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Amid all the media focus on China's maritime territorial disputes with Japan, Vietnam and the Philippines, the world nearly forgot that China still hosts the world's largest outstanding land border dispute with the world's largest democracy, India.
This author just returned from a week of meetings in Beijing, where China's territorial disputes were at the top of our delegation's agenda; the border dispute with India was conspicuously absent from our discussions.
As if on cue, however, on April 15, the territorial dispute that brought the two sides to war in 1962 reared its ugly head again. That day, an armed Chinese patrol supported by a helicopter reportedly moved 10 kilometers across the Line of Actual Control (LAC) and pitched several tents in northeastern Ladakh, near Daulet Beg Oldi.
Three "flag meetings" between Chinese and Indian military commanders have failed to dislodge the People's Liberation Army (PLA) patrol, which is now being re-supplied.
With luck, the two sides will utilize the elaborate diplomatic mechanisms in place at the border and the mini-crisis will gradually fade from the headlines. But there are escalation risks. So far, only a small contingent of the paramilitary Indo-Tibetan Border Police has been sent to the area but if the PLA patrol lingers, it's only a matter of time before the Indian Army follows.
One must go back to 1967 to find the last deadly exchange of fire across the LAC. Since that episode at Nathu La, the border has been free of violence, but not of violations.
It's no mystery why: With the exception of the relatively minor "Middle Sector," China and India have yet to define their respective boundary claims through a basic exchange of maps.
This creates a volatile situation where, according to Indian analyst Zorawar Singh, "there is no mutual agreement on where Indian and Chinese troops have the legal right to be positioned."
Lt. Gen. HS Panag, the former head of India's Northern Command, has suggested there are as many as nine mutually accepted areas of differing perceptions of the LAC.
The Indian media reports there have already been more than 100 PLA transgressions across the LAC in the first quarter of 2013. This tracks with Indian Home Ministry figures citing 228 transgressions in 2010 and 213 in 2011.
Such reports send the opposition and the Indian public into a furor. Yet the Indian government and military officials regularly insist the border is peaceful and free of Chinese intrusions.
The conflicting messages result from a poorly explained distinction New Delhi makes between "intrusions" (intentional breaches of Indian sovereignty) and "transgressions" (inadvertent breaches of the LAC, based on different perceptions of the boundary line).
In 2012 India's home minister explained: "There has been no intrusion along the India-China border. However, there are cases of transgression due to different perception of the LAC."
Most of the transgressions are undoubtedly innocent violations of an unmarked border, and it's unclear how guilty Indian patrols are of similar violations because China doesn't keep count.
"If we make the calculation on our understanding of the LAC, maybe the Indian border troops have transgressed the line more than what the Chinese border troops have done," said Maj. Gen. Yao Yunzhu of China's Academy of Military Sciences.
But Beijing is guilty of allowing an environment of petty adventurism by its border patrols. A few times a year, Chinese patrols go beyond the usual transgression to destroy a structure or spray-paint "China" on rocks on the Indian side, though they always return to China's side of the LAC.
That's what makes the current situation troubling: Instead of returning to their base camp, the Chinese patrol has stayed put. By the Indian government's own definition this is not a transgression but a genuine intrusion, perhaps the first major intrusion since 1986, when the two sides nearly went to war over a similar episode at Sumdorong Chu.
The most likely explanation is that China is signaling its displeasure toward the quiet but substantial improvement of India's military infrastructure along the LAC, where recently erected border posts may have triggered a brash reaction from Beijing.
Many Indians hold a less charitable view. "China's strategy is evident," said Indian analyst Ajai Shukla. "To confine Indian strategic attention to the Sino-Indian border, preventing New Delhi from looking beyond at Tibet and Xinjiang, China's most sensitive pressure points." China has been known to apply pressure at the border when it is feeling insecure in Tibet, and a wave of self-immolations by Tibetan monks in recent years — now over 100 — has put Beijing on the defensive.
A more worrying explanation, however, was hinted at during an American Foreign Policy Council delegation to Beijing April 14-21. There, we heard that some of China's increasingly vocal nationalists were describing China's standoff with the Philippines over the disputed Scarborough Shoal last year, where China deployed and then permanently based armed vessels at the shoal, as a "model" for its territorial disputes writ large. The lesson, they gathered, was to "change facts on the ground and worry about the consequences later."
China seems to be flirting with a similar strategy in the Diaoyu/Senkaku islands dispute with Japan. If this intrusion signals an aggressive new Chinese posture at the border rather than an isolated incident, it would constitute a dangerous new dynamic for Sino-Indian relations.
Jeff Smith, the Kraemer Strategy Fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council and author of a forthcoming book on Sino-Indian relations, from which parts of this piece are drawn.


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The general manager is the most influential and scrutinized position in sports because he decides how the owner's money is spent on players.
Forbes.com's first-ever proprietary look at GMs in the NFL, NBA, NHL and MLB grades each GM on two yardsticks. First, there's the performance (regular season winning percentage and postseason wins) during the GM's tenure versus the performance of his predecessor. Second, there's the GM's relative (to the league median) payroll compared with his predecessor's relative payroll.
And the NBA's Minnesota Timberwolves GM Kevin McHale tops our list.
Only the 98 current GMs with at least three years of service were reviewed. In terms of enhancing the value of a sports franchise, winning is more important than payroll. So we double-weight winning percentage in our scoring to discount GMs (like Mark Shapiro of the Cleveland Indians) who successfully cut costs but in so doing damaged their franchise.
Our rankings will surely raise some eyebrows.
The Timberwolves' McHale has been harshly criticized in the press for not giving superstar Kevin Garnett the supporting cast to win a championship. But McHale has guided the Timberwolves to eight playoff births and a .539 regular season winning percentage--more than double his predecessors .244. Winning improvement under McHale has been so great that it offset a 19% rise in salary against the NBA's median payroll during his 11 years as GM.
Another GM who has been under the gun the past few years is Glen Sather of the New York Rangers. Despite a bloated payroll, which topped out at a then NHL record $76.5 million in 2003, Sather has not been able to win a single post-season game in his six years in New York. His No. 12 ranking is attributed to prolonged success in Edmonton, where Sather paired Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier in building an Oilers dynasty that won five Stanley Cups.
There were also some predictable names atop our list. The highest rated baseball GM is Oakland's Billy Beane (No. 26 overall). Beane has been able to capture four division titles and win almost 60% of his games with the small-market A's by developing prospects. Beane has also kept his teams payroll at 70% of the major league median. Having scouts emphasize statistics like on-base and slugging percentage has allowed Beane to find capable young talent to replace expensive free agent veterans.
Lou Lamoriello of the New Jersey Devils gained acclaim in hockey circles for his ability to put together championship teams with low payrolls. New Jersey's .592 winning percentage in 18 years under Lamoriello is more than twice that of his predecessor and higher than any other team in the NHL's Eastern Conference. Lamoriello has won with a payroll that has been just 75% of the typical hockey team.
Some team owners double as GMs. The success story here is Jerry Jones of the Dallas Cowboys (No. 13), who turned the Cowboys from a has-been to a three-time Super Bowl champion. To his credit, Jones has actually spent less on players, on average, than his league counterparts during his 18-year reign. The failure? Cincinnati Bengals owner and GM Mike Brown (No. 97), who has won half as often as his predecessor, despite outpacing the league's median payroll by 4% since taking over the franchise in 1991.
Interestingly, most of MLB's GMs fall in the middle of the pack. One possible explanation is that baseball's relatively long season and greater yearly payroll fluctuations due to free agency create an unintended balancing effect.
Our rankings compare each general manager to the final three years of his predecessor's tenure in two categories: (1) performance (regular season winning percentage and playoff win totals) and (2) payroll spending (relative to the league median). Performance counts twice as much in our scoring as payroll spending. Scores account for all teams where the GM held the office and are indexed to 100. A score of 120 in winning improvement means the GM won 20% more games than his predecessor. A score of 80 in payroll containment means the GM spent 20% more than the previous GM relative to the league median.

subset: commoncrawl


text: Tremendous growth in Internet traffic is fueling IP network upgrades to 10 Gbps speeds. To help service providers scale their networks, lower the cost per bit for IP transport and support value-added services, Cisco ® offers the 1-port OC-192 POS Enhanced Services Line Card supporting OC-192c/STM-64c interfaces at a full 10 Gbps line rate for use with Cisco 12400 Internet Routers. Performance with features makes the ES-based cards the industry leader in 10 Gbps networking products.


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Stem cells prevent blindness, suggests first-ever human trial
It's one of the biggest milestones for stem cells since their discovery. Researchers yesterday published the first results of a clinical trial where doctors transplanted of stem cells into the eyes of patients suffering from a form of progressive blindness. And the preliminary results look very good.


text:
Mail: Southern statues symbolize suppession
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Fall: Good time to spray musk thistle in rosette stage
Robertson and Delsing re-elected chair, vice chair of NWB
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Police are searching for a man thought to be armed and dangerous after a 20-year-old woman was allegedly robbed at gunpoint Monday night.
They got a little cash and a cell phone, Police Information Officer Rodney Brown said.
Officers were told the suspects, Jeffery Denson, 21, and Sylvester LeBlanc III, 19, fled in a dark blue, Chrysler 300 with dealer plates.
Police caught up with Denson and a male passenger a little later in the Chrysler near the 1200 block of E. Fourth, but they are still looking for LeBlanc, who is thought to be armed and dangerous. The firearm used during the robbery has not been recovered, Brown said.
LeBlanc is black, approximately 6-feet tall, weighs 160 pounds with brown eyes and black hair. He has similar gang tattoos on the inside of both forearms displaying GD (right) and 74 (left), Brown said.
Police encourage the public to call the non-emergency number, 308-535-6789, with information as to the suspects whereabouts. Citizens may also provide anonymous information through Crime Stoppers by going online at www.lincolncountycrimestoppers.com, by calling 534-8400 or 800-933-TIPS.
Denson was arrested and charged with robbery, use of a weapon to commit a felony and terroristic threats. He was jailed at the Lincoln County Detention Center.
It was Denson's second set of charges in four days. He was charged for resisting arrest, obstruction and trespassing Friday night after police found him in a pickup with three others, drugs and a 9 mm handgun parked in a Department of Roads yard. Denson was released from jail Monday on a personal recognizance bond.
In court Tuesday, Deputy County Attorney Austen Leighty asked Judge Michael Piccolo for $100,000 bond.
"That's the low end of what I really want to ask for," Leighty said.
Piccolo set bond at $100,000.
This report was updated at early Tuesday afternoon.
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text:
Scherzer now 11-0 as Tigers rout Red Sox
Sun, 23 Jun 2013 03:19:44 GMT —
DETROIT (AP) -- Former Missouri ace Max Scherzer won his 11th straight decision to start the season and Victor Martinez hit a first-inning grand slam to lead the Detroit Tigers to a 10-3 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Saturday night.
Scherzer (11-0) allowed two runs in the first, including a towering solo homer by David Ortiz, but Martinez's drive put the Tigers ahead to stay.
Martinez also hit an RBI double in the fifth, and Scherzer shut down Boston after the first. He allowed two runs and six hits in seven innings.
Allen Webster (0-2) gave up five runs and eight hits in 4 1-3 innings. He struck out five and walked two.
Boston reliever Franklin Morales yielded four runs, including a two-run homer by Omar Infante.


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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partner university faculty. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Tuesday, September 19, 2017
Crowns, Bridges, Dentures, Implants
Sores in Mouth
I had all my teeth out september I had stitches but they have gone now i have these hard bumps on my gum which is hard and sore please could u advise
These are probably loose or sharp pieces of bone under the tissue. You should return to the dentist who removed the teeth for evaluation and treatment.
Thank you for visiting NetWellness.
Ed A McGlumphy, DDS, MS
Professor of Restorative/Prosthetic Dentistry
College of Dentistry
The Ohio State University


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text: I want to watch more ROH, but I don't trust buying streams from the company websites. Does anyone know when they are going to start doing pay-per-views again on TV? I live in California and I remember years ago buying a Ring of Honor PPV with the main event being Nigel McGuinness Vs Bryan Danielson?


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Because heifers are still growing, even when calving at 24 months, they need a diet rich in protein but moderate in energy to avoid getting too fat.
It's no secret that good reproductive performance on dairies involves a variety of factors, but often components of reproductive programs get blamed when cows don't get pregnant – which may be the wrong thing to focus on.
"People often focus on just the reproductive part of a program at one point in time, such as synchronizing cows," says Pedro Melendez, DVM, PhD, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Florida. "They focus on GnRH, prostaglandin, timed AI, etc., but aren't looking at what were the situations surrounding parturition and before that, such as did she have difficulty calving, how was the transition and pre-partum period management, what was the incidence of retained fetal membranes, hypocalcemia, ketosis, etc. We blame reproductive management, but we often don't look at the other factors that occurred before this time."
Jose Santos, DVM, PhD, Veterinary Medicine Teaching and Research Center, University of California, believes it is very important that producers, veterinarians and nutritionists evaluate reproductive problems not only by paying attention to the reproductive management but also to other aspects, such as nutrition. "When cows experience excessive metabolic problems after calving, that will influence subsequent fertility and response to the reproductive program implemented in the herd," he says.
Inadequate feeding of transition and early lactation cows that leads to more ketosis, hypocalcemia, displaced abomasum, etc., normally reduces subsequent fertility. In addition, it has been demonstrated that mastitis, which is prevalent early postpartum and can be influenced by nutrition, is negatively associated with conception and pregnancy maintenance in dairy cattle. "Unless these problems are corrected," says Santos, "it is unlikely that the reproductive program will be successful."
Melendez agrees and says studies relating calving-related disorders to fertility found that cows with hypocalcemia or milk fever were six times more likely to develop a retained fetal membrane and probably three times more likely to develop metritis. And indirectly, those cows are more likely to develop ketosis. "Finally, we end up with an animal that is cycling very late, so it's very important to pay attention to the basic concept and look back to see what's going on in the transition period," says Melendez.
Nutrition can influence fertility at all stages of the reproductive cycle, but the period between late gestation and first postpartum insemination is probably the most critical. Santos says this is when a cow experiences most of the diseases during the entire lactation cycle and what happens to her in this period will determine how successful the subsequent breeding will be.
Melendez echoes that point of view. "Starting in the dry-off and transition period, the last 21 days before and after calving are the most important time periods for nutrition. The more deficiencies we have at that time, the more infertility we're going to have in the herd. If we have a dry-off and dry period in bad shape, the transition period won't improve anything."
Pedro Melendez, DVM, PhD, says nutrition in the transition period has a significant effect on later fertility.
Fertility problems and nutrition
Nutrition can have remarkable influences on fertility. Inadequate energy intake and/or inadequate body fatness early postpartum can retard resumption of ovulatory cycles, which extends the interval from calving to first estrus, reduces conception rates at first postpartum AI and increases late embryonic losses after first postpartum AI.
In addition to energy status, there are some well-characterized effects of nutrition on fertility. Nutritional deficiencies, such as antioxidant nutrients (vitamin E and Se), influence immunity status of the uterus and the ability of white blood cells to kill bacteria that invades the postpartum uterus (see sidebar at right). "This makes the cow more likely to develop retained fetal membranes and metritis, both of which reduce fertility," explains Santos.
Another important example is nutritional management during the transition period to prevent subclinical and clinical hypocalcemia. Hypocalcemia can be minimized by manipulating the mineral composition of the prepartum diet (feeding low Na and K diets and including acidogenic salts). Hypocalcemia results in increased blood cortisol concentrations after calving, impairs uterine involution, is associated with increased uterine infections and reduces fertility.
On the other hand, excess of nutrients or dietary components containing toxins can have negative effects on fertility. One example is a diet too high in protein. "In order to get milk production of 25,000 pounds per lactation, some farms formulate diets too high in crude protein, such as 19 to 20 percent," says Melendez. But he adds that high protein levels lead to high levels of urea and ammonia in the blood, and studies have demonstrated that high levels of urea will affect the uterine environment and can introduce toxic effects to gametes and the embryo.
High-producing lactating dairy cows do not require diets with 19-20 percent crude protein to achieve productions above 26,000 pounds, says Santos. "What these cows really need is a diet that is balanced for the energy and protein components and provides adequate amounts of metabolizable protein with an adequate amino acid profile."
Jose Santos, DVM, PhD, says ketosis and associated diseases have been negatively associated with conception rates.
Photo credit: Jose Santos, DVM, PhD
However, producers and nutritionists often conclude that cows need very high crude protein diets. "In fact, well-balanced diets that contain 17 to 18 percent crude protein are enough to provide all the amino acid needs of high-producing cows even in early lactation," explains Santos. "The problem is that high-producing cows that consume a lot of feed will also consume a lot of protein, although the diet is presumptively balanced. Even in those cases, urea nitrogen in the blood will be high as a consequence of the high protein intake."
Feeding excessive amounts of gossypol is another example, adds Santos. "We have shown that feeding cottonseed that results in plasma gossypol concentrations above 5 micograms/mL reduces conception rates and increases fetal losses, and this is, in part, mediated by reduced embryonic development."
When pregnancy gets beyond 25 days, the cow is fairly adept at protecting the conceptus from nutrition-related problems, but even still factors, such as excess copper or iodine, toxic plants, mycotoxins or fungal-infected silage, can produce abortions.
Feeding heifers versus cows
There's a vast difference in how heifers utilize and respond to nutritional factors than cows because heifers are still growing, even when calving at 24 months. Because of that, heifers need a diet rich in protein but with moderate energy to avoid getting too fat and risking dystocia when calving.
Additionally, the pre-calving cow differs from the heifer in that because she's not still growing, in the transition period she's more likely to develop hypocalcemia. "Those animals can be fed acidogenic salts to prevent hypocalcemia," says Melendez. "Heifers are less likely to develop hypocalcemia and don't need acidogenic salts. The take-home message is that there should be two different rations – one for heifers and one for cows." Melendez adds that first-lactation heifers should continue to be fed in a separate group until the second calving when they become mature adults.
Santos agrees that heifers prior to calving should be fed differently than cows. In the last three weeks prepartum, heifers have lower dry matter intake relative to their body weight than cows do. Because they are still growing, their requirements for metabolizable protein is greater and, as opposed to cows, increasing the concentration of crude protein in close-up rations above 13 percent benefits postpartum performance.
"The key here is to feed diets that provide adequate metabolizable protein according to the expected intake of the animal," says Santos. Furthermore, prepartum heifers should not be fed acidogenic salts to prevent hypocalcemia as cows are because heifers do not experience this problem and those salts reduce feed intake and might impair the secretion/activity of some regulatory hormones, such as insulin, that are important during transition. "Whenever possible, cows and heifers should be fed separately pre- and postpartum, and prepartum, they should be fed diets that are tailored to their nutrient needs."
Cows that are obese at calving with body scores of 3.5 to 4 or more can have more problems with retained fetal membranes and ketosis, which impact cyclicity.
Melendez suggests that the older the animal becomes, the more chronic these nutrition problems can become. "If they are not well-fed, they will probably start with some lameness problems, and sometimes it's so acute they are culled in the first lactation. They are more likely to develop hypocalcemia, chronic metritis, etc."
Using body-condition scores
Body-condition scores (BCS) indicate the energy reserves of the body. Typically, every cow loses BCS after calving. Cows calving in obese conditions or too thin can have decreased fertility later on for different reasons. For example, an obese cow calving at 3.5 to 4 will eat less, develop more retained fetal membranes and ketosis because they are mobilizing fat, which can then impact cyclicity.
Alternatively, a too-thin cow at calving will not have enough reserves to support milk production and reproduction.
Melendez recommends that at dry-off a cow in general should score at a 3 and gain a .25 to .5 during the dry period so she will calve at 3.25 to 3.5. "Dry cows should never lose body-condition score in the dry period," he says. In addition, low energy during the postpartum period can affect the first ovulation and expression of heat.
For heifers, preferred scores at calving are a bit lower, such as 3.25, otherwise dystocia problems can occur. Too much fat can affect the birth canal causing more dystocia.
Body condition's affect on fertility has a lot to do with the change in score from one time point to another. Studies have demonstrated that between calving and the first 60-90 days, the cow should not lose more than 1 point of condition. Beyond that, fertility can be affected. "A cow may be at 2.5 and gaining weight or a cow may be at 2.75 and losing weight," says Melendez. "That cow will have lower fertility even though it has a higher BCS. The change in BCS is more important than just the score itself."
When to body-condition score
Melendez likes cows to be scored at calving, between 60-90 days post-calving to determine how much condition is lost in the first 100 days, at mid-lactation and dry-off.
At dry-off, she should score at 2.75 to 3 and be able to recover a quarter or half of a point before calving. Below 2.75 makes it difficult for a cow to gain up to 3.25 by calving time.
At calving, heifers and cows should be at 3.25 to 3.75 and not lose more than .75 units on the 1-5 scale, says Santos. Cows with low BCS at calving have reduced potential for milk production in the first four to six weeks post-partum. "Ketosis and the associated diseases have been negatively associated with conception rates at first postpartum AI."
At 60 days postpartum, pre-breeding, they should be at 2.75 to 3. "This is important because overconditioned animals have less appetite during transition, which makes them more susceptible to ketosis and hepatic lipidosis," says Santos. Cows with BCS less than 2.75 at 60 days postpartum are much more likely to have not experienced any ovulation prior to first postpartum AI (anovular or anestrous cows), which normally reduces conception rates and increases the odds for late embyronic loss, adds Santos.
Melendez does not like to see animals below 2.5 at 90 days post-calving. At mid-lactation, she should score at 2.75 to 3. "Losing just one body-condition score can affect her fertility," says Melendez.
Most BCS loss after calving occurs in the first 40 to 60 days; scoring immediately prior to calving or at 40 to 60 days postpartum will allow the producer to evaluate how his/her fresh cow program is. "At mid-lactation, the producer can decide if cows should be fed differently or not if he/she wants to manage cows based on BCS," suggests Santos. "At this point, there still is time to avoid overconditioning or to improve low BCS by moving cows to different groups if different rations are fed to the lactating herd. Lastly, the measurements taken at dry-off and immediately prior to calving will allow the producer to evaluate the dry cow program."
For lactating dairy cows, a key factor beyond nutrition that will influence BCS is the interval from calving to conception. "Cows that become pregnant early in the postpartum period rarely will be overconditioned when they go dry," explains Santos. "However, they can be on the thin side. On the other hand, cows that have prolonged lactations because of poor reproduction are more likely to be overconditioned at next calving."
Heat stress, nutrition and fertility
Heat stress is the most important environmental factor influencing fertility of lactating dairy cattle. Once the body temperature of the cow rises above 40°C (~104°F), fertilization and early embryonic development are impaired. "At this point, there is not much that you can do in terms of nutritional management to improve fertility," says Santos. "What you really have to do is to provide adequate cooling to avoid hyperthermia."
University of Florida research demonstrated that cells under thermal stress are more prone to oxidative stress, which harms cell membranes, and indicated that one possible mechanism by which heat stress influences fertility is by causing more cellular damage to the embryo because of oxidative stress. However, it's not been demonstrated that there is any benefit to increasing the supply of antioxidant nutrients (Vitamin E, B-carotene) on conception rates of heat-stressed cows.
Because heat stress negatively influences feed intake, it might be prudent to increase the energy content of the diet to offset reduced feed intake and minimize energy deficit that impairs reproduction, says Santos. "However, one might be cautious because cows under heat stress are more likely to develop lameness, which can be exacerbated by hotter diets. In addition, Melendez's research demonstrated that high urea nitrogen in the milk of cows reduced fertility when associated with heat stress. This indicates that diets that are unbalanced in protein can be more detrimental to fertility during heat stress.
Nutrition and expression of estrus
Textbooks used to say estrus lasts 18 hours, but today's cows don't seem to be reading those old books. "Today you can see a cow in estrus for just two hours," says Melendez. "They are completely different today, as is nutrition and the high levels of production we now have." One of the first things affected by poor nutrition is going to be the expression of estrus.
Poor nutrition, especially inadequate energy intake, can lead to extended postpartum anestrus, so diets that cause excessive body weight loss can reduce expression of estrus. "In
addition to that, I am not aware of any research that has evaluated the effect of specific nutrients on intensity, expression and rates of estrus detection in lactating dairy cows," says Santos. "We and others have demonstrated that 10 to 20 percent of the postpartum cows and 20 to 50 percent of the postpartum heifers have not cycled until 60 days postpartum, and these numbers are highly influenced by body-condition score. So, if cows and heifers are underfed early postpartum or experience more postpartum problems that lead to reduced BCS, they will have extended period of lack of estrus expression."
Furthermore, recent studies by Milo Wiltbank's group at the University of Wisconsin have demonstrated that intensity and duration of estrus are negatively correlated with level of milk production. This is one reason today's cows are less likely to be seen in estrus. The increase in milk production has changed, to some degree, the biology of the cow and this has made estrus detection more difficult.
Investigating problems
A dairy has to have good records to begin with in order to know when reproductive problems are abnormal. A major indicator of fertility in the herd is the pregnancy rate, which is conception rate x heat detection. "Conception rate is affected by nutrition and other factors," says Melendez. "When conception rate drops 5 to 6 percent, that's a red flag. Pregnancy rate changes over time because of seasonality, but when you compare summer-to-summer, winter-to-winter, that number is very important and can indicate problems."
When investigating fertility problems on a dairy, Melendez suggests to first look at the dairy's management in general, heat detection, cow comfort and other factors. "When looking at nutritional influences, work with the nutritionist and see the interactions with rations, the levels of energy, protein, NDF, ADF, nutrients, etc., and see if there have been changes, to start to slowly expose the different pieces of the puzzle."
Today, there are many useful diagnostic tools that can point you in the right direction when analyzing nutrition problems. One way is to measure urine pH in cows fed acidogenic salts prior to calving to prevent hypocalcemia. In addition, producers can evaluate ketones in milk by using strips to determine if changes in prevalence of subclinical ketosis early postpartum, says Santos. Other tests that can be used that are associated with the nutritional status of the herd are plasma concentrations of nonesterified fatty acids and ketones in late gestation and early lactation, and milk urea nitrogen (MUN) during lactation. Melendez says high MUN indicates too much protein, and studies have indicated too high MUN might impair fertility.
Obviously, keeping good records of occurrence of disease events is important to evaluate if the health of the herd has not deteriorated. "In addition to these tools, producers, veterinarians and nutritionists should do the common things that normally improve production, such as evaluating forage quality," suggests Santos.
Melendez says monitoring transition cows after calving for 20 days in a separate group is one way to head off problems, then after 21 days, they can go to the milking ration. "But we need to monitor those animals for the first 20 days," he says.
In Florida, the university's Food Animal Group is monitoring temperature after calving within the first 10 days to see if cows have a fever, which is a red flag for metritis. Melendez says, "We're monitoring ketone bodies by taking urine or milk samples to see if they are ketotic. If they are, the more likely they are to develop an LDA. It's a fresh cow program, and it's helped a lot to diagnose these problems at this time."
Other nutrition and management factors come into play in the relationship with fertility. Cow comfort, heat abatement, bunk space, ration mixing, etc., need to also be considered, as is quantity and quality of water. Dry matter content of the TMR is very important as well, says Melendez. Veterinarians and nutritionists need to look at the dry matter content during times of wet weather, or when forages and feeds are wet so they can adjust rations to get the proper dry matter intake.
Santos believes it is critical that veterinarians and nutritionists work together. "By working together, we will be able to make more educated decisions and complement each other on our expertise in problem solving," he says.
"The most important thing to remember is that nutrition and fertility is a highly complex relationship," says Melendez. "And everything is related."
Trace minerals and fertility
Adequate balances of major and minor trace minerals and vitamins play important roles in health as well as reproductive efficiency. For example, calcium is involved in any physiological and molecular process. Selenium is very important in preventing retained fetal membranes before calving. Zinc, especially in bulls, is important for semen quality. "In general," says Pedro Melendez, DVM, PhD, "every nutrient in the end is related to fertility."
Trace minerals, such as Cu, Se and Zn, influence the immune system of the cow by being part of enzymes that promote cell integrity at the level of membrane or cytoplasm. This is important for proper postpartum uterine health. Also, vitamins such as E and A have complementary effects to some of these trace minerals – an example is vitamin E and selenium working together as scavengers of free radicals at the membrane and cytoplasm, respectively, and they are both important for proper reproductive performance.
"However, feeding these trace minerals and vitamins in excess of the daily requirements is unlikely to improve reproduction," notes Jose Santos, DVM, PhD. "In fact, excess of some of these trace minerals, such as copper, can be detrimental to fertility."
Bull nutrition is important, too. Overconditioned bulls may not mount cows, but too-thin bulls may have poor semen quality.
Nutrition and bull fertility
Nutrition is important in dairy bull fertility. Overconditioned bulls can be lazy and not want to mount cows. Thin bulls may have poor semen quality.
The problem is that on dairies using bulls, the bulls consume the same diet as the cows. These diets contains more energy and protein than they need and also contain other ingredients that might be detrimental to bull fertility.
"Bulls fed lactating rations normally become overconditioned, and the fat accumulated in the neck of the scrotum can impair thermoregulation of the testes, which is critical to sperm viability," says Jose Santos, DVM, PhD. In beef cattle, young bulls fed an excess of energy after puberty showed reduced sperm reserves in the epididymus and increased testicular degeneration.
Lactating rations can also contain considerable amounts of cottonseed and cotton byproducts, which are the source of gossypol. Most lactating cows will consume diets with 500 to 1,000 ppm of total gossypol, most of it in the free form if from whole cottonseed, leading to intakes of 15 to 30 g of gossypol/cow/day. "These amounts of gossypol are detrimental to bull fertility as they increase testicular degeneration and sperm abnormalities and might reduce libido," says Santos.
One option is to rotate bulls continuously from the lactating group to a group in which the energy and protein content of the ration is more adequate and contains no gossypol. However, this requires more breeding bulls in the herd.


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Hi Oberon,
I'm finding that some of my channels that previously had data, now show "no data available".
I've tried exiting and restarting MC, but so far no guide data is found. Channels are linked as expected in the config tool. Its not that the PCs resumed from sleep, as this pc is left on 24x7.


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Sporting Kansas City's Jimmy Nielsen started the MLS All-Star Game, led the league in shutouts and victories and on Wednesday was named the MLS goalkeeper of the year.
Nielsen, nicknamed the White Puma, allowed only 0.79 goals per game this season to improve his career average to 1.02 — the best-ever mark for an MLS goalkeeper.
"Jimmy has a great passion for the game. It's evident in his work ethic and his commitment to the team which transpired into him being named captain this year," Sporting Kansas City manager Peter Vermes said in a statement. "He is an incredible leader on and off the field and he has helped this team a great deal in the past three years.
"The way he trains and leads the team were the magic formula to his consistent performances and to him ultimately winning the MLS Goalkeeper of the Year award."
Nielsen, a 35-year-old native of Denmark, was the runaway winner in the award voting. He won 49 percent of club votes, 70 percent of media votes and 26 percent of player votes, all well ahead of second-place finisher Dan Kennedy of Chivas USA. Seattle's Michael Gspurning, Real Salt Lake's Nick Rimando and Columbus' Andy Gruenebaum rounded out the top five.
"I'm very proud and thankful to the players and coaches who voted for me but it all comes back to the great season that the whole team had. I'm just a little part of this," Nielsen said. "I think we did an incredible job as a team and like I said before: After the season you get awards when the team is doing well. I think it's well deserved that team is getting all this credit now."
MORE AWARDS: Coach of year | Top defender | Comeback player | Rookie of year | Top newcomer | U.S. Soccer male athlete


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10 Health Rules You Can Ignore
"Some of my friends ask me, 'What's the "best" sunscreen?' But what I've learned as a dermatologist is that liking how a sunscreen feels on your skin and smells are the most important criteria in determining whether someone will use it regularly. So I tell my friends that they need to try several kinds until they find their favorite. Sure, there are certain musts: Regardless of whether you choose a chemical or an organic sunscreen—and for the record, the FDA approves both kinds for safety—you need an SPF of 30 to 50 with broad-spectrum protection that covers both UVA and UVB rays. Also keep in mind that you need to use adequate amounts to achieve the rated SPF. But beyond that, finding the 'best' sunscreen is just a matter of what you like." —Lisa Garner, M.D., clinical professor in the department of dermatology at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School and fellow of the American Academy of Dermatology
"I went on vacation in the Caribbean with some close friends recently and we had a ball, enjoying lots of outdoor activities. Some of my friends were having so much fun that they started getting lax about sun protection. One of them said to me when we were on the beach one day, 'I didn't bother to put sunscreen on today, because, look, it's cloudy.' Well, wouldn't you know, the result was a sunburn! I think that lazy summertime feeling we all enjoy so much distracts some people from remembering that they need to protect themselves every time they're outside. It doesn't matter whether you're in the blazing sun or if the weather is blah—thinking you can't suffer sun damage on a cloudy day is a totally false sense of security. Coat yourself with SPF before heading outdoors, and make sure your friends do too. Call me the sunscreen police, but I'm always ready to pull sunscreen out of my bag at a moment's notice and say, 'Here's the bottle'—no excuses! I nag because I care." —Anne Chapas, M.D., founder of Union Square Laser Dermatology in New York City
What Does It Really Mean to "Eat Clean?"


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Posted 6 years ago
(1 item)
I found this doll in my grandmothers things. She was a bit of a pack rat. I have looked and looked and emailed a bunch of people but no one so far has been able to tell me what this doll is. I have had several people tell me that it has some characteristics of types of dolls but they couldn't be sure. I don't know if you can read it but the back says "747, Germany, 8 1/4 "
Any info would be helpful.


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Sunday: Bucs-Broncos in-game chat, 4 p.m.
Join the conversation Sunday, beginning at 4 p.m., as Times beat reporter Stephen F. Holder blogs live from Sports Authority Field in Denver throughout the Bucs' game against the Broncos. Follow along, and add your comments and/or questions if you like. We look forward to hearing from you.


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Just 1 minute
Ca-ching! Colts are hot: If you win it, they will buy
Not since they hit town have the Indianapolis Colts ranked so high nationally in the sale of NFL merchandise. The team's run at perfection and 14-2 record last regular season enabled the Colts to jump six spots to seventh in licensed items sold.
It's just the second time the Colts have cracked the top 10; the other time was their first season in Indianapolis in 1984. The rankings are based on reports for 400 licensed products sold in a fiscal year that ended March 31.
"Next year at this time, you could probably see the Colts go up even higher," said Brian McCarthy, NFL director of corporate communications. "With another great year, they could break into the top five."
Super Bowl champion Pittsburgh, which knocked the Colts out of the playoffs, was No. 1 for the first time since the Steelers' last championship in 1980.
Next came traditional favorites Philadelphia, Oakland, Dallas, New England and Green Bay. The Patriots and Steelers were the only playoff teams ahead of the Colts. Chicago was eighth, the New York Giants ninth and Denver 10th.
-- Phillip B. Wilson


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On Wednesday, I wrote about the dichotomy between the positive stock performance of companies in the housing space and the negative performance of mortgages on the books of the money centers this year. I concluded that this can't continue, and either signs of a rebound in housing and mortgage performance must be seen immediately or these stocks would begin to decline dramatically.
I don't think housing is going to show signs of strengthening soon, dramatic or otherwise.
Housing cycles have well defined characteristics that repeat historically. Succinctly, the pattern is that price appreciation starts with entry-level homes and then moves up to mid- and finally high-end homes. The peak valuation of high-end homes coincides with maximum consumer optimism. Values then begin to decline in the entry-level market with that process then extending to mid- and high-end homes. The bottom of the market occurs when high-end home values have declined commensurate with the decline in entry-level homes and this coincides with maximum consumer pessimism.
The ongoing consolidation of home values in the high-end market has so far not declined commensurately with the declines experienced by entry- and mid-level home values. The sentiment concerning housing also has not reached a correspondingly negative level to the positive level that occurred at the top of the market in 2006.
In general, just as sentiment at the top of the market was indicated by the consensus belief that housing values never fall, the bottom should be indicated by the meme that housing never appreciates. Both are irrational, but once a bubble peak has been identified, a corresponding reduction in values and sentiment equal to it in breadth and depth should occur. So far, that hasn't happened. But based on historical precedence, it still should.
The stock performance of companies in the housing space and the traders and investors driving them this year is most probably more indicative of an echo boom or mania than of a secular resurgence in home values and transactions. The Federal Reserve is certainly aware of this, as indicated by the announcement of intentions to purchase $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities monthly this past September. (Chairman Ben Bernanke addressed this issue again today in a speech he gave at the Operation HOPE Global Financial Dignity Summit in Atlanta, Ga., titled "Challenges in Housing and Mortgage Markets.")
Beyond the historical precedence for housing cycles, though, and the ongoing issues of non-performing loans, there are deep structural and demographic issues that will provide a drag on the housing sector for the next generation and are already beginning to be felt.
Tighter lending standards and higher levels of personal debt by the two generations behind the baby boomers is making access to mortgages more difficult. The engine of the housing market is the first-time homebuyer. Their buying is one of the principal drivers of overall valuations and provides the ability for move up buyers and for the sale of second and vacation homes.
It is more likely than not that consolidation in the housing sector will be evident soon with national average values declining by another 10% nominally and high-end values by 25%.


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Kent State Shootings Nothing to Joke About – From the Bird's Nest
"Tin Soldiers and Nixon's comin'
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drummin'
Four dead in Ohio"
(Ohio lyrics by Neil Young)
By now you've probably seen the bed-sheet hanging from an LSU fraternity house before the LSU-Kent State game on Saturday. It said "Getting massacred is nothing new to Kent State."
It made me angry.
Later another bedsheet appeared next to it saying, "We apologize to Kent State for our inappropriate sign."
But somehow that rings hollow to me. So, perhaps it's time for a little history lesson.
In 1970 I graduated high school (yea, I'm old…do the math). America's attitude toward the Vietnam War was rapidly changing. The war "hawks" who supported America's involvement in Southeast Asia were being drowned out by the "doves" who wanted the war halted.
In his "Report From VIetnam," aired in 1968, former CBS anchor Walter Cronkite called the war "unwinnable," and, at best, a "stalemate." Back then Cronkite was known as the "most trusted man in America."
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Still the war continued, even as anti-war protests broke out around the country.
Toward the beginning of spring, 1970 the war had spread to Cambodia. More and more Americans were dying. And the protests grew.
On April 30, President Nixon announced the U. S. Involvement in the Cambodian Incursion.
On May 1, students at Kent State University began protesting. This was nothing new in America. Hundreds of anti-war protests had been held, many on college campuses. About 200 were there to protest. Unrest grew and by Tuesday, May 4, the National Guard had been called in and the amount of protesters grew to 2,000. The guard fired tear gas, but it had little effect because of winds in the area. Finally, the guard opened fire.
Four students were dead. Nine were injured. Some were protesters. Some were simply going from one class to another and were gunned down. (You can click the links for more.) President Nixon was widely criticized for what many felt were unfeeling and callous remarks after the shootings took place. Just days earlier, he called those who protested on campus "bums."
It was an incredible time of unrest in this country.
I'm all about freedom of speech. But we can all agree some take that to the extreme, and that was done in this case.
Two years ago the men's basketball team played at Kent State. On game day, I drove to campus. I wanted to see it all for myself. It was a gloomy day…it had been raining. For some reason, I thought it was apropos.
I stood at the memorial for quite some time. I looked out in every direction. I could almost see the guardsmen. It made me sad, even 40 years later.
But while the apology was offered, the fact is this is not the first time some really offensive comments were made. For the opener in 2012, a sign read "Like the Batman Movie, we're starting off this season with a bang," referencing the Aurora, CO movie theater shootings.
And just last week, there was another one that read, "LSU vs. UAB. It's gonna be a gas…SYRIASLY."
When it happens once, it's a mistake. When it happens twice, it's a trend. When it happens three times, it's time for action.
The house needs to be shut down and the fraternity suspended from campus.
Your move, LSU.


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The Cedar Grove/Lebanon Junction Family Resource Center advisory council will meet Wednesday, Jan. 23, at 1 p.m.
The meeting will be held at Cedar Grove Elementary.
The public is invited to attend.
For more information contact Cedar Grove/Lebanon Junction FRC coordinator Tammy Perdew, 869-3800 or 869-2200.


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The Virgin Knight
Sir Richard Branson's new world order: save the planet, save its people and keep an eye on things from above. Way, way above.
Centuries before there was a Pirates of the Caribbean movie franchise or theme-park thrill ride, there were pirates, real pirates, raiding the British seaports of the Caribbean. The pirate captains and crews, much like the ships raiding and being raided, were a mix of Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese and French but, just as often, they were rebel Englishmen trying to get rich from one side of the gangplank or the other. Nearly five hundred years later, there are still pirates among us—risk-taking men and women who have the innate ability to set course, change course and survive insurmountable storms—who come out the other side of each journey not only alive but fabulously wealthy and grinning like a shark. There are few businessmen—or celebrities—who personify the word "pirate" better than Sir Richard Branson. At 57, he's the captain of a corporate ship that boasts well over 200 separate business entities and employs a crew of 50,000 around the globe, and he is, according to Forbes magazine's latest report on the world's wealthiest people, worth an estimated $3.8 billion.
That Branson spends an inordinate amount of time at sea—literally, not figuratively—is undeniable. On his second attempt to set the transatlantic speed record (he sank his boat the first time out, in 1985), Branson and his crew set a world record the following year, in the Virgin Atlantic Challenger II. And on six separate occasions, Branson's been plucked out of the sea by a rescue helicopter following unexpected, uh, aquatic landings while attempting to set records for crossing oceans or circling the globe via hot air balloon.
If there are some among his countrymen or business peers who would suggest that Branson's hot air isn't relegated solely to balloon flights across vast expanses of land and sea, the entrepreneurial rogue couldn't seem to care less. White teeth flashing in a tanned face, eyes crinkled by either too much staring into the sun or at profitability spreadsheets for business ventures as diverse as commercial aviation and condoms, mobile phones and "banks" that store umbilical cords, Branson is the kind of man who is known for pulling off elaborate stunts involving army tanks, belly dancers, parachutes or God knows what else, in the firm belief that no publicity is bad publicity.
He is a knight—again, literally, not figuratively—since being knighted by the Prince of Wales in 1999, and if he's most often seen by the public in loose, flowing open-necked shirts, hands on hips and arms akimbo, with long hair blowing in the wind, well, what more could you expect from a globe-trotting fortune builder and adventurer. He's a rascal. A buccaneer. A swashbuckling gambler.
Branson is also quite definitely an alpha male in spite of the time that he dressed up in complete bridal drag, gown and all, to promote the launch of Virgin Bride, his chain of U.K.-based bridal stores. Not since actor Johnny Depp embodied Captain Jack Sparrow (channeling Keith Richards) in Pirates of the Caribbean have we seen a man wearing more makeup alongside a five o'clock shadow.
The charming Branson can spin a tale when it suits him; his is a natural Pied Piper-meets-Tom Sawyer-like ability to get people to happily stop whatever they're doing to paint his fence. Chase his hot air balloons across three continents. Buy a ticket to space.
He's a dyslexic entrepreneur who can unerringly read people and proposals, a high school dropout who learned his lessons—magna cum laude—by building businesses and brands one at a time over 40 years, and an incorrigible jokester who truly believes the punch line to the very best joke he's ever heard is…life.
A modern-day pirate? You bet. Bloody hell, the guy's even got his own private Caribbean island.
A Virgin by any Other Name
Everyone, it seems, has a Richard Branson story. His father, Ted, likes to tell stories of how, as a toddler, Richard was already the leader of a gang of 2- , 3- and 4-year-olds who routinely got into whatever mischief their diaper-wearing captain dreamed up.
Everyone, it seems, has a Richard Branson story. His father, Ted, likes to tell stories of how, as a toddler, Richard was already the leader of a gang of 2- , 3- and 4-year-olds who routinely got into whatever mischief their diaper-wearing captain dreamed up.
There are stories of how his mother, Eve, once pulled her car off to the side of the road while driving to her parents' country farm and, more than two miles from the final destination, told 6-year-old Ricky to get out, find the rest of his way, and she'd meet him there. She kept an eye on him, of course, and little Ricky managed to make his way to the next-door neighbor's house without incident.
There are stories of how the headmaster at Stowe School gave his blessing to a 16-year-old Richard Branson and his parents, for Richard to drop out of school—something he'd never done before with any other student—and predicting that Branson would either become a millionaire or go to prison.
Whether business peers or business foes, budding entrepreneurs who aspire to Branson's legendary success or employees who happily take pay cuts to come work on the Good Ship Virgin, everyone seems to have a favorite story about Richard Branson. Some are about failures, some are about successes or, in the case of one of Branson's personal favorites, it involves what at first appears to be failure but winds up being wildly successful.
Contrary to what Branson groupies might like to think—and they exist in vast droves, as any recent popularity poll in the United Kingdom will tell you—the British Virgin Islands are not named after the Virgin Group and the British billionaire who founded it.
Still, fairly early on in the success of Virgin Records, Branson found himself in the BVI with a beautiful woman—Joan Templeman, who would ultimately become his wife and partner of more than 30 years and with whom he'd have two children—with inexpensive romance on his mind. Intent on wooing Joan, but cash-poor due to continually reinvesting all of the fledgling company's profits into new businesses, Branson had accepted a gratis trip down to the Caribbean under the pretense of being interested in buying an island.
After a few days of enjoying the hospitality of the real estate marketing firm that had flown them in, Branson found himself on a completely unimproved island—one large lump of volcanic rock and neckerberry bushes inhabited only by geckos—where he climbed to the top of the hill and realized that, aside from flinging his arms wide and yelling into the wind, "I'm captain of the world," he could genuinely, in real life, be captain of his own domain.
The problem was that he had no money, at least not ready cash. Student, the magazine that he'd launched after dropping out of school, had been successful for a few years before Branson realized that the real money was in taking out mail-order ads (in his own publication, natch) for record albums. The neophyte retailer—cheekily dubbing the company Virgin Records after his vast breadth of knowledge of both retailing and the music scene—then began a small chain of record stores in 1970 and, not content with his place in the music industry food chain, leveraged everything he owned in 1972 to buy an old manor house outside of Oxford, which he turned into a recording studio. Over the next couple of years, Virgin Records managed to find a few small bands and artists to sign—Branson always smiles as he tells this part of the story—with names like Mike Oldfield, the Sex Pistols, Culture Club, Simple Minds, Phil Collins, Genesis, the Eurythmics, UB40, ZZ Top, Belinda Carlisle, Janet Jackson, Peter Gabriel and, years later, the Rolling Stones.
So, successful on paper but broke, Branson found himself captivated by the allure of owning his own island and, standing there in the Caribbean sun, he took an impulsive shot. The asking price for Necker Island was £3 million; Branson offered £150,000—a sum that he would have had trouble coming up with as it was—and after sheepishly upping the offer to £200,000 to the broker's continued disgust, he was summarily flown off the island, back to his luggage, and encouraged to return to wherever he came from.
A few months later, having contacted the British lord who actually owned Necker, Branson learned that the owner was in financial straits and needed to sell; a little haggling later, including a commitment to putting infrastructure on the island within a specific period of time, and Branson had struck a deal with the owner, closing the deal for £180,000.
Still doubt that pirates don't recognize treasure when they see it? Necker Island has, in the ensuing years—and with a hefty investment by Branson—become not only a personal getaway for the Branson family but one of the most exclusive playground destinations for the rich and famous. With a weekly rental rate of $275,000, which includes the lovely collection of Cuban, Dominican and Honduran cigars available at the bar, the success of the property—now the lynchpin of what was to become Virgin Limited, a collection of luxury resorts—has spawned additional sites, including Ulusaba, a private game reserve in South Africa, and a kasbah in Morocco known as Kasbah Tamadot.
As is often the case with a Branson story, there's a second punch line to this joke. It seems that when the real estate broker summarily dismissed Branson from Necker Island following his lowball offer, Branson was also left to find his own flight home. Thoroughly disgusted with trying to get a commercial flight, and observing many others feeling the same way at the island airport in Tortola, Branson had an idea. An idea, you might say, with wings.
Flying the Unfriendly Skies
When routinely asked by budding entrepreneurs or business students about the fastest, surest way to become a millionaire, Branson likes to quip back, "become a billionaire and then start an airline."
When routinely asked by budding entrepreneurs or business students about the fastest, surest way to become a millionaire, Branson likes to quip back, "become a billionaire and then start an airline."
Actually, Branson's only partly joking; after all, his first foray into commercial aviation happened on a whim. Hiring a private jet to get him back to Puerto Rico after his Caribbean jaunt, he took the time to count the number of other pissed-off travelers at the gate. After some quick math, Branson borrowed a blackboard, turned to the other passengers and wrote "Virgin Airways. $39 Single Flights to Puerto Rico" on it, and filled the seats. In the back of Branson's mind, a light had gone on. He could build a better airline.
"Look, the airline business 21 years ago was dreadful, and in some countries," he laughs, "it's still dreadful. You had a piece of chicken dumped in your lap if you were lucky, the seats were uncomfortable, the stewardesses and stewards never smiled…they obviously weren't happy in their jobs and they weren't happy with the tools that they were given. I spent a lot of time on planes because I had a record company, so I rang Boeing and I said, 'My name's Richard Branson and I'd like to buy a secondhand 747.'"
Ultimately, Branson was to negotiate an even better deal with Boeing—a lease with a guaranteed return policy—but first, the person at the other end of the aviation giant's phone line had to figure out who the hell this upstart Brit was, calling out of the blue.
"They said, 'Who are you again? What did you say your company is called?' and I said, 'Virgin. Virgin Records. You know, the people who brought you the Sex Pistols.' To their credit," Branson continues, laughing, "they said, 'Look, we'll give you a go as long as, unlike your name, your airline's going to go the whole way.'"
Virgin Atlantic went airborne—literally—in 1984 and while "going the whole way" was certainly Branson's intention, starting out with a single, used 747 did nothing more than amuse the rival airlines serving London and New York at the time, including PSA and British Airways. Laker Air, the discount airline started by one of Branson's business idols, Sir Freddie Laker, had gone bust not long before and People's Express was soon to follow.
Virgin Atlantic began to gain notice from its rivals, though, when its sold-out flights and snappy, tongue-in-cheek marketing efforts began to eat into their sales. Normally boring, cookie-cutter transatlantic flights were suddenly fun again with the addition of sleeper chairs, fine cuisine and flight attendants hired for their smiles and sass appeal. By the time Virgin Atlantic began gaining creditability, additional planes and additional arrival gates—not to mention the media stories about in-flight neck massages and passengers having pajama parties at the stand-up bar in first class—one rival in particular, British Airways, had had enough.
In what was ultimately to become a case study for MBA students the world over on the subject of corporate dirty tricks, British Airways declared war on Virgin Atlantic. The battle played out in the international media, and, later, the courts: a David versus Goliath story that spawned numerous film documentaries and nonfiction books. Tales of how British Airways hacked into Virgin Atlantic's computer database, stole passenger data and either cancelled its flights or rerouted them to British Airways flights were told from one side, as rumors of Branson missteps and of how Virgin Atlantic, the underdog, was financially insolvent were told from the other.
Richard Branson as underdog? If so, not for long. Remember, it's always the smaller dogs that circle around to bite you in the arse.
As he began to lose customers on flights that had once been sold out, Branson doubled his efforts, dipping into the profits generated by other Virgin Group companies to cover the airline's losses. He also began digging in his heels.
Determined to save his airline and wanting British Airways to pay, Branson, the pirate, began returning cannon fire. He sued BA for libel and slander, accused the company of corporate misdeeds including espionage—which internal documents at BA proved—and, to fund both the airline and his court battle, sold his beloved Virgin Records to EMI in 1992. The difficult decision—and billion-dollar cash influx—was, in hindsight, the wise business choice. Virgin Atlantic was successful in the court battle, winning damages that were nearly equal to what had come in from selling the record company, and also wresting a public apology from the U.K.'s largest airline.
Just Lie Back and Think of England
"Screw it, let's do it" is a favorite saying of Branson's when it comes to business decisions, so much so that the man dubbed "Dr. Yes" by Virgin staff used it as the title of one his books on life lessons for the business world. Still, Branson acknowledges that launching an airline and fighting to ensure its survival against much bigger competitors was a major gamble in his professional life, although, frankly, not unlike some of the risks he's taken in his personal life. And some of these risks, he admits, grinning, were taken concurrently.
"Screw it, let's do it" is a favorite saying of Branson's when it comes to business decisions, so much so that the man dubbed "Dr. Yes" by Virgin staff used it as the title of one his books on life lessons for the business world. Still, Branson acknowledges that launching an airline and fighting to ensure its survival against much bigger competitors was a major gamble in his professional life, although, frankly, not unlike some of the risks he's taken in his personal life. And some of these risks, he admits, grinning, were taken concurrently.
"Look, I love a challenge. And you know, there's an adventurous streak in us all and, I think, and in British people in particular. You look at the history of Britain…we got Scott [a distant relative of Branson's] to the Antarctic. We had Drake. We've got people who really like to sort of see what they're capable of and push, push the limits. And so if somebody comes along to me and says, 'I guess we could maybe wrest the Blue Riband [sailing trophy] off the Americans, who have held it for a number of years for crossing the Atlantic,' well, you know, we'll give it a go!"
The same rule applied, Branson says, when Swedish pilot and balloon designer Pers Lindstrom first approached him about funding the design of a balloon that would cross the ocean in jet streams that could reach up to 300 mph. Sure, said Branson, if he could fly along on the trip. Well, first, Branson admits, he asked Lindstrom what he thought was a deciding-factor question about the risks involved.
"I asked him if he was a father, if he had any children. He said yes, and he was obviously willing to do it. That was enough for me.'"
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Since the Saints are playing in the Superbowl this weekend, I've been having fun rediscovering my love for Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, but once again I'm sticking to my story that it's just a coincidence that all these recipes with Creole Seasoning are showing up this week. Actually this recipe for Lake Powell Spicy Rice is something I came up with when I used to cater houseboat trips to Southern Utah's Lake Powell. In those days I made it with Basmati Rice, but now I'd use Uncle Ben's Converted Rice, a lower glycemic index type of white rice. This recipe was a favorite at Lake Powell and it certainly deserves to be a favorite on the blog.
(Lake Powell Spicy Rice was updated and added to Recipe Favorites February 2010)
After 30 minutes, turn off heat and let rice sit for five minutes, then lift lid, fluff rice and serve.
Lake Powell Spicy Rice
(Makes about 4 servings, recipe created by Kalyn at Lake Powell in a fit of creative cooking energy.)
1 cup Uncle Ben's Converted Rice (not instant)
1 1/2 T olive oil
1 tsp. Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning, or other Creole seasoning of your choice (or more, earlier recipe used 2 tsp.)
1 tsp. chile powder (or more, earlier recipe used 2 tsp.)
1 tsp. Spike Seasoning (or more, earlier recipe used 2 tsp.)
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock (can be canned broth)
Add spices and saute 1 minute, then add chicken stock, one cup at a time. (It will sputter, so be careful). Let the stock come to a boil, then reduce heat to a very low simmer, cover pan, and cook without lifting lid for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, check rice. If it is not done or broth is not completely absorbed, cover and cook 5 minutes more. When rice is done, turn off heat and let rice sit 5 minutes still covered. (If you're not careful to have the heat low enough, the rice might stick a little to the bottom of the pan, but it will loosen when it sits for five minutes.) Serve hot.
This freezes well, so you might want to make extra and freeze it in dinner-size portions.
Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Find More Recipes Like This One:
Nutritional Information?
More Side Dishes That Might Be Rice:
Cauliflower "Rice" with Fried Onions and Sumac from Kalyn's Kitchen
Low Country Dirty Rice from Cooking by the Seat of My Pants
Baked Lemon-Curry Rice with Onions and Pine Nuts from Kalyn's Kitchen
Spanish Rice from Simply Recipes
Georgette's Really Lemony Greek Pilafi from Kalyn's Kitchen
Chicken or Turkey Fried Rice from The Perfect Pantry


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In our unending search to bring subscribers the best investment ideas, I spent a day last week at what I call the Woodstock of Small Cap conferences, small-cap investor extraordinaire Chris Lahiji's LDMicro "Main Event" Conference. Following on Friday's post, here are a few more of the ideas from the conference that tickled my fancy, and are worth further research on your part.
● RealD (RLD) -- If you have been to a 3-D movie lately, you know RealD supplies the technology to make it "pop." With studios and theaters looking for every angle to get viewers out of the living room and into the theater, the 3D trend is likely to keep growing. RealD is riding this wave: Revenue advanced from $39 million in 2009 to $250 million this year, with strong performance in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization as well. RealD is not cheap -- it sells at 10x EBITDA -- but sometimes visible growth is worth it.
● S&W Seed (SANW) -- As long as people need to eat, agriculture will simply never go out of style -- and S&W has a special breed of alfalfa seed that can thrive in poor conditions, such as warm climate and saline soils. The market is finding this name, with sales having grown from $5 million in 2009 to $15 million this year. Cash is the cash crop of this company, as it continues to pile up on the balance sheet.
● TIO Networks (TNC) -- TIO provides transaction-processing services in the form of bill-payment processing to large telecom, cable and utility companies. The company's 60,000 bill-payment "points of presence" -- mostly kiosks -- enable an easy alternative to mail for the many people who still like to pay "in person." The company's revenue grew from $21 million in 2009 to $42 million this year, with operating cash flow strong at $2 million. The firm has enterprise value of only $12 million, so this one seems dirt cheap for the growth you are getting.
● World Energy Solutions (XWES) -- This company operates exchanges for the trading of electricity, natural gas, and environment commodities (such as carbon). Exchanges are essentially transaction processors, which always seem to have good economics -- earnings are leveraged to volume growth, and costs fall as technology becomes ever cheaper. World Energy is achieving the critical mass in its markets that will enable rapid growth. Its top line jumped from $14 million in 2009 to $31 million this year, with operating cash flow of $3 million expected. A $52 million market capitalization leaves the stock trading at only 1.5x sales, a reasonable multiple relative to growth.
● Adcare Health Systems (ADK) -- How to play the aging-population theme? Look no further than the great state of Ohio, which houses a rapidly growing assisted-living company. Adcare runs a growing fleet of retirement communities and assisted-living facilities in the state. Sales grew from $27 million in 2009 to $212 million this year, and cash is growing despite the normal capital-expenditure and acquisition uses. Not surprisingly, debt is high in this real estate-driven business -- but with rates low and terms matched to the long lives of the assets, the balance sheet seems able to support future growth.


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Prize Recipient
Michael Charlton
Swansea University
"For the introduction and use of innovative plasma techniques which produced the first demonstration of the trapping of antihydrogen."Background:
Mike Charlton studied Physics at University College London (UCL), graduating with a 1st Class Honours BSc in 1978, before completing his PhD, also at UCL, on the interactions of low energy positrons in gases in 1980. He stayed at UCL for postdoctoral work, being awarded a Science Research Council Postdoctoral Fellowship in 1982 followed by a Royal Society Research Fellowship in 1983. He held this position until 1991, when he was promoted to Reader in Physics at UCL. In 1999, he moved to Swansea, where he took up a Chair in Experimental Physics. He has held the Chairmanship of the Department of Physics, and of the School of Physical Sciences, whilst at Swansea. He has made many contributions to low energy positron physics, particularly in the areas of positronium formation, ionization and annihilation and in the development of low energy beams and related instrumentation. He began antihydrogen research in 1986, and this is now his main area of endeavour. He is currently an Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council Senior Research Fellow. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and a Fellow of the Learned Society of Wales.
Selection Committee:
Michael Mauel, Chair; Richard Berger; Wim Leemas; Troy Carter; Carl Sovinec


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INDIAN WELLS, calif. — Following a month-long search, the Rockies named Walt Weiss their sixth manager Wednesday night. Weiss received a one-year deal, a challenge he embraces.
"It has moved fast and it's a great opportunity," Weiss told The Denver Post. "It's who I am, having lived in this city, and played for this organization. It's been part of my identity the last 20 years. I am not motivated by the terms of contract. I am just focused on the job."
The Rockies' brass met for several hours Wednesday night before choosing Weiss over finalist Matt Williams and Jason Giambi and Tom Runnells.
Weiss, 48, was the head baseball coach at Regis Jesuit High School last season, leading the Raiders to the Class 5A semifinals. His son, Brody, is a senior there.
Weiss, known as a terrific fielder who provided a heady on-field presence, played 14 major-league seasons with Oakland, Florida, Colorado and Atlanta. The shortstop won American League rookie of the year honors with the Athletics.
He helped lead the A's, Rockies and Braves to the playoffs. His 1989 A's team won the World Series, beating the San Francisco Giants. In 1999, Weiss helped the Braves make the World Series, where they lost to the New York Yankees.
"I am trying to get my head around this and over the past few weeks I have come to grips with it. There are going to be things that I won't foresee that will be part of the job. I will figure things out," Weiss said. "And I will lean on guys around me and get help with the logistics about that part of the job."
The Rockies signed Weiss in 1994 to stabilize the shortstop position and bring a veteran presence to the clubhouse. He has been around the organization ever since.
"He fell into our lap and was everything we expected and more," said former Rockies GM Bob Gebhard. "He was a leader in every way."
Weiss wasn't looking for a new job when the Rockies called nearly a month ago.
The casual conversations quickly turned serious and Weiss, after discussing the matter with his family, pursued the job aggressively. He hasn't coached in professional baseball, though he worked as a minor-league instructor and scout for the Rockies.
In a copycat league where the White Sox's Robin Ventura and the Cardinals' Mike Matheny became managers without résumés, several executives predicted Weiss could make a successful transition.
"I don't think anything would overwhelm him," said Angels general manager Jerry Dipoto.
There's some concern that Weiss might be too quiet and reserved. He's not a yeller and screamer, his competitive streak more of a steady burning fire.
"I would put Walt up there with (Joe) Girardi as the two guys I played with that had the most respect on the field because of how they carried themselves and how they played the game," said former Rockies star Dante Bichette. "Obviously leading a team is different, but they sure handled themselves well."
Girardi, an erstwhile Rockie, won NL manager of the year honors with the Marlins and led the Yankees to a World Series crown in 2009. Weiss was a hard-nosed player who developed a love for teaching the game with patience. That could be an asset for a team breaking in several young pitchers and position-player prospects. Weiss would also benefit having, if not require, a veteran pitching coach.
Geivett indicated that no staff decisions would be made until a manager is in place.
Bob McClure, the Rockies' former Triple-A pitching guru before working with the Red Sox and Royals, is a potential candidate for the pitching coach job. Weiss expects the staff to come from in-house candidates.
"I look forward to this opportunity," Weiss said. "I can't wait to get going."
Troy E. Renck: 303-954-1294, firstname.lastname@example.com or twitter.com/troyrenck


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Magnum Opus
In "Las Vegas" and the Jesse Stone series, Tom Selleck reminds us why he is one of America's best-loved actors.
It's his voice. With the possible exception of some classic cartoon characters, there aren't many performers who can claim the kind of voice that multiple generations can recognize within a sentence or two.
W. C. Fields had such a voice, as did George Burns. Bob Dylan's singing voice has that same unique quality and Fran Drescher's nasal tones are, uh, unmistakable. The inimitable Mae West—in whose Myra Breckinridge a young actor by the name of Tom Selleck once earned screen credit as "Stud"—had that kind of voice too.
Of course, so does Tom Selleck. Whether he's playing Hawaiian private investigator Thomas Sullivan Magnum IV in "Magnum, P.I."—the role that made Selleck a household name, the owner of the most famous mustache on film since Burt Reynolds and the pin-up poster boy for women all over the globe—or characters as diverse as a bachelor architect diapering an infant (Three Men and a Baby), an American athlete playing baseball in Japan (Mr. Baseball), a gay newsman (In & Out), a roguish ex-husband ("Boston Legal") or a hired cowboy let loose in Australia (Quigley Down Under), the actor's voice is instantly recognizable. You can change the story's locale, the character's career and even the facial hair, but you're going to know it's Tom Selleck's voice no matter what.
On the first day of this interview and still in Los Angeles, that recognizable voice is a little strained; Selleck had been filming earlier in the day on the set of "Las Vegas," the four-year-old NBC drama that he joined this past season in which he plays mysterious and wealthy A. J. Cooper, a Wyoming cattle rancher who buys the fictional Montecito Resort & Casino out of bankruptcy. He's managed to slot in an hour and a half in a hotel suite for the interview but has another meeting at the studio, this time with a network executive, immediately following.
With any luck, the weary Selleck will make it home to his ranch 90 minutes north of Los Angeles by nightfall and just in time to say hello to his wife and his daughter and go to sleep in order to start all over again in the morning.
And, he adds, he's got to start packing. A week or so earlier Selleck had received notice that he'd scored an Emmy nomination for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie for his role playing troubled police chief Jesse Stone in Jesse Stone: Sea Change. The CBS television movie, the fourth in a series based on the best-selling books by Robert B. Parker, features Selleck not only as the lead actor but as the co-executive producer. Between his nomination and the actual Emmy Awards show in mid-September, he needs to wrap his work on "Las Vegas" and leave for Halifax, Nova Scotia, to begin the fifth movie in the franchise, Jesse Stone: Thin Ice.
Acting is a competitive sport in Hollywood and if Selleck's schedule is brutal at the moment, it is a scheduling game that hundreds— maybe thousands—of actors would love to be playing.
At 62 and nearly two decades after the insane success of "Magnum, P.I.," Selleck is clearly still in the game, still selling tickets and still filling the stands.
Even better, he's still hitting them into the bleachers.
Growing up in Southern California's San Fernando Valley, a Little League—playing Tom Selleck dreamed of a career in Major League Baseball, but it was to be a different ball—basketball—that led the 6 foot 4 inch "Valley Boy" into acting, albeit inadvertently.
Selleck studied business in college, first at a junior college and later while playing basketball at Southern Cal. His grades, Selleck admits a bit sheepishly, were dismal and his basketball not a whole lot better. Still, friends talked him into a theater arts class by telling him that it was an easy way to score an "A" and an instructor encouraged the strikingly tall, handsome student to try out for a commercial or two. Selleck did and, like a lot of USC and UCLA students at the time, landed a role on "The Dating Game." Twice.
The results, Selleck laughs, weren't much better than his college grades; he didn't get the girl either time. "Oh man, 'The Dating Game,'" Selleck says, groaning. "I was a total non-pro and I was a shy kid. I did two of them...they had me back on for some reason even though I gave lame answers and lost. The one thing I remember, because I was terrified, is that they had this revolving stage. You come out and it goes," Selleck whistles the show's theme tune, "and there you are sitting in your chairs. They said, 'Don't forget to smile when you come out.' Well, I just remember it freaked me out so that my heart was thumping, the revolving [stage] comes around and I remembered to smile. I forced a smile and my heart was beating so fast that my lip goes..." and Selleck, laughing, starts twitching his lip madly.
As an adult Selleck mimics the almost painful-to-watch shyness of a college kid, unsure of women and ill at ease in front of a camera, it's hard to reconcile the assertive, notoriously "calls it like he sees it" man of today—and certainly the heartthrob-y bachelor of Thomas Sullivan Magnum—with the image he's re-creating.
Actually, Selleck says, his shyness around women extended far beyond college, no matter what persona he may have taken on just a few years later in shows like "Lancer," "The Young and the Restless" or "Marcus Welby, M.D." Or, in the case of "Magnum, P.I.," nearly 14 years later.
Hell, he admits, he still finds the fairer sex a little perplexing.
"In college I was always 'uh, I really like that girl' and then I'd ask a friend to fix us up. I was pretty shy [and] I was a little slow. Until when? Until always, I think, or until I grew up a little. It takes men a long time to grow up," Selleck smiles, "or at least it did this guy."
Apparently at least one woman was able to overlook Selleck's shyness; he married model Jacqueline Ray in 1971 and, together, they raised Ray's toddler-aged son, Kevin. Selleck spent the '70s getting small roles on television dramas and modestly larger roles in films, some fairly awful (Daughters of Satan, Terminal Island) and some a little better, such as Midway.
But most of all, it seems, Selleck made television pilots. During his first decade or so acting, Selleck made seven pilots—only one of which ever sold—and spent 11 years doing bit parts and struggling. It wasn't until he had a small, recurring role in "The Rockford Files" that things started to click.
In fact, he points out, he wasn't cast in the Hawaii-based "Magnum, P.I." until age 35 and the irony isn't lost on him as to how easy some people thought his success must have been based on his looks. "I became an overnight success," deadpans Selleck, "at age 35."
Although he felt more than a little jinxed when it came to pilots, he at least loved the locale of Hawaii and, having separated from his wife, was open to the idea of a little time away from Hollywood.
"I love Hawaii. When I was in the [California] National Guard and in the infantry, I went there one summer for summer camp. That was a great gig. You know, we had two weeks where we were training in the hills that was pretty miserable, but I remember visiting [a friend] at the Outrigger Canoe Club and playing a little beach volleyball with him and I thought, 'God I'm in the wrong business! If I could be making a living at something else, I'd live here. Nah, that'll never happen' and I end up going there! And it was that life at the Outrigger Canoe Club and the fact that most of my friends were outside the business [that] was really good for me. They didn't cut me any slack and they kidded me a lot. I wasn't the best volleyball player at the club. I was good but not anywhere near the best. They are really, really good players, so most volleyball games were a loss. A," Selleck says with a grin, "humiliating loss."
For a brief period it looked as if "Magnum, P.I." and Selleck's shot at staying in Hawaii might also be a loss—a debate about filming caused multiple delays—and then, simultaneously, another opportunity came and went too: a role, the lead role, in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
According to Selleck, he's awful when auditioning for an acting role—nerves, mostly—but, perhaps because he felt that the "Magnum, P.I." pilot was really going to fly, he must have relaxed enough to read well; Steven Spielberg and George Lucas offered him the role of Indiana Jones.
One of the rumors that's too often repeated, says Selleck, and the one that in some respects annoys him the most, is that he turned down the role of Indiana Jones. It's simply not true, the actor says.
No actor in his right mind would turn down that role, Selleck insists, unless maybe he'd already made a television show pilot in good faith and, although still technically in limbo, had a resulting case of a disease not often seen or diagnosed in Hollywood: ethics.
"Before I ever did the test, I said to them, 'I have this pilot,' and they [Spielberg and Lucas] said," Selleck mimics a gasp, "'You're telling us that? No one does that! No one tells us when they have a pilot!'"
It was the right thing to do, Selleck said, and the honest thing, but their response was more than he could have hoped for. "I was philosophic going in and [told them] that 'I don't know, the show hasn't sold yet, but I think it's going to,' and they said, 'We'll test you anyway. We're not real worried about it.'"
"Well, they weren't real worried about talking CBS into letting me do the movie [and] basically said they had cards to play with the network," continues Selleck, and, after reading a portion of the Raiders of the Lost Ark script, he knew he wanted the role. Badly. CBS, however, had other ideas and nixed the thought of Selleck taking on both roles. Reluctantly, Selleck agreed and told Spielberg the news.
Then, says Selleck, it all went sour. In the weeks after Selleck said he couldn't take on a commitment for Raiders, "Magnum, P.I." got sidelined yet again while CBS and Universal Studios, which had shot "Hawaii Five-0" in Hawaii for 12 years, argued about where the new Hawaii-themed show was going to film, in L.A. or in Hawaii. While the debate raged between the production companies, "Magnum, P.I." was taken out of the scheduled lineup, leaving Selleck with nada.
To make money, Selleck said yes to a television movie, Concrete Cowboys, opposite Jerry Reed, during which time CBS put "Magnum, P.I." back on the schedule for production, this time recast with someone else as Magnum.
It was, says Selleck now, insane. "They'd recast my role [on "Magnum, P.I."] and it was going on the air, so now I wasn't doing Raiders and there wasn't any "Magnum, P.I." either!"
Finally, says Selleck, CBS and Universal settled their differences, decided to film in Hawaii, and Selleck was back in again. For just a few weeks. "I went to Hawaii to start. I had a living allowance of $2,500 a month, had found a little house, a one-bedroom house but with a great view and I put down rent, last month's rent, security deposit and everything, all of which I didn't have except for that allowance. And then, before we started [filming], the actors went on strike."
Fortunately, his new landlady hadn't quite finished the remodeling and Selleck convinced her that he was handy enough to finish the work in return for rent consideration. Ironically, though, while Selleck was doing carpentry work on his rental, the cast and crew of Raiders of the Lost Ark came to Hawaii to film some of their final scenes.
"There they are, finishing Raiders of the Lost Ark in Hawaii, where I'm sitting around working as a handyman for $7 an hour with no "Magnum, P.I.," groans Selleck.
"I still have—I haven't framed it or anything—but I still have a letter from Steven [Spielberg] saying what a rotten deal I'd gotten and that I had a part out there [somewhere] and somewhere along the line we are going to work together."
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