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|January 2, 2013
Volume 15, Issue 1
|Midwifery Today E-News
"Shoulder Dystocia"
Print Page
Welcome to Midwifery Today E-News !
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Gail will discuss how you can spot a long labor before labor begins and turn it around to a shorter labor. You'll learn about the 3 Principles of Spinning Babies: Balance, Gravity, and Movement in pregnancy and in labor. You'll compare anterior and posterior fetal position and practice labor progress techniques appropriate to the level of descent. Part of our conference in Eugene, Oregon, April 2013. Plan now to attend!
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In This Week's Issue
Quote of the Week
Qualities inherent in safe, loving childbearing experiences must be recognized as the global rights of all women.
— Leilah McCracken
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The Art of Midwifery
From Central American midwives, Ina May Gaskin learned that with shoulder dystocia, it is best to turn the mother over onto hands and knees. The success of this maneuver (and our love for the messenger) is revealed by the fact that this technique was named after Ina May and is now commonly called the Gaskin Maneuver. It is often the turning over onto hands and knees that frees the baby.
— Gail Tully
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Jan's Corner
And Then They Came for Me
I am concerned about midwives who are being persecuted. It also troubles me greatly that so many midwives and midwifery organizations are unsupportive of our sisters facing these horrendous charges. I am saddened by our lack of support for midwives who are going through so much, all because they are trying to support women. Midwifery care is so very good for women. How then can we fall so short in our care for each other? This is where we should be shining stars of love because it could so easily happen to us. Where is our empathy? Where is our authentic midwifery? Authentic midwifery demands more of us than our tiny circle. It demands that we enlarge our circle of care for all aspects of birth, including our sister midwives.
The doctors don't eat their own, but we will destroy midwifery because of what we do to each other. It is time to stop and take an accounting and make sure we are giving love, care and support to those who are going through extremely difficult circumstances. The time is now for each of us to look at ourselves, think about what we are doing and who we need to offer love and support to and then do it. It may be a kind phone call of support—ask what you can do to help her. Reach out. Think, "What if this was happening to my mother or my daughter?" and act accordingly.
First they came for the Communists,
— Jan Tritten, mother of Midwifery Today
Jan Tritten is the founder, editor-in-chief and mother of Midwifery Today magazine. She became a midwife in 1977 after the amazing homebirth of her second daughter. Her mission is to make loving midwifery care the norm for birthing women and their babies throughout the world. Meet Jan at our conferences around the world, or join her online, as she works to transform birth practices around the world.
Jan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jantritten
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Featured Article
Preventing Shoulder Dystocia
Shoulder dystocia will become exceptionally rare the day the art of midwifery is understood in terms of creating appropriate conditions for the "fetus ejection reflex." This term was coined by Niles Newton in the 1960s when she was studying the environmental factors that can disturb the birth process in mice (Newton, N, D Foshee and M Newton 1966). Twenty years later, with her support, I suggested we save this concept from oblivion (Newton 1987; Odent 1987); I was convinced it could be a key to triggering a radically new understanding of the process of human parturition (Odent 2001).
The basic difference between humans and mice is that we have developed a huge and powerful neocortex which covers more archaic structures. When our neocortex is at rest, we have more physiological similarities with mice.
An authentic fetus ejection reflex is possible among humans. It takes place when a baby is born after a short series of irresistible and powerful contractions, which leave no room for voluntary movements. In such circumstances, it is obvious that the neocortex is at rest and no longer in control of archaic brain structures in charge of vital functions such as giving birth. Civilized women can behave in a way which would usually be unacceptable, for example, they may shout, swear or be rude. They seem to cut themselves off from our world and may even forget what they have been taught or what their plans were. During a fetus ejection reflex, women can find themselves in the most unexpected, bizarre, often mammalian, quadrupedal postures. They seem to be "on another planet." At the very time of the birth and during the minutes following birth (at the beginning of the interaction with the newborn baby), these mothers seem to be in an ecstatic state.
Interpreting the fetus ejection reflex leads us to understand the reduction of the activity of the new big brain as the solution Nature found to overcome the specifically human handicap during the period surrounding birth. This implies that the involuntary birth process is highly dependent on environmental factors since it needs to be protected against all kinds of neocortical stimulations.
I can describe a situation I am familiar with, which is compatible with the expression of an authentic ejection reflex. It is when there is nobody around the laboring woman apart from one experienced and silent midwife (or doula), perceived as a protective mother figure, sitting in a corner and knitting. The physiological perspective can easily interpret all the components of this simple, but almost unknown, scenario. The midwife remains silent; language is the main stimulant of the neocortex. The midwife is perceived as a protective mother figure; the physiological concept of adrenaline/oxytocin antagonism implies that one of the basic needs of a laboring woman is to feel secure. The midwife is not standing in front of the laboring woman, but behind her; feeling observed is a neocortical stimulation. There is only one midwife; the feeling of being observed is more likely to be present when there are two birth attendants. (Many proverbs, in a great diversity of societies, suggest the dangers related to the presence of two midwives.) The midwife is knitting; it has been demonstrated that repetitive tasks, such as knitting, tend to reduce the levels of adrenaline. Furthermore, an emerging scientific discipline based on the study of the "mirror neuron system" is a reminder that the adrenaline the birth attendant might release is contagious; the main preoccupation of an authentic midwife should therefore be to maintain her own level of adrenaline as low as possible. Modern sophisticated scientific methods can help us to rediscover what is simple and should be commonsense.
— Michel Odent
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Birth Q&A
Q: Tell us about a shoulder dystocia experience you encountered.
— Midwifery Today
A: I had an OB who didn't know she could help by having me change positions. Instead she attempted to pry the baby out of me. My midwife jumped in and helped by pushing my leg up to get me into a better position.
— Andrea Davis
A: My son was a homebirthed dystocia. From the birth of his top half until his shoulder was dislodged and his body was free, was 11 minutes. I am 5 ft 1 in tall and 130 lb. My baby was 11 lb 2 oz and nearly 23 in long. When he was finally born, I was standing up with my arms around my husband's neck.
— Ashley Bodner
A: Had a 10 lb 14 oz waterbirth with three-and-a-half-minute shoulder dystocia. As soon as I flipped onto hands and knees (this was easier to do in the water), she delivered!
— Shannon Crites
A: Thank God for the Gaskin maneuver!
— Tammi Moran
Craving more birth info?
Conference Chatter
A Birth Revolution
In order to outline and try to solve the problem of the persecution of midwives, we are having a one-day seminar as a prelude to the Eugene conference, "The Persecution of Midwives as a Human Rights Issue." It will be led by Hermine Hayes-Klein, who put on the "Human Rights in Birth" conference in The Hague in 2012. We will have courses within this day that are of importance to all of us who care about birth.
One of the classes for the one-day seminar is "Persecuted Professionals and Concerned Consumers." Representatives of the global Human Rights in Childbirth movement will talk about the role and responsibility of birthing women in the defense of birth professionals. Do consumers understand that the persecution of midwives is a violation of their own basic rights? If not, we will discuss how awareness can be raised. Another of the classes we are including is, "The Effect of Persecution on the Midwifery Community."
The other part of this day will be led by our friend, midwife and filmmaker Diana Paul. She will be showing How to Start a Revolution by Ruaridh Arrow, which is an inspiring documentary about one man's ability to change dictatorships into democracies. From this film we learn 198 detailed methods of nonviolent actions that result in transformation. A key is informing and assembling a mass of people who want change. That's us!
We will be discussing and starting our birth revolution, as well as showing this film. It is time to organize and we can do this if we all put our harmonious energy and love into this movement. Again, that is why we must care for and support each other. Watch for full details about this study day which will be posted soon!
Toward Better Birth!
— Jan Tritten
I was laboring well in a big birth pool with my husband supporting my back and my 4-year-old daughter pouring water over my belly during contractions. At one point, my midwife left the room to return a phone call. My daughter quickly swam from my right side to my bottom side and shouted with her arms outstretched, "Don't worry! I'll catch the baby while you're gone!" We were actually a few hours from the birth, but she was ready to help!
— Rachel Brown
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Midwifery Today: Each One Teach One!


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PS&E or whatever DJ they have at BLF need to get some sort of a sampling of Cold as Ice by Foreigner for when Lance starts going off.
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PS&E or whatever DJ they have at BLF need to get some sort of a sampling of Cold as Ice by Foreigner for when Lance starts going off.
Just because you're offended, doesn't mean you're right. ― Ricky Gervais.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Or throw in a first-round pick and flip it for a max-level point guard...
Back home in Indiana...nice little jam to fade it out.
[~]) ... Cheers! Go Pacers!
wait, you guys can understand what he's saying when he's not just talking normally?
My wife is an Emmy-award winning videographer and she is constantly editing videos in our home office which we share, for better or worse. After a while you start to get an ear for the stuff.
Also, Lance's voice is pretty distinctive. Check out him howling while playing piano in the hotel clip from a couple weeks back...
...again, doesn't really matter, just someone else here seemed totally convinced it was an overdub and I don't think that's the case. I think the video was just done fairly cheaply and there might have been some minor audio track issues. Youtube can do that to videos sometimes too depending on the format you upload.
I have no idea if it's dubbed or not, don't care, I just legitimately can't understand what "Sir Lance-A-Lot" is saying other than a few words here and there.
It is Lance's voice. It may be overdubbed, but likely it's just the result of some post-production timing issues (intentional or otherwise)
But that's definitely Lance.
There were lots of great lines in this video.
"Born Ready, Born Ready to New Orleans!"
"He goes left, he goes right like the Q Train to Coney Island."
"He holds the ball like MJ! It's gotta be the shoes!"
The Starters crew covered this last night. They also took a funny jab at him and how he downplayed playing on the All-Star team during the postgame interview on NBATV and then immediately released the campaign video that night.
Yeah I thought of that too after seeing the vid.
"We've got to be very clear about this. We don't want our players hanging around with murderers," said Larry Bird, Pacers president.
Isn't it amazing how far and how quickly this guy has come?
Lance is finally home. Whether he becomes our starting PG or he's 6th man, he's getting big minutes and he's here to stay. #llortontnia
From: http://sports.yahoo.com/news/lance-s...071334133.html
SAN FRANCISCO Indiana Pacers guard Lance Stephenson had one concern when he recently made a video campaigning for his inclusion in this season's NBA All-Star Game.
"I was scared," Stephenson said, "about what Larry would say."
"Larry" is Larry Bird, Pacers president and Hall of Fame forward. Bird was a 12-time All-Star, and it's safe to say he didn't have to stump for votes for any of his selections.
Stephenson is enjoying a breakthrough season of sorts in his fourth year in the NBA, and felt his own All-Star candidacy could use a little bump. A week ago, he unveiled his alter ego "Sir Lance-A-Lot" in a humorous 62-second online clip that has him wearing a wig, high-water pants, suspenders and a bowtie.
The video has generated more than 320,000 views, including at least one from Bird, who didn't hesitate to give Stephenson his review.
"He said, 'Hey, you did a good job. You should try being in a movie one day,' " Stephenson said. "He sent me a text and I was [relieved]."
The filming of the 62-second video took about 30 minutes and was directed by an Indianapolis music video producer. Indiana coach Frank Vogel even snuck in a clip of it while showing the team scouting video in preparation for a recent game against the New York Knicks. The All-Star Game is in New Orleans, so Stephenson got tips from teammate Danny Granger, a Big Easy native, on how to say "Nawlins" with a Creole twang.
Prior to the video release, Stephenson was a distant eighth in fan voting among Eastern Conference guards for the two starting All-Star guard spots. The latest All-Star ballot results aren't out yet after the voting ended Monday, but Stephenson said he has picked up about 50,000 Twitter followers over the past week.
"I decided to help myself out with the voting," Stephenson said. "I wanted to show a different side to my fans. I came up with everything. I was watching old Grandmamma (former Charlotte Hornet Larry Johnson's shoe commercials) and Madea (Tyler Perry's character) and I just came up with that."
The Pacers have the NBA's top record at 33-7 after beating the Golden State Warriors. Forward Paul George and center Roy Hibbert are expected to be East All-Stars. The Pacers are hoping for a third representative in New Orleans in either forward David West or Stephenson.
Stephenson has an NBA-high three triple-doubles this season and is averaging 13.9 points, 6.8 rebounds and 5.2 assists entering. He's also shooting 49.5 percent, ranking among the top guards in that category.
"I always thought I'd be good in this league, but I never thought I'd be to where I am right now," Stephenson said. "I worked so hard with dedication. My teammates and coaches pushed me every day, helped me learn the game and made it easier for me. I can get better."
Stephenson isn't expected to garner the large amount of votes needed to pass Miami's Dwyane Wade and Cleveland's Kyrie Irving to start for the East. That means Stephenson will have to rely on East coaches to vote him in as a reserve.
All-Star starters will be announced on Thursday. The reserves will be named Jan. 30.
"He's one the major reasons why we are atop the East," Pacers coach Frank Vogel said of Stephenson.
The lone knock on Stephenson has been his occasional showboating. He admitted he was "probably overdoing it" when he danced after making a jump shot after crossing over Courtney Lee during a 106-79 blowout victory over the Boston Celtics on Dec. 22. He doesn't believe East coaches will hold his celebrations against him.
"That's the New York swag in me," Stephenson said. " I like to bring excitement to the game and to get the fans involved."
^ good article
I hope everyone saw the couple dressed up in the same get up as Lance in this video at the game a few days ago. They were good.
FWIW, me bantering with Zach Lowe about Lance and Kyrie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JBriggeman/statu...89802822778880

subset: commoncrawl


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Meyer, Berrios post zeros in 'B' game
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- Twins pitching prospects Alex Meyer and Jose Berrios continued to impress by combining to throw four scoreless innings in a "B" game against the Red Sox on Thursday at JetBlue Park.
Meyer, ranked as the No. 40 overall prospect according to MLB.com, struck out three and gave up one hit in two scoreless frames. And Berrios, who is ranked as Minnesota's No. 9 prospect, threw two perfect innings in the Twins' 4-0 loss in seven innings.
"Meyer was really impressive," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It was the best performance for him down here. So we got our work in and the pitchers got some innings in."
They fared better than right-handers Samuel Deduno and B.J. Hermsen, who both struggled. Deduno, who is leaving the club this weekend to join Team Dominican Republic in the World Baseball Classic, gave up three runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings.
Hermsen, the organization's Minor League Pitcher of the Year, surrendered a run in the final inning.
Prospects Aaron Hicks and Eddie Rosario each had a hit for the Twins, who didn't do much offensively against the Red Sox.
Rhett Bollinger is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Bollinger Beat, and follow him on Twitter @RhettBollinger. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Megan Runnion
A team of lawyers is giving 12-year-old Megan Runnion a voice—even though she can't hear it.
Megan, who is deaf, is at the center of a lawsuit targeting the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana for purported disability discrimination.
Megan joined Girl Scouts when she was in kindergarten, and since then, the organization has provided her with an American Sign Language interpreter for her troop's meetings and outings. But last fall, when Megan's mother, Edie Runnion, renewed her request for an interpreter, the Girl Scouts denied her request.
Seeking legal guidance, Runnion contacted the National Association of the Deaf and Equip for Equality, an Illinois non-profit that has addressed the disability-related legal advocacy needs of people with disabilities since 1985. The two organizations offered Runnion advice, and when she wasn't able to resolve the issue on her own, they wrote a demand letter to the Girl Scouts of Greater Chicago and Northwest Indiana. When the Runnions didn't receive a favorable response, the organizations sent a similar letter to the Girl Scouts' national headquarters. Again, the Runnions didn't receive an encouraging answer.
"We didn't see that this was something that was going to be able to be negotiated successfully," says Barry Taylor, vice president for civil rights and systemic litigation at Equip for Equality. "Litigation was going to be our only option."
To obtain some additional litigation experience and manpower, Taylor and his team of lawyers reached out to Much Shelist Partner Steve Blonder, who previously had expressed interest in pro bono work with the non-profit. Blonder and two other Much Shelist lawyers are now working on the Runnions' case.
Although there aren't any inside counsel working on Megan's case, in-house lawyers frequently engage in pro bono work at Equip for Equality through the organization's Special Education Helpline, which serves as a resource for parents seeking advice and information about their disabled children's special education rights.
"We've developed technology so that when we get helpline calls from parents, we can forward those calls directly to the desk of the in-house corporate attorney," Taylor explains.
Lawyers from JPMorgan Chase & Co. were the first corporate counsel to work the helpline, and Taylor says lawyers from McDonald's Corp. and Zurich North America will soon train to begin working the helpline, too.
"Sometimes after the in-house attorneys give advice to clients, they want to do more," Taylor adds. "They want to go and negotiate their education plans or represent them at a hearing. The helpline provides an opportunity to do some initial work that's a fit as well as opportunities to go beyond that."
Regardless of whether pro bono volunteers come from law firms or corporate legal departments, Taylor says Equip for Equality appreciates the help. "It exponentially expands our capacity to do more litigation on behalf of people with disabilities," he says.


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Science Project Helper by Mike Dickinson
Chemistry Science Fair Projects Using Acids, Bases, Metals, Salts, and Inorganic Stuff by Robert Gardiner
Using Statistics in Science Projects, Internet Enhanced by Melanie Krieger
How to Make Your Science Project Scientific by Thomas Moorman
Extraordinary Research Projects by Tamara Orr
Chronology of Science: From Stonehenge to the Human Genome Project by Lisa M. Rosner
Janice Van Cleave's Help! My Science Project is Due Tomorrow! Easy Experiments You can Do Overnight
For Parents:
Science Fair Projects: Helping Your Child Create a Super Science Fair Project by Dana Barry
Curious Minds: How a Child Becomes a Scientist by John Brockman
Best Practices for High School Classrooms: What Award-Winning Secondary Teachers Do by Randi Stone
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Murad Gentle Acne Treatment Gel Reviews
Please save your $$$$$I kept hearing good things about Murad and I had tried everything else so I was pretty desperate for something that would really clear my skin. I used this for 2 months and it did nothing for my skin. I still broke out and the pimples that I already had did not clear up like the product hinted. I followed the regimen religiously and was not happy with the results. I would not recommend this product, way too expensive to not have good results. — 8 years, 5 months agoRoleModel | 157 reviews
irritatingUnfortunately Murad products do not work for my skin. After using this my skin was red, itchy and I just wanted to rip it off! — 5 years, 6 months agoGin6ash18 | 16 reviews
Great for acne prone galsI really like this product. I tried a sample from sephora and found that it left my skin feeling very nice so I went back to buy it. Although its pricey, it does deliver the results. It keeps my breakouts at bay and doesn't dry out my skin. — 5 years, 7 months agoqueenb82 | 53 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 1 of 1 people said helpful
Big disappointment!I purchased the skin care kit which included this item. I was told it would take several weeks to see results. There were no positive results ~ in fact , the acne just got worse! A big disappointment, as well as time wasted waiting to see good results which never came. — 9 years, 2 months agoSvenskaflicka | 18 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 1 of 1 people said helpful
Not great...I got a free sample of this, and it worked amazingly, at first. My skin, and my acne, built up a tolerance to it in a couple of days. My acne dissapeared at first, but it came back in a few days. I would not reccomend this. — 9 years, 3 months agoPizzaOut | 7 reviews
I dn't like Murad LineMurad didn't work for me...any acne treatment is supposed to make you break out more until your skin gets rid of what it needs to. But 6 months down the road & i'm still breaking out like crazy :( — 9 years, 3 months agoamber06 | 45 reviews
undefinedI love this stuff! I have occasional breakouts and this keeps them down, as well as doing a great job clearing my blackheads. — 9 years, 3 months agotpa09 | 11 reviews
Not so muchThis stuff did not really work at all it left a filmy residue on my face that made it look shiny. — 9 years, 4 months agoLenalove | 156 reviews
works for meI used the this product with the cleansing wash and spot treatment. and it worked so well. After i stopped using birth control i broke out very badly all over my forehead. I never had Acne as a teenager or as a young adult, other than a few pimples now and then. I bought and started using the murad system and it cleared my skin with in a week and it did not dry out my skin. — 9 years, 4 months agodesaroobot | 4 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 3 of 3 people said helpful
I liked it!This product worked pretty good for me. The only drawback is the price tag. I think this would work best for adult breakouts rather than the teenage variety. I have combination skin that can lean more toward dry, but I still have breakouts. Most products for acne always dry my skin out, however this one didn't. If it were a little less expensive, or maybe the tube was a little larger, I would use this stuff all the time. — 9 years, 6 months agoKrissyt1214 | 4 reviews
This review is: Helpful | Not helpful | Inappropriate | 2 of 2 people said helpful
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United Continental: Will the Market Always Be So Forgiving?
United Continental (UAL) reported its March numbers after yesterday's close--and they didn't look so great to analysts who follow the company.
UBS analyst Darryl Genovesi compares United Continental unfavorably to American Airlines (AAL), Delta Air Lines (DAL) and Southwest Airlines (LUV):
Q1 unit revenue (PRASM) growth appears to have exceeded 3% at [American Airlines/Delta Air Lines/Southwest Airlines] despite Easter shift into Q2, which continues to support our favorable industry view. However, [United Continental] now sees Q1 PRASM down 1.5-2.5%, lower half of prior guidance. While [United Continental] noted ~2% underlying improvement pre- Easter shift (1.9% hit), weather (1.5%), and breakage (0.5%), this is still below peers. We see underperformance as consistent with mid-single-digit aggregate capacity growth in [United Continental's] markets, although our analysis indicates that competitive additions will begin to slow in Q2.
Cowen's Helane Becker and Conor Cunningham believe United Continental must show improvement soon:
We forecast United will be the only mainline carrier to report 1Q14 revenue to decline y/y. We forecast 1Q14 total revenues to decline 0.2%. Clearly we are disappointed with seeing declining revenue, when the rest of the airlines are seeing 1Q revenue growth of ~5%. United's PRASM outlook for 2Q14 will be very important as investors may choose to give up on the story as their PRASM growth underperforms the industry.
Investors, however, appear unconcerned. Shares of United Continental gained 2.8% to $44.52, while American Airlines rose 2.6% to $36.90 and Southwest Airlines advanced 2.7% to $24.15. The best of the bunch, however, was Delta Air Lines--it jumped 3.6% to $34.73 today.


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Speech and Hearing Services
- Individual therapy sessions provided at three clinic sites. Therapy sessions are scheduled by appointment.
- Stroke Club at the Willard Health Center
- Fast ForWord and Earobics programs available
Hours of Operation:
Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. with limited early morning and late afternoon appointments.
Speech & Language Services Available:
Complete diagnostic evaluation and treatment
- Adult Language and Swallowing Disorders due to strokes or traumatic brain injury
- Aphasia
- Apraxia
- Articulation Delay/Disorder
- Augmentative/Alternative Communication
- Autism Spectrum Disorders
- Child Language Delay/Disorder
- Cleft Palate
- Dysfluency (stuttering)
- Language Learning Disabilities
- Pediatric Oral Motor and Feeding
- Phonological Processing
- Tongue Thrust
- Voice Disorder
- Screening
- Consultations
Hearing Services Available:
Complete audiological evaluation including:
Speech Audiometry
Air and bone conduction
Impedance (middle ear mobility)
- Otoacoustic Emissions
- Hearing aid evaluation
- Hearing aid fitting and orientation
- Speech Audiometry
- Consultation and counseling services


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Now that Pitt and Penn State have agreed to renew their rivalry, if ever so briefly, it seems a perfect time to end my hiatus from blogging.
Either that, or the prolific Dejan Kovacevic has shamed me into it.
Actually, I have long been trying to figure out how to reinvent Sitting Ringside since leaving the Pitt football beat to become a columnist/enterprise reporter. So I welcome any reader comments on what you would like to see in commentary or links. Feel free to drop me a line with your suggestions by e-mail at email@example.com, by phone at 412-320-7812 or on Twitter @KGorman_Trib.
I shared my view of Tuesday's announcement of a two-game series in 2016-17 with a column, The Rivalry: What took so long? It prompted plenty of responses, some ranging from why Penn Staters believe Pitt isn't worthy of an annual game to Panthers fans blaming Joe Paterno for ruining the rivalry because of an old grudge.
Here's something to consider: Over the past decade, the Pitt and Penn State football programs aren't as far apart as you might think. Yes, PSU plays in a superior conference (Big Ten) than Pitt (Big East) but both are BCS-affiliated. In the past 10 years, Penn State is 79-45 and Pitt is 75-49. PSU has had three sub-.500 seasons (2001, '03 and '04) to Pitt's two ('05, '07) but the Nittany Lions also have played in more BCS bowls (two, Rose and Orange) than the Panthers (one, Fiesta). And it's been relatively close the past three years (PSU 29-10, Pitt 27-12) and equal the past two (18-8).
Last year, Pitt finished 8-5, PSU 7-6.
As a Pittsburgh native and Penn State alum, I'm all for renewing the Pitt-Penn State rivalry — even if the 15-season hiatus between their last meeting, in 2000, and their next, in September 2016, helped the Backyard Brawl become a better rivalry.
Here's a Q&A I had with Pitt athletic director Steve Pederson:
Do you think the hiatus in the rivalry had anything to do with forcing Penn State fans to buy a ticket package instead of selling single-game tickets?
I really think, at that point, that game was set up in a four-game series but then it was already scheduled out beyond that. There really wasn't an opportunity at that point to schedule anything in the realistic future.


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Mesoraco demonstrating defensive improvement
TEMPE, Ariz. -- Before the Reds' game against the Angels on Tuesday, manager Dusty Baker was asked how catcher Devin Mesoraco was progressing defensively.
During the game, Mesoraco answered the question himself. In the first inning, with Josh Hamilton batting, Mesoraco fired a pickoff throw to second base that nailed Howie Kendrick for the third out. In the third inning, Mesoraco caught Mike Trout attempting to steal second base, also for the third out.
"He's getting better," Baker said before the game. "He's working, not only defensively. He's getting better throwing, he's getting better receiving, he's getting better hitting. When we started last year, there's a lot a catcher has to think about.
"Sometimes, you get overwhelmed with all the things you're supposed to do as a catcher, especially as a young catcher. You just want to see progress, that's all."
Mesoraco, 24, struggled especially with the bat last season as he batted .212 with five home runs and 14 RBIs in 54 games. This spring, he is competing with veteran Miguel Olivo for the No. 2 spot behind Ryan Hanigan.
When asked if he would have kept Mesoraco in Triple-A when camp broke last season if he could have a do-over, Baker defended the decision to keep him in the Majors.
"We were told that Devin was ready by our people that saw him," Baker said. "It's easy to say after the fact you'd do it [differently]. It's the easiest thing in the world to say. We won 97 games even though Devin struggled, which is pretty good. We lacked overall offensive output from our catchers, which we had gotten accustomed to with Ramon [Hernandez] and Hanigan."
Mesoraco was 1-for-2 against the Angels with a fourth-inning single to left field. He is batting .385 (5-for-13) this spring.
Mark Sheldon is a reporter for MLB.com. Read his blog, Mark My Word, and follow him on Twitter @m_sheldon This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Hull head coach Lee Radford hailed winger Callum Lancaster as a star in the making after the teenager bagged two tries in Saturday's 50-12 romp over 12-man London.
Lancaster, 17, struck in either half in just his second senior start as part of a nine-try Hull blitz, ending a four-game losing streak for the Black and Whites.
"I'm really pleased for Callum," Radford said. "He is still really raw, but physically he is in great shape and can get better.
"He has pace to burn and the more we can get him in space the better for us.
"Everything today was really based around getting the win.
"It was ugly at times, but when we got in the groove we looked good."
After James Greenwood opened the scoring for the hosts, Hull hauled themselves level when Gareth Ellis powered over from close range.
And, having picked up the pace as the half wore on, the visitors added three further scores before the interval through Lancaster, Joe Westerman and Jamie Shaul.
Things got even worse for the Londoners minutes before the break when hooker Scott Moore was red-carded for a challenge on Lancaster.
The game followed a similar pattern in the second half, London emerging the stronger and striking first through Mason Caton-Brown.
But once again Hull flexed their muscles, and one-man advantage, as the minutes ticked by, with Danny Houghton, Westerman and Lancaster crossing to put the game to bed.
There was still time for the visitors to rack up the half-century, with Jordan Rankin and Fetuli Talanoa touching down in the final four minutes.
London coach Joe Grima, who saw his side lose their 15th straight Super League contest, admitted it had been a tough day at the office for his side.
He said: "Scott is an aggressive player, but not a malicious one, so I shall have to look at the red card again.
"We were hit by injuries during the game and the truth is we just did not have the troops.
"We ran out of interchanges and it was just a case of filling places.
"Attitude is not losing us games - it is the inexperience.
"But if we continue to run hard and tackle hard, our luck will change."


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Kourtney Kardashian might not have planned to get pregnant, but her step-brother Brody Jenner tells Usmagazine.com that she's ready to be a mom.
"Despite what anybody says about any parent -- whether they see them fit or unfit -- it's not up to them. It's up to her," The Hills star, 26, told Usmagazine.com at a performance of the Moskova Affair in Hollywood Thursday (before his fight with Girl Gone Wild honcho Joe Francis). "And if she feels fit for this, then good for her."
Find out what random food Kourtney and other pregnant celebs crave.
He added that he thinks Kourtney, 30, "will be great" as a mother because "she has always been incredible, great older sister."
See who else is pregnant this season.
Jenner (whose father Bruce is married to Kourtney's mom Kris) said he is excited for the little one to arrive. Added the reality star, "I think it'll be cool to be an uncle."


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Video: JBL OnBeat Xtreme Bluetooth® Speaker System
Most of the people appearing in our videos are employees at Crutchfield. We pull in folks from around the company to share their expertise. A lot of our on-camera stars come from our Advisor Group — they help people choose the right gear via phone, email and chat every day, so they're good at explaining the products and technologies.
Heads up!Welcome to this article from the Crutchfield archives. Have fun reading it, but be aware that the information may be outdated and links may be broken.
The distinctive X shape of the JBL OnBeat Xtreme's base is your first indication that it's no ordinary iPod speaker. Two high-performance tweeters produce clean, clear highs, while JBL's Hercules woofers live up to their name and give you brawny midrange and bass. All four speakers are regulated by a computer-optimized digital signal processor, ensuring accurate and natural sound reproduction.


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The head of the United Nations warned of nuclear weapon threats, such as the possibility terrorists could obtain them, on Friday in Monterey.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told a crowd of about 200 invitation-only guests at the Monterey Institute of International Studies that nuclear disarmament progress "is off track."
"Delay comes with a much higher price tag," he said. "The longer we delay, the greater the risk that these weapons will be used ... and even terrorists may acquire these nuclear bombs."
Ban, 68, said all nations with nuclear weapons need to make disarmament and arms control a priority.
"There are no right hands for wrong weapons," he said.
The secretary-general said nuclear-capable member states must come up with a "bold set of measures" to increase transparency of its nuclear arsenal.
Ban criticized President Barack Obama for not signing the Comprehensive Test-Ban Treaty, which bans all nuclear explosions by military and civilians.
"We were assured by President Obama when he was elected that the U.S. would ratify this CTBT," he said. "But somehow, it has not happened."
The treaty has been signed by 44 countries since it was introduced in 1994, the U.N.'s website says.
Ban also said U.N. member states should reduce the money they spend on military and use it for education, fighting global warming and other issues.
"The profits of the arms industry are built on the suffering of ordinary people," he said.
He said there were reasons for alarm in Iran and North Korea.
The U.N. chief said he visited Iran last August and was not convinced its nuclear program was peaceful. He also said North Korea's successful rocket launch in December "exacerbated global concern of its pursuit of nuclear weapons."
Ban said he supported Obama's proposal for stricter U.S. gun laws, despite saying it was a "domestic issue."
He said it is almost impossible to run into a private citizen in South Korea with a gun, "so there are many things that I cannot understand."
"I welcome President Obama's announcement," he said. "... I hope this will be helpful and I hope Congress will support his proposal."
Ban was the South Korean minister of foreign affairs for 37 years before coming to the U.N. He earned a master's degree in public administration at Harvard University, according to his official U.N. biography.
Disarmament, arms control and nonproliferation have been key issues for Ban since his appointment in 2007.
MIIS graduate student Aoi Sato, 27, of Japan, said she was in Hiroshima when Ban came in August 2010 to speak about the harm of nuclear weapons.
"I'm so impressed he hasn't changed," she said after the speech. "I'm impressed with him as a man and a leader."
Phillip Molnar can be reached at 646-4487 or email@example.com. Twitter:


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Looking for some summer reading entertainment without having to shell out the bucks? Hold a book swap party and invite your friends and family to bring their favorite fiction or non-fiction reads to share. The more books they bring to the party, the more "new" books they'll be able to take home for free! Before you know it, the book swap party can turn into a recurring event everyone will look forward to, and can take turns hosting.
Check out these fun gifts you can make for your book swap party:
Personalized Bookplates
What's yours is mine—unless you identify the books and movies that belong in your library with bookplates. Follow this easy step-by-step project or download these templates to mark your children's books, books from your personal library or office, and even school classroom books.
Book Club Tote Bag
Light reading is for amateurs. That's why serious readers need a bag to carry their heavy reading material. Here's how you can make your own personalized book bag to hold all your favorite reads.


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20% OFF January Grade One Ice Skating Course - Now £40
06 November 2013 - 02 January 2014
For the perfect Christmas gift, fans of Dancing on Ice can get their skates on with a course of ice skating lessons from the facilitys team of professional coaches.
The six week courses cater for beginners and help both adults and children take their first steps on the ice.
There is also free ice time after each lesson to practice your new skills worth up to £40.80!
Register before 29th December 2013 for January courses and receive a fantastic 20% discount off Grade 1 skating courses.
Registration is open for the next set of skating lessons, commencing 2nd January - 6th January 2014.
Book by contacting the Sales and Bookings Team on 028 9080 9123/129 or email email@example.com.


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Mercury rises, thoughts of trading your soul for an AC unit linger in your brain and monsoon season has made your desire to wash your car null. It can only mean one thing: Summer is in full swing in Santa Fe, and with it, a bevy of outdoor markets guaranteed to make sure the season is a culturally rich one.
Indian Market and the newest addition to the calendar, Indigenous Fine Art Market, are a month away. In the meantime, the latest iteration of Spanish Market is here to cure your art market blues.
Created in the 1920s to "to preserve and promote the history, artifacts and artisans of the Spanish Colonial Arts," the Spanish Colonial Arts Society has helmed the market for the last 63 years, upping the ante by supporting youth and emerging artists, as well as blurring the line between traditional and contemporary.
New this time around is the weeklong ¡Viva la Cultura! fest, which leads up to market and according to executive director David F Setford was designed to be "a concerted attempt to feature the best of Hispanic New Mexican
culture and put the fine art, which is in Spanish Market, into focus."
Fostering young artists, Setford says, is an intrinsic part of the market's mission. As such, Marcos Ray Serna, Kyle Fast Wolf and Matthew Flores make the transition this year from youth market to the more established one, or as he calls it, "the big pond."
"People are more receptive to a fresh take on old ideas," 15-year market veteran Arthur López says. For this current installment, López (pictured), plans on presenting an "urban altar"—an altar screen presented as a modern-day apartment building with saints peering off its windows and storefronts.
A separate celebration along Lincoln Avenue, the Contemporary Hispanic Market also takes place on the same weekend. Airbrush artist Joey Montoya, who is participating in it for the eighth year, echoes López' sentiment.
"Before, the only airbrush art you really saw was on lowrider cars and T-shirts. Now I believe there are three or four people including myself in the market who do either airbrush, spray paint or something that isn't typical oil, acrylic, bristle brush," the 33-year-old says. "I like Contemporary Hispanic Market because there is such a wide variety of art that is made, and I would recommend for anybody who does some type of art—whatever it may be—to try and get in."
Spanish Market
8 am-5 pm Saturday and Sunday,
July 26 & 27. Free.
Historic Santa Fe Plaza


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TechShop provides 3D printing services to serve your needs. Whether or not you are a TechShop member, we will print your model for you!
ProJet HD 3000 HD 3D Printer
An astonishing machine with incredible tolerances and resolution, the ProJet HD 3000 prints in HD (high definition), which means better, more accurate parts for you with sharper edges and cleaner lines. The material used for printing is EX200 build material, a UV curable acrylic plastic that is a semi-clear resin-based material cured by UV light. Similar to acrylic in feel, it is much stronger. Better suited for volume printing with this new machine, we look forward to being the first stop for your 3D printing needs.
TechShop members receive a discount on both material and processing fees! To get started, email the 3D printing team at email@example.com for a no-commitment quote and/or more information. Please attach an .STL file for faster quoting.


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You are here: Kidspot Activity Corner Ocean craft Egg carton turtle
Egg carton turtle
Egg carton craft is the cheapest craft ever. Just save your egg cartons and you can make so many different recycled crafts. This egg carton turtle comes with an easy free printable template for his body if you're artistically 'challenged.'
Number of players:
What you need:
- 1 x egg carton cup
- Free turtle body printable
- Green construction paper
- 2 x small googly craft eyes (optional)
- Scissors
- Glue
- Paints or textas
Watch the video below to see how to make your egg carton turtle:
First cut out one egg carton cup and trim it down.
Now paint it green with some yellow spots.
Using your construction paper, trace out a little turtle shape for his body. You'll find a turtle body template here (insert printable) Just print it onto your green construction paper and cut it out.
Now give him some eyes: you can use googly craft eyes, or you can just draw them on.
Glue his shell to his body.


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Clutch hitting helps O's extend AL East lead
Joseph hits two-run single, Schoop drives in decisive run in sixth
BALTIMORE -- As manager Buck Showalter reminds reporters often, the final 30-40 games of a season are an eternity. And while Tuesday's contest -- which lasted 3 hours, 37 minutes -- won't go down as one of Baltimore's most exciting games, the Orioles inch a little closer to the electricity of October baseball with every win.
Led by catcher Caleb Joseph's two-out, two-run fourth-inning single, Jonathan Schoop's go-ahead single in the sixth and some impressive defense, the Orioles topped the Tampa Bay Rays for the second consecutive night, this time a 4-2 victory in front of 16,406. The win, coupled with the second-place Yankees' loss, extends Baltimore's American League East lead to seven games.
"That's the word I was looking for -- eternity," Showalter said after a handful of words were thrown out to describe the slow-paced state of Tuesday's game.
"You try to play at a consistent level mentally and emotionally because there are so many things in the games you just can't control. So you try to control your mental state of mind, your approach to it, and you live with the consequences. That's the challenge that comes from within the clubhouse. You talk to people out of the game, and what they miss is that. On nights like this, it takes everybody pushing and pulling to get it done."
Despite an uncharacteristically shaky start from lefty Wei-Yin Chen -- who had pitched to a 2.72 ERA in six second-half starts coming in -- the O's relievers held Tampa Bay scoreless over the final 13 outs, with Nelson Cruz and Schoop each driving in a run in the winning effort.
"You've got to win when you're up by 10, you've got to keep the pedal to the metal, but these are the kind of ones that slip away, it seems like, towards the end," Joseph said of a contest that featured multiple crew chief reviews, nine total pitchers and more than 300 pitches thrown.
"If you don't make it, you kind of knock your head against the wall, but we did a good job tonight. We won, and these are the type of games we have to have late in the season. You don't really know at the beginning of the game, but kind of towards the middle of the game, you feel like you've got to step on it, so trying to get the guys going as fast as you can. You've got to push through it."
Joseph helped lead the way, coming through with a two-out fading liner that got just under the glove of sliding center fielder Desmond Jennings to score Cruz and Delmon Young. It was the only two runs allowed by Rays starter Alex Cobb, who has gone a club record nine consecutive starts allowing two runs or fewer.
"Maybe we aren't on top of our game right now, but they're definitely the aggressors right now," Cobb said of an Orioles team he likened to last year's World Series champion Red Sox.
Cobb -- who worked up a high pitch count early along with Chen -- only lasted four innings and was replaced by Kirby Yates, who tossed a scoreless fifth before the O's plated another pair of runs off struggling right-hander Grant Balfour.
After J.J. Hardy's one-out sixth-inning single, Joseph delivered a two-out hit to bring on Schoop. The second baseman sent a ball into left-field to break the 2-2 tie, with Cruz doubling in Adam Jones for a tack-on run in the following frame.
"It's really important, every time the bottom of the lineup can contribute and help the big guys in the front," Schoop said. "Me and Caleb came up big today. That's the thing about it. Everybody [can] step up each day."
The offense and relief corps covered for Chen, who turned in his second-shortest outing of the year, going 4 2/3 innings and walking three batters -- for just the second time this season -- while allowing two runs on seven hits over the 91-pitch outing.
"There are quite a few times that I face this type of situation at the beginning of the game, but somehow I can make the adjustment and work my way back," Chen said through his interpreter. "But today I tried a lot of things, tried to work my way back, but I couldn't.
Chen, who benefitted from three plays at the plate, exited after issuing a two-out walk to Ryan Hanigan. Right-hander Brad Brach recorded the next four outs, with Tommy Hunter and Andrew Miller each tossing a scoreless inning after that. Closer Zach Britton picked up his 28th save to put the finishing touches on the win.
Brittany Ghiroli is a reporter for MLB.com. Read her blog, Britt's Bird Watch, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter @britt_ghiroli. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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WAY floor coverings
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, San Francisco, California, 2004
Milliken had recently developed a new computer-controlled high-definition dye process. They charged SOM with the task of creating a carpet line unlike anything the company had ever produced, and showcasing the capabilities of the new technology in the process. SOM, the first company to work with the new technology, found that the printing allowed for a more precise level of detail and clarity. The process injects dye directly onto the face of a blank canvas of carpet, rather than coloring the raw fiber or coloring only the fibers' tips. The new technology creates fine gradations of colors, as well as layered visual texture, depth and dimension.
Individuals from various disciplines within SOM were pulled together—from architects, interior designers and graphic designers to industrial designers—to work on the project. The design team began to examine the possibility of creating one product that could address a number of scales, as well as bring to life the team's goal of generating 3-D patterns on what is essentially a two-dimensional surface.
The SOM team bypassed the traditional realm of carpet inspiration—fashion and art—and looked instead to more architectural sources, such as urban skylines, aerial views of bridges, airports, cities, and geological formations and terrain. Scalability was important in the designs: each pattern comes in tiles of increasing complexity and scale. And by altering the distribution of color in the patterns as well as its clarity and shading, color becomes a tool in itself. Each of the collection's three design families contains three design variations that can be rotated in four directions. As a result, a grid of 36-inch-square tiles produces an infinite number of layout options.
- Design firm
- Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
- Creative director
- Stephen Apking
- Art directors
- Christian Arkay-Leliever, Lonny Israel
- Designers
- Donald Holt, Celine Jeanne, Ashley O'Neill, Alan Sinclair, Brad Thomas
- Photographers
- Tim Griffith, Florian Holzer, Ron Solomon
- Client
- Milliken Carpet


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Topic: Good CT scan, yayy!
I was more nervous than usual before my latest scan-- when I landed in the ER with appendicitis in September, they did a CT scan and one of the doctors somewhere along the line told me that my tumors "were bigger" than previously. I didn't want to hear about it, and I told him, "No they AREN'T!!" (well, I was all doped up)
So, I just got the results of my "real" scan yesterday-- no change since May '09, and that one was unchanged since Sept '08, so all together-- no tumor growth since July '08, which is 18 months! Yayy! This is one of those days when my whole body feels like it's made out of blue sky.
Nobody can explain it, but my oncologist was really happy and I am too. I'm wishing good results for all my cc friends out there too!


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I don't know why I don't bake cookies more often – they are such an excellent tool for bribing the kids to do the small, important jobs that happen to appear on their weekly chore lists, but for some reason don't actually get done. Like walking the dog.
We adopted Poppy, our little Jack Russell-mixed mutt, almost a year ago and since then she's been keeping our family busy, taking us for walks and arranging playdates. So very busy.
How was I to know that the same dog who greeted us for the first time by docilely flopping down at our feet, presenting us with her soft, pink underbelly would turn out to rival Perez Hilton in her intense need to meet, greet and butt-sniff every dog in the neighborhood?
I'm not saying that I don't enjoy the walking – it's great exercise and all, but after a few trips around the block in a day I prefer to delegate the job.
I pulled a few pans of these Toffee Oatmeal Chip cookies from the oven and set them on the counter to cool, and like magic my children began to float around me like happy, dizzy dust motes. It occurred to me that I was in the position of ultimate power: Alpha Mom with Treats. Oh, you'd like a cookie? Walk the dog first.
Bingo! The lead was on Poppy's collar and she was flying out the door with a child attached in two seconds flat. A win-win for all parties. I love that!
Heidi Swanson was the inspiration for this particular cookie recipe. Her healthy cooking blog 101 Cookbooks is one of my favorite sites, and my copy of her cookbook Super Natural Cooking has pages falling out from over-use. One recipe I'd flagged and have been meaning to try is Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies. I was intrigued by the recipe because it calls for an ingredient that I'd never heard of or seen before (gasp!) – mesquite flour.
It turns out that mesquite flour can be difficult to track down. Commonly used as a staple among Native Americans of the Southwest, mesquite flour (also labeled mesquite powder or meal) is made from the ground fruit pods from mesquite trees and is said to be super-nutritious. What got me interested is Heidi's description of its flavor; smoky, malty, sweet and chocolate-like.
I didn't get my hands on some until just recently; my friend L brought some back after scouting it out at the super-duper Whole Foods flagsip store in Austin. (An online source for mesquite meal is the Raw Guru site.)
I made a batch of the cookies, and really liked the toffee-like quality the mesquite flour added. Since Heidi recommends substituting an equal amount of flour in place of the mesquite, I tweaked her recipe a bit to make it a bit more accessible – I realize that most (sane) people don't go to such lengths to find an unfamiliar ingredient.
These cookies have a similar texture and taste, perfectly good bait for anyone you need to gently influence – wink.
Toffee Oatmeal Chip Cookies
Adapted from Heidi Swanson
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup stone-ground whole wheat flour
1/2 cup malted milk powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 sticks butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
3 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup chopped toffee (I used Heath brand)
1 cup chocolate chips (I like dark but use whatever you like)
Heat the oven to 375 degrees for at least 30 minutes before baking. Line 2 or 3 rimmed baking sheets with parchment or reusable non-stick sheet like Silpat.
Combine the flours, malt powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy. Gradually add the sugars, starting with the granulated sugar, beating until incorporated before adding the brown sugar. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until a thick dough forms.
Lower mixer speed to "stir" and add the oats, toffee and chocolate chips until evenly mixed. The dough should be dense and moist.
Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto the prepared sheets, about 2 inches apart to allow cookies to spread. Bake one sheet at a time for about 13 minutes, or until evenly golden brown. Cool on the pan 10 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely, or until it's time to walk the dog.
Yield: 3 – 4 dozen cookies


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I'm working on a site with a number of images, one after another. Each image has a caption in
 tags. My problem is what to do about the alt text, which would essentially be the same as the caption. If I include it, then screen reader users are going to have to listen to the same text, or very similar, twice over. If I put alt="" on the image, my understanding is that screen readers will take this as an indication that the image has no meaning and will ignore it - but presumably it will then go on to read the captions, without any explanation that these are captions for images, which will sound very odd.
What's the best way to deal with this? I suppose I could add in the alt text, then use a speech stylesheet to prevent the captions being read, which would be interesting, as I've never done anything like that before... (:
I'd be grateful for any help with this.
You need alt text that will tell those people that the following text is the caption of the image that they can't see and provides what they need to know about it. Not exactly sure what the appropriate wording would be though.
Ah, now that's an approach I hadn't thought of, and it makes sense. But as you say, what would be the appropriate wording? I'll need to ponder that.
I was under the impression the limited support makes aural style sheets practically useless and aural style sheets are not required to be supported by the mainstream user agents. Then you have to consider there are those that have images disabled but don't use a screen reader.
If you are just considering the screen reader you potentially could give it a null ALT since the context of the image is given within the P caption (with this I am assuming you envisaged an explicit tie-in and not a descriptive paragraph below). However, if the image is a link then you then must present something to the user on the image itself.
HTML5: techniques for providing useful text alternatives provides some advice.Particularly the sections:
This article may also be of interest: HTML5 Accessibility Chops: using nested figure elements .
I've had another thought about this. If I give the section a heading of "Gallery of..." or even "20 images of...", that tells everybody - screen readers and sighted users with images disabled - that the content is a series of images. If I then use alt="" and the caption in
 tags, it should be pretty clear what's happening. I could also add a "skip images" link, to allow screen reader users to decide whether they want to listen to a series of captions or not. How does that sound?
@stevefaulkner: Thanks for the links, but HTML5 isn't an option.
The problem with your proposed solution is that when you set alt="" on an image it is no longer available to a screen reader user. They could not find it on the page unless they look at the source code.
The following examples are conforming html 4 and 5.
A suggested approach is to include a label in the alt attribute as in the example below:

Photo 1: Clara in her bedroom, playing her 'electric' toy guitar.
She looks like a real 'Rock & Roll' girl.

This provides an implicit association between the image and its caption (via the text "photo 1"). As the alt attribute is not null the presence of the image will be announced to screen reader users.
If you want to strengthen the association between the image and its caption there are a number of methods for example:

Clara in her bedroom, playing her 'electric' toy guitar.
She looks like a real 'Rock & Roll' girl.
Wrapping the image and caption together in a p element provides a programmatic association missing in the first example.
I'm sure I'm missing something here, but why would a screen reader user want to find the image? I am very used to providing alt text to convey the meaning of the image, but in this one situation, all the images also have captions, and I am trying to avoid feeding screen readers redundant text.
That makes sense, but again it involves the reading of part of the text twice and I don't understand how it helps to have each image announced. If I have a heading stating that this is a series of images, does that not convey enough information?
I may be missing something important about the way screen readers work, but I don't understand the need to associate the text with a particular image. If the images were dotted throughout the page then yes, that would make perfect sense, but in this case, as I said, it is simply a series of images with captions.
I appreciate your suggestions, and I'm not dismissing them. I would just like to understand the issues a bit better.
I'm sure I'm missing something here, but why would a screen reader user want to find the image?
A number of reasons:
and I am trying to avoid feeding screen readers redundant text.
I was trying to provide you with some solutions given your limitations (no HTML5) which I also presumed meant no ARIA.
I don't understand how it helps to have each image announced.
A caption captions something. hiding the presence of the object being captioned introduces ambiguity:

A horse and a donkey.

Meeting the queen.

Is the above a single caption or multiple captions? How would a user who was not aware of the presence of an images or images know?
Doesn't that do it?
Depending on the browser sighted users with images disabled are aware of the images refer to: test result screenshots
I am sure it won't do it for a range of users.
Hi Steve, thanks for chipping in.
Since only really the validator would whine if she did use ARIA (meaning, unless she has a validation-nazi at her work who doesn't understand the point of validation), she could use it. I would think she's only avoiding unstable new elements like figcaption who need JS to exist for IE etc...But, the proposal I've seen (with aria-describedby), I thought was something people are arguing against? Or was that only in the face of the removal of stuff like longdesc? Certainly that wasn't the original point of aria-describedby...
One thing that just occurred to me was, if you had a friend who said "hey one of my dog pics ended up in this gallery" and you wanted to grab that image to mail to someone else, and you came to the page with the "Gallery of 20 pics" header and the captions, with empty alt attributes, would that mean you could find where the pic was (since the caption would have the relevant info) but you wouldn't be able to set your reading-focus on the image in the browser in order to Save As... or anything?
If you (illegally) leave out the alt attribute entirely, most readers announce "graphic" (for English) or similar and then often the URL... if most of the big names are silent with alt="" then I suppose using a word like "graphic" or the better "Image/Photo #" (with the number) in the alt isn't going to be unusual to a user. You'd be supplanting a normally built-in function of announcing object type.
Without a linking-type label the user has to go by approximation (who is next to what) to know which text describes which image. Some pages put captions on top or to the left, others underneath, so if you've gone directly to your keyword (say with search in your browser) then you wouldn't know right away where the image was that was related to the text you found. Which explains why Google often brings up the strangest images when I search for some things... the googlebot found a caption or bit of text nearby but turns out they aren't related at all, just next to each other on the page.
aria-describedby is designed and implemented to point to a text description (as against an accessible name/label for which aria-labelledby should be used) somewhere else on the page. as implemented it works best for interactive controls.
Agreed this is what I was trying to get across.
Partially correct if you have an  without an alt in most cases the default behaviour of AT is to ignore the image, unless it is contained within an interactive element such as a link or button. This article I wrote a while back (2007) goes into more detail: [URL="http://www.paciellogroup.com/resources/articles/altinhtml5.html"]Investigating the proposed alt attribute recommendations in HTML 5
Yes, the second example I provided is better as it provides a [programmatically determinable association; both image and caption are contained within the p element. But the promise and and [URL="https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=658272#c3"]partial realization](http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG20/#programmaticallydetermineddef) of figure/figcaption is a dedicated mechanism for assigning captions to images and other content.
Off Topic:I b*tch and moan about HTML5 a lot but I really like the idea of having something "native" that explicitly links or associates captions with the things those captions are describing.
I know you like to moan
Yes, exactly. I did look at ARIA, but from what I've read, it's also not yet widely supported. I'd be happy to use it in addition to other methods, if that's likely to help, but I need some basic method that will work back to IE7.
OK, now I get the point. (I think I was being generally slow on the uptake yesterday. ) Without the  being announced, there's no way to know which comes first, the image or the caption, right?
Thank you - that's helpful.
Do you know, I've often wondered about those odd results. This is turning out to be a day of enlightenment.
+1. I found myself thinking rather longingly of figure and figcaption.
OK - that makes sense.
My images are all local landmarks or beauty spots and the captions will read something like "The 18th century church at *** is unusual because blah blah blah" or "The peninsula has several secluded beaches, including the white sands at such-and-such bay." So rather than using "image 1" etc in the alt text, I could use "*** church", "*** beach", "*** lighthouse" etc., to strengthen the connection. Is that preferable?
And is it worth including a "Skip images" link? It seems to me that 20 image captions is a lot to sit through, especially if you've already heard them once. Do screen readers have a native mechanism to move on to the next section of text? There is no following heading to target.
Thanks for the help.
If you are wanting to view such a large gallery the odds are you will be prepared to sit through at least a handful of images else not want to view any of them. To me it sounds like an ALT would be fine since it's looking like the caption or supportive will be more in-depth.
The XYZZY graveyard being populated by lichen covered stones going back to ancient times X Century and including... The ALT would tell you that you are vieing a "A grey gravestone in the shape of Celtic Cross", etc.
Unfortunate that Mozilla's the only one to still get this right. I mean, in the test, the missing image is pretty big, but when it's smaller than your alt text, everyone seems happy to cut that text off (except, Mozilla). It's actually one of my reasons for sticking with this bloat-browser.
So far I've only been using it in forms/form controls.But it would probably then work best with your examples where there's a link involved (like from the example 2.2 at w3.org)?
I'd consider it widely supported, at least some things. browser support testIt also depends on the reader. They're expensive to update (the big commercial ones I mean) plus Window-Eyes seems perpetually behind everything new recently. But most of the last several versions of JAWS, NVDA and Orca have ARIA support. Not sure about that SAToGo thing, I've never touched that one.
So yeah I agree with you it should be a supplement today. But do use it!
What's after the images? Just more text?
Screen readers have all sorts of ways to navigate, though Gonz (Chris Hofsteder) was telling me not too long ago how sadly normal it is that many screen reader users never seem to learn to use all the possibilities of their tool. Meaning, that there are a lot of people still using Tab and whatnot. That would drive me nuts, because you can move about in so many ways (best if the page is structured well of course). It's kinda like we can do all sorts of things with browsers, like enlarging text, while the people who would love that most (like seniors) tend to be totally oblivious to these abilities.
Certainly screen readers would be kinda worthless if your only real option in most cases was to sit through and listen to everything linearly.
I mean, if I see a chunk of junk, especially if it's a long bunch of links, I'll N for "next Non-link text" for example. But I was lazy enough that I wanted to learn the quick-keys.Orca locates "objects" and you can choose to just jump to the end of an "object" if you want. (A list of links can be treated as a single line, so one down-arrow and you're out, for example)
You can also add aria landmark roles around the page too. Yeah, the HTML4/XHTML validator will whine at you. Whatever.
I'm personally conservative in my skip links, but depending on how your page is structured it might be a good idea.
Using keywords for your "alt labels" is probably also good, though do you eventually start getting church1 and church2? : ) But yeah I like that better than image1, 2 but I've also seen image galleries where the caption has a date in bold, then descriptive text in normal type.

5 Dec 2011: The kids were excitedly waiting for Sint and Piet
where the date, if unique, would be great as an alt label.
I can haz shortcutz? : )
Shortcut yes that is what it is. >;-)
OK - I promise.
Yes. There's an introductory paragraph, then the
 with the images, then several more paragraphs.
That's all very helpful to know. I don't know anybody who uses a screen reader, so I've no one to ask about its workings.
I can live with that. Looks like I should learn more about ARIA.
I like the date idea, but it wouldn't apply here, as they're not unique. I do have more than one church picture, but they're different churches, so (e.g.) "Timbuktu church" and "Auchtermuchty church" would solve that.
That was really where I started, but then I discovered I was saying pretty much the same thing in each, as the text is fairly descriptive of the pictures. Perhaps I just need to get more creative. :rolleyes: Or perhaps I should write the alt text and ask my husband to write the captions. He's an artist and sees things very differently to me. (:
Again, thanks to all for the help.
...and that's where example 9.1 comes into play from Steve's links.
"The Round Church in Bowmore, built in 1767, was designed so that there were no corners for the devil to hide in." If that's my caption, I find it hard to see what I could add to the alt text to make it more descriptive. It's a picture of a round church. Sure, if my caption read "Fun on the beach at Blackpool", then "Tom, Dick and Harry riding donkeys" would make perfect sense for the alt text, because there's nothing in the caption to indicate what's happening. The same applies to the linked example.
However, I have another question about screen readers and alt text.
I frequently have to use Gaelic names in both my body text and my alt text. In the body text, I wrap a  around the offending item, but I can't do that in alt text. Some names are OK, in that it's possible to make an Anglicized pronunctiation, but others are not. What does a screen reader do if it comes across Bunnahabhain or Samhchair in supposedly-English alt text? I'm really just wondering if there's some way to ensure that the user doesn't think their screen reader is malfunctioning, as I suspect support for Scots Gaelic is not built in to most systems.


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YMCA, Fred Meyer up the ante for Eugene Civic Stadium
EUGENE, Ore. - Both the Eugene YMCA and a developer working with retailer Fred Meyer upped the ante Wednesday as the parties vie for the Eugene Civic Stadium site, which the Eugene 4J School District plans to sell or lease.
"We will never win a bidding war," said Julie Grossman, associated director of the Eugene Family YMCA. "But that's not our intention. Our intention is to do what's right for the community and provide the school district with the financial benefit that they need to see by this."
The YMCA on Wednesday offered an additional $500,000 to cover permitting and demolition costs, something 4J officials in a public meeting said they were not interested in paying.
"Finances are going to be a top priority for them, so we took on as much as we could," Grossman said.
The YMCA's plan includes an achievement center for 4J students. The land would be split with a housing development, generating new tax revenues for the city.
The developer working with Fred Meyer also touts the benefits of their plan to the city and school district. The proposal to lease the land with an option to buy was ranked highest by the district on strictly financial considerations.
"Over half a million dollars a year, every year," said Peter Powell of Powell Development.
Powell said a Fred Meyer store would increase revenues up to the state level through either a puchasing option for $5 million, or a lease, which Powell said could potentially bring the district $20 million over 20 years.
The school district plans to make a decision February 19.
The Fred Meyer group said they have offered to either co-locate on the site with the YMCA or give the group $1 million to locate elsewhere. YMCA officials said they had heard of the offers through news reports but had not been approached by the developer or retailer - and probably aren't interested.
A third suitor - the City of Eugene - has made an offer to buy the property contingent on an as-yet unknown private party paying to renovate the grandstands and operate Civic as a stadium.
An offer by the Friends of Civic Stadium to essentially take the land off the district's hands for a symbolic amount was already rejected by the school board.


text:
Cold Spring Officer Killed During Welfare Check, Cold Spring Man Jailed on Murder [VIDEO]
COLD SPRING — Police have identified the Cold Spring police officer who was shot and killed overnight during a welfare check.
Police say 31-year-old Officer Tom Decker was shot and killed around 11 Thursday night near Winner's Bar on Main Street in Cold Spring as Decker and his partner conducted a welfare check at a nearby apartment.
Police say Officer Decker was ambushed, shot and died at the scene.
The Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says within an hour, Stearns County SWAT team investigators arrested 34-year-old Ryan Michael Larson of Cold Spring.
Larson is jailed in the Stearns County Jail in St. Cloud on murder charges.
Suspect Had Prior Legal Dealings
Larson is a student at the St. Cloud Technical and Community College. Spokeswoman
Heidi Everett says he's a second year student in the Machine Tool Technology program.
Larson had drawn police attention before in the community of about 4,000, mostly for traffic-related offenses but once in an abuse case.
In 2009, he reached a plea agreement to settle a misdemeanor disorderly conduct charge for engaging in behavior that could "arouse alarm, anger, or resentment in others." As part of the plea deal, he served a day in jail and had another three months stayed, but he agreed to undergo domestic abuse counseling. A no-contact order was issued. Court files indicated he violated his probation in 2010.
Civil court records show Larson was sued more than once over outstanding debt and was evicted from a rental property in 2008 for failing to pay his rent.
At a news conference at Cold Spring City Hall this morning, police were not able to provide many more details to the fatal shooting. They say many of those details are part of the ongoing investigation.
Tom Decker — "A Chief's Dream"
Police Chief Phil Jones did talk about Officer Tom Decker, calling him a "chief's dream."
One of just nine officers in the department — Jones says Decker had received six letters of appreciation and commendation during his six-and-a-half-years on the force.
In September of 2004, Officer Decker started with the Kimball Police Department and also served as a School Resource Officer for the Kimball School District.
In March of 2006, Officer Decker began serving the cities of Cold Spring and Richmond.
Officer Decker is a native of the Cold Spring area and is a ROCORI graduate.
He was married and has four small children.
An emotional Jones told reporters, "We're going to miss him."
A younger brother of Decker says his brother was bright and animated, someone who loved to travel and be outdoors.
Twenty-seven-year-old Joe Decker of Cold Spring says Tom Decker was shy as a youngster but "the life of the party" as an adult.
Joe Decker said Friday his brother enjoyed fishing and going pheasant hunting. He also says his family assumed Tom Decker would be a doctor or pharmacist because he had so much medical knowledge, and they were surprised when he decided to become a police officer.
Officer Decker's body has been taken to the Ramsey County Medical Examiner's Office for autopsy.
Governor's Reaction
Meanwhile, Governor Mark Dayton has issued a statement in the murder of Officer Decker. Dayton says:
"Cold Spring Police Officer Tom Decker was senselessly murdered last night, while acting in the line of duty. On behalf of the people of Minnesota, I extend my deepest sympathies to his family and to the Cold Spring Police Department for their tragic loss of an outstanding officer, father and friend. Officer Decker died, while protecting his fellow citizens. For his heroism, we will be forever grateful."
Ruben Athmann of Cold Spring was in Winner's Bar in downtown Cold Spring last (Thursday) night when the shooting happened.
The last Stearns County officer killed in the line of duty was St. Joseph officer Brian Klinefelter, who was shot in 1996 while attempting to arrest three robbery suspects.


text:
Finding the UH Island
September 18th, 2009 1 comment
New users have several options to find locations in Second Life (SL). You can use the SEARCH menu at the bottom of your SL Browser. You also can enter Second Life from a standard web browser (Internet Explorer, Safari, etc..) through special links. If you have the SL browser activated, you can return to this webpage and simply click on this special Second Life URL (SLURL). It will teleport you directly to our island where you should land at our information kiosk.
Categories: Announcements


text:
Judge Socrates "Pete" Manoukian praised the dedication and sacrifice of U.S. veterans in his appearance at the Rotary Club of Los Altos Veterans Day Luncheon Nov. 14.
The Santa Clara County Superior Court judge dedicated his presentation to his son, Matthew Patrick Manoukian, 29, a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps killed in the line of duty in Afghanistan Aug. 10, 2012. Matt's mother, Associate Justice Patricia Bamattre-Manoukian of the California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, also attended the event.
Matt's story
Matt Manoukian grew up in Los Altos Hills. His father traced the story of his son's life, thanking by name the numerous teachers and friends who contributed to his development. Matt attended St. Nicholas Catholic School, St. Francis High, the University of Arizona, Officer Candidate School in Quantico, Va., and then infantry school.
According to his father, Matt strongly believed in "Pax Americana" (Latin for "American Peace"), a concept he learned at Foothill College that asserts that world peace is only possible if one superpower dominates or a benevolent democracy is established. Matt's goal was to build a more peaceful world through service in the Marines, a dream he had since he was 7 years old.
Manoukian outlined some family history that emphasized the international aspect of his son's dedication to serving his country: Matt's grandfather had survived two Armenian genocide attacks in Turkey, then immigrated to the U.S. as a physician.
Matt was twice deployed to Western Iraq. His reports to his parents were always optimistic, his father said: "Everything's great!"
Next, he was assigned to Helmand Province in Afghanistan, where he served as team commander, training Afghan police in advance of transitioning security to full Afghan control. In this role, Matt learned Arabic – a feat, said his father, because he had struggled to learn Spanish in school – and used it to converse with the local population. He befriended many Afghan children, and they in turn helped him by pointing out "strangers" in their village.
While learning the Pashto language, Matt adopted the custom of growing a beard to show respect for the local villagers. When times were tough, he told his men, "If they don't eat, we don't eat." As Matt gained respect from the village leaders, they began calling him "The Lion" and he assumed a leadership role among them.
The captain continued giving positive reports to his parents, though he was injured twice by an improvised explosive device (IED). Manoukian said his son generally underreported his dangerous encounters and credited others whenever possible. Matt received many awards for his service, including two Purple Hearts and Navy and Marine Corps medals.
A loyal friend, when several of his friends were severely wounded in combat, Matt asked his parents to take care of them upon their return home. Matt himself never made it home – he was killed while on duty in Afghanistan. The Ceremonial Hall at Moffett Field is now named after him.
Manoukian praised the courage and sacrifice of several of Matt's friends, who lost limbs and some their lives in military service. They, too, believed in bringing democracy to Afghanistan.
Foothill College veterans
Guests at the luncheon included Foothill College's Veterans Resource Center manager Carmela Xuereb and several military veterans who benefit from the center.
Judy C. Miner, president of Foothill College, reported that 21,000 veterans are enrolled in post-secondary programs in California, including 16,000 in community colleges. To meet the needs of the 400 veterans enrolled at Foothill, the Veterans Resource Center provides academic counseling and a social outlet for vets to develop camaraderie and share their military experiences and goals. GI Bill Magazine for three years has designated Foothill College a "Veterans Friendly Campus."
Miner praised Rotary Club member Ron Labetich, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, for founding the club's Veterans Support Committee, which has generated a $28,500 scholarship fund in Matt's memory. Labetich also led a fundraising campaign to purchase smartpens, braided graduation cords, a scanner, a laptop and a printer for the Veterans Resource Center. The committee's activities have grown to include mentoring, legal guidance on benefits and community awareness of challenges facing veterans.
Several members of the Sereno Group who attended the luncheon pledged to donate 1 percent of their agent fees during fall and winter to the Manoukian scholarship fund.
For more information on the Rotary Club of Los Altos, visit losaltosrotary.org.
For more information on resources for local veterans, visit friendsofamericanveterans.com and foothill.edu/vet.
Marlene Cowan is a member of the Rotary Club of Los Altos.