text:
Learn how to successfully plan and prepare meals for camping trips of all kinds with Camp Cooking in the Wild! Includes over 60 recipes. Whether you're a beginner at camp cooking wondering...Continue Reading
Kayaking for Fitness shows how anyone of any age or fitness level can use kayaking to get a great full body workout, or as a low-impact complement to other sports like running and cycling....Continue Reading
Rolling a Kayak is Ken Whiting's sixth book on kayaking technique and the most comprehensive, clear and concise guide to learning and perfecting the kayak roll. Written for both whitewater...Continue Reading
The Paddling Chef Cookbook was written for people who paddle, but who no longer want to be penalized for their love of the outdoors by lifeless meals. Paddler Dian Weimer shows hungry...Continue Reading


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HPV Prevalence in the Mouth and Oropharynx of the Tonsillectomy Population (Oromouth)
This study has been completed.
University of Birmingham
Information provided by (Responsible Party):
University of Birmingham
ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
First received: April 1, 2011
Last updated: May 16, 2017
Last verified: May 2017
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Biospecimen Retention: Samples With DNA
Detailed Description:
The principal aim of this study is to provide vital current data on the prevalence, distribution and natural history of Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) infection in the mouth. This data is an essential requirement for the assessment, development and evaluation of cost effectiveness of prophylactic vaccination and screening programmes.
|Chronic Tonsillitis
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Observational Model: Cohort
Time Perspective: Prospective
|Official Title:
|HPV Prevalence in the Mouth and Oropharynx of the Tonsillectomy Population
Resource links provided by NLM:
MedlinePlus related topics: TonsillitisU.S. FDA Resources
Further study details as provided by University of Birmingham:
Primary Outcome Measures:
- Occurrence of HPV in tonsils and in oral scrape sample [ Time Frame: 36 months ]Presence of HPV result
Secondary Outcome Measures:
- HPV vaccination status [ Time Frame: 36 months ]vaccination received yes/no and the type of vaccination description
Biospecimen Retention: Samples With DNA
Oral rinse, Oral Mucosal Trasudate, Urine, Whole Blood, Nail brushings, Mouth brush biopsies (scrapes) and Tonsillectomy specimens
|Study Start Date:
|March 2013
|Study Completion Date:
|September 28, 2015
|Primary Completion Date:
|September 28, 2015 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
Subjects undergoing tonsillectomy for non-cancer reasons including operations for: recurrent tonsillitis, asymmetric tonsils, snoring surgery or obstructive sleep apnoea.
Detailed Description:
Patients undergoing a tonsillectomy operation for non-cancerous reasons will be recruited for this study. They will be asked to complete two questionnaires (study and sexual practices), provide saliva, urine and a blood sample. Following anaesthesia, oropharyngeal brushings and a tonsillectomy will be performed and all the samples will be processed for evidence of HPV infection.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|up to 65 Years (Child, Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
|Sampling Method:
|Non-Probability Sample
Study Population
Patients undergoing a tonsillectomy operation for non-cancerous reasons at the hospital will be recruited for this study.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Subjects undergoing tonsillectomy for non cancer reasons including operations for: recurrent tonsillitis, asymmetric tonsils, snoring surgery or obstructive sleep apnoea
- Age - 0 to 65 years
- Subject or legal guardian has given informed written consent
Exclusion Criteria:
- Subjects undergoing adenoidectomy alone with no tonsillectomy
- Subjects with previous oropharyngeal cancer or oral cancer, or any other head and neck cancer such as nasopharyngeal or laryngeal cancer that is currently undergoing or has previously been diagnosed or treated
- Learning disability preventing an adult over 16 years old from giving their own consent
Contacts and Locations
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the Contacts provided below. For general information, see Learn About Clinical Studies.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01330147
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01330147
|United Kingdom
|University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire Trust
|Coventry, England, United Kingdom, CV2 2DX
|University Hospital Birmingham
|Birmingham, West Midlands, United Kingdom, B15 2GW
|Birmingham City Hospital
|Birmingham, United Kingdom, B18 7QH
|Birmingham Children Hospital
|Birmingham, United Kingdom, B4 6NH
|Heartlands Hospital
|Birmingham, United Kingdom, B9 5SS
|Kidderminster Hospital
|Kidderminster, United Kingdom, DY11 6RJ
|New Cross Hospital
|Wolverhampton, United Kingdom, WV10 0QP
|Worcestershire Royal Hospital
|Worcester, United Kingdom, WR5 1DD
Sponsors and Collaborators
University of Birmingham
|Principal Investigator:
|Hisham Mehanna, Prof
|The University of Birmingham
More Information
Keywords provided by University of Birmingham:
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017
|Responsible Party:
|University of Birmingham
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01330147 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
12344 ( Other Identifier: NIHR )
|Study First Received:
|April 1, 2011
|Last Updated:
|May 16, 2017
|Individual Participant Data (IPD) Sharing Statement:
|Plan to Share IPD:
Keywords provided by University of Birmingham:
oral cancer
oropharyngeal cancer
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Pharyngeal Diseases
Stomatognathic Diseases
Respiratory Tract Infections
Respiratory Tract Diseases
Otorhinolaryngologic Diseases
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Town Square
Sort by: Most recent topic/comment Most viewed Most comments
Navigation tip: Clicking on any category label will display all recent posts in that category
AROUND TOWNPleasanton-Tulancingo Sister City BBQ
This year's Sister City BBQ at the Senior Center will be held on Saturday, August 16 (not Friday, August 15, as listed in...Original post made by Marlene on Jul. 28, 2014
Last comment by Wally the Patriot, on Jul 30, 2014 at 8:33 am | 4 comments | 853 Views
SPORTSGreat Bull Run, Tomato Royale at Fairgrounds tomorrow
The Great Bull Run and Tomato Royale are coming to the Alameda County Fairgrounds tomorrow and the events are not for the...Original post made on Jul. 25, 2014
Last comment by dorenatlt, on Jul 30, 2014 at 8:15 am | 12 comments | 3739 Views
COMMENTS ON STORIESDon't let family stories disappear
To record family photographs and the stories behind them, Bill Levesque has launched Timeshaker.com. Photos can be uploaded...Original post made on Jul. 29, 2014
Last comment by anony, on Jul 30, 2014 at 8:12 am | 3 comments | 2414 Views
AROUND TOWNDo any of the stores in Pleasanton Chinese Processed Chicken?
Being unable to post on the Safeway sale site without signing up, I post this here. I read that Chickens grown in the...Original post made by highdiver on Jul. 29, 2014
Last comment by lolo, on Jul 30, 2014 at 8:03 am | 7 comments | 817 Views
AROUND TOWNAnyone Been Fined Yet for Water Overuse?
It's been more than 2 months since the City of Pleasanton posted that people would be fined for not cutting back ...Original post made by highdiver on Jul. 21, 2014
Last comment by Michael Austin, on Jul 29, 2014 at 4:07 pm | 22 comments | 2052 Views
AROUND TOWNPros and cons for adopting a new pet
When Gail Ruvalcaba met Puddles at the Valley Humane Society, she knew he was the purrfect pet for her. She was seeking to...Original post made on Jul. 26, 2014
Last comment by shannon boule, on Jul 29, 2014 at 9:05 am | 3 comments | 4052 Views
AROUND TOWNDrought keeping the pressure on water cutbacks
Penalties will be imposed in the coming weeks on Pleasanton residential and business water customers who fail to reduce their...Original post made on Jul. 25, 2014
Last comment by sknywench, on Jul 28, 2014 at 1:19 pm | 10 comments | 2008 Views
AROUND TOWNConstruction next to safeway (by fairgrounds)
I noticed a good deal of construction going on in the "former" fields next to the safeway store. I assume these will be more...Original post made by kbenson on Jul. 22, 2014
Last comment by sknywench, on Jul 28, 2014 at 1:07 pm | 33 comments | 3025 Views
STATE, NATIONAL, INTERNATIONALPleasantonians Convert Sodded Grass to Sand, Or Should Be Doing So
http://www.nasa.gov/press/2014/july/satellite-study-reveals-parched-us-west-using-up-underground-water/#.U9FkrlY_EpE Global...Original post made by Daddy-O on Jul. 27, 2014
Last comment by Cholo, on Jul 28, 2014 at 12:04 pm | 10 comments | 1038 Views
COMMENTS ON STORIESBanana spill on I-580 causing 3-hour backup into Pleasanton
A big-rig crash on westbound Interstate Highway 580 in Livermore is causing serious traffic delays this morning, up to three...Original post made on Jul. 28, 2014
Last comment by Boomer Wreff, on Jul 28, 2014 at 9:20 am | 3 comments | 4235 Views
AROUND TOWNSpare the Air alert issued as Pleasanton heads for near 100-degrees today
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District has issued a Spare the Air alert for today with Pleasanton temperatures to near...Original post made on Jul. 25, 2014
Last comment by Michael Austin, on Jul 28, 2014 at 9:18 am | 4 comments | 1494 Views
STATE, NATIONAL, INTERNATIONALPresidential Hopefuls at the Starter's Gate: CNN Excludes Michelle Bachman and Sarah Palin
CNN has posted a recent poll showing that the Republican run-off for the right to be our next presidential also-ran promises...Original post made by Burton Rasmuffin on Jul. 27, 2014
Last comment by Cholo, on Jul 28, 2014 at 9:00 am | 10 comments | 1771 Views
AROUND TOWNLooking for a NEW MAYOR
Pleasanton's Mayor Jerry Thorne recently penned a Guest Opinion: City of Planned Progress: Fighting for local land use control....Original post made by Looking for a new Mayor on Jul. 26, 2014
Last comment by Michael Austin, on Jul 27, 2014 at 7:12 am | 1 comment | 749 Views
Power went out at 1413 hours today and did not get restored until 1831 hours. PG&E personal were driving through the neighborhood...Original post made by Michael Austin on Jul. 26, 2014
Last comment by William Tell, on Jul 26, 2014 at 7:56 pm | 1 comment | 859 Views
AROUND TOWNLewd acts charges lead to arrest of Livermore soccer facility coach
A 26-year-old man has been arrested on suspicion of committing a lewd act on a child in Livermore. Read the full story...Original post made on Jul. 26, 2014
Last comment by Cholo, on Jul 26, 2014 at 5:47 pm | 4 comments | 2325 Views
AROUND TOWNUPDATE: Both Shadow Cliffs beaches closed due to E. coli levels
The north and south beaches at Shadow Cliffs Lake were closed indefinitely as of Friday due to high levels of E. coli bacteria...Original post made on Jul. 25, 2014
Last comment by Tom F, on Jul 26, 2014 at 4:33 pm | 6 comments | 4207 Views
COMMENTS ON STORIESWater restored to Pleasanton apartment complex
After four consecutive days without water, residents of Pleasanton's Springhouse Apartments now have their water supply restored....Original post made on Jul. 25, 2014
Last comment by Cholo, on Jul 26, 2014 at 11:46 am | 2 comments | 2098 Views
AROUND TOWNHigh levels of E. coli in Shadow Cliffs causes partial closure
The south beach of Shadow Cliffs Lake closed Wednesday afternoon due to an extremely high E. coli bacteria measurement, according...Original post made on Jul. 25, 2014
Last comment by liberalism is a disease, on Jul 26, 2014 at 10:25 am | 10 comments | 3401 Views
STATE, NATIONAL, INTERNATIONALObama To Resign from Office Before He Is Impeached and Driven from Office?
Recent objective polling from Fox News shows that a majority of the country, minus members of the Democrat Party, thinks...Original post made by Appalled on Jul. 25, 2014
Last comment by Nothing New Here, on Jul 26, 2014 at 8:56 am | 19 comments | 1339 Views
AROUND TOWNDying or Diseased Redwood trees?
I've noticed a number of Redwood trees along Valley Ave. between Hopyard and Bernal are dying. Curious if anyone knows why,...Original post made by Concerned on Mar. 7, 2014
Last comment by steve, on Jul 26, 2014 at 4:50 am | 5 comments | 6537 Views
State housing push revives need for East Side planning
By Jeb Bing | 3 comments | 372 views
Nominations due by Sept. 18
Pleasanton Weekly and DanvilleSanRamon.com are once again putting out a call for nominations and sponsorships for the annual Tri-Valley Heroes awards - our salute to the community members dedicated to bettering the Tri-Valley and the lives of its residents.


text:
MIAMI - 12:40PM- Temps are unseasonably warm again this afternoon with temps around the low 80s already this noon. Temps will warm up ahead of a weak cold front that moves into SFL later this afternoon and early evening. Temps cool a few degrees Wednesday but sill remain above average,. At the end of the week and into the weekend a stronger front will move through SFL and bring a significant cool down into the state.
Meteorologist Scott Padgett
3:00AM - Another warm day ahead of a weak cold front that will slide through south Florida in the next day or so. We will start the day in the upper 60s and climb in the mid 80s this afternoon with a warm west wind. A stronger front will approach by the weekend and bring a bigger dip in temperatures.
Copyright 2012 by Post Newsweek. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
Just as menus at restaurants are seasonal, many cocktail menus are, too. This time of the year, many cocktail lists start lightening up, with white spirits coming back into focus, summer sippers added to the menu, and certain fruits and herbs coming into peak form. We asked 26 bartenders: What spring ingredients are you excited about? Here's what they had to say.
About the author: Carey Jones is the former senior managing editor of Serious Eats. Follow her on Twitter (@careyjones).


text:
Marketing and PR Assistant
- Recruiter
- Norland College
- Location
- Circus Mews, Bath (moving to York Place, London Road, Bath in late 2017)
- Salary
- Grade G (£25,578 - £27,822)
- Posted
- 05 Jan 2017
- Expires
- 01 Feb 2017
- Contact
- Debbie Howard
- Sector
- Marketing Advertising & PR
- Contract Type
- Permanent
- Hours
- Full Time
An exciting new role has been created to support the Marketing and PR Manager in the External Communications and Agency department. In recent years, student numbers at Norland College have doubled in size and demand for Norland's training, consultancy and agency is also increasing rapidly.
The post-holder will be instrumental in supporting strategies to sustain and develop this growth. In addition, 2017 is the 125th anniversary year of Norland College and there are a number of exciting events and projects related to this where the successful candidate will play a key role.
This is an excellent opportunity for a recent marketing graduate to make their first step into the world of marketing and PR. The successful candidate will gain practical experience in all areas of marketing and PR from print, digital and social media to research and events. This role will give the right person a chance to develop and enhance their skills and knowledge in an exciting and fast growing business.
To apply:
Please click the apply button below.
Closing Date: Monday 16 January 2017
Interview Date: Monday 23 January 2017
Please note that verified reference checks will apply to this post.
Norland is an Equal Opportunities employer.


text:
Namco Bandai and GAME have partnered up to offer consumers complimentary tickets to Star Trek Into Darkness.
Customers that pre-order the game or purchase it on its first day of release will receive a code that gives consumers one full adult ticket to any Cineworld cinema in the country.
Those who pre-order the game will also have the chance to win a VIP 'red-carpet treatment' to a future Paramount premiere, including a stay in five-star accommodation.
"We wanted to offer something truly special and valuable to fans, so working with GAME stores group has allowed us to award the consumer with a pass to the hottest movie this year following their unique video game experience," said Namco Bandai UK's PR & Marketing Director, Lee Kirton.
Star Trek The Video Game arrives in the UK on 360, PS3 and PC on April 26th, while JJ Abrams' Star Trek Into Darkness lands in cinemas on May 17th.


text:
So I'm working on my demo here and now I move onto the clearfix method. While doing some reading I came across this article by Perishable Press. As Paul would put it, he amalgamated the clearfix method a little. Makes sense to me - what do you think? Heard anything about his changes? I understand the reasoning behind the font-size: 0; but what about the space void of the "dot". Thoughts???
Also, if I wanted to remove IE5 from it would it look like this? That's who the hacky stuff is for right?
.clearfix:after { content:"."; display:block; height:0; clear:both; visibility:hidden;}.clearfix {display:inline-block;}* html .clearfix {height: 1%;}
Some of us are busy. Hats off to Suzy for her contribution but it is not all-encompassing.
Paul, I apologize for my unnecessary post as it was not at all informative but if your Staff Membership allows you the ability to ban me from SitePoint, please do before I say something condescending.
I'm not sure why you didn't post your full solution as it wouldn't have taken you much longer to type lol ?
Now I'm going to have to guess
I think you may be confusing your bugs and inline-block is nothing but a haslayout trigger which is then reset to display:block so the element doesn't behave as an inline-block anyway.:)
Read suzy's earlier thorough post on the subject as you won't find a better explanation around.
I'm guessing that you have a floated element that has a height less than the current font-size and therefore IE will expand the parent because it is in haslayout mode and will at least accommodate the full line-height /font-size of the element. This is an old bug and nothing to do with clearfix and you simply need to reduce the font-size of the small height element to zero or set overflow:hidden to hide the excess.
If you are talking about the behaviour of inline block elements then taht's a separate question and yes they are subject to whitespace nodes between blocks and their vertical alignment will be baseline by default leaving a gap below for descenders.
inline-block gives extra spacing because of the spacing in mark-up. It creates an extra 4px. One way you can get around it is by utilizing letter-spacing. I'm creating a new clearfix and will post after I'm done with the project I'm on.
Apology accepted and I look forward to your solution
Bump! And here is the amalgamated version.
/* slightly enhanced, universal clearfix hack */.clearfix:after { visibility: hidden; display: block; font-size: 0; content: " "; clear: both; height: 0; }.clearfix { display: inline-block; }/* start commented backslash hack \*/* html .clearfix { height: 1%; }.clearfix { display: block; }/* close commented backslash hack */
I'm surprised nobody has a comment for this. No one knows the answer, or know one cares? I did a lot of testing with it all and I came to two conclusions. One: I'm not even going to attempt to mess with the hacky stuff at the bottom of the .clearfix for IE5 (or whom ever it's for) - because apparently, IE7, and 6 need those rules at the bottom of the clearfix to work (to provide "haslayout" or something). And Two: the clearfix DOES work perfectly with the "space" instead of the "dot". Because I don't really even understand exactly how it's doing it (I understand enough to know that I don't understand it fully) - which is better - the "dot" or the "space"? The font-size:0; is harmless so I'll probably just include it anyways. Thanks for indulging my tendency for perfectionism!
but what about the space void of the "dot". Thoughts???
I would like to have seen examples of when the dot was breaking layouts although the font-size:0 is probably worthwhile to avoid any extra space. I have never come across an issue of when the dot has broken any layout but I just might be lucky
Some of the hack is for ie5 mac but now you've reduced it its wrong
This is for ie5 mac and also to give ie7 haslayout so that it will clear.
.clearfix { display: inline-block; }
The commented backslash hides the following styles from ie5 mac.
/* start commented backslash hack \\*/
* html .clearfix { height: 1%; }
.clearfix { display: block; }
/* close commented backslash hack */
The height:1% is for IE less than version 6 (not iemac) and gives the element "haslayout" so that it auto clears.
The display:block is for IE7 to over-rule the previous display:inline-block rule. Even though it over-rules the previous rule the element still maintains "haslayout" from the previous display:inline-block setting. That's why the order of the code should not be changed or amalgamated.
What else did you want to know
Yes me too! In fact, I just combed that page again this morning looking for that.
Thats what I didn't fully understand (although that's what I "thought" must have been going on I just couldn't prove it). That you could override it yet IE7 still maintains "haslayout" even once it was overridden. Strange, I removed inline-block earlier while testing and replaced it with min-height: 0; - that did not work. Thats probably was what was adding to my confusion.
I guess the only thing else I wanted to know was "if" I wanted to remove IE5 mac from it would I then just remove the /*mac hide \*/ comments? Because, like you said - display inline-block is for IE7 also. From what I've been told, IE5 is at less than 1%. Thanks a lot for information Paul!
Claire (Suzy) Campbell explains that here.:)
Alright, thanks a lot Paul, Suzy's article helped make it all clear! I went with the "space" and font-size: 0; method. It works perfectly! I figure if it works without the "dot", then why add it ya-know.
This quote from his website helped win me over - I like his attitude!
Another bizarre inconsistency involved with clearfixed (probably not a real verb) layouts seems to disappear when the font-size property is included in the hack and subsequently set to zero. This may be overkill when using a blank space instead of an actual dot (as described above), but I honestly don't care. I'm like some sort of CSS animal — using every available weapon to fight hellish layout battles.
I found that the display: inline-block; needs to be only read by ie7. Is quirky in safari.
Apply this: *:first-child + html .clear {display : inline-block;}
IE7 needs display block as well. Normally they would just over right each other. But not when it comes to "haslayout". IE gets layout from display inline-block and then that gets overridden by display block but IE keeps "haslyout". It's called the trip switch. But the two rules also have to be separated by another in order to work. So basically, the only things you can safely eliminate are the mac hack comments if you don't care about IE5 Mac.
So this is how it should and needs to look.
.clearfix:after { content:" "; display:block; height:0; font-size:0; clear:both; visibility:hidden;}.clearfix {display:inline-block;}/* mac hide \*/* html .clearfix {height:1%;}.clearfix {display:block;}/* End hide */
Or if you don't care about IE5 Mac then it would look like this.
.clearfix:after { content:" "; display:block; height:0; font-size:0; clear:both; visibility:hidden;}.clearfix {display:inline-block;}* html .clearfix {height:1%;}.clearfix {display:block;}
Alternatively you can code it with CC's instead like this
.clearfix:after { content:" "; display:block; height:0; font-size:0; clear:both; visibility:hidden;}.clearfix {display: inline-block;} /* for IE5/Mac and IE7 */
<!--[if IE]><style type="text/css"> .clearfix { zoom: 1; /* triggers hasLayout */ display: block; /* resets display for IE/Win */} </style><![endif]-->
.clearfix:after { content:" "; display:block; height:0; font-size:0; clear:both; visibility:hidden;}
<!--[if IE]><style type="text/css"> .clearfix { zoom: 1; /* triggers hasLayout */}</style><![endif]-->
What do you make of this method? Seems a lot simpler.
Hi, my vote?
From preferred to least preferred
1) overflow: hidden;2) .clearfix3) clearing div4) floated parent5) display: table;
That's interesting where you put display: table—I didn't actually know that could be used to clear. I've just gotten rid of it on a site I'm building because it was causing strange layout behaviour. I had some much grateful help from Sitepoint members with this.
Reading one of the articles you refer to above I noticed this:
the deprecated use of the inline value for the display property
Is this true? Could you confirm that using inline as a value for the display property is deprecated?
Is there any documentation detailing this on the web somewhere?
Back to more reading—this is a very interesting post. Thank you.
Your welcome! If you read the comments at the bottom of the article he tries to explain why he said that. No, display inline is not deprecated, and to my knowledge, nor will it ever be!
Yeah thanks I just read on a bit. Thanks anyway, I was a bit worried there.
Looks good, display: inline-block renders strangely in safari but since you have the display: block below display: inline-block it fixes the issue.
Dan Cederholm suggested at An Event Apart SF to use the class name ".group" rather than ".clearfix" as it actually has some semblance of semantic meaning.
I'm all for it!


text:
Importers of Mexican grapes expect brisk movement and more promotions this season.
Jerry Havel, director of sales and marketing for Nogales, Ariz.-based Fresh Farms, looks forward to an early start and a longer marketing season this year.
"We should be earlier than we've been in the past five years," Havel said. "It's been an unusually warm spring."
Fresh Farms should receive its first Mexican green grapes of the season by May 1, if not earlier, and reds will likely follow about May 5. The company should be shipping both greens and reds in volume by May 15.
That means enough volume for Memorial Day promotions, something Fresh Farms hasn't been able to do in recent years.
"We're excited," he said. "Last year they seemed to all come about the same time in June. This year will be more of a smooth, eight-week season."
Instead of shipping about 15% of its Mexican grapes in May, this year could be closer to 30%, Havel said.
On April 1, the U.S. Department of Agriculture reported prices of $24-26 for containers of bagged extra-large thompson seedless grapes from Chile, up from $16-18 last year at the same time.
Josh Leichter, general manager of Fresno, Calif.-based Pacific Trellis Fruit LLC, expected greens to begin shipping May 6-8 and reds May 8-10, slightly earlier than normal.
Pacific Trellis's Mexican volumes should be up this year, thanks to new acreage, better yields on existing acreage and production from a new grower partner in Mexico's Caborca region.
Green yields, however, could be off some, though growers were reporting good quality and size profile on both greens and reds, Leichter said.
Havel expects brisk movement out of the gate, particularly on greens.
"Demand should be very, very strong," he said. "Chile is basically out of greens. Red demand should be good, too, depending on how Chile finishes."
Leichter also looks forward to strong demand for Mexican grapes early this season.
"We're not anticipating a large overlap with Chile," he said. "We're hoping for an orderly transition."
Pacific Trellis expects to ship Mexican grapes up until the 4th of July, a typical ending to the deal, Leichter said.


text:
This game was classified by the community with the following category scores - Violence=0/3, Sex=0/3, Mature Content=0/3. Explore the night sky with more than 116,000 stars by learning the locations, shapes, and names of 88 constellations all from the comfort of your game console without ever putting down your controller! Dark Skies offers three modes (Explore, Hunt, and Screen Saver), Explore lets you toggle constellations on and off to learn the locations while Hunt will put your skills to the ultimate test.
Buy Xbox content on Xbox.com. Your Xbox 360 console will automatically download the content next time you turn it on and connect to Xbox Live.Learn More


text:
The Nixon Shadow that Hovers Over the Bush White HouseNews at Home
Not since Richard Nixon's presidency have the powers of Congress been in greater jeopardy. Not only is the Bush White House seeking to expand presidential powers at the expense of Congress, but the conservative gang of five on the U.S. Supreme Court are busy trimming congressional powers directly.
The Bush-Cheney efforts, along with those of the Rehnquist-Scalia-Thomas-O'Connor-Kennedy bloc, are raw power politics and an example of short-sighted decisionmaking. These moves to curb congressional authority also raise the question why. In Part One of this two part-series, I will look at the threat to congressional power posed by the Bush White House; then, in Part Two, I will turn to the threat posed by the Supreme Court.
The Man Behind The White House Power Plays
Clearly, Vice President Dick Cheney is the force behind the White House's effort to enhance presidential power, and limit the powers of those on Capitol Hill. This is evident because President Bush simply does not possess the mental acumen, or experience, to play the game his White House has instituted; but Cheney does. This is not to say Bush doesn't embrace the undertaking, for he obviously does, but simply that Cheney is almost certainly the moving force behind it.
Indeed, Cheney has all but admitted the point. "In thirty-four years, I have repeatedly seen an erosion of the powers and the ability of the president of the United States to do his job," Cheney told ABC's "This Week" in January 2002.
His reference to "thirty-four years" is quite clear. About thirty-four years ago, in 1969, Dick Cheney joined the Nixon Administration - serving in a number of positions at the Cost of Living Council, and later the Office of Economic Opportunity. When Nixon was forced from office, Cheney helped Vice President Ford make the transition to the Oval Office and in 1975, Cheney became President Ford's White House chief of staff.
Cheney's reference to the erosion of presidential powers thus appears to relate to the Nixon presidency and Watergate, and then to the Reagan presidency and Iran-contra. Accordingly, one might at first wonder if he was referring to the Independent Counsel Law. But that law has expired. So while no law eroded presidential powers more, nor made it more difficult for the president to do his job, than the Independent Counsel law, that law cannot be Cheney's target.
Nixon's Treatment Of Congress, and How It Likely Informed Cheney's Views
What then is Cheney's target? History suggests that it is probably what he sees as the expansion of congressional power vis-a-vis the president. Besides the folly of the Independent Counsel law, this perception is probably what bothers Cheney most - and what he would most like to remedy.
Cheney watched Nixon "throw down a gauntlet to Congress, the bureaucracy, the media, and the Washington establishment and challenge them to epic battle" - to quote the disgraced former president's memoirs. But for Watergate, Nixon would have succeeded.
Then-Speaker of the House Carl Albert, a Democrat, pleaded with Congress to halt Nixon's "accelerating usurpation of power by the Executive branch . . . these wholesale executive invasions of legislative powers and responsibilities." He claimed the Republican president was creating a constitutional crisis by ignoring a Democratic Congress. Senate Majority Leader Mike Mansfield (D-MT) shared this concern, stating that "the people have not chosen to be governed by one branch of government alone."
Nixon was ignoring Congress in four areas. First, he refused to spend money the Congress had appropriated for programs he didn't believe in, simply impounding the money. Second, he ignored Congress's efforts to get him to cut back or end the war in Vietnam, often increasing and widening the war when they were in recess.
Third, he regularly invoked executive privilege, thus denying Congress information it sought as aid in its job of conducting oversight of the executive branch. Fourth, finally, and in what was probably his most offensive act of the four, Nixon implemented a total reorganization of the executive branch by executive order. The result was to give Congress no say over departments and agencies that had years earlier been created by Congress.
Erosion of Presidential Powers: Congress Takes Back Power Post-Watergate
Congress's anger at Nixon's chutzpah on stilts was one reason it so enthusiastically launched its investigation of Watergate. Congress exploited Nixon's vulnerability in self-defense. Had Nixon not crippled himself as president by overtly and criminally abusing his powers, it is doubtful Congress would have been able to regain its own powers, which had been earlier weakened by Nixon.
But with Nixon on the ropes, Congress passed new laws restoring the balance, while pursuing a series of oversight investigations of the executive branch that pried loose the governments best-kept secrets.
For example, Congress ultimately surfaced information that even Nixon had been unable to obtain from the CIA - the "family jewels" which included the bungled efforts to assassinate Fidel Castro.
Numerous New Laws Restore Congress's Powers
No new law was more important than the congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974, which Nixon was forced to sign (knowing his veto would be overridden) a month before leaving office. This law put Congress on an equal footing with the executive branch in making budgetary decisions, and preventing a president from refusing to spend as directed by Congress.
Also - overriding Nixon's veto - Congress passed its War Powers Resolution, which was designed to force presidents to seek congressional approval before for sending American troops to do battle. This law, which presidents dislike, reminds them that the Constitution gives Congress exclusive power to declare war (a point they have often ignored, but that still stands, as I have discussed in depth in an earlier column).
When the Watergate Special Prosecutor took Nixon to court with a very narrow subpoena seeking his secret Oval Office tapes of conversations with his aides about Watergate, the Supreme Court used the opportunity to write the law of executive privilege. It ruled against Nixon, and forced his resignation.
Afterwards, Congress proceeded to simply take all Nixon's tapes from him. That prevented any claim of privilege and precluded Nixon's ability to destroy them and the historical record. Congress also enacted a law that presidential papers belong to the American people.
Finally, Congress passed the Independent Counsel Law in the aftermath of Watergate. Through that now-expired law, Congress was able to instigate its own criminal investigations and prosecutions of high level executive department officials. Only because the law seriously gored the oxen of both Democratic and Republican administrations did Congress let it die.
After Watergate, Congress moved from its lowest power point back to a more normal posture vis-a-vis the executive branch. These laws represent the "erosion" of presidential powers that Cheney has witnessed, from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue. In truth, they are more accurately described as a "restoration" of power previously stolen by Nixon from Congress.
Cheney's Criticism of the Iran-Contra Investigation
When Dick Cheney was a member of Congress, the Iran-contra scandal erupted. During the scandal, it should be recalled, Cheney became President Reagan's principal defender in Congress.
Cheney served as a minority member of the special Iran Contra Congressional Committee investigating the violation by the Reagan administration of the laws prohibiting sale of weapons to Nicaraguan rebels. In 1987, the committee issued its final report - charging the Reagan administration with "secrecy, deception and disdain for law." But Cheney dissented.
In a telling rebuke, Cheney criticized the administration for letting Congress exert control over Central American policy, and banning the sale of weapons to Nicaraguan rebels.
Plainly, Cheney thinks presidents should not only execute the laws, but write them as they wish they had been. Never mind that Congress has passed a law the president has not vetoed, or as to which his veto was overrided. It is still up to him whether to abide by that law, Cheney seems to believe.
Cheney's Current Tactic: Block Congressional Information Requests
Cheney's drive to halt what he perceives as an erosion of presidential power has been most apparent in his effort to block Congress from obtaining information about executive branch activities.
Cheney is forcing the Government Accounting Office to go to Court to obtain even the most minimal information about the work of the Energy Task Force, forcing an unprecedented lawsuit which is currently pending. But this is only the most visible of Cheney's efforts; after all, he is a man who prefers to work behind the scenes.
I'm told by Washington journalists and scholars who daily seek information from the executive branch as part of their jobs and research, that making GAO file a lawsuit is merely the tip of the iceberg. Far more broadly, Cheney seeks to place a blanket freeze on information.
For example, provisions have been added to the USA PATRIOT Act, and appropriations legislation, that in effect create an unofficial "official secrets act." (An official version of such an Act was vetoed by President Clinton.)
Meanwhile, Cheney only extends his cheek in downplaying his own aggressiveness in creating a blanket of secrecy. It is the information-seekers themselves, according to the administration, who are the aggressive ones. Thus, Dana Milbank of the Washington Post recently reported that "[i]n the fight over the energy documents, the Bush administration has made an ... argument that it is the victim." And the vice president's lawyer is taking the position that Congress does not even have authority to institute legal action against the vice president or president.
If the GAO loses its lawsuit, that will virtually put Congress out of the business of oversight over the executive branch. (And even if it wins, Cheney will have successfully delayed disclosure.)
A court loss for the GAO thus will mean that there are no real checks whatsoever on the president or vice president - for it is impossible for Congress, or the public, to exercise oversight over that of which it is not even aware. Such a judicial decision may provoke as serious a constitutional crisis as Watergate - though this time the federal judiciary, not the president, would be at fault.
While I can't imagine such a decision being issued, I couldn't have imagined Bush v. Gore ahead of time either.
Cheney's Effort To Rearrange Government Is Misguided
My first reaction to Cheney's efforts to block access to his Energy Taskforce information was that he must want to hide the fact that the energy industry had virtually written the Bush administration's energy policy. By now, however, everyone knows that happened, so it is obvious there is something far more significant in play.
Cheney's efforts to block access to information appears more strategic than tactical. By that I mean Cheney is not fighting only a single, specific battle (to protect Energy Taskforce information). Rather, he has launched a war on Congress (forget the Energy Taskforce, Congress has no power to even request such information in the first place).
Cheney apparently wants to turn the clock back to the days of the Nixon administration, before Watergate, when Nixon sought to make Congress merely another administrative arm of the presidency.
Of course, because such a power shift would be strikingly Nixonian doesn't automatically mean it is evil. Not everything Nixon did was illegal, nor done without the public good in mind. But doing anything with Nixon as a model, or precedent, calls for the closest scrutiny, for Nixon had little respect for the mechanics of government.
Indeed, one of the reasons Nixon was attracted to foreign policy was that an American president is largely free from domestic constraints when he steps on the world stage. Nixon preferred unilateral decisionmaking, both on the domestic and international stages.
There is no question that Congress makes life difficult, sooner or later, for every president. Powerful arguments can be made that we have become what is, in essence, an administrative state, with the people selecting a new top administrator every four years. That may lead one to ask: Why not give the top administrator all the power and authority necessary so that he can most effectively administer the nation's affairs? This seems at the core of Cheney's contention.
Why Dramatic Expansion of Executive Power Is Profoundly Unconstitutional
Clearly Cheney wants greater powers for the presidency. There is only one problem, and it is spelled out in those sheets of parchment where the Framers laid out our system of government. They rejected monarchy, even a temporary king or queen. (George Washington had no interest in being a king.)
They also rejected even a single-branch system of democratic government, insisted on the checks and balances of two legislative houses and an independent judiciary. Our government derives its power from the people. That power is shared at federal, state and local levels, and further divided within branches at every level.
The men who designed this government did not have efficiency in mind. To the contrary, they divided the powers of government to make certain no one had too much power. They knew the cost would be delay, negotiation, and compromise, but they believed the expense modest for insurance against tyranny.
Cheney Opposes Even Limits on Presidential Power Meant to Curb Misconduct
Congressional and executive power sharing has ebbed and flowed since the nation's founding. We have had periods when the Congress dominated, like that following the Civil War. Similarly, there have been times when the executive dominated, as during the presidencies of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Roosevelt.
The erosions of presidential power that concern Cheney have all arisen from misconduct and abuses of power by the presidents involved: Nixon, Reagan, Bush and Clinton. That hardly makes a compelling basis for their restoration.
From this observer's point of view, Cheney's efforts are unnecessary. If anything, it is the presidency that has become too powerful. It is also misguided as a matter of political strategy. History shows that every time a modern president reaches for more power at the expense of Congress it ultimately raises congressional ire. This brings inevitable repercussions, sooner or later.
Rather than the president's getting more done, he actually gets less accomplished.
And given the fluke that put the Bush administration in power, Cheney hardly
has a mandate for realigning power in Washington.
This article was first published by findlaw.com and is reprinted with permission of the author.
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Dave LaCourse - 1/13/2003
Care to repost the same message under your "real name."
Is that you, Ben? :-)
Dave LaCourse - 1/13/2003
Wondering who would have to respond in such a hostile way.
I immediately admitted a big mistake after returning to the top of the page. Sorry that my apology didn't meet your standards. Sure you have never made a mistake, nor would admit one if you had.
Guess we are both proven asses now!
Thanks for going public too! :-)
A reader - 1/12/2003
... is shining upon you.
"diatribe contains such venom"
And hypocrisy.
Rational Thought - 1/12/2003
False dichotomy.
Dick Cheney - 1/12/2003
"Could blame my cold"
Blame your lack of mental acumen.
"made a public ASS of myself"
An ass is bound to do that when going public.
Gus Moner - 1/9/2003
Mr. Huisler,
Clearly you dislike Mr Dean for having come out and told the truth, whether to save his neck or out of patriotism upon realising the mess he'd got into, or both, only he knows. It's an opinion we are entitled to.
However, I believe Mr. Dean accurately described the behaviour perfectly, as the dictionary describes chutzpah as "shameless audacity; impudence". What would you call it?
Bear in mind there were plenty of other advisors besides Dean misleading that group of audacious men to iniquity. Poor misled victims. Listen to the tapes again. One cannot blame Dean for it all; and as for betrayal, he did do a service to his nation by eventually telling the truth.
Who has he smeared? Assuming he did, being a decorated war veteran does not automatically shield one from criticism for errors later in life. As for "finest presidents" whether that is true or not is subject to one's perception. Yours is as good as the next, but not gospel.
The roaches were ALL the law breakers in the White House, Dean included- until he bailed out. Let's not forget that.
Bill Heuisler - 1/9/2003
Mr. Fojtik,
This response will be typed slowly so you might grasp concepts rather than simply respond to names you don't like.
Nixon hired a young lawyer into a job the lawyer had no right to expect. The lawyer participated in the initial cover-up. That same lawyer betrayed his boss. The point is: John Dean betrayed.
Now a pause. The point: Can we trust an untrustworthy person?
Highlighting a judge's written findings supporting the claim Dean instigated the Watergate break-in could be confusing to the unsophisticated, but surely most readers understood Liddy wasn't the issue. Another pause. The point: Dean might be a criminal.
Lastly: A person (I'm referring to you now) who associates anti-Communism with Nazis needs to read more history. Suggesting you peruse Koestler, Solzhenitzyn or Conquest is probably fruitless since they all employ long words and complicated images.
Bill Heuisler
John D. Fojtik - 1/8/2003
Yo, Bill! It's a shame Mr. Dean's betrayal and ingratitude led to the resignation of President Nixon, definitely a man of great honor and integrity. And, how dare Mr. Dean bad mouth President Reagan and his efforts in providing humanitarian and military aid to the Nicaraguan Nazis, oops, I mean, "freedom fighters." You'd thunk by now Dean would realize that U.S. Presidents, especially those politically to the right, are ordained with special powers above and beyond those in our Constitution. Checks and balances are for banks, not presidents.
A final note.
Using Gordon Liddy, that highly acclaimed teller of the truth, to buttress whatever it is you are trying to say, sure is convincing, regardless of how irrelevant Liddy's remarks are to the subject matter at hand.
Jacob Goldfinger - 1/8/2003
Awaiting your apologies.
And unless you're a blood relative of Ronald Reagan or on the payroll of an organization dedicated to burnishing his image, you really don't have any excuse for this mendacious, ignorant post.
-Jacob Goldfinger
Dave LaCouse - 1/8/2003
I made a huge mistake, and I am man enough to admit it.
Saw the last name, but did not catch the first not the tag line.
Could blame my cold, or something else, but the article just read more like a Democratic Presidential contender, HOWARD Dean, than Nixon's worn-out JOHN Dean..... Why would that guy be taken seriously, either, BTW. That is another issue....
I read the teaser, made an assumption based on Presidential politics heating up, and made a public ASS of myself.... Not usually so wrong, so enjoy..... :-)
In this case, I was the weakest link!
Usually read better than that, but focused on the article, not the full name nor tag line. Damn! :-)
Going to bed!
DaveLaCourse - 1/8/2003
What could have been an interesting article failed by turning off a large part of the potential audience.
An author so biased as claiming early on that, "Clearly, Vice President Dick Cheney is the force behind the White House's effort to enhance presidential power, .... This is evident because President Bush simply does not possess the mental acumen, or experience, to play the game..."
In other words, Bush is too dumb to pull this off, among other reasons. This claim that Bush is dumb isn't working with the general public, especially after 9-11 and the recent mid-term elections. So the author's clear bias limits his impact by tainting his perspective. It's all the Republicans' fault, from Nixon to Bush. After seeing crap like that, I didn't want to read further as I didn't trust this guy to frame things objectively. Nice way to alienate the middle part of the voters there, and the left is already with Kerry and Dick. Maybe Dean is dumber than Bush?
Another point of fact is that Gore's grades sucked in college, yet for some reason we never heard everyone call him dumb.
And for his next piece, I hope he mentions (but doubt he will) that the Supreme Court ruled 7-2 that what the FL Supreme Court was doing was unconstitutional. Only Five Justices noted that by the deadlines established by the earlier Florida Supreme Court decisions, the time had run out for more recounting. Hardly a biased ruling, and you could also blame the all-Democrat Florida Court for that deadline. And of course, you could also blame Gore's cherry-picking only Democrat Counties for a recount, and his time-wasting challenge to the clear deadline for declaring an election winner.
And Bush is the dumb one? Give me a break.
I also note that the VERY FEW comments on this article shows a lack of lasting interest in Dean. Too bad, I support him on a few key issues over other Democrats, but he has to act smarter if he is to have any chance.
Lassiter Jones - 1/8/2003
Mr. Dean's points would be more persuasive if he could explain the fact that, since the 1st Reagan administration, congressional democrats have rolled over and played dead to the executive branch on virtually every single executive branch initiative. Some will talk like a real opposition party, but when it comes down to the final vote, Reagan, Sir George B., and Dubya get their carte-blanche for undeclared illegal "police actions," Jacobin radical Supreme Court justices like Scalia, etc. Not to mention the constant stream of (also illegal/unconstitutional) "executive orders" and "findings."
One can hardly blame the executive for trying to push the envelope of power, but one *can* blame those responsible for providing checks and balances when they utterly fail to do so. Tom Daschle bears more responsibility for any possible future US war crimes than Dubya ever will.
Bill Heuisler - 1/7/2003
Ironically, John Dean uses the word, chutzpah, to refer to the former mentor he first encouraged to iniquity and then betrayed.
This paragon of ingratitude then pushes hypocrisy to deceit by smearing a decorated Viet Nam combat veteran and one of our finest Presidents by misstating the Boland Amendment:
"...Iran Contra Congressional Committee investigating the violation by the Reagan administration of the laws prohibiting sale of weapons to Nicaraguan rebels."
Laws? Rebels? Passed in 12/8/82, the Boland Amendment attempted a highly unconstitutional prohibition of humanitarian and military aid to Nicaraguans and Miskito Indians who were resisting a Communist Dictator. While denying help to freedom-fighters and aiding Communists, Congress was also usurping a President's Foreign Policy Powers. Put Boland into perspective: think how such Congressional action would have been received during President Clinton's sorties into the Balkans. The Boland Amendment was properly and overwhelmingly defeated a few years later when its overturn in the courts became certain.
Glossing over Boland is only an example; John Dean's diatribe contains such venom and so many misstatements that a reader is forced to consider the man's past and his desperate attempts to cover his own degeneracy by soiling others' reputations.
Consider: Gordon Liddy wrote that Watergate was an effort by White House Counsel, John Dean to steal pictures of prostitutes - including his girlfriend Maureen - from the desk of Ida "Maxie" Wells at Democratic headquarters. Dean sued, but dropped the suit in 2000. Why? Because Judge J. Frederick Motz, in a directly related ruling, said "I do not believe a reasonable jury could find Liddy was negligent..."
Reagan vs Boland was a struggle for power among branches of Government. Liddy vs Dean was a spotlight on a roach.
Bill Heuisler
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- Israelis are celebrating the Kurds' bid for independence
- Wall Street Journal study finds that rural youths who enlisted after 9/11 shouldered the greatest burden for the nation's defense
- Jelani Cobb unloads on Trump's double standard of patriotism in the New Yorker
- Lonnie Bunch is astonished the African-American History Museum has become a pilgrimage site so fast
- Nancy Isenberg says what Americans think is exceptional about them is that they erased class distinctions
- Niall Ferguson's new book is a warning about the pernicious threat of networks
- Yale history department now emphasizing global history in undergraduate courses


text:
Three sisters, raised in a remote village, who at a young age produced some of the most lauded works in English literature. Charlotte (author of Jane Eyre), Emily (Wuthering Heights), and Anne (The Tenant of Wildfell Hall).
The Bröntes' Training Ground: Audio Slideshow
World-class writing skill, like soccer or skateboarding or anything else, requires 10,000 hours of deep practice – firing and honing skill circuits. The Bröntes' special tool was called their Little Books: dozens of tiny, handmade journals they filled with thousands of pages of stories, poems, plays, and novels from the time they were quite young. Their 10,000 hours was particularly efficient because they:
- Were willing to make mistakes. Out of view of any parent or teacher's eye, they could boldly experiment (and fail) over and over. They became great writers not in spite of the fact that they started out immature and imitative—to the contrary, they became great writers precisely because they were willing and able to spend vast amounts of time being immature and imitative.
- Worked from a platform of existing stories. Far from inventing things out of thin air, the Brontes' Little Books were their reinterpretations (a.k.a. ripoffs) of stories they had read elsewhere, in magazines and books. In this way, they learned structure and technique—what works and what doesn't.
- Experienced it as an enthralling game. The Little Books were to the Brontes what empty swimming pools were to the skateboarding Z-Boys: a place to cooperate, compete, and entertain each other with ever-more-difficult feats of skill. In other words: a hothouse for skill circuits.
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9 Responses to "The Brönte Sisters, West Yorkshire, England"
Thank you for sharing beautifully the concept that the key to learning is the need for the safety to make errors & corrections'.
I listen to constructive Non Fiction audio books as i go to sleep hoping to program proactively all that i want to learn. Clearly, my intention is to learn without errors. Visualization, meditation, affirmations, reading constructive books: all teach us to reprogram w/what we want.
You remind me that most all I know is related to my eagerness to practice daily for love of gathering that next step to knowing including reading new material is a practice to acquiring more knowledge on my subject of interest.
Learning clarinet/guitar/tennis/golf endlessly 'bad', gave me the love for practicing for today's perfection yet never attaining the illusive ultimate lesson YoYo gives himself & the world.
As a student, I loved weekly tests & couldn't wait to see what i missed. The fun for me was learning what i didn't know. How much i knew was a surprise so I'd read my right answers thinking 'hmmmmmmmmmm isn't that nice that is right'. Reinforcing what i didn't know I knew.
For me tests were safe/enjoyable teachers & for my nieces they are feared teachers.
Your book will assist all of us to take error/correction out of the realm of right/wrong evaluation/judgment. All such 'negative' words to so many that defend themselves into not caring to know for fear of judging themselves inadequate.
'Social Intelligence' Dan Goldman had a perfect formula for allowing kids to be safe w/learning answers. Researchers divided a Spanish class in half giving half the class answers to the questions in Spanish & the other half the questions w/blank spaces that need the correct Spanish word. The 'blank' half had to ask for the Spanish 'needed' word in Spanish. The half w/the correct answer had to give the 'wanting an answer half' the correct Spanish word by using a full Spanish sentence to share the answer.
This was such a win/win experience the teacher couldn't get the kids to hear the dismissal bell let alone leave the game of sharing answers.
There are ways to make error correction safe & fun like learning to ski. You have accomplished this with your book & your website.
I had soooooooooo much fun finding the answers to my questions on your site. Can't wait for the book. I'm ready to practice & correct, correct, correct.
The biggest importance of this work – in my opinion – has to do with the impact in can have in keeping people eagerly engaged with LEARNING. Schools and our society here in the states seem entirely focused on right and wrong – with major 'judgement' attached to it.
People grow tired of being made wrong (judged) and just stop reaching out because their 'hand' has been slapped too many times.
With judgement being replaced with simple 'course corrections' – as you would if you were riding a bike – lead people to remained engaged with learning – a 'Top Five' core skill.
Thank you for your work – it's impact will be positive & will effect generations of people!
John T Kelly
[…] can relate. So can the Bronte sisters, I imagine. Miracles happen all the time in writing, but they're almost all little ones, that […]
[…] environment helps those talents along exactly as it does in the case of the Williams sisters or the Brontes: they are motivated to deeply practice in that […]
Hi Daniel,
I read both The Talent Code and The Little Book of Talent. At one point you say "writers and artists do it as well" referring to 'deep practice.' I recommended to everyone in my writers' group to buy and study The Talent Code.
Could you give me sources or specific steps to be taken regarding how can a writer apply 'deep practice' to his/her writing?
Bronte sisters example is great for kids but we are all adults in my group.
There are 12 pages devoted to professional writers in The Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance, but no details of what these pro writers actually do to 'deep practice.'
Thank you in advance.
Adam Wieckowski Toronto Canada
Dear Daniel,
I am one of the 70,000 over thousand people taking part in the writing course held by Prof. Comer. I watched the live workshop where you shared not only your experience but also gave some invaluable pointers on being a writer, it's just very generous of you to share not only your knowledge and experience but also to give some insight on how a writer can become an author. Loved the part where you said "start with a human face..". I strongly believe that an author leaves a legacy to his readers, in my opinion the Talent Code is just that. Look forward to the pleasure of learning from you.
Best wishes,
Hi Daniel, I'm very much enjoying your book The Talent Code. Unfortunately I was not in Professor Comer's class last year, but I would love to hear the tips and pointers that you shared with aspiring writers.


text:
I have a Porter Cable Model 862 Cordless Drill/Driver. Looks pretty much like the one in the picture (photo stolen from someone else's website), but with more use and no manuals. Drill, charger and case are fine, but batteries are pretty much worn out. It uses Porter Cable 12-volt model 8620 batteries - the older Porter Cable "latch button" style (like DeWalt), not the newer Porter Cable "sliding" style. Lots of places still sell compatible batteries. I don't want much for it, just don't want to throw it away. I would send it to someone for the price of shipping, or would trade for a couple discs and I'll cover shipping.
My trade list is here, but I'm open to suggestions.


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The Fortuna Concert Series on March 8 is welcoming back The Babes, a choral group started 20 years ago as an outgrowth of the Humboldt Light Opera Co.
Directed by Carol McWhorter Ryder, the group is typically 25 women from many walks of life: retired teachers, office managers, counselors, nutritionists, professors, and post office workers. Annette Hull is the pianist.
The repertoire for this performance will include an eclectic mix of songs from folk to jazz, serious to seriously funny. They will present jazz standards from the '40s to modern compositions.
Babe Magnets, a small ensemble of men directed by Bill Ryder, will join the group in concert.
The program will bring back many memories, and you will leave humming your favorites.
Concert time is 7:30 p.m. at the Fortuna Monday Club, 610 Main St. in Fortuna. Ticket prices are General Admission $10; Students and Seniors $8. Tickets for individual concerts are available at the door. Doors open at 6:45 p.m. For more information, visit fortunaconcertseries.com, call 707-682-6092 or email email@example.com.


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It's How To'sday again! I love featuring ideas from you crafty divas. Today's how to comes to us from Cristine Redmond with a fun idea for a t-shirt makeover.
My daughter has a cute, magenta-colored shirt that has been collecting dust in her closet, so I decided to alter it to make a Valentine's Day shirt for her.
Using my Silhouette, I created this template using a rhinestone pattern. It originally only had two hearts, but I altered it to make three. I taped the template down to the shirt to make sure it didn't move while I was placing the rhinestones.
I placed the i-rock rhinestones in the holes of my template using a wet q-tip.
Once all of the rhinestones were in place, I secured them using my i-rock. I secured them with the template in place first, just in case they moved or didn't stick. Then I removed it and went over them all again just to make sure they were really stuck on the shirt.
This is the final product! I love love love how it turned out and my daughter is super excited to have a "new" shirt. I definitely had fun using my new toys! :)
I was so inspired by Cristine's idea to mesh together the functions of the Silhouette and the iRock that I used her idea to make this St. Patrick's Day Card.
Thank you Cristine for your great tutorial!
If you'd like to see your how to featured on an upcoming How To'sday, you can email directions and photos to email@example.com. We'd love to put you in the spotlight.
Check in tomorrow for our next Mid Week Mojo sketch, featuring a layout about my latest addiction, Words With Friends.
Have a great day!


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It was December 2007, and Kirtland Air Force Base needed money. The base wanted to build training facilities for paratroopers and combat rescue officers. In total, the project would cost more than $14 million—funded mostly by appropriations from Congress. US Rep. Heather Wilson, R-NM, was instrumental in helping Kirtland secure the funding, earmarking $3.7 million for the new facilities.
Sens. Pete Domenici (R) and Jeff Bingaman (D) helped, too. But it was Wilson who, one year after leaving Congress, took a seat on the board of the Kirtland Partnership Committee, a nonprofit that operates as a booster organization for the base.
"We're here to support Kirtland Air Force base," says Stuart Purviance, executive director of KPC, which, he says, is not "officially connected" to the base. Wilson, he says, still serves on the 109-member board, which meets twice a year.
It's one of Wilson's many forays into the private sector since leaving the House of Representatives in 2009. Her latest financial disclosure report shows that, from 2009-2011, Wilson capitalized on her national security expertise by scoring consulting contracts with national laboratories and defense contractors.
Such work—sometimes termed a "revolving door" because of the close relationships forged between members of Congress and the lobbyists, contractors and businesses that work with them—occupies an ethical gray area. Wilson has stopped working with all but one of them since starting her campaign for US Senate—a decision Jay Coghlan, executive director of Nuclear Watch New Mexico, says might remove the "taint of being a direct conflict of interest."
"But it nevertheless shows where her true interests lay: with her laboratories and not the interests of the people of New Mexico," he says. "...[Wilson] should release records of her financial relationship with the laboratories since she has taken it upon herself to be such an advocate of the laboratories."
"Wasteful Government Spending"
"The polls will go up and down, but Heather is going to win this race because she's the only candidate New Mexicans can trust to stop wasteful government spending," Wilson's campaign spokesman, Chris Sanchez, told the Washington, DC-based National Journal in August.
Her opponent in the Senate race, Democratic US Rep. Martin Heinrich, has occupied Wilson's seat since she left Congress. TV ads paid for by Crossroads GPS—a conservative group affiliated with former George W Bush operative Karl Rove—have characterized Heinrich as a profligate spender of government money. But Wilson, who once sat on the Crossroads board, has faced similar criticism.
Facing off in a debate against Steve Pearce in the 2008 GOP primaries, Wilson used her opening statement to criticize Pearce for voting for cuts in DOE programs—thus, cuts in New Mexico's sacred cow, the national labs. Pearce, who won the primary, countered that he didn't feel ashamed for saying 'no' to wasteful spending, including $400 million that would have went to a "metalized glass" program and money for "oyster beds."
"It doesn't mean cut Los Alamos," he said in a statement. "It means cut the wasteful spending."
John Isaacs, executive director of the Washington-based Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, tells SFR that whichever candidate is elected to the US Senate seat will likely be "sympathetic" to the labs.
"It's a very rare politician who opposes a major contract in his state," he says. "Especially smaller states like New Mexico…Anything that produces a lot of jobs."
Isaacs adds that it would be "useful" to know what kind of contracting work Wilson did at the labs, saying of candidates: "Their background, on work on family and finances—and so on—should be transparent as possible."
SFR analyzed federal financial disclosure reports for each candidate. On his latest report, Heinrich disclosed no income from sources outside of his current congressional salary and investment holdings.
Wilson, by contrast, lists a web of income sources, including rent payments from a condo in Washington, DC, valued at $1 million and various investments. In addition, she listed several contracts with defense companies and national laboratories.
Wilson's disclosure forms show only that she made at least $5,000 from each of the contracts. Neither Sanchez nor the entities that hired Wilson provided detailed amounts, with one exception: Oak Ridge National Laboratory, in Tennessee.
But SFR was able to uncover some details about Wilson's private-sector work—as well as her employers' stakes in the estimated $530 billion government-contracting pool.
Areté Asssociates (Arlington, Va.): $228.6 million in federal contracts (2001-2012)
For most of her professional life, Wilson has pursued work in the opaque world of defense and national security. A US Air Force Academy graduate, Wilson used a Rhodes Scholarship to study at the University of Oxford, and later earned a PhD in international relations. A book on liberation movements won her a prize from the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1988, when she served as the director for European Defense Policy and Arms Control for the National Security Council.
John Lauder, a vice president at Areté, which produces lasers for the defense industry, recalls "intercepting" with Wilson in the early '90s, when she was on the NSC staff and he worked on arms control monitoring for the Central Intelligence Agency.
In 1991, Wilson founded Albuquerque-based Keystone International Inc., which "did work for large defense and scientific firms, including our national labs, and she went back to that type of work when she left the Congress," Sanchez writes in an email.
Keystone's website says the company, which has 200 employees, provides "technical support" to weapons laboratories in New Mexico and Nevada. The website credits Wilson as "instrumental" in helping Martin Marietta secure a contract with the US Department of Energy to manage Sandia National Laboratories.
Martin Marietta later became Lockheed Martin—the defense contractor that now manages Sandia, and has been Wilson's top contributor during her political career. From 1998-2012, Lockheed and its employees have donated at least $109,000 to Wilson's various campaigns, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.
Although Wilson's disclosure form shows that Areté paid her at least $5,000 for "consulting services," Lauder says Areté only invited her to a meeting to talk about her availability. The company was interested in getting Wilson's "advice and counsel on the sorts of things we ought to be focused on," he says, but nothing came of the discussions.
"We invited her in and paid for her time and travel and gave her some briefings," Lauder says. Wilson's Senate campaign put a halt to the plans.
"Once you start running a political life, we didn't pursue that to make sure there were no conflict[s] of interest or anything," Lauder says.
Battelle Memorial Institute (Columbus, Oh.): $15.6 billion in federal contracts (2001-2012)
Wilson is, however, still listed as a consultant at Battelle, according to spokeswoman Katy Delany, who says the consulting agreement "would end if she wins election to the Senate." Battelle won't say exactly how much Wilson has been paid, but Delany says she serves on the Strategic Advisory Committee for Battelle's National Security Global Business—"basically a group of experts from academia, industry, government" that advises Battelle on "certain issues."
James Bellingham, whose ocean robotics company, Bluefin Robotics Corp., was purchased by Battelle, says he's been on the committee since 2007 and that the group meets a few times a year to discuss "more big-picture perspectives." "We're supposed to be looking at the longer term, big-picture: Is Battelle structuring itself in the right way?" he says. "It's not a large group. Mostly people with tremendous success in some prior phase of their life."
"And, of course, Heather [Wilson] has her background in Washington," he adds. "Any business [that] is working in part in the government market has to think about what are likely to be pretty dramatic changes coming ahead."
National Security Technologies LLC (near Las Vegas, Nev.; satellite locations in New Mexico): $3.2 billion in federal contracts (2006-2012)
According to Sanchez, Wilson was a member of the "President's Advisory Panel" for the Nevada nuclear test site. Wilson's disclosure form lists at least $5,000 from National Securities Technologies, a government contractor that operates the nuclear test site.
"The panel, made up of senior national security experts, advises and assists the senior leadership of the Test Site on strategic planning, mission development and program assessment," Sanchez writes.
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (Oak Ridge, Tenn.): $1 billion federal budget request, FY 2013*
"We're not in the business of causing troubles with reporters," Ron Walli, a spokesman at Oak Ridge, says. "We don't have much, if anything, to hide."
UT-Battelle LLC, the private entity that manages Oak Ridge, owns two subcontracts with Wilson, according to Walli, who says she earned a total of $8,413.69 for work with a strategic advisory group to advise Oak Ridge's Global Security Directorate.
"Heather Wilson's duties included interacting with other members of the SAG to review, assess and advise on the quality of the national security programs being pursued and carried out at Oak Ridge National Laboratory," Walli writes in an email.
Sanchez adds that Wilson "helped Oak Ridge National Laboratory establish a senior advisory group on intelligence."
But ORNL has, at times, competed with Los Alamos National Laboratory for federal funds. Last spring, DOE requested that Congress delay appropriations for the Chemistry and Metallurgy Research Replacement Nuclear Facility at LANL, a plutonium lab, whose cost overruns have reached billions, and instead recommended funding a uranium processing facility at ORNL. Wilson told the Los Alamos Monitor that LANL lost funding "because the delegation from Tennessee fought harder, and New Mexico did not."
"At a time when Los Alamos National Laboratory was facing major federal budget cuts, Heather Wilson was getting paid thousands of dollars from [ORNL], which competed with LANL for funding and jobs," Heinrich campaign spokeswoman Whitney Potter writes in a statement.
Sandia National Laboratories and Los Alamos National Laboratory (NM): $1.4 billion (Sandia), $1.9 billion (LANL) in federal budget requests, FY 2013*
"Our statement is short and sweet," Jim Danneskiold, a Sandia spokesman, told SFR in a voicemail. "Heather Wilson had a consulting contract with Sandia National Laboratories from 2009 to 2011 and that terminated when she ran for Senate."
He didn't respond to SFR's requests for clarification, but spokeswoman Heather Clark forwarded SFR a guidance statement from the DOE's Office of Classification, citing an exemption from the Freedom of Information Act for "trade secrets and commercial or financial information...that would cause substantial competitive harm to the source or to the program effectiveness if disclosed." It's unclear whether SFR's request would cause "substantial competitive harm" to Wilson as an individual or to her company, Heather Wilson & Company LLC (or, for that matter, to the lab itself), because Sandia officials didn't say whether the contract was under Wilson's name or that of her company.
"That's disclosing information that's in the contract and that's commercial and propriety," Clark tells SFR.
"Wilson served on the Intelligence Advisory Panel for Sandia National Labs and worked closely with the Sandia Field Intelligence Element on its programs and plans," Sanchez writes in an email. He also writes that Wilson also "provided advice to senior managers at Los Alamos on strategic direction for both the nuclear deterrence and stewardship mission, as well as Los Alamos threat reduction programs."
Fred deSousa, a LANL spokesman, writes in an email that "Contract terms with vendors and consultants routinely are treated as sensitive, proprietary information."
"Our contractors are partners in our successes, often in highly technical and competitive fields," the statement reads. "Disclosing competitive information would severely hamper our abilities to attract these vendors—many of them from New Mexico or Northern New Mexico—and would increase costs for taxpayers. If you asked about our contract with anyone else, the answer would be same."
But Mark Caramanica, the freedom of information director at the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, is skeptical. "That's a real stretch of what exemption four can cover," Caramanica says. "How is the public supposed to know what they're buying if they can't determine what the service is? That makes it hard to know what you're getting and if you're paying too much for it."
"This is Heather Wilson"
When SFR called a number listed under Heather Wilson & Co. LLC, a consulting firm of which Wilson has been president since January 2009, it got an unexpected surprise.
"This is Heather Wilson," the former congresswoman answered.
Public records list Wilson's company as either a consulting or a public-relations firm. She disclosed making $214,000 income from the company. Beyond that, little about the firm has been made public.
On the phone, Wilson wouldn't comment on her consulting work, nor her board membership on several organizations between her leaving Congress in 2009 and running for office in 2012. Instead, she deferred all questions to her spokesman, Christopher Sanchez.
*Lab budget numbers may not be exact, as they refer to requested appropriations, not actual ones.
Joey Peters contributed reporting.