slowed and on the normally not so good moon it picked up.
Tuna have passed through occasionally, cruising with the porpoises. Lots of 60 to 100 pound fish were caught that some made it to sushi plates. Greg Thompson and David Horn teamed up to tackle one that went around 180 lbs. They opted for sails after that battle.
Greg Thompson and David Horn teamed up to tackle this 180 lb tuna
Sailfish is what is driving us crazy. One day we see as many as 15 per boat and the next only a half dozen. We have had more rain than any February I remember and more cloudy days and the bite always seems better on a sunny day.
The Annual Vergith Contracting Fishing Tournament was held earlier this month. Royce Cook finished first in points and Joe Vincent and Mark Bass tied for second only a half point behind Cook. The 10 anglers went 28 for 75 on sails and landed 17 dorado and 2 tuna. Eight of the ten anglers took their first sailfish during the tournament.
Dan Vergith congratulates tournament winner Royce Cook
Participants in the Vergith Contracting Annual Fishing tournament
Ludwing Diaz, general manager of the Hotel Balmoral in San Jose and a big supporter of fishing tourism and sustainable fishing practices was down with wife Katherine and 11 year old daughter Juliana. They spent a day fishing and snorkeling taking several nice African pompano and roosterfish.
The Diaz family Katherine, Ludwing, and Juliana
Ken Patterson had his group from Florida here again this year. Traveling with them for his third trip was baseball Hall of Fame member Wade Boggs. Fishing was tough for the group but Boggs managed to fool sails on a fly and take his first wahoo (pictured top of page.)
Inshore has also had it's ups and downs but yesterday the roosters were crowing in full force. A couple of fish between 40 and 60 lbs were caught along with many in the 20 pound class.
Enough snapper hit the dock these days for the chef to prepare in several different fashions. One cubera snapper estimated at 50 lbs was released. The bigger fish are almost always female of breeding stock.
Just waiting for a little more sunshine and the bite to return to normal
Todd Staley
Fishing Director
Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
Costa Rica Fishing Report,
February 1, 2010
Fun for all Ages
It didn't matter your age lately, you were having fun catching fish here. Five year old Matthew Norguero got his first snapper off our pier, eleven year old Eddy Robles took a nice African Pompano reef fishing and Pat Morgan celebrated her 79th birthday by catching her first, second , and third sailfish! Her husband Henry took two sails and a nice dorado.
Texans Mike and Catherine Shellman were so pleased with their results that they left a caricature in the bar. Mike took a sailfish on the fly and Catherine hauled in a super 50# roosterfish.
Scott "the kid" Barbeau and his wife Stephanie were down from Massachusetts. Scott is one of those guys who fishing runs through their veins. He chases tuna in the rough Atlantic and wanted to do the same in the calm Pacific. After I told him we haven't seen a big tuna in a while he proceeded to bring me a 100 plus pounder back to the dock. No matter what he targeted he did well. I don't know how many different varieties of fish he caught but I'm sure he is someplace ice fishing about now.
The dorado are starting to thin and the sailfish numbers are starting to pick up. All this is normal although it is happening a little late this year. A few marlin to 400 pounds are surprising anglers and the tuna are running when the porpoise come through. The sails have been hungry and ready charge a pitch bait or a fly.
Inshore has been unpredictable with the roosters biting like crazy one day and going into hiding the next. Several from 45 to 60 pounds have been the highlights. Bottom fishing has been good but should even get better between the moons.
Cpt Todd Staley- Crocodile Bay Lodge, Costa Rica
Jeff Vannoy fishing out of Crocodile Bay went looking for roosterfish near Matapalo Rock and although he didn't get his roosterfish he certainly caught something to crow about. The crew and Jeff were surprised to see a 120 plus pound tarpon take to the air when Vannoy set the hook. After over an hour on 20lb spin tackle they lifted the fish for a quick photo and set it free.
Over the years tarpon have passed through the Panama Canal into Pacific waters. We hook three or four a year and land one now and then. "I thought I was losing my mind the first time I saw one roll in the Golfo Dulce back in 1995," commented Todd Staley Fishing Director at Crocodile Bay. Having run Archie Fields Lodge in the early 90's Staley has a soft spot for tarpon. "It's great to see tarpon on this side now and then but I don't think their ready to be featured in our brochure."
Todd Staley
Fishing Director
Crocodile Bay Resort, Costa Rica
Lucía Romero Shows Off a Beautiful Dorado in January at Crocodile Bay
Crocodile Bay, Costa Rica
Fishing Update – January 2009
By Todd Staley
December was a great month for fishing at Crocodile Bay, Costa Rica. Since our first guests of the season, Tom and Anne Bobotas walked in on the first of December, chatter around the bar at happy hour has been fish, fish, fish.
The fishing season started out with lots of dorado and Tom was happy he out fished all the guys on the big boats, topping it off with a monster dorado (see below). The last two weeks of the month the sails made a sporadic appearance and some boats raised as many as nine but the big wave of sails are due to arrive any day.
My bratwurst connection from the midwest, John and CJ Mork fishing with first time friends Joe and Peggy Schierl tangled with a nice blue marlin as well as sails and dorado. John has taken a marlin each visit here. The marlin finally showed the third week of the month and there are stories of battles lost and battles won almost every afternoon. Inshore has picked up considerably lately with rooster up to 60 lbs making people crow.
Dennis Cook was down with his triplets, Mackenzie, Dawson, and Asher and had a ball inshore with roosters and jacks. Long time guests Andrew Ociepka and Al Charles also had big days on roosterfish. As we come off the big moon of New Years eve, the sail numbers should increase greatly in January and the snapper bite will turn on with the slower tides.
Todd Staley
Fishing Director
Crocodile Bay Resort
Puerto Jimenez, Costa Rica
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text:
Toronto's race for mayor will come down to two candidates – the incumbent Rob Ford and challenger Olivia Chow – predicts Councillor Doug Ford, who is managing the campaign for his brother.
The Etobicoke councillor played down the impact his brother's personal behaviour will have on the race – including videos such as the latest that shows an agitated mayor outside city hall Saturday evening, wearing green plastic beads for St. Patrick's Day and cursing as he hails a cab. The footage made it to U.S. late-night television on Monday and sent off a new round of questions about the mayor's pledge to quit drinking – questions Rob Ford continued to dodge Tuesday.
Doug Ford said he is not discounting any of the mayor's four main rivals that include Ms. Chow as well as former provincial PC Party leader John Tory, Councillor Karen Stintz and former councillor David Soknacki. But when push comes to shove, he thinks the choice will be between the former NDP MP and the city's current mayor.
"They are going to have a choice between Olivia Chow and Rob Ford," Doug Ford said Tuesday. "Even the people who don't like Rob Ford are going to plug their nose at the end of the day and look at Olivia Chow and look at Rob Ford and say, 'Hey, this guy is going to keep my taxes low.'"
The five main candidates meet for the first time in a television debate next Wednesday evening and Doug Ford said his brother will run on his accomplishments in office and argue that none of the other candidates will keep taxes low.
The councillor said he is not underestimating any of the candidates, but predicts a gap will open up between Ms. Chow, Mr. Ford and Mr. Tory and the rest of the field that will lead to strategic voting. "On election day people are going to say, "Okay, I am wasting my vote with Tory, I got to pick Chow or Ford," he said.
Doug Ford said such episodes as the one captured on video Saturday night are not ideal, but argued they do not take away from the mayor's ability to watch the public purse.
"I would rather him not have the videos, but I think at the end of the day people are going to look at Rob and look at whoever is running against him and [ask] who is going to watch my tax dollars, who is going to keep the city booming, bring the companies in here, cut the red tape, keep them accountable?" he said.
"You may despise Rob Ford, but I know deep in your heart if you had Olivia Chow taking [care of] your bank account or Rob Ford, you wouldn't care if Rob had 10 beers because he would watch every single penny."
Doug Ford said he had not spoken to is brother about the latest video and did not know who he was with or whether he went home in the taxi.
He said the driver contacted him to say the mayor did not "seem drunk" and was returning calls in the cab.
Asked for his reaction when he first watched the new footage of his brother, Doug Ford replied, "... he didn't look as bad as I thought."
There is no reason the mayor can't be out on a Saturday night, he later added. "He's not a little kid. He doesn't have a curfew at 10:30. He's out there and if he wants to meet the folks at that time, so be it," he said.Report Typo/Error
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subset: commoncrawl


text:
Despite all the bad news for Barack Obama, George Stephanopoulos on Wednesday eagerly wondered just how the Republican Party can "blow" the 2012 election. The former Democratic operative turned journalist probed front-runner Rick Perry for limitations, wondering if the candidate will have to "disavow" parts of his 2010 book.
Talking to GOP strategist Karl Rove, Stephanopoulos quizzed, "You've also said President Obama is likely to lose next year and I guess my question is, how could the Republican Party blow it?"
[See video below. MP3 audio here.]
Playing up ths supposed controversial nature of Perry's book Fed Up, Stephanopoulos recounted, " And I think he's gotten the most attention for what he said about Social Security, calling it a Ponzi scheme. Compares it to a bad disease, something that's been imposed on us for 70 years."
Pushing Rove to proclaim the Texas Governor outside the mainstream, he added, "You know how much trouble that can be for a Republican candidate in a general election. So, how does he handle it and must he disavow some of these statements in the book?"
Of course, Stephanopoulos wasn't always so eager for politicians to be called on controversial issues. For instance, on March 18, 2008, he lauded then-candidate Obama's failure to separate himself from Reverend Jeremiah Wright: "By refusing to renounce Reverend Wright, that was in many ways an act of honor for Senator Obama."
Additionally, when the ABC anchor declared Obama the winner of every presidential debate in 2008, he didn't seem interested in how the Democrats could "blow" the election.
A transcript of the September 07 segment can be found below:
7:10am EDT
GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's get more on this now from a man who may know more about politics than anyone with the country. He is Fox News' contributor Karl Rove, of course President George W. Bush's top political strategist. He's also had a long relationship with fellow Texan Rick Perry. And I do I want to talk to about Rick Perry, Karl, but good morning to you. But, first, let's pick up on those Palin comments from your Fox colleagues last night. You suggested about a month ago that you thought she was getting in the race. Took a little heat from her for that, but you also said the tease can't get on- go on for so long. What is going on? Is she getting in or not?
KARL ROVE: You know, if you keep going to Iowa, and you keep going to New Hampshire and you keep making speeches like she's been making, you have to think that she's, you know, that she's going to get in. And, as I said, I wouldn't bet the ranch on it. I put a little more money that she's going to get in than she's not. But, it really is inexplicable for her to continue this as long as she has. If she wants to be a king-maker, there's a different way to go about doing it. And the longer she looks like a candidate and if she doesn't become a candidate, the weaker she will emerge out of this politically.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Let's talk about the candidates who are in the race right now. You heard John there. A new poll shows Rick Perry at the top of the Republican field right now and one of the most fascinating numbers in the poll for me, I want to show it, is that among Republican voters, 30 percent now believe that Perry has the best chance to beat President Obama. He's vaulted ahead of Mitt Romney, up at 20 percent. Michele Bachmann way down at four percent. Now, that runs exactly contrary to what the Obama campaign thinks. They believe that Romney would be the tougher candidate. What do you think?
ROVE: Well, look. I think we don't know yet. I love how we're trying to come to, you know, a conclusion at the beginning of the process. This, really, tonight, is going to be taking the Republican presidential sweepstakes to a new level. I remind you at this point four years ago, it was a two-man race as well. 30 percent of Republican primary voters supported Rudy Giuliani and 27 percent supported Fred Thompson. So, I mean, we are still relatively early in the process. We have got five months until people start voting and all kinds of things can and will happen.
STEPHANOPOULOS: And a lot of questions about how Rick Perry will handle this test. So much talk about his books and what he's written in his books, Fed Up. Questioning the 16th Amendment, which imposed the income tax. The 17th Amendment, direct election of senators. And I think he's gotten the most attention for what he said about Social Security, calling it a Ponzi scheme. Compares it to a bad disease, something that's been imposed on us for 70 years. You know how much trouble that can be for a Republican candidate in a general election. So, how does he handle it and must he disavow some of these statements in the book?
ROVE: What they've done thus far is, I think, inadequate, which is to basically say, "Look, we didn't write the book with the presidential campaign in mind." Well, okay, fine. But, they are going to have to find a way to deal with these things. 'Cause, as you say, they are toxic in a general election environment and they are also toxic in a Republican primary. I mean, if you say Social Security is a failure and ought to be replaced by a state-level program, then people are going to say, what do you mean by that and make a judgment based on your answer to it. So, each candidate has strengths. Each candidate also has challenges. This, for Governor Perry is his challenge. Now he's got some formidable strengths, but this is his biggest challenge.
STEPHANOPOULOS: You've also said President Obama is likely to lose next year and I guess my question is, how could the Republican Party blow it?
ROVE: Well, they could blow it by having a candidate who could not appeal to the swing voters in this election, who are, who are conservative-minded independents, Latinos, white working class voters, the same kind of people that gave us a huge margin in the 2010 congressional election. The primary has to be a process by which our candidate is strengthened, not weakened and emerges at the end of it ready to conduct a general election campaign for the voters who are up for grabs in this election.
STEPHANOPOULOS: Okay. Karl Rove, thanks so much for joining us this morning.


text:
Submit News
New Pill-Sized 3D Endoscope Searches for Cancer in Esophagus
Tiffany Kaiser
January 14, 2013 5:37 PM
Recipient E-mail
Sender E-mail
Patients do not need to use anesthesia for the process, and it only takes a few minutes to complete
Doctors may soon be able to check for abnormalities in the
esophagus's of patients
without long or painful methods.
Researchers from the Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, which were led by pathologist Gary Tearney, have found a way to check for a condition called Barrett's esophagus through the use of a pill-sized device that provides 3D photographs of the area.
Barrett's esophagus is caused by the reflux of stomach acid making its way back into the esophagus too frequently. This leads to abnormal changes in the tissue of the esophagus, and could eventually lead to cancer.
But Barrett's esophagus is tricky because patients tend to not have any symptoms. Also, the current procedure for checking for Barrett's esophagus is expensive, time-consuming and painful. Hence, people tend to not have it checked and can develop cancer in the esophagus.
But now, Tearney and his team have found an inexpensive and non-invasive technique that will allow more patients to be checked, whether they're experiencing symptoms or not.
The new technique employs a transparent,
pill-sized endoscope
that is attached to a long piano wire, which is connected to a computer. A patient simply swallows the pill, and with optical frequency domain imaging (OFDI), which uses infrared light to take images, multiple images are taken inside the esophagus.
Two beams of light are used to create the images. One beam is sent into a detector as a reference, and the other is sent through a tether, where it is directed into the tissue of the esophagus. The pill spins inside the esophagus to focus the light beams on different areas. The tissue is measured and sent back to the detector for comparison with the reference beam, and differences between the two beams construct 3D images on the computer.
Patients do not need to use anesthesia for the process, and it only takes a few minutes to complete.
"We also can potentially see other esophageal diseases," said Tearney. "Moving toward the future, we're going to be building pills that can diagnose diseases of the stomach, diseases of the small intestine and even diseases of the colon."
For a closer look, check out this video:
"If you look at the last five years, if you look at what major innovations have occurred in computing technology, every single one of them came from AMD. Not a single innovation came from Intel." -- AMD CEO Hector Ruiz in 2007
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And ponies are
[h2]WHY ARE YOU A MAN CHILD[/h2]
And ponies are
[h2]WHY ARE YOU A MAN CHILD[/h2]
Guys, should we jokingly make a huge picture containing as much as possible of different fetishes to get it into as much as possible of the popular groups?
aka "the louder you tell someone to shut up, the more people hear you yell and end up trying to figure out what you want silenced"
p sure it's called dragon quest and not dragon's quest?
1***z( 47) US $7,600.00
r***e( 0 ) US $5,000.00
e***4( 0 ) US $2,000.04
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One guy double bid to crank the price up and two new/unused accounts making stupid bids, sketchy at best.
"wait nvm, just a regular dobson comic"
I would like to dry my feet on fluttershy's face.
Maybe because of the fact that people make "OTP"s in Homestuck as well, but so does every other fandom.
It's my fetish.
Me neither. Nobody "gets" half the things posted here.
It's a reference to this.
I only know because the amount of dAtards that make their own version of that picture.
In fact I think there's a base to make your own version.
To those who are wondering, Fluttershy had an episode about becoming more assertive, where she was called a doormat.
According to the artist this is not a joke...
Accurate representation of the artist in 30 years.


text:
Matt Cutts Says Stitching Content to Form A New Article Isn't Effective
You've got to hand it to Matt Cutts. The poor guy is inundated with what seems like hundreds of SEO questions every month, ranging from the absolutely dim-witted to the completely esoteric. Worse, he's seemingly confronted with questions that are already answered in Google's "Webmaster Guidelines," the webmaster's virtual SEO bible.
The questions are never-ending, repetitive, and sometimes, downright boring. Yet, he trudges on, politely addressing some rather colorful internet debates. In one of his most recent videos, Matt tackles copied content, and despite the number of times and different ways the issue is addressed in Google's guidelines, his latest response is sure to ruffle some feathers.
The Question at Hand and the Crux of the Problem
The question in the video asks whether it is acceptable to publish "stitched content," or, small bits of copyrighted content presented as a one-paged collection of information. Specifically, it asks, "Can a site still do well in Google if I copy only a small portion of content from different websites and create my own article by combining all, considering I will mention the source of that content (by giving their URLs in the article)?"
You've probably seen this strategy before, and there's no doubt from this video that Google has seen it as well. Stitched content is the result of third-party content aggregation obtained through an automated process like Really Simple Syndication (RSS). Webmasters will not only use it to achieve massive amounts of content in a short amount of time, they'll also defend it as "content syndication," or "content curation."
The reasons why they'll defend it as such are simple. For one, Google doesn't directly penalize syndicated or curated content because they're content development strategies used by professional organizations (news outlets, libraries, museums, published magazines, etc.). Second, Google will reprimand aggregated content with the "Automatically generated content" penalty or the "Scraped content" penalty. The punishment is a low search engine position – a webmaster's worst nightmare.
The problem is this: Because both methods use similar processes, and because both methods can produce similar results, the line between punishable, stitched content (i.e. aggregated content) and non-punishable, syndicated or curated content isn't as clear as we'd like it to be. That is, until now.
Matt Points to Yahoo for an Answer
Pointing to Yahoo's blatant disregard towards stitched content, Matt suggests this type of content creation has always been a form of spam because it doesn't add value. At Yahoo, spam is content that's substantially the same across sites and pages. It's also a collection of automatically generated webpages. And if Matt's reference to Yahoo's attitude toward spam is any indication of Google's stance on the subject, we can begin to understand why it isn't welcome at either one of these search engines.
Both Google and Yahoo clearly prefer content that is original, unique and helpful. In Matt's latest discourse, he falls short of calling a collection of referenced material nothing more than an incorrectly formatted bibliography page. Matt compared it to a "clip show" on television, in fact, and insisted people prefer to see new content over bits and pieces of existing information plucked from a multitude of websites. He even physically motioned the act of stitching content presumably so there's no confusion about what he's describing.
Stitched Content is High Risk Content
<iframe width="550″ height="360″ src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Z13-yP3Zhns?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>
In Matt's words, people "don't want to just see an excerpt, and then a one line, and then an excerpt, and then a one line and that sort of thing." He added Google will probably see this type of content as "high risk" content, or, content that is likely to violate Google's guidelines. If we turn to Google's guidelines, in particular, the section regarding automatically generated content, we can see that it's defined several ways. More important to this issue, it's specifically defined as:
• Text translated by an automated tool without human review or curation before publishing
• Text generated from scraping Atom/RSS feeds or search results
• Stitching or combining content from different web pages without adding sufficient value
Similarly, the section regarding scraped content, associates the practice with thin affiliate content. It's defined in several different ways as well, however, in the context of this article, it is:
• Content that copies and republishes content from other sites without adding any original content or value
• Content that reproduces content feeds from other sites without providing some type of unique organization or benefit to the user
Research Writing Gets an Exemption (Sort of…)
While Matt attempts to clear the confusion surrounding what is and isn't acceptable, he's careful to exempt research writing and its classic format. Research writing quotes its references and cites its resources. It presents a position on an issue, and it uses existing content to substantiate that position. Wikipedia articles, the type of acceptable content Matt references in his video, is a great example of research writing, but more importantly, the kind of content Google rewards with a higher search engine position.
Yes, it's true that Wikipedia's strategy of synthesizing content extracts information from different sources, but it's careful to properly cite that information with footnotes, primary and secondary sources and external links. As a webmaster, you're going to need the same strategy in your own content plan of action if you want to maintain an existing search engine ranking or improve the one that you already have.
A New Type of Content – A New Frontier
Content that's built from RSS feeds or copied without context and accreditation is no longer acceptable. Matt's video makes that clear. Google's guidelines make that clear and so do Yahoo's. Yesterday's curation and syndication buzzwords no longer disguise aggregated pages as something that they're not. So it's time to become a real thought leader with our own engaging content. It may be harder to do, and it may take longer to accomplish, but as Booker T. Washington once wrote, "Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work."
The benefits of following through with this approach are twofold. As webmasters, we gain major SEO and SEM points with Google, Yahoo and every other search engine that enforces similar content rules. As authors, we gain respect from an engaged and growing audience. No one loses here, so there's no reason to continue using a strategy that works against us.
Fortunately, there are plenty of resources that can help. Professional writing guides and tips can be had through a simple search. Even better, they can be had online, at no cost. Start at Google's "Webmaster Guidelines." There, you can find out what turns mediocre or uninteresting and non-engaging content into quality that people will want to read and share on social networks. Then visit Yahoo's "Content quality guidelines." Yahoo's definition of quality content is a bit more explicit than Google's even though both tend to favor and punish sites with similar criteria. Even Bing offers webmaster guidelines, albeit they tend to stress characteristics of SEO more than writing quality.
Other places that can help are sites that address professional writing exclusively. College and university websites are great resources for learning required techniques and formats.


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Sandy Wilkie, Staff Engagement Lead, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
09.20 Successfully Measuring Success & Proving How Much Your Internal Communications Strategies Are Positively Impacting ROI & Engagement
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Rachel Heatley, Student Communications Manager, University College London
Kilian Thayaparan, Internal Communications Officer, University College London
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Phil Askham, Global Head of Employee Communications, Global Businesses & Global Functions, HSBC
Viktoria Tegard, Senior Communications Director, GSK
Paul Morgan, Communications Director, Premiership Rugby
Mark Tittle, Internal Communications Manager, Sky
Sandy Wilkie, Staff Engagement Lead, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
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Natalie Deacon, Executive, Director, Global Communications, Avon
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Phil Askham, Global Head of Employee Communications, Global Businesses & Global Functions, HSBC
Viktoria Tegard, Senior Communications Director, GSK
Paul Morgan, Communications Director, Premiership Rugby
Mark Tittle, Internal Communications Manager, Sky
Sandy Wilkie, Staff Engagement Lead, Bolton NHS Foundation Trust
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David Cooke, Head of Internal Communications, Policy & Corporate Centre, Home Office
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Guest Speaker To Be Announced; Please Check For Updates
14.00 Developing A Seamlessly Integrated Social Media Strategy
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14.45 Refreshment Break
15.15 Proving The Value & Impact Of Internal Social Media Communications
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16.00 Afternoon Workshop Closes


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There is no clear cut answer when it comes to men. But there is some agreement among psychologists that there might be advantages to marrying a man raised by a single mother.
He may be more helpful, independent, and sensitive to the needs of women, for instance. The so-called mama's boy gets a bad rap in our culture. But LeBron James, Barack Obama, and others were raised by single mothers, yet show independence, leadership, and a can-do attitude. These aren't the coddled whiners we often see in the movies or on TV. But they may be different than those raised by two parents. These men may have some further insight into interpreting emotions, effective communication, know what it means to chip in, and express their emotions in a mature manner. These are all good qualities when it comes to husband material.
A University of Reading study conducted in 2009 found that those boys who had a close connection with their moms had less worrisome childhood incidents and were likely to become hostile or aggressive later in life. Another study published in 2011 in the journal Child Development, found that a good mother-son bond predicted better romantic relationships later on. Of course, just because a man was raised by a single mother does not mean he has a healthy relationship with her. But the tendency is that they would be closer due to depending on one another for all those years.
Men raised by single women tend to have an enlightened view on gender issues and so are less likely to be chauvinistic. By having to work together with their moms growing up they have developed the skills a romantic relationship requires such as give-and-take, negotiation, and compromise. Some say these men are cleaner and are more inclined to pitch in around the house. That isn't always the case. But they are more likely used to helping out with household chores, cooking, doing their own laundry, and so on. One of the most crucial elements of a successful, long-term relationship is good communication. Guys raised by single mothers are more apt toward superb communication skills. While boys, they will have to get to know and understand their mothers emotions, which hopefully will transfer to understanding their wife better later on. Guys who have had the luxury of both parents have more of a safety net. But those raised by a single mother have to chip in more, come to terms with things, and so are more prone to getting active when there is a problem afoot, rather than sitting back and complaining about it.
Men raised by single mothers generally come from a background that isn't necessarily indulgent. Chances are they had to fix a few things around the house, and so aren't afraid to get their hands dirty. They may also be more responsible. These men are used to pulling their own weight and picking up the slack. They may be better with children because a lot of them helped with their siblings. These guys make their lunch the night before work, set multiple alarms in the morning, and get a few tasks done before breakfast. They are generally reliable because they had to be to make it this far. One disadvantage to a momma's boy is that the mother will be very invested in the marriage. The mother could feel threatened by her daughter-in-law, which could affect the son. Still, despite this one pitfall, there are a lot of positive qualities surrounding a man who was raised by a single mother.
For those still searching for such a man read, The Surrendered Single: A Practical Guide to Attracting and Marrying the Man Who's Right for You by Laura Doyle


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This article is an open-access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution license (
This is the first report of registration at birth, and of incidence of major structural birth defects (BD) obtained in Gaza at Al Shifa Hospital, where 28% of total births in Gaza Strip occur. Doctors registered 4,027 deliveries, with a protocol comprehensive of clinical, demographic, kin and environmental questions. Prevalence of BD is 14/1,000, without association with intermarriage or gender of the child. Prevalence of late miscarriages and still births are respectively 23.3/1,000 and 7.4/1,000, and of premature births 19.6/1,000. Couples with a BD child have about 10 times higher frequency of recurrence of a BD in their progeny than those with normal children, but none of their 694 siblings and only 10/1,000 of their 1,423 progeny had BD, similar to the frequency in general population. These data suggest occurrence of novel genetic and epigenetic events in determination of BD. Children with BD were born with higher frequency (
Our main aim was to describe reproductive health with respect to prevalence of major structural congenital anomalies (BD), late miscarriages (M) and still (SB) and premature (P) births in delivery at Al Shifa Hospital, the major maternity hospital of Gaza [
The collection of the data on prevalence of birth defects was done according to the local specificities and with modalities that allow also interpretation of changes over time and comparison with other registers from around the world.
BD incidence reflects allelic frequency of genes in the population and varies with its intermarriage rate, but is also susceptible to environmental changes [
Presence of teratogen elements in the post-war environment is expected in Gaza after Operation Cast Lead, because of the kind of metals detected in the weapon systems used [
The traditional hyphotesis behind prevalence data surveillance is that detection of a particularly high prevalence of BD in one particular population, or a sudden increase in prevalence over time, points to the existence of some novel environmental cause [
Our protocol was devised in order to collect demographic and health data, and kin information on the couples with present reproductive problems (BD, M. SB and P) and those with previous events of BD (PBD). For all these, and for normal newborn, parent's environmental exposure to White Phosphorus (WP), and for BD children parent's also to bombing, were registered. The questions about environmental exposure were chosen, as occurs in each country, to include also information about the specific circumstances of the country, including environmental factors induced by military attacks.
We report registration, documentation of kin and environmental exposure for 55 BD, 94 late miscarriages, and 30 still born deliveries in a five month period among the 4,027 interviews conducted at birth (
The prevalence of major structural birth defects by clinical diagnosis in Al Shifa is 14.0/1,000 of live births. Prevalence of late miscarriages, premature and still born children and the frequency of women who delivered a normal child but had a previous child with birth defect are also listed in
The intermarriage rate among first cousins is high in Gaza, nonetheless is not different in couples with BD child or SB than in the population as whole. Significant higher rate of intermarriage are seen for M, and in the couples that had BD in past times (PBD). Premature births occur most frequently in couples where the parents are unrelated (
Summary of the question asked during registration of the births in delivery room. * confirmation of the diagnosis was received by the Doctors in the Intensive Care Unit. (
|Name of parents
|Anamnesis of mother and father
|Family residence
|Number of brothers and sisters of mother and father and their health status
|Child sex
|Number of children of brothers and sister of mother and father and their health status
|Children date of birth
|Type of dwelling
|Weeks at delivery
|Water access
|Modality of delivery
|Bombing on residence, in presence or when absent
|Child weight
|Bombing in adjacent housing
|Child health conditions
|Attacks to residence by white phosphorus, in presence or when absent
|Clinical observations
|Wounds, burns, injuries reported, which injuries
|Child diagnosis
|Care of other family members who received injury and which kind of injury
|Congenital major structural birth defect from a list of major ones *
|Clean up bombed, attacked residence
|Consent of parents to use professionally the information
|Use of recovery materials from debris to rebuild housing
|Occupation of parents
|Personally worked or familiar at home worked in recycling materials form rubble
|List of other children of the couple and note on their health status: if alive, dead (and cause of death), previous miscarriages (numbers, time, the week they occurred and if the fetus had BD)
|Children of the family play in bombed/attacked grounds
|Direct exposure to WP and WP attacks on their residence in their absence
|Health problems during attacks 2006 and 2008/09, description
|Information if cases of BD occurred among the neighbors
Past occurrence of BD in the reproductive history of all couples, has a frequency of 2.09% and they include BD occurring between 1 and 18 years ago. The data for PBD have no value as incidence or prevalence data, and were only collected to analyze the recurrence of BD in a couple.
Prevalence of reproductive problems, sex ratio of newborns and parent's intermarriage.
|New born
|Birth defect
|Still Born
|Previous BD
|Total numbers
|77 *
|Sex ratio M/F
|1 b
|% Parents first cousins
|27 b
Prevalence/1,000 for normal children, birth defects and premature births is calculated on live births (3,919), that for late miscarriages and still born is on total deliveries (4,027). a Frequency/1,000 of previous birth defects (BD) is on live births. All numbers refer to the births registered over a five month period, with the exception of premature, where * is the value estimated from the actual numbers of premature registered over 3 months, while previously these were registered, according if normal or BD, in the respective lists;
The types of BD registered are listed in
List of the BD registered at birth. BD classification-Eurocat/ICD10.
|Q0 Ancephaly + multiple malformation
|Q74. Q74.2 congenital malformations of lower limbs
|Q02 Microcephal + IUGR
|Q39.0 aresia of oesophagus without fistula
|Q75.9 Congenital malformation of skull and face bones + distended abdomen
|Q39.0 aresia of oesophagus without fistula, premature
|Q41.2 Small bowel volvulus + Menconium cyst
|Q0.00 Anencephaly
|Q87.0 CL, abnormal ear & mouth shape, deformity in toes
|Q05 Spina bifida
|Q89.7 and vaginal anomalies, abdominal distension, hydrops fetalis
|Q30.0 Choanal atresia
|Q98.7 multiple
|Q03 hydrocephalus
|Q79.5 Congenital malformation abdomen + lung hyperplasia
|Q75.9 Facial bones anomaly
|Q74.9 Unspecified congenital malformation of limbs
|Q37 Ccenter palate with ccenter lip + multiple
|Q60.6 Potter syndrome and renal agenesis, premature
|Q25 Transposition of the great arteries
|Q03 Hydrocephalus
|Q62 Hydronephrosis
|Q01.2 Occipital encephalocele
|Q75.9 Facial bones anomaly
|Q60.6 Potter's syndrome + hypoplastic lungs
|Q37 Ccenter palate with ccenter lip
|Q75.9 Congenital malformation of skull and face bones, +ascite+IUFD
|Q37 Ccenter palate with ccenter lip, premature
|Q61.3 Polycystic kidney, unspecified
|Q98.7 multiple, IUFD
|Q0.00 Anencephaly-IUFD
|Q03.9 Congenital hydrocephalus, unspecified + brain atrophy, premature
|Q61.3 Polycystic kidney, unspecified
|Q25 Transposition of the great arteries, TGA
|Q01 Encephalocele
|Q98.7 multiple
|Q61.3 Polycystic kidney, unspecifiedHydrops fetalis not Rh
|Q61.3 Polycystic kidney, unspecified + Intestinal obstruction
|Q91.3 Edward syndrome
|Q98.7 multiple, Premature
|Q37 Ccenter palate with ccenter lip
|Q98.7 multiple, Premature
|Q87.8 Cystic Hygroma
|Q61.3 Polycystic kidney, unspecified + mass in abdomen + asphyxia, dead
|Q37 Ccenter palate with ccenter lip
|Q74.2 congenital malformations of lower limbs
|Q98.7 multiple+SB
|Q74.2 congenital malformations of lower limbs + Abdominal wall
|Q79.0 diaphragmatic hernia+Abdominal wall defect
|Q37 Ccenter palate with ccenter lip + multiple
|Q05 Spina bifida
|Q05 Spina bifida
|Q61.9 Congenital single renal cyst
Previous BD are frequent in couples with a newborn with BD. For women with a M, or a newborn premature and still born, there was no significant history of previous BD. Recurrence of late miscarriages is high, about half of the cases of M. For women with a premature newborn or SB there is no significant history of previous M; these are instead increased in BD mothers (
Trend in the repetition in time of negative events during the reproductive life of the couple. Frequency of previous late micarriages, and previous BD in couples with a new born child. a % of couples with more than 1 BD child before the normal newborn child. These data represent a trend, are dependent from length and productivity of repoructive life of the families, and thus have to be taken not as absolute frequencies, nor as prevalence.
|Previous late miscarriages (%)
|Previoud BD (%)
|Birth Defect
|Premature birth
|Normal in family with previous BD
|0.2 a
Type of Birth defects. The relative presence among BD (top panel) and PBD (bottom panel) is expressed in percentage of the type of defect: GI gastrointestinal, CHD congenital heart disease, ABD Abodminal wall defect, CDH Congenital displasia of hip, O Others undescribed, OSTEP osteopetrosis.
Sixteen couples among the 55 with a newborn with BD had previously a child with BD, or a collateral with BD. Eleven of them, with total of 168 children, had a previous child with BD themselves, with recurrence of BD in the same couple of 20%, and frequency among all the progeny of couples with a BD child of 17/168 of their children (10%). The BD that recur in these couples are of the same primary type in half of the cases (three cases of NT, one of CHD and one of CLP), but of a different type in the other couples (
Marriage of first cousins among the couples with recurrence of BD was 40%, slightly higher than that in the population, but not significant. Among these couples with recurring BD, one had also recurrence in the collateral family, for a different type of BD, and one for the same BD.
Seven couples with BD had nephews/nieces with BD. The collaterals of parents with BD, include 694 siblings, all healthy, and 1,423 children of their progeny. Among these last, 14 children had BD, with a frequency of 1%, not very different from that of incidence in the general population (
Listing of couples with BD and PBD and/or BD in relatives. N, none; na. not available. Parent relation: 1-first cousins, 2-extended family, 3-unrelated.
|BD in newborn
|Parents relation
|Previous BD/year
|N sister children BD
|N brother children BD
|N sisters children BD
|N brothers children BD
|1child Q20, 1y
|1 child Q02; 1child Q04.3
|1 child Q61.3
|1 child Q20, CHD, IUGF; 1 child Q04.3
|3 children Q03/18,11,10 y
|2 children Q04.9/3,1y
|1 child Q03
|# Q03/18 to 10y
|1child Q04.3
|1child Q03, 2 children dumbness
|Y, 2 children multiple /7,8 y
|1 child Q04.3
|1 child Q04.3
|4 children Q00.0
|1 child Q04.3
The territory from which women come at Al Shifa maternity includes North, Gaza and Middle areas. The incidence with respect to territorial distribution of couples with negative reproductive events was balanced against the territorial distribution of all women admitted to delivery. The difference between expected prevalence per area and that found are illustrated in
Distribution of the residence of the couples of newborn with Birth Defect (BD), and of late Miscarriages (M), Still Born (SB) and Previous Birth Defects (PBD).
The expected value is calculated on the basis of the distribution of residence of the couples with healthy newborns that reflects the basin of provenience of the people that utilize the Al Shifa Maternity. This is compared with the actual numbers of couples with a negative reproductive event coming from each of these areas. In bracket the number of cases for each event.
Almost 3,000 delivering women were asked and responded to the question of if they had exposure to WP, and we could compare the frequency of exposure of couples with normal children with that of couples with BD. The exposure to WP in the 2008/2009 military attacks correlated significantly with the occurrence of BD (
Exposure to WP and bombing *.
|only WP **
|only Bombed
|WP and Bombed
|98.3 (97.9–98.8)
|1.7 (1.2–2.1)
|43.1 (28.5–57.8)
|27.2 (14.1–40.4)
|20.4 (8.5–32.4)
|18.2 (6.8–29.6)
|97.5 (97.0–98.1)
|2.0 (1.5–2.6)
Reported exposure to WP during operation Cast lead was registered for 3 months for all the mothers in the delivery room. For families of BD children it was registered exposure to WP and to bombing during the five months. N/A not available * Incidence are expressed as percent of respective total and 95% Confidence Intervals
We cannot say if the distribution in kinds of BD was affected in families exposed to bombing and/or WP, due to small numbers.
The subjective recollection of the exposure to WP and to shelling was confirmed for all but one of the couples confronting their recollection with information offered by the UN Mine Action Team from their data base and visually reported with a color code according to the OCHA GPS coordinates on the map of Gaza strip. In response to private and public call, the UN team documented WP ammunition, bombs or mines shells. Their records are thus a minimum estimate of what was delivered in attacks.
Locations where residents have declared exposure to WP and Bombing are illustrated as example of the method we used to confirm correspondence between declaration of the couples and facts on the ground. Maps from OCHA, squares of 1 km2, data base UNSCO, UN Mine Action Team, Gaza: red pins-MK bombs (Mk 82, 83, 84) and M117 bombs; white pins, White Phosphorus 120 mm and 155 mm ammunitions; green pins, tanks and 155 mm projectiles HE; yellow pins, shells of all kinds found in rubble clearing; blue pins, various projectiles. Enlargement of last panel is 0.5× with respect to the first four panels.
Among the 46 couples with BD child responding also to other questions on environmental exposure, 13 rescued their items from rubble of bombed places, nine rebuilt with rescued material, five were exposed to weapons or debris of bombing through work and in three couples one of the parents was injured during Cast lead. Also the couples with PBDs reported with high frequency exposure to WP or/and Bombings (
The main source of drinking water was that of the municipality pipelines for all the families and no occupational biases were observed.
Mapping of the exposure to weaponry.
Our study was wholly conducted in Al Shifa Hospital, in Gaza City, covering 44.4% of deliveries in governmental hospitals in the Gaza strip [
Clinical diagnosis were from the doctors in charge of the delivery room, confirmed, if appropriate, by the doctors in the Intensive care unit (equipped with pulse oxy-meters and portable ultrasound machine). We have registered the major structural BD according to the Eurocat/ICD10 nomenclature [
Statistics. Prevalence data are expressed as percentage; incidence rate for normal children, BD and premature births are expressed as number per 1,000 registered live births (3,919) while incidence rate for late miscarriages and stillborn is calculating using as denominator total deliveries (4,027). Comparisons between each subgroup and normal were performed using Fisher's test. Confidence intervals are given and a
The prevalence of BD in Gaza strip is 14/1,000. Within the limits due to differences in diagnostic levels, dimension of samples and methodologies, this is comparable to that of less industrialized countries and lower that that reported for more industrialized US (30/1,000) and Europe (23/1,000) (
Ours was a pilot study to first assess prevalence of BD. Our approach using a pre-specified questionnaire seems adequate, with a good feasibility as testified by the short time to train participating doctors and the ease in completing the questionnaires by the mothers. The main limitation is related to the present circumstances in Gaza that allow diagnosing BD at birth almost exclusively on clinical basis. As a consequence, the prevalence of total BD we report here is underestimated. Underestimate is suggested strongly for CHD which emerges as the most frequent BD in the records of 0–2 year old patients of pediatric hospitals [
There are noticeable differences from other countries in prevalence in Gaza for two kinds of BD: considerably higher prevalence of congenital PKD, usually due to homozygosis for mutations in a single gene [
Distribution of most of other major BD is not significantly different in our register that in other countries (
We also report recurrence of BD within a couple, and that in the numerous siblings of the parents which is not significantly higher than in the general population, and the increase in frequency of M in couples with a BD child or with history of M. Nonetheless, even for the BD recurring in a couple, only in 50% of cases these are of the same primitive embryonic origin. Thus, seemingly, these recurrences of BD in the couple are often due to disjoint events of mutation or of epigenetic changes in a favorable genetic background or to variable phenotypic expression. At this stage we cannot distinguish among these possibilities. While the recurrence of a PKD could be attributed to parents heterozygosis, the fact that NTD, known as multifactorial and environmentally influenced, recur in the couple with similar or higher frequency suggest that high pre-existing genetic polymorphisms is only one of the mechanisms at the basis of BD reiteration.
The increase in M in the couples with BD agrees with the concept that often M are spontaneous abortion caused by BD, although we cannot prove this causality in lack of diagnosis on the aborted fetuses.
Overall, collaterals of couples with BD have no higher rate of BD than the general population and not always recurrence of the same type of BD, and only in some cases there is ground to assume a familiar genetic origin.
Both limited instances of familiar expression and modalities of recurrence of different BDs are compatible with a role for environmental events in the promotion of the incidence of (some) BD.
We show a strong correlation of BD newborns and parent's exposure to attacks with WP, and a high frequence of exposure in these couples to bombing, and/or consequent rubble cleaning, and we retraced data showing the accuracy of the recollection of exposures. It emerges the strong suggestion that exposure to war-derived elements enhances BD occurrence at a successive time. Before being conclusive on the specific elements in these weaponry that may cause such effects, analysis of contamination by war-related toxicants needs to be done.
There is provisional indication that the incidence of BD, M and SB may be occurring preferentially in Gaza city, while PBD in the North. To confirm these differences in BD's distribution, we need to collect the data from more deliveries with BD and we need to extend implementation of our questionnaire to maternities covering all the areas of the Gaza strip.
We present for the first time for Gaza strip, limited to the major maternity hospital, prevalence of major birth defects, late miscarriages, prematurely and still born children, the rates of survival in the short term, the sex ratio and intermarriage frequency in the population.
We present the validity of a protocol for data collection which allows to understand the modalities and to investigate the nature of events that produce the BD.
Through the collection of regionally relevant environmental exposures, we established correlation of negative reproductive events with confirmed exposure to war, a fact relevant for the etiology of the birth diseases in Gaza.
Since no previous prevalence data are available for this population or this Hospital, we do not have the possibility to compare the present data of incidence with the situation previous to the war of the winter 2008–2009, and we do not know if the prevalence is higher now than previous to war.
The correlation between children with defect at births and war exposure of their parents points to this possibility and rises serious concerns, which should be further investigated. Other potential teratogen elements in the environment are now also under study.
In conclusion, we show that in a majority of cases the birth defects occur as novel events without collateral family history and recur in the same couple and not in their collaterals, with different or same malformation, regardless of the consanguineity of parents and in strong correlation with exposure to White phosphorus and other bombing events.
We thank H. El Wadia for giving us access to the data about survival of children admitted from maternity in the ICU of al Shifa. We thank for their support H. El Louh, Director of the Maternity department, and N. Abu Shaban, Director of the Human resources Department of Al Shifa Hospital. We could not have worked without the support and the sympathy of the medical staff and of the nurses in the delivery room and registration room of the ward and of the doctors and nurses of the adjacent Intensive Neonatal Care Unity. Thanks to the UN Mine Action Team, Gaza, Prabin B. Khadka, operation officer, H. Al Faqawi and W. Shaer, who made available their database for consultation and directed us on the construction of a map of the findings on the ground of weaponry after Operation Cast Lead.
We also thank M. Mokhallalti, Dean of the Medical school of the Islamic University for support before and during the work and N. Baraqouni, director of the Nsser Pediatric Hospital for constructive suggestions. The authors are grateful for the permission to perform this study to the Ministry of Health of the Gaza strip. This work was made possible by the funds received from Paola Manduca from Interpal Gaza.
No conflict of interest is declared by any of the authors.
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Incendiary pieces about Apple's newly announced iPhone (the curiously-named iPhone 5) are a dime a dozen, that is to say, they're extremely common and of no particular value. A quick internet search will return literally thousands of articles regarding the announcement. These articles vary in their level of incendiary-ness. It's as if those in the cheer-on-Apple's-downfall camp got together and decided to have a competition to see who could publish the most badly argued, least convincing, ludicrous articles. Whether you're for or against the new iPhone 5 it's clear that articles with titles such as The Disappointing iPhone 5: Is Apple Falling Behind the Competition? or Apple's Big iPhone Disappointment swing to the extreme. Over-the-top sensationalism reached a fever pitch in articles such as The iPHONE 5 UNDERMINES western DEMOCRACY: 5 Reasons Why Owning One Will Be the Badge of an Utter Fool. Continue reading Sensationalism and the iPhone: Where Did Thoughtful Blogging Go?
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