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Anchoring the News
Jeff Daniels stars in the newest Aaron Sorkin show, "The Newsroom," on HBO, a behind-the-scenes look at today's media world.
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Still, it was all about the timing. Daniels had ignored series television for most of his career, because, aside from the fact that it rarely offered the kind of quality he sought, it also would have meant long absences from his family (he has three children) in Chelsea, Michigan, the hometown where he and his wife have lived since returning there in 1986.
But with his youngest daughter in college, Daniels (who has an apartment in New York) felt freer to take on a longer Broadway run like God of Carnage, and to consider a television series that would have him working in Hollywood for long stretches. So he consulted Carnage castmate Gandolfini.
"He asked me what to look for in a series and I said, 'Get a great writer,' " Gandolfini says. "You need a great show-runner. The great TV shows have a guy or two in the front who are very passionate about the work. And he's certainly got that in Aaron Sorkin. I think it's a perfect vehicle for him."
For his part, Daniels was looking for work that would challenge and fulfill him in the same way that films once had. While he still landed the occasional role in bigger budget studio films (such as 2009's State of Play), those were fewer and farther between, which left the independent-film world. That offered some strong roles, including Bernard Berkman, the self-absorbed novelist and father in 2005's The Squid and the Whale, for which he received a Golden Globe nomination, and the little-seen The Answer Man in 2009. But, again, those kinds of roles came along too seldom to be satisfying.
"I became disenchanted with the independent-film scene," Daniels says. "I was getting offered a lot of 'asshole father' roles, after I did Squid and the Whale. People would say, 'Oh, you were so great in that,' and then I'd get a script with a role for an asshole father who was in about four scenes. I've done a lot of independent films and nobody sees those. And since the economy went south, half the independent distributors have folded. Things changed and, for a guy like me, they didn't change for the better.
"HBO is where the writers are. After I looked at several things, along came this script by Aaron Sorkin—and I chased it."
And then HBO chased him: "When we read the pilot, in part because the character is a newscaster, there are whole pages of dialogue for him. We were wondering who could pull it off, because Aaron writes with a certain cadence that's really challenging for a lot of actors," Lombardo says. "So it had to be someone smart and fresh. Then Jeff's name came up and we thought that was an interesting choice. He's the right age, and he's got the good looks. When he read for it, there was no question after we heard him that Jeff Daniels was the best choice. After he read, we couldn't imagine anyone else. It was so clear that Jeff was made for this role.
And then HBO chased him: "When we read the pilot, in part because the character is a newscaster, there are whole pages of dialogue for him. We were wondering who could pull it off, because Aaron writes with a certain cadence that's really challenging for a lot of actors," Lombardo says. "So it had to be someone smart and fresh. Then Jeff's name came up and we thought that was an interesting choice. He's the right age, and he's got the good looks. When he read for it, there was no question after we heard him that Jeff Daniels was the best choice. After he read, we couldn't imagine anyone else. It was so clear that Jeff was made for this role.
"It was the perfect confluence of actor and role. You never see Jeff act; there's an ease with which he inhabits the role. You never feel as though there's a speech or a monologue going on; it's just this character talking. Jeff does that better than any actor I've ever seen."
It's a quality Daniels had from the start—even before the start—of his career: the ability to mix the serious with the silly, to be funny and heartbreaking, glib and vulnerable within the same scene. His talent was apparent to Marshall Mason, one of the founders of New York's Circle Repertory Company, who discovered Daniels while Mason was a visiting director at the University of Eastern Michigan one summer in the mid-1970s. "He was unusually honest in his work," Mason says. "He had this natural, innate talent."
Mason was a visiting professional at Eastern Michigan, imported to Ypsilanti in 1976 to direct a college production of Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke for a summer repertory season. But he was having trouble casting the central male role, a young doctor who has an affair with a prim older woman.
"Then in walks this big blond boy, this big jock who looked like he'd strayed in from the football field," Mason recalls. "It was Jeff; he was a student at Central Michigan—and his reading was a miracle. He put himself in my hands and did everything I asked in the exploration of the character."
"I think Marshall saw a simplicity, an honesty and truthfulness in what the character was saying," Daniels says. "I think I had that back then. I don't know how, because I was very raw. Marshall would give me a direction and I'd execute it with a simplicity that I guess was unusual for a 21-year-old college actor."
Says Mason, "Jeff was very funny but also very serious about the work. I talked to him about his experience and, in fact, he did play football. But he had also done musicals and plays at school and enjoyed that. He was just a natural, honest actor who showed a natural talent.
"I never encourage anyone to be an actor but I felt strongly about him. I said I'd do anything in my power to help him. I offered him an internship at Circle Rep, which paid, I believe, $50 a week, and he came to New York."
It was the moment that changed Daniels' life. He left Michigan for New York and, almost immediately, landed a role in a Circle Rep play visible enough to earn him an agent. He kept working there, and then playwright Lanford Wilson wrote a role specifically for him.
The play, The Fifth of July, played off-Broadway, then was presented in Los Angeles. When it went to Broadway—with a cast that included Christopher Reeve and Swoosie Kurtz—Daniels rode it all the way to a Tony Award nomination in 1981. Hollywood called shortly afterward—a small part in Milos Forman's Ragtime, followed by career-making roles in Terms of Endearment and The Purple Rose of Cairo.
Asked what his life would have been like had he not met Mason during that fateful summer, Daniels shakes his head and offers a rueful smile.
"I would have gone to New York to try acting and maybe lasted a year," he says. "I'd probably be back in Michigan, helping my brother run the lumber company with my dad. I'm not sure the lumber company would have been better off if that had happened. But the lumber company is still there and my dad and brother are still running it.
"I owe my career to Marshall," he says. "Not only did he pull me out of Michigan, he kept me in New York. With each passing year, I knew more what I was doing—but I didn't initially. But Marshall and Lanford kept saying, 'You're good. Stay here.' "
His parents were supportive, despite the fact that he hadn't finished college: "Before Marshall came, they'd seen four years of me starring in high-school musicals and community theater. There was obviously something going on above and beyond what the other kids were doing. They knew that, somehow, this was what I should be doing. But they didn't know how I should go about it.
"Then Marshall said, 'I know what you should be doing with your life.' He wanted me to drop out and go to Circle Rep. Here's a guy from New York, saying, 'Come join my theater company.' And my parents said, 'You should go.' "
Mason chuckles as he disputes one part of Daniels' story: "If I'd known he had only finished his junior year and was leaving college to come, I never would have offered."
The shock to Daniels' system—moving from Michigan to Manhattan in the mid-1970s—was significant. "I came from a small town in the Midwest to Dante's Inferno with Central Park," he says. "That was a lot to deal with. But after two years, I was OK."
Once he was launched in movies, he found himself working with a variety of directors whose work he admired, cast in leads in work as diverse as The Purple Rose of Cairo (in which he replaced Michael Keaton after Woody Allen decided Keaton was wrong for the role), Jonathan Demme's Something Wild in 1986 and Robert Altman's TV production of The Caine Mutiny Court-Martial in 1988.
"With Jonathan, you knew it was a Jonathan Demme movie just from the way he shot it," Daniels says. "There was this energy he had—like he would have done it the same way whether the budget was $100 million or $100,000. It's this excited attitude of 'Look what we get to do for a living.'
"Bob Altman would create these train-wreck stagings, this kind of creative mess—and the messier the better. And it brought this surprising energy to the work. With Woody, well, I got to play not one but two roles. A lot of actors would have retired after that. The first thing Woody said was, 'This script is not the Bible or written in stone. If you need to change it, go ahead.' But, if he needed you to say it a certain way, he'd say so. Still, it made me want to say the lines word for word.
"Altman, Demme and Woody all shared this quality of saying, 'Why don't you do this and see what happens?' and then they'd say, 'Rolling.' They were trying to make something happen during that first time between 'Action!' and 'Cut!' You might flame out, but if you don't, then you might have something great. I call them happy accidents. You create them by winging it to see what happens."
Daniels is a one-time cigar lover, who gave them up a few years back: "I was into Romeo y Julietas, the Cuban ones. It was partly the excitement of the contraband—who did you know who could get them from Canada? My grandfather and my uncle always had a cigar in their hands. So when I smoked, it always brought back fond memories."
In his career, Daniels has played a rogues' gallery of characters—everything from oily villains (State of Play) to cartoon characters made flesh (101 Dalmatians), from 19th-century war heroes (Gettysburg) to corporate bigshots (Good Night, and Good Luck) to taciturn lawmen (Infamous).
But his real love was theater—and so, when he and his wife moved back to Michigan, he put his energy into creating a professional company in his hometown. The Purple Rose Theater Company, which he founded in 1991 in Chelsea, started in a garage and has grown into one of the town's economic mainstays, a regional center where theater professionals can work, playwrights can see their work performed and area residents can see professional theater in rural Michigan. (Chelsea is in the central part of Michigan's lower peninsula, about 50 miles west of Detroit.) Daniels put his own time and money into the theater, writing plays for it that have become a regular part of its annual schedule.
"I've been involved with it for 20 straight years. They've done 14 of my plays and I have a 15th that will be part of the coming season," he says. "Over the last few years, I've turned the running of the theater over to people who are there everyday. The actual management no longer needs or requires me.
"The theater was designed for professionals who maybe went to New York or Los Angeles but didn't get a break. They're back in Michigan, but they still have talent; it just went undiscovered. They're Equity actors, and now they've got a professional theater within a half hour of their home.
"I brought back everything I learned at Circle Rep, that sense of collaboration with playwrights. Someone said to me that Purple Rose was born the day I set forth from Chelsea for Circle Rep."
Daniels was able to satisfy his own long-dormant stage urge when he was cast in Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage, which became the Tony Award-winning sensation of 2009. A four-character play in which he appeared with Gandolfini, Marcia Gay Harden and Hope Davis, it detailed an increasingly uncivilized meeting between two pairs of upscale New York parents who get together to discuss an act of playground violence by one couple's son against the son of the other. The four actors argued, fought, destroyed property—and even dealt with a moment of projectile vomiting—in an intermission-free, 90-minute cage match, a dark comedy of recrimination and shifting alliances that ultimately pitted couple against couple, husband against wife and men against women.
"It was a real workout. If you weren't in some state of exhaustion at the end, then you didn't do it right," Daniels recalls with a smile. "There were nights where I would verbally spit on Jim from across the stage and just treat him like shit. We'd get offstage and he'd say, 'God, you're being a sonuvabitch tonight.' "
Gandolfini praises Daniels for helping him through the rehearsal process: "I hadn't done a play in a long time and Jeff was very patient," he says. "We did 300-plus performances together and got along great. That was part of the success of the play."
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HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH Original Broadway Cast Album Out July 1st!
Atlantic Records will release the Original Broadway Cast Recording of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, the most nominated musical revival of the season, featuring Tony Award nominees Neil Patrick Harris and Lena Hall. The album is produced by HEDWIG composer Stephen Trask, Tony Award nominated sound designer and platinum-selling record producer Tim O'Heir, and the production's music director Justin Craig. The album is executive produced by Elie Landau and David Binder.
On July 1, the album will be available digitally everywhere and available on-site at the Belasco Theatre. Other retail outlets will begin selling the physical album Tuesday, July 15.
In addition to Harris and Hall, the album also features: Justin Craig (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Matt Duncan (bass, vocals), Tim Mislock (guitar, vocals), and Peter Yanowitz (drums, vocals).
HEDWIG composer and album producer Stephen Trask said, "Anyone who has spent more than five minutes with me in the last three months knows how excited I am by the new versions of these songs. The talents of Neil and Lena and this amazing f*cking band have made these the best version of the score ever. After years of working with Justin Craig and a decade and a half recording with Tim O'Heir, producing these recordings as a team with them has been everything I could have hoped. I think we truly captured the brilliance of these great performers. If any band wants to learn any of these songs, these are the versions they should study."
The release comes 15 years after Atlantic released the cast recording for the original Off-Broadway production in 1999 and 13 years following Atlantic's release of the original motion picture soundtrack for the film incarnation.
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, the musical with book by John Cameron Mitchell and music and lyrics by Stephen Trask, directed by Michael Mayer has received eight Tony nominations including Best Musical Revival, Best Actor (Neil Patrick Harris), Best Featured Actress (Lena Hall), Best Director (Michael Mayer), Best Scenic Design (Julian Crouch), Best Costumes (Arianne Phillips), Best Lighting (Kevin Adams), and Best Sound Design (Tim O'Heir). In addition, the production has been honored with Best Musical Revival by the Drama League and Outer Critics Circle Awards and has been nominated in the same category by the Drama Desk Awards (being awarded Sunday, June 1).
"Internationally ignored song stylist" Hedwig Robinson (Neil Patrick Harris) brings her fourth-wall-smashing rock and roll saga to New York to set the record straight about her life, her loves, and the botched operation that left her with that "angry inch."
HEDWIG is Harris' first appearance on Broadway since he starred as The Balladeer/Lee Harvey Oswald in the 2004 Tony-winning revival of Assassins. His other Broadway credits include Proof and Cabaret. He recently wrapped production for the final season of the beloved CBS comedy "How I Met Your Mother" and has been honored with four Emmy Awards: three for his acclaimed hosting of the Tony Awards and another for his guest-starring role on "Glee." Harris can be seen in Universal's A Million Ways to Die in the West opening this weekend and the upcoming films Gone Girl (Fox) and The Good Dinosaur (Disney/Pixar).
HEDWIG has inspired a generation of young theatre writers and audiences. This wickedly funny and heartbreaking show was called "the Best Rock Musical Ever" by Rolling Stone and "the most exciting rock score written for the theatre since, oh, ever," by Time Magazine.
HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH was originally produced by David Binder off off Broadway at Westbeth and then, under the direction of Peter Askin, ran over two years at the Jane Street Theatre beginning in February 1998. The musical won the Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical and both John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask won Obies in 2001. It won a 1998 New York Magazine Award and Entertainment Weekly's "Soundtrack of the Year" Award. Time Magazine named HEDWIG the Top Musical of 1998.
The film of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, directed by John Cameron Mitchell, won the Audience Award and Best Director Awards at Sundance. Mitchell won the Best New Director from the National Board of Review, the Gotham Awards, and the LA Critics Society. Stage productions have played for many years in Japan and in 2008, Korea hosted a popular televised reality show about the search for a new star to play Hedwig.
The creative team for Hedwig and the Angry Inch features Emmy Award nominee Spencer Liff (musical staging), Drama Desk Award winner Julian Crouch (scenic design), two-time Oscar nominee Arianne Phillips (costume design), three-time Tony Award winner Kevin Adams (lighting design), Mike Potter (hair and makeup design), platinum-selling record producer Timothy O'Heir (sound design), Benjamin Pearcy for 59 Productions (projection design), James Calleri (casting), Tony and Grammy Award nominee Ethan Popp (music supervisor & music coordinator), Justin Craig (music director), Liz Caplan (vocal supervision), and Stephen Gabis (dialect coach).
David Binder, who first produced HEDWIG in 1997, is producing the musical on Broadway with Jayne Baron Sherman, Barbara Whitman, Latitude Link, Patrick Catullo, Raise The Roof, Paula Marie Black, Colin Callender, Ruth Hendel, Sharon Karmazin, Martian Entertainment, Stacey Mindich, Eric Schnall, and The Shubert Organization. 101 Productions, Ltd are the executive producers.
Atlantic Records celebrated its 65th Anniversary in 2013. Founded in New York City, the label literally grew from a one-room operation into one of the world's preeminent music companies. Atlantic has released a string of recordings that have had a profound impact on the course of modern music, its rich history including such musical icons as Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin, John Coltrane, and Led Zeppelin. The Atlantic Records Group roster today includes many of the world's most popular recording artists, among them James Blunt, B.o.B, Christina Perri, Coldplay, Death Cab for Cutie, Ed Sheeran, Flo Rida, fun., Lupe Fiasco, Bruno Mars, Matchbox Twenty, Janelle Monáe, Jason Mraz, K Michelle, Shinedown, Rob Thomas, Trey Songz, Wale, Wiz Khalifa, Zac Brown Band, and many more.
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

subset: commoncrawl


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Which Texas A&M recruit is the next Johnny Football?
Saturday in New York City Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel won the Heisman Trophy with the whole world watching on ESPN.
One of the many viewers of the Heisman ceremony was a high school quarterback committed to Texas A&M who some believe could be the next Johnny Football.
As ESPN's Damon Sayles writes, Southlake Carroll quarterback Kenny Hill could someday be Kenny Football at A&M.
"Hill, the electric dual-threat quarterback at powerhouse Southlake Carroll, doesn't ask for it, but he hears the comparisons on a daily basis," Sayles said. "Because of what he's accomplished in his third year starting for Carroll, and because he's a Texas A&M commit, people are having a good time comparing him to Manziel, A&M's starting quarterback and the talk of college football."
Like Manziel once was, Hill is a three-star quarterback who can throw the ball affectively but uses his feet to elevate his game.
Hill rushed for five touchdowns and threw for over 300 yards and another score in Carroll's heartbreaking 49-45 defeat at the hands of Desoto in Saturday's regional round the Texas 5A playoffs.
His numbers are as impressive as Manziel's and only begin the comparison's. Despite his loss to Desoto, Hill is a winner having taken the Dragons to a state championship in 2011.
"I'm loving the intensity that they play with," Hill said of the Aggies. "I love how the offense is playing. They're rolling in each game. Even if they don't get out to a quick start, they pick it up real quick. It's fun to watch them put up points, and us recruits just want to keep it rolling."
If Hill lives up to the very early comparison's he will indeed be keeping the ball rolling for the Aggies picking up right where Manziel left off as a future A&M quarterback.


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Editors' Note: Download.com has chosen not to provide a direct-download link for this product and offers this page for informational purposes only.
Sponsored Products
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Publisher's Description+
From Goldenfound: Global satellite map is a very high resolution global satellite image mosaic of the earth,These images have been collected during 2000-2004, and one of the bands has a ground relative resolution of 15 meters, or 50 foot. Once in the browse mode, you can click on the image to recenter the view, and use the zoom control at the top left of the page to control the detail level.
read more +


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Athletic Philosophy
The program of Educational Athletics in West Ottawa Public Schools is an essential element of a student's instructional experience. West Ottawa Athletics is a part of the district's goal to advance and promote the community-developed "Learner Exit Outcomes." Participation in athletics increases instructional time, prepares young people for future life in society, and has been shown to be the highest correlating predictor for high school students' later success in life. Participation in a co-curricular activity is an essential part of a complete learning experience. It should be viewed as an extension of the learning process. We are striving to provide a program of which the student body and community will be proud. Success shall be measured not only by the number of wins and losses but also by the type of individuals who graduate through our program. Student/athletes should understand that participation in athletics is an honor and carries responsibilities to the team, school, and community. It is important that we teach and practice good sportsmanship, respect, self discipline, teamwork, and self-esteem. While winning is always desired, it should not be the driving motivation of our program. Our goal is to help guide the student-athlete in his/her quest to be the best student-athlete and person he/she can be. GO WO!
Sports Offered
Fall: Boys & Girls Cross Country, Football, Girls Golf, Boys Soccer, Girls Swim/Dive, Boys Tennis, Volleyball, Boys Water Polo, Sideline Cheer
Winter: Boys & Girls Basketball, Competitive Cheer, Competitive Dance, Hockey, Boys Swim/Dive, Wrestling
Spring: Baseball, Boys Golf, Boys & Girls Lacrosse, Softball, Girls Soccer, Girls Tennis, Boys & Girls Track, Girls Water Polo
Athletic Physicals
Student-athletes in grades 7-12 must have a physical dated April 15 or later to tryout or participate in athletics. Physical forms are located under WO HQ on this site. Physical forms can also be picked up at any of the middle schools or high schools.
Program Improvement Form
West Ottawa athletics is working very hard to be the best athletic program around. If you would like to share your ideas on how we can improve as an athletic program, download the attached SWOT form and send it to Pat Marsman, 3685 Butternut, Holland, MI 49424. SWOT
Athletic Ticket Prices
Adults:$5.00, Students: $3.00 (K-12)
Senior Citizens: 62+ admitted to contest free with proof of age.
All-Sports passes are good for HOME events only, EXCLUDING: Multi-Team Tournaments and MHSAA Tournaments.
Athletic passes can be purchased at West Ottawa North High High School athletic office from 9:00-4:00.
Athletic Department Staff
Pat Marsman
Athletic Director
3685 Butternut
Holland, MI 49424
(616) 994-5030
Fax 994-5191
Karen Dykema
Athletic Secretary
616 994-5030
Keith Schaap
Macatawa Bay Middle School
Athletic Coordinator
616 786-2031
Ron Allen
Harbor Lights Middle School
Athletic Coordinator
616 786-1030
Deb Murdoch
Middle School Secretary
616 786-1030


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RAC Tip: How to Determine Inpatient Admission Date, Time
This past summer when the first Recovery Audit Contractor (RAC) approved the issue "inpatient admissions without a physician's inpatient admit order," it placed an impetus on hospitals to tighten up internal processes to avoid RAC audits and potential recoupments at their facility.
Recently, CMS released guidance on hospital inpatient admission decisions, that shows there is still confusion and room for improvement.
One seemingly prevalent hot-button issue is the date and time for an inpatient/observation admission to an acute-care facility. The admission date and time is determined by the physician's "admit to inpatient," order, but sometimes the correct course of action is not so clear.
For example,ifa physician makes the decision to "admit to inpatient" at 11 p.m. on January 1, 2011, the inpatient admission date would be 11 p.m. But if the patient is in the emergency room at this time and the order is written at 11 p.m. and the patient is not transferred until midnight, what is the proper time to document?
This is not an uncommon scenario according to Debbie Mackaman, RHIA, CHCO, regulatory specialist for HCPro, Inc., who suggests that when it comes to determining the proper course of action, providers should look toward CMS manuals for guidance, in particular the Medicare Claims Processing Manual, Chapter 3, § 40.2.2.
The manual says that a patient is considered an inpatient upon issuance of a written physician's order for inpatient care, and if the patient dies/is discharged prior to being assigned and/or occupying a room, the patient is still considered an inpatient on the date of admission and the hospital may charge for room and board, Mackaman says.


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I have had several people request that I add a search feature to my blog. I have finally done this, using "Google Search." You can find the search feature on the left sidebar.
Please note that the search engine searches both of my blogs (From Where I Sit and Working Smart) at the same time. This is a technical limitation with Google Search (it can't search subdomains), but I think it's actually a nice feature.


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"Who would Kronos have been working with in 1914?" asks the quartet's David Harrington in the programme notes for this multimedia element in the Edinburgh International Festival's First World War strand.
National divides aside, the answer would appear to be Rachmaninov, Webern, Ravel, Stravinsky and (closer to home for this San Francisco-based ensemble) Charles Ives, as works by these composers, plus 78rpm records, piano rolls and traditional Eastern European themes, are woven into a musical tapestry entitled Prelude To A Black Hole.
For the second half of the concert, the big screen behind the quartet bursts into life, as Beyond Zero: 1914-18 - Bill Morrison's assemblage of archive film and Aleksandra Vrebalov's musical composition - follows a path through an artillery barrage of repeated rhythms and brief but expansive moments of release to depict war and moral chaos.
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Scratches, burns and bubbles crawl across the nitrate footage like some living, viral thing, as images emerge from, and are then consumed by, the organic beast of history. The jolly pride of signing up and undergoing training is suddenly undercut by a brutal edit that shows dead bodies on the battlefield and planes falling from the sky. But if it's true that a picture is worth a thousand words, then the Kronos Quartet prove that, in the right context, a chord is worth a thousand pictures, whether an atonal assimilation of a world torn apart or a classical Turkish lament that carries the unbearable pain of all humanity in a single note.


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Harbhajan Singh wasn't picked on emotions: Sandeep Patil - NDTv
Wed, May 20, 2015, 07:25 PM
Off-spinner Harbhajan Singh made his way back into the Indian Test side after a span of two years. Harbhajan has been picked as one of the three spinners in the Indian squad for the one-off Test vs Bangladesh next month. BCCI selection committee reacting on this off spinner's selection has clarified that he is picked on pure merit but not depending on the emotions. . . . . . .


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Children's Wear Senior Class: Backtrack – Prepping for the Critic's Visit
So this past Wednesday, our critic Bonnie Young visited to make her picks and make tweaks for what she wanted to be sent down for judging. But hold on a minute, what exactly happened before that?
So what exactly goes into prepping for the Critic's visit?
Running around like a beheaded chicken. No, I'm just joking. Basically you just want to show your best work possible, bottom line. For some that brings more stress than others. I think my fellow Children's Wear gals handled everything pretty well, and there were many who really exceeded expectations, at least in my opinion.
Contrary to popular belief, Children's Wear is NOT the "easy specialization". It's not the one you chose just because you want an easy time. Proportions are important. You have to think in a totally different way from Women's Wear. It's extremely technical as well (excellent pattern making skills are KEY.) One huge plus side to Children's Wear though is yay less fabric yardage! But don't get me wrong, it is less stressful. If you're considering Children's Wear, go for it!
Now for photos! Let's see some more of what everyone was up to in the weeks leading to the critic's visit as well as some garments you may have never seen…
(You can click on the photos to make them larger by the way!)
The amount of student work I have to share is limitless! Stay tuned, in my next post I will be showcasing something different, Boys fashion! You thought it was girls girls girls? Nope, we do have a few boys garments over here in C706, *Hint: Get a teeny preview of that back over at the Fitting Post here!
Fashion Show judging is actually this week (yikes, hell week!), but I'll have full coverage of that a bit later on, so look out for that too, but for now, shameless plugs for the Children's Wear family! We've worked hard and everyone will be sure to see.
Category: Aria, Children's Wear


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Feature Story
Moving the sicker quicker with ER point-of-care
March 2004Anne Paxton
Stressed by staff shortages and deluged with ever-sicker patients, many
of the nation's 4,000 emergency departments have reached a crisis point. If
ever-quicker laboratory testing at the point of care can't rescue the ED, can
it at least make life there easier?
It's a question more and more hospital labs and EDs are asking as they contemplate
the wider test menus, snap-in cartridges, and automated features of new point-of-care
testing instruments on the market.
As Christopher Fetters, president of the consulting firm Nextivity, York, Pa.,
sees it, "POC tests should have an impact on the quick treatment of acute
patients and/or affect the flow of patients in the ED-the front door to your
hospital." But, he adds, they won't work unless the tests benefit patients,
are easy to use, and make financial sense.
"We're seeing increased interest in our type of testing so emergency departments
can move patients faster through that decision point of treat or discharge,"
says Ron Newby, director of marketing for Nova Biomedical, maker of the Stat
Profile Critical Care Xpress.
This kind of "process reengineering" can pay dividends, research
has shown. One study of efforts to reduce crowding and ED patient length of
stay, at Massachusetts General Hospital, found dramatic improvements after a
point-of-care testing satellite laboratory was added to the ED.
Though the differences in length of stay were not significant for individual
tests, the combined effect of providing glucose, pregnancy, urine dipstick,
CK-MB, and troponin tests in the satellite POC lab (which reduced test turnaround
time by 87 percent) was a shorter length of stay-by 41.3 minutes.
Emergency departments often see patients who waited too long to see the doctor-and
the ED's first question is which of them can wait a little longer. But triage
has become more complicated in recent years. Despite lingering perceptions that
the growing ranks of the uninsured use the emergency room for routine primary
care, the state of California found the number of critically ill visits at EDs
increased by 59 percent between 1990 and 1999, and urgent visits went up 36
percent. In 2001, only 9.1 percent of emergency visits were classified as nonurgent.
Under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act, emergency departments
are the only guaranteed means in the U.S. for the uninsured to receive medical
care-a circumstance emergency physicians blame for the spike in ED closures
over the last decade.
Those that remain are under greater pressure to triage patients quickly yet use staff efficiently. To help ease the process, many are opting for a POC service that is midway between the bedside and the central laboratory.
"What we do is probably more 'point of service' as opposed to POC,"
Newby says. "But 'bedside' is not really the point. The point is the right
tests measured in the right time frame."
Though people tend to think of point of care as "next to the patient,"
it's really more temporal than spatial, agrees Janice Zimmerman, MD, director
of medicine emergency services at Ben Taub General Hospital, Houston.
An urban level-one trauma center with 580 beds that serves a primarily indigent
population, Ben Taub gets approximately 100,000 ER visits a year, Dr. Zimmerman
says. The ER has its own stat laboratory, in which a Nova analyzer is used for
venous and arterial blood gases, eleclytes, renal function, and glucose testing.
In addition to the Nova analyzer, another analyzer is used for CBCs along with
urine dipsticks and a kit for pregnancy tests.
"Our nurses are already stretched too thin, and I don't want the nurses
distracted by a device at the bedside. So the decision was made here that any
satellite or stat laboratory would come under the main lab," she says.
But it wasn't a formal analysis of the tradeoffs involved in adding POC testing
to the ER that moved hospital administrators to buy into the concept. That didn't
happen until one summer a few years ago when the hospital's computer system
"When the system went down, the lab would have to generate handwritten
reports or we would call the laboratory for every result, and with such high
volume here, it was just not feasible," Dr. Zimmerman says.
"Although the staff had been asking for a stat lab for some time, that's
how we got started. They put in a machine for us to do electrolytes and renal
function, then we lobbied to expand it to a stat lab."
ED physicians at Ben Taub try to be practical about what they request. "I'm
willing to wait a little longer to know their bilirubin," Dr. Zimmerman
says. "If it's high, there's no emergency action. But a high potassium-yes,
there is emergency action. Whether we'd add cardiac enzymes at this point, I
don't think it will help, because when we looked at the volume and our processes,
that information would not justify the additional expense unless other system
changes were made."
Manijeh Danaye-Elmi, MS, MT (ASCP), is chemistry manager for
Community Medical Center, a three-hospital system in Fresno, Calif. The three
separate ERs, along with the intensive care and cardiovascular units, use Nova
analyzers handled through the same point-of-service system, with the laboratory
in charge of not only instrument quality, maintenance, and QC, but also immediate
real-time monitoring through Nova's Patient Data Management, or PDM. The ER's
specimens are analyzed in the laboratory through the Nova analyzer using whole
blood; they're not analyzed at the point of service.
"The result comes directly to the laboratory before it gets posted to
the HIS," Danaye-Elmi says. "The nurses are trained in how to collect
samples, order tests, and introduce samples to the analyzer for analysis, but
they do not see the result until the laboratory posts it first."
"When an audio signal goes off at a station in the laboratory, that means
somebody has put something through the instrument. So you look at the patient's
history, check for instrument error or problems with the analytes or critical
values, then you say, 'I'm going to release the result." After that it
goes through the LIS and HIS, then to the user." On average, turnaround
time is less than seven minutes, depending on the results-critical, delta-check
failure-or instrument error flag, if any.
"We call it remote review," Newby says. ìThe results are measured
at the point of service by the POC operator or respiratory therapist and transmitted
to the laboratory for someone to review, then released back to the instrument.
It only adds a few seconds to the TAT, but it gives the laboratory a sense of
control because they're trained to pick up things that might be wrong."
Ten years ago, capturing data at the point of care was "not something
we did," Danaye-Elmi says. "But the blood gases and some of the metabolic
tests are too important to just leave out there without knowing what they're
doing. Our medical director was constantly pursuing the idea of getting a data
manager to capture dataóideally in real time, not a month later."
The Nova analyzer does metabolic tests including sodium, potassium chloride,
glucose, BUN, creatinine, lactate, ionized magnesium, and ionized calcium as
well as blood gases. Danaye-Elmi is now evaluating Nova's new analyzer with
more automated QC and a test for creatinine, which would complete the menu.
Where the Nova instruments are placed depends on each hospital's layout. "At
the Fresno hospital," Danaye-Elmi says, ìwe have instruments in the NICU
for babies, the ICU and CVU, short-stay surgery, and recovery pediatric acute
care unit, and we have one in the laboratory which is also a whole blood analyzer
for the ER, because the distance between the ER and laboratory is very short,
while the ICU and CVU are on the 10th floor." The university
hospital, on the other hand, has two instruments in the ICU, one in the OR,
and one in the main laboratory which serves the ER through a tube, only one
floor away. In the Clovis, Calif., hospital, the Nova analyzers are in the lab
Nova's instruments offer automated QC. "Whenever you're at the point of
service, automated QC is very important. But we're really seeing it in the respiratory
therapist and laboratory market, because there are fewer people available to
do that type of work," Newby says.
But Tim Lynch, product manager for Instrumentation Laboratory's
Gem Premier 3000, says it is rare for a laboratory to review results before
releasing them to the operator of the POC analyzer. In his view, there are real
"The primary issue with suppressing results so they can be reviewed by
the laboratory is that a technologist must be available at all times to review
the results quickly,î he says. ìOtherwise the purpose of having the testing
performed at the point of care is lost."
Given the shortage of technologists, he notes, those on staff have limited time to dedicate to real-time review of results from other areas.
He defines "point of care" based on where the testing is performed,
not by the technology that's used. "We have a number of customers who test
at the point of care where an analyzer resides in a fixed area near a patient,"
Lynch says.
Companies with handheld devices tend to view point-of-care as bedside testing,
he says. "But we have found that rarely happens, since in many cases a
handheld device must be brought to a fixed area to download or print patient
results." Testing isn't complete, in his view, until the results are in
the patient chart, mainly through hospital or lab information systems.
"The difference in turnaround time is really due to the process that's
followed," Lynch says. "We have Gem Premier 3000s in both POC settings
and in laboratories. The benefit of point-of-care testing is reducing the time
between when a sample is drawn and when it's analyzed and acted upon."
South Shore Hospital, Weymouth, Mass., has had Gem Premier 3000 analyzers for
about two and a half years. "The units we have are not what I consider
POC testing," says Charles Arienti Jr., MSM, RRT, director of respiratory
care at South Shore. "The Gem 3000 analyzers are centrally located so they're
always within 100 feet of where you are. We station one in the ER, one in the
operating room, one in the CCU, and one in our Level-three NICU."
With the second busiest ER in the state, Arienti says, South Shore's ER does
about 6,000 blood gas tests a year, and sending them to a central laboratory
would be impractical. "Not to have a blood gas lab in the ER would be awful,"
he says.
Most blood gas results are produced in less than two minutes. "They're
all interfaced with the hospital information system,î he says, ìso the data
transfers immediately from the analyzer into the HIS and will print out automatically
at that unit where the patient is."
Arienti is a fan of the Gem Premier 3000's onboard quality management system,
Intelligent Quality Management, or iQM, which is designed to deliver automated,
real-time QC.
South Shore reconfigured its Gem Premier 3000 analyzers to the automated iQM
system last July. "Basically, blood gas machines can be relatively complex,"
Arienti says. "With iQM, the analyzer does its own QC. So the system runs
numerous controls all day, depending on the level of use, from 9 QCs to 27 QCs
in the course of the day.
"That's so much more than any hospital would run if they were doing it
manually. If at any time the analyzer fails QC or it detects a problem it cannot
resolve itself, it shuts itself down. So it's a dramatic timesaver for the staff
because they don't have to do manual QC and manual repair."
"If you inject in the NICU, breakdowns always happen because you get Wharton's
jelly [the mucoid connective tissue of the umbilical cord] in the machine, and
it plays havoc with the electrodes. With the older type of analyzer, it would
literally take three hours to take the machine apart, clear the lines, change
the membranes, and put it back together. Here, if we manage to do that, it takes
a matter of a few minutes to put a new cartridge in."
"This weekend I was told we got a call from a hospital 10 miles away that
runs an older analyzer asking if we have any calibration solution, and the therapist
laughed and said we don't do that anymore."
Analyzers of the greatest use in the ER do more than blood gas testing. "ICUs
are entirely different because lots of patients are on ventilators anyway. If
you look at the patient population presenting to the ER, it is a minority of
patients that require blood gas first. The primary concern is more likely to
be electrolyte balance or glucose or lactate levels, so the more of these tests
you add, the more applicable the analyzer is to the ER."
Kevin Hopkins, RRT, director of respiratory care for Hutcheson Medical Center,
Fort Ogelthorpe, Ga., says problems with test interference led his hospital
to consider changing the cartridge-based system it uses for testing blood gases.
"We use a lot of sedatives to ventilate, and that interfered with the
handheld test results, so we still had to send the tests to the benchtop. We
wanted a product we could place in strategic positions throughout the hospital,
including the ER, so we'd always be a matter of seconds from a blood gas machine,
and not revert back to a benchtop that might be several minutes away,"
Hopkins says.
"Before bedside testing was in vogue, we had these long walks. The laboratories
were never located in close proximity to the ICU or ER. Now we have a machine
right in the next room, we can get the blood gas going, and we're in the line
of sight of the patient and back with numbers ready to make treatment changes
in less than three minutes."
Fetters says some of the POC products on the market are impractical
for the ER and even confusing to laboratorians. But others are well suited to
the task and more than cost-effective. For example, he said in a February online
discussion sponsored by the American Association for Clinical Chemistry, "a
$26 set of cardiac markers that allows you to risk-stratify a patient having
crushing chest pain and send them to the right place in your hospital the first
time is a no-brainer. It's good for the patient, it's good for the flow of the
ER, it's good for the CCU which doesn't have to monitor a patient without an
MI, and it's a test that's easy for the staff to perform."
Instrumentation Laboratory's iQM is another example. One reason it has been
so well received by point-of-care coordinators, Lynch says, is that CLIA regulations
place responsibility for patient testing on the person who maintains the CLIA
license, most often the pathologist or laboratory director, and "iQM gives
laboratories more confidence in the reported results."
Since iQM was launched in February 2003, every customer but one has purchased the Gem Premier 3000 with this feature, and 80 percent of customers who purchased before the launch have converted to iQM, Lynch reports.
At Memorial Hermann Hospital, Houston, for example, 500 to 600 nurses are using
15 Gem Premier 3000s. "The POC coordinator is very happy with them because
they are easy to use," Lynch says, "and iQM gives the users peace
of mind. If there's any problem with the instrument-for instance, there is insufficient
heparin in the syringes or a clot develops because it's not mixed properly-iQM
automatically recognizes it, takes automatic corrective action, checks to ensure
it worked, and disables testing if it hasn't. That all happens without the laboratory
getting involved."
Laszlo Sarkozi, PhD, director of the chemistry department and professor of
pathology at Mt. Sinai Medical Center, New York, says two Gem Premier 3000s
have been placed in the ED in the last six months, in part because of laboratory
budget cuts. "The laboratories had to reduce personnel. And we wanted to
see if some of these tests could be performed in the ED, which would improve
patient care and save technician time."
He contrasts emergency department testing with POC testing in the operating
room. "In the OR, we have people such as respiratory therapists who are
really trained and familiar with instrumentation. And in the emergency department
they are often inexperienced or newcomers and they rotate in and out. It's the
nature of the unit."
"For a while, the nursing and medical staff flooded us with phone calls
in spite of the training they received," Dr. Sarkozi says. "They didn't
have experience with the instrumentation and requested a lot more training and
"But pretty soon," he adds, ìthey realized that packing the specimen
and sending it to us is more time-consuming than getting a syringe and injecting
it into the instrument. So even if the work is different, it takes less time
and effort on their part than sending it to the laboratory."
The ED is happy about the instant availability of results and the avoidance
of problems such as pneumatic tube breakdowns. "The chairman of the emergency
department bumped into me a couple of weeks ago and said it's a real lifesaver,"
Dr. Sarkozi reports.
"We don't have the dollars-and-cents evaluation," he adds, "but
we noticed that in the last six months our laboratory workload from the ED was
reduced by at least 30 percent-and it's a great help to us because we're able
to reassign our staff who used to do this work."
Anne Paxton is a writer in Seattle.


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To exist, foresight products as well as warnings must be delivered to those who must act upon them, the customers, clients or users. Furthermore, they must be provided in a timely fashion. This criterion of timeliness is extremely important. It means that customers or users will have enough time to decide and then implement any necessary course of action as warranted by foresight.
Timeliness: enabling the coordination of response
Most often, the challenge of timeliness is thus understood as stemming from the need to conciliate on the one hand the dynamics which are specific to the issue, object of anticipation, and on the other the related decision and coordination of the response.
Let us take the example of Peak Oil, i.e. the date when "world oil production will reach a maximum – a peak – after which production will decline" (Hirsch, 2005, 11) which implies the end of a widespread availability of cheap (conventional crude) oil. The phenomenon is now well documented and relatively widely recognized, from scientists' reports, associations, institutions and books (see, for example, the creation of the Association for the Study of Peak Oil & Gas in 2000 , Robert Hirsch report (2005), the Institut Français du Pétrole (IFP), Thomas Homer Dixon, Michael Klare or Jeff Rubin), to web resources such as The Oil Drum or Energy Bulletin to finally the International Energy Agency (IEA – it recognised the peaking of Peak Oil in 2010, e.g. Staniford, 2010), despite still some resistance by a shrinking number of actors.
Notwithstanding other impacts, Hirsch estimates that 20 years of a "mitigation crash program before peaking" would have allowed avoiding "a world liquid fuels shortfall" (Hirsch, 2005). Assuming that oil peaked in 2006, as evaluated by the IEA, if we had wanted to have an energy mix of replacement for the now gone cheap oil, then we should have decided implementing and then coordinating a response… back in 1986. Thus SF&W on this issue should have been delivered some time before 1986.
Obviously, this did not happen, even if one starts finding rare articles regarding Peak Oil earlier (e.g. the 1974 miscalculated warning for a global Peak Oil happening in 1995 by M. King Hubbert (Wikipedia 'Predicting the timing of Peak Oil') and much later Colin J. Campbell and Jean H. Laherrere, "The end of cheap oil," Scientific American, March 1998). Why?
Timeliness, credibility and biases
Jack Davis, writing on strategic warning in the case of US national security, hints at the importance of another criterion linked to timeliness, credibility:
"Analysts must issue a strategic warning far enough in advance of the feared event for US officials to have an opportunity to take protective action, yet with the credibility to motivate them to do so. No mean feat. Waiting for evidence the enemy is at the gate usually fails the timeliness test; prediction of potential crises without hard evidence can fail the credibility test. When analysts are too cautious in estimative judgments on threats, they brook blame for failure to warn. When too aggressive in issuing warnings, they brook criticism for "crying wolf."
For Davis, credibility is the provision of "hard evidence" to back up foresight. Of course, as we deal with the future, hard evidence will consist in understanding of processes and their dynamics (the model used, preferably an explicit model) added to facts indicating that events are more or less likely to unfold according to this understanding.
Credibility is, however, also something more than hard evidence. To obtain credibility, people must believe you. Hence, biases of the customers, clients or users must be overcome. Thus, whatever the validity of the hard evidence in the eyes of the analyst, it must also be seen as such by others. The various biases that can be an obstacle to this credibility have started being largely documented (e.g. Heuer). Actually, explaining the model used and providing indications, or describing plausible scenarios are ways to overcome some of the biases, notably out-dated cognitive models. Yet, relying only on this scientific logic is insufficient, as shown by Craig Anderson, Mark Lepper, and Lee Ross in their paper "Perseverance of Social Theories: The Role of Explanation in the Persistence of Discredited Information." Thus, other ways to minimize biases must be imagined and included, that will most probably involve time. The possibility to deliver the SF&W product will be accordingly delayed.
Credibility and more broadly overcoming biases are so important that I would go further than Davis and incorporate them within the very idea of timeliness. This would be much closer to the definition of timely, according to which something is "done or occurring at a favourable or useful time; opportune" (Google dictionary result for timely). Indeed there cannot be timely SF&W if those who must act cannot hear it.
If the SF&W product is delivered at the wrong time, then it will be neither heard nor considered, decisions will not be taken nor actions implemented.
More difficult, biases also affect the very capability of analysts to think the world and thus to even start analysing issues. We are there faced with cases of partial or full collective blindness, when timeliness cannot be achieved because SF&W analysis cannot even start in the specific sectors of society where this analysis is meant to be done.
This is most probably what happened for our example of Peak Oil. If a model existed, created by M. King Hubbert, the initial miscalculation led to some loss of credibility as those denying peak oil underlined and still emphasize, even though King Hubbert model was not wrong. Analysts in SF&W in the early 1980s were more preoccupied with the Cold War than concerned by anything else. Afterwards, the system that had won against the Communist world could not even be thought not being perfect. Such highly disturbing threats that could question the prevalent worldview could not be envisioned. Had they been, they would most probably have been discarded first by policy makers then by political leaders. Furthermore, a host of actors had interest in a permanence of the ideological setting, which would have made the possibility to see a very early foresight work on peak oil develop very remote indeed (I am emphasizing here unconscious reactions and "deafness," not hidden maneuvers).
Timeliness as the intersection of three dynamics
Thus, to summarize timeliness is best seen as the intersection of three dynamics:
- The dynamics and time of the issue or problem at hand, knowing that, especially when they are about nature, those dynamics will tend to prevail (Elias, 1992)
- The dynamics of the coordination of the response (including decision)
- The dynamics of cognition (or evolution of beliefs and awareness) – at collective and individual level – of the actors involved.
To understand each dynamic is, in itself, a challenge. Even more difficult, each dynamic acts upon the others, making it impossible to truly hope to achieve timeliness if the impact of one dynamic on the others is ignored.
For example, if we continue with our initial case of Peak Oil, having been unable to even think the possibility of Peak oil in the early 1980s has dramatically changed the current possible dynamics of the response, while both the cognitive delay and the absence of previous decisions and actions have orientated the dynamics of the issue towards some paths, while others are definitely closed. Any SF&W delivered on this issue now is quite different from what would have been delivered 20 years ago, assuming it could have been heard.
To acknowledge the difficulty of finding the timely moment, and the impossibility to ever practice an ideal SF&W in an imagined world where everyone – at individual and collective level – would have perfect cognition is not to negate SF&W. Answering this challenge with a "what is the point to do it now as we did not do it when things were easy/easier" is childish. On the contrary, fully acknowledging hurdles is to have a more mature attitude regarding who we are as human beings, accepting our shortcomings but also trusting in our creativity and capacity to work to overcome the most difficult challenges. It is to open the door to the possibility to develop strategies and related tools to improve the timeliness of SF&W, thus making it more actionable and efficient:
- Creating evolving products that will be adapted to the moment of delivery;
- Using the appearance of groups, communities, even single scholarly or other work on new dangers, threats and opportunities as potential weak signals that are still unthinkable by the majority;
- Developing and furthering our understanding of the dynamics of cognition and finding ways to act on them or, to the least, to accompany them;
- Participating fully in the current effort, which has just started within societies, at re-designing decision systems and response capabilities.
1st edition of this article: 14 Sept 2011 – This is the 2d edition. [lastupdated]
Anderson, Craig A., Mark R. Lepper, and Lee Ross, "Perseverance of Social Theories: The Role of Explanation in the Persistence of Discredited Information," Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 1980, Vol. 39, No.6, 1037-1049.
Campbell, Colin J. and Jean H. Laherrere, "The end of cheap oil," Scientific American, March 1998.
Davis, Jack, "Improving CIA Analytic Performance: Strategic Warning," The Sherman Kent Center for Intelligence Analysis Occasional Papers: Volume 1, Number 1, accessed September 12, 2011.
Dixon, Thomas Homer, The Upside of Down: Catastrophe, Creativity and the Renewal of civilization, (Knopf, 2006).
Elias, Norbert, Time: An Essay, (Oxford: Blackwell, 1992)
Hirsch, Robert L., SAIC, Project Leader, Roger Bezdek, MISI, Robert Wendling, MISI Peaking of World Oil Production: Impacts, Mitigation & Risk Management, For the U.S. DOE, February 2005.
International Energy Agency (IEA), World Energy Outlook 2010.
Klare, Michael, Blood and Oil: The Dangers and Consequences of America's Growing Dependency on Imported Petroleum, (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2004; paperback, Owl Books, 2005).
Klare, Michael, Rising Powers, Shrinking Planet: The New Geopolitics of Energy (Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated, 2008).
Rubin, Jeff, Why Your World is About to Get a Whole Lot Smaller: Oil and the End of Globalization, Random House, 2009.
Staniford, Stuart, "IEA acknowledges peak oil," Published Nov 10 2010, Energy Bulletin.


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Last week's new recipes were such a home run, I am hoping this lineup doesn't fall flat! 🙂
Sunday – Chicken Cacciatore with Spaghetti
Monday – Fish Piccata with Capellini and Broccoli
Tuesday – Pork Roast with Fall Vegetables
Wednesday – Chicken Tarragon with Brown Rice and Peas
Thursday – Smothered Beef and Potato Burritos with Black Beans
Friday – Homemade Pizza
I love it when I discover new recipes worthy of adding to our meal rotation. Last week, I was able to find not just one, but three of those. I'll share one today, but be sure to stay tuned for the others.
Most of y'all know that I don't tend to use my Crock Pot often. This recipe, though, made me happy to have dusted it off and put it to good use. I found it in September's issue of Southern Living, in an itty bitty sidebar ad. It was a very lucky find! The adobo used here adds a spicy, smoky flavor we really enjoyed. I served this soft taco-style with cilantro, sour cream and lime wedges.
Sweet and Spicy Braised Pork
3 lb. boneless pork shoulder roast
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 cans diced tomatoes with garlic and onion
1 medium sweet onion, chopped
1 to 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chopped
2 Tbsp. cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. dark brown sugar
1/4 tsp. ground cumin
Sprinkle pork with salt and pepper. Cook pork in hot oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat 2-3 minutes on all sides or until pork is browned.
Stir together tomatoes and next 5 ingredients in a 5-qt. slow cooker. Add pork, turning to coat. cover and cook on HIGH 5 hours or until pork is fork-tender. Transfer pork to cutting board, and let stand 10 minutes. Shred pork with 2 forks. Return shredded pork to slow cooker, and stir until blended. Season with salt and pepper to taste, if desired. Serve immediately with a slotted spoon.


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Atletico Madrid vs Benfica Prediction, Betting Tips and Preview Very good match for betting and placing our bets in Champions League on Tuesday evening. Atletico Madrid takes on Benica and we will watch very tough football match. Both teams will play very aggressive football and their main objective for this ...Read More »
Home / Tag Archives: Atletico Madrid vs Benfica Betting Tips


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found a new home!
Plenty of my friends are looking
for one too. Find a pet to adopt.
I am already spayed, up to date with shots, good with kids, and good with cats.
A few things they enjoy:
more food
more fun
(you can see their subtle tabby striping.)
Their story...
They were handed over in a box to some people on a Bushwick sidewalk by a stranger. The people who accepted the kittens were concerned they would go into the wrong hands but were in no position to foster so they reached out to KITTY RIOT. They initially took them to a Brooklyn shelter but were told that since they were to capacity the kittens would most likely be euthanized. We've been nurturing these kids for nearly three months. They were so tiiiiny and just barely walking around.
Swoon, a Ridgewood Domestic Shorthair kitten was adopted! Here's how you can benefit by looking at adoption as an option to buying a Domestic Shorthair for sale in Ridgewood, or seeking a Domestic Shorthair kitten from a breeder in Ridgewood.


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"The Mighty B" Prime Time Special "Dragonflies" Premieres June 12, 2009
Nickelodeon has announced The Mighty B's primetime special "Dragonflies" will be premiering on Friday, June 12, 2009, at 8:00 PM (Eastern), and also released a still from the episode (right, click to enlarge). The official Nickelodeon episode synopsis is:
"It's summertime in San Francisco and the Honeybees are enjoying a day at the Rec Center pool until they are rudely interrupted by their rival troop, the menacing and cutthroat Oakland Dragonflies. Before they know it, the Flies are even claiming the Rec as their own, which means no more Honeybee meetings. The turf war is on, and the rival troops agree to go head-to-head in a series of challenges to determine who will win the ultimate prize – an infinity reservation at the Rec."


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Martini Battle Brewing
Drink a martini or two or three for the sake of a kid! What????? Eight local restaurants are doing their part to help a local organization dedicated to getting kids help after a parent or sibling has died.
Martini's 11 is a fundraiser were on "Tini Tuesday" a martini is featured at one of eight participating restaurants. People can print a coupon at http://www.healing-house.org that is good for one free signature ABSOLUT martini with the purchase of an entree at that Tuesday night's participating restaurant.


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Dodge Repair Questions? Ask a Mechanic for Answers ASAP
I'm unclear whether your Dakota can be made to run. You stated that it blows fuses and as soon as the gas line is out of fuel, it stops. Please break that down a little more for me.
Can you get the fuel pump running by cranking the engine?
Does your CHECK ENGINE lamp do a bulb test when they key is turned on? It's designed to do a 2-3 second burn, then shut off at key-on.
Which fuse is the one that blows? If it's underhood, the power distribution center (PDC) will have identification of the circuits by number. If it's under the dash, get me the fuse number (unless you know what circuit it affects). Also let me know what you have to do to cause the fuse to fail.
The relay... Do you feel it's always on? Or is this something that comes on with the key or during cranking?
We'll stop there for now. I do have to work today, but I can check for responses from time to time from you. Get back to me when you can. My name is Ed.
Thanks, Forrest. You pretty much answered the part about the CHECK ENGINE lamp by telling me the engine will run if fuel is poured into the throttle body. That tells me the PCM is awake and producing spark.
While you're out there, you may be able to pull some codes from the engine controller. You use the same CHECK ENGINE lamp to extract flash codes. If your battery is low, get the codes first, so they won't be lost later.
To put the powertrain control module (engine controller/PCM) into diagnostic mode, you turn the ignition key from off to on three times or more within five seconds. Leave the key in the on position to get the flash codes.
The light will burn a bit longer than you're used to seeing once you enter diagnostic mode. At the completion of the burn, the light will go out and pause for several seconds. Blinking starts after that.
All codes it dispenses will be binary, having two digits. The first set of flashes will indicate the first number. A short pause separates the two digits, then the second one is flashed.
At the completion of that code, you will have a longer pause before the next set is flashed. It goes on like this until you read code 55, which means end-of-test. You should always get 55 if the system is working properly. Repeat the test as many times as it takes for you to become familiar with the drill... you'll catch on fast. Let me know what codes you see.
Now, the fuse. I have wiring schematics available to me today, but I probably couldn't determine which fuse it is without a name (number/ circuit ID) from the fuse cover index.
Having your fuel pump hard-wired sure indicates to me that there have been issues in the past with that cirucuit. Sounds like you bought it that way. But you're still having problems getting the fuel pump running? If you can (I know, this is getting long), let me know what's been modified and what manner it was done in.
Back to work now. We'll talk later. Ed
We're getting closer. The ASD relay is energized as soon as the key is turned on for about a second. There was no dedicated fuel pump relay or circuit in 1992 for 2.5 engine Dakota only. The ASD output was shared with fuel pump, injector (just one), ignition coil, oxygen sensor and PCM (allowed PCM to set a code, should no ASD output be present).
Your short could be anywhere among these locations, but it sounds like you have something going with the fuel pump. If you can disconnect the fuel pump and not blow a fuse, it looks like you have it localized. The add-on wiring concerns me, though. If there is any way to remove the overlay harness and go back to the factory system, I would sure recommend that. The fuel system must stop pumping in the event of an accident, and I'm not sure that's a possibility the way it sits now.
Should it turn out that the fuel pump or its circuit isn't at fault, go around a unplug each of the above listed items one at a time. If it still blows the fuse, you're going to be looking for a harness short somewhere. Pay particular attention to areas where the harness may bend around metal objects (cylinder head rear) or touch sharp metal edges (valve cover, mounting studs, etc).
There's a handy tool sold by Harbor Freight (among others) that consists of a circuit breaker (20a) and a magnetic detector gauge. If you have a short, connect the breaker into the circuit. It will immediately open the circuit, but will in the process create an electromagnetic pulse that the detector (looks like a compass) can pick up. You scan the detector over the harness, waiting for the breaker to reset/break. Each time it does, the pulse can be picked up as you move along, until you pass the short. Then the pulse weakens considerably or disappears completely. I don't know what I'd do without mine. I've worn out several over the years. It comes with better instructions than this, so don't worry. Good stuff.
I believe you're well on your way, Forrest. Stick with it and you'll be at the end of the road in no time. Thank your friend for me, too. I'm going to cut you loose for now, but I'll still be here, should you need additional help. That's what I'm here for. Take care, Ed.


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I Am 84 Years of Age and Until a Year Ago Had Exceptionally Good Skin, I Had Been on HRT for many years. After diagnosis of breast cancer, mastectomy and treatment,(resulting in loss of estrogen) I have lines around my mouth and other aging symptoms. Would you consider whatever treatment is available to improve my problems?
Treatment for Skin Aging After Breast Cancer and Mastectomy (Age 84)?
Doctor Answers 1
Aging skin after breast cancer treatment
You may benefit from the use of antioxidant creams. There are a whole host of such products and you should see a board certified dermatologist to evaluate your skin. Revale intensive repair cream and TNS Essential Serum might help but it may take several months of constant use to see the improvement. If this is not enough, then consider a non-invasive rejuvenation procedure such as Fraxel Restore laser series of treaments. Best wishes for a speedy recovery.
These answers are for educational purposes and should not be relied upon as a substitute for medical advice you may receive from your physician. If you have a medical emergency, please call 911. These answers do not constitute or initiate a patient/doctor relationship.


text: I'm guest posting over at a fun new blog today, called The Lil' Peanut Patch. This site has lots of great tips, tricks, and ideas for your little peanuts. For back to school, I've posted about school supplies and what I love to do with them. Come on over to The Lil' Peanut Patch to see what I collect this time of year.


text: Sometimes the best way to really understand something is to teach it. When it comes to jiu-jitsu, breaking a technique down into steps (not too many, not too few) and finding the best way to convey the underlying principles often helps clarify things in your mind. I've been doing a lot of this with the berimbolo sweep recently. … [Read more...]


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Investors have pushed the shares in wealth-management software developer
The share price has turned around from a low of 8.5¢ last May to close last week at 22¢, spurred by a number of factors including the possibility of a sale.
The company appointed Macquarie Capital Advisers to help its board evaluate several approaches from prospective buyers at the end of 2010, and has remained tight-lipped on progress since.
Global private equity group 3i, which is listed on the London exchange, and US private equity player Francisco Partners are thought to be two of the potential suitors.
JPMorgan analyst Alexander Mees said the company was offering good value for investors, and he had an "overweight" rating on the stock.
He said there was a compelling argument that Bravura represented a good takeover target, but the ultimate direction of the business would come down to the wishes of majority shareholder Ironbridge Capital.
The private equity house has been a key backer of Bravura since it bought in through its Carp Advisory subsidiary during a capital raising in 2009.
"Ironbridge are clearly in the box seat and no transaction could possibly occur without their blessing," Mr Mees said.
Ironbridge Capital did not return calls about its plans for its holding in Bravura before publication.
Mr Mees said Bravura had strengthened its position in the UK and European market significantly after bedding in its £19 million acquisition of record keeping software house Mutual Fund Technologies, bought last year.
He said recent strengthening of the pound, and confidence brought about by co-founder Simon Woodfull's recent ascent to the chief executive role could also explain the heightened enthusiasm for Bravura shares.
He said the underlying market for Bravura's services was gradually improving, and recently announced contract wins were well-timed as investors looked for reasons to buy into firms that would have previously been seen as a gamble.
While admitting that it would be slow going before significant spending crept back into the IT and financial services sectors, Mr Mees said it was starting to happen locally and in the UK.
"There is a general increase in risk appetite around the stockmarket at the moment where people are looking for undervalued stories with potential for significant leverage into a recovery," Mr Mees said.
"Bravura is certainly that. It has sorted out the balance sheet, after having some problems in the recent past, and I think people are looking at the company and seeing an opportunity because it is structurally undervalued at a time where the finances are repaired and its core markets are starting to turn."
Bravura will announce its half-yearly results on February 23.
The Australian Financial Review


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It's safe to say that no other Burger King fry cook ever reached the culinary heights of Craig von Foerster, who turned a fast-food job at age 14 into an influential career at one of the country's finest restaurants.
On Sunday, von Foerster finished his final 12-hour shift as chef in the kitchen at Sierra Mar at Post Ranch Inn in Big Sur. On Monday, his "family" there threw him a farewell garden party from the resort's breathtaking perch above the Pacific.
"It's overwhelming, the outpouring of emotion of saying goodbye to people you've been standing beside for the better part of your life," said von Foerster by phone during a break in the celebration. "All the rest fades away and changes, and what's left are the relationships."
What can never fade away are the accomplishments of this veteran chef, 50, who leaves Sierra Mar with a long list of awards and accomplishments. He took over the kitchen at Sierra Mar in 1998, a few years after it opened.
Hired by restaurant founders Tony and Tricia Perault, von Forester helped elevate the dining experience at Sierra Mar to dizzying heights. After the Peraults sold the restaurant to the resort in 2006 the accolades continued; most recently the restaurant has won Top Eclectic Cuisine in California by Zagat two years running.
Von Foerster focused on seasonal and regional offerings with a passionate energy, and was known for changing his menu daily. His eclectic approach fused California fare with French, Asian and Mediterranean influences.
"You can learn so much about food just by listening to people from different cultural backgrounds talk about their food memories ... what you hear is about the soul of their food, not its science," he said.
Visitors from all over the world, including big-name celebrities, came to Post Ranch for luxury, privacy and stellar cuisine.
As far as his food goes, von Foerster has been too busy striving for perfection to think about his place in any culinary Pantheon. "I just wanted to evolve as a chef and expand what I do, and build relationships with truly amazing people," he said. "I've always thought I would move on to something else at age 50. Well, it's time."
Turning 51 in August, von Foerster plans to move to Missouri with his wife Tamara, who inherited a family farm there. He wants to "slow down and simplify." That may mean making artisan cheeses, or opening a charcuterie, or running a small farm-to-table restaurant where he runs his own show.
"I'm proud of what we accomplished here," he said. "It's just time."
Post Ranch already conducted a search for von Foerster's replacement and it came down to two local chefs, Sierra Mar's current executive sous chef Matt Millea and executive chef John Cox of Casanova in Carmel. In the end the nod went to Cox, who starts in two weeks with Millea as his right-hand man.
"Matt singlehandedly helped us jump to another level with outstanding work," von Foerster said. "And now Matt and John will make a great team."
With big chef shoes to fill.
The foie finale
As the foie gras countdown reaches 11 days, prices for the delicacy have doubled, chefs have devised menus with every possible version of the dish, and gourmands plan one last fatty liver binge.
California's ban against the product begins July 1, and the state's lone producer, Sonoma-Artisan Foie Gras Farm, has already packed up its operation (rumor has them moving to Nevada).
Prices have skyrocketed to more than $60 a pound for the top-grade lobes, but chefs aren't blinking because the impending ban has produced a late-stage demand.
"People are asking for it," said chef Brandon Miller of Mundaka in Carmel. "I just wanted to go out with a bang."
Miller has added five foie menu items, including hanger steak with foie gras butter and saffron chickpea fritter, Chesapeake soft-shell crab with foie gras mayonnaise, and house-cured lomo with foie gras toast with a 40-minute egg. For dessert look for a foie flan and black pepper caramel with fresh berries. Miller also toys with the idea of boning a duck, stuffing it with foie gras and creating a decadent duck roulade.
Miller says he knows a number of chefs also planning private parties "to eat all the leftovers."
Curious use of space inside the large barn at the south end of The Barnyard Shopping Village, with the addition of Erik's Deli Café as a tenant. One could argue that the 32-store regional chain doesn't fit with the high-end, no-franchise mentality at the Barnyard, but no mall can afford a long-term vacancy. Look for the doors to open Monday ... Sunday marks the one-year anniversary for much-ballyhooed Restaurant 1833 in Monterey. From a James Beard Best New Restaurant nomination to a nod from the Robb Report, there's been a lot to savor from this trendsetting newbie. Chef Levi Mezick's food and a creative cocktail program keep the buzz alive into a second year ... As a precursor to the 45th Monterey Scottish Festival on July 7-8, plans have been unveiled for The Great Scot Whiskey Tasting to benefit the Monterey County Fair Heritage Foundation. Sipping begins at 7p.m. on Saturday, June 30, at the Turf Club at the Monterey Fairgrounds. Tickets are $35 in advance and $40 at the door. Look for whiskey-tasting stations (Glenlivit, Hankey Bannister, Jamison's, Balblair, Dalmore, Old Pulteney and more) along with light appetizers. Kilts are optional ... Round out your beach picnic with a boxed lunch from Wild Plum Café and Bakery in Monterey. All July the downtown hot spot runs two promotions: Choose between a to-go boxed lunch (sandwich or salad, fruit, cookie and chips) for $9.95 and a barbecue box dinner (barbecued chicken, roll, potato salad, roasted corn salad and a sweet treat) for $12.50. Call 646-3147.
Mike Hale is a food writer and blogger from Monterey. Write to him at firstname.lastname@example.com and read more at www.thegrubhunter.com.


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Details & Care
A sleek, slim-fit case with an artistic, elegant design provides streamlined protection for your iPhone 5 while allowing easy access to all ports and controls. Collect different designs of Luardi snap-on back covers and change your iPhone 5's look whenever you feel like it.
- Fits the iPhone 5.
- Plastic.
- By Luardi; imported.
- Item #631484


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Meet Mozart
This is Mozart, so called because J was playing Mozart on the piano when he dropped in on us.
He was not able to fly very high but managed to waddle over into our yard this afternoon(after the barking guard dog was restrained with dog treats) and he quickly made friends with the boys.
Mozart really likes blue thongs and eating seeds from hands.
He followed us around, so we figured he was not going to go back to where he came from (and may get harassed by the noisy guard dog again if he did) so we put him in a cosy box until the wildlife officer arrived.
The boys decided he was a cockatiel, which are not local to this area, so this bird must be a pet gone awol.
We enjoyed our visitor today...who will it be next?
Labels: Home Education, Play
Historic Apollonian Hotel
Whilst visiting Boreen Point, we spotted this lovely old (1860's) Hotel and had to have a look.
It was too early for lunch unfortunately, but with the piano playing and the old cattle dog at the entry, we had to have a look around.
It was too early for lunch unfortunately, but with the piano playing and the old cattle dog at the entry, we had to have a look around.
Labels: Places to go
Scarlet Jezebel Butterfly
The boys spotted this lovely butterfly on the pavement (at the end of his life unfortunately) and decided to keep him for a while to admire his beauty.
This butterfly lives for 4 evenings I believe and can be found in the treetops in QLD.
This butterfly lives for 4 evenings I believe and can be found in the treetops in QLD.
Labels: Home Education
Floating Land
We visited the Floating Land festival at Boreen Point this weekend and had a walk along the lake to admire the creativity of the artwork.
Labels: Home Education, Places to go
World Environment Day at USC
This weekend we visited the University of The Sunshine Coast for a different learning experience. And we got to take home more than knowledge... seeds and plants and information booklets too.There were many stands with information on basically looking after our environment and things to do with recycling, energy, crafts etc etc.
Clay insect making and recycled instruments, plus much more.
The boys got to make their own banana smoothie...with pedal power! After drinking the smoothie we used our cups to plant seedlings, including kale and nasturtiums.
It was a bit cool and rainy, but we definite thought it was worth the trip to get lots of information for our new project.
Labels: Home Education, Places to go
In the Last Few Weeks
Our weeks are fairly busy now that we have joined a Gym Class. Along with Piano lessons and Science Club and the monthly Activity day and other outings, we are kept busy trying new things and meeting new people, but not much room for anything else (if we want to get our school work done).
Gymnastics has been great for building up strength and lots of fun if you like bouncing into foam pits!
Labels: Home Education, Play
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Thumbelina is a tiny penguin, as a result of a wish by her parents for a child of their own. Much of Thumbelina's happiness was stolen from her when an unscrupulous, selfish sea turtle kidnapped her from her dwelling. This sets her on a series of adventures where she learns a great deal about things in life, and later meets a handsome prince who is her own size.
(P)2008 Phoenix Audio
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Parents charged after leaving son alone at hotel
Daily News Staff Report
Two Jennings parents were arrested Monday after leaving their five year-old child alone in a hotel room where marijuana was present while one parent drove the other to work.
Jeff Davis Sheriff's Office Criminal Investigation Division Commander Chris Ivey said deputies were contacted by employees with the Budget Inn hotel on La. 26 north of Jennings concerning the child, who walked into the hotel lobby alone.For the complete story and more local news, please subscribe to Jennings Daily News by clicking subscribe or by calling 337-824-3011.
Short URL: https://www.jenningsdailynews.net/?p=22151
Posted by Graphic Designer 2 on Sep 3 2013. Filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. Both comments and pings are currently closed.


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February 12, 2013 5:15 am
Meet Steven Wright.
Most of our writers didn't enter the world sporting an @baseballprospectus.com address; with a few exceptions, they started out somewhere else. In an effort to up your reading pleasure while tipping our caps to some of the most illuminating work being done elsewhere on the internet, we'll be yielding the stage once a week to the best and brightest baseball writers, researchers and thinkers from outside of the BP umbrella. If you'd like to nominate a guest contributor (including yourself), please drop us a line.
Jonathan Zeller's articles have appeared in the New York Times, Paper, and New York. His favorite baseball team is the Portland Thinkers.


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CareCore National Case Studies
We were inventing our own future and wanted the thought leadership that Cisco Services could provide.- William Moore, CTO and Executive Vice-President, CareCore National
Healthcare Benefits Administrator Moves Business to the Cloud
CareCore National implemented consolidation and virtualization of IT resources to increase power and improve cooling efficiency while also creating a safety net in case of outages.
CareCore National Captures, Transforms, and Shares Video To Advance Evidence-Based Medicine
CareCore National uses Cisco video tools to improve communications and streamline work flow.
CareCore National, LLC
Industry: Healthcare Insurance
Location: Bluffton, South Carolina, USA
Employees: 1,200
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Patient Comments: Keratitis - Risk Factors
If known, what was the cause of your keratitis? Discuss any risk factors that may have predisposed you to it.
Main Article on Keratitis
Comment from: Flash, 55-64 Female (Patient) Published: February 11
I don"t know the cause of my keratitis and my doctor couldn"t figure it out. We discussed the possibility that my Hashimoto"s thyroiditis might be causing inflammation in my eyes since 3% of Hashimoto"s patients have related eye problems. (The percentage is much higher for Graves' disease patients, like my son, who gets bulging eyes from his autoimmune disease.) Other risk factors could be my dry eye syndrome, allergic conjunctivitis, and pterygium.
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Keratitis - Types Question: What type of keratitis were you diagnosed with? Please share your experience.
Keratitis - Signs and Symptoms Question: Discuss the signs and symptoms associated with your keratitis.
Keratitis - Treatment Question: What treatments, medications, or therapies did you receive for your keratitis?
Patient Comments are not a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Never delay or disregard seeking professional medical advice from your physician or other qualified health provider because of something you have read on MedicineNet. The opinions expressed in the comments section are of the author and the author alone. MedicineNet does not endorse any specific product, service or treatment.
If you think you have a medical emergency, call your doctor or 911 immediately.
Report Problems to the Food and Drug Administration
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit the FDA MedWatch website or call 1-800-FDA-1088.


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On this day in 1908, the western writer Louis L'Amour was born in Jamestown, North Dakota. L'Amour wrote 113 books, more than 260 million copies of which have been sold worldwide, in dozens of languages, and thirty of which have been turned into movies where guys like John Wayne, Yul Brynner, Anthony Quinn, and Tom Selleck could be guys like Hondo Lane: "…a big man, wide-shouldered, with the lean, hard-boned face of the desert rider. There was no softness in him. His toughness was ingrained and deep, without cruelty, yet quick, hard, and dangerous. Whatever wells of gentleness might lie within him were guarded and deep."
Other than changing his name from LaMoore, L'Amour arrived at his Romantic formula honestly. He quit school in grade ten for two decades of worldwide "yondering" and an astonishing range of employment and adventure — lumberjack, dead-cattle skinner, circus hand, boxer (51-8 record as a light heavyweight), seaman, and anything else that his hobo travels turned up.
As prodigious as the writing was L'Amour's reading. In his memoir, Education of a Wandering Man (1989), he says that he read 150 books of nonfiction a year, even in his traveling days. He kept records of his reading habit and scoffed at those who said that they didn't have time for it — one year he read twenty-five books while waiting for people. The memoir is full of anecdote: reading Wilde's "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" on a freight train heading west; reading the eighteenth-century romance Gil Blas around a campfire of mesquite root after a day skinning dead cattle, and then spending a week after the job was over taking three showers a day in his hotel room and reading The Rise of the Dutch Republic between times; ship painting and rivet bucking by day, then sleeping "in empty boxcars, on piles of lumber, anywhere out of the rain and wind" and reading Smollett's The Expedition of Humphrey Clinker; reading by coal-oil lamp from Plutarch's Lives or of the decline of Hannibal's fortunes after his victory at Cannae, then going out to sit on the porch and listen to the coyotes howling at the moon, "…sitting there for a long time, thinking of what I had read and of the many wagons that had passed this way bound for California and Oregon."
Daybook is contributed by Steve King, who teaches in the English Department of Memorial University in St. John's, Newfoundland. His literary daybook began as a radio series syndicated nationally in Canada. He can be found online at todayinliterature.com.


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If you're a cow, evaporative cooling is your best friend when temperatures climb — especially in the holding pen during the heat of summer.
Cooling in this area is vital because a holding pen is like crowding a bunch of 101.5-degree ovens together, says Todd Bilby, Texas A&M University extension dairy specialist. It doesn't take long for things to heat up.
Cows experience heat stress whenever the temperature-humidity index climbs above 72. And when cows are confined in holding areas for 15 to 60 minutes (or more), two or three times a day, stress can occur under even moderate ambient temperatures.
Here's why you need to properly cool these areas.
Decrease cow temperature
You may think that fans or water would be sufficient to cool cows in this area. But, cows preferentially use evaporative cooling to deal with heat stress, explains Bilby, so the addition of water and fans helps an already in-place mechanism to work even better. "You don't get the full effect with water or fans alone," he says.
Research at the University of Arizona shows that the addition of fans and overhead sprinklers to the holding area reduces internal cow temperatures by 3.5 degrees Fahrenheit. During the study, the sprinklers ran continuously at a rate of about 3 gallons per hour, and fans provided air flow of about 1,000 cubic feet per minute.
Similar results were found recently at the University of Wisconsin, where researchers surveyed heat-abatement strategies and the impact on several herd parameters in free-stall barns in the Midwest and California. This research, presented at the American Dairy Science Association annual meeting last summer, has been submitted to the Journal of Dairy Science.
The holding pen was identified as a major risk area for elevated internal body temperature, says Jon Schefers, University of Wisconsin dairy science graduate student. He found that airflow rates in the holding area were associated with mean within-herd internal body temperature. In other words, as the airflow rate increased, the average within-herd internal body temperature decreased.
Additionally, "It is likely that cooling strategies used elsewhere on the farm cannot compensate for heat stress that occurs at this time," says Schefers.
"We seem to be failing in the holding area," adds Nigel Cook, University of Wisconsin veterinarian. Therefore, it is appropriate to add cooling to this area of your dairy if you haven't already. And, check your system's efficiency to ensure that you are getting the maximum effect.
Increase milk production
When holding pens are cooled, internal cow temperatures go down and milk production goes up.
The University of Arizona research shows a 1.7-pound per day increase in milk production for cows that were cooled in the holding pen versus those that did not receive cooling. An Israeli study found that milk production rose about 4 pounds per day if cows were cooled in holding pens five times daily.
Even using the more conservative outcome, the production increase equals financial opportunity. Arizona data indicate that return-over-investment was realized in less than one summer season.
According to the University of Arkansas, if you get a 2-pound increase in milk per cow for 80 days after cooling in the holding pen, and milk is $13.50 per hundredweight, you'll see a gross income increase of $2,160 for every 100 cows. You'll need to factor in your expenses, of course.
Still, holding pen cooling is something to look into whether milk price is high or low, says Bilby. "When prices are high, it's important to maximize milk output. When prices are low, it's still important to maximize milk output without significantly increasing your cost. Cooling the holding pen is a cheap way to do just that."
Impact reproduction
You may also improve your herd's reproductive performance by adding cooling to your holding pen.
It's no secret that heat stress depresses reproductive performance. In general, heat stress is negatively associated with altered duration of estrus, uterine function, endocrine status, follicular growth and development, early embryonic development and fetal growth.
It's not unusual for herd conception rates to drop five to eight percentage points between spring and summer, says Cook.
Until now, no direct correlation has been made between holding pen heat stress and reproductive performance. But the University of Wisconsin data now indicate there is a connection — at least when it comes to service rate.
Results show that herds that used soaking systems in the holding pens submitted 3 percent more cows to artificial insemination than herds without soaking systems. It should be noted that 24 of the 30 herds examined in the study used both fans and soakers in the holding area.
"This highlights the general importance of heat-stress abatement, especially in larger herds," notes Schefers.
Learn more about the new tools and concepts for monitoring heat stress on your dairy.
How to accomplish holding-pen cooling
The cooling of holding areas is pretty straight-forward and economical. To learn how to design holding pen cooling systems and mistakes to avoid:


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Welcome to TAMIU!
Congratulations! We are excited about your acceptance to the University. Before you step foot into your Math 1301 course, there are a few things that you will need to know in order to prepare for your life as a Dustdevil. Freshman Student Orientation: Dusty Camp provides an unique experience that will help you adjust to the rigors of transitioning from high school to college life. Dusty Camp will assist with any questions you may have about financial aid, housing, academic expectations, and student involvement as a first year students at TAMIU. If you will be a new student in the summer or fall of 2013, you will need to register for Dusty Camp 2013.
For more information about Freshman Student Orientation, please visit http://www.tamiu.edu/sole/FROrientation.shtml.


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NewswireToday - /newswire/ -
Las Vegas, NV, United States, 2010/09/28 - Las Vegas real estate company delivers mobile technology.
Nevadas top selling real estate company recently launched a complete program of smart phone and wireless capabilities to help home buyers and sellers on the go. Prudential Americana Groups On The Road With Prudential campaign has introduced its 1,200 licensed REALTORs, along with thousands of home buyers and sellers, to the technology specifically designed for smart phone users.
On the Road With Prudential brings our full capabilities right to your smart phone, said Gordon Miles, COO of Prudential Americana Group. Whether you are on the road or in front of a home and want to know more about it, you can get details on any home for sale in the area with a GPS-capable smart phone. The service is available for any home in Southern Nevada listed with the Greater Las Vegas Association of Realtors (GLVAR).
Among the options available at no charge and with no required registration is a texting program that allows home shoppers to text the word LOOK to the number 32323 for current and comprehensive information on the home they are nearest to. You can search for schools, services, restaurants, shopping centers, and even FBI statistics on the area, said Miles. You can even find out walking distances from that home to schools, libraries and parks. Anything you want to know about a home for sale is available at your fingertips.
Prudential also offers two versions of its website-one for computer users and one enhanced for smart phone users. If you log on to americanagroup.com from your smart phone, the site will be customized to mobile phone settings and capabilities, said Miles. Youll spend a fraction of the time you normally would on a traditional real estate site searching for listings and information.
Another program the company now offers is the Cirrus Interactive Map Search. This program allows home shoppers to create pre-defined boundaries, allowing them to search by school district, zip code, neighborhoods, short sales and foreclosures. You can literally create the boundaries of the area youre interested in just look in that specific area.
According to Miles, Prudential invested in forward-thinking technology because the industry is already starting to demand it. Smart phones are becoming more prevalent among home shoppers, he said. Within the next two years, we expect more than half our clients to want these services.
Our goal is to be THE local source for Las Vegas real estate information and resources, said Miles. No matter what company name is on the sign, the most up-to-date information is available online or via text at the touch of a button. On the Go With Prudential makes your home search easy and fun. Just like it should be.
Prudential Americana Group was Nevadas top-selling real estate company in 2009 and has more than 1,200 sales executives and approximately 4,200 current home listings. It is an independently owned and operated member of Prudential Real Estate affiliates and is the 8th largest in the companys national network of 677 franchises.
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