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Wyndham CFO Pursues Pricing Advantage in Big Data
Wyndham Worldwide is rolling out a pilot program that uses Big Data to dynamically set pricing across its European vacation-property rental business later this year, CFO Tom Conforti told CFO Journal. The company first used its more advanced data analytics capabilities from its exchange business in its U.K. rentals segment earlier this year, he said, and now that will spread to its other two main markets in Denmark and the Netherlands.
An executive involved with both Wyndham's timeshare exchange business and its vacation rentals business first suggested that the company experiment with applying its data analytics to pricing the rentals, Mr. Conforti said. And so they began in the U.K., and "the payoff exceeded what we expected."
The company used to set fixed prices for properties in its exchange business, and would print them in catalogs, but Mr. Conforti said "if you do that, you've just limited your discretion." By the end of the year, Mr. Conforti said, the company will be using what it calls "yield management" tools to adjust pricing based on a variety of factors including timing, market peak and past consumer practices.
And the move to Big Data is unlikely to end there. Mr. Conforti said that their hotel business is ripe for a pricing strategy based on Big Data, though that project is not yet underway. "I know that's one the list of things we're looking at," he said.
The expense and complexity of Big Data analysis can put the technology out of reach for smaller firms. But large corporations, like Wyndham, that operate in discrete segments can take advantage of the capabilities from its larger divisions and deploy that knowledge to smaller areas.
"It was a decision to employ resources that we had under control in one of our businesses to the benefit of the other businesses," Mr. Conforti said, so now Wyndham employs "Ph.D.s who figure out ways to model our pricing to maximize our yield."
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Emotions ran high as star chef Tim Sheed dedicated an award to a late colleague at the Sussex Food and Drink Awards last night (Thursday January 29).
In the video above, the newly crowned Young Chef of the Year from Horsham pays tribute to Thomas 'Grimmy' Drewery, who died in a car crash on Friday January 23.
Five of the evening's eight award winners are shown accepting their gongs on stage at the ceremony at Brighton and Hove Albion's Amex Stadium.
The full list of winners is as follows.
Sussex Drink Producer of the Year, sponsored by Sussex Food & Drink Network
Winner - Wobblegate, Bolney, West Sussex
Runners up - Highdown Vineyard, Ferring, West Sussex and Langham Brewery, Lodsworth, Petworth, West Sussex
Sussex Food Shop of the Year, sponsored by Veasey & Sons and Cheese Please
Winner - Rushfields Farm Shop, Poynings, West Sussex
Runners up - Charlie's Farm Shop, Bury, near Pulborough and Tablehurst Farm Shop, Forest Row, East Sussex
Sussex Butcher of the Year, sponsored by Absolute Butchery
Winner - A C Coughtrey, Pulborough.
Runners up - Bramptons Butchers, Kemptown, Brighton & Hove and Leppards Family Butchers, Mayfield, East Sussex
Sussex Farmers Market of the Year, sponsored by Harveys Brewery
Winner – Steyning Farmers Market.
Runners up - Horsham Local Produce Market, West Sussex and Lewes Farmers Market.
Sussex Eating Experience, sponsored by Natural PR
Winner - The Curlew, Bodiam, East Sussex
Runners up - Coach & Horses, Danehill, East Sussex and Zari's Restaurant & Lounge, Crawley.
Sussex Young Chef of the Year, sponsored by Sodexo Prestige
Winner - Tim Sheed, The Pass, South Lodge Hotel, Lower Beeding, near Horsham.
Runners up - Dan Cotton, The Crabtree, Lower Beeding, near Horsham and Ryan Tomkinson, East Sussex National, Little Horsted, East Sussex
Sussex Farmer of the Year, sponsored by Spofforths Chartered Accountants
Winner - Tim Hassell, Goodwood Home Farm, Goodwood, near Chichester.
Runners up – Charlie Hughes, Southview Farm Dairy and The Goring family, Wiston Estate, Washington, West Sussex
Sussex Food Producer of the Year, sponsored by The Southern Co-operative
Winner - Cocoa Loco, West Grinstead, near Horsham.
Runners up - Caroline's Dairy, Sidlesham and Nell Ball Farm Foods Ltd, Plaistow, near Horsham

subset: commoncrawl


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Basant Agro Tech (I) Ltd, a leading agribusiness company committed to sustainable agriculture through innovative research and technology. Company believes in delivering better food for a better world through outstanding crop solutions, and has been working relentlessly to improve the farmers' plight through extensive R & D and rendering quality seeds, fertilizers and services to meet the changing requirements of a farming community.
Basant Agro Tech (I) Ltd is engaged in Manufacturing, Marketing & Distribution of NPK mixed fertilizer, Single super phosphate, Secondary nutrient & quality seed under "KRISHI SANJIVANI" brand name. Company is also engaged in the business of green power generation, through its wind mills.
At Basant Agro Tech (I) Ltd, we use genetics to leapfrog in to the future and innovation to usher in prosperity. While continuing with traditional breeding principals, we have over the years successfully adopted latest technological innovations to fast track our crop research. Keeping pace with the fast changing future marketing scenario, Basant Agro Tech (I) Ltd., has ventured in the field of Biotech research to develop transgenic crop for resistance to biotic and abiotic factors. We have entered into strategic alliance with some of the leading and very best technology innovation companies like Mahyco Monsanto Biotech, for value added biotech traits.
Across the country we enjoy leadership position in hybrid Sorghum and are the leading players in Maize, Pearl Millet, Sunflower and range of vegetable crops. Many of the hybrids developed by Basant are being instant hit and continue to be on top on the farmers' mind.
We would like to inform you that, the modernization and upgradation of the SSP fertiliser plant of the Company at Neemuch, Madhya Pradesh has been completed successfully under the leadership of the Executive Director of Company Shri Ashwin Bhartia.
Basant Agro Tech ( I ) Ltd the leading developers and producers of research Hybrid seeds from Akola has reported Robust growth in the seeds division of the Company in the third quarter ended 31.12.2012.


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I asked a question a few days ago and figured out the proof for this theorem using induction.
If T is a full binary tree with i internal vertices, then T has i + 1
terminal vertices and 2i + 1 total vertices.
Now as a challenge I am trying to use the Handshaking Lemma to show the same thing.
H.S. Lemma: Every finite undirected graph has an even number of vertices
with odd degree.
I have this written out but am stuck on how to continue.
Each vertex of a FBT has 0 or 2 children, if the child is a terminal vertex it has a degree of 1 (to its parent) and if the child is a internal vertex it has a degree of 3 (to its parent and two children). The only non-child is the root node. Because all internal vertices must have 2 children there exists 2i children. A child whether internal or terminal has a odd degree (1 or 3). Thus there are an even number of vertices 2i with odd degree.


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Interpreting the Logos
Reflect on this truth: God became flesh to accomplish your redemption. Have you accepted His gift of salvation?Read More
Eastern religions point to a god who is a nebulous force or impersonal substance. However, the Bible tells us that God is a personal God who gives meaning and purpose to all things. Pray that you would not let our ...Read More


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Last updated: September 01, 2006
Gene Finding May Lead to Better Understanding of Birth Defects
Gene Finding May Lead to Better Understanding of Birth Defects
Human Disorder Found to be Due to Alteration in a Developmental Pathway Intensly Studied in Simpler Organisms
July 1997
BETHESDA, Md. - Scientists at the National Human Genome Research Institute (NHGRI), reported recently that a newly discovered gene that causes a rare childhood disease marked by a wide range of birth defects may be an important key to other human developmental disorders. A mutation in the gene-known as JAG1-causes Alagille syndrome. NHGRI Director Dr. Francis Collins, visiting scientist Dr. Settara Chandrasekharappa, postdoctoral fellow Dr. Takaya Oda, and their colleagues report their finding in a recent issue of the journal Nature Genetics. The disease, also known as AGS, is characterized by abnormalities of the liver, heart, eye and vertebrae, as well as certain facial features.
Working with researchers at Nagoya City University in Japan, the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, and Research Genetics Inc. of Huntsville, Alabama, Collins and Chandrasekharappa observed that JAG1, located on Chromosome 20, is mutated in individuals with AGS. JAG1 produces a molecule that resides on the cell surface interacts with the products of the so-called NOTCH family of genes, which also reside on cell surfaces. Based on extensive work done on similar genes in fruitflies and roundworms, scientists believe that signalling between these proteins is critical for the proper development of embryos. Individuals with AGS are born with one copy of JAG1 not functioning. Even though the remaining copy is normal, without the right dosage of JAG1 in their genetic makeup, AGS is the result.
"In the context of these observations, it would not be surprising if other disorders of human development turn out to be caused by dosage abnormalities of other members of the family of Notch proteins and Notch ligands," the researchers write in Nature Genetics.
"Now that the gene has been identified," says Collins, "we can anticipate both advances in understanding of the human disorder, and progress in basic understanding of human development, aided by this new connection between molecule and phenotype."
AGS afflicts approximately one out of every 70,000 children born in the United States. The disorder varies greatly in severity. Some affected children appear almost normal, while others suffer from jaundice and liver failure and may require organ transplantation.
"It is very important to note that the gene discovery will significantly improve the ability to diagnose this often-missed disorder. In two of our families, individuals not thought to be affected (but who had not undergone thorough clinical investigation) turned out to carry the same alteration as a more obviously affected relative," says Dr. Chandrasekharappa.
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Joel Thomas has always been interested in history.
Joel Thomas has always been interested in history.
So when he heard that a local historical association wanted volunteers for a project, something clicked in his brain.
The 15-year-old Boy Scout found the subject of his upcoming Eagle Project.
For more than three months, Thomas interviewed local World War II veterans. He videotaped some of the sessions and made audio recordings of others. His final report came up to about
200 pages of documentation.
Thomas will now work with the Lincoln County Historical Association to edit and catalogue the interviews.
The entire process has taken about a year, Thomas said.
Thomas said he learned a lot during the project.
�One story that really interested me was from a gentleman who was a POW in Germany during the last few months of the war. He narrowly escaped death,� Thomas said.
The subjects of Thomas� interviews came from a veterans group that meets in the area. Most of the men were from Lincoln, Gaston or Catawba counties, Thomas said.
Jason Harpe, executive director of the historical society, called Thomas an amazing kid.
Thomas keeps a busy schedule.
In addition to scouting, he is homeschooled. Thomas, a ninth-grader, also takes college courses at Belmont Abbey.
The son of Dr. Ronald and Sally Thomas, Thomas is one of four children. He plays soccer and likes reading and running.
In the future, Thomas wants to attend the United States Military Academy at West Point and become a microbiologist.
Thomas started in scouting in Memphis, Tenn., when he was 9 years old. He continued in a Lincolnton troop when his family moved to North Carolina.
Thomas said he was thankful to his scout leaders and troop members for helping him get the job done. He said he was proud of the work he did and values what he learned from the veterans he interviewed.
Talking about the battles and the way of life was most interesting, he said.
�The everyday experiences of people who actually fought the war and their mindset, to me that was the most interesting part,� Thomas said.
According to Harpe, the recordings will be added to materials at the history museum at the Lincoln Cultural Center in Lincolnton.
You can reach reporter Diane Turbyfill at 704-869-1817 and twitter.com/GazetteDiane.


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This isn't my blog, it's Zack's. Zack arrived here seven weeks early, he had no heartbeat and wasn't breathing. He suffered catastrophic damage to his brain, he has cerebral palsy, problems with his hearing, vision and feeding. Our lives are both challenging and extraordinary. He is a gift. I hope that for whatever reason you find yourself reading this blog it can go some way to help those in the same situation and some way to remove the cloak that covers parenting a child with disabilities.
Showing posts from June, 2009


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WHAT's NextJune 09, 2004
WHAT's Going On? — Simon Willison analyzes the new WHAT Working Group, composed of representatives of three of the major four browser vendors.
On a broader level, what's brewing in browser space is a war over what's next. The web as a document viewing platform appears to be as good as it will get for a long time. The future is in web applications, and everyone has a different solution. Microsoft is betting heavily on its proprietary XAML and the forthcoming Longhorn technologies it will integrate with. W3C concerns are more interested in integrated solutions of XML, SVG, XForms, etc.
The reality is that right now, the web still revolves around HTML. The W3C has been trying to put it to bed for ages as it moves on to new, non-backwards compatible XML-based languages. But millions of sites and applications depend on it today. They're not all going to find the money to upgrade to the Next Big Thing, when it seems the only thing coming next is fragmentation.
So the minds behind Opera, Mozilla, and Safari have formed a new working group called the Web Hypertext Application Technology Working Group, or WHAT for short. The focus is to develop solutions that are extensions of vanilla HTML, in order to co-operate with today's browsers instead of relying on non-existent future implementations.
What of XHTML? What of CSS? It's increasingly obvious that while it's possible to use them for applications, they're not the best tools for the job. It's unclear whether they'll play a key part in any of the new strategies, or will exist only to complement in document-based settings. Most indications at present lean toward the latter.
The next chapter of the ongoing saga of the web is shaping up to be a brand new epic. What makes this battle different is that the major player is a well-established company with deep pockets, and the standards body that should be releasing definitive and practical technologies appears to be wrapped up in theoretical future technologies and ignoring the current problems web authors face.
If a group of alternative browser vendors can make a difference, when their combined total market share is still in the single digits, then the forming of WHAT might be a very important milestone one day. For now it's still anyone's guess where this battle will take us, although given the players, it's not hard to draw unpleasant conclusions.
Reader Comments
I don't quite see what your getting at about "unpleasant conclusions". I believe that "given the players", Safari, Mozilla & Opera, all being heavily involved in very compliant standards accepting applications we can at least expect something that makes sense.
Besides that I believe XHTML and CSS to already be too widespread for the constituent players to throw it to the wind.
It sucks to be a forward-thinking web developer these days. It rules to be 18 years old, because I know by the time I'm 50 that all these problems will be solved!
"I don't quite see what your getting at about 'unpleasant conclusions'."
Sorry, maybe that wasn't clear – I was basically placing Microsoft and its market share in one corner, and the M/O/S consortium and theirs in the other.
The unknown third is whatever the W3C is doing, but it would seem a lot of people are trivializing that work as being 'unworkable' or too mired in thinking about the far off future to be practical to today's developers. Daniel Glazman has some interesting thoughts on this that analyze the reality of today's web – http://webperso.easyconnect.fr/danielglazman/weblog/dotclear/?2004/06/08/362-future-of-html-and-the-web
I agree that the future is in web applications, but I believe XHTML and CSS *will* remain the key ingredients. For the upcoming release of Visual Studio.NET 2005 Microsoft folks promise that server controls will generate fully compliant XHTML code (and I'm trying to coax them to say it out loud). If they fall short of their promise you'll see a lot of bitching about it at my site. I won't settle for less. As to WHAT… I think it's great to have this initiative. It's a good move.
How interesting is it that the site is broken in IE6 ?
> Though I would much prefer that they use XHTML and put their stuff in a namespace, rather than breaking HTML 4 validity…
I think you're missing the point a bit.
The new tech won't break HTML 4.(01) validity because it won't /be/ HTML 4.01. It will be a new spec which will have a new name (HTML 4.2 or extended-HTML or something). Any document authored against the new doctype will, of course, not be valid HTML 4, but would be expected to validate against the new doctype. Of course, the specifcatioon will be similar enough to HTML 4 that HTML 4 UAs will be able to provide an acceptable rendering of the content.
Using XHTML would entirely defeat the point. XML as a document format on the web hasn't taken off. The most widely used browser doesn't support it at all. The browsers that do support it generally do a better job of HTML 4. Most importantly, authors don't want it. The XML 'error handling' rules mean that most existing CMS's would have to be junked or undergo a major upgrade. Authors would have to get really anal about well-formedness when most authors can't write a well-formed static HTML page. All this for very very little benefit - most people don't have a pressing need for MathML - which is the only widely implemented XML-requiring technology in web browsers.
If WHAT went with XML, it would be a faliure. As it is, it has some chance of success.
> And once they're done, I encourage them to submit it to W3C.
Out of interest, why? I'm interested to know why the W3C believes that it should be the default home for all web specs - what benefit does submitting to W3C have over just producing actual implementations?
> we deserve to have a decent Web application platform, and we all know by now HTML ain't it.
Why not? I mean, HTML has a rather good track record - being, as it is, responsble for basically 100% of all web applications at present. Sure it's not perfect, but why do you consider it so bad that it should be thrown out?
> Brendan Eich blocked XForms development on Mozilla back in October.
" if someone wants to step up, implement XForms well, and own the code, Mozilla will take
it as an extension. A plurality of drivers would even include it by
default if it were sufficiently small [TBD, certainly 30K on top of
common XML and HTML forms infrastructure is small enough for me]"
> I think it's a good idea to start demanding what Web developers are going to need 3 years from now.
3 years from now? IE 6 will stiill be the dominant browser, though probably IE 7 will have reasonable traction. IE still won't support XHTML ( http://ln.hixie.ch/?start=1086158925&count=1 ) and so HTML 4 and technologies compatible with it will still be the defacto standard for web applications. Businesses won't have spent the time and money needed to deal with XML error-handling and will have no plans to do so since their apps already work. Xforms and SVG will be implemented in Mozilla and will be as widely used on the web as XUL and MathML are today. Opera will implement SVG but not Xforms. Plugins will still be too complex for most users to deal with. The browser will not be in any danger of being replaced by some sort of plugin runtime. Some websites will start using XAML or some other Microsoft technology since that will reach 95% of desktops and will offer functionality they can't get any other way. The W3C will be developing SVG 2.0 which will have a passing resembalance to something that was once a vector-graphics spec.
> I don't want to be using HTML 4.01 to create Web apps 10 years from now, no matter how much gets slapped into it.
And I guess that, in 1970, everyone was hoping that in 10 years C would be irrelevant and everyone would be programming in Lisp.
Once technologies reach a critical mass, they die very very slowly. HTML is going to be a fact of life for the next 50 years at least, maybe longer. With a little luck, it might not be the dominant format then, but I'm confident that any attempts to throw it out entirely and replace it with something significantly more complex (anything XML based qualifies here) will be a faliure.
I presented at the workshop, on behalf of W3C/WAI.
I think that, if Hixie et al. want to create an HTML-based format to fix forms and submit it to W3C, then they're doing the right thing now. I would _love_ to have stuff like standard editable HTML textareas, for example. And once they're done, I encourage them to submit it to W3C. (Though I would much prefer that they use XHTML and put their stuff in a namespace, rather than breaking HTML 4 validity…) If they're planning on being done with it this year, there was really no point in bringing it to W3C, since so much of it is still in the requirements-gathering stage.
If it goes this way, I think it's a good idea to start demanding what Web developers are going to need 3 years from now. These are useful hacks to hold us over until then, but we deserve to have a decent Web application platform, and we all know by now HTML ain't it.
I do take issue with Hixie's claim that XForms is going to take years to implement and nobody's going to use it. He and Brendan Eich blocked XForms development on Mozilla back in October.
What we have here is a set of vendors saying they want to write stuff that's easy to absorb into their existing engines. Which is all well and good, but ultimately, short-sighted. I don't want to be using HTML 4.01 to create Web apps 10 years from now, no matter how much gets slapped into it. There comes a time where we have to move past HTML and into something tailored to creating actual applications. What we have now isn't cutting it.
Dave S Wrote: "I was basically placing Microsoft and its market share in one corner, and the M/O/S consortium and theirs in the other."
In the red corner we have three of the best: Mozilla - emerged like a phoenix from the ashes of Netscape; Opera - what a performance! And Safari - well… I'm yet to explore that one. Then, in the blue /e/ corner, we've got Internet Explorer - the undisputed champion of the infamous 20th century browser wars; and ironically the worst, yet most popular user agent there is. Not only is IE single-handedly holding back the development of the web into a rich, accessible, multi-media and application platform; but it is also dragging everyone, and everything else down with it as it buckles under the pressure of new interoperable standards.
From what I can gather, it seems the overall theme for the reasons behind this backwards step to improve the virtually obsolete HTML 4.01, is mostly because of the complete lack of support from Microsoft for W3C standards such as XHTML, CSS, and the more recent XForms recomendation, despite the other three major browser vendors having successfully implemented them relatively well (except XForms).
Is it really time to throw in the proverbial towel, and concede that Microsoft will never conform to standards? And that IE will remain popular for many more years to come? Should we really give up on the *future* that W3 attempts to bring us? Should we focus solely on developing technologies that will be compatible with non-standard user agents that we have now? I agree that all standards should be interoperable, but When did the term "interoperable implementation" get expanded to "internet-explorer-operable implementation"? This is exactly what WHAT seems to be doing, driven partly by Hixie's comments on backwards compatibility.
Although I agree with the WHATWG's principle of creating seperate language enhancements specifically for creating web applications, I disagree with making these enhancements backwards compatible with HTML4, and current UAs. I think these enhancements should be specifically for compatibility with XHTML, perhaps with the idea that Web Applications Markup Language (WAML), and other related proposals will eventually evolve into a standalone markup language (with it's own media type - application/what+xml, or something) that can be used in conjunction with XHTML on the web; using XHTML for documents, and WHAT's Web Apps for applications.
James wrote:
"> Though I would much prefer that they use XHTML and put their stuff in a namespace, rather than breaking HTML 4 validity
I think you're missing the point a bit.
The new tech won't break HTML 4.(01) validity because it won't /be/ HTML 4.01. It will be a new spec which will have a new name (HTML 4.2 or extended-HTML or something)."
There's no reason why there can't be *both* an HTML 4.2, incorporating Webforms *and* a WebForms module for XHTML 1.1.
Indeed, the "forward-looking" web-designers will demand it. Being reluctant to part with their spiffy new forward-slashes, they will be equally adamant about getting to use the new WebForms Specification.
Absent a WebForms module for XHTML, there will be much gnashing of teeth in the land, as Zeldman marshals the troups to abandon XHTML 1.x for HTML 4.2.
Indeed, both WebApplications and WebForms (don't know about WebControls) are explicitly targetted to be both a revision to HTML 4.x *and* a module for XHTML 1.1.
As to WebControls, since DOM support in XHTML is such a rat's nest currently, I don't think revising the HTML_Document DOM can result in any further brokenness.
> There's no reason why there can't be *both* an HTML 4.2, incorporating Webforms *and* a WebForms module for XHTML 1.1.
Sure. But my point was really that it can't *just* sit around in its own XML namespace because that would defeat the purpose of the project.


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Invasive Colon Adenocarcinoma
Dear OncoLink "Ask the Experts,"
I have a friend in his low 40's with recent diagnosis of invasive colon adenocarcinoma. He underwent a colectomy with tumor resection. The tumor invade bladder but without penetration. Surgical margins clear of tumor. There are 3/31 mesenteric nodes positive. My questions what is his prognosis, what the treatment options are, is radiation treatment recommended, if so what the results are.
Li Liu, MD OncoLink Editorial Assistant, responds:
Dear S,
Thank you for your interest and question.
Standard treatment for colon cancer with positive nodes is adjuvant chemotherapy for several months. Chemotherapy may consist of 5-fluorouracil (5FU)/levamisole, for 12 months or 5FU/leucovorin for 6 months following surgery. Five year survival in patients with 1-4 nodes positive is approximately 60% and better than those patients with more than 4 nodes positive.
In contrast to rectal cancer, the role of adjuvant radiation therapy for cancers that arise above the pelvic peritoneal reflection has not been well established. Due to the anatomical locations of these cancers, particularly where the colon is attached to a mesentery, wide local resections are feasible. The primary failure pattern following potentially curative surgery is abdominal rather than local. When the tumor invades adjacent organs such as the bladder, the risk of local relapse increases.
Retrospective nonrandomized studies of radiation therapy following curative surgery of colon cancer with or without chemotherapy have suggested a potential benefit to both locoregional control and perhaps disease-free survival as well over surgical resection alone. Willett and colleagues (Journal of Clinical Oncology, 1993; 11:1112-1117) reported that radiation therapy in addition to surgery significantly improved local control and recurrence-free survival rates for patients with perforation or fistula associated with their tumor (stage B3) and stage C3 (B3 plus local lymph node spread). Concurrent administration of 5-FU with the radiation therapy appeared to improve local control compared to surgery plus radiation therapy only (79% vs. 67% for stage C3 cancer), but the difference was not statistically significant.
There are more than a dozen of clinical trials sponsored by National Cancer Institute. They can be searched at cancernet.nci.nih.gov/prot/patsrch.shtml.
You should ask your friend to talk to his oncologists to explore the treatment options.


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There are occasions when a columnist cannot rely completely on personal experiences and observations but requires some additional input from an authority in the field. That was my situation as I considered the topic of bartenders. I didn't have to search very far to find my expert; I interviewed a college senior who happens to be my grandson.
My thesis is that tending bar, once a primarily male domain, has become gender-neutral.
Years ago, bars didn't get much publicity unless they were found to be in violation of the liquor laws and were fined or closed for a period of time. They also attracted some attention when there was trouble on the premises. The bartenders were strictly bit players, seldom attracting any attention unless there was trouble.
A series of feature articles on specific bars wasn't considered newsworthy in those days. In fact, if a writer even mentioned a saloon, the reference was immediately deleted by skeptical editors who suspected it was a "plug" for the place in return for free drinks.
I follow the bars in the daily newspaper. It's a research approach that not only is cost-effective but also enables me to get to bed at my usual hour. The paper publishes a weekly feature story about a different bar, the ambience, the variety of beer and food, and the type of clientele. The story usually is accompanied by a photo that includes the bartender.
Nearly all the bartenders photographed are young women. Furthermore, even the most casual observer would quickly conclude that the majority of female bartenders are attractive. I decided it would be prudent to confirm the accuracy of that impression before publishing my findings.
"Oh, yeah," replied my grandson. "And most of them are very pretty and friendly."
By coincidence, just a few days after that interrogation I was introduced to a young woman. I asked where she was attending school, and she said she had already graduated. Yes, she is a bartender. She confirmed that her gender helped her in getting the job.
My experience with bartenders has been limited but typical, since it started when I was a college student. I developed a liking for a blue-collar place a few blocks from the campus. I became acquainted with the proprietors, Henry and Bud, both of whom worked behind the bar. It was there I learned a revealing lesson about the often synergistic relationship between bars and politicians.
Both men were personable, but Bud seemed able to greet everyone by name. He had a following—how big a following I never realized until the November day when he was elected to the City Council. That provided insight into the role of the neighborhood tavern as a political springboard. Two years later Bud was elected mayor. When he somehow learned I was about to graduate, he insisted on treating me to a steak dinner. He was the first of only three bartenders who ever knew my name.
The others were Ray and Ernie, who had grown old and occasionally cranky behind the bar. They had long memories and talked as much as they listened. When Ernie died, Ray, whom no one ever described as a sentimental man, sighed and said, "He was my only friend."
At some moment between then and now, tavern owners determined there were benefits to be found by hiring women as bartenders. That was a major change and was widely adopted. Years ago there were relatively few women seen sitting on the stools as customers; now they are often on both sides of the bar.
Dick Hirsch is a longtime contributor to the Opinion page.
5/16/14 (c) 2014 Rochester Business Journal. To obtain permission to reprint this article, call 585-546-8303 or email email@example.com.


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Do you want to know how to find the most valuable social media content? Are you looking for great articles and videos to share with your friends and fans?
Be sure to watch this edition of Social Media Examiner TV with our host Mari Smith.
In this episode, Mari introduces you to the concept of curating content and how it can help your business. And Mari also reviews 8 content curation tools to help you find the best information for your business.
Share your feedback, see the show notes and discover how you can be part of a future show
Continue Reading about 8 Ways to Find Great Social Media Content →


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Dons sweep past 10-man Iron
MK Dons took a giant step closer to securing a play-off place with an easy 3-0 victory at Scunthorpe on Saturday afternoon.
Last Updated: 14/04/12 7:13pm
MK Dons took a giant step closer to securing a play-off place with an easy 3-0 victory at Scunthorpe on Saturday afternoon.
The Dons' leading marksman Dean Bowditch fired the visitors into an 11th-minute lead with his 13th goal of the season, sweeping a first time shot past goalkeeper Sam Slocombe after fellow striker Charlie McDonald had got behind the home defence to pull back a low cross from the right.
It was only the second goal conceded in six games by Scunthorpe, who continued to struggle as an attacking force in the second half and it was MK Dons who made it 2-0 after 54 minutes with McDonald again the provider for midfielder Daniel Powell to force his shot home from close range at the near post.
McDonald also went close to getting on the scoresheet himself with a shot which was well saved by Slocombe.
A miserable afternoon for Scunthorpe was compounded after 72 minutes when they were reduced to 10 men following a controversial red card for striker Jordan Robertson, sent off for his challenge on Dons' centre back Gary Mackenzie following the intervention of the fourth official.
Dons midfielder Shaun Williams made it 3-0 with a well-struck shot from long range five minutes from time.


text: Are You Pregnant? Signs & Symptoms Print An Overview of Pregnancy By Robin Elise Weiss, PhD | Medically reviewed by a board-certified physician | Updated February 05, 2018 More in Are You Pregnant? Signs & Symptoms Pregnancy Tests So much happens during pregnancy that it's basic definition—the period of time when a human being grows from the combination of genetic material from a single egg and sperm—seems almost too simplistic when you say it aloud. Typically, conception occurs naturally through sexual intercourse. Over the course of about forty weeks, the baby grows and matures from those two cells to a fully developed baby and is born. Pregnancy is divided into three nearly equal trimesters, each with its own challenges and changes for both the pregnant person and baby. A view of baby in utero. Diagnosing Pregnancy Pregnancy is usually diagnosed via a home pregnancy test. This uses urine to detect the presence human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG). You can take a home pregnancy test from about the time you would expect your period. Once you have a positive pregnancy test, you will make an appointment to see your obstetrician or midwife. He or she may repeat the test or use physical symptoms to diagnose your pregnancy for the medical record. This is when you begin your prenatal care. Prenatal Care Prenatal care encompasses the nine months plus of medical care that you receive from a doctor or a midwife. You will usually see someone once a month for the first two trimesters of pregnancy, every two weeks in the pregnancy weeks 28 through 36, and weekly until the birth of your baby. The goal of prenatal care is to keep you and baby healthy. This includes both screenings and preventative care. This is accomplished through weight checks, listening to your baby's heartbeat, routine blood work, and more. You may also see other tests: Blood pregnancy testGenetic testingUltrasound examsNon-stress tests (NST) Your practitioner will help you determine which tests are needed for you and your baby in this pregnancy, as it may vary based on many factors. Your practitioner will also work with other medical care providers that you see for other potential issues that you have, for example, if you have another specialist for a chronic condition. They will work together to help get you on the right medications for pregnancy, if needed. First Trimester (Weeks 1 to 13) One of the things that makes the first trimester unique is that it begins with the first day of your menstrual cycle. You may not even be planning to be pregnant at this point, nor will you know that you are pregnant until around the four week mark (at the earliest). So, for at least about a third of this trimester, you diagnose the weeks in the past. From the point of a positive pregnancy test, the pregnant person is aware of the pregnancy, even though it is not evident to the outside world. Even though you may not be "showing," there is a lot going on inside your body. From those two cells to an embryo with a beating heart, the changes in these first weeks are amazing. Every organ system is beginning to form, as are the baby's arms, legs, fingers, and toes. You may be feeling the effects of pregnancy starting around the sixth week of pregnancy. This can include a host of things, including: Morning sicknessSore breastsFatigueHeartburnInsomnia You may also be concerned about the pregnancy and its viability. Miscarriage is most common in this early trimester, with as many as 20 percent of pregnancies ending before the end of the first trimester. Your doctor or midwife can help you determine if there is a threat to your pregnancy. He or she will also help you strive to have the healthiest pregnancy possible. Second Trimester (Weeks 14 to 27) The second trimester usually has you feeling a bit better physically. While you may have a bit of nausea in the first weeks of the trimester, most of this will dissipate before too long. You may also have a lot more energy now than in the first trimester. Still, there are a few people who simply don't feel great being pregnant. That, however, doesn't mean that anything is wrong. One thing that many people enjoy about the second trimester is that your baby is getting big enough that your abdomen begins to show a little bump. You may not quite be ready for maternity clothes, but you will notice that your clothes fit differently, and others may notice too. You may also begin to feel the first flutters of your baby's kicks. You will feel this earlier if you have had a baby before, otherwise by the end of this trimester. While the baby has been moving around a lot since last trimester, it is now getting big enough for you to feel these kicks, punches, and flips. Your baby is growing bigger both in size and in maturity. Your baby is busy doing things like forming fingerprints, and the permanent teeth are forming behind the baby teeth. Third Trimester (Weeks 28+) The end is in sight with this trimester. A healthy goal is to make it to at least thirty-seven weeks. Your baby is growing larger and stronger. There is brown fat being deposited to help him or her maintain a proper temperature after birth. The lungs are maturing, and the brain is growing and becoming more mature as well. All of these continue to develop all the way through labor. The majority of mothers start feeling tired again. This can also be seen with insomnia, which is not particularly fun as a combination of symptoms. Sometimes you will even see a return to some of the nausea and vomiting you saw in the first trimester. You may also have a few other symptoms including leg cramps, and Braxton Hicks contractions, or "practice contractions." For more information, check out our dedicated section: Your Pregnancy: Week by Week. Emotional Components of Pregnancy Many pregnant women and their partners will experience a variety of emotions throughout the pregnancy, which may go overlooked. Sometimes you're super excited about pregnancy and really happy. But, you can also have periods of being scared or worried about what your life will look like after the baby. Some people will have weird dreams in pregnancy, which can affect mood, or even experience periods of anxiety and/or depression. Brief periods of sadness or anxiety can be normal. However, having periods of negative feelings that last more than a few days is a reason to talk to your doctor or midwife. He or she can offer suggestions that might be helpful. Common Pregnancy Complications While most pregnancies are free of complications, the goal of prenatal care is to help prevent and detect complications that can occur. Typically, the earlier a complication is found, the better the outcome will be. An example would be preterm labor. If you are able to detect it early enough, you may be able to stop it or delay it long enough for additional medication to help mature the baby's lungs. There are other complications that are routinely screened for as well. Some include: MiscarriageEctopic pregnancy (tubal pregnancy)Gestational diabetesPlacenta previaPreeclampsia/eclampsiaGroup B strepFetal malpositions You may also have specific concerns based on your medical history. Your practitioner will be helpful at figuring out what you are at the greatest risk for in your pregnancy. Labor and Birth Once you have reached 37 weeks, labor will not be stopped once it starts. Most women will have their babies two weeks before to two weeks after their due date. Labor is a series of contractions of the uterine muscle that get progressively longer, stronger, and closer together. This force helps the cervix open and the baby to descend through the pelvis and into the birth canal (vagina) until the baby is born. Some mothers choose to labor without medications, instead using natural techniques to relieve pain. This can include many things: Relaxation techniquesMassagePosition changesAromatherapyHydrotherapy (bath or shower)TENS unitsBirth balls/peanut ballsBreathingVisualization Others choose medicinal forms of pain relief, from an epidural to IV pain medications. Many women use a combination of natural and medicinal methods to help cope with labor. This can also include the use of professional labor support in the form of a doula. Taking a childbirth class can help you learn about all of your options. It can also help you figure out what options are the best choices for your family. Your class may include information on making a birth plan and even touring your birth facility. To learn more your pain relief options, look to our dedicated section: Methods of Labor Pain Relief. Induction of Labor If labor does not start on its own by the end of week 42, or if there is a complication that means it is best for the pregnancy to end before labor begins, your practitioner might suggest an induction of labor. Cesarean Birth Sometimes, before or during labor, a decision is made that a Cesarean birth (C-section) would be a better option. This is a surgical birth where the baby is born via an incision made in the abdomen and uterus. This may happen for a variety of reasons including, but not limited to: Fetal distressBreech baby or other positionsMaternal complications, such as high blood pressureFetal anomalies (birth defects)Placental complications You should discuss this with your doctor or midwife during pregnancy to figure out what the chances of you needing a C-section are. Sometimes it's obvious that you are at a higher risk—information that can help you prepare yourself for the possibility. Immediate Postpartum After giving birth, you will have a period of recovery. This will include the delivery of the placenta, repair of any tearing on the perineum, and suturing of the uterus and abdomen (as applicable). No matter how you gave birth, you will bleed postpartum. This is from the site of the placenta in the uterus, which is healing. About an hour after delivery, you will typically be moved to your regular postpartum room. If you are in a birth center, you may be released to go home in about three to six hours after giving birth, assuming you and baby are doing well. If you are in the hospital, you will typically stay for a period of two days for a vaginal birth and four days after a Cesarean birth. Your period of recovery technically will end with your six-week visit with your doctor or midwife. This doesn't mean that you will be back to your pre-pregnancy weight or shape. Remember that it took you nine months to grow a baby and it will take you awhile to feel back to normal. For many women, it is a new normal. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Get diet and wellness tips to help your kids stay healthy and happy. Email Address Sign Up There was an error. Please try again. Thank you, , for signing up. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Nerenz RD, Butch AW, Woldemariam GA, Yarbrough ML, Grenache DG, Gronowski AM. Clin Biochem. 2015 Nov 2. pii: S0009-9120(15)00507-X. doi: 10.1016/j.clinbiochem.2015.10.020. [Epub ahead of print] Estimating the hCGβcf in urine during pregnancy. Obstetrics: Normal and Problem Pregnancies. Gabbe, S, Niebyl, J, Simpson, JL. Sixth Edition. Pregnancy Tests. Any Lab Test Now. https://www.anylabtestnow.com/tests/pregnancy-test/ Last Accessed August 28, 2016. Ultrasonography in pregnancy. ACOG Practice Bulletin No. 101. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. Obstet Gynecol 2009;113: 451–61. Your Pregnancy and Childbirth: Month to Month, Revised Sixth Edition. American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists. 2016. Continue Reading


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Tuesday was the first day that 49ers players placed on the physically unabale to perform and non-football injury lists at the end of preseason were eligible to practice with the team and four of them were able to get on the field.
Wide receiver Mario Manningham, cornerback Eric Wright, defensive tackle Quinton Dial and defensive end Tank Carradine were on the field as the 49ers conducted a walkthrough and all are expected to take part in the team's full practice on Wednesday. There's no sense yet of when any of the players will be ready to take part in a game, but Manningham says not to expect him in the lineup right away.
"I just got cleared yesterday, man," Manningham said, via the team's website. "I can't do a whole practice. I'm going to ease my way into it."
The 49ers could use all the help they can find at wide receiver, so there's a role for Manningham to play as soon as he's healthy enough to play it. The most immediate need could be for Dial or Carradine as Glenn Dorsey's hamstring injury could leave the 49ers very thin along the defensive line in the immediate future.
All four players are eligible to join the 53-man roster and have a three-week window to practice before the team must either add them to the active roster or shut them down for the season.


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Fresh off the best fundraising stretch of his presidential campaign, Mitt Romney plans to spend this weekend strategizing and fraternizing with his biggest bundlers at a posh resort in Park City, Utah.
The presumptive Republican nominee and his senior advisers and aides are hosting two days of policy sessions and campaign strategy discussions at the Deer Valley resort for more than 100 top fundraisers and their spouses. Those who raised more than $100,000 are expected to attend.
More than a dozen Republican heavy-hitters are scheduled to join the private retreat as special guests. According to a fundraiser who is attending, they include some GOP stars thought to be in contention to be Romney's vice presidential running mate: Rep. Paul Ryan (Wis.), Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and Sen. John Thune (S.D.).
George W. Bush strategist Karl Rove, who helps run American Crossroads, the well-funded GOP super PAC, is planning to speak at the retreat, said the fundraiser, who was not authorized to publicly discuss the event and spoke on the condition of anonymity. Rove's appearance could raise questions because of laws barring any coordination between super PACs and campaigns.
Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the party's 2008 presidential nominee, also is scheduled to attend, according to the fundraiser.
Other expected guests include former secretaries of state Condoleezza Rice and James A. Baker III, former Florida governor Jeb Bush, strategist Mary Matalin, and commentators Bill Kristol and Fred Barnes.
The meeting coincides with good news for Romney's campaign, which for the first time last month raised more money than President Obama. The campaign and the Republican National Committee jointly raised $77 million in May, outpacing the $61 million that Obama and the Democratic National Committee reported collecting.
In a report to the Federal Election Commission on Wednesday, the Romney campaign said it spent $15.6 million in May. Obama campaign officials reported spending nearly three times that, $44 million, shelling out cash faster than they could raise it. That allowed Romney to begin catching up in the cash he has on hand — $107 million for his campaign and the RNC, compared with $147 million for Obama and the DNC.
Obama officials predicted Wednesday that they will be badly outspent on television ads, suggesting that Republicans and allied groups would invest $1.2 billion in airtime.
Restore Our Future, a super PAC founded by former Romney aides to boost his candidacy, told the FEC that it raised nearly $5 million in May and spent nearly all of it, mostly on ads. That report did not include $10 million donated by casino magnate Sheldon Adelson this month. The PAC launched a $7 million ad buy in eight battleground states this week.
Also planning to attend the Park City gathering are many of Romney's top aides and advisers, including former Utah governor Mike Leavitt, whom the candidate has tapped to begin planning his transition to the White House should he win in November.
Romney's finance officials have touted the retreat as a way to reward top-performing bundlers, who make their own donations and then raise many times that from their networks of friends and associates.
The retreat, which will be closed to the news media, is set to begin Friday with policy question-and-answer sessions with Romney. The donors will be briefed on campaign strategy and will spend considerable time planning ways to build on the initial general-election fundraising success.
At a May fundraiser, New York Jets owner Woody Johnson, chairman of Romney's New York finance operation, called the retreat "very, very important" for the campaign.
The event is to be a sort of homecoming for Romney, who lived in Park City for three years when he helmed the 2002 Winter Olympics. Two of his sons, Josh and Ben, live in the area.
Receptions and dinners with Romney and his guests are planned for Friday and Saturday night, with dessert and dancing on the agenda for Saturday evening. The festivities continue Sunday with golf.
"You get to go home and tell your friends and family and colleagues, 'I just spent the weekend with Mitt Romney,' and all of that is really good for morale," said a second fundraiser who will be there and who also was not authorized to speak publicly.
Staff writers T.W. Farnam and Dan Eggen contributed to this report.


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Online ammunition sales drawing scrutiny
Legislation to regulate online purchases of ammunition and high-capacity magazines is bringing new attention to a growing cyberspace ammo market that's operated with little government oversight.
Under federal law, firearms dealers must obtain federal licenses and keep records of their weapons transactions, but there's virtually no federal regulation of ammunition suppliers or sales – though there was before 1986. Adults who want to stockpile large amounts of ammo can buy it from dozens of websites that specialize in bulk sales, often at low prices. Some sites hawk magazines that fire up to 100 rounds without reloading, which critics argue have been tied to deadly mass shootings and should be outlawed.
Some of the online sellers list no names of their owners, give only post office boxes as their addresses and ship merchandise to customers using overnight couriers. Buyers can access a special search engine to compare inventory and prices at more than 30 dealers.
Nima Samadi, who follows the $3 billion-a-year small arms industry for the market research firm IBISWorld, said online ammo sales had been gaining in popularity "due to convenience and lower prices consumers can get by buying in bulk online."
The 1986 Firearm Owners' Protection Act made retail interstate shipments of ammunition legal. The law allowed ammunition to be shipped to individuals through the mail and eliminated prior record-keeping requirements.
When gun-control advocates proposed restricting online ammo sales last summer, the National Rifle Association noted on its website that officials of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives had concluded by the 1980s that licensing ammo dealers for nearly two decades had provided "no substantial law enforcement value" in keeping bullets out of the wrong hands. Officials supported loosening regulation at that time. ATF spokesman Mike Campbell said in an interview that the agency no longer commented on pending legislation.
Some gun control advocates in Congress hope that public outrage over the massacre last month in Newtown, Conn., in which 20 elementary school children and six school employees were killed, will prompt a closer look at these businesses.
Earlier this month, U.S. Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, D-N.Y., refiled a bill from last summer that would end online and mail-order sales by requiring that ammunition transactions take place "face to face."
The bill also would license ammo dealers and require them to report purchases of 1,000 rounds or more, which McCarthy has said would bring ammunition sales "out of the shadows and into the light, where criminals can't hide and responsible dealers can act as a line of defense against the planning and stockpiling of a potential mass killer."
In a separate action, Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said last week that he'd push for instant background checks to prevent ammo from being sold to felons, the mentally ill and others who are prohibited from buying firearms. In a prepared statement, Blumenthal called ammunition sales "the black hole in gun violence prevention."
Tighter regulation "is certainly a possibility," said Samadi, the arms industry analyst. But public opinion is fickle, he said. "It's hard to accurately predict what will happen."
Selling ammo online "is a somewhat new and developing industry and there isn't too much information out there," he added.
The NRA strongly opposes ammunition regulation. It argues on its website that banning online ammo sales "would turn back the clock to the days when ammunition was only available in person at licensed stores, driving up prices and making less popular cartridges nearly unobtainable for millions of lawful gun owners."
The National Shooting Sports Foundation, an industry trade group, wouldn't comment for this story. In the past, however, the group has said that regulations "would not affect criminals or their ability to obtain ammunition."
Marc Gallagher, a co-owner of ammoseek.com, a search engine that helps buyers find the best prices, agrees. He said in an email that it "appears that the lawmakers proposing such laws are merely attempting to capitalize on horrible tragedies to further their agenda and disdain for the Second Amendment."
Such legislation "would do nothing to prevent criminals and crazy people from doing horrible things with guns," Gallagher wrote in an email. "It would only prevent honest and law-abiding citizens from being able to freely purchase ammunition online."
Gun control forces thus far have made limited headway against that argument – and concerns that an online ban would infringe on private business.
The courts struck down a 2009 California law that required all handgun ammo sales to be face-to-face, though supporters of the law are trying to reinstate it this year. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this month that he favored a state ban on online ammunition shipments. While a few other states and some localities have restricted shipments of ammo or large-capacity magazines to residents, efforts at federal regulation have stalled.
That was the case last July, when Sen. Frank Lautenberg , D-N.J., and McCarthy introduced companion bills in the Senate and House of Representatives, called the Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act, on the heels of the movie theater shootings in Aurora, Colo., in which 12 people died and dozens were wounded.
Police found an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle magazine capable of firing 100 rounds at the scene. Authorities said at the time that the accused shooter, James Holmes, who was then 24, had bought four guns at local gun stores and more than 6,000 rounds of ammo online. One of the firms that authorities tied to those sales was bulkammo.com, according to news reports.
The company's lawyer, Oliver Adams of Knoxville, Tenn., didn't respond to requests for comment from the Center for Public Integrity. Last July, he told Bloomberg and other news outlets that the company was "actively assisting in the investigation."
The firm maintains a St. Louis post office box and, like online retailers of other products, takes orders 24 hours a day, with a promise to ship merchandise promptly. Federally licensed firearms dealers must have a "premises address," where transactions take place and federal agents may inspect inventories and records.
The company requires buyers to certify, among other things, that they're at least 21 years old, have never been convicted of misdemeanor domestic violence charges or other crimes and have "not been adjudicated as a mental defective" or "committed to any mental institution." (Under federal law, people over 18 years of age may purchase rifle ammunition; those over 21 may buy handgun ammo.)
Other businesses list a wide range of ammo for sale, though several say they're having a tough time filling rising demand. Calls and emails to several online dealers weren't returned.
The price for .223 bullets, the size fired by the semi-automatic rifle used in the Newtown shootings, can start at $400 for 1,000 rounds. High-capacity magazines start at about $28, though they can cost much more, depending on the manufacturer and the number of rounds they hold.
Although online ammunition dealers don't appear to have their own lobbying organization in Washington, some have been contributing to an NRA fund called the National Endowment for the Protection of the Second Amendment.
MidwayUSA, a Missouri company, began a program in 1992 that asks customers to "round up" the total of each order to the nearest dollar or higher. Other dealers signed on and together have sent some $9.5 million to the NRA's Institute for Legislative Action, a lobbying arm, according to the company's website. MidwayUSA didn't respond to requests for comment.
In December, MidwayUSA announced that contributions topped $1 million for 2012, the most since the round-up program started. That drew a note of thanks from NRA official Chris Cox, according to the company's website.
"With the re-election of President Obama, America can bank on more attempts to diminish our freedom and constant legal challenges to the Second Amendment," Cox said. "This significant support is coming at a time of great need."


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Posts Tagged: Eric Mussen
California weather has been perfect for almond set
The warm, dry late winter weather in California has been good news for almond farmers who were concerned about a bee shortage during bloom, reported Capital Press.
"It looks good right now," said Rich Buchner, UC Cooperative Extension advisor in Tehama County. "The bees are out working like crazy. It's going to be warm and dry over the next 10 days, so it should be about perfect for almond set."
Almond growers are enjoying a vibrant blossom season even though California only had about 500,000 bee colonies available as of mid-February to pollinate this year's crop of 800,000 acres, according to Eric Mussen, UCCE specialist in the Department of Entomology at UC Davis. Typically, as many as 1.6 million are needed to provide two colonies per acre.
The favorable weather for bee activity comes with a catch, however. Precipitation totals are behind seasonal averages.
A honey bee on an almond blossom. (Photo: Kathy Keatley Garvey)
A 'multi-million dollar food fight' heats up, plus other recent news coverage
The reporters called the proposition a "multi-million dollar food fight."
"All of the data that's come out from the American Medical Association and National Academy of Sciences have all agreed that the food products on the market today that are genetically engineered are safe," Van Eenennaam told the reporter
Polls show the 'Yes on Proposition 37' campaign is "way ahead" of those who oppose the initiative, "but there's a long way to go until November," the reporter said.
Vision still pays dividends after 150 years
Sacramento Bee editorial
The Sacramento Bee editorial staff called the 1862 Congress of the United States one of the most productive in American history. One of the reason was it's passage of the Morrill Land-Grant College Act July 2, 1862. The act created the world's best system of public colleges and universities for people of modest means, the editorial said. Previously most Americans had no access to higher education. California took up the land-grant offer in 1864 and the University of California was born – at Berkeley – in 1868. Later, the University Farm would become UC Davis. The Citrus Experiment Station would become UC Riverside.
Building a better, tastier tomato
Lauren Sommer, QUEST Northern California, KQED
Lauren Sommer interviewed Ann Powell, associate researcher in the Department of Plant Sciences at UC Davis, about her finding that the gene that creates "green shoulders" in tomatoes influences the amount of sugar in the ripe fruit. Powell says now that they know about this gene, plant breeders could put it back in commercial varieties.
Bees need a hand, especially in drought
Debbie Arrington, Sacramento Bee
In honor of National Honeybee Day, the Sacramento Bee paid homage to the indispensable pollinator with information about the challenges it faces. Colony collapse disorder, drought and urbanization take their toll. There was some good news: "Bees got through the winter a little better," said Eric Mussen, UC Cooperative Extension specialist, apiculture. "This spring, we saw bigger, earlier and more swarms." However, nationwide, the hot dry summer has made it a tough year for honey production.
Questions about coyotes or bees? UC experts respond
Napa Valley Register took a closer look at coyotes in western Napa County subdivisions, after neighbors started spotting the canines near their homes.
Reporter Peter Jensen talked to Robert Timm, director of the UC Hopland Research and Extension Center, which is located in Mendocino County. Timm said that researchers track reports of coyote attacks on humans, though no such attacks have ever been reported in Napa County.
For some Sacramento area trees, it's already spring
The Sacramento Bee reported that Bradford pear trees along Sacramento streets are blooming, and sidewalks were littered with flower petals after Monday's storm.
Reporter Debbie Arrington talked to Eric Mussen, UC Cooperative Extension apiculturist with the UC Davis Entomology department, about how the early warm weather might affect pollination and fruit formation.
"Honeybees don't really get confused," Mussen said. "They do act predictably. Anytime the temperature gets above 55 degrees, if there's food somewhere, they'll go get it."
Though petals may fall, Mussen explained that bees will be able to pollinate trees unless storm winds and rain knock entire flowers to the ground, leaving nothing to pollinate.
Re-washing bagged greens may do more harm than good
Los Angeles Times.
Even the cleanest kitchens can teem with harmful pathogens - on cutting boards and in salad spinners, on knives that just sliced raw chicken, on damp, well-used cloth towels.
"In brief, consumers don't wash up very well and may contaminate produce due to dirty hands and dirty sink," emailed Christine M. Bruhn, director of the Center for Consumer Research at UC Davis. That's especially a problem with salad greens, since they never get cooked.
Schoch spoke to food experts from Kansas State University and the University of Maryland who also recommended pre-washed greens not be re-washed.
California apprenticeship building future producers
Amy Trinidad, Sheep Industry News
The American Sheep Industry Association is teaming up with the state sheep associations to expand the Let's Grow initiative to include mentor programs for beginning sheep producers.
"There is a real movement as far as people wanting to get back to the land. In some ways, it's like the 1960s and 70s, only with a whole bunch of bigger challenges," says Roger Ingram, University of California Cooperative Extension farm advisor.
Shepherds need to know how to run animals in a variety of environments, be able to identify common and uncommon pasture and range plants, know range nutrition, identify potential poisonous plants, be able to quickly asses the health of the flock and be able to take the appropriate steps in field conditions to fix problems, Ingram said.
Mild winter shifts the start of the growing season
Heather Hacking, Chico Enterprise Record
The lack of rain has meant some Butte County almond growers have already irrigated twice, and some are starting a third run with the water. They would rather not water at all, and often don't need to this time of year, said Joe Connell, UC Cooperative Extension farm advisor.
It can cost about $40 to apply 12 inches of water to one acre, he said. Growers will think carefully before pumping if it looks like another storm is on the way. The most recent rain provided water to the first foot of soil, depending on the soil conditions. But almond growers will want the soil irrigated 3 to 4 feet down by bloom time.
Almond trees in the area will likely begin to bloom around Valentine's Day this year, about a week earlier than normal.
Yuba-Sutter beekeepers abuzz on research
Jonathan Edwards, Orland Press Register
Losing bees to colony collapse disorder is not good for Yuba-Sutter. Beekeeping brought in about $3.9 million to area beekeepers in 2010, the last year for which data is available. On average, beekeepers have lost nearly one-third of their colonies each year since 2006.
That number likely skyrocketed last year as dwindling colonies drove higher prices. A shrinking supply of vibrant hives nearly doubled the price of a colony, from $33 to $58 between 2009 and 2010, according to the Sutter County Crop Report. The price nearly tripled again and is holding at about $150 a colony, said Eric Mussen, an apiculturist with UC Cooperative Extension at UC Davis.
"It just shot up," he added.
Pest threats 'overblown'
The board agreed to revisit the 2008 regulation that prevents cotton growers from planting in the same field three years in a row if the level of verticillium wilt is detected in 3 percent or more of the crop.
Doug Munier, farm advisor for University of California Cooperative Extension, said verticillium dahliae exists in native valley soils and is spread by movement.
"Verticillium was a minor problem with cotton was first planted in the mid-1990s and it is still a minor problem after 17 years of production," he said.
New bee threat more media hype than reality
Wayne Anderson, The Washington Times
Government officials, leading bee experts and average beekeepers around the country say the strange discovery of a deadly bee parasite fly that makes honeybees act "zombie-like" is not seen nationwide — but only in a recently published San Francisco State University study. And some even question the veracity of the discovery itself.
The parasite fly is a long-time resident of California and a known nemesis to other bugs besides honeybees, the article said.
"They've been known to infest or parasitize bumblebees for some time all over the country," said Eric Mussen, California State bee specialist and professor at the University of California, Davis. "It's not new. We're aware of it. I don't believe it's a terribly important thing to honeybees as a whole."


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The sun was an eerie red ball on the horizon as I drove to the studio for my weekly radio show. It was burning a hole in the misty morning as its rays struggled through 100 per cent humidity, its lurid appearance adding to the strangeness of this 18th day of March in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where we are told it will soar to 27 degrees and maybe even higher today.
This is a city just 69 miles north of the 49th parallel, a winter city to rival Moscow and Reykjavik. We would normally be bundled up like polar bears, plugging our cars in at night and wearing warm winter boots. Instead, joggers are in shorts, the golf courses have opened and music from an ice cream truck is piercing the morning air.
People are loving the release from winter, but they are also inwardly troubled by the unseasonal heat. "They are controlling it," grumbled my checkout clerk at the supermarket. I asked him who "they" were. "The United States and Russia," he responded. "They have the technology." I should have asked him the motive for this strange control, given that the current weather is a bit of a gift.
It's true, however, that it has been unnaturally warm all week and it promises to continue that way into the foreseeable future. Grass is greening. Ducks and geese have returned. There are fat buds on the Manitoba maple and on the lilac. The celandine poppy, always eager for an early start, is sending up sweet little green sentinels to test the air. This is all happening a month too soon.
It is 10:30 in the morning and already the air is very warm as I sit in my recently dormant garden, listening to the last of the ice crack in the pool. There is a light breeze, nothing uncomfortable, but enough to disturb the small wind chimes scattered around our patio. (Glenn, who is beginning to recover from his surgery, won't let me hang up the heavy duty ones as he feels they disturb the birds.)
Early this morning, the air was filled with birdsong. Just now, a precocious bug tried to share my tea – much to its great personal expense. Item by item, the sun is coaxing our winter world into an early rising, (although the tulips have sensibly decided to remain hidden) but . . . this is Manitoba and we have had early springs before (although not this heat so early in March) and then reality usually sets in; a cold front suddenly appears and wipes out all the emergent flower buds and even the leaves on trees and shrubs which have to re-manufacture everything again.
Still, the sun is very persuasive, burning my legs through my pants as I sit here absorbing the welcome vitamin D.
I think I will bring out my rosemary and parsley to give them a treat.


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The Industry's Top Interior Designers Talk Fall/Winter Color Palettes
Friday, September 14, 2012 | Category: Celebs, Decorating, Design Bloggers, Design Inspiration, Designers, Uncategorized
As many of you know, Pantone recently released their color palettes for Spring 2013. But we want to talk FALL! Every week I'm honored to join in one of Twitter's best chats, #IntDesignerChat. This week some of the industry's top interior designers came together to discuss what is hot for fall's interiors. Check it out and let me know what colors YOU'RE loving right now!
- Posted By materialgirls
- 6 Comments
- Category: Celebs, Decorating, Design Bloggers, Design Inspiration, Designers, Uncategorized
Tags: #IntDesignerChat, August Black, Barbara Segal, Belle & June, Brandon Smith, Buckingham Interior Design, Dilara Litonjua, Encore Decor, fall/winter 2012 color trends, fall/winter color palettes, IMRE HOme IQ, interior design, Interior Designer Chat, Jean Molesworth Kee, Julia Buckingham Edelmann, Kathy Hanson & Associates, Larry Bevins, Munsell Color, Walker Zanger


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This is the wolf mutt, GLIMMER! Notice the green eyes and the jewel inlaid District 1 on her collar? Not what I would call a cuddly creature!
Thursday, October 28, 2010
Hunger Games Projects
Oops! We did it again...My fellow 8th grade Reading teacher and I dressed up as Katniss for "Twin Day" during our Red Ribbon Week festivities. Other than a few students asking if we were Pocahontas, it was a huge success!
This is the wolf mutt, GLIMMER! Notice the green eyes and the jewel inlaid District 1 on her collar? Not what I would call a cuddly creature!
It's been a LONG time since I've posted, but teaching seems to hinder my ability to blog on a regular basis. (Curse you, real world!) Teaching is what actually leads me to this post - my students' amazing work on our recent Hunger Games projects. I usually wait to teach the novel at the end of the year, but decided that it would be best to have my students excited about reading at the BEGINNING of the year. A no brainer, right? Shifting my curriculum around just might be the best thing I've done in terms of doing what is best for my students. We finished the novel this week and MANY have already consumed Catching Fire and are halfway through Mockingjay. Thank you, Suzanne Collins for enabling my students to find pleasure in reading. Who woulda thunk it? I love seeing my 8th graders grappling for books and begging to borrow copies of my novels. It's like they've just discovered how pleasurable reading can be and are making up for lost time. Moments like these are what make teaching such a blessing!
I couldn't ruin their excitement for the novel and tarnishing this pleasurable experience with a stale, pointless, multiple choice test. Last year we created HUNGER GAMES FAN T-Shirts as part of our final exam (which we will do again before our Hunger Games Arena Competition, but that is another post). This year students could work in a group (no larger than four members) and choose from the following options:
1. Gadgets of the Capitol - Many gizmos and gadgets are referred to in the pages of The Hunger Games. Select one or many of the gadgets you found interesting or worthy of further exploration. Create a commercial or advertisement for the gadget in which you give a description and function of the item.***I had three funny, creative, and down-right exceptional commercials submitted by students for this area of study. A group used the box that Katniss places her hand on to dry and part her hair. Using a wig, they cut from a boy with wet hair placing his hand on the box, to the same boy with a ridiculous wig on his head. "The Helping Hand Hair Genie" was a fabulous commercial! I will post it when (and if) I can obtain parent permission...it's too amazing not to share!
2. Cinna's Creations - Cinna was Katniss's stylist who helped to make her a memorable contender before the start of the Games. Recreate Cinna's fashions through drawings, fabric, or any other medium you desire. Be sure to include a description from the text when you present each outfit. Here are a few grainy pictures of a PHENOMENAL project sumitted by my 8th graders:
Using doll clothing patterns and their combined sewing/painting skills, this group went ABOVE AND BEYOND the call of duty.
This dress was HAND PAINTED by a student to mimic the flames described on Katniss's interview gown.
Katniss's opening ceremonies costume. Using the doll and putting her in the costumes of the opening ceremonies seemed somewhat symbolic to me. These characters in the books are just children; children being paraded around the Capitol for mere entertainment value.
3. Muttations - The Capitol used the genetically altered DNA of animals and humans to create MUTTATIONS. Select one or all of the muttations mentioned in The Hunger Games and create an informative poster, or you can even create a model of the mutt. You must have a description of the muttation from the text and describe what role the mutt had in the novel. (For example, the mockingjay was a symbolic to Katniss because the bird reminded her of her father.)
This is the wolf mutt, GLIMMER! Notice the green eyes and the jewel inlaid District 1 on her collar? Not what I would call a cuddly creature!
4. The Arena - Recreate the Arena by drawing a map, creating a scale model, or through computer animation and graphics. Select a certain area of the arena (like the Cornucopia), or create the ENTIRE domain of Katniss and Peeta's suffering! Include textual descriptions and do your best to stick to the novel's depictions of the Arena.
Model of the Cornucopia created by a FABULOUS group of students in my class this year. Check out the attention to detail!
The Cornucopia and it's mini-supplies.
See all of the tiny tributes poised on their metal plates? Such effort put in to this project!
Posted by Lenzi at 7:09 PM
Labels: The Hunger Games
5 comments:
yay! hunger games! just started it and love it!ReplyDelete
Those projects are great!! Thanks so much for sharing the picturesReplyDelete
We just featured your blog in our Airtime Assault feature on our Hunger Games site Down With The Capitol. You can check it out here: http://www.downwiththecapitol.net/2010/12/airtime-assault-11-hunger-games-in.htmlReplyDelete
We love your approach to the books and teaching! Thank you so much for sharing!
This is SO awesome! Way to go you! You're students took their ideas and soared with them! We need more teachers like YOU to make our children's minds TICK!!!ReplyDelete
Thanks for featuring my students work. They will be so proud! We have so much fun with the book and it teaches them so many things about literature that a textbook just can't do.ReplyDelete
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The Stories Behind Some of History's Most Controversial Theatrical Productions
A play is causing a ruckus amongst our friends on the other side of the pond. The Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Marat/Sade (The Persecution and Assassination of Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade) — originally written by Swedish playwright Peter Weiss — seems to be too "perverse" for British audiences. Ironically, the production was first staged at the RSC in 1964, where it was applauded for its progressive, avant-garde approach. Nearly 50 years later, up to 80 audience members a show are walking out on Marat/Sade — which is set in an insane asylum and revolves around inmate the Marquis de Sade's play about the assassinated Jean Paul Marat. This play isn't the first controversial theatrical work that upset audiences, however. Hit the jump for a look at other "shocking" stage productions.
Spring Awakening
Banned throughout history due to what many have considered to be pornographic subject matter, German playwright Frank Wedekind's Spring Awakening was initially criticized for its portrayal of 19th century German teens who question the social and sexual mores of the time. The epic theater pioneer's work has since gone on to win multiple Tony Awards for its musical Broadway adaptation — featuring songs by Duncan Sheik (yeah, the guy who wrote "Barely Breathing" in the '90s) — but when Wedekind's play first hit theaters in the early 20th century, many didn't look kindly on its extreme subjects of rape, abuse, and abortion.


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Researchers have long suspected that stress does the body harm, but bulletproof clinical evidence linking stress to heart attacks and other disease has been elusive partly because stress is such a personal and variable thing. Only recently have such studies started to gather critical mass, and researchers have begun calling on clinicians to include the diagnosis and treatment of stress in the routine care for patients with conditions like AIDS and heart disease. "Every layman knows that stress is a cause of heart disease," says Dr. Kristina Orth-Gomer, who has been studying stress and cardiology for 25 years, and now works at Stockholm's Karolinksa Institute. But she feels that physicians have been slow to put that knowledge into practice. "Lately, that is beginning to change. The evidence is more convincing now," she says.
Two studies published this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and the Archives of Internal Medicine lend support to her cause. The JAMA study, led by researchers at the Université Laval in Quebec, finds that first-time heart attack patients who returned to chronically stressful jobs were twice as likely to have a second attack as patients whose occupations were relatively stress-free. The study tracked 972 first-time heart attack survivors, aged 35-59, all of whom went back to work within 18 months of their heart attack for at least 10 hours a week. In periodic follow-up interviews between 1996 and 2005, those patients who reported chronic job strain defined as a job that was high in psychological demands but low in feelings of control were not only at higher risk for a second heart attack, but also had a markedly higher risk of death than their less-stressed peers. Studies like this may strengthen the link between stress and disease, says Orth-Gomer, whose editorial accompanies the Canadian study in the October 10 issue of the journal, but, she says, it's only a beginning: "The other argument is, of course, what do you do about it?"
One solution: Find practical ways for doctors and nurses to screen and help treat the kinds of stress professional and personal that put their patients at risk. Right now, it isn't part of standardized practice for cardiologists, for instance, to evaluate their patients' feelings about a taxing job or a difficult marriage. But doctors should be asking these questions, says Orth-Gomer, and it's incumbent upon the medical community to make them part of routine care.
Joining her call for intervention is Sheldon Cohen, a psychology professor at Carnegie Mellon University and author of a commentary, which also appears in the current issue of JAMA and examines the effects of psychological stress on a variety of major diseases. Cohen's review of past studies finds that stress particularly "social stressors" like divorce and the death of a loved one often triggers clinical depression or worsens it, and causes relapses in people who have recovered. The report also suggests that stress may quicken the progress of the disease in AIDS patients, and, like the Canadian study, finds that chronic stress exacerbates heart disease. "There is a fair amount of evidence that the relationship [between stress and disease] exists enough to start asking whether reductions of stress would reduce disease outcomes," says Cohen, adding, "People have not been asking [this] question."
The problem is that many doctors don't have the time to ask. Highly specialized physicians like cardiologists and oncologists are busy, and few of them have time for long, leisurely doctor-patient conversations. "It's ironic that as we're getting a broader picture of how important stress levels are to physical health, we're simultaneously cramming appointments into shorter and shorter periods of time," says Dr. Daniel Brotman, director of the Hospitalist Program at Johns Hopkins Hospital and author of a review paper on emotional stress and heart health, which was published in the September issue of The Lancet. Brotman acknowledges the strong link between stress and cardiovascular disease, but he doesn't think it's realistic to ask doctors to screen every patient for stress. "We say to ourselves as physicians, 'Well, there's not a lot I can do about the fact that your wife left you,'" he says. "So much of what we face in our lives is stress that we can't do a whole lot about."
What can be changed, however, is the way doctors listen to their patients' health concerns. If a woman complains of chest pain, for example, but says it only bothers her when she's feeling "worked up" but not on the treadmill or climbing a flight of stairs her physician should interpret her emotional state as a real, physical risk factor, says Brotman. "The trigger is emotional, and physicians tend to blow that off," he says. "Traditional Western medicine has really endeavored to think of the body as a machine, and disease as how the machine breaks down. [Doctors can be] reluctant to think of the mind and body as being part of that same machine."
There are a number of ways that stress can recalibrate our physical machinery. For starters, stressed-out people tend to neglect their health in general they eat poorly, sleep badly, don't exercise and smoke and drink too much behaviors that don't exactly promote well-being. Stress also triggers the body's endocrine systems, prompting the release of hormones that play out in the body in a variety of ways: they might, for instance, irritate lymphatic tissue that in turn alters our immune functions, or they might simply cause the resting heart to beat faster. "Anybody who has almost been hit by a bus knows how much emotional stress can rev up your cardiovascular system," says Brotman. "But having frequent bouts of fight or flight is not something we're designed to do." That's where chronic stressors become physical threats.
And, still, many patients fail to acknowledge that those threats exist. For some, admitting to stress feels like a sign of weakness; others resign themselves to it, as if it were an unavoidable dimension of life. So most of us simply carry on with our 15-hour workdays and fraught relationships. In another study published in the October 8 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers at the University College of London followed a group of about 9,000 civil servants for 12 years and found that people who experienced negative close relationships marked by conflict and fighting had a 34% higher risk of a coronary event than those with low levels of negativity in their closest personal relationships. The emotions that play out in a bad marriage for instance, the authors write, have a direct, cumulative "wear and tear" on organs and tissues that may leave people at greater risk of illness.
A stressful job or a bad relationship may not send all of us into depression or to the ER statistically speaking, most of us weather the stresses of life just fine but for now it's impossible for doctors to predict who will be susceptible and who won't. So, whether it's a matter of quality of life, or life and death, it's probably good advice for the stressed-out folk among us to take a breather now and again. "With chronic stress, we may not feel it in our cardiovascular systems, but we do feel drained," says Brotman. "It's hard to imagine going through those periods and not thinking, 'This has got to be bad for me.'"


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Whitaker returns to take reins at Texas Tech
Lubbock, TX – Texas Tech has named Candace Whitaker its new women's basketball coach.
Whitaker was the head coach at the University of Missouri-Kansas City for six years before spending last season as the associate head coach at Oklahoma State. She played for the Lady Raiders for two seasons and helped the team to a pair of Sweet 16 appearances in the NCAA Tournament.
"I am excited to welcome Candi back to Texas Tech," said Texas Tech athletic director Kirby Hocutt in a statement Monday. "It is indeed special to have a former student-athlete return to lead a program that they were a significant part of. Her leadership characteristics as a starting point guard and coach, her ties to West Texas, her experience as a Division I head coach, as well as the fact that she is a Red Raider makes her the perfect fit to lead Lady Raider Basketball into the future."
Whitaker posted a record of 77-93 at UMKC. She was also an assistant at Valparaiso for two seasons before joining the UMKC staff as an assistant in 2004.


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I do believe that good audiophile gear sounds better than cheap consumer gear, but unfortunately this whole thing is muddied by all the nonsensical ideas that audiophiles insist on putting out there.
Is cable quality an issue when using digital signals?
Speakers are still (mostly) analog; does cheap wire make THAT much of a difference? Or, as in the article, none at all?


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Brewers end skid, down Rangers
Milwaukee, WI – Yuniesky Betancourt smashed a two-run home run and Aramis Ramirez had a solo homer as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Texas Rangers, 6-3, in the first of a two-game set.
Carlos Gomez hit a two-RBI double and Ryan Braun drove in a run for the Brewers, who snapped a five-game losing streak.
Brewers starter Wily Peralta (3-2) allowed three runs -- two earned -- on five hits over six frames and Jim Henderson pitched a scoreless ninth to notch his seventh save.
Mitch Moreland knocked a solo shot while Adrian Beltre and Nelson Cruz also drove in one run apiece for the Rangers, who entered the game off a 9-2 makeup loss against the Cubs. Starter Justin Grimm (2-2) fanned seven but gave up five runs on eight hits and three walks in five innings.
"Its a little frustrating," said Grimm. "I made some good pitches, but I made some bad ones too. Personally, it just didn't work out for me."
The Brewers scored five runs in the first. Grimm allowed three straight singles by Norichika Aoki, Jean Segura, and Braun, who scored Aoki. Three batters later, Gomez ripped a double, bringing Segura and Braun home. Betancourt followed that with a two-run blast.
"It was nice to have a good first inning, to put people on," said Brewers manager Ron Roenicke. "It's really nice, especially after you're not scoring runs."
Texas responded with a one-out homer by Moreland next inning.
Four innings later, Jeff Baker, pinch-hitting for Grimm, singled to lead off the inning and later scored on a fielding error by Aramis Ramirez. Nelson Cruz hit a sacrifice fly to bring Elvis Andrus home, cutting the deficit to 5-3.
Ramirez made up for his blunder with a two-out solo shot in the seventh.
Henderson came in the ninth for the Brewers. He allowed a two-out double by David Murphy, but got Craig Gentry to ground out to end the game.
Game Notes
Aoki and Segura were both 2-for-4 with a run scored ... The Rangers were 0- for-5 with runners in scoring position ... The Brewers improved to 10-3 when they score first ... Texas has lost three straight Interleague games for the first time since May 22-June 21, 2010.


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