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Are Seos Better Searchers?
Posted 23 October 2007 - 04:16 PM
Are we better searchers? How do you rate yourself when it comes to finding things on the web? At work I have a bit of a reputation as "the one who finds stuff", and I do. Don't ask me how, but somehow I can hammer a query or two to get it there.
Another related question: do you use advanced search operators outside the SEO world? Have you ever done a linkdomain: or an inurl: or a site: search not for SEO? I have, and it's a great treat frankly. Examples: market landscaping is best done with linkdomain: to quickly figure out which companies are affiliated with each other and a site:.gov is good for medical searches to weed out all the spam and crap and get to real scientific data quickly.
So...? Discuss
(This should fun! I'm looking forward to reading your replies )
Posted 23 October 2007 - 04:46 PM
I'm often impressed with the results search engines return for the type of searches some of my family members and friends perform. No wonder that paid ads do so well.
I love phrase searching "..." and filtering by using minus. Man, the crap you can get rid of that way
site: I often use when I need hard information and prefer to have results from edu only.
Overall I'm pretty happy with my search powers. Where they fail at times, though, is at recall. I know I saw this or that site via this or that search.... but whatever I do, I never see that site again Must say that Google Bookmarks and Google Web History makes that a bit easier though.
Posted 23 October 2007 - 05:15 PM
I must admit I've now made Ask the default search engine I'm using in my toolbar. I'm quite intrigued at the results I'm getting.
Posted 23 October 2007 - 05:46 PM
1. Define a SEO
Are SEOs Better Searchers?
2. If one simply takes the self-labeling at face value then NO. Far too many ask questions found by a simple obvious search. Indeed far too many query about and repeat obsolete or mythical practices.
3. Should they be better searchers? Absolutely. If one has limited ability utilising an application one must by definition have limited ability to game it's processes.
1. I should like some proof of this hypothetical world outside SEO. Next you'll be raving about 'real' life? Or is that last a step too extreme?
...do you use advanced search operators outside the SEO world?
2. My usage of 'advanced' features outside SEO:
* all SEs: I utilise '-[term]' extensively.
* Ask: I use 'intitle:[term(s)]' and 'last:[time period]' together a lot.
* I used to do more but am semi-retired - even from advanced operators
Not mentioned but likely has a bearing on my light 'advanced' operators usage:
* I do 'quick' look-ups on Ask but still mostly use Ixquick Metasearch (habit ) as my initial web research tool. Google is third choice.
* I also seem to be able to define search terms and refine as needed faster than many people. For 'everyday' searching that suffices.
Posted 23 October 2007 - 05:47 PM
LOL - been there myself
re Ruud: but whatever I do, I never see that site again
I think SEO's can be better searchers, but I don't think it is a given. I know that I rarely use the operators that Pierre notes above. But I do know lots of places to go for specific types of info -- I think my knowledge is more about where to go when Google doesn't cut the mustard.
I'll put in a pitch here for a public source software tool I continue to use: Daves' Quick Search. It puts a highly functional and configurable url bar on my Windows start bar. Here I do use a lot of built-in short cuts like 'ths apothecary' opens Thesaurus.com and sends it that word. 'ac 43035' gives me the local weather fast. I have custom ones to, so that 'joz' goes to my website, 'rot' goes to RottenTomatoes, and other keys get me to client sites fast.
I also access Google 'days since' and 'cache functionality' thru DQSD. I find it hard to operate without the little bugger, as it also allows me to arrow up to previous searches via a local history and to drag search terms into it from anywhere...
Posted 23 October 2007 - 06:25 PM
Yet, in spite of my on-going interest and past experience, hardly a day goes by when I fail to find what I want on the Internet. Don't get me wrong, I think I find a lot, but I'm also convinced there's a lot I don't find. Search has come a long way. It nonetheless still has a long way to go.
Posted 23 October 2007 - 06:50 PM
Posted 23 October 2007 - 07:11 PM
And librarians, too! Another YES.
Librarians and SEOs rock the Casbah when it comes to finding and sorting information.
AND, it helps if that particular SEO or librarian is thinking in terms of the end user's needs. If not, you could search for answers and not resolve much of anything.
Sort of related example: I was in a store with a friend who is a brilliant engineer. Our families were camping together, some on grump-inspiring pads, some on air mattresses that had died the night before. We were looking at huge blowup air beds as replacements. He asked the salesperson for "the physical dimensions" of the air bed. Got a blank stare in return. Was befuddled and tried repeating himself. I asked "what size" she thought it was, after which she and I figured out that our tents were about as wide as a double bed, down to the approximate inches.
Edited by AbleReach, 23 October 2007 - 07:12 PM.
Posted 23 October 2007 - 08:27 PM
Though, as been mentioned, sometimes I just can't find what I seek (can't give an example, though).
I don't normally use operators, though I use quotes and - a lot. Sometimes, I just make the quiery very specific to find what I want (though it often doesn't give me what I want, too, showing me the limits of the Internet - or Google).
I suppose I need to confess that I use Google. Maybe I should try using Yahoo, or something. Just need to remember about it, when I do search again.
Sometimes, to find what you need, you just need to be creative. For example, I needed to decipher some industry-specific acronyms, but acronym finder didn't have them. So I searched for 'product acronym' and easily arrived at pages using the acronym and its full form. Next time when I need to decipher an acronym, I'll go this way, because it's faster, than using acronymfinder.com.
By the way, do you use any clever tricks that you have probably learned as SEOs, such as using the right words, specific phrases and long tail phrases? How else do you find stuff?
Edited by A.N.Onym, 23 October 2007 - 08:29 PM.
Posted 24 October 2007 - 02:57 AM
Me three My fix: make it a habit to try to remember the titles of the interesting pages and look them up in Firefox's history. Set the number of days to cache to something like 10 days or more.
but whatever I do, I never see that site again
Barry: I never got used to Related Searches. Are they any good? Last time I tried it on eKstreme.com I got some really random "related" sites.
Good pun My 9-5 job is a consultant... GASP! It's a technical consulting job so I do a lot searching. And I mean a lot. If there is another job SEO prepares you for, it's what I do.
I should like some proof of this hypothetical world outside SEO. Next you'll be raving about 'real' life? Or is that last a step too extreme?
Ooh, never tried Ixquick. I'm defaulting to Yahoo! and Live these days, and dipping into Hakia for really tough searches. Invariably, I quickly figure out the *real* terms I should be using.
* I do 'quick' look-ups on Ask but still mostly use Ixquick Metasearch (habit ) as my initial web research tool. Google is third choice.
Jozian: I wrote up a home-page script that manages my top links and put it on a password-protected website. I have access to it anywhere in the world and would feel so lost without it. Dave's toolbar looks interesting though so might just give it a try!
Ron: Try Hakia and ChaCha when you can't find stuff. Hakia is different because it's a real-language search. It can decipher what you really mean quite well. The index is a bit stale and has some spam in it still (it's beta) but dang does it hit the mark sometimes. ChaCha is great because you can ask other "guides" to do the searches for you. Sometimes I find it better to just describe something to someone and let them figure out what searches to do. Others I try sometimes are Clusty, Ask, and specific vertical SEs as necessary.
Set the browser's default SE to be whatever you want. I suggest Yahoo! for now, and also have Live too. In FF, the shortcut is Ctrl-K to focus the search field and Ctrl+up or down to scroll through the available SE options.
I suppose I need to confess that I use Google. Maybe I should try using Yahoo, or something. Just need to remember about it, when I do search again.
By the way, do you use any clever tricks that you have probably learned as SEOs, such as using the right words, specific phrases and long tail phrases? How else do you find stuff?
Yes and yes. My favorite trick is to use AdWords keyword selection tool to figure out what's important in a subject. So when we get a new project, I experiment a bit with some keywords I think are relevant and build out from there using AdWords' tool. This gives a very high level overview of the subject and helps frame further work.
AND, it helps if that particular SEO or librarian is thinking in terms of the end user's needs. If not, you could search for answers and not resolve much of anything.
Another trick: thesaurus.reference.com is your friend. Seriously!
And I mentioned the site:.gov for medical searches trick. Very handy.
What are you tricks?
Posted 24 October 2007 - 06:07 AM
Anyway, I also use the "-" exclusion operators alot as well as the site: and inurl: operators to get closer to things that I really want. Often I'll know that what I want is on some domain, but I just can't find it there, that's when the site:-operator comes in handy.
Posted 24 October 2007 - 07:39 AM
Posted 24 October 2007 - 10:03 AM
This example (grabbed elsewhere) shows it works well for finding faces http://images.google...mp;imgtype=face.
Great for when you are trying to find a pic of a person.
Pierre: I dont use Adwords as much as I might, but I think that is exactly the logic I use when initial searches fail -- I think up and down the tree of related terms trying to find something unique that might hit. And when the brain fails, I do go to the thesaurus.
re ChaCha - glad to hear you like it Pierre. We've been reworking the ChaCha Guide pool and expanding access ideas. I'm really excited about the value human brainpowower can bring to search - when it is optimized within a knowledge framework.
Let me add a question here, related to Pierre's orignal one, that I have been chewing on: How teachable is search? Techniques are teachable. Knowledge of where to look is teachable. But what percent of good search skills are limited by intelligence?, the ability to intuit intent and gist meaning?, and ability to find paths around search roadblocks?
Edited by Jozian, 24 October 2007 - 10:04 AM.
Posted 24 October 2007 - 10:50 AM
Posted 24 October 2007 - 10:53 AM
Posted 24 October 2007 - 01:57 PM
I really like researching specific topics, and I happen to also be a search professional, so it's double fun for me.
However, what annoys me - or maybe what I'm spoiled with - is certain applications (*cough*Facebook) not having the common search options that most search engines have.
Jeff - in response to your question.. I would say that type of intuition is caused by experience, which can't be taught. However most techniques and tips would help someone to get experience and then start to develop their own strategies. Of course these are most relevant to people who do research for articles, essays, etc.
Ask a student how he/she searches. Sometimes they have to write papers on very specific topics with sources, and they might develop the techniques to get the best possible searches.
As mentioned in Kim's recent podcast, people suffering from cancer or having family members in that situation, might use websites (and especially search engines) to find guidance, support, or case studies - when that kind of pressure is on you, sometimes you are nervous, but many times you think more strategically to find the right information.
Edited by kulpreet_singh, 24 October 2007 - 02:00 PM.
Posted 24 October 2007 - 04:09 PM
After enough exposure to searches/SERPS, people learn what works and what doesn't. (I personally usually find the result I'm looking for in a search or two using longer phrases.)
Posted 24 October 2007 - 04:19 PM
I installed the Enhanced History Manager Firefox extension, but still have the oldest folder being 6 days ago. I don't find that extension does much for me.
Posted 24 October 2007 - 04:37 PM
On another FF installation, I don't have the extension installed and I still have the Older than 6 Days option. Maybe it's a later FF versions thing? I always have the latest one installed and I know I've had it for a while.
Jeff: I think searching can be taught, like anything in life. A cliche analogy: give a paint brush to people and they will all draw something somewhat resembling something in life. But once in a while, a person will hold a paintbrush and paint the Mona Lisa or water lillies (go Monet :disco2: ). It's a distribution like most other things in life.
That's not habituation you're talking about, but neuroplasticity. Habituation is the decrease in response to a stimulus over time, like ignoring the scratching of a wrist watch or noise ignored and becomes "background". Plasticity is part of learning where the brain re-wires itself.
I think successful searches are in part a result of the brain's habituation function over time.
After enough exposure to searches/SERPS, people learn what works and what doesn't.
That's a key tactic. One point I always make to people who ask me is tell them to imagine their data. Imagine what they're looking for and how they would go about publishing it. This creates a set of modifiers like [table] or [chart] or [map] that are not part of the common set of search modifiers like [free] and [how to].
(I personally usually find the result I'm looking for in a search or two using longer phrases.)
Posted 24 October 2007 - 05:42 PM
Is that normal? Perhaps I'm just too impatient with site-navigation and not satisfied with the results of site-search...
Posted 24 October 2007 - 06:49 PM
Do we need more than one (1) guess as to which "g*" SE that would be?
I prefer to just go to a "global" search engine...
Perhaps I'm just too impatient with site-navigation and not satisfied with the results of site-search...
Actually I do much the same (an exact match might require a different SE identifier :ph34r:) as I find most sites past a couple hundred pages lose navigation integrity and almost all site internal search a lost cause.
The ignorance, incompetence, and parsimony of web management must be among the 'global' search engines greatest assets.
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Moderators: Timko, Fritz, Solty, Booter, Blake_T, Frank Delicious
ADiscand3Plates wrote:The 1.8 QJLS. Call them what you want. I am looking to re-stock my 150's. Where are they hiding? Just went thru three sites with no hits
Peeete wrote:What are the differences in runs of the Sirius Orion OLS? Is 1.5 the latest?
zj1002 wrote:I just got some 1.3 Stardust QOLFs
They are domey but it is an even dome. Plastic has a good grip , not slick like some of the other stardust.
Fritz wrote:Booter wrote:those of u still tossing the zero g quasars and scorpus, how have they been treating u? ive read through the past pages of discussion and im thinking of trying some out .
140-150s is what im looking at.
Better late than never,... I LOVE my ZG Quasars. I throw them a ton. I stopped throwing the Scorpius it just didn't fit anywhere in my bag set up. It's a great disc, I just have no use for it.
One thing about the ZGQ I love, it reminds me smooth and steady and keeps me from over torque. If you put to much on it, it turns hard.
Steady 26542 wrote:What did you buy PMantle, Q Quasar or Q Scorpius? I like the Q/S Scorpius for sidearms. I sidearm the ZG Scorpius for more D but it's a bit more touchy being so light. Power down and throw with good form and the ZG Scorpius goes long, but I don't have good form so results vary...
zj1002 wrote:I just got some 1.3 Stardust QOLFs
They are domey but it is an even dome. Plastic has a good grip , not slick like some of the other stardust.
These are really fast, probably the fastest OLF I have ever thrown. They are bit straighter than the last run, showing more high speed turn, but they still have plenty of low speed fade. They get out really fast, and glide, and then just fade forward. The 1.3s show pretty good low speed fade especially on hyzers. This is what makes the QOLF so great, it slows down perfectly, so I am glad this run still does that
The only bad thing about this run...the only colors are dark red, blue, purple and black...that was a bit disappointing to find out. I prefer my main driver(the QOLF) to be in orange or yellow.
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Just an FYI
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Just an FYI
Looks like I may have eeked out Game 1 by 3-4 points or so.
We're both posting some sad numbers for Game 2 as well. Losing Wade AND Randolph really hurts right now.
Hey! What're you kicking me for? You want me to ask? All right, I'll ask! Ma'am, where do the high school girls hang out in this town?
My team, at full health, is down 70 points!
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FOX's 'Almost Human': Watch 8 Minutes of the Premiere Right Now!
We've been waiting for a worthy successor to 'Fringe' for months now, but is J.J. Abrams' futuristic cop drama 'Almost Human' up to the task? A full eight minutes from the pilot episode have been made available to viewers, following the earlier delay of the premiere, so find out for yourself if the new robot cop drama from the minds behind 'Fringe' and starring 'Star Trek''s Karl Urban is worth a look!


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It may have been a positive year for the FTSE 100, with the index rising 6.85 per cent, but UK gains look positively pedestrian when compared with the rest of the world.
The FTSE 100 has failed to break through the psychologically-important 6,000 level, despite coming close in March when it hit a high of 5965.58. For the following two months the index fell back sharply, hitting a low of 5,260.19 just two months later.
However, by far the star performing major market globally has been Germany.
The blue-chip DAX index has soared by an impressive 29.5 per cent, as the country's exporters benefited from low interest rates and a relatively weak currency. This is despite Germany taking up most of the slack for the heavily indebted southern European states.
The DAX has been boosted by a 42.2 per cent recovery in the price of insurer Allianz and a 48 per cent leap for drugs giant Bayer. A recovery in the global car industry also sent shares in Volkswagen soaring by 56 per cent and BMW's equity leapt by 41 per cent.
Gains in France's CAC 40 are running at about double those seen in the UK. The blue-chip index has risen 16 per cent, boosted by drugs group Sanofi, which is the largest constituent of the index, making up 12.4 per cent. Large gains in oil group Total, which has a 12 per cent weighting, have also helped propel the index higher.
Elsewhere in Europe, Italy's MIB 30 and Portugal's PSI General index have both added 8 per cent, while Spain's Ibex 35 has slumped 3.1 per cent, with confidence dragged down by sky-high unemployment and a soaring debt-to-GDP ratio. The index has fallen despite its third-largest constituent - Zara owner Inditex - soaring by 70.5 per cent over the year.
One of the main causes of the Ibex fall has been a 22 per cent slump in telecoms group Telefonica, which makes up 14.2 per cent of the index and is its second-largest constituent. The share which has most impact on the Ibex is Banco Santander, with a weighting of 18.2 per cent. Its shares have risen 4 per cent.
However, Greek shares have managed to perform better than any other market, with the Athens Stock Exchange General Index rising a very impressive 32 per cent. But this is a recovery from a low base and says more about how far the market fell in 2011 than how much things have improved this year.
Despite nervousness as the US approaches the "fiscal cliff", Wall Street has enjoyed a good year. The 30-stock Dow Jones industrial average has risen 8 per cent, while the broader S&P 500 has soared by 13.4 per cent.
The US economy has shown remarkable strength. The country's third-quarter GDP growth was recently revised up to 3.1 per cent from 2.7 per cent, its highest growth rate since late 2011.
However, economists remain unconvinced that such a speedy recovery can continue into next year.
Emerging markets have turned in a mixed performance but the undoubted loser is China.
The benchmark Shanghai Composite Index has risen just 0.9 per cent, making it one of the worst-performing global indices. Growth has slowed in the world's second-largest economy but GDP is still expected to have increased by about 7.5 per cent and should accelerate above 8 per cent in 2013.
The rest of the so-called "BRIC" countries have fared better. Brazil's Bovespa has risen 7.7 per cent, with Russia's Micex also up 5.3 per cent. The clear winner, however, is India, where the blue-chip BSE Sensex rocketed an impressive 25 per cent.
However, none of the major emerging markets have managed to outperform Germany.
Rivalry between Australia and New Zealand is always strong - but the Kiwis have managed to beat their Aussie cousins in the stock market stakes.
The ASX 200 in Sydney has risen 14.3 per cent, with the NZX 50 up 24 per cent. The Australian performance has been hampered by the index's heavy exposure to mining shares, which have had a downbeat year on fears of stalling growth in China.
So, all-in-all, equity investors have had a banner year in 2012 - especially those investing outside the UK. Germany, although just pipped by a recovering Greece, was the best investment proposition of the year in terms of performance and liquidity.
The Telegraph, London


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Secretary ki Chudai
Secretary ki Chudai
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Maine usko jameen par lita kar shower mein pooraa bhigo diya,ab woh pehle se jyada sexi lagne lagi,usko sexy dekhkar lund mein ek naya josh aaa gaya aur woh sidhe choot mein jaane ke liye hillorein marne lagaa,maine use control kar sidhe choot mein jaane ka rasta dikhaya,choot par garam lund ka sparsh hotey hi monica apni gaand ko uthakar lund ko lene ke liye bekarar hone lagi,lund ko dhire se andar daal diye-------------baaki agli bar kyunki bahut lambi ho gayi hai.
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Haren: 'A lot of good stuff' in start
VIERA, Fla. -- It being a Spring Training start, Dan Haren was able to look at his third-inning hiccup on Tuesday as a positive.
The Nationals right-hander cruised through the first two frames of his second Grapefruit League start, retiring the first six Astros hitters he faced, before surrendering a run on two hits and a walk in the third.
"In Spring Training, if you do good, you feel great. If you do bad, you're just working on stuff," Haren joked. "That's what everyone says. So I was just working on things in the third inning. It is good, probably. You build endurance through pushing yourself. I got pushed that third inning. The walk kind of frustrated me, but besides that, two singles -- one of them was hit fairly well -- but besides that, I got most balls where I wanted them today."
Haren said most of his 50 pitches (34 were strikes) were fastballs and cutters, while mixing in one curveball and a handful of split-fingers. His final line: three innings, two hits, one earned run, one walk and two strikeouts.
"My split is a work in progress," Haren said. "Probably next game, I've got to focus a little bit on it. [Jose Altuve's RBI single] was a two-strike split, which just can't happen. A long ways to go, but definitely for the most part, a lot of good stuff."
Haren has been making an effort this spring to work the inside half of the plate against right-handers, and said he was pleased with his ability to do so on Tuesday. He expects to jump to 60-70 pitches in his next outing, which will come against the Tigers in Lakeland on March 10.
"As long as I come out and feel good, I'm just trying to really take care of myself in between," Haren said. "I'm doing a lot more in between starts in preparation for the start. Just recovery, and I want to go out there and feel good 30 times and help the team. I'm going to be out there regardless of how I feel. Am I going to feel great? Am I going to feel good? I'll be out there, though."
Joey Nowak is a reporter for MLB.com. Follow him on Twitter at @joeynowak. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Topic: The Cancer is back in Action - Advice Please
Hi Everyone,
Many of you may or may not be familiar with my mother's case, so just a quick recap. She was diagnosed in December with ICC with a large tumour of 8x9cm, two smaller ones in the liver as well as some lymph node involvement, she is also 46 years old. Having said this, after the biopsy was completed and a metal stent was inserted she started the gem/cis regimen in which she had some success. The largest tumour shrunk in half, one of the smaller tumours dissapeared and the other one was only 1cm. Her lymph nodes shrank slightly and that was that. She continued with the chemo until the doctor and her decided it was break time as she had already completed 7.5 cycyles by June. She started to experience strange symptoms after, pain in her shoulders, lower back etc. They ended up doing a repeat scan in July and everything was stable which was very good news. Unfortunatley, her condition worsened ... she ended up losing more weight, had bad fatigue, was burping all the time, had a fever here and there but nothing. We went to the ER and they did a chest xray for infections but didn't find anything and then two weeks later she had another ct scan (this is now September). When we got the results of her ct scan from September we were saddened to hear that her condition did in fact worsen, all the little tumours that had once dissapeared were now back again and active, her largest lymph node is now 4cm as opposed to 2.5cm, there are many more lymph nodes involved and apparently there are 3 nodules measuring between 2mm-6mm in her lungs. I couldn't believe it, the doctor on the other hand was concerned but said he does not want to give up even though we are calling in palliative care to ensure that pain is managed well a long with other symptoms. The doctor also decided that he would put her on Xeloda, 1800 mg for 2 weeks on and one week off. Seeing as her condition is not the greatest, has anyone been on this chemo regimen with advanced liver disease and seen success? I really am concerned, I need her to get better, feel stronger. She is not able to sleep as well, and complains of back pain all the time, she also has mild ascites.
If anyone could please provide me with some advice as to what they have done to combat liver disease that is advanced, it would be greatly appreciated. Unfortunatley, it seems as though Canadian oncologists have differing opinions about Cancer as opposed to Americans. I have seen on this forum that many people have used radiation, medical marijuana, and other chemo cocktails ... his response to radiation was that it was still being tested and hasn't been proven in terms of success but I feel like many of you have had success. This has become a very difficult situation, the doctor that she has is great ... he is not a negative person and I feel like he cares about my mother but I would like to exhaust all options to ensure that she feels better. Please share your experiences with me so that I have something to share with him and my mother so that she doesn't ever give up hope.
All the best to each and every one of you<3


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Your loved one's transfer to a transitional care hospital can be an important step toward recovery from a serious illness or accident.
The most common hospital setting in America is one that provides short-term acute care for patients with pressing health issues – emergencies or surgeries brought on by illness or an accident. The immediate goal is to stabilize the patient and begin the recovery process. But for many of these patients, a quick recovery is unrealistic. They need continued care. That's where a transitional care hospital comes in.
Transitional care hospitals offer aggressive, medically complex care, intensive care and
short-term rehabilitation.
Certified as long-term acute care hospitals and licensed as acute care hospitals, Kindred Transitional Care Hospitals are unique in their ability to care for critically ill patients who require specialized and goal-directed care over an extended recovery time. We have an additional Medicare certification that supports a length of stay measured in weeks as compared to the typical five-day stay for patients in traditional hospitals.
Our patients require an average length of stay of 25-30 days, and have many co-existing medical conditions, some acute and some chronic. Examples of some of the services our patients require are dialysis, ventilator management and weaning, special monitoring, wound care, nutritional therapy, pain management and IV therapy, and some of the conditions we see are pulmonary disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), emphysema, multiple organ system failure, ventilator dependence, cardiac disease, pressure wounds, neuromuscular diseases, gastrointestinal diseases and post-operative complications such as infection, bleeding or stroke.
In a transitional care hospital, care is provided by an interdisciplinary team that may be made up of physicians, nurses, social workers, occupational therapists, speech therapists, physical therapists or others. The team's goal is to identify the patient's medical conditions, formulate a treatment plan, set reasonable goals and coordinate care to meet those goals, ultimately resulting in improvement over the long term.
In some cases, the patient's regular physician will continue to see the patient if he or she is moved to a transitional care hospital; in other cases, the patient's care will be transferred to a physician who specializes in caring for patients who require long-term acute care. Nursing staff levels are comparable to those at a short-term acute care hospital, as are staffing levels for therapists and other clinicians.
As a family member, your involvement in the patient's recovery and healing process is essential. You provide a valuable service to the patient and to the interdisciplinary team by offering support as well as background information. We work with you toward your loved one's recovery through family conferences, case management and social services.
Kindred Transitional Care Hospitals are fully accredited and the care is supervised by physicians, with 24-hour nursing and 24-hour
respiratory therapy available. A laboratory, radiology services and a pharmacy are located on-site.
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The potential for U.S. potatoes in Panama and other Central American countries can't be unlocked until a stream of trade begins to flow, said Seth Pemsler, who recently returned from a trade mission for the Idaho Potato Commission.
"The key to selling internationally, especially in Latino or Asian countries, is to meet face to face," said Pemsler, vice president of retail for the commission. "Those cultures don't like to do business with people they don't know personally."
Pemsler and a group that included representatives from two Idaho shippers and members of the Western U.S. Trade Association visited Panama and Colombia in early February. The trip was timed to capitalize on trade agreements signed in recent months between the U.S. and the two countries.
Korea also signed a trade agreement at that time, but Pemsler said Idaho potatoes are already going to that country, so the commission decided to focus on Central America.
"In Panama we found U.S. potatoes on the shelf at retail, which is encouraging because Panama's gross domestic product is growing at about 10% a year, so business will only get better," Pemsler said.
Pemsler said the trade delegation spent two days in each country, meeting with six potential customers every day.
"They all thanked us for coming to meet them in person. It really made an impression with them. In the international markets — once you get in — is that they are very loyal customers, once you establish a relationship," Pemsler said.
"It is crucial to have a Spanish interpreter, but the fact that you take time to travel to their country and meet them in person and shake their hand seems to make a huge difference."
The delegation on the trade mission included Manny Carvajal, a salesman from Wada Farms, Idaho Falls, Idaho.
Chris Wada, director of marketing, said any trade mission with the commission is a worthwhile trip, and the company didn't want to miss the opportunity.
"We don't have a logistics advantage here in Idaho in terms of exports," Wada said, "but an opportunity in a new market can't be ignored. So we have to turn it into a value proposition where the grown-in-Idaho potato is billed as a premium product."
That philosophy is what those on the trade mission stressed, Pemsler said.
Idaho potatoes are becoming known internationally as "the potato to have," Pemsler said, partly because of their great success in restaurants around the globe where chefs choose Idaho potatoes for bakers.
Pemsler said one difference between many international markets and domestic markets is that retailers use more than one importer. That can create a ripple effect because if an importer sees Idaho potatoes at one store, they want to get in on the deal.
While the Panama meetings appeared productive, with orders actually written on the trip in February, the potential in Colombia will take time to develop, Pemsler said.
"In Colombia they think they don't need us because they grow their own potatoes," Pemsler said. "But we know it is important to make first contact because if there is a crop failure or some other problem, they will be looking for potatoes and they will remember we went to meet them."


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Once dominated by GoPro, the action-camera market is now swelling with competitors. Which tough video taker takes the cake?
Body by Claus: Tech to Keep You Slim Over the Holidays
Once dominated by GoPro, the action-camera market is now swelling with competitors. Which tough video taker takes the cake?More
It seems crazy today that just a decade ago, people were still recording outdoor adventures on tape. Tape!
GoPro, now a company with $500 million in annual revenues, changed everything with the debut of its first rugged camera in 2007. For many professional and amateur photographers, GoPro changed the way they captured action shots, especially automotive action. GoPros mounted with ease and, unlike complex DSLR rigs, didn't put an expensive camera at risk. Importantly, the camera shot high-quality video (1080p) and 5mp stills. The GoPro HD Hero became an important tool that supplemented traditional DSLRs already in the camera bag.
GoPro continues to lead the action-camera market in sales, and we look forward to testing their newest top-of-the-line Hero 3 Black, which can record in stunning 4k. But the company's success attracted many other players to the market. So PopMech gathered and tested 10 of the newest action cams to check out the latest equipment that will capture future YouTube-worthy stunts, crashes, and other "hey, watch this!" moments.
Price: $299.95
With two tripod mounts (side and bottom), the tiny JVC GC-XA2 is the easiest camera in the field to mount on your helmet or car. The JVC is a "caseless" unit, meaning there's no secondary plastic enclosure as with the GoPro. The GC-XA2's metal and rubberized case protects the camera against minor shunts and is watertight to a depth of about 16 feet.
The crisp 1.5-inch LCD viewfinder is bright enough to see outdoors. The video quality in 1080p is good, as are the stills. A suction-cup mount is optional, supplanting a combo flat- and curved-surface mount that offers good camera aiming flexibility.
In addition to shooting at 30 and 60 frames per second, the JVC can record at 4x slow motion—120 frames per second—in rich 720p resolution. This matches the highest frame rate/resolution combination now available. Same for the camera's 16mp still photos.
The built-in WiFi and free smart phone app helps you remotely frame the video and start/stop recording. To save precious juice, the Wi-Fi must be triggered at each re-start.
Max Video Resolution: 1080p
Slow Motion/Resolution: 120 fps/720p
Viewfinder: Yes
• Size: 1.5"
• Color/Monotone: Color
• Backlit/Reflective: Backlit
Still Photo Max Resolution: 16mp
Water Resistant (depth): 5m
Shock Resistant (height): 2m
Remote Control, standard: No
WiFi: Yes
GPS Data Overlay: No
HDMI Output: Yes
Internal Speaker: Yes
Tripod Mount, built in: Yes
Lens Angle(s): 160°
Image Stabilization: Yes
Card Type: SD
Battery Amps (mAh): 1050
Weight, with housing: 4.8 oz
A Brief History of the World Cup Soccer Ball


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Don't Get Lulled Into Complacency
Complacency still dominates our markets. On the second chart below, I have again shown the volatility index (VIX), since it continues at levels not seen in over five years. Look back at history and note that low fear levels coincide with market highs. So there continues to be a warning here to not be carried away by the bullishness of the crowd. There are times when one has to be a contrarian, and I see this as one of them.
Yesterday was the eighth consecutive session in which we have had an extremely tight trading range, indicating that the market has encountered a very difficult resistance level. It is the same area touched last year, and not much below the all-time highs. That is posing a major blockage to further upside progress. Be ready to go short on any sign of weakness out of this area....275 more words left in this article. To read them, just click below and try Real Money FREE for 14 days.
There's no substitute for a trading floor to get great ideas, so Jim Cramer created a better one at Real Money and blogs there exclusively. We then added legendary hedge fund manager, Doug Kass, with his exclusive Daily Diary and best investing ideas. Staffed with more than 4 dozen investing pros, money managers, journalists and analysts, Real Money Pro gives you a flood of opinions, analysis and actionable trading advice found nowhere else, and allows you to interact directly with each expert.
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Cardinals release Ronny Cedeno
The St. Louis Cardinals announced today that they have given infielder Ronny Cedeno his outright release. The team also re-assigned non-roster left-handed pitcher Tyler Lyons to their minor league camp.
Today's moves have reduced the number of players on the Major League spring roster to 38.


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I haven't looked too closely at what's going on, but I didn't think it used AJAX. If it did, then when you clicked to expand a comment, there'd be a round trip to the server to get the comment text.
I think the way it works is that the full text of the comments is included in the page (good for Google as you say) and client-side JavaScript is used to show/hide bits.


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Five years ago today, Fallout 3 released in North America. To celebrate the occasion, share your favorite #Fallout3Memories with our official Twitter account for Bethesda Game Studios – @BGS_Devs.
Related, Eurogamer recently put up a new feature highlighting the game as one of the best games of this generation. Elsewhere, GamesTM ranked the game #1 in their list of 50 Defining Games of This Console Generation, and Todd Howard commented on the honor here.


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Beckley museum showcases a century of military artifacts
here. BECKLEY, W.Va. -- Although the Raleigh County Veterans Museum's centerpiece is the 20-foot long scale model of the battleship USS West Virginia, the museum displays thousands of other military artifacts to help tell the stories of conflicts ranging from the labor movement's Battle of Blair Mountain to the war in Afghanistan.Exhibits range from a door used to contain inmates in a cellblock of the infamous Dachau concentration camp in Nazi Germany to a crossbow used by Montagnard tribesmen allied with U.S. troops in the Vietnam War.One room is dedicated exclusively to helmets worn by military personnel from all branches of the service, both friend and foe, from World War I on, while another contains field gear, weapons, flags, uniforms and emblems from Allied and Axis combatants in World War II.A display covering World War I includes a hand-cranked noisemaker used to warn entrenched doughboys of an attack, while a display focusing on the Vietnam War includes a brick from the infamous Hoa Lo prison, better known to American POWs as the Hanoi Hilton.While its presence might not yet be known statewide, "this is the best military museum in the state," said museum director James Toler. Founded by a group of Raleigh County veterans in 2001, the museum is contained in a former home with a modular addition facing Harper Road, a short distance off the West Virginia Turnpike's Harper Road exit.Toler and volunteer Joshua Brooks, a 16-year-old walking encyclopedia of military history, maintain the exhibits and help interpret them for visitors.Next to the huge USS West Virginia model, which he spent 17 years building, the exhibit Toler is most proud of is the Dachau concentration camp cell door, an artifact that recently came into the museum's inventory.The door apparently came into the possession of a U.S. Army officer who was stationed near the Bavarian death camp after World War II, and had it shipped home to West Virginia with furniture and other personal possessions when his tour of duty there ended. One day, a female relative of the officer called Toler and asked if the museum was interested in a door from a Nazi concentration camp, which she initially identified as Auschwitz."I said to myself, 'Oh, sure,' but I told her to bring it by and we'd take a look at it," Toler said. "When she got here, Josh got on his computer and started calling up pictures of German concentration camp doors" and the two began comparing them to the artifact in the woman's truck.They determined that the door came not from Auschwitz, but more likely came from Dachau, Germany's first concentration camp, which the Nazis used as a model for the camps that followed.Toler and Brooks checked the hardware on the door, some of which was still being made by German manufacturers, to see if authentic, time-appropriate hinges, locks and other fixtures were used. As it turned out, they were."I about had a stroke," Toler said. "It was real. It came from the bunker block, where people deemed enemies of the state were kept."The door is now the centerpiece of a Holocaust exhibit at the museum that includes photographs of Dachau from the collection of the late Gen. Shirley Donnely of Crab Orchard, an Army chaplain during World War II, along with scrip from the SS canteen at the Buchenwald death camp and other items."Without question, the Dachau door is the most extraordinary Holocaust relic in West Virginia and one of the larger Holocaust relics in the United States," Toler said.Toler said many items displayed at the museum were donated by veterans and their families, including out-of-state visitors who stopped at the museum while making a trip on the Turnpike and returned with artifacts from their closets and garages."And you would not believe how many hollows I've been up" to follow up on calls about prospective museum pieces, he said.Toler said he hopes the collection assembled so far "will be the basis for a statewide veterans museum. That's what our board wants and what our veterans deserve."The Raleigh County Veterans Museum is located at 1557 Harper Road in Beckley. Operating hours are from 1 to 6 p.m. on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. For more information, call 304-253-1775 or fisit www.rcvm.org.Reach Rick Steelhammer at firstname.lastname@example.com or 304-348-5169.


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Birds are first delivered from their mothers' wombs in the form of eggs.
By breaking through the shells, they are delivered for a second time. Finally when they become full fledglings, endowed with feathers and wings, they are delivered from their nests and can fly wherever they please.
Similar is the case of meditators. They are first delivered from the distractions of the mind which have
accompanied them throughout the beginningless saṃsāra (cycle of rebirth),
through successfully setting up mindful body contemplation (mindfulness of the body kayānupassanā), or by accomplishing the work of tranquillity meditation.
Secondly, when they attain insight (vipassana) into body, mind, aggregates (rupa, nama, khandha) and so on, they are free from coarse forms of ignorance.
Finally, when the seven factors of enlightenment (bojjhaṅga), develop and mature, they become fully fledged by attaining the knowledge of the supramundane path (lokuttara-magga- ñana) called sambodhi.
Thus are they delivered from the state of worldlings (puthujjana), attaining the state of Noble Ones (ariya) the supramundane (lokkuttara): nibbāna.
The Requisites of Enlightenment (Bodhipakkhiya Dipani).
Venerable Ledi Sayadaw


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Alex O'Loughlin Photo 314x400
Alex O'Loughlin
Alex O'Loughlin (born Alexander O'Lachlan on 24 August 1976 in Canberra, Australia) is an actor, currently starring in the CBS television series, Hawaii Five-0 as Lieutenant Commander Steve McGarrett. His best known earlier roles include Kevin Hiatt in The Shield and Mick St. John in Moonlight, and romantic comedy film, The Back-up Plan, where he starred alongside Jennifer Lopez, which grossed $77,237,270. He is also the current ambassador for Donate Life America.
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What am I?Riddles are little poems or phrases that pose a question that needs answering. Riddles frequently rhyme, but this is not a requirement.
Twice ten are six of us,
six are but three of us.
Nine are but four of us;
What can we possibly be?
Would you know more of us,
twelve are but six of us.
Five are but four, do you see?
HintIt`s as easy as ABC!
Twice ten is twenty and twenty is a word made up of six letters. There are three letters in six and there are four letters in nine and so on.
What Next?
See another brain teaser just like this one...
Or, just get a random brain teaser
If you become a registered user you can vote on this riddle, keep track of
which ones you have seen, and even make your own.
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Return to article: MSU alumni help build up a small-town dinosaur museum in eastern Montana
For editorial use only in conjunction with the direct publicity or promotion of Montana State University, unless otherwise noted. No other rights are granted. Commercial use is prohibited. All rights reserved.
To download the high-resolution version of this image, use your browser's Save or Download Image feature, found by right-clicking (PC) or control-clicking (Mac) on the image.


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|Find A Doctor:
|Online or call:1-800-247-9580
|Contact Us:
Newton Medical Center: The Patient Experience
A hospitalist is a physician trained in internal medicine or family medicine who specializes in caring for hospitalized patients, both adults and children. The Hospitalist Medicine Program at Newton Medical Center comprises a team of physicians who provide round-the-clock specialized care to hospitalized patients. Our hospitalists focus exclusively on the care of patients admitted to Newton Medical Center, and do not maintain private practices or office hour, but provide services 24/7 at the hospital.
At Newton Medical Center, hospitalized patients are referred by their primary care physicians and specialists to the hospitalist program for care. In addition, our hospitalists care for any hospitalized patients who do not have a primary care physician.
Hospitalists manage each patient's course through the hospital, ordering diagnostic imaging studies and laboratory tests, and closely monitoring the patient's progress. All the while, hospitalists remain in close contact with the patient's primary care physician, communicating test results and discussing whether additional diagnostic testing is necessary.
Hospitalists' relationships inside the hospital enable them to know the best ways to expedite and improve care within the environment. They are familiar with the key individuals throughout the hospital, including medical and surgery consultants, discharge planners, clergy and others. This means shorter wait times and quicker discharges.
When a patient is preparing to leave Newton Medical Center, his or her hospitalist will prepare a discharge plan, including written and verbal instructions and any necessary prescriptions. This plan will also include appointments for follow-up with a primary care physician and relevant specialists.
Board Certification(s):
To make an appointment call


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Emeril's Empire
Chef, actor, businessman, entrepreneur. Emeril Lagasse has done it all.
(continued from page 5)
You've read his cookbooks. Maybe you've made the pilgrimage to one of the nine restaurants he owns and operates in five cities across the American Sun Belt -- Atlanta, Orlando, Miami, Las Vegas and New Orleans, where they cater to the same housewives, middle managers, firemen and young professionals that have made him the most recognizable chef in history.
You've seen him on "Good Morning, America," you've bought his salad dressing. You might have even been a portion of the 2 percent or so of U.S. television owners who tuned in, on average, for each of the 13 episodes of his 2001 sitcom on NBC. You think you have a handle on this charismatic, 45-year-old Everyman, who has inspired millions of ordinary people to not only take pains to watch a cooking show, but actually attempt some of the recipes. Who has his face plastered on product lines from knives to clogs, and a Crest toothpaste ad campaign, to boot. You think you know Emeril.
And you're right. That regular guy who occasionally mangles the English language but always talks nice to the ladies in the audience, who wears a sport coat over his Emeril's T-shirt and tells you to shove a spoon in the pot and taste everything you're cooking, that's Emeril. The enthusiasm is genuine and the eagerness to be liked is, too. There he is, stepping into the bar at New York's Loews Regency Hotel like "a force of nature," as his friend Charlie Trotter calls him. He's shaking hands as if he's running for governor, ordering a glass of Chardonnay, raising a toast before his guest can say a word. "I used to think when I started, 'I'm a chef, so I have to act like Alain Ducasse on TV,'" he says. "Doesn't work. Bores people."
Sure, he's more sedate than the character on television, and more considered. He doesn't stand up in the middle of the bar and gesticulate, or move in tight for a fishbowl close-up. When he isn't selling himself, he's actually a listener more than a talker. Still, none of what you see is contrived. "There's no smoke and mirrors," says Dave McCelvey, the culinary director of Lagasse's restaurants and other food properties, who has worked with him since 1991. "He doesn't put on an act. He really is gregarious and charismatic and caring. And people just flip over him."
The sincerity sells. These days, Lagasse values his Emeril Empire at "at least $150 million" of annual business. As much as $90 million of that comes from the restaurants, which happen to be the most profitable part, too. They're the centerpiece, the hearth around which everything else is built. Not for Lagasse is Jacques Pepin's status as Television Chef Without Portfolio, or Julia Child's longtime career cooking for friends and at gala events but with no kitchen -- other than the one in her Public Broadcasting studio -- to call home. "Inside all of this whatever-this-is, there's a serious chef in my body," Lagasse says. "That's what I am, that's what I know, that's where I came from, and everything revolves around that. And without that, I'm nothing."
But if it's nothing more than that, he knows, "Then it's about being chained to the stove, as I was for many, many years. Twelve shifts a week. Period." If it's nothing more than that, cab drivers don't shout, "Yo, Emeril" as he walks down Park Avenue, and grandmothers don't ask for an autograph and a kiss on the cheek. If it's nothing more than that, Emeril is still a household name only in select New Orleans households, and the vast majority of Americans still believe that cooking is something that only cooks do -- and cooks have French accents and wear big white hats.
Lagasse taught us it wasn't necessarily so. Now he's trying to do something even bigger and change our relationship to the food around us. "Twenty years ago, when we were talking about American cuisine, it was just a few of us, a specialty thing," he says. "Ten years ago, the idea of a television network about food seemed insane. So maybe 10 years from now -- with the help of a lot of different people, and maybe just a tiny bit from me -- everyone will be eating better, and looking at food in a different way. Why not?"
He gives that wouldn't-it-be-something look you've seen on the TV shows, but you know better. With what he has accomplished so far, it would be foolish to bet against him.
On television, Lagasse is a purposefully imprecise cook. He throws in a dash of this and a dash of that because he knows that most home cooks are far more likely to do the same than portion out salt in a measuring cup and weigh garlic cloves on a kitchen scale.
But those who criticize his sloppy technique miss the point. "He's easily capable of running a restaurant that's one of the top restaurants in the world," says Trotter, who does exactly that at Charlie Trotter's in Chicago. "I'd say that without hesitation. Watch him eat at a serious restaurant. He hunches over. His face is four inches from the food. He's staring at it, concentrating. He's one of the most intense eaters that you'll ever see."
Lagasse loved food so much that he turned down a free ride to the New England Conservatory of Music to become a chef. Doing so, he broke his mother's heart. To Hilda Lagasse, cooking was something that Portuguese women in the mill town of Fall River, Massachusetts, did every night, not a valid career path for an ambitious son. "I mean, let's face it, nobody in the early '70s -- especially a guy -- ever cooked," he says. "Especially where I came from. It was never really thought about like that in this country. As a matter of fact, once I made that decision and moved to New York, I couldn't get a job because I was American. Chefs were French, German, Swiss. Americans washed dishes."
He persevered. With his degree from Providence's Johnson & Wales University, internships in Paris and Lyon, and some brief experience in kitchens in Boston and New York, Lagasse moved to New Orleans in 1983 to become chef at Commander's Palace, where Paul Prudhomme had made his name only a few years before.
At the time, Commander's Palace was more venerable than consistent. Lagasse arrived, threw out the canned goods in the larder, canceled contracts, and began making everything from scratch. He forged alliances with growers and seafood providers, gave farmers seed money to raise quails. He stripped the restaurant down and built it up again. By the end of his run, he was not only the head chef but also the general manager. "I was ready to dance," he says. "And I danced."
By then, he'd read the 1959 self-help classic The Magic of Thinking Big, by David J. Schwartz. "It made me realize that people have big things in them," says Lagasse. "Sometimes they just need to be brought out. In order to be big, you have to think big. If you think small, you're going to be small."
Big meant having his own restaurant, so he started Emeril's in 1990 in New Orleans' warehouse district, far from the free-spending tourists of the French Quarter. Big meant a more casual joint, Nola, opened in 1992, which gave McCelvey a kitchen to call his own. "I realized if I didn't want to put a revolving door at the front door, I had to make opportunity for these people," says Lagasse.
But when the fledgling Food Network came calling in 1993, asking Lagasse to star in a new show about basic cooking called "How to Boil Water," he wasn't necessarily thinking big. He just wanted to see something other than the back wall of a kitchen. "I grew up in the kitchen, where there was no window, you got yelled and screamed at, you didn't see daylight, you worked until the work was done," he says. "For the previous four years, I'd been doing 12 shifts a week on the line. Closing the restaurant at three o'clock, four o'clock in the morning, waiting for the cleanup crew, living one block down the street so when the alarm goes off, I'm there. I thought about the TV thing and it seemed like almost going back to school. That excited me."
The show didn't work. Neither did the next. But Food Network CEO Reese Schonfeld saw something in Emeril and summoned him to New York in 1994 for an all-day brainstorming session that ended in the edict, "Let Emeril be Emeril." So Lagasse started flying in from New Orleans every Monday to tape a week's worth of "Essence of Emeril" shows in a day. "I was doing something," he says. "It was new. It wasn't even planned. I was just going to do it and see what happened. It certainly wasn't for the money -- they were paying me $50 a show. And they'd put me up in these dog hotels at the beginning. I'd have to bring my own coffee, it was so bad."
Lagasse was the making of the Food Network, the star that pulled this unfamiliar concept -- all cooking, all the time -- into the public consciousness. "Everyone here recognizes that Emeril is a big part of our success," says Brooke Johnson, who has served as the network's president for the past year and a half. And television was the making of Lagasse. "I remember walking down Park Avenue maybe seven years ago," he says. "A taxi driver is shouting to me out the window. And it's the first time that I said, 'Whoa, wait a minute. Something is going on here. '"
By now, Lagasse has taped more than 1,500 shows on the Food Network. He's on seven days a week with the hour-long "Emeril Live!," which is also repeated later in the evening. He's on seven days a week with the 30-minute "Essence of Emeril." That's 17 hours a week of national exposure, much of it prime time -- which is more than Katie Couric or David Letterman or anyone else gets. "There is kind of a synergistic relationship between the rise of interest in food in this country and the success of this network," Johnson says. "Emeril is the face of that."
Lagasse is the first to acknowledge what television has meant. The restaurants may be the center of the empire, but the face time makes all the rest possible. "He's a beloved guy because of it," Trotter says. "And he gets people interested who would never, ever have gotten into cooking. Firefighters love the guy. Everyone does. You can't help but like him and want to be around him."
"When I started with the TV, I got criticized by a lot of people," Lagasse says. "And I said, 'If I can touch one person a day, to help that person evolve about food or wine or shopping or cooking or whatever, it has to be good for our industry. '"
He didn't have to add that it would be good for Emeril. Before long, he had a restaurant in Las Vegas, then another. He bought Delmonico's, the shuttered New Orleans standard, and opened it as Emeril's Delmonico. He published cookbooks. He opened Emeril's in Orlando and Atlanta. He embarked on a partnership with All-Clad Metalcrafters to create Emerilware gourmet pots and pans. He taped his 500th show at the Food Network, then his 1,000th. He became the food correspondent on "Good Morning, America." By 1999, Fortune magazine was estimating his income at more than $2 million a year.
Along the way, by necessity, he sacrificed the dream of every chef, which is to craft dinner five nights a week for selected friends and family. "That's the decision I made that some people still don't quite understand," he says. "Like, 'Why didn't he just stay in his restaurant?' or 'Why did he have to open another one?'"
Instead, he's a classical composer doing pop tunes, a brilliant poet writing potboilers. Trotter remembers a book signing in Los Angeles to which Lagasse drew more than 1,000 people. "He was like a rock star," says Trotter, who still sounds awed. "They were chanting 'Emeril! Emeril! '" Yet for all the status and celebrity that Lagasse has brought to television chefs, he's still touchy about being considered only that. He has hosted the James Beard Awards, but he's quick to remind you that he's never won national honors. "Where are the Beard Awards?" he asks. "Where are all those things?"
It doesn't help that he has no restaurant in New York, which is not only the food capital of America but the center of food criticism, too. There's a sense that if he could have made it there, well, he would have by now. Lagasse scoffs. "We could have been here 300 times," he says. "But it's a piranha tank. I don't need that."
"But I opened the New York paper today," he continues. "Just so happened that's how the page fell. And it's 'Sunday's Best on Television.' I look down and there's a picture of Mario Batali. And it's about Mario coming on my show. And here they are picking, among four or five programs for the night, "Emeril Live!" As the pick of Sunday television in New York City."
He offers up a look that is too innocent to be believed. "Go figure," he says.
The business of Emeril has come to mean business for a lot of other people. Some 1,500 work at his restaurants alone, plus thousands more who make his sausages, build the sets for his television shows and market his cookbooks.
It occurred to Lagasse to wonder what would happen if all his ancillary businesses coordinated their efforts. "I said, 'Can you imagine if it all got put in one engine? What that could do? '" he says. "'Because, hey, maybe ABC's got something they want to do with the Food Network. Maybe the Food Network's got something they want to do with HarperCollins.' How did I know to do that? I don't know. But I did."
Thus was born the first annual Emeril Summit, held in agent Jim Griffin's New York office in 2002. "One big conference room, with the spice people and the pasta sauce people and the knives people and his PR people and his cookbook people and everyone else," says Tom Meyer, former vice president of the Brown-Forman wine group, who was partnering with Lagasse on a wine project. "The meeting was to say, 'We've got all these wonderful things going on. How do we make sure we're not missing opportunities?' It showed me that he's every bit the marketer that he is the chef. In fact, I'd say he's a better marketer than he is a chef."
Astonishingly enough for an untrained businessman, Lagasse ran the meeting himself. "Here's a guy who has such a great palate, such a great insight into what people want to eat and drink, such a great insight into popular culture," Meyer says. "And he's also the kind of guy who wants to know what you -- the 'expert' -- think about the product you're making or representing. His mind is working to understand the insight and figure out if there's any synergy. It was amazing to see."
These days, Lagasse convenes a summit annually. And every year, he invites all of his restaurant managers and their spouses to New Orleans. He treats his employees like an extended family, but with the highest possible standards. He's one of the few chefs to employ an outside firm to eat at all nine of his properties at least once a month and grade every aspect of their operations, from how the telephone caller making the reservations is received to the valet's speed at car retrieval. Fully half of each general manager's bonus is contingent on the score.
"He knows what he wants," says Mauricio Andrade, Lagasse's director of operations, who has worked with him since even before the original Emeril's opened in 1990. "He knows what standards he's looking for. He's all about building relationships with people and seeing them pay off."
New relationships, usually initiated in over-the-transom proposals that arrive at the rate of several hundred a month, continue to pay off in new product lines and spin-off businesses. It is now possible in some areas of the country to buy Emeril salad greens (from a California supplier called Pride of San Juan) and salad dressing (from B&G Foods), nine varieties of Emeril frozen shrimp (from the New Orleans Fish House) and even more of Emeril gourmet sausage (from Sara Lee), and then prepare a sumptuous meal using an Emeril salad bowl (made in conjunction with Waterford Wedgwood) and other glassware, Emeril knives (from Wüsthof), Emeril pots and pans and cooking utensils (from All-Clad), Emeril pasta sauce and seasoning and mustards (from B&G Foods) -- all while reading a recipe from one of his cookbooks (published by HarperCollins) and wearing Emeril-endorsed clogs (from Sanita).
If it's a business he knows, like wine or sausages, he's there at the source, helping choose the vineyard land or visiting the farm to look at the pigs. If it's outside an area of expertise, he studies up. "Whatever it is, I'm going to be totally involved," Lagasse says. "It's never about, 'OK, here's the name.' Even if it comes down to doing a Crest commercial, I'm going to dictate who's going to be involved. I'm going to have final creative say, or I'm not going to do it."
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Tuesday morning will be very cold with fair skies and lows in the teen.
Students and workers return to wearing Winter clothes. The afternoon will be chilly with highs near 30.
Tuesday night will be mostly clear and cold with lows in the teens, again.
A week front will arrive Wednesday with more blustery conditions. Temps will be in the low 30s, but wind chills will be in the teens most of the day. Although the weather boundary is week, a few snow showers are possible.
Reinforcing cold air arrives Thursday and Friday, including Friday night for the NAIAS Charity Preview. Afternoon temperatures will be in the upper 20s, and nighttime temps will be near 20 or in the teens.
The Local 4Casters have your latest weather forecast at JustWeather.com and on Local 4 News.


text: Girls' cozy everyday leggings in glitter hearts Item F8524 Color: HEATHER GRAPHITE Size: All sizes are US sizes. 6 10 Size Charts Quantity: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 Prices do not include taxes. Add to Bag Wishlist Add to Bag Add To Wishlist share: size & fit Product Details The name says it all: They're the supercozy leggings she'll wear every day. The heavier winter-weight cotton (covered in a glittery heart print!) is soft and stretchy—and pretty much the best cold-weather layering piece ever. Cotton/elastane. Machine wash. Import. Item F8524.


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Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton's Annual Tax Fair is to be held February 9th, 2013 from 10am to 12 pm at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center. Congresswoman Norton is an elected, non-voting delegate to Congress representing DC, and has been involved in many economic development opportunities in our area.
If you're planning to attend Congresswoman Norton's Annual Tax Fair you should consider our conveniently located bed and breakfast . The Convention Center is just a short Metro ride away from our lovely and personable DC B&B.
Tim, Innkeeper
American Guest House in Washington DC


text:
We aim to provide our patients with the highest standards of cosmetic surgery. Our emphasis is on excellence in surgery while making our patients feel comfortable and nurtured.
Monday through Friday 9:00 am - 5:00 pm
Cosmetic Surgery
We have a nationally certified operating room in our office. Our anesthesiologists are board certified physician anesthesiologist. We aim to make surgery a comfortable experience while maintaining the highest standards.
- B.A., Harvard College, 1978
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- Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Santa Rosa, CA
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Eurogamer's Digital Foundry take a look at Mass Effect 3 on the Nintendo Wii U and compares it to the other console versions.
Better than PS3 but just behind the 360. Pretty good for a quick port on new hardware!
I'd encourage certain people on this site to give a good read to some of the comments posted on the article's page, but I know these blockheads would just keep trolling unsuccessfully as usual...
Lolz better than ps3, lazy devs. At this point id just buy wii u for its exclusives and its own franchises. For multiplat ill stick with 360 or ps3. Its all good at least we get nin characters in hd,finally.
Well I feel better after reading last night that they got the ram wrong when reading the Samsung pdf. It's fast gddr3 not ddr3. They are saying its clicked around 35ghz..not 12.


text:
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I found these searching for carpal tunnel supports. I work on a computer all day for 9 years now and my hands and wrists are really starting to get more sore more often, though not bad enough for physical therapy or surgery yet. These are thin and supportive. Honestly as soon as I put them on I immediately felt the pain lesson. The flexablity in the glove still allows for easy movement, no constraints, at getting what I need to done! I love them!


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Hello fellow Atheists! After years of observing the interactions between Theists and Atheists, I've realized that the definition of "Atheist" itself is rather nebulous (excepting the universal belief that there is no god). Thus, we should compile an unambiguous definition of what it means to be an atheist without bringing individual philosophies into conflict.
If we can all create a unified definition, then that can render the "atheism is ambiguous and vague" attacks of Theists moot. But more importantly, it can help us achieve the same-level of philosophical self-surety that believers in organized religion tout.
let's start with a debate in the comments section
- Param
Views: 301
Surely the only thing all atheists have in common is the fact that we do not believe in god?
"Atheist" shouldn't mean anything besides that. That should be the only real definition. Saying "I'm an atheist" should only be a statement about your position on one issue, and one issue only. Nothing more, nothing less.
I should point out that for most non-believers, the definition of "atheist" isn't a belief that there is no god; it is a lack of belief in a god.
Seems semantic but there is a difference.
but at the same time, many people think of Atheists as people without rules and morals or anything of the variety... surely something must be done to rectify that?
that's true, but a lot of people defend the "organized" basis of religion in that it has a clear-cut, well defined set of rules and expects people to abide by them. Thus, they think that as an atheist, if I don't have Religion, then I don't have rules or morals.
We do not agree on why we do not believe in god.
but isn't there some basic framework as to WHY we don't?
Empirical logic, experience, conjecture etc.?
In my opinion, the only framework that would apply to everyone is reason. Is there any other way in which to come to the conclusion we all have?
I concur.
So Daniel, what disagreements do we have on our reasons for not believing in god?
I think there is. In my head is irrefutable proof. And it is quite depressing that other atheists come at a different angle. Not depressing because my ego isn't flattered but because my answer seems so true.
The ingredients needed are
Use these and the answer becomes so clear, so obvious.
This is where I start. Have you ever been in a tornado, an earthquake, a tsunami, a drought, a flood etc? They are very scarey situations where you can come face-to-face with your own mortality.
Now take yourself back to a time of limited perspective, limited knowledge, limited horizons, heightened fear, and say hello to the first gods. Local and literal.
These local Gods merged with local gods of others. Eventually, given time and 'civilisation' these Gods formed a pantheon such as the Ancient Greeks, Egyptians etc.
Within civilisation it was noted how the people love/have faith in their gods and how power and control could be wielded through this faith.
So they created monotheistic religions. Ambiguity lost and teachings centralised, the purveyors of monotheistic religions spread their word and passive-aggressively found more power than they would have dreamed of.
And we know what power does...
I should point out that for most non-believers, the definition of "atheist" isn't a belief that there is no god; it is a lack of belief in a god.
Seems semantic but there is a difference.
@ Abdullah - I don't believe in God(s). I lack belief in God(s). These mean the same thing to me. I 'don't have' and I 'lack' (same thing). What am I missing?
thought I don't necessarily agree with Abdullah's analysis.
I would like to point out that the term "Atheist" literally means "without god" with the Greek alpha-privative, implying that god is something that is necessary for life.
I think a better term would be "nontheist", am I right?
Mabel, the two statements you make are indeed equivalent to each other, but they are not matches for Abdullah's two statements you quoted, which are:
a belief that there is no god
lack of a belief in a god
The first of Abdullah's statements does not correspond to your first statement "I don't believe in God(s)." Your two phrasings express the lack of something, a belief in god. If you think about it, a turnip lacks a belief in god. Or in anything else for that matter. "I don't believe in God" does not mean necessarily that you are positive there is no god. When you express that you are sure that god doesn't exist, then and only then do you have "a belief that there is no god." Most atheists won't go that far (I am one who will).


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Just interested in people's take on the Pacers without Lance in the line up. Better? Worse? No real difference? Not enough data?
Personally, it confirms my desire to put Young in the starting line up (if he could discipline his Kobe gene) and let Lance create more with the second unit, as that is where Lance will be when Granger returns.
But I am interested in other's thoughts, especially those not as high on Lance as I am.


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Zombie gran: 95-year-old Chinese woman terrifies neighbours by climbing out of her coffin six days after she 'died
Li Xiufeng was found motionless and not breathing in bed by her neighbour more than a fortnight after tripping and suffering a head injury
A 95-year-old Chinese woman terrified her village by climbing out of her coffin after being dead for six days.
Li Xiufeng was found motionless and not breathing in bed by her neighbour more than a fortnight after tripping and suffering a head injury at her home in China's Guangxi Province
When he failed to wake her up, Chen Qingwang assumed the frail grandmother had passed away in her sleep, at her home in the village of Liulou, in Beiliu..
Recounting his daily visit to bring the elderly lady breakfast, Mr Qingwang, 60, said: "She didn't get up, so I came up to wake her up.
"No matter how hard I pushed her and called her name, she had no reactions.
I felt something was wrong, so I tried her breath, and she has gone, but her body is still not cold."
Because Mrs Xiufeng lived alone, Mr Qingwang and his son made preparations for her funeral, which included keeping the coffin in the house for several days for friends and relatives to pay their last respects.
The dead woman was laid in her coffin on February 19, two days after she was discovered.
The day before the funeral, Mr Qingwang arrived at his neighbours house to find the coffin empty and the corpse gone.
"We were so terrified, and immediately asked the neighbours to come for help," he said.
After searching for the missing body, the villagers were stunned to find Mrs Xiufeng sitting on a stool in her kitchen cooking.
Click on the link for the full article
Egyptian man declared dead but wakes up before funeral
Hamdi Hafez al-Nubi's funeral had to be cancelled when he surprised relatives by waking up, hours after he had been pronounced dead.
What should have been a solemn occasion to mark the Egyptian man's passing rapidly turned into a celebration once everyone got over the shock of him still being alive.
The 28-year-old suffered a heart attack while at work and doctors at a local hospital concluded he had died.
His family took the body back to his home village of Naga al-Simman in the province of Luxor and intended to bury him on Friday evening.
They washed and prepared him for the funeral, but when a local doctor arrived to sign the death certificate, she found something strange - the body was still warm.
A more detailed examination revealed he was still very much alive.
Al-Nubi's mother fainted after being told the news, but the doctor soon managed to wake both the mum and son, so that they could join in a party with the rest of the funeral guests.


text: If you were to add up all the button-down blouses in your closet, chances are you couldn't count them all on one hand. But out of all those work-appropriate tops you've racked up over the years, how many of them can you say really wow your audience? If your answer is none, then you'll probably want to check out the ones we've tracked down for you. There's everything from a chic lace print to studded collars and retro polka dots — these blouses mean business. Hey, there's no time like the New Year to get yourself a new look, even at the office. Any one of these button-downs will instantly liven up your work wardrobe, and the good news is that with the right bottoms, you can take them right into the weekend.


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Arguably the most innovative team in Formula One history, Lotus established itself in the 1950s by building simple, lightweight sportscars with sublime handling. They stuck with that same philosophy as they became the dominant force in grand prix racing in the 1960s and 70s, and had many of racing's greatest champions pilot their machines.
"He was the computer. If the car wasn't handling well on the Friday, he would go back to the garage and call the mechanics. By Saturday morning the car would be fantastic. Only Colin Chapman could do that. He was a genius."
- Emerson Fittipaldi
Team founder Colin Chapman was an ingenious engineer who experimented with lightweight materials and relied heavily on his knowledge of aeronautical engineering, which he had gained while in the Royal Air Force.
Lotus entered its first F1 race at Monaco in 1958, with Graham Hill and Cliff Allison driving. A victory of sorts came the following year with Stirling Moss in a customer Lotus, but the works Lotus team waited until 1961 when Innes Ireland earned the Norfolk-based gang their first win.
The team recruited ace Scottish driver Jim Clark, and he took them to a remarkable seven wins in 1963, earning the team's first title. It was to be the first of seven constructors' titles.
Few champions are remembered as fondly as Jim Clark – Lotus' most successful driver. He was a reluctant racer - shy of the attention his success brought him - but he was one of the most naturally gifted drivers the sport has ever seen. When he was taken at the age of 32, motor racing was rocked to its core. If it could happen to Jimmy, they said, it could happen to anyone.
Clark was the only driver to win two Drivers' titles in a Lotus. Graham Hill, Jochen Rindt, Emerson Fittipaldi and Mario Andretti took one title each.
Soon the cars' iconic green livery with a yellow stripe gave way to sponsorship. Lotus were the first F1™ team to receive commercial support, in the form of its red, white and gold 'Gold Leaf' branded cars in 1968.
In the 1970s Lotus's black and gold John Player Special cars continued to win, thanks to their ground-breaking aerodynamics and fearless drivers.
Colin Chapman died before his time from a heart attack in 1982, aged 54. The team's management was thereafter overseen by fellow Englishman Peter Warr.
In the 1980s, Lotus's performance was less consistent, despite Ayrton Senna taking an epic 15 pole positions from 32 races between 1985 and 1986. At the end of the decade, their cars were not a success and the engines underpowered.
In 1994 debts caught up with them and while Lotus continued to race in other categories, their F1 era seemed to be at an end.
Yet in 2010, Group Lotus granted a licence to a Malaysian consortium to compete in Formula One as Lotus Racing. The following year, determined that the Lotus brand be competing on track with its showroom rivals – McLaren and Ferrari – Group Lotus took on the title sponsorship of the Renault team, which had already secured seven world titles from its base in Enstone, Oxfordshire. For 2012 the partnership with shareholders Genii has gone further and the chassis name has changed to 'Lotus'.
Formula One was once again reunited with the works Lotus team and, racing in the iconic black and gold livery of the 1970s, Kimi Räikkönen – 2007 world champion and himself a bit of a throwback to the 1970s – alongside Romain Grosjean, set about restoring Lotus to the front of the grid, finding victory at last in the 2012 Abu Dhabi GP in November.
The Lotus F1 Team retained both Räikkönen and Grosjean in 2013. Kimi Räikkönen opened up the season with a driver's victory winning the Australian GP in March from seventh on the grid. The team finished the 2013 season 4th in the Constructor's Championship with 14 podium finishes: 8 for Räikkönen and 6 for Grosjean.


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You figure a guy who runs a company called CoffeeTable would know something about coffee. And in fact, Ben Choi has more than passing familiarity with the bean: Three years ago, Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz wooed Choi away from Menlo Park's Storm Ventures to open the Silicon Valley office of Schultz's venture firm, Maveron. Schultz, via email, told this newspaper he was wowed by Choi's "terrific track record as a venture capitalist" and "stellar reputation."
But after years of bankrolling entrepreneurs, Choi felt the itch to get back into the game himself. He got a funding pitch last fall from CoffeeTable, which works with retailers to create online catalogs for the iPad. Choi liked the company so much, he signed up as chief executive (though he remains a part-time venture partner at Maveron).
San Francisco-based CoffeeTable has since landed more than 140 major retailers as clients, including Neiman Marcus and Crate & Barrel. And earlier this year, R.R. Donnelley -- the biggest printer of retailer catalogs -- bought an undisclosed piece of the startup for $2.5 million.
Choi recently sat with this newspaper to discuss his wild ride and what comes next.
Q: Did your wife think you were crazy to ditch Howard Schultz for a startup?
A: Well, look, Howard has his hands full running Starbucks, so it's not like I was working with him every single day. But I wouldn't have left venture capital if I didn't think this was a large opportunity. Technology is changing how businesses interact with customers.
CoffeeTable was co-founded in late 2010 by Christian Friedland, who's head of Build.com, a leading online home-improvement retailer. He wanted to know why all these catalogs of his wife's that were piling up on the coffee table couldn't be converted into an elegant app. The iPad had just come out that spring.
Shayne Sweeney had worked for Chris and built the early prototypes for CoffeeTable, then shortly afterward got the fantastic opportunity to become the lead developer at Instagram. Chris, meanwhile, really is more focused on Build.com, which does $400 million in e-commerce every year. I tried to convince him to take an investment from me, quit his day job and build CoffeeTable. Instead, he convinced me to come on board as co-founder. I thought, "This could be really big."
Q: iPad publishing seems like a pretty crowded space, with Flipboard and Zite letting people create personalized magazines and Pinterest now on the platform. How are you guys going to continue to stand apart?
A: Those companies have done a great job using the tablet platform to create a discovery experience. But there's a difference between window shopping and catalog shopping.
The only real direct competitor we have is Google (GOOG) Catalogs, which was originally launched 10 years ago and relaunched last year. But it's a do-it-yourself product, and it's just for advertising; there's no e-commerce element.
Q: So what's your value proposition for retailers?
A: Catalogs are very old school -- it seems like the sleepy part of retail. But they drive $270 billion in sales, by one industry estimate.
The problem is, they're cost-intensive. Each Restoration Hardware catalog costs $10 to print and ship, to say nothing of the costs to create it. And it's hard for retailers to track back how much a catalog drives demand. CoffeeTable dramatically reduces those costs by delivering digitally. And our analytics platform gives retailers a real-time view into how their audience shops the catalog.
The tablet interface is much more similar to reading a catalog than scrolling through a Web page. Twenty percent of e-tailing is being done on mobile, and the iPad is half of that. The conversion rate (from browsing to buying) doubles for "express," in-app checkout, like we offer, vs. a Web checkout, where a customer has to click through a lot of screens and has more friction in the purchasing process.
Retailers just provide us with a PDF of their print catalogs and a data feed. We only charge when somebody opens their catalog in the app. We can show them how customers are interacting with their content, and we can provide A/B prototype testing for potential new print catalog designs.
Q: What do shoppers think?
A: We recently hit No.1 in the "Catalogs" category in the App Store, and we're closing in on hundreds of thousands of downloads. Plus, Randy Jackson (from "American Idol") told USA Today we were his favorite shopping app, which created a little Oprah effect for us.
People like that the app becomes personalized to them over time as they open the product more; we can introduce them to new brands based on who they already shop.
Q: You worked for a year at the CIA's venture arm, In-Q-Tel. Do you still carry a poison-dart pen?
A: I taught "Tradecraft of Venture Capital" at Langley. It's definitely not as cool as Showtime's "Homeland" makes it look. I also led an investment in Rhevision, which developed tiny fluidic lenses for smartphones ... and other devices that one might want to put cameras into.
I was in the long process of getting my top secret clearance, but I ended up leaving In-Q-Tel before that was completed. I believe the poison darts come with the top secret welcome package.
Q: Have you ever considered hiring Linda Richman from Saturday Night Live's "Coffee Talk" as a celebrity spokesperson?
A: Amazingly, you're the first to suggest that.
Contact Peter Delevett at 408-271-3638. Follow him at Twitter.com/mercwiretap.
Age: 36
Current job: CEO, CoffeeTable
Previous jobs: Product manager at two startups after college, then launched early mobile products for Yahoo in Southeast Asia. Venture capitalist at RRE Ventures, In-Q-Tel, Storm Ventures and Maveron
Education: Bachelor's degree in computer science, Harvard University; MBA, Columbia University
Family: Married to Google executive Lydia Cheng Choi; twin 3-year-olds ("and a small village of grandparents helping to raise them")
1. Pored over J.Crew catalogs while growing up. Later, took a brief leave of absence from his second startup to learn about the retail business by working the holiday shift at Banana Republic.
2. Proposed to his wife -- whom he's known since age 12 -- from a 20-foot video screen on the main drag of Singapore.
3. During his paternity leave, wrote an iPhone app to teach toddlers Chinese.
4. Serves on the board of the Chinese Culture Center in San Francisco's Chinatown (where he learned "a mean kung fu tiger claw" at age 10). Also has led relief missions in Bangladesh and Afghanistan.
5. His brother, Andy, co-founded mobile ad network Greystripe, which sold to ValueClick last year for $70 million. Ben Choi was a strategic adviser to the company.