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Depending on the size, number and location of your fibroids, your surgeon may choose one of three surgical approaches to myomectomy.
In abdominal myomectomy (laparotomy), your surgeon makes an open abdominal incision to access your uterus and remove fibroids. Your surgeon enters the pelvic cavity through one of two incisions:
A horizontal bikini-line incision that runs about an inch (about 2.5 centimeters) above your pubic bone. This incision follows your natural skin lines, so it usually results in a thinner scar and causes less pain than a vertical incision does. It may be only 3 to 4 inches (8 to 10 centimeters), but may be much longer.
Because it limits the surgeon's access to your pelvic cavity, a bikini-line incision may not be appropriate if you have a large fibroid.
In laparoscopic or robotic myomectomy, minimally invasive procedures, your surgeon accesses and removes fibroids through several small abdominal incisions.
Sometimes, the fibroid is cut into pieces and removed through a small incision in the abdominal wall. Other times the fibroid is removed through a bigger incision in your abdomen so it can be removed without being cut into pieces. Rarely, the fibroid may be removed through an incision in your vagina (colpotomy).
Laparoscopic and robotic surgery use smaller incisions than a myomectomy, or laparotomy, does. This means you may have less pain, lose less blood and return to normal activities more quickly than with a laparotomy.
To treat fibroids that bulge significantly into your uterine cavity (submucosal fibroids), your surgeon may suggest a hysteroscopic myomectomy. Your surgeon accesses and removes fibroids using instruments inserted through your vagina and cervix into your uterus.
A hysteroscopic myomectomy generally follows this process:
Rarely, your surgeon may use a laparoscope inserted through a small incision in your abdomen to view the pelvic organs and monitor the outside of the uterus during a complicated hysteroscopic myomectomy.
At discharge from the hospital, your doctor prescribes oral pain medication, tells you how to care for yourself, and discusses restrictions on your diet and activities. You can expect some vaginal spotting or staining for a few days up to six weeks, depending on the type of procedure you've had.
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Message:Ah the 2001-2002 SMC sophomore class formal...at Beacon Bowl. We begin the night by grabbing a cab over to SMC to pick up my gf (date for the night), her 4 friends, and head up to Castle Point. Someone decides it's a great idea to do shots of tequila, and within 60 minutes, 5 guys are trying to objectively determine which of the 5 ladies that night has the best "endowments". I have pictures of this. For bonus point they decided to hold a thong contest, and were none to shy about displaying. this comes into play more later.
in order to catch the last bus from SMC to the bowling alley, we couldnt' wait for a cab, so we all hopped in two cars and hit about 80 getting to campus. We get there, and we have our first casualty as one ofr the 5 girls falls out of the car, pukes on the sidewalk, and is deemed unable to get on the bus. We get on, someone behind us pukes, thigns are going great right now. after a ncie little 20 minute ride to the alley, we stumble. My gf and her roomie and best friend make a pit stop in the bathroom. this is where the second casualty comes in, as gf's freind passes out on the can. my gf, meanwhile manages to have ruined her thong in the earlier contest, as it snaps, and she tosses them out to her roomie who looks at me in horror. I just shake my head and thank god I'd brought a pepsi bottle full of rum to get me through this. passed out friend gets dragged out by her date, we're down to 3 couples, and it's 11:15. at the latest. a bit of bowling ensues, a littlem ore drinking, along with about 1000 of the drunkest people I have ever seen. just as the lights go on, I'm rolling my last ball, hoping to break 25 on the night. No such luck, as my blitzed GF pulls a Terry Tate and tackles me down the lane. unfortunately, my shin caught on the gutter, and ripped open about 3 inches. Gushing blood, I hobble to the bus, vowing never to set foot on SMC again. we finally make it back to mccandless (this story keeps getting worse), sneak in past security, and my gf passes out. well previously passed otu friend had been dropped off by her date in my gf's room, and mistakes me for either a teddy bear or a space heate,r cause when I wak up the next morning, I'm not spooning my gf, but her. thankfully, gf let it slide, but oh my what a night.
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The New York Jets said they wanted to bring in competition for Mark Sanchez and apparently have found their first option.
Street free agent David Garrard had a good workout with the team on Thursday, ESPN's Adam Schefter reports. The two sides will be working toward an agreement once the Jets have solved some salary-cap issues.
Garrard, 35, a former starter with the Jacksonville Jaguars, was in the Miami Dolphins' training camp last summer. His time with the Jaguars ended after camp in 2011, and he sat out that entire season recovering from a herniated disk.
Last year, he had arthroscopic knee surgery, leading to his preseason release by the Dolphins. Per the New York Daily News, Garrard said his tryout with the Jets went "great."
The Jets won't be bringing back Tim Tebow to play behind Mark Sanchez, and Garrard would join Greg McElroy and Matt Simms in the backup mix.
Another name to watch, according to ESPN, is Kansas City Chiefs part-time starter Brady Quinn. The Chiefs are ready to part ways with Quinn and Matt Cassel now that they have completed a trade with the San Francisco 49ers for Alex Smith.
Before Tebow, Sanchez's backup was Mark Brunell, who also had been a starter in Jacksonville. It's nice for the Jets to have Garrard as an alternative, but the only way to really push the beleaguered Sanchez is to select a potential starter in April's NFL Draft.


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" The Monster Beats by Dre give studio quality performance for every day, on-the-go use. The quality is crisp and balanced, with effective noise cancellation. Whilst they come at a cost, the quality is undeniable. "
I bought these headphones with high hopes and it has definitely been worth the price I paid for. The sound quality is amazing, it is definitely one of the best headphones that I have had. They fit perfectly around my ear, they don't hurt when having them on for a long time (something that I found important when searching for headphones to buy). The headphones themselves aren't that heavy and are manageable to walk around and travel with. They fit nicely on your had ensuring that you are completely focused on listening to the music and not being annoyed with how the headphones are sitting on your head. I was really surprised to find out that the headphones are fully charged within 30 minutes and they last for 2 days of really active usage. The music quality is amazing and definitely focuses on the various beats and bass sections of the songs played and ensures that you listen to every song. I love how it emphases the song and ensures that the user has an amazing listening experience of which I can vouch for! Even though yes there are other competitors such as BOSE, I definitely think that you should give the headphones a go as you wont be disappointed. I have tried several headphones and feel that the Dre Beats headphones are definitely the ones that have stood out as the best headphones for an everyday use from listening to music when in bed or even when at the desk working.
How good is the sound?
Both pairs excel in this category, but the Pros are much more versatile and can handle any type of music from hip hop or rap to rock or reggae. I found the Studios too bass-focused and they struggled performing well to bands like the Beatles or The Jimi Hendrix Experience whereas the Pros are far more balanced and can perform well under any genre.
How practical are they?
The Pros are a lot more practical than the Studios as the Studios require batteries and the Pros don't. I also found that I could never use the Studios in a public place due to the huge sound leakage they give off, and the Pros only leak sound if you are putting you audio device up to around 80-90% volume, which is far too loud for these 'phones and will lead to severe hearing damage. The only thing that is not practical for the Pros is the cable, it has a telephone designed coil at the end which is useful for DJs, but it only annoyed me as I use them with my iPod.
Are they comfortable?
This is one of the only sections I believe that the Studios won in, because they are so comfortable and the leather they use is absolute bliss, also the design of the earcups is a much better fit for your ear as it is an oval and the Pros use a circle, which can become uncomfortable at times.
How good is the build quality?
The Pros win this one by a landslide because they are made from aluminium and they just cannot
Beats have to be one of the most 'top of the range' makers of headphones, earphones, iPod docking stations, laptops and speakers etc. out there, without a doubt and are known by everyone which makes them very popular. This defiantly shows with the monster beats pro. The sound quality is amazing and flows so smoothly and they are ridiculously comfortable, sometimes it feels like there not even in your ear at all. Personally, I think the best thing about them is the noise cancellation. You can play your music as loud as you want and nobody can hear anything. This has the help of the phone cushion that moulds to the ear really well and blocks everything out.
Beats by Dr Dre are very fashionable and stylish as well as being sleek and modern. They come with a great choice of just about every colour and pattern under the sun to fit everyone's personality and style.
Although they are great in pretty much every way, they are way too expensive and I had to save up for months, £450 was almost as much as my rent and watching it go made me a tad uneasy about what I had done, but as soon as I tested them out, I instantly had no regrets as they lasted, well, still are lasting, and the quality is still just as good as when I first bought them a few months ago. I would defiantly recommend them but the price might put people off.
I already own the 'Monster Beats by Dr. Dre Studio High Definition Headphones' which I have also reviewed, I will be comparing both pairs in this review.
How good is the sound?
Both pairs excel in this category, but the Pros are much more versatile and can handle any type of music from hip hop or rap to rock or reggae. I found the Studios too bass-focused and they struggled performing well to bands like the Beatles or The Jimi Hendrix Experience whereas the Pros are far more balanced and can perform well under any genre.
How practical are they?
The Pros are a lot more practical than the Studios as the Studios require batteries and the Pros don't. I also found that I could never use the Studios in a public place due to the huge sound leakage they give off, and the Pros only leak sound if you are putting you audio device up to around 80-90% volume, which is far too loud for these 'phones and will lead to severe hearing damage. The only thing that is not practical for the Pros is the cable, it has a telephone designed coil at the end which is useful for DJs, but it only annoyed me as I use them with my iPod.
Are they comfortable?
This is one of the only sections I believe that the Studios won in, because they are so comfortable and the leather they use is absolute bliss, also the design of the earcups is a much better fit for your ear as it is an oval and the Pros use a circle, which can become uncomfortable at times.
How good is the build quality?
The Pros win this one by a landslide because they are made from aluminium and they just cannot break. The Studios are made out of plastic and feel like they could break quite easily, but I do feel that the Pros could still have a hard shell case though, because that just gives you the extra security as you carry them around.
It has been a few years since the world was introduced to the beats by dre and since then it has been a load of business. From earbuds to portable speakers to iPod docks to laptops, Dr. Dre and Monster have hit every market imaginable.
Most sites are set on the DJs and producers of the world and with a bigger and better pair of headphones-the Beats Pro by Dr. Dre from Monster Headphones. At $450 you're not paying solely for the performance of the headphones but more for the combination of durability, build, style, and name.
I thought to myself that the cool size and heft of the headphones. They feel quite heavy on the head, and may not be ideal for the casual user. The oversize look will certainly turn a few heads, and note that indulging in too much head-bopping will give the Pros enough momentum to slide off your ears.
The durability of these headphones is very good and I love that fact that you can toss them when your upset and they wont break lol. The large padded headband attaches to adjustable brushed aluminum sides, ending with full-size earcups that rotate upward for storage. Each earcup is rounded and padded in a leatherlike material that is exceptionally cushy, and each includes an input/output port. The ear cushions can be removed for washing.
They are awesome to own I highly recommend them to anyone so if you are interested in great sound quality headphones and that are durable purchase these now..
As an avid music listener, I realised it was time to part ways with my usual apple earphones and undergo a music listening evolution. I had heard many rave reviews about the "Beats by Dr Dre" brand, so, after much deliberation, I decided to cough up £200+ and invest in what I believed to be a good pair of quality headphones.
Appearance wise, these headphones are sleek and stylish. I ordered my headphones in black, so they had a matte black finish which I liked. The headphones also feel like they've been built to last. They're durable and at the same time, not too heavy. The headphone's ear cups are covered with soft cushions that make them comfortable to wear. Furthermore, the design of the cable jack meant that the jack can sit easily in your pocket, or anywhere else, without any snagging.
In terms of bass quality, the bass is indeed powerful. My head nearly blew off when I sampled 'Tyler,The Creator's "Yonkers"'. However, the quality of the bass was indeed disappointing. When I listened to heavy bass songs, I found that the headphones did a poor job of separating the bass from the other instruments in the song. It's like the bass overrode all the other instruments and all I could hear was "thump thump thump". The case was the same for guitar based music. I then sampled 'Kelly Clarkson's "Gone"' and I noticed the headphones suffered from some bass distortion at strong mid/high guitar twangs. Noise cancellation is also not that great. When I listened to music at volumes of 60% and more, I noticed that what I was listening to could be heard by outsiders. As a result, I tended to use these headphones at home, to avoid disrupting other people.
Overall, these headphones are good but not great. I definitely think you should sample these headphones in the store rather than 'buying now and regretting later'. You can find better headphones for the same price or slightly cheaper. For people who like heavy bass ridden songs and who like to feel the bass pumping through their ears then these headphones will be good for you. However, for those of you who listen to a variety of genres, these headphones aren't ideal if you want to hear the crisp sound of a violin or the clear note of a plucked guitar string.
These are one of the top of the range headphones and are truly wonderful, they have the best sound quality and the headphones cushion the ear and surround it with sound which helps isolate you from the world meaning that you can just focus on your music and enjoy yourself without having to separate yourself from others so you can just about hear your music. These headphones stop all outside noise and so the result is that you receive a crisp and clear sound without any 'muffling'. They are also incredible fashionable and stylish and are thought more as an accessory to your outfit which is why everyone wants a pair but they truly are great headphones not just a fashion statement. The design is also sleek and is surprisingly robust, I've had mine for more than a year now and yet they still work fine and the sound quality hasn't deteriorated over time, also they can survive the odd fall and hit without being totally destroyed which is useful if you are very clumsy like myself especially if your always sitting on your things. From experience I can tell you that all beats headphones are extremely comfortable and are great for travelling with since they are compact and can fold down into a travel size. This makes your life much easier as they are becoming increasingly portable. The only downside to these headphones is the fact that they cost £299 at most stores which is a considerable amount of money for just headphones but I believe they are really worth it as they are so comfortable and useful. definitely would buy it again.
It's been three years since the world was first introduced to the Beats by Dr. Dre headphone line, and it's definitely grown to become a Monster of a business (pun intended). From earbuds to portable speakers to iPod docks to laptops, Dr. Dre and Monster have hit every market imaginable.
This time around their sights are set on the DJs and producers of the world, with a bigger and badder (and pricier) pair of headphones--the Beats Pro by Dr. Dre from Monster Headphones. At $450 (you can find it for a bit less at retailers), you're not paying solely for the performance of the headphones but more for the combination of durability, build, style, and name.
The first impression is of the sheer size and heft of the headphones. They feel quite heavy on the head, and may not be ideal for the casual user. The oversize look will certainly turn a few heads, and note that indulging in too much head-bopping will give the Pros enough momentum to slide off your ears.
The build quality is solid--these will stand up to a few knocks and tosses on the couch, or on the floor, and they feel extremely durable. The large padded headband attaches to adjustable brushed aluminum sides, ending with full-size earcups that rotate upward for storage. Each earcup is rounded and padded in a leatherlike material that is exceptionally cushy, and each includes an input/output port. The ear cushions can be removed for washing.
Good product loud n clear ..
I bought these headphones for my son. He was harassing me for a pair for months and when I first saw the price I couldn't believe my eyes. They are incredibly expensive for a pair of headphones. However I remember being a kid and pining for the current cool product that all my friends were getting. So I showed compassion and eventually got him a pair for Christmas.
They look great and are really desirable, especially for younger people. They come in an array of different colours and are really comfortable to wear and the sound is great too. If you like music with a lot of base then this is the product for you. My son gets a lot of attention wearing them. Both from elderly people who look in disbelief and younger people who appreciate them and sometimes are envious. They are a target of thieves and have been banned by his school because of thefts and arguments over broken sets of the headphones and who was to blame. they definately bring a smile to my sons face and essentially they are feel good product that is really an expression of style and fashion.
It is hard to justify the money from a point of view of value for electronic functioning. But it is more difficult to price a fashion statement. trainers are often extortionately priced due to their style and desirability amongst teenagers rather than the amount or quality of material/functioning of them etc.
I recommend this product to put a smile on you kids face.
There are two types of people who are going to buy these. People who want great sound quality, and people who want decent sound quality with a great label.
If you want great sound quality then you aren't going to find it here. Have a look around for some better headphones (sennheiser springs to mind) for less money then have a look around and you are sure to find them.
For the people who want the label, then you are definitely going to get good sound quality, as long as you are comfortable shelling out a lot of cash for what is essentially the designer label of headphones at the moment.
Design: Great looking headphones that feel incredibly comfortable to wear, you can definitely wear these for a long time without your ears beginning to hurt. People are instantly going to recognise these and as mentioned earlier, that is what you should buy them for, looks not sound.
Sound qualtiy: If someone tells you the sound quality on these is horrible, they clearly haven't ever used a pair. Likewise, if they tell you that the sound quality is the best thing ever and that you need to buy a pair right now, they probably just haven't heard headphones that can produce really good sound. Personally, I find the sound to be quite muddy or washed out, since they seem to have been designed with the idea in mind that a lot of bass = good sound quality. They can sometimes even completely obscure the higher ranges in some songs in exchange for tons of bass. Again, as said earlier, there is a reason you would buy these and it isn't the sound quality. They do however work especially well for electronic music and dubstep.
Buy these for the label, not for the sound quality.
There are a lot of people who are staunchly opposed to Dr Dre Beats preferring other brands as they do not see the point in spending so much money on a pair of headphones. My argument against them is thus:
-The headphones give one of the greatest listening experiences for music ever. Especially good if you enjoy music with a heavy bass and strong beat. Notable people to listen to are of course Dr Dre but Wiz Khalifa as well.
-Comfort is top draw. As you can see from the photo, the padding round the ear is soft to the touch and you never feel like you are going to get 'cauliflower ears' like some other brands. At the top of the frame is extra padding to avoid rubbing your hair away.
- Style- Look at them, they are just plain class. Although I have mine in black which I feel will not get so dirty!
Okay so before I start this review I must say, these ARE a bit of a gimmick for the price... They're highly expensive when in fact you can buy better sound quality headphones for the same price if not cheaper. Nevertheless these headphones are sure stylish and do draw quite a bit of attention.
I treated myself to some beats earlier in the year, I ordered them off amazon and they came promptly. I was so excited like a kid on Christmas day so I ripped open the packaging and there they were in their box, which is very nicely designed however bigger than I had expected. So I opened the packaging and was greeted with the headphones, very stylish and swanky. Installed the batteries which was simple enough to do and I was away. I have to say these do go extremely loud and remain decent sound quality although the leakage is absolutely ridiculous, half the room can hear what I'm listening to... This shouldn't happen.
Anyway so after around 2 weeks of having them I decided to return them, I found they looked silly on me because they are so big, something you may want to bare in mind but it is all down to personal opinion. I also couldn't cope with the sound leakage, it was awkward being on busses knowing the whole bus could hear my music blasting out. If I wanted that I would've bought a boombox. As I said though these headphones are very stylish and if you're after style and decent audio quality they're for you. If you're after PROPER professional headphones though these certainly are not for you and I recommend you look elsewhere before you even consider them.
Overall I'm giving this product three stars, 1 for ease of use, 2 for style and 3 for decent sound quality. It's been let down by the noise leakage and the VERY expensive price tag!
I currently own a few Beats/Monster products and I find that they generally produce very good quality products.
I originally bought the Beats Studio headphones which gave out an excellent sound quality however the build of the product was not very good at all. I felt they were very fragile and eventually they did break which was ridiculous due to the price that was paid for them.
I did not want to rule Beats out completely as they did produce an excellent sound quality. After much research and opinions off friends, I eventually purchased these pro headphones. Although they again were on the pricier side there is not one part of me that regrets buying them. These headphones give out an incredible quality of sound with amazing bass. They also feel as though they have been built to a much higher quality compared to the studio's.
A good feature is the fact that you are able to choose whether you have the audio cable in the left or right side depending which you find more comfortable. Unlike the studios you also don't have to use aa batteries, no power is required at all.
I have one main issue with these and it is more my fault for purchasing the white ones but any little mark can be quite obviously seen on them. There is however the choice of having black ones which if I could go back in time I would definitely purchase instead.
It is also very nice that they come with their own leather look pouch/sack to keep them protected when not being used.
All in all I highly recommend this product if you are willing to pay the price however do keep in mind that the white ones really do show up the slightest mark.
These are the first pair of real good quality headphones I ever brought, I love them. The quality is out of this world, absolutely amazing. I always listen to my favorite music through these and they boom out all of the bass of a song straight through your ear drums and it makes you feel like the artist is in the same room as you playing the song as you listen. Each instrument in reach to the ear, every beat, every single beat. Beats pros are just amazing, the way you can fold them up, change the size of them, etc, very well thought out. The price... now the price is a bit much, but I would say they're worth it. If you can't afford a brand new pair get a pair of good conditioned ones on Ebay, they're just as good as long as they're no internal problems, it's a great buy and I recommend, bare in mind the white ones do get more visible marks on them than black ones, so just remember that.
Many of you know I'm not a fan of the Beats Solo HD. The listening experience doesn't match the price in my opinion. I'd heard better things about the higher end of the Beats range, so tried these out.
First up, the size. They are at least twice the size of the Solo HD, which is fine if you're at home, or at a desk with a computer. But on the move, with your iPhone? Not so great; they're simply too bulky. A huge positive is they do feel extremely well built, which is more than I can say for some rival headphones of similar price.
The design is better than the Solo HD, more metal and less plastic can only be a good thing, but these are still distinctively Beats, so they'll look good with your Hollister gilet and sweat pants, which seems to be the standard uniform for posh students round here.
Now it all falls apart. The sound quality, whilst a much better improvement over the Solo HD, which I thought had a muddy, jumbled up sound caused by way too much bass, still suffers from being too bass heavy. The treble and mids are clearer than the Solos, but nowhere near the clarity you'd get from, say, the Bowers & Wilkins P5, which I would say offer the best sound quality for headphones designed to be used with mobile devices. However, these are over £100 more expensive than the P5, so I'd expect them to be better. They do offer active noise cancellation, which the P5 doesn't, so realistically the nearest rival is the Bose QuietComfort 15, which I happen to own and believe are the best noise cancelling headphones on the market.
The Beats noise cancellation is poor at best. You cannot use the headphones without it activated, and when the battery dies, so does the music. However I will not deduct marks here, as many similar products, including Bose QC15s, also do this. Where they fall behind the QC15s is that they don't cancel out half as much ambient background noise as the Bose ones do. Whilst no Active Noise Cancelling headphones offer 100% noise reduction, the Beats system is particularly bad. It wouldn't even drown out the noise of the fridge in the work staff room, which many cheaper headphones do no problem. Furthermore, the Beats Noise Cancellation means that when no music is playing, there is a distinct audible hiss, which is bad if you wish to use them purely to block out noise. The Bose QC15s have no audible hiss, and so can be used simply to block out unwanted noise.
So overall, a poor showing from Monster/Beats. While better than the Solos, they still have too much bass, which destroys the listening experience, the noise cancelling is inadequate and produces an irritating hissing noise. At £350 they are far too expensive, and for £50 less, you are far better off with Bose QC15s, which have better overall sound quality, and the best active noise cancellation on the market today.


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Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014 | 12:56 p.m.
WASHINGTON — The Navy's top admiral says the service is investigating alleged cheating among senior sailors on written tests related to training on naval nuclear power reactors.
Adm. Jonathan Greenert told a Pentagon news conference Tuesday that he was disappointed in the alleged breakdown in discipline. He said the investigation was ongoing.
The head of the Navy's nuclear propulsion programs, Adm. John Richardson, told reporters that the examinations on which sailors allegedly cheated included classified information.


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Frankfurt, Aug 18 (IANS) The benchmark DAX index at Frankfurt Stock Exchange dropped slightly by 44.81 points and closed at 10,940.33 points.
The Empire State Manufacturing index in August for New York manufacturers tumbled 19 points to -14.9, its lowest level since 2009, Xinhua reported on Monday.
The drop left investors here worried about a reversal of the possible rate hike in the US, according to local analysts. The blue-chip index lost 0.41 percent.
Infineon Technologies AG, a semi-conductor producer, advanced by 1.22 percent. BMW AG St added 0.81 percent. HeidelbergCement AG rose by 0.7 percent. Deutsche Post AG climbed by 0.48 percent and Fresenius SE & Co. KGaA, a healthcare group, went up by 0.43 percent.
Henkel AG & Co. KGaA Vz, which operates in three areas including laundry and home care, beauty care and adhesive technologies, lost 2.26 percent.
K+S Aktiengesellschaft, a standard and specialty fertilisers provider, plunged by 1.41 percent. Deutsche Telekom AG slipped by 1.01 percent. The utilities company E.ON SE slid by 0.86 percent. Daimler AG went down by 0.81 percent.
The turnover stood at 3.02 billion euros (around $3.35 billion). Daimler AG was the most traded share of the day with a turnover of 276.26 million euros (around $306.81 million).


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Prestigious D.C. private school deals with dark side of limelight
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Its parent-teacher conferences made the evening news. So did cases of swine flu. And Sidwell Friends School has recently been the target of a few small protests that seem aimed at prominent parents, not students.
The school, long a favorite of Washington's leading families, is no stranger to presidential children. But in the months since Barack and Michelle Obama decided to send their daughters there, Sidwell has been pulled into the spotlight of a distinctly 21st-century culture -- one that is increasingly celebrity-obsessed and often shockingly unmannered.
Educators and others at Sidwell have portrayed this as what their most famous parent might call a "teachable moment."
When five anti-Obama, anti-gay protesters appeared in front of the school's Wisconsin Avenue NW entrance Monday morning, they were met by 150 Sidwell students waving signs ranging from "There is that of God in Everyone" to "I Kissed a Girl and I Liked It."
"I guess they think they can influence what we think because we're young and vulnerable," said Daniel Edminster, a Sidwell junior. "They can't."
The school, founded in 1883, taught children of three White House occupants before the Obamas: Theodore Roosevelt, Richard M. Nixon and Bill Clinton. Vice President Biden's grandchildren go there, as did Al Gore's son while Gore was vice president.
But in the 1990s, when Chelsea Clinton attended, Twitter and Facebook didn't exist to amplify and extend conversations. (There have been more than 175 tweets about the protests in front of Sidwell since Monday.) Nor did the Internet function as a gathering place for the political fringe to the extent that it does today.
Administrators at Sidwell said they remembered two protests in the 4 1/2 years that Chelsea Clinton attended the school. This year, there have been two protests since mid-September.
The news media and the blogosphere have put the school under a microscope, too. GQ recently named the school's admissions director the 50th most powerful person in Washington. The Obama girls' first day of school merited a two-page spread in People. Its racial dynamics were analyzed on NPR. Its lunch menu is scrutinized by sustainable food advocates and doctors groups.
On the political front, pro-school-voucher activists invoke Sidwell again and again in their arguments for letting families use public money to send their kids to private schools.
Parents, students and educators say that the Quaker school's values of egalitarianism and thoughtfulness haven't changed under the spotlight but that expressions of students' views have become more visible to the public.
"I don't think anything in the culture has really changed," said Chris Dorval, whose daughter attends Sidwell's high school. But, he said, the attention has "kind of crystallized their culture in a way."


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ABA Task Force on Legal Education: Down with Status
Good news for law professors now submitting articles seeking offers from high-status journals: the importance of status in American law schools is over-rated and is about to be reduced. At least that is the urging of an American Bar Association Task Force Working Paper released last Friday addressing contemporary challenges in U.S. legal education.
Obsession with status is a culprit in the woes of today's American law schools and faculty, the Working Paper finds. It charges law professors with pitching in to redress prevailing woes by working to reduce the role of status as a measure of personal and institutional success. The group's only other specific recommendation for law faculty is to become informed about the topics the 34-page Working Paper chronicles so we might help out as needed by our schoools.
Much of the rest of the Working Paper is admirable, however, making the two specific recommendations to law faculty not only patently absurd but strange in context. After all, the Working Paper urges reform of ABA/AALS and state regulations with a view toward increasing the variety of law schools. It calls for serious changes in the way legal education is funded, though it admits that the complex system of education finance in the U.S. is deeply and broadly problematic and well beyond the influence of a single professional task force.
The Task Force urges US News to stop counting expenditure levels as a positive factor in its rankings. It stresses problems arising from a cost-based rather than market-based method of setting tuition. It notes a lack of business mind-sets among many in legal education. It questions the prevailing structure of professorial tenure; degree of scholarship orientation; professors having institutional leadership roles; and, yes, faculty culture that makes status an important measure of individual and institutional success.
But amid all that, law professors have just two tasks: becoming informed and demoting status. So there must be some hidden meaning to this idea of status as a culprit and the prescription for prawfs to reduce the importance of status as a measure of success. I am not sure what it is. The Working Paper does not explain or illustrate the concept of status or how to reduce its importance.
I'll to try to be concrete about what it might mean. Given the other problems the Task Force sees with today's law faculty culture (tenure, scholarship and leadership roles), I guess they are suggesting that faculty stop making it important whether: Read More


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Bristol-Myers Squibb Company's (BMY - Free Report) rheumatoid arthritis (RA) drug Orencia (125 mg) performed well in a phase IIIb study (AVERT: n= 351). The study evaluated Orencia in combination with methotrexate (MTX) as a first-line therapy for adults suffering from the chronic autoimmune disease.
Data from the active-controlled study revealed that at 12 months of treatment, 60.9% patients in the Orencia plus MTX arm achieved DAS-defined (DAS28 CRP <2.6) remission compared to only 45.2% patients in the MTX arm. DAS28-CRP (C-reactive protein) is a traditional measure of disease activity. Other more stringent efficacy measures also revealed higher remission rates for adults treated with the cocktail therapy.
In addition, data from the study revealed that even after the withdrawal of all RA drugs, the benefits were maintained (for 6 months) in more patients in the combination arm than those treated solely with MTX. Orencia was also found to be well tolerated in the study. Bristol-Myers presented the data at the annual meeting of the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR).
Orencia, one of the older drugs at Bristol-Myers, is available both in intravenous as well as subcutaneous forms. The drug performed well in the first quarter of 2014, with sales climbing 13% year over year to $363 million.
Besides Bristol-Myers, we note that the RA market includes players like Pfizer (PFE - Free Report) and AbbVie (ABBV - Free Report) .
Bristol-Myers carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). An example of a better-ranked stock in the healthcare space is Gilead Sciences (GILD - Free Report) , carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
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U.S., California Face a Measured Economic Recovery
Modest rebound expected in single- family home construction, but commercial real estate in the tank.
A measured economic recovery is underway in the nation, the state and Southern California, according to the 2010-2011"Economic Forecast & Industry Outlook" report released today by the Kyser Center for Economic Research at the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corporation (LAEDC).
In California, three sectors will see employment growth during 2010: information, private education and health services. Like the national experience, unemployment rates in the state will remain high with the LAEDC forecasting a 12.3 percent average rate in 2010, easing down to 11.9 percent in 2011.
"We project that the U.S. economy will grow by 2.6 percent in 2010 and by 3.1 percent in 2011, after plunging by 2.4 percent during 2009," said Nancy D. Sidhu, Ph.D., the LAEDC's Chief Economist. "However, unemployment rates in the U.S. will remain uncomfortably high, averaging 9.9 percent in 2010 and 9.4 percent in 2011."
"California's economy is also on the recovery track, but the state will still lose 121,800 jobs in 2010," said Sidhu. "However, this will be a huge improvement from the 668,200 jobs lost in 2009." California's housing industry will see a modest recovery in 2010, according to Sidhu. "Permits for 45,000 units will be issued during the year, a 24.3 percent increase over 2009. However, this is down dramatically from the 212,960 units permitted back in 2004." One important segment of real estate will continue to decline in 2010, nonresidential construction. "Permit values will fall by 12.4 percent to $9.5 billion," continued Sidhu. "That is down sharply from the $22.5 billion in permits issued during 2007. There is a glut of office, retail and hotel space that will take some time to work off."
"Both the housing and auto industries have been hammered," continued Sidhu. The housing crash is nearly ended, and an increase in new construction is forecast by the LAEDC. "Most of the strength will be in single family building, as the multi-family sector will continue to be pressured by high apartment vacancies, a sizable inventory of unsold condominiums, and a continued lack of developer financing," said Sidhu. "For the auto industry, about 11.3 million light vehicles will be sold in the U.S. during 2010, up from the 10.3 million sold in 2009, but still well below the 16.1 million units sold in 2007."
"Southern California's five metropolitan areas will also be in recovery mode during 2010," said Jack Kyser, Founding Economist of the Kyser Center for Economic Research. "Like the nation and state, it will be a measured recovery, with more job losses and high unemployment rates in 2010." From smallest loss to largest, Los Angeles County will see non-farm employment slip by 0.5 percent or by 19,200 jobs; Orange County should see a 0.6 percent decline or 9,200 jobs; Ventura County should also record a 0.6 percent drop in nonfarm employment or 1,700 jobs, while San Diego County should
experience an 0.7 percent decline or 9,200 jobs. The Riverside-San Bernardino area will
lag the other areas, with nonfarm employment falling by 1.1 percent in 2010 or by 13,000 jobs, according to the LAEDC Forecast report.
"After some rough years job-wise, the motion picture/TV production industry is benefiting from the state's incentive program, a pick-up in commercial production, and a burst of pilot orders from both the broadcast TV networks as well as cable channels," said Kyser. The number of overnight visitors to Southern California will increase in 2010, but the hotel industry will continue to struggle financially. "Some other key Southern California industries will see improving trends in 2010," continued Kyser. "The list includes international trade and tourism. Support will also come from work on some large infrastructure projects, including airports—expansions at LAX, John Wayne Orange County and San Diego—the 405 Freeway improvement from the Valley to the Westside, the Orange Line Busway extension, the Exposition Blvd. light rail, and another extension of the Gold Line."
The LAEDC Forecast also reports that international trade will see improvements in both imports and exports, spurred by trade with the growing Asian economies.
The LAEDC, Its mission is to attract, retain, and grow business and jobs for the regions of Los Angeles County. Visit www.laedc.org or call (888) 4-LAEDC-1.


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Since the 80's, Nicole Miller has been a driving force in the fashion world. She's done it all from a clothing line, footwear, cosmetics and fragrances, and now here she is again with a new project- Nicole Miller Beauty.
Her love for all things beautiful, inspired her to create Nicole Miller Beauty, a luxury skin care line for all skin types. Miller collaborated with her long time friend Dr. Cap Lesesne to address everyday skin issues.
"We wanted to create something for women that wasn't strictly for acne or strictly for antiaging. Having practiced medicine in New York City for almost 30 years, I know what damage can be caused by not using effective skin care."
The skin care line includes anti-aging skin care treatments including a cleanser, toner, serum and moisturizers that are formulated with the finest ingredients, including antioxidants.
Miller's favorite product from the line is the Glow Serum ($65). It enhances your skin's natural glow thanks to its powerful ingredients such as licorice extract (brightens and evens out skintone), Vitamin E (provides antioxidant protection to fight free radicals), and Linoleic acid (calms and soothes the skin).
Nicole Miller Beauty is now available at Dermstore.com with prices ranging from $30 to $65.


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Renew for 2011 and Save; WGI Will Pay Shipping and Processing
Save: Up to $15 on Shipping and Processing by October 29
By: WGI Staff on 9/28/2010
Pick Your Plan: Put Only $25 Down to Secure - or - Pay Half Now and Half Later
WGI Will Cover Processing and Shipping Fees:
If fans renew their tickets by October 29, they will once again be able to save up to $15 on a single ticket by taking advantage of advance sale prices. Looking for another way to save money? The Glen has you covered. Not only will fans save with advance pricing and have greater flexibility with the payment plans available to them, but the shipping and processing fees will be paid by WGI - which is another savings of up to $15. The offer to cover the cost of shipping and processing will not last past the renewal period and is a sign of appreciation for fans continuing to spend their summers at our historic road course.
Payment Plans Available:
In 2009, WGI introduced the 50/50 Payment Plan, and race fans that renewed their tickets or camping were thrilled with the new payment option. We continued the plan in 2010 and will offer it again for the upcoming 2011 season. We have also enhanced the payment plan program and will also offer a new Pick Your Plan option that provides flexibility on a four-part payment schedule that fans can create. If fans renew by October 29th they can put down as little as $25 to secure their ticket package for the 2011 season.
Not only does this new plan make it more affordable than ever to confirm seats and camp sites for next season but also provides additional flexibility to the race fans who may want to spread out their payments. Fans have until April 17, 2011, to complete their four-part purchase. Renewal customers can still choose to pay half now and half on February 4th with the 50/50 Payment Plan. All renewal orders must also be postmarked before the October 29th renewal deadline. Both of these plans can be used to renew for the Heluva Good! Sour Cream Dips at The Glen, August 11-14, or any other event weekend at WGI with advance sales. All orders via the payment plan are only available by credit card.
Family Friendly Options:
Bring the whole family, the extremely popular Kids Free program returns as Kids 15 and under are Free during the 30th Running of The Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen, SCCA Glen Nationals, and U.S. Vintage Grand Prix weekends. The free offer doesn't apply during the NASCAR race weekend however, the McDonald Family Grandstand will still offer a weekend reserved ticket for kids 15 years and under for only $20. New in 2011 – access to The Bog Hospitality for kids 15 and under on Sunday, August 14, is only $25! Kids can enjoy a full weekend of racing that includes a reserved grandstand seat, Sprint Vision screen view, high-end trackside bog hospitality, cold pit access, and driver Q&A's for only $45 (cost of the grandstand ticket included).
Upgrades or Relocations:
Fans that renew by the 10/29 deadline will also be able to upgrade or relocate their seats (or camping) during the upgrade and relocation period, November 13 – 17. Fans interested in taking advantage of this can call the Upgrade/Relocation Hotline at 866-461-(RACE) 7223, during those four days, from 9am to 9pm.
3 Easy Ways to Renew:
1. Online: Visit www.TheGlen.com/renewals and follow the online instructions
2. Mail: Send your 2011 Renewal Form to:
Watkins Glen International
Attn: Contact Center
1801 W. International Speedway Blvd.
Daytona Beach, FL 32114
3. Call: 866.461.RACE (7223) between the hours of 9am – 9pm.
Event ticket insurance is also available to help protect against unforeseen circumstances such as the possible postponement of a NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race due to a rain delay. The cost is only $6.25 per ticket and covers 100% of the purchase price for the ticket (conditions apply; credit card orders only).
Tickets for the 2011 race season at Watkins Glen International go on sale this November. Fans can learn more about the 2011 race season at Watkins Glen International by calling the ticket office at 866-461-RACE (7223) or logging on to the official website, www.TheGlen.com. Gift certificates and track merchandise can all be purchased at The Shop located at 2 North Franklin Street in downtown Watkins Glen. The Shop is open Monday-Saturday 9-5 and Sunday 9-4.
Related Features
- Pirelli World Challenge, Watkins Glen International announce Labor Day race weekend
- Watkins Glen International announces 2018 season schedule
- Ticket Galaxy Beer Festival weekend to feature dinner, seminar, tasting at Watkins Glen International
- Radisson Hotel Corning named Official Hotel of Ticket Galaxy Beer Festival at Watkins Glen International
- Watkins Glen International RACE Foundation opens grant request program


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* Our top story tonight: conservative claims that Obamacare will destroy 2 million jobs are completely bogus. Glenn Kessler has the details:
The CBO's estimate is mostly the result of an analysis of the impact of the law on the supply of labor. That means how many people choose to participate in the work force. In other words, the nonpartisan agency is examining whether the law increases or decreases incentives for people to work.
Conservatives have been blithely ignoring a massive collapse in aggregate demand for the past five years, but a far smaller theoretical impact on labor supply drives them to hysterics. Hey folks: you know what else affects labor supply? Mass unemployment.
* Harry Reid's office announced today that a vote on a three month extension of UI, paid for by pension smoothing, will happen on Thursday. Reporter Suzy Khimm is hearing that Dems have the support of three Republicans, but they need two more to get to 60. Fingers crossed.
* Back to Obamacare and jobs: Michael Hiltzik lays out a reason why a reduction in labor supply might be a good thing. To the extent that people are hanging on to jobs to keep their health insurance, and Obamacare lets them retire when they like– this is a good thing.
* As Dems quickly pointed out, this accounts for most of the labor supply reduction.
* Overall, Josh Barro probably has the most balanced take. Bottom line: Obamacare, like any means-tested program, has some disincentive effect on work, because it makes it less remunerative to work more and make more money. I'd be open to making that transition smoother — though of course, for Republicans it's repeal or nothing. But carping endlessly about labor supply at a time of mass unemployment is straight ludicrous. Also see Jonathan Cohn.
* Jonathan Chait glories in the Republican befuddlement as they discover their vaunted Obamacare "bailout" (the risk corridors) will actually save the government money. One runs a risk slapping "bailout" on everything you don't like.
* Jonathan Bernstein wonders how MSNBC and Fox play into ideological polarization. Keep your eye on this one.
* Nice piece from Brian Beutler on how Christie's scandal responses keep backfiring. Bringing up high school as evidence against a critic isn't a sign of a balanced temperament.
* Interesting piece by David Dayen on why our electronic payment system is so vulnerable to fraud. Banks and retailers don't want to fork over the cash for upgrades, and banks actually make money on reversing charges. And when he says that the U.S.'s system is about the worst in the world, he isn't kidding. Even Zambia has the far superior chip-and-PIN system.
* Mitch McConnell says immigration reform probably isn't happening this year. Well jeez Mitch, what better place than here? What better time than now?
* Ryan Grim and Emily Swanson find a new poll that shows the futility of deficit reduction. It doesn't matter what happens to it– huge majorities always think the deficit is going up, and it's always something we should really worry about, and they're always wrong. I wonder if it would be possible to change people's minds on this if given a concerted, widespread campaign? Probably the bigger problem would be convincing mainstream Democrats to take part.
* After the tragic overdose death of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Congress is going to look at a heroin addiction spike. I have to say that doesn't bode well. Good policy is rarely made in response to one high-profile death, and Congress typically exaggerates hysterically and passes awful draconian sentencing laws when it comes to drugs. But if they want some real ideas, Matt Steinglass has some good ones.
What else?


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At Shearer's Sports Bar and Lounge, the mood is sombre. Nobody tonight at this vast boozarama in the sacred precincts of St James's Park will be drinking deep from the £30 bottles of Newcastle United FC-brand champagne. It's Monday evening after the Toon's 4-1 weekend drubbing by Aston Villa and the party unleashed by Kevin Keegan's appointment as manager is over. Almost everybody is as flat as a Tony Adams-era Arsenal back four.
One man tells me that Newcastle is the only club in the land with the fans and the money to break into the big four of Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool. Then he adds: "Now look at us, man, we're in relegation dogfight! I cannae believe it." Another mentions that local rivals Middlesbrough are now higher in the Premier League than the Magpies, to a flurry of head-shaking around the table.
A third suggests the unthinkable: namely that the return of Keegan to the manager's job last month may not have been the answer to the problems of this chronically underachieving club. "Ah, man, he's only been in the job three games," retorts another. "Give him a chance."
Not many Toon faithful are prepared to bare their wounds or rehearse their fears before a journalist from London. The representatives of the Toon Army have not responded to my emailed overtures, while Biffa (aka Mike Bolam), who runs the nufc.com fan site and is the author of an excellent book, The Newcastle United Miscellany, declines to be interviewed. He writes: "I'm afraid that I'm still quietly fuming about the recent written antics of the enemy within the Grauniad."
Biffa could almost add: it's a north-eastern thing, you wouldn't understand.
And perhaps the rest of us don't. There is something different, not just about Newcastle and its football club, but about the north-east. Newcastle's like Liverpool - only more so - and nothing in the rest of England quite prepares you for it. "England's a perfect World; has Indies too. Correct your Maps; Newcastle is Peru" went a ditty imputing New World barbarism to this corner of England. True, that was written in 1653, but the north-east is still seen as somewhat alien (no wonder, then, that the longtime Newcastle resident, poet Tony Harrison, titled his 1969 collection Newcastle Is Peru).
Its swaggering spirit is captured nicely by South Shields-born history professor Robert Colls in the introduction to a new book of essays, Northumbria: History and Identity 547-2000: "The north-east region is distinctive and different because it thinks it is. The territory has changed little over a thousand years and the region continues to take a particular view of its history." Nobody would say those two sentences of the Midlands, the north-west or the south-west - pride in immutability and apartness are Geordie sentiments.
But this is how the north-east responds to the outside world, with often well-founded resentment about being misunderstood, with a local pride that cannot swagger outwards but only look inwards, often with great solidarity and almost sentimental fellow feeling.
In this respect it's surely significant that when Northern Rock, the regional bank that employs 5,500 people in the north-east and which, through its foundation, bankrolled many good local causes, collapsed last September, the Newcastle Journal launched a campaign to save the bank, running a front page stating: "In the past 10 years 1,520 organisations have received £175m from the Northern Rock Foundation. NOW IT'S YOUR TURN TO HELP." It's impossible to imagine a financial institution anywhere else in England being so fondly thought of that such an appeal would be worthwhile.
The north-east is different, and likes it that way: when the Journal published four years ago its 100 Reasons Why It's Great Up North, number 26 was: "We're 300 miles from London." Number 25 was "Producing every last Rolo in the world at a factory in Fawdon, Newcastle"; number 58, disturbingly, was "Eating stotties filled with ham and pease pudding"; and number 100, understandably, "Seeing the sun set over the Tyne on a balmy autumn evening." The pride - and the scorn for outsiders who don't get it - is as wide and deep as the Tyne.
"I know that Mancunians and scousers can rhapsodise about their cities, but Newcastle is worthy of its own," says Richard T Kelly, whose new 556-page Dostoyevskian doorstop of a debut novel, Crusaders, is arguably the great geordie epic the region has long deserved - a saga about the Tyneside myth of industrial decline and cultural resurgence set in the mid-90s, embracing issues of political corruption, Blairite pragmatism and civic pride.
"I can't help but love the place," says Kelly. "Partly it's because of the strength of the labour movement and industrial heritage. Newcastle is epic and clear cut and robust and impressive in a way that our other great industrial cities aren't. Its dialect should be a source of national pride. Its humour - Viz, Clement and La Frenais' The Likely Lads - should too." Fair enough, but Kelly lives in London: rhapsodies are no doubt most poignant when delivered from exile.
On Monday evening, the Toon faithful (and me) troop from Shearer's Bar to the terraces to watch Newcastle reserves take on the might of Manchester City reserves. The quality of the home team's performance, the loping elegance of striker Shola Ameobi notwithstanding, suggests that Keegan is right in suspecting his squad is currently too small to deliver on his or his fans' aspirations. Long before the final whistle, I've headed off to seek warmth and better entertainment. "Emotion, excitement, passion - free with every seat," says a sign outside the box office: sometimes, maybe, but not tonight. I cross the Tyne and go to the new Sage concert hall. Here, there are rather fewer than the 740 people at the match, but all of them just as informed and ardent, hear the Danel Quartet play Debussy, Haydn and Schubert with great fervour and understanding. Football, thank God, isn't everything in this city.
Not that you'd guess it from what Keegan recently said of Newcastle United's fans: "They come here to be entertained. It's like the people down south going to a theatre." In the north, the implication ran, they don't hold with effete things such as drama. It's a remark that glancingly belittles some of the great achievements of cultural regeneration on both sides of the Tyne in the past 10 years, and unjustly confirms some outsiders' impressions of geordies as artistically philistine. It's one that has driven civic leaders and arts professionals potty: they've spent the past decade creating theatres, galleries and concert halls that rival the NUFC's dreams of emotion, excitement and passion, not to mention entertainment.
"God bless him and I wish him well and all that," says Andrew Lovett, acting director of the Baltic Centre for contemporary art in Gateshead, the five-year-old jewel in the crown of Tyneside's cultural renaissance, "but he is so hopelessly wrong, he so badly misunderstands what has happened in the region that it isn't even funny."
What has happened is a singular story of English regeneration in a region that desperately needed to reinvent itself after the demise of its traditional industries of shipbuilding and mining, and most of its other heavy industries. "One of the major drivers here was that they didn't know where else their future was going to come from except from arts and culture," says Lovett. "With the demise of all the things that had provided wealth and employment in the past, there was a need to change perceptions. There was a need to demonstrate that the region hadn't been dealt a knockout blow with all these industries going, and the creative activity unleashed in the past 10 years - with the Baltic at the forefront - was the start of showing that."
The start of that cultural regeneration came, arguably, with Antony Gormley's monumental sculpture, the Angel of the North, in Gateshead, which celebrates its 10th anniversary this week. Sitting on a hill, it stands over the A1 and the east coast rail line, telling visitors that a new spirit has arisen in the region. And that new spirit, along with lots of public money and Lottery cash, has flourished: the Baltic arose on Gateshead Quay with the aid of £34m of Lottery money; the Sage's two acoustically marvellous concert halls with much public money and Northern Rock Foundation backing; and on the Newcastle side of the Tyne, Ouseburn is now home to thriving new cultural initiatives such as the Seven Stories Centre for children's books and The Round, a children's theatre. The superb independent Tyneside Cinema is poised to move back into refurbished city-centre headquarters.
But cultural regeneration isn't all. John Shipley OBE, the Lib Dem leader of Newcastle city council, says that Newcastle has also rebranded itself as a party city - with great success: Time Out voted Newcastle Britain's best city to visit, Lonely Planet named the region as one of only 30 must-see destinations in the world; Newcastle's refurbished Georgian quarter, Grainger Town, just won the Academy of Urbanism's Great Neighbourhood award of 2008, beating competition from London and Dublin. These awards are the fruits of a marketing strategy that has seen the two rivals from opposing sides of the Tyne - Newcastle and Gateshead - rebranded as one, their identities radically changed in a way that might well send a chill through the hearts of tradition-venerating geordies such as Colls. Newcastle and Gateshead are no more: they are now NewcastleGateshead, a post-industrial vortex of great pulling power.
If the awards and the thriving pubs and clubs are anything to go by, the initiative has succeeded, but there is a problem. "We do think that the level of alcoholic consumption has made it slightly monocultural," says Shipley, "even though we realise that the party-city tag was important in restoring confidence to the region." New figures from the Office for National Statistics show that in the north-east there were 323 alcohol-related deaths in 1997 compared with 435 in 2006.
The rebirth of the region has been painful in other ways. For geordies such as Colls, there is the worry that the north-east is losing its soul, abandoning its singular geordieness. On a stroll down from Byker, still a tough working-class district with social and economic problems replicated across Tyneside, to the building site for the looming new Hotel du Vin near the Ouseburn Valley regeneration area, one can see his point. Many of the construction cranes seem to be creating buildings that could go up on any English city waterfront - the Conran-designed two-bed quayside apartments, the high-end hotels and all the rest.
For others, though, this nostalgic lament for geordie culture past is an intolerable luxury. "The challenge for us now," says Shipley, "is to keep regenerating. We have to develop our knowledge-based economies and that will focus on our two great universities. We can't just rely on cultural regeneration and being a party city. We have to diversify as much as possible."
Shipley cites two university-based north-eastern specialisms that he sees as part of the region's future. One is the Institute for Ageing and Health ("It's Europe's leading research facility in this area") at Newcastle University; the other is the Institute of Human Genetics, also at Newcastle University, a £10m government-funded programme on genetic healthcare.
What is especially striking about NewcastleGateshead's regeneration in the past decade is that it was done with public money. This flies in the face of the philosophy of one of its leading intellectuals, Matt Ridley - a rightwing, libertarian Old Etonian, the son of a viscount who in 1996 excoriated Newcastle-upon-Tyne at the end of his book, The Origins of Virtue. Ridley argued that the great city built on the philanthropy of its ambitious luminaries had been ruined by an overarching state. It's a passage so lacking in prescience that it's worth quoting - not least because Ridley is a pivotal figure in the region's recent history: he was chairman of Northern Rock when it went belly-up.
Ridley wrote: "In two centuries, [Newcastle] has been transformed from a hive of enterprise and local pride, based on locally generated and controlled capital and local mutual institutions, into the satrapy of an all-powerful state, its industries controlled from London or abroad ... Such local government as remains is itself based entirely on power, not trust ... The city is now notorious for shattered, impersonal neighbourhoods where violence is so commonplace that enterprise is impossible. Materially, everybody in the city is better off than a century ago, but that is a result of new technology, not government. Socially the deterioration is marked."
He concluded: "If we are to recover social harmony and virtue, if we are to build back into society the virtues that made it work for us, it is vital that we reduce the power and scope of the state."
Ridley declined to discuss whether he thought these words were, given the north-east's recent renaissance, wrong. So instead I read them to Shipley. He laughs. "He's wrong about everything in that passage. Without the state, without public money, none of the regeneration of Tyneside in the past 10 years would have happened. Often, regeneration projects have involved 20% public money, inducing 80% private money in its wake. Without the lottery, much of the cultural regeneration wouldn't have happened."
I wander down to the Tyne to savour the regeneration one last time before getting the train to London. Hanging from the north face of the Baltic is Mark Tichner's vast artwork, a banner with a slogan shouting from one side of the river to the other. It riffs on solipsism and on the passivity induced by an overweening state, but it also seems like a barb aimed at the regeneration of Tyneside: "Improving the world means improving me. I want a better world. I want a better me." Isn't the worry, I ask Shipley, that the poor of Scotswood, Byker, Walker and elsewhere are benefiting little from the region's renaissance? "I don't think that's true. There are major pockets of deprivation, but we refuse to let them get left behind. A major problem is affordable housing and that's why over the next 15 years we're going to build 15,000 new houses, many for rent or shared equity. Also, we're trying to encourage people back to work and get the life and knowledge skills they need. I'm sure we have a bright future here, but only if nobody gets left behind."
These, no doubt, are the words that Shipley, whose Lib Dems will face a challenge from Labour to stay in power in May's council elections, must say. And a bright future for everybody sounds a good thing. Especially, though, for Keegan's Newcastle United and the fans who have suffered so pointlessly for so long.


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Letter: Judge Harrelson ruling was correct
I read your coverage of County Attorney Gordon Moore's complaints about the bill the county is paying for a defense expert in the Lisa Shane murder trial. Your readers might want to hear the other side of the story.
Criminal cases more and more involve scientific evidence. In any case the prosecutor, Mr. Moore, or the defense, might need a DNA analyst, a computer expert, or a psychiatrist. The government always pays for what the prosecutor wants, either through the county or the state crime lab. The defense pays for its own experts if the accused person can afford it. What about people charged with serious crimes who have no money?
The U.S. Supreme Court decided in 1985 that the government had to provide expert witnesses needed to defend indigent people accused of crimes -- people like Lisa Shane. The reason for this, they said, was "fundamental fairness." This was already the law in Minnesota, and has been for over 40 years.
County Attorney Moore says the defense should tell the county they need an expert at the beginning of the year, so it could go in the budget. No way. First, nobody knows that far in advance what cases are going to have a trial.
More importantly, the "fairness" requirement behind this law is that a poor person's lawyer doesn't have to publicly beg for the money in advance, while a well-to-do criminal defendant is quietly writing a check. If the lawyer shows the judge that the client needs the witness, and can't afford to pay, the law requires the court to order it privately. Judge Harrelson did his job here exactly right.
The point is, what's written over the door of the Supreme Court, "Equal Justice Under Law." Apparently the county attorney would rather have the courts work like the airlines, with folks with money flying first class and the rest of us sitting in the back of the plane. Fortunately under our Constitution, that's not what we do.