text:
MASONTOWN, Pa. For years, residents here complained about the yellow smoke pouring from the tall chimneys of the nearby coal-fired power plant, which left a film on their cars and pebbles of coal waste in their yards. Five states including New York and New Jersey sued the plant's owner, Allegheny Energy, claiming the air pollution was causing respiratory diseases and acid rain.
So three years ago, when Allegheny Energy decided to install scrubbers to clean the plant's air emissions, environmentalists were overjoyed. The technology would spray water and chemicals through the plant's chimneys, trapping more than 150,000 tons of pollutants each year before they escaped into the sky.
But the cleaner air has come at a cost. Each day since the equipment was switched on in June, the company has dumped tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater containing chemicals from the scrubbing process into the Monongahela River, which provides drinking water to 350,000 people and flows into Pittsburgh, 40 miles to the north.
"It's like they decided to spare us having to breathe in these poisons, but now we have to drink them instead," said Philip Coleman, who lives about 15 miles from the plant and has asked a state judge to toughen the facility's pollution regulations. "We can't escape."
Even as a growing number of coal-burning power plants around the nation have moved to reduce their air emissions, many of them are creating another problem: water pollution. Power plants are the nation's biggest producer of toxic waste, surpassing industries like plastic and paint manufacturing and chemical plants, according to a New York Times analysis of Environmental Protection Agency data.
Much power plant waste once went into the sky, but because of toughened air pollution laws, it now often goes into lakes and rivers, or into landfills that have leaked into nearby groundwater, say regulators and environmentalists.
Officials at the plant here in southwest Pennsylvania named Hatfield's Ferry say it does not pose any health or environmental risks because they have installed equipment to limit the toxins the facility releases into the Monongahela River and elsewhere.
But as the number of scrubbers around the nation increases, environmentalists including those in Pennsylvania have become worried. The Environmental Protection Agency projects that by next year, roughly 50 percent of coal-generated electricity in the United States will come from plants that use scrubbers or similar technologies, creating vast new sources of wastewater.
Yet no federal regulations specifically govern the disposal of power plant discharges into waterways or landfills. Some regulators have used laws like the Clean Water Act to combat such pollution. But those laws can prove inadequate, say regulators, because they do not mandate limits on the most dangerous chemicals in power plant waste, like arsenic and lead.
For instance, only one in 43 power plants and other electric utilities across the nation must limit how much barium they dump into nearby waterways, according to a Times analysis of E.P.A. records. Barium, which is commonly found in power plant waste and scrubber wastewater, has been linked to heart problems and diseases in other organs.
Even when power plant emissions are regulated by the Clean Water Act, plants have often violated that law without paying fines or facing other penalties. Ninety percent of 313 coal-fired power plants that have violated the Clean Water Act since 2004 were not fined or otherwise sanctioned by federal or state regulators, according to a Times analysis of Environmental Protection Agency records. (An interactive database of power plant violations around the nation is available at www.nytimes.com/coalplants.)
Fines for Plants Modest
Other plants have paid only modest fines. For instance, Hatfield's Ferry has violated the Clean Water Act 33 times since 2006. For those violations, the company paid less than $26,000. During that same period, the plant's parent company earned $1.1 billion.
"We know that coal waste is so dangerous that we don't want it in the air, and that's why we've told power plants they have to install scrubbers," said Senator Barbara Boxer, the California Democrat who is chairwoman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. "So why are they dumping the same waste into people's water?"
Though the Environmental Protection Agency promised earlier this decade to consider new regulations on power plant waste and reiterated that pledge after a Tennessee dam break sent 1.1 billion gallons of coal waste into farms and homes last year federal regulators have yet to issue any major new rules.
One reason is that some state governments have long fought new federal regulations, often at the behest of energy executives, say environmentalists and regulators.
The counties surrounding Hatfield's Ferry, which are home to multiple universities, are an example of what hangs in the balance as this debate plays out.
Last year, when Hatfield's Ferry asked the state for permission to dump scrubber wastewater into the Monongahela River, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection approved the request with proposed limits on some chemicals.
But state officials placed no limits on water discharges of arsenic, aluminum, boron, chromium, manganese, nickel or other chemicals that have been linked to health risks, all of which have been detected in the plant's wastewater samples, according to state documents.
Records show, and company officials concede, that Hatfield's Ferry is already dumping scrubber wastewater into the Monongahela that violates the state's few proposed pollution rules. Moreover, those rules have been suspended until a judge decides on the plant's appeal of the proposed limits.
"You can get used to the plant, and the noise and soot on your cars," said Father Rodney Torbic, the priest at the St. George Serbian Orthodox Church, across the road from Hatfield's Ferry. "But I see people suffering every day because of this pollution."
Officials at Hatfield's Ferry say there is no reason for residents to be concerned. They say that lawsuits against the plant are without merit, and that they have installed a $25 million water treatment plant that removes many of the toxic particles and solids from scrubber wastewater. The solids are put into a 106-acre landfill that contains a synthetic liner to prevent leaks.
Officials say that the plant's pollution does not pose any risk. Limits on arsenic, aluminum, barium, boron, cadmium, chromium, manganese and nickel are not appropriate, the company wrote in a statement, because the plant's wastewater is not likely to cause the Monongahela River to exceed safety levels for those contaminants.
"Allegheny has installed state-of-the-art scrubbers, state-of-the-art wastewater treatment, and state-of-the-art synthetic liners," the company wrote in a statement. "We operate to be in compliance with all environmental laws and will continue to do so."
The plant's water treatment facility, however, does not remove all dissolved metals and chemicals, many of which go into the river, executives concede. An analysis of records from other plants with scrubbers indicates that such wastewater often contains high concentrations of dissolved arsenic, barium, boron, iron, manganese, cadmium, magnesium and other heavy metals that have been shown to contribute to cancer, organ failures and other diseases. Company officials say the emissions by the plant will not pose health risks, because they will be diluted in the river.
Though synthetic liners are generally considered effective at preventing leaks, environmentalists note that the Hatfield's Ferry landfill is less than a mile uphill from the river, and that over time, other types of liners have proven less reliable than initially hoped.
The Environmental Protection Agency, in a statement last month, said it planned to revise standards for water discharges from coal-fired power plants like Hatfield's Ferry. Agency studies have concluded that "current regulations, which were issued in 1982, have not kept pace with changes that have occurred in the electric power industry," officials wrote.
But some environmentalists and lawmakers say that such rules will not be enough, and that new laws are needed that force plants to use more expensive technologies that essentially eliminate toxic discharges.
Cleaning Up Pollution
"It's really important to set a precedent that tells power plants that they need to genuinely clean up pollution, rather than just shift it from the air to the water," said Abigail Dillen, a lawyer with the law firm Earthjustice, which represents two advocacy organizations, the Environmental Integrity Project and the Citizens Coal Council, in asking a Pennsylvania court to toughen regulations on Hatfield's Ferry.
Ms. Dillen, like other environmentalists, has urged courts and lawmakers to force plants to adopt "zero discharge" treatment facilities, which are more expensive but can eliminate most pollution.
State officials say they have established appropriate water pollution limits for Hatfield's Ferry, and have strict standards for landfill disposal.
"We asked the plant for estimates on how much of various pollutants they are likely to emit, and based on those estimates, we set limits that are protective of the Monongahela," said Ron Schwartz, a state environmental official. "We have asked them to monitor some chemicals, including arsenic, and if levels grow too high, we may intervene."
However, environmental groups have argued in court documents and interviews that Hatfield's Ferry probably will emit dangerous chemicals, and that they fear the state is unlikely to intervene.
Similar problems have emerged elsewhere. Twenty-one power plants in 10 states, including Alabama, Kentucky, North Carolina and Ohio, have dumped arsenic into rivers or other waters at concentrations as much as 18 times the federal drinking water standard, according to a Times analysis of E.P.A. data.
In Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, North Carolina, Ohio, Wisconsin and elsewhere, power plants have dumped other chemicals at dangerous concentrations. Few of those plants have ever been sanctioned for those emissions, nor were their discharge permits altered to prevent future pollution.
Records indicate that power plant landfills and other disposal practices have polluted groundwater in more than a dozen states, contaminating the water in some towns with toxic chemicals. A 2007 report published by the E.P.A. suggested that people living near some power plant landfills faced a cancer risk 2,000 times higher than federal health standards.
Lobbyists Block Controls
In 2000, Environmental Protection Agency officials tried to issue stricter controls on power plant waste. But a lobbying campaign by the coal and power industries, as well as public officials in 13 states, blocked the effort. In 2008 alone, according to campaign finance reports, power companies donated $20 million to the political campaigns of federal lawmakers, almost evenly divided between Democrats and Republicans.
In interviews, E.P.A. officials said that toughening pollution rules for power plants was among their top priorities. Last month, the agency announced it was moving forward on new rules regulating greenhouse gas emissions from hundreds of power plants and other large industrial facilities. Lisa P. Jackson, who was confirmed to head the agency in January, has said she would determine by the end of the year whether certain power plant byproducts should be treated as hazardous waste, which would subject them to tougher regulations.
But for now, there are no new rules on power plant waste. And many states are trying to dissuade Ms. Jackson from creating new regulations, according to state and federal regulators, because they worry that new rules will burden overworked regulators, and because power plants have pressured local politicians to fight greater regulation.
For instance, Pennsylvania has opposed designating the waste from Hatfield's Ferry and other power plants as hazardous. In a statement, the Department of Environmental Protection said the state had "sufficient state and federal laws and regulations at our disposal to control wastewater discharges at levels protective of the environment and public health."
But residents living near power plants disagree.
"Americans want cheap electricity, but those of us who live around power plants are the ones who have to pay for it," Mr. Coleman said. "It's like being in the third world."


text:
Svante Paabo talk at NIH – "According to Dr. Paabo, Ust-Ishim has longer Neandertal chunks than modern humans and this can be used to estimate that the admixture with Neandertals happened 331+/-99 generations before its time of 45,000y BP, or around 50-60,000y BP…. This pretty much proves that there were modern humans in Eurasia before the Upper Paleolithic revolution and disproves Richard Klein's theory that modern humans together with UP technologies spread Out-of-Africa only after 50,000 years ago." – from dienekes.
Europeans have three times more Neanderthal genes for lipid catabolism than Asians or Africans – "Contemporary Europeans have as many as three times more Neanderthal variants in genes involved in lipid catabolism than Asians and Africans. Although Neanderthals are extinct, fragments of their genomes persist in modern humans. These shared regions are unevenly distributed across the genome and some regions are particularly enriched with Neanderthal variants."
The really old Europe is mostly in Eastern Europe – "'These results confirm Sardinia as a refuge area where ancestry related to Early European Farmers has been best preserved, and also the greater persistence of WHG-related ancestry in present-day Eastern European populations. The latter finding suggests that West European Hunter-Gatherers (so-named because of the prevalence of Loschbour and La Braña) or populations related to them have contributed to the ancestry of present-day Eastern European groups.'" – @eurogenes blog.
More on Deafness – "Seems to me that limited verbal stimulation is not a very plausible primary cause of low test scores and low academic achievement in blacks, because the degree of deprivation needed to cause a 1-standard deviation decline is extreme (deafness), and because there is an even greater depression of nonverbal scores, which, judging from the results in deaf children, should not be affected at all by limited verbal stimulation." – from greg cochran.
Language structure: You're born with it – "Humans are unique in their ability to acquire language. But how? A new study shows that we are in fact born with the basic fundamental knowledge of language, thus shedding light on the age-old linguistic 'nature vs. nurture' debate."
Selection for complex traits leaves little or no classic signatures of selection – "We present empirical evidence to suggests little discernible 'selection signature' for complex traits in the genome of dairy cattle despite very strong and recent artificial selection." – h/t razib!
Whole genome sequencing of six dog breeds from continuous altitudes reveals adaption to high-altitude hypoxia – "To understand the genetic bases of adaption to high altitude in dogs, we performed whole-genome sequencing of 60 dogs including five breeds living at continuous altitudes along the Tibetan plateau from 800 to 5,100 m as well as one European breed…. Comparison of the breeds from different altitudes reveals strong signals of population differentiation at the locus of hypoxia-related genes including endothelial Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) domain protein 1 (EPAS1) and beta hemoglobin cluster. Especially, four novel non-synonymous mutations specific to high-altitude dogs are identified at EPAS1, one of which occurred at a quite conserved site in the PAS domain. The association testing between EPAS1 genotypes and blood-related phenotypes on additional high-altitude dogs reveals that the homozygous mutation is associated with the decreased blood flow resistance, which may help to improve hemorheologic fitness. Interestingly, EPAS1 was also identified as a selective target in Tibetan highlanders, though no amino acid changes were found. Thus, our results not only indicate parallel evolution of humans and dogs in adaption to high-altitude hypoxia, but also provide a new opportunity to study the role of EPAS1 in the adaptive processes." – h/t joe pickerell!
Facial Width-To-Height Ratio Relates to Alpha Status and Assertive Personality in Capuchin Monkeys – "fWHR was positively associated with alpha status and with a dimensional rating of assertive personality in both males and females. Moreover, fWHR showed significant sexual dimorphism in adults but not juveniles, suggesting a developmental change may occur during puberty. In a sub-sample, sex differences were mediated by weight, suggesting fWHR dimorphism does not exceed what would be expected by differences in body weight. This is the first report of an association between face shape and behaviour in a non-human species." – h/t stuart ritchie!
The relationship between Microcephalin, ASPM and intelligence: A reconsideration – "Microcephalin is strongly associated with DNA repair, which indicates a special role for this allele in the intrinsic anti-viral immune response. Enhanced immune functioning may have advantaged both hunter–gatherer and agrarian societies coping with the heightened disease burden that resulted from population growth and exposure to zoonotic diseases, making it more likely that such growth and concomitant increases in intelligence could occur." – from michael woodley et al. – see also The riddle of Microcephalin – from peter frost.
Caucasian Boys Show Highest Prevalence of Color Blindness Among Preschoolers – "The first major study of color blindness in a multi-ethnic group of preschoolers has uncovered that Caucasian male children have the highest prevalence among four major ethnicities, with 1 in 20 testing color blind. Researchers also found that color blindness, or color vision deficiency, in boys is lowest in African-Americans, and confirmed that girls have a much lower prevalence of color blindness than boys."
Humans and saber-toothed tiger met in Germany 300,000 years ago
One of the Key Characteristics of Ancient DNA, Low Copy Number, May be a Product of its Extraction – h/t hbd bibliography!
Give it up, Psmithe – steve sailer on greg clark's The Son Also Rises.
Why I am now skeptical of the hypothesis that dysgenics has had substantial real-world effects – elijah (doin' his superman thing (~_^) ).
El capital humano de las naciones: ¿Más allá de PISA? – h/t billare! who tweeted: "Take Lynn & Vanhanen's 2012 estimates, correlate them to PISA math & science results, find an r of 0.98."
The grasping reflex of babies: a vestigial trait? – from jerry coyne.
Social influence constrained by the heritability of attitudes – h/t andrew sabisky! who tweeted: "more heritable attitudes are more resistant to social pressure."
What Are Relatives Good For? – "The battle over every aunt and uncle's favorite evolutionary theory."
Genetic Influences Are Virtually Absent for Trust – "Here we examine a population-based sample of 1,012 twins and relatives. We show that the genetic influence on generalized trust in other people (trust-in-others: h2 = 5%, ns), and beliefs regarding other people's trust in the self (trust-in-self: h2 = 13%, ns), is virtually absent…. We show that, relative to cognitive abilities, psychiatric disorders, and classic personality variables, genetic influences are smaller for trust, and propose that experiences with or observations of the behavior of other people shape trust more strongly than other traits." – h/t rene bekkers!
Psychopaths: how can you spot one? – "But is psychopathy a disorder – or a different way of being…? If someone's brain lacks the moral niceties the rest of us take for granted, they obviously can't do anything about that, any more than a colour-blind person can start seeing colour. So where does this leave the concept of moral responsibility? 'The legal system traditionally asserts that all people standing in front of the judge's bench are equal. That's demonstrably false,' says the neuroscientist David Eagleman, author of Incognito: The Secret Lives of the Brain. He suggests that instead of thinking in terms of blameworthiness, the law should deal with the likelihood that someone will reoffend, and issue sentences accordingly, with rehabilitation for those likely to benefit and long sentences for those likely to be long-term dangers." – h/t (heh! (~_^) ) heartiste!
IQ, Neuroticism, booze, and those damn vegetables again – from dr. james thompson.
Tweet of the Week – "'[H]umans are very good at attributing causality when it does not exist. That has led to confusion between correlation and cause on an industrial scale, not least in attempts to work out the effects of diet on health.'" – @jayman's.
Is there a gene for procrastination? – there'd better be or else i'm all outta excuses! (*^_^*) see also: Genetic Relations Among Procrastination, Impulsivity, and Goal-Management Ability – Implications for the Evolutionary Origin of Procrastination.
Biological evidence of positive and negative people in the world – "The ability to stay positive when times get tough — and, conversely, of being negative — may be hardwired in the brain, finds new research."
"Grounds of War" – A New Paper on Territoriality with Remarkable "Similarities" to the Work of Robert Ardrey – from helian.
Equal ≠ The Same: Sex Differences in the Human Brain – "At the root of the resistance to sex-influences research, especially regarding the human brain, is a deeply ingrained, implicit, false assumption that if men and women are equal, then men and women must be the same. This is false. The truth is that of course men and women are equal (all human beings are equal), but this does not mean that they are, on average, the same. 2 + 3 = 10 – 5, but these expressions are not the same. And, in fact, if two groups really are different on average in some respect, but they are being treated the same, then they are not being treated equally on average."
Inbreeding is associated with lower 2D: 4D digit ratio. – in turkey. meanwhile, classic post from heartiste: Is Finger Length Ratio Evidence Of A Woman's Fidelity?
diana fleischman speculates on that "perceived intelligence of faces" research that came out recently.
Thinking about a majority-minority shift leads to more conservative views – "Facing the prospect of racial minority groups becoming the overall majority in the United States leads White Americans to lean more toward the conservative end of the political spectrum, according to research. The findings suggest that increased diversity in the United States could actually lead to a wider partisan divide, with more White Americans expressing support for conservative policies."
The 'Love Hormone' Can Make You Hate: Study – "A study from the Netherlands suggests that oxytocin might only make you love people in your in-group, and can contribute to conflict with outsiders."
Bacteria Turn Plants and Insects into Zombies – "A parasitic phytoplasma deploys proteins to manipulate the plants it infects as well as the insects that spread the microbe."
Zombie Snipers at the Doorstep – "Colony-living insects like ants have a kind of social immune system — they behave in ways that prevent infections from spreading through their nests. They clean each other and remove the corpses of their nestmates. Sick ants, which have been infected by killer fungi, are often shunned by their fellow workers, and sometimes leave the nest to die alone." – h/t john durant!
Germs Rule the World – "The new germ theory: Infections play a role in many, many diseases—in ways we're just beginning to understand."
The Remarkable Self-Organization of Ants – "It turns out that ants perform these complex tasks by obeying a few simple rules…. The organization of insect societies is a marquee example of a complex decentralized system that arises from the interactions of many individuals."
The World's Murder Capitals – "[A] group of countries — all of them in either the Americas or Africa — accounting for just 11 percent of the global population are the location of 46 percent of the world's homicides…. Men accounted for 95 percent of the perpetrators and 79 percent of the victims of homicide in 2012…."
Fearing Punishment for Bad Genes – "[M]any people are avoiding the [dna] tests because of a major omission in the 2008 federal law that bars employers and health insurers from seeking the results of genetic testing." – h/t kevin mitchell!
'Everything should be open to question' – h/t claire lehmann!
*A Curmudgeon's Guide to Getting Ahead*, by Charles Murray. see also "The Curmudgeon's Guide": A Q&A with Charles Murray.
bonus: The Moral: Aesop Knew Something About Crows
bonus bonus: Fruit flies maneuver like tiny fighter jets
bonus bonus bonus: This 3000 Year Old Amulet Kind of Looks Like a Gummy Bear
bonus bonus bonus bonus: Measure Yourself by the Standard of the Capybara
bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus: White wing supremacist: swan attacks foreign students – h/t ed west!
bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus bonus: Mike Judge Skewers Silicon Valley With the Satire of Our Dreams – "The creator of Beavis and Butt-Head aims his snark cannon at the tech startup scene in his new HBO show, Silicon Valley."
(note: comments do not require an email. capybara and friend!)

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Modern Woodmen Fraternal Financial — Kalamazoo's Financial Planning Expert
Robert Keorkunian was raised in Southwest Michigan and decided to start his business as a Modern Woodmen Representative in May of 1993.
Touching lives. Securing futures.®
With over 23 years of experience Rob has helped thousands of families plan for their future, in good times and in bad. Modern Woodmen is a member-owned fraternal financial services organization. Together with our more than 750,000 members, we've been touching lives and securing futures since 1883.
Modern Woodmen brings people together, supports families and strengthens communities as a fraternal financial services organization.
In 2016, local communities received nearly $641,000 from Modern Woodmen and its members in fraternal assistance. An increase of more than 68 percent from 2015. Members locally and throughout the country support a variety of projects to benefit their communities, such as donating to local food banks, helping families and individuals in need, and beautifying local parks.
The tax-exempt fraternal benefit society offers life insurance, annuity and investment* products to improve the quality of life of its members, their families and their communities. In turn, members make an impact through social, educational and volunteer activities. In 2015, Modern Woodmen and its members provided $19.2 million and 438,000 volunteer hours for community projects nationwide.
Additional Information
Kalamazoo's Financial Planning Expert, Financial planning, About us, Our products


text:
Ruth Thompson Carroll knows firsthand about the intersection of crime and social media.
Carroll is director of Erie's Association for Needy and Neglected Animals (A.N.N.A.) Shelter, which cares for animals in need. On June 8, a man walked into the nonprofit and allegedly stole $30 in cash, a box of syringes, a digital camera and four bottles of medication, according to Erie police.
Carroll called it the type of crime "that's not a big deal to a lot of people, but was a big deal to us."
She also said she believes that without Facebook, an arrest might not have been made.
"We had a volunteer of ours come in a few days later who said, 'I heard a guy in a bar bragging about how he broke into the A.N.N.A. Shelter,'" said Carroll, 42. "She knew his name. ... Right away I got on Facebook."
MORE: Articles in crime and justice
Police said photos of 24-year-old Kyle Bish's Facebook account matched pictures of the burglary suspect from the shelter's surveillance cameras.
Bish was arrested and charged with burglary, theft, receiving stolen property, acquisition of a controlled substance and possession of a controlled substance.
His case is pending.
"The Internet is such a powerful tool, it doesn't surprise me that it can help you solve crimes," Carroll said. "And with social media, people put so much information out there. With Facebook, you have a name and you can immediately do a search and see pictures of that person or whatever. Without it, maybe we would have been waiting a lot longer to find this guy."
'A Fundamental Shift'
Across Erie and the nation, social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Foursquare are hugely popular. The website eMarketer.com reported in June that worldwide, 1.73 billion people will use social networking in 2013.
The sites, though, are also part of the nexus between social media and crime, an issue that demands increased attention from law enforcement.
"The overall statement I would make about it is ... it seems like people have this need to talk about themselves and put things out there," Erie Bureau of Police Chief Randy Bowers said. "And that's what makes it a valuable tool for us. We have seen people (bragging) about crimes on Facebook. I have seen victims providing us with information they have seen online that helps during the course of an investigation.
"Everybody's aware of social media and the potential of it aiding us in an investigation," Bowers said. "Then it becomes a training issue."
That is one reason why the Erie Bureau of Police will send 18 officers to a Nov. 18 seminar called "The Darker Side of Social Networking" at the Bayfront Convention Center.
The free training, offered by the Northwest Pennsylvania Business Coalition for Homeland Security, will focus in part on using social media as an investigative tool and safety issues associated with social media sites.
James Dill, a retired investigative technology inspector with the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, will conduct that training.
In a telephone interview last week, Dill said his training focuses on the fact that social media "is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate, and it's grown faster than any other form of communication. It has a profound impact on law enforcement in many ways."
For example, Dill said, criminals nationwide are using social media "check-ins" — geographic tagging of a user's whereabouts — to plan burglaries. He said pedophiles use fake social media profiles to lure young children, and stalkers can follow victims via social networking sites.
"This stuff is public, it's searchable, and people use it for bad purposes," said Dill, who now works as an investigative technology consultant.
Dill said he tries to explain the nuances of social networking sites, including how to use privacy settings. His training, Dill said, also addresses the best ways to verify information and/or handle potential evidence discovered online.
"This stuff is an investigative and intelligence tool," Dill said. "But if law enforcement is going to use it, they have to understand the nature of the beast."
In northwestern Pennsylvania, authorities said they are seeing, with greater frequency, some social media element regarding crimes like homicide, sexual assault, burglary, witness intimidation and harassment
A few recent examples:
Facebook posts and text messages became important evidence in the case of Rachel A. Kozloff, who was convicted of third-degree murder in the April 2012 shooting death of her boyfriend, Michael Henry. Kozloff was sentenced to 18 to 40 years in state prison.
"I think we will see more of these cases," Erie County District Attorney Jack Daneri said, referring to crimes with some link to social media.
Erie police were granted a court order requiring Facebook to provide investigators with 27-year-old homicide victim Nikkia Sawyer's account information as part of their probe into her June 2011 slaying. The information sought by police included a list of friends and her photographs.
Sawyer's neighbor, James Duncan, was sentenced to 21 to 42 years in state prison for the killing.
"There's a lot of positives to law enforcement with social media," Daneri said. "We can use it to find out someone's whereabouts to keep track of someone, learn who their associates are, and even get into their mental state by their posts that day."
Law enforcement paid attention when at least three Facebook pages were created recently with posts about the names and photos of Erie people believed to be cooperating with police. Those pages — using the name "Jay Reed" or some variation — labeled people as "snitches," and local authorities expressed concern the sites could discourage people from coming forward about crimes.
The sites, which went inactive after reporters tried to contact the creators, were the subject of a Sept. 15 Times-News article.
Facebook tips helped police in 2010 track down Laramie Torres, a man who fled to Erie after he was indicted on rape and sodomy charges in Oregon. Torres was accused of sexually abusing a girl, beginning when she was 11 years old.
The girl's family created the Facebook page, "Help Catch Child Rapist Laramie Torres," to help authorities find him; a tip forwarded to the page indicated that Torres was in Erie.
Millcreek Police Chief Tom Carlotti said his department has paid attention to social media "for some time" when it comes to crime in the township.
"We've established Facebook accounts, investigative accounts, to look into juvenile cases where we've been able to, let's say, access the accounts of individuals who are bragging about being involved in crimes," Carlotti said. "Mostly for burglaries, things like that."
Millcreek Police have also published crime prevention tips related to social networking on the department's website, Carlotti said.
Carlotti said that he wishes more people realized that when it comes to social networking, caution and common sense are important.
"Even though you might think what you're doing on there is somewhat secure," Carlotti said, "it's not hard for other people to get that information."


text:
Sacramento, Ca — A California state law requires high school freshmen in many California districts to pass five of six fitness tests or face the possibility of extra years in physical education classes. The legislation, written by state Sen. Tom Torlakson and signed by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger in October 2007, went into effect this school year. Each year that students continue to fail two or more tests results in another year of physical education class.
The testing does not affect students' ability to graduate, Torlakson told the Sacramento Bee. Ninth-graders who pass five of six tests still must take another year of P.E., but in many districts, they will have a choice of which year they enroll. California school districts typically require two years of P.E. to graduate, the newspaper reported, but not all districts have to comply with the legislation because of differences in the way they exempt certain students from physical education.
The six areas of fitness that are tested are aerobic capacity, body fat measurements, abdominal strength and endurance, trunk strength and flexibility, upper body strength and endurance, and overall flexibility.
Phil Lawler, academy director for PE4life, an organization aimed at getting quality daily physical education in every school in the United States, applauds California's efforts but says the law has a drawback.
"It's absolutely wonderful they're holding the kids accountable," Lawler says. "The downside is, fitness is not a destination. It's a journey. Why would you have kids get in shape to pass a test to get out of P.E.? We've got to teach kids to be self-directed learners to buy into fitness personally for themselves, not for a grade, not to get out of something."


text:
Why I Can't Stop Reading YouBeauty.com
When Dr. Oz and his partner-in-crime Dr. Michael Roizen debuted their healthy living site YouBeauty a couple of years ago, I took note. Finally! A beauty + wellness destination built on smart science and common sense, not superficial fluff or heavy green washing. Since then, YouBeauty has become my go-to resource for feel-good beauty tips, cutting-edge ingredients, and self improvement from the inside out. It doesn't hurt that YouBeauty's intelligently curated ecommerce site BeautySage is just a click away with some of the best natural beauty around. Read on . . .
How to get big, 90s supermodel hair like Cindy Crawford. Hint: I'm reconsidering mousse.
Is your lipstick laced? Don't be a metal mouth.
New research: Wear Makeup, Look Younger (hello!)
Is the Mediterranean diet the best diet ever? I'm a believer.
Go three days without shampooing using a few ingenious products that even I had never heard of.
The scary number of people who don't wash their face + why you really, REALLY should.
Low-calorie summer cocktails. Cheers!
Speaking of which, wine boosts your brain power.
Why fat talk is bad for your friendships. Also: Should you toss your skinny jeans?
These DIY Summer Fruit Treatments have me reaching for the produce.
Everything you ever wanted to know about Botox but were afraid to ask.
I knew there was a reason I liked avocados so much.


text:
Mary Chesnut is one of the most famous southern diarists of the American Civil War. Part of the elite because of her husband's wealth and high positions in the Confederacy, she rubbed elbows with many prominent personalities of the era, and was an intelligent and perceptive observer of the people and events around her.
On October 15, 1861, she finished her diary entry on a particularly intriguing note. Chesnut wrote: "Lamar (L. Q. C., and the cleverest man I know) [no doubt referring to Lucius Q. C. Lamar, a politician and judge from Mississippi] said to me in Richmond, in one of those long talks of ours, 'Slavery is too heavy a load for us to carry.'"
Any thoughts from the readers of Civil War Emancipation about what Mary Chesnut meant in relating what Judge Lamar said?
Source: C. Vann Woodward, ed., Mary Chestnut's Civil War (New Haven, Ct.: Yale University Press, 1993), 217.


text:
Barrick Lab :: Research
Active Projects
Preventing Evolutionary Failure in Synthetic Biology
Dynamics of Microbial Genome Evolution
Identifying Mutations that Promote Bacterial Evolvability
Evolving and Engineering Naturally Transformable Bacteria
Experimental Evolution with Expanded Genetic Codes
AG3C: Associating Growth Conditions with Cellular Composition
Previous Projects
Discovering Functional Nucleic Acid Families by Deep Sequencing and Fold Sampling
Other Interests
Evolution Experiments with Digital Organisms
Collaboration Interests
Active Projects
Preventing Evolutionary Failure in Synthetic Biology
Evolutionary half-lives of biological devices
Synthetic biology applies engineering principles to create living systems with predictable and useful behaviors from collections of standardized genetic parts. However, living systems unlike mechanical devices inevitably evolve when their DNA sequences accumulate copying errors, often resulting in "broken" cells that no longer function as they were programmed. We are addressing this challenge by better characterizing how engineered cells evolve and using this information to design DNA sequences and host cells that are more robust against unwanted evolution. This work includes: (1) the development of the Evolutionary Failure Mode (EFM) Calculator software for identifying mutational hotspots in a designed DNA sequence; (2) using experimental evolution to identify "antimutator" variants of host organisms that lead to lower-than-natural mutation rates; and (3) designing genetic circuits that kill those cells within a population that are most likely to accumulate mutations.
Evolutionary Failure Mode (EFM) Calculator website
Representative Publications
Jack et al. (2015)
ACS Synthetic Biol.
Renda et al. (2014)
Mol. Biosyst.
Dynamics of Microbial Genome Evolution
Accumulation of mutations in population Ara-1 of the LTEE over 20,000 generations of evolution
We develop the
computational pipeline for identifying mutations in laboratory-evolved microbial genomes from next-generation sequencing data. We have used this tool to extensively study rates of genome evolution in the 30-year Lenski
long-term evolution experiment (LTEE)
E. coli
. We continue to develop
so that it can be used for more additional applications related to strain engineering and medicine. For example, we are interested in how tracking rare variants within populations of microorganisms (such as oncoviruses) can anticipate further evolutionary trajectories and how this information might be used to better diagnose disease outcomes.
project page
code and downloads (GitHub)
LTEE genome resources (GitHub)
Representative Publications
Tenaillon et al. (2016) Preprint.
Deatherage and Barrick (2014)
Methods Mol. Biol
Barrick and Lenski (2014)
Nat. Rev. Genet.
NIH K99/R00, NSF, NSF BEACON Center, CPRIT
Identifying Mutations that Promote Bacterial Evolvability
Epistasis Poker.
Early draws of cards that are more beneficial to the value of a poker hand (analogous to the most beneficial mutations in the eventual loser
E. coli
), prevent them from reaching the best hand after more cards are drawn.
Evolutionary potential (or
) is the capacity of an organism to generate descendants with increased fitness or new adaptive characteristics. Evolvability is a complex trait. It depends not only on how developmental and regulatory processes render underlying genetic changes into phenotypic variation, but also on the dynamics of how mutations arise and compete within a population. Mutator strains of microorganisms, which have elevated genomic mutation rates due to defects in DNA proofreading or repair pathways, can sometimes take over pathogen populations because they promote evolvability. However, little is currently known about how mutations affecting other cellular processes impact microbial evolvability or about how evolvability varies at each step in a typical adaptive trajectory.
We are reconstructing the dynamics of mutations in populations from the Lenksi 30-year
long-term evolution experiment (LTEE)
E. coli
to understand two cases of evolvability differences not related to mutation rates:
Evolution of central metabolism potentiates and refines a metabolic innovation
Eventual Winners and Losers.
Bacteria that had evolved higher fitness early in one LTEE population reproducibly lost later to competitors with different, less-beneficial mutations when evolution was replayed many times from each starting point. Thus, the eventual losers apparently had favorable mutations that restricted further evolvability. We have found that loss of function mutations in the gene (
) seem to be the major defining characteristic of the eventual losers and are investigating how interactions between this mutation and further adaptive steps differ from the alternative evolutionary pathways that won out in the LTEE.
Evolutionary pathway to Cit+
A metabolic innovation enabling aerobic citrate utilization only occurred in one of twelve populations and only after 30,000 generations of evolution. This new Cit+ trait was highly beneficial because it gave access to an untapped nutrient that was present for the entire duration of the LTEE at a much higher level than the glucose that these cells normally use as a sole carbon source. The lineage that evolved Cit+ appears to have evolved a potentiated genetic background that allowed it to access this innovation during the daily growth cycles of the LTEE. We have recently begun to characterize how these potentiating mutations remodeled central metabolism in ways that made achieving the very weak initial Cit+ phenotype beneficial enough to persist in the evolving population until it could be refined to enable full citrate utilization.
The long-term goal of this research is to further understand the mechanisms by which mutations can promote and reduce evolvability in order to be able to rationally make these changes to microbial genomes.
Representative Publications
Quandt et al (2015)
Quandt et al (2014)
Blount et al (2012)
Woods et al. (2011)
Evolving and Engineering Naturally Transformable Bacteria
Naturally competent bacteria may have increased evolutionary potential because they can directly acquire new genes from their environments and incorporate them into their genomes. In addition to this possibility of a new mutational move in genotype-phenotype space (by horizontal gene transfer), these microbes provide an improved platform for studying microbial genome engineering and evolution due to the ease of reconstructing mutations and introducing new genes. We are investigating sources of genetic instability in the naturally competent bacterium
Acinetobacter baylyi
ADP1 and engineering a clean genome version of this strain to have reduced rates of mutations that lead to inactivation of introduced genes for synthetic biology applications. We are also using experimental evolution to test for the utility of providing foreign DNA sequences and to understand how horizontally acquired genes become domesticated after they are incorporated into a new genome. Finally, we are using ADP1 as a platform for understanding the limits of simplifying a bacterial genome by evolutionary streamlining approaches.
Representative Publication
Suárez et al. (2017)
Appl. Env. Microbiol.
Renda et al. (2015)
J. Bacteriol.
Experimental Evolution with Expanded Genetic Codes
Another way to potentially increase evolvability is to augment the chemical diversity of the building blocks available to an organism. We are evolving microorganisms, including bacteriophage, in the context of expanded genetic codes that re-code the amber stop codon into various non-canonical amino acids. This change increases the sequence-structure-function space available for evolution to explore. We are studying how evolution must compensate for the global change in how the information in an organism's genome is decoded, in cases where it is possible for an organism to survive this transition, and also how dependence on the new amino acid develops over time, such that an organism can no longer survive in the context of a normal genetic code. Finally, we are systematically examining how the unique chemistries of different amino acid building blocks are tolerated and uniquely useful for adaptation and using this technology to recapitulate the steps in a hypothesized pathway in which new post-translational modifications evolve in a series of adaptive steps from nonenzymatic metabolite damage to the proteome.
Representative Publication
Hammerling et al. (2014)
Nat. Chem. Biol.
Welch Foundation, NSF BEACON Center
AG3C: Associating Growth Conditions with Cellular Composition
We are part of a collaboration of eight labs (including experimental biologists, computational biologists, and mathematicians) that is collecting and analyzing comprehensive transcriptomics, proteomics, lipidomics, and metabolic flux data from bacterial samples grown under different conditions. The aim is to solve the "inverse problem" of predicting the conditions that were used to culture a microbial sample from measurements in these high-dimensional data sets (
AG3C Website
). Our lab is primarily responsible for creating the microbial samples and using RNA-seq to examine RNA expression levels.
Representative Publication
Houser et al. (2015)
PLoS Comput. Biol.
DoD Army Research Office
Previous Projects
Discovering Functional Nucleic Acid Families by Deep Sequencing and Fold Sampling
A final way that we are studying how to improve the potential of evolutionary methods is in systems for the in vitro selection of nucleic acid molecules. Nucleic acids with random sequences often misfold into inactive structures that are kinetically trapped. That is, they become stuck and cannot unfold to rearrange into other, potentially active, structures on a reasonable timescale. It is possible that this potential for misfolding, which is known to occur for even natural ribozymes, limits the recovery of new families of functional nucleic acids (aptamers, ribozymes, deoxyribozymes, riboswitches) by laboratory evolution methods that select for functional molecules from pools of 10
molecules with randomized sequences. We expect this problem to more greatly affect longer nucleic acid sequences, which have the capacity for folding into elaborate three-dimensional structures that achieve more rapid rates of catalysis or tighter binding affinities. We are currently using next-generation deep-sequencing techniques and methods to allow a single nucleic acid strand to have multiple chances to fold correctly to pass selection to see if they can enhance our ability to recover more complex families of functional nucleic acids.
Representative Publications
Reba et al. (2012)
Artificial Life XIII
Welch Foundation
Other Interests
Evolution Experiments with Digital Organisms
Populations of self-replicating computer programs mutate and compete for CPU cycles in the Avida artificial life system. This environment for digital organisms has been used to ask fundamental questions that transcend the substrate that is evolving. The speed of digital evolution experiments, transparency of the underlying mechanics, and ability to manipulate and record every aspect of the evolutionary process make it possible to more readily explore cause and effect relationships in Avida than in natural systems. I have extensive experience with Avida. My lab will use Avida to complement studies in biological systems: both as a way of more clearly illustrating and exhaustively characterizing phenomena of interest and as a source of new candidate laws and insights to motivate new lines of experimental inquiry.
Avida (GitHub)
Avida-ED Project
Collaboration Interests
In addition to these specific plans for future research, we have long-standing interests in RNA biochemistry, riboswitches and other noncoding RNAs in bacteria, and comparative genomics. We hope to be a resource to colleagues who are interested in adding an evolutionary, informatics, or genomics dimension to their studies. Whenever possible, we would like to investigate our basic research questions about evolution in systems where there is additional interest in the underlying molecules, cells, and mutations. We are eager to link up with researchers and those in industry who have relevant problems in medicine and biotechnology to find these opportunities. Please contact
Prof. Barrick
about potential collaborations.
rint version
aw View
Raw edit
More topic actions...
Barrick Lab
Contributors to this topic
JeffreyBarrick, SarahBialik, GabrielSuarez
Topic revision: r33 - 31 Aug 2017 - 14:11:32 - Main.JeffreyBarrick
Barrick Lab
UT Austin
Mol Biosciences
SynBio course
iGEM team
NGS course
Log in
Copyright ©2020 Barrick Lab contributing authors. Ideas, requests, problems?
Send feedback


text:
You are currently browsing the tag archive for the 'slow architecture' tag.
moss' newest brewery project, Begyle Brewing (formerly Argyle Brewing Co.) models itself after the increasingly popular CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and is Chicago's first "CSB" (Community Supported Brewery). Founders Matt Ritchey, Kevin Cary and Brendan Blume decided to start their subscription based brewery after a few brainstorming sessions. Like CSAs, members will receive a share of craft beer on a weekly, bi-weekly or monthly basis. Begyle is expected to open its craft beer programs starting this summer.
Though it's new to Chicago's shores, community-sustained brewing finds its roots deep in German history. In the 13th and 14th centuries, central brewhouses in each town would produce the liquid base of beer, called the wort, which was then collected by individual citizens. These select few would ferment the wort, and then place a special sign on their door (Zoigl, pictured above.) The six-pointed star looks just like a Star of David, but it's actually a brewer's star, one point for each beer-making element: hops, yeast, malt, grain, water and brewer. The Zoigl signaled to townsfolk that their neighbor had opened a temporary, communal pub in his home, a.k.a., to come over and have a cold one. After the beer from that house was gone, the next homebrewer would collect his wort and so the good people of the town were never without local beer (one hopes.)


text:
Stuffed squash, this vegetarian bean dish is loaded with fiber!
Preparation Time: 20 mins
Cooking Time: 10 mins
Yield: 4 x main dishes or 8 side-dish servings
Hollow out zucchini with sharp knife, leaving 1/4-inch shells; reserve shells. Chop the zucchini that was removed.
Sauté chopped zucchini, bell pepper, onion, and garlic in oil in large skillet until crisp-tender, about 8 minutes. Add tomato and basil and sauté until tomato is wilted and mixture is fairly dry, about 5 minutes.
Add beans to side of skillet; coarsely mash about half the beans. Mix beans and 2 tablespoons cheese into zucchini mixture.
Spoon mixture into reserved zucchini shells; sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons cheese. Grill, covered, over medium-hot coals until zucchini shells are crisp-tender when pierced with a sharp knife, 10 to 15 minutes.
Any canned or dry bean variety can be substituted for another. Soy or rice parmesan-type cheese can replace regular Parmesan.


text:
Capcom's German outlet has posted this lengthy clip giving us our first substantial look at Lost Planet 3 gameplay. Just skip through all the bits where German games writers are talking and you'll see all the guns, snow and mechs you'd expect.
Stephen played the game himself recently, and came away surprisingly impressed. You can read his thoughts on the game here.


text:
Friday, December 07, 2012
SCOTUS Grabs the Monsters
Buckle my knees and pass the smelling salts. I was prepared for the SCOTUS to pass on the 10 marriage-equality cases petitioned. Instead, it picked two for arguments, two that cover nearly all key aspects of same-sex marriage and benefits.
The just-the-facts-ma'am version is in the WaPo. Detail is in the initial report from the NYT. Analysis of the menu of cases before the court was in the Advocate in September.
The short of it is first is the CA Prop 8 case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, argued by Olson and Boies. This surprised me because it deals with the state-level override ballot that overturned the legislature's legalization of same-sex marriage. The SCOTUS could have chickened out on this, saying it was a state issue. Instead, they'll likely consider whether marriage is a fundamental right subject to equal treatment under law — big stuff.
The other could overturn the Defense of Marriage Act, Bill Clinton's biggest mistake as Prez, worse than cigar fantasies and the blue dress. In the United States v. Windsor, the survivor of a pair of women married in Canada sued when DOMA, Section 3 prevented her from inheriting her wife's estate.
This is pure discrimination by gender and orientation. Justice Kagan worked on a related case as solicitor general and likely would recuse herself.
These cases are likely to warm up a lot of people's winters in anticipation.
Arguments in the spring should bring decisions in June.
2 comments:
Got a prediction? This is hardly a Supreme Court with a lavish love of the "Rights of Man".
- massmarrier said...
I'm betting, before hearing any agruments/questioning at least, it'll be mixed. Kagan will surely have to recuse herself from DOMA, having worked on a related case, so that's hard to see a big with with four or five wingers. Prop 8 might squeak through, but if they decide the anti-marriage-equality folk have no standings when CA doesn't support Prop 8. If so, Walker's decision stands, and only (the many millions of) Californians win. That result would be positive, ensuring the most populous state has equality, but the very unlikely Loving v. Virginia-style ruling would be ideal.
Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)


text:
Ladies Damask Palazzo Pants
Product Details –
Our Palazzo pants – wear this classic style and be sure to stay on trend the LWD way! Versatility at its finest and flattering to your figure with timeless patterns; so soft and comfy, you're sure to love our choice, unique designs made just for you!
- New improved wide waistband!
- Soft & flowy poly blend
- Machine wash, tumble dry low
- Regular Length- inseam 31.5
- Short Length- inseam 29.5
- Tall Length- inseam 34


text:
Our Checking Accounts feature:
- No Monthly Fees
- No Per Check Fees
- No Minimum Balance
- No Strings!
- ATM and VISA Check Card Available (no fee)
Compare us with other "free" checking offers . . . we will never require a minimum balance or direct deposit. As long as you maintain your account in good order, the only thing you might pay for is your actual checks!
Order Checks Online from Legacy
We are ordering checks from Legacy Member Services. If we have already ordered Legacy checks for you, you can click on the icon below to go directly to Legacy's check reorder website.
If you have not received checks from Legacy before, or if your name or address has changed since your last order, you can order checks from any of our offices in person (except the Jamestown Drive-Thru Office).
Everyday use of your checking account is fee-free as noted above.
However, there are certain circumstances which will result in a charge:
- Return Fee for non-sufficient funds - $27.00
- Return of deposited check - $20.00
- Stop Payment request (includes money orders and ACHs) - $15.00
- Copies of checks - $2.00 each
- ATM Cards - $25.00 fee for overdrawing an account using your ATM card.
- VISA Check Cards - First VISA Check Card is free, replacement VISA Check Cards are $5.00
- VISA Check Cards - $25.00 fee for overdrawing an account using your VISA Check card.
- Excessive Overdraft Transfer Fee - $25.00 per transfer after 6 transfers per month from savings
- Dormant Account Fee (per year, after two years inactive) - $10.00
For additional fees that may apply see "Rates & Fees" at the top of the page.


text:
ENGLEWOOD, Colo., Feb. 12 (UPI) -- John Elway has been given a three-year contract extension to remain executive vice president of football operations for the Denver Broncos.
Elway, 53, had a Hall of Fame career as a quarterback for the Broncos, taking the team to Super Bowl titles each of his last two seasons -- 1997 and '98. He joined the Denver front office in January 2011. The new deal runs through the 2017 season.
Since Elway became part of the team's front office, Denver is one of five NFL to make the playoffs each of the last three seasons, winning the AFC West title each year.
The Broncos tied for the best regular-season record (13-3) in 2013, advancing to the Super Bowl, where the Seattle Seahawks beat them 43-8.
"Our organization is extremely pleased with the work John Elway has done in his three years since rejoining the Broncos," team President Joe Ellis said in a release on the team's website. "He has demonstrated great vision and leadership in his role, assembling a championship-caliber team and positioning it for sustained success. We are very confident in the direction of the Broncos with John Elway leading our football operations."
"I am grateful for the opportunity that I've been given with the Broncos," Elway said. "Our goal is to continue building on the culture of winning established by (owner) Pat Bowlen, and we remain relentlessly committed to delivering a world championship to our fans."


text:
Pharmacy Benefits
The University's pharmacy benefit manager is now Premera, who partners with Express Scripts to provide pharmacy coverage at retail pharmacies and mail order. Specialty medications are filled through Accredo Health Group or Walgreens Specialty Pharmacy.
Your Premera ID card will have all your pharmacy benefit information printed on it so when having a prescription filled, be sure to give your pharmacist your new ID card.
Pharmacy benefit information is available online at Premera.com. Click on "Online Pharmacy" for more information. You should log in to the Premera web site, then select "Pharmacy Services" under "My Premera Plan" to get the most detailed information about your benefits.
The University of Alaska uses a three-tiered benefit plan for the 750 Plan and High Deductible Plan (HDHP). This means there are three tiers of copays:
- Tier 1 drugs are generic,
- Tier 2 are brand,
- Tier 3 are non-preferred brand.
In addition to these tiers, click here for a list of preventive drugs, which are offered at no cost to the members.
As a general rule, generics cost less; however, there ARE some individual cases where generics can cost a lot. For a better understanding of your cost, you can sign up on the member portal and go to MyRxChoices. When using the online drug search tool for these plans, use the B3 drug list.
The Consumer-Directed Health Plan (CDHP) treats prescription drugs like any other medical expense, subject to the deductible and coinsurance. The drug list for this plan is A1 for the online search tool.
The CDHP also has preventive drug benefit that covers many medications at 100% with no deductible or coinsurance, like any other preventive medical service. The drug list for this benefit is called the PV3 list.
Once logged in to the Premera site, to find your drug, click on Rx Search, select the appropriate list (see above) and enter the name of the drug, or select the drug class to which it belongs.
To see the list of drugs requiring Step Therapy, Prior Authorization (PA) or have Quality Limits (QL), click on the link to view drugs that require prior authorization.
To see how much your drug costs (important for members on the CDHP), click on "compare prescription costs." You must be logged in to do this, and you'll be directed to a link to "Visit MyPharmacyPlus", the Express Scripts price comparison tool called My Rx Choices.
When available, a generic drug will be dispensed in place of a brand name drug. In the event a generic equivalent is not manufactured, the brand name copayment will apply.
If you or your doctor request a brand name drug when a generic equivalent is allowed by law and available, in addition to the brand name copayment you will be required to pay the difference in price between the brand name and the generic equivalent.
Mail Order Pharmacy
If you take certain medications on an ongoing basis, you can save money and time by having those medications filled by Express Scripts Home Delivery. You can get up to a 90 day supply of your medication which eliminates trips to the pharmacy and saves you time and money.
Click here to get started today.
Once you get your mail order prescription established, refills are easily ordered online through Express Scripts' MyPharmacyPlus, or call Express Scripts at 800-391-9701.
Maintenance Medications
If you take a drug on a regular basis to control or treat an ongoing or chronic condition, you will be able to get your first two fills at a retail pharmacy but then will need to use the mail order pharmacy for future refills. The first two fills at retail gives you time to get your mail order prescriptions established with Express Scripts. If you don't use the mail order pharmacy for your maintenance drugs, the regular retail copay will be doubled for the same 30 day supply. It really pays to use mail order for these medications.
Here is the list of Maintenance Medications. Medications that can be damaged by freezing temperatures are exempt from the mail order requirement, and a current list of those exceptions can be found here.
Specialty Pharmacy
Specialty pharmacy is for members who require high cost "specialty" medications that are usually self-injected and used to treat complex or rare conditions such as multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, hepatitis C, hemophilia and more. The 750 Plan and the HDHP have a $100 copay for up to a 30 days supply from our specialty pharmacy options, Accredo or Walgreen's Specialty Pharmacy. Please click here for more information on specialty drugs and how to use the Specialty Pharmacy service.
Pharmacy Coverage
|750 Plan and HDHP
|Network Pharmacy - 30 Day Supply
$10 copay for generic
$30 copay for brand
$60 copay for non-preferred brand
20% after deductible for generic
20% after deductible for brand
20% after deductible for non-preferred brand
|Home Delivery - 90 Day Supply
$20 copay for generic
$100 copay for brand
$120 copay for non-preferred brand
20% after deductible for generic
20% after deductible for brand
20% after deductible for non-preferred brand
|Specialty Pharmacy - Up to a 30 Day Supply
$100 copay
20% after deductible
|Non-Network Pharmacy (amounts over the negotiated price are subject to the out-of-pocket maximum)
|Pay retail price at time of purchase, submit claim form to be reimbursed at negotiated price less appropriate co-payment
|Pay retail price at time of purchase price, submit a claim to have negotiated price applied to deductible or coinsurance, as appropriate
All UA Choice pharmacy benefits subject to negotiated price limits


text:
I am (or have been) an Eagle scout, six-year US Navy veteran, technician, engineer, activist, researcher, inventor, author, husband, parent and grand-parent (not necessarily in that order.)
I don't claim any special powers nor do I claim to have it all figured out, however I have been known to be right upon occasion.
Since you followed the link to my personal website, you must be interested in something about me.
This website points to every instance of the good stuff about me that I have been able to find. Hopefully, all the bad stuff has been deleted.
Have a great day,
Jack Churchward
Clearwater, Florida


text:
Being Charlie Sloth #9 - Raw Jam "Life of an Independent British Rap Artist" [Webisode]
Harold reports "In this weeks episode Charlie gets a new wardrobe from Raw Blue and Kashi Kicks, he fakes a real phone call he got from Tim Westwood and responds to beef with DJ MistaJam after reading his comments on ATribeCalledNext.com"
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


text:
Under-banked willing to pay for BC services in India – MicroSave Report
Under-banked willing to pay for BC services – MicroSave Report
Microfinance Focus, May 24, 2011: According to a recent study undertaken by MicroSave, there is a significant demand from under-banked clients for more convenient banking facilities and over 70 percent of the study respondents expressed their willingness to pay for Business Correspondent (BC) services.
Sighting various difficulties in bank transactions which includes travel cost, literacy barriers and unhelpful staff, close to 70% of study participants indicate willingness to pay for the local and more personalised convenience of business correspondents. Almost half seem to prefer a percentage model (1-2% of the transaction total), while close to 30% opt for flat fees.
MicroSave, one of the leading research and technical assistance providers for financial services conducted a study – 'Cost and Willingness to Pay' (CWP) in the states of Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh on the services business correspondents provide in rural areas and the willingness of customers to pay for such services.
The CWP study is the second in a series of research studies that are being conducted by MicroSave and funded by Omidyar Network to support financial inclusion agenda in India. The first report of the series on Dormancy in No Frill Accounts (NFA) has been published.
According to the report, many of the respondents accept the rationale behind charging a small fee for withdrawal and account opening if branch visits are eliminated. Although price sensitivity is high among customers, they are well aware of how banks make money. No one thinks fees are acceptable for savings deposits or "maintenance", particularly for no frills accounts (NFAs) with no ATM cards and no cheques
The report claims that building customer trust in the BC, in the security of their payments and deposits, in the new system will take time. Adoption will be cautious at first and full use of the various bank services will depend on the efficacy and reliability of initial transactions.
While 27 banks have implemented the BC model and some 14 million new accounts have been opened, many with the assistance of technology service providers, the adoption has been disappointing and the overall viability of the BC model is currently under review, the report says.
A recent multinational CGAP study on the larger issue of agent networks reveals that daily net profits for Indian agents range from $0.69 to $3.99. Costs, including insurance, can be as high as $0.99.
Persuading prospective customers, particularly poor ones, that recurring deposits, insurance premiums, or even mobile loan payments make sense requires time, patience, sophisticated sales skills, and full bank support. However most BCs, have few of the above, says the report.
The report furthers highlights that close to 13 percent of the respondents claimed that they were unwilling to pay for BC services arguing that all deposits and withdrawals at the bank are free, and BC services should be as well.
Customers are of the opinion that since banks will earn some money from their deposits, there should be no charges for their personal capital investment or for new account openings.
Trusting a local business correspondent, even one authorised by a bank is a crucial concern for customers and they also worry that deposits in outstanding credit situations, with the shop owner or the BC, may prove uncomfortable and difficult to negotiate.
Since the major requirement for most rural poor is available credit to help ease difficult agricultural cycles, and to pay for education, health care, marriages, funerals, and emergencies, BCs are expected to have more tailored offerings for villagers' needs.
The report claims that recurring deposits and the favourable terms of "commitment savings" are becoming more widely known – and appealing. BCs who can offer these and other options that fulfil their customer needs will fare better than those who have only a limited suite of services.
Despite of an unbanked population of over 400 million in India, most bank branches are reluctant in serving this clientele. A recent report by the Confederation of Indian Industry and Boston Consulting Group on efficient, low-cost distribution networks for these marginal customers does not encourage the branch model.
With an estimated cost-income ratio of 10-12, already well above any sustainable norm, Indian banks would need approximately Rs.200 billion to extend their branch networks to include all the currently excluded households. Previously, microfinance institutions (MFIs) have helped share costs and responsibilities for these customers, but their role remains uncertain moving forward.
To help address limited branch networks in rural areas, Reserve Bank of India introduced new guidelines in the year 2006 which included Business Correspondents as bank intermediaries to encourage savings and offset the heavy emphasis at the time on credit and loans. More recently, the RBI has eased restrictions for mobile network operators (MNOs) and other for-profit companies, allowing them to become more directly involved in the BC model and mobile money initiatives.


text:
Paul W. Frields announced the release of Fedora 13.
The email there is quite comprehensive, so please take a look at it. Otherwise you can read the release notes in 1 page.
I have not had much time to spend with F13 in the beta period, but from what I have used, I'm quite pleased at how many things work with little to no effort. I encourage the upgrade.
Please download Fedora 13 using the standard mirrors or using the Torrent (recommended).
(Note: I have not published any guides/information for this release yet. This will happen in the next few days. Most of the Fedora 12 information applies.)


text:
The Interpreter's Toolkit: Interpreters' Help – a one-stop shop in the making?
Interpreters' Help offers dynamic, platform-independent glossary management tools, including online and offline search and a host of other features for interpreters.
- Published:
- Last updated:
When Céline Corsini started working as a conference interpreter, she asked her brother, Benoît Werner, to develop a tool to search glossaries while on assignment. He teamed up with fellow programmer Yann Plancqueel, and in 2014, Interpreters' Help was born.
Interpreters' Help aims to be a "comprehensive solution for interpreters – from preparation to the booth." The web-based service offers terminology management, rapid online and offline search, robust collaboration tools, a wealth of public glossaries, and one of the cleanest, most user-friendly interfaces on the market.
It also sets its sights high, striving to be both a social network and the world's "greatest database of glossaries" for interpreters. Although the tool is not yet a one-stop shop, its developers are constantly rolling out new features – from term extraction to vocabulary training and assignment management to file storage. Interpreters' Help also provides numerous features for the community, including a crowd-sourced calendar of industry events, assorted resources, and a directory of professionals. Some of these are still a bit underdeveloped or suffer from lack of critical mass. Nevertheless, Interpreters' Help is one of the most dynamic, robust tools on the market, and one of my go-to options for managing my terminology – day in and day out.
The nuts and bolts
Interpreters' Help is a cloud-based glossary management tool. Since it runs in your browser, it works with nearly every device under the sun, including desktops, laptops, tablets and smartphones. It also offers "BoothMate" – a free, standalone companion application for Mac, Windows, and iPad – allowing you to search your glossaries offline.
With Interpreters' Help, I frequently create glossaries using the desktop in my office and search and fine-tune them from my laptop, tablet or smartphone while on the road or on the job. Since Interpreters' Help is cloud-based, it syncs automatically – and instantaneously – across devices. As a result, pulling up glossaries from any device is a piece of cake.
Interpreters' Help adopts a two-tier subscription system. Free users have unlimited public glossaries, one private glossary, and can upload 100 MB of files. Professional users get unlimited public and private glossaries and can upload 2 GB of files.
At 20€/month or 215€/year, the subscription-based service is among the pricier options on the market. However, given its wealth of features and excellent customer support via email, it's worth every penny. It also offers free educational subscriptions for both students and teachers, as well as a 50% discount for recent graduates in their first year on the job.
The Glossary Page: A quick overview
When you create a glossary on Interpreters' Help, you can give it a name, add a description and tags, and decide if you want to make it public or private. Afterwards, customize your glossary by adding columns for languages, acronyms, comments, categories, or other custom fields.
Interpreters' Help is intuitive, visually appealing, and easy to use – actions such as adding, saving or editing a line, reorganizing columns, or alphabetizing entries by column can be completed in a single click.
Editing a line on the Interpreters' Help Glossary Page
You can search and edit your glossaries using keyboard shortcuts, saving you time and effort while in the booth.
Advanced users will enjoy the ability to add notes, a list of sources, and public and private tags, which make it easy to search across related glossaries. You can also upload and attach files to a glossary, keeping all assignment-related documents in one centralized place.
Public glossaries are capped at 500 terms, while private glossaries max out at 3000, as per Interpreters' Help's best practices.
Creating and importing glossaries
Creating a glossary on Interpreters' Help is fast and easy. Build a new glossary using the online interface – adding terms manually or with the term extraction feature – or import a glossary from .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .ods, or .csv files.
I put the import feature through its paces, and found that most file formats were processed quickly and flawlessly. However, I did come across errors importing .csv files that used delimiters other than commas and with very long cells in .ods files. I also found that .docx files took nearly three times longer than spreadsheet files to upload (0.11 seconds/word vs. 0.04 seconds/word).
Interpreters' Help attempts to detect languages in imported glossaries using the headers in your source document. Regardless of whether I labeled them with language names, ISO language codes, or custom text, the tool regularly failed to identify column headers. A few minor programming tweaks could probably streamline this process even further.
Validating glossary languages after uploading
Interpreters' Help also allows you to revert to a previous import or import terms from multiple files into one glossary – a convenient way of merging glossaries. However, I'd appreciate the ability to merge glossaries online, rather than uploading external files individually. The ability to automatically remove duplicate terms would also be a useful addition, as would automatic detection of duplicates during the import phase.
Downloading, copying and printing glossaries
Glossaries can be downloaded in Excel or PDF format in just two clicks. When downloading a PDF or printing your glossary, the output mirrors the table you see on the screen. Since it's easy to move columns around and alphabetize by column, various output formats can be generated quickly.
If you'd like to safely modify a glossary (for example, slimming down a large glossary for a targeted assignment), you can easily make a copy of your glossary, then delete any extraneous terms.
A printed glossary
One minor addition I'd like to see is the ability to download or print a subset of a glossary – for example, to only print a few columns (just two languages; one language and acronyms, etc.). Also on my wish list: the ability to star certain lines in glossaries, view or download only starred terms, or delete multiple terms at once.
Searching glossaries
Search is incremental: as you type each letter, the program searches across all entries and columns in your glossary and whittles down the list of matching results. With clever glossary design, this can be especially useful: type in an acronym or date, and pull up the full name of a product or international agreement in no time flat.
Incremental search
Interpreters' Help is case- and accent-insensitive: there's no need to write accents like é, since e returns the same results. You can also save time with substitutions, like oe for œ or ss for ß. (As far as I know, Interpreters' Help does not allow custom substitutions.)
Search within a single glossary, across a subset of glossaries (by using tags or manually selecting glossaries to search), or across all of your glossaries.
Searching across a subset of glossaries
Pro tip: When searching across multiple glossaries, you can select the columns you'd like to search in or view. You can even add a new line to a specific glossary from the multi-glossary search page.
BoothMate and offline search
Every tech-savvy interpreter's nightmare is an "internet desert" – a venue where the Wi-Fi and your cellular connection are slow or non-existent.
How does a cloud-based glossary work in low-connectivity settings like these? Simply download BoothMate – the free, standalone companion app for Mac, Windows, and iPad – log in, and your glossaries will automatically sync to your device whenever you're online.
The Mac and Windows version offer basic search features. Just like the online version, search is incremental and case- and accent-insensitive. You can also select the languages you'd like to search across and display and easily resize and rearrange columns.
BoothMate for Mac
BoothMate for iPad includes all these features, plus the ability to create, edit and delete lines from the app or password protect your glossaries. Any changes you make while offline are automatically merged into your glossaries when you go online. Another great feature lets you see each line's history, helping you keep track of edits you made while on the job.
Incremental search in BoothMate for iPad
Although BoothMate for iPad works with the new multitasking features in iOS 11.0 – allowing you to pull up glossaries and reference documents side-by-side – the glossary columns don't resize, which is a bit of a design flaw.
BoothMate for iPad also has an "On-The-Go" glossary, allowing you to create a new glossary or jot down terms while offline. Once you get back online, you can copy these terms into a new glossary from the web interface.
Generally speaking, I appreciate the auto-sync feature and ability to edit glossaries from my iPad while on assignment. However, I feel the iPad interface is less intuitive and user-friendly than the web-based version: many actions, like adding a line, seem unnecessarily cumbersome. It also offers far fewer keyboard shortcuts: for example, Tab and Enter don't work when editing lines.
Although I applaud the developers for offering fast offline search on various platforms, I'd like to see BoothMate be as feature-packed and user-friendly as Interpreters' Help.
Editing a line in BoothMate for iPad
Term extraction
One of my favorite new features of Interpreters' Help is terminology extraction. Paste in the parallel texts (original and translation), highlight the term you'd like to add to your glossary and its equivalent, and hit Enter. (A dictionary look-up also exists, although Google Translate appears to be the only dictionary available at the moment.) Once you've read through a text, click "merge lines into glossary." It's that simple.
This is yet another user-friendly tool for quickly improving your glossary. However, tools designed specifically for this purpose, like Intragloss, offer far more features. I'd like to see Interpreters' Help significantly expand terminology extraction so users can upload various file formats, remove extraneous punctuation, adjust unnecessary capitalization, synchronize scrolling, access dictionaries, search for terminology in customized term banks using shortcuts, and detect terms that are already in glossaries. I'd also like to see the term extraction feature made available on tablets and mobile devices.
Term extraction in Interpreters' Help
Vocabulary training
Another new Interpreters' Help feature is the "glossary learning mode," which quickly turns your glossaries into flashcards so you can practice terms before an assignment. This aims to mirror the features in popular spaced repetition tools like Anki, Duolingo, Memrise and Quizlet.
Each "deck" of flashcards is based on two columns in your glossary; you can create multiple decks for larger glossaries. You can also email yourself a practice link, and easily practice a deck from your mobile device when you have a bit of down time – a very convenient feature!
In a deck, the entry from one column appears on the "front" side of the flashcard. Click "reveal" to see the equivalent entry from another column, then rate your knowledge of the term ("again," "difficult," "good" or "perfect"). As you practice, the Interpreters' Help algorithm feeds you terms you're less comfortable with.
As someone who's used many vocabulary trainers over the years, I again find that the Interpreters' Help version pales in comparison to its competitors. I doubt whether pressing "reveal" and rating how well you know a term stimulates active recall. Indeed, in order to determine how well you've "learned" a term, other programs include various interactive exercises, assessing whether responses are correct and how long it took to answer. I'd also encourage the developers to think about how vocabulary trainers might differ in multilingual contexts – like showing two columns (i.e. two passive languages) on the front of a flashcard and the target term on the back or allowing for multilingual flashcards. (In a digital world, why not?)
Glossary learning mode
Interpreters' Help promotes collaboration better than any other glossary tool I know.
First, you can share private glossaries with colleagues, granting them viewing or editing rights. Colleagues love the search features described above, which let them quickly pull up terms while interpreting. Unfortunately, only paying members can edit private glossaries, which can hinder collaboration between boothmates while on confidential assignments. Perhaps the developers could consider alternative approaches, like time-limited editing rights.
Sharing permissions
The Glossary Farm lets you search for glossaries, view and like a user's glossaries, search across public glossaries, and even embed glossaries onto a website. You can also modify a glossary by making a public or private copy of it, which is especially useful when you want to add another language to a glossary you like.
A Creative Commons license and link to the source glossary help respect intellectual property rights.
On a message board associated with each glossary, users can create "issues" to discuss terms or suggest potential changes.
As Benoît Werner explains:
We would like to build a reliable source of terminology for interpreters…The best source on a specific topic one day can be outdated a few years later. Terminology evolves over time, and our platform can help glossaries evolve and be improved."
An evolving database of reliable public glossaries could revolutionize the way interpreters approach terminology, and the shared Glossary Farm is a solid step in that direction.
The Glossary Farm
Social networking
Interpreters' Help is designed as a professional social network. Set up your profile, adding your city, language combination, website, biography, education, and more. Search for and add colleagues, follow people whose public glossaries you like, get notifications about their new glossaries, and interact with other members by messaging or following them.
A notifications tab shows you any issues that have been edited and any jobs you've been added to. Of course, myriad options let you customize web and email notifications.
Interpreters' Directory
The "Interpreters' Directory" aims to be a "worldwide network of interpreters." It's free and offers a handful of ways to raise your visibility: in addition to the information above, you can add a tagline, professional domicile, professional memberships, list of services, and contact information, including a phone number. Signed-in members can also see a list of a user's public glossaries, and the Directory is indexed by search engines.
Like the rest of Interpreters' Help, the Directory is visually appealing and customizable. However, the interpreter search seems limited to your location; other features, such as active and passive languages, would be needed to make this a versatile search tool.
I support the idea of a free directory of interpreters working in all branches of interpreting. However, without more widespread uptake and better search features, the Directory is unlikely to be particularly useful.
Job calendar
Interpreters' Help also has a built-in calendar for keeping track of assignments. Once you create a job, you can add details like date, time, client, languages, speakers, attendees, equipment, special requirements, contacts, notes, venue name and address, and more.
For interpreters looking for a way to conveniently organize information about their assignments, the Interpreters' Help job calendar fits the bill. It's packed with useful features, like the ability to attach glossaries and upload files to an assignment, create a database of clients, view a job location on the map from your smartphone, and see your job history, including by client.
Again, collaboration is what sets the Interpreters' Help calendar apart. After the team leader adds members to a team, they can view the job page and details, as well as all attached glossaries and files. The job page also includes a discussion space. For those who regularly coordinate teams of interpreters, this suite of features could allow for fast, easy communication and document sharing with and among team members.
Assignment details and discussion space
Community pages
Finally, Interpreters' Help features a "Community" section with a hodge-podge of different materials that are, in my view, a bit hit-and-miss.
The "interviews of interpreters" blog aims to publicize our profession by publishing one interview per month. For the moment, it seems to be relatively dormant, with only three interviews published last year.
The list of "resources for interpreters" includes a map of interpreting schools, a map of professional associations, and lists of training resources, books, podcasts, terminology websites, speech databases, and blogs. It includes some good recommendations, and I especially like the interactive maps. The Resources page – though a bit paltry at the moment – appears to be a work in progress, and could eventually become a useful place to find interpreting resources.
In my view, the most interesting – and innovative – community resource is the calendar of events in the interpreting world. It's a crowd-sourced, interactive, easy-to-update calendar for consulting upcoming interpreting events in various ways – by type of event, location, a map of events near you, and more. You can also export the calendar to Apple or Google, making it easy to see the list of interpreting events every time you open your calendar.
To my knowledge, the interpreting community lacks a comprehensive, centralized place to learn about professional development opportunities, interesting conferences, webinars, and meet-ups. This calendar could fill that gap, and I'd encourage colleagues to adopt it. If this calendar reaches critical mass, it could be a powerful resource for our community.
Calendar of public interpreting events
Although Interpreters' Help is a relative newcomer on the glossary-management scene, it has quickly become a market leader, with over 1000 registered users. In my view, this is because it ticks most of the boxes on my wish list for terminology tools: it is fast, visually appealing, easy to use, cloud-based and platform-independent, and its search tools are incremental, accent-insensitive, and lightning fast – plus they work offline.
What really sets Interpreters' Help aside are its excellent collaboration tools. Very few terminology management programs truly foster collaboration, yet according to terminology expert Anja Rütten, collaborative glossaries are revolutionizing the way interpreters approach terminology and preparation.
In addition to nailing its core business – terminology management – Interpreters' Help is making inroads toward becoming a one-stop shop for interpreters. The assignment management features offer useful tools for organizing jobs and sharing reference materials, information and glossaries with teams of interpreters. The vocabulary training and term extraction features are still in beta, but the initial functions are promising. Meanwhile, the calendar of events and Interpreters' Directory could prove particularly useful if they reach critical mass.
And if Interpreters' Help lives up to its goal of being the world's largest source of reliable, up-to-date, sharable glossaries, it will have made a major contribution to the interpreting community.
Even without a paid subscription, Interpreters' Help offers a range of powerful features for creating, sharing and searching glossaries. So what are you waiting for – why not take it for a spin today?
Drechsel, A. (2016, May 18) Interpreters' Help helps interpreters with terminology [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.adrechsel.de/langf...
Drechsel, A., D'Hayer, D., Rütten, A., Goldsmith, J., Feder, M., and Olsen, B. (2017, November 29). Live at TC39: New Frontiers in Interpreting Technology [Audio podcast]. Retrieved from https://www.spreaker.com/user/...
Llewelyn Smith, S. (2016, November 14). Interview. Speechpool roundup 41: sharing glossaries, Julian Assange, and permission to upload, 41.
Josh Goldsmith is a UN- and EU-accredited interpreter and AIIC pre-candidate working from Spanish, French, Italian and Catalan into English. A lover of all things tech, he frequently shares his experience using technology for interpreting at conferences and courses, as well as on Twitter as @Goldsmith_Josh.
Articles published in this section reflect the views of the author(s) and should not be taken to represent the official position of AIIC.


text:
We have located a matching Plumber in Pierce county Georgia that can service you.
Site Location: Home > Pierce Georgia Plumber Contractor - Pierce GA Plumbers & Plumbing Contractors
Helpful Homemaking tip...:When selling your home...Good commons sense prevails: if you have unfinished projects about your house, there's no better time to finish them then now. By leaving half-finished projects in the home, you will be giving the potential buyer the impression that your home is a "fixer-upper". Finish that radiant floor install, that central vac system, etc, and make that sale!


text:
Airflo Coloured Fishing Nippers
Time left for same day despatch: ::
Order Before 3pm for same day despatch.
What our
customers say:
"Nice sharp nippers !"
"Good little nippers. Lightweight and easy to use"
Our Airflo Coloured Nippers are ideal for closely trimming and cutting away excess leader material. Made from steel, these coloured snips will last more than a couple of seasons. With a convenient hole at the end of the nippers, they attach securely to your waistcoat or zinger to ensure you never forget them.
Colours Available: Silver, Red and Blue.
Code: F-AE003-(COLOUR)
Frequently Asked Questions
What comes in the box?
Included with every FishSpy purchase is the FishSpy camera itself, a USB lead, one orange fin, one Foamy, one boom and the instruction and warranty information.
How long does the battery last?
The battery will last 4 hours, streaming live video to your portable device whilst recording the footage at the same time.
How much footage can I record?
FishSpy has a built in hard disk that will hold up to 7 hours of video. The video can be transferred to any other device by a USB lead. Videos stored on FishSpy itself can be managed/ deleted via the FishSpy app or control screen.
Do I need an Internet or phone signal for FishSpy to work?
No. FishSpy generates its own wifi signal which your portable device receives. There is no need to have a phone signal or access to the internet.
How deep can FishSpy be submerged?
It's guaranteed to perform at depths of up to 10m.
Will FishSpy transmit via Wi-Fi when fully submerged?
No - once submerged, FisySpy will lose its wifi connection to your device (wi-fi signals cannot be transmitted through water).
N.B. Your recording will continue whilst FishSpy is submerged, and will be ready for you to view when you re-connect FishSpy to your device once it's resurfaced.
How much does FishSpy weigh?
It weighs 90 grams so about the same weight as a large marker float.
What warranty is provided?
For complete peace of mind all FishSpy cameras are supplied with a 12 month warranty against manufacturing faults or defects. As you would expect this warranty excludes any accidental damage including but not limited to (water ingress through failing to lock the cap correctly, excessive force when tightening the locking ring, impact damage with a hard surface such as a rock or tree) or through natural wear and tear. Please follow the instructions and take care of your FishSpy and accessories because we cannot accept responsibility from incidental or consequential damages caused by the misuse of the FishSpy products or the accessories.
Delivery Charges
For our mainland UK customers, our web site automatically calculates the correct postage and packing charge based on the weight of the items you have ordered. Our charges range from £2.95 for lightweight items to £9.95 for very large, bulky or heavy items.
Rapid Delivery
We are very proud of our exceptional customer service and despatch 98% of all orders placed before 3pm Monday - Thursday to arrive within 48 hours.
Satisfaction Guaranteed
If for any reason you are not satisfied with your fishing tackle purchase, please contact our customer service team. If you wish to return an item to us we can arrange a pick up (at your cost) or you may arrange to return to product to Fishtec yourself. In this case, please do so via an insured, traceable method as regretfully we cannot accept responsibility for returns lost in transit.
Goods returned to use within 14 days of receipt in mint conditions and in original, undamaged packaging will receive an immediate refund.