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British anti-EU leader sees exit in "few years"
Britain's withdrawal from the European Union "within a few years" is a certainty as no government will be able to resist demands for an exit from a population incensed by the arrival of low-wage migrants, the leader of the UK Independence Party said.
Nigel Farage, who is siphoning off voters from Prime Minister David Cameron's Conservatives by attacking EU bureaucracy and immigration from eastern Europe, said it was the dramatic rise of his own party that had pressured the premier into promising last week what would be a historic EU referendum.
"Cameron's speech was the moment when the debate on Europe changed," a combative Farage told Reuters, calling it UKIP's "greatest victory to date". Dismissing the idea Cameron had outflanked the anti-EU lobby, he said the reverse was true: Cameron had "let the genie out of the bottle", making "Brexit" - the EU exit of the world's six largest economy - certain.
Speaking days after Cameron promised to renegotiate the terms of Britain's 40-year-old membership of the bloc and to hold an "in-out" referendum if re-elected in 2015, Farage said Cameron would probably lose office and, even if he won, would be unable to persuade other EU leaders to amend treaty agreements.
"There is no substantial renegotiation to be had," said Farage. "He'll get nowhere." In any event, the prime minister, who says he wants to stay in a revamped European Union, could not be trusted to keep his referendum promise, he added, noting abandoned talk of a vote on the Lisbon Treaty of 2007.
But with polls showing a slim majority want to cut Britain loose from an expanding European political system, a referendum was not far off, Farage forecast. Even the Labour party, which opposes Cameron's in-out referendum, would, if it took power, be forced by the public to let Britons vote to leave, he argued.
It is a prospect that clearly enthuses Farage, a 48-year-old former metals trader in the City of London who has seen UKIP multiply its support in the six years since Cameron dismissed it as "a bunch of ... fruitcakes and loonies and closet racists".
"I see opportunity. We would have the potential to do so much more for this country," he said at the central London headquarters of a party which has lately polled as much as 16 percent, up from 3 percent at the last election in 2010.
"We'd have the opportunity - through winning back the right to have global trade agreements - to make us much more of a global player than a European player," he said.
Farage's sharp tongue - pro-EU evangelists were "idiots", he said - and a populist touch that includes a fondness for a smoke and a drink, have made him a familiar figure to voters. He is credited with bringing a new professionalism to a 20-year-old party long dismissed as part of a chaotic, far-right fringe.
Attacked from the left as a "dangerous man" and "political poison", he imagines a Britain thriving outside the EU, a picture that has struck a chord with voters alarmed by the way the debt crisis in the euro zone has hobbled their own economy and at poor immigrants arriving freely from eastern Europe.
EU red tape, Farage said, could be junked along with the bloc's social market model, heavy on regulation and welfare provision. That, he said, would make Britain a more attractive destination for manufacturers. It would also be free to strike bilateral trade deals and to deregulate its own economy.
"I don't want to turn my back on Europe but it's not the future," said Farage. "The future is the emerging world."
While many businessmen support a renegotiation of Britain's EU membership, they have also warned that years of doubt over Britain's EU membership would damage the $2.5 trillion economy and hinder investment [ID:nL6N0AS96T]. Farage disagrees.
"Europe has a demographic time bomb," he said.
"It's stuck with the idea of a social market model ... which means it's falling behind in competitiveness terms ... and it has a euro zone crisis which it is determined not to admit defeat on which means a decade of agony."
Cameron accepts much of that analysis but argues that London can distance itself from the problems while staying in the EU.
His demand for change in Brussels and pledge of a referendum seem to have gone down well with voters. One poll has suggested a swing of up to four percent from UKIP to the Conservatives.
For those keen to vote No to Europe, a vote for Cameron in 2015 may seem a better bet, since voting UKIP is more likely to bring a Labour government not committed to an EU referendum.
But Farage dismisses suggestions Cameron has stolen his thunder and deprived UKIP of its distinctive appeal: "He's let us down on this very same promise once before," he said of a Conservative plan for an EU vote. "He's used up so much trust."
UKIP was still the only party that favored complete and immediate withdrawal from the EU, he said: "The Conservative party is wedded to political union of the European Union.
"They believe in it, they have done for over 50 years. He's actually calling for deeper integration."
That is a complaint that has found favor in Conservative heartlands across the wealthy suburbs and rural areas of southern England. Though a winner-takes-all constituency voting system means UKIP has no seats in the London parliament, it has 12 in the European legislature in Brussels.
Once shunned by Britain's mainstream media, Farage rubbishes long-standing accusations his party are "the BNP in blazers" - a middle-class, golfing version of skinhead racists in the British National Party - and is now a regular on political talk shows.
In sharp pinstripe suit, black fedora and colorful silk tie, he dresses like the City trader he once was.
Fast-talking, he peppers his speech with jokes and the odd expletive and professes that though politics is a deadly serious business "it doesn't mean you can't have a bit of fun too".
It is a routine he says he has perfected as "a street scrapper" in many a debate in pubs up and down the country.
Married and a father of four, Farage has survived being run down by a car - when he admits he was drunk - a plane crash during an election stunt, and testicular cancer, but said his lust for "living life" was undimmed.
He smokes, enjoys British beer and French wine, bets on horses, likes sea fishing and some years ago shrugged off tabloid headlines about a night with a young Latvian woman.
Farage is a paradoxical figure. Though frequently derided as "a little Englander" - a jibe at his isolationist views - he is married to a German. And though he says he hates everything about the EU, he is a lawmaker in the European Parliament.
Even the location of his London office - Europe House, a building that also houses the British headquarters of the European Commission - is paradoxical, as is the fact that he uses EU funds to campaign against the bloc.
Some prominent business leaders have warned that the prospect of a referendum on the country's EU membership will create years of uncertainty over trading rules that will scare off foreign investors or, as Labour leader Ed Miliband said, hang a "closed for business" sign over the island nation.
Leaving the EU itself, Britain's biggest trading partner would be folly, they have said, and force Britain to renegotiate a free trade agreement from a position of weakness.
But Farage, who argues that trade with the EU has been routinely "overstated", dismissed such fears, saying a British EU exit "wouldn't make much difference" to trade.
"Do you honestly think that Angela Merkel is going to pick up the phone to the chief executive of Mercedes and say we're very sorry but as a result of putting tariffs on British goods they've just slapped tariffs on you selling your cars in Britain?" he asked with a laugh. "They'd go berserk."
The idea that London would lose its status as Europe's financial centre and forfeit the right to trade the single currency if Britain left was also fantasy, he argued.
"Governments can't control markets," he said. "If they really wanted to prohibit euro trading outside the EU they could do that ... if they want it to become about as rich as Congo in a decade. But they're not going to do that."
Farage told Reuters the biggest reason UKIP was attracting more supporters was because it advocated ending "open door" immigration and curbing the right of other EU nationals to work, settle and claim social security payments in Britain.
"Immigration is a very, very key reason for people voting for us," he said, arguing that local communities had been rendered "unrecognizable" by migrant workers in the last decade.
"The levels of division and enmity that have been created within those communities by government policy a propos open borders with the EU is something that people are really, really angry about," he said.
His immediate campaign goal is to lobby against Romanians and Bulgarians getting full rights to work in Britain next year, something they will obtain because of EU freedom of movement rules, seven years after their countries joined the bloc.
Farage strongly rejects any suggestion he is a racist and said he favored an Australian-style selective immigration policy that chose people because of their skills.
But allegations his party is racist have dogged him.
A local authority in the north of England took three foster children away from a couple in November, arguing that their support for UKIP was racist, prompting Cameron's office to issue comments suggesting it agreed, at least in part.
Earlier this month, Cameron hinted he did not think Farage should be allowed to take part in TV debates ahead of the next election in 2015, telling a magazine that only parties "that are going to form the government" should be included.
Liberal newspapers in Britain are also skeptical. The Independent published an article in December calling Farage "a dangerous man", his views "political poison", and his party's free-market economic policies "a hard-right wet dream".
UKIP's journey to the political mainstream is far from complete at the ballot box; Britain's first-past-the-post electoral system - which only values a party's support in each constituency rather than nationwide - means it would not win a single parliamentary seat if an election was held today.
And one recent poll, the methodology of which Farage contests, put UKIP support at just seven percent. Most others have, however, estimated its vote at up to 16 percent.
Naming his heroes, Farage listed Robert Peel, a 19th-century Conservative prime minister who defied party aristocrats to end corn tariffs and promote free trade, William Wilberforce, who helped end the slave trade, and Enoch Powell, a leading Conservative ostracized in 1968 after criticizing immigration policy in what became known as the "rivers of blood" speech.
What Farage said he admired about them all was that they challenged the status quo, regardless of the consequences.
He didn't spell it out, but it's clear he thinks he is doing the same with Britain and the EU: "The same idiots that are now telling us that unless we stay part of the EU single market we're doomed are the same idiots who told us if we didn't join the euro we'd lose all that business," he said.
"What do they know?"
(Editing by Alastair Macdonald)


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Varying temperatures measured in the volcanoes of Venus give pointers to their history
As is the case on the Earth, the surface temperature on Venus changes in relation to topographical height: in the lowland plains, the temperature is higher, while in the mountains it is lower. Armed with the knowledge of how high a region is, it is possible to forecast the temperature there. In the Lada Terra uplands, close to the South Pole, it was possible to prove the existence of minor variations in the forecast temperature. Scientists from the German Aerospace Center (DLR) succeeded in this endeavour in collaboration with colleagues from Finland, Italy and France, using readings from the European Space Agency's Venus Express space probe. The researchers attributed these variations in temperature to differences in the composition of the solidified lava, which could be ascribed to the fact that the volcanoes were created at different times.
Once, lava flows with a length of almost 800 kilometres spread over the surface of Venus, an exotic, strange world, where today, across the entire planet, white-hot temperatures of around 460°C are no exception. No less exotic are the descriptions of the structures on Venus - without exception named after female figures from mythology with enchanting names such as Quetzalpetlatl Corona, Mylitta Fluctus or Cocomama Tessera. A group of European researchers is currently trying to shed light on the secrets of the surface temperature of our planetary neighbour.
The landscapes of Venus are characterised by igneous rock spewed out of giant volcanoes many hundred million years ago across surfaces so large that many of them are bigger than Germany. What is for sure is that the planet was radically transformed by a planet-wide volcanic catastrophe more than 500 000 000 years ago. Molten rock flowed out of several thousand volcanoes and cooled, covering all existing structures. The researchers are thus particularly interested in finding the answers to several questions: Are there still active volcanoes on this near planetary neighbour, or was the catastrophe that befell Venus one final, short-term volcanic event? Why on earth did this planet, superficially so similar to our own, develop so differently?
Venus Express may have the answers to these questions. The probe is observing the planet from the safety of an orbital path. The volcanoes of Venus is a topic which has been occupying geophysicists Dr. Jörn Helbert and Nils Müller of the DLR Institute of Planetary Research. In collaboration with several research colleagues, they have, in part, been able to gain access to the volcanic history of a region on the southern hemisphere of Venus, and have now published their results in Geophysical Research Letters. As the planet is veiled in a dense atmosphere which fogs the conventional camera's view of the volcanic landscape, the research group is trying to detect Venus's secrets with an infrared spectrometer called VIRTIS (Visible and Infrared Thermal Imaging) on board Venus Express. In comparisons between the Earth and Venus, terms such as 'volcanic activity' and 'greenhouse effect' have an important role to play: a film showed these phenomena clearly. In the film, the DLR scientists Helbert and his French colleague Jean-Loup Bertaux, of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique in Paris, use terrestrial atmospheric and volcano phenomena to point out the similarities and differences between these two sister planets of the inner Solar System.
Temperature maps of the 'invisible' surface of Venus
For a little over two years, Venus Express has been observing the densely-clouded planet. "With the data we have gleaned, we have been able to map out the temperature differences throughout the southern hemisphere", explains Jörn Helbert, one of the scientists involved with the project under the auspices of the VIRTIS Spectrometer team. "This map makes it possible for us to see differences in the composition of the volcanic landscape; hence we can develop ideas about how they might have been formed." The VIRTIS experiment onboard Venus Express provides data which could answer many questions. For one thing, it is set up to analyse the structures and dynamics of the atmosphere of Venus to various extents over various wavelengths of visible light and infrared. Another aspect is the possibility of 'seeing' the surface of Venus even in the very narrow wavelength bands of the electromagnetic spectrum between 1.0 and 1.2 µm (thousandths of a millimetre) through so-called 'atmospheric windows', avoiding the heat radiated by the hot rocks.
"The heat radiation which the sensors receive from the surface of Venus is, of course, significantly dispersed by the clouds. This 'noise' is a distortion of the original signal, and must first be disregarded in the measurements, which is quite a feat given the complexity of the atmosphere of Venus", explains Nils Müller, a member of Jörn Helberts' VIRTIS team at DLR. Once the researchers had sifted through the data for several months, searching for an interpretation, they began to recognise variations in the readings. These variations from the otherwise very homogenous average temperature on Venus correlated with significant geological structures mapped out using radar readings by NASA-probe Magellan in the 1990s.
Evidence of older and younger volcanoes, though not of active volcanic activity
The data acquired by VIRTIS shows that the best-surveyed area stretches along the zero meridian from 50 degrees latitude south to near the South Pole. From the Lada Terra Highlands, it was possible to take a total of 297 infrared pictures in the course of two consecutive Venusian nights (or 243 days on Earth). "This enabled us to make the most detailed temperature map of this area to date", enthuses Helbert, "and if you take into account the topographical maps of the Magellan mission, then you can see that the anomalies in surface temperature really do match the contours of volcanic complexes in this region." From various heat rays, the scientists were able to unlock a range of material which could have been deposited at different times. It follows, then, that in the area studied, the structure of the Cocomama Tessera is probably the eldest, followed by the Quetzalpetlatl Corona volcanic complex, Otygen Coronae, and the Juturna Fluctus, and Mylitta Fluctus solidified lava flows.
"Nonetheless, we have two different explanations for the temperature differences observed relative to the previously calculated average values", explains Helbert. Firstly, the cause of the differences in temperature could be accounted for by the solidified lava flows; the lava comes, after all, from the depths of the planet and could have a different mineralogical or physical composition to native material on the surface. But it could also be the case that the differences observed are the result of millions of years of interaction with the aggressive atmosphere of Venus.
"The model in which the influence of the atmosphere plays the leading role has a number of limitations, so we tend to ascribe the various surface characteristics of the structures to an 'endogenous' cause: in other words, that their source can be found in volcanic processes", according to Helbert, "apart from which we will fortunately be receiving plenty new readings between now and the expected end of the Venus Express mission in May 2009 which may well help us to raise the veil on the secret of the volcanoes of Venus."
Origin of the names used in this article for structures on the surface of Venus
The names were given by the International Astronomical Union; source: US Geological Survey.

subset: commoncrawl


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There are probably as many of these rhymes as there are games!
Before I list all the skipping rope rhymes, I've started a new category for hand clapping games, which has been a popular request from you the viewers. Please check out the following Clapping Rhymes/Games
You can also do Miss Mary Mack, I Had a Little Puppy, and several others as hand-clapping games.
OK, now here's the jump-rope rhymes:
Looking for something different? Why not try Tinikling!
Go Back


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How safe is the air you're breathing, and where is it coming from? Tune in to "Toxic America," a breathtaking special investigation, with Dr. Sanjay Gupta, Saturday at 8 p.m. ET on CNN.
Five years ago Molly and Zachery Gray were in the midst of a dark, lonely spiral. It began with Molly's first miscarriage.
"It was a really emotional process of being so joyful and so happy and ready to make that step into parenthood and that being pulled away from you," said Molly, 32. "[The pregnancy is] happening and all of a sudden it's gone. It's really hard."
After a second miscarriage the Grays were on a desperate hunt for answers. After Molly got pregnant a third time, she heard about a small study to test the blood of pregnant women for chemicals. She signed up.
The Grays wondered, as many do, if chemicals in the environment could be to blame. The science on this matter cannot yet give them an answer.
A growing number of studies are finding hundreds of toxic chemicals in mothers' and, subsequently, their babies' bodies when they are born. While there is no science yet that demonstrates conclusive cause and effect between this mix of toxic chemicals children are born with and particular health problems, a range of studies are finding associations between elevated levels of chemicals in a baby's body and their development. Not definitive cause and effect, but associations.
Despite her best efforts to avoid anything unhealthy while she was pregnant with her son, Molly's blood tested high for mercury, a heavy metal that can cause brain damage to a developing fetus.
"It's really scary and disheartening," said Molly. "Somehow my son was being exposed to mercury and that's a weight to carry because I feel like our jobs as parents is to protect them, to care for them, to nurture them and to keep them out of harm's way."
Scientists at the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health in New York City have been following hundreds of pregnant women over the past 12 years to measure chemicals entering the womb during pregnancy.
The women trudge through the city for 48 hours wearing special backpacks, each with a long tube that is slung over the shoulder. The tube, resting inches below the pregnant mom's mouth, sucks air into a special filter, giving an approximate measurement of the air that she is breathing. The backpack is designed to measure ambient toxics spewed by vehicles, pesticides, and chemicals from common household products.
"It surprised me when we analyzed the air samples [from the backpacks] and found 100 percent of them had detectable levels of at least one pesticide and the air pollutants we were interested in," said Dr. Frederica Perera, director of the CCCEH and professor at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health. "Every single one."
The concern does not stop with mothers breathing in toxics. The CCCEH study suggests moms are passing on those toxic chemicals to their babies. So far, the toxics measured in the backpacks match what scientists are finding in the cord blood of the babies once they are born.
It is a finding that begs questions for scientists like Perera about how these chemicals might be influencing the baby - whose ability to fend off toxic chemicals is considerably less than adults - while it develops in utero.
Small studies by other groups are also finding common household chemicals in babies.
"We've measured hundreds and hundreds of toxic chemicals in the blood of babies that are still in the womb," said Ken Cook, president of the Environmental Working Group, a non-profit environmental advocacy organization. "Flame retardants, the chemicals in consumer products like personal care products, makeup, shampoos. It's a very long list."
The EWG study found an average of 232 chemicals in the cord blood of 10 babies born late last year.
They are chemicals found in a wide array of common household products -- a list that is as long as it is familiar -- shampoos and conditioners, cosmetics, plastics, shower curtains, mattresses, electronics like computers and cell phones, among others.
"For 80 percent of the common chemicals in everyday use in this country we know almost nothing about whether or not they can damage the brains of children, the immune system, the reproductive system, and the other developing organs," said Dr. Phil Landrigan, a pediatrician and director of the Children's Environmental Health Center at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. "It's really a terrible mess we've gotten ourselves into."
Landrigan demonstrated the dangers of lead
Perera and her colleagues are following the children in their study from in utero, to birth, up to their first several years of life. They recently published a study in the journal Pediatrics demonstrating an association between the chemicals they found in babies' cord blood, and later problems on IQ tests and development.
"Fifteen percent of children [in our study] have at least one developmental problem," said Perera.
The amount of chemicals measured in the cord blood of the babies seems to matter. The higher the concentration, the more the IQ among children seems to dip. The study is also being conducted among pregnant women in Poland and China, and finding similar results.
Molly Gray still struggles with the idea that mercury from her blood may have been passed to her baby. This concern about chemicals is something she can't shake.
"There's plastics, there's mercury, there's pesticides," said Molly Gray, who is also a practicing midwife. "The things that we're cleaning our homes with, the things we're building our houses with. I think the sheer volume of the things we have to worry about is a little overwhelming."
Even when their son Paxton, now 11 months old, was born healthy, the Grays remained vigilant. As Paxton grows and develops, they steer clear of any products with potentially toxic chemicals. Still, they worry about what is out there in the environment that they cannot control.
"Knowing that he got these chemicals from my blood it's really scary," said Molly Gray. "Scary that we don't know what this means. Paxton and all of our future generations are carrying around this burden that we don't know what it means yet. It's the huge sea of unknown."
While studies continue about potential health risks to children from chemicals, experts suggest ways to protect them from potential toxics, ranging from incorporating organic food into their diet, to keeping the home relatively dust-free (many toxic chemicals are conveyed in dust), to avoiding using toxic chemicals found in common household products.


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DETROIT – Thirteen months ago, General Motors was fighting for its life in bankruptcy court. Now, the automaker is laying the groundwork to sell stock to the public once again with the eventual goal of ridding itself of government ownership.
General Motors Co. filed the first batch of paperwork required to hold an initial public offering of stock late Wednesday. The 700-page document submitted to regulators laid out reasons, and risks, to investors considering buying GM stock.
The filing, called an S-1, was short on specifics. GM didn't say how many shares would be sold or when, although experts say the IPO could come as early as October. It also didn't say how many shares GM's majority owner, the U.S. government, plans to unload.
Such a sale would eventually lead to the government shrinking its big stake in the automaker, something GM is eager to see. The company's outgoing CEO, Ed Whitacre, has said government ownership has hurt GM's public image and sales. However, GM warned in its filing that the U.S. Treasury would continue to own a "substantial interest" in the automaker following the IPO.
More details about the offering is likely to emerge with additional filings in the coming weeks and months. GM did say its stakeholders initially will sell common stock, while the company itself will sell preferred shares, which are like bonds and include dividend payments. GM said it will use proceeds from the preferred stock sale for general business expenses.
The filing means GM and its current owners are likely to sell part of their stakes in several offerings that will take months to finish, said Scott Sweet, owner of IPO research firm IPO Boutique. Analysts have speculated that the initial sale could be worth up to $20 billion, but the filing gave no number.
GM would have to bring in $70 billion just to pay back all the automaker's stakeholders. That could come in several sales over months.
The U.S. government now owns about 61 percent of GM, which it got in exchange for giving the company $50 billion in survival aid last year. GM has repaid $6.7 billion, and the remaining $43.3 billion was converted to the ownership stake. Other stakeholders include a United Auto Workers health-care trust and the Canadian government.
Demand for GM's new shares isn't known. In the coming weeks, the company will pitch itself to big investors such as pension, mutual and hedge funds. Many of the shares will go to those larger players, but small investors will also get a chance to buy in.
There are risks. The IPO market is weak. And GM, which lost about $100 billion in the five years leading up to last year's bankruptcy, is hardly a sure bet.
Still, a quick run through bankruptcy court cleansed GM of burdensome debt. It closed 12 factories and its labor costs were cut dramatically through deals with the United Auto Workers union.
Helped by those cost cuts, GM earned a healthy $2.2 billion in the first half of this year despite depressed U.S. auto sales. It's set up to do better if sales rebound, especially in fast-growing countries like Brazil and China, where GM plans to launch nearly 20 vehicles in the next two years.
The company gave investors a lengthy list of risks on Wednesday, including restructuring costs and concerns about the competitiveness of its vehicles.
For example, the Chevrolet Volt, its highly anticipated electric car due for release this year, requires battery technology "that has not yet proven to be commercially viable. There can be no assurances that these advances will occur in a timely or feasible way."
Even new executives were listed as risk factors. GM acknowledged that incoming CEO Daniel Akerson and Chief Financial Officer Chris Liddell have "no outside automotive industry experience" and said it was important for the management team to "quickly adapt and excel" in their new roles.
Both, however, have extensive experience with successful companies. Akerson held top posts for telecommunications firms and Liddell served as CFO of Microsoft Corp.
GM said the company was dependent upon global car and truck sales and said "there is no assurance that the global automobile market will recover in the near future or that it will not suffer a significant further downturn."
The company said it had no plans to pay dividends on its common stock and future dividends would be determined by its board of directors.
The company said it will trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker "GM," the symbol under which it traded before it entered bankruptcy. Shares will also trade in Canada on the Toronto Stock Exchange, but the ticker symbol hasn't been determined.
Francis Gaskins, president of IPOdesktop.com, said GM's decision to sell preferred shares rather than common stock is a sign that it is having trouble attracting interest from investors and felt the need to sweeten the offering with the preferred dividends.
"Only a company that's not strong would do that," he said. "It's a tip-off that the investment community needs something special."
The new preferred shares will be converted to an unknown number of common stock sometime in 2013, the filing said.
GM also said in the filing that said outgoing CEO Ed Whitacre, who leaves Sept. 1, will get a compensation package worth around $9 million. He gets a $1.7 million annual salary and the rest in stock.
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Huelskamp Gets Committee Assignments
KSCB News - January 7, 2013 5:50 am
TOPEKA, Kan. (AP) – Congressman Tim Huelskamp has a new committee assignment in the U.S. House after the chamber's Republican leadership took him off two others in December.
The Kansas Republican was among four House members who were removed from prominent committees for not voting with the GOP leadership on key issues. Huelskamp was taken off the budget and agriculture committees.
He'll continue to serve on the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs, and has a new assignment on the Small Business Committee. Huelskamp said the new assignment will give rural Kansas a voice on a variety of issues.
Huelskamp, who represents the 1st Congressional District, was one of 12 Republicans who voted last week against the re-election of John Boehner as speaker.


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There are currently twelve cameras installed at eleven intersections:
Yellow light timing is based on the physical characteristics of the intersection and driver behavior. A driver needs sufficient time to see a yellow light and safely determine whether to stop or proceed through the intersection. Increasing yellow light times beyond what is reasonable can actually increase the number of red light runners, because of a longer delay that drivers experience at intersections.
If you receive a notice of violation, you may request a hearing. If you received the notice of violation erroneously or if you have a legal justification for going through the red light (for example, if an emergency vehicle forces you through the light), then you are not liable for the civil penalty.
Violators will be assessed a $75 fine for every citation received. If the citation is not paid by the due date a $25 penalty fee will be assessed. These are civil fines, not criminal. Because the violation is a civil matter, it does not count as a moving violation and will not be reported to anyone's driving record.


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Community Voice
The City is in the process of developing a Strategic Plan to help establish a shared vision for El Cerrito's future. So far, we've heard from many people about what is important to them and ideas about things that can be done to make El Cerrito an even better place. Read more about the Strategic Plan process and what we've heard at www.elcerritostrategicplan.org. In particular, the Summary of Themes and Ideas (PDF) document summarizes comments and feedback gathered from focus groups, events, the online survey and interviews with individual City Council members.
To help us better understand the community's top priorities for the City to focus on over the next five-year period, please use this "Community Voice" page to elaborate on your ideas. With this new online tool, you can submit ideas categorized under broad topic areas and in turn other residents can comment on your ideas and vote them up or down. Try to be specific and include the following:
- What specifically do you recommend as a major City goal?
- Why is it important to you and the City?
- How do you suggest that it might be accomplished?
- In what ways should the City reduce/eliminate costs or increase revenues to fund your top priorities?
Your participation will help the City Council to develop meaningful goals and strategies for our community. (If you would prefer to not participate online, you are welcome to provide written comments to the City.)


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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra has planned a multifaceted summer that sees the BPO performing at the Erie County Fair, Canalside and Old Fort Niagara; traveling to Princeton University; working with the Doctors of the World Orchestra to raise funds for the new John R. Oishei Children's Hospital; and bringing rare instruments to Western New York.
'Summer Nights @ The BPO'
The BPO presents a three-concert series in its historic West Side neighborhood. Tickets for "Summer Nights @ The BPO" concerts start at just $19. Prior to each concert, guests are invited to sample the wares of Buffalo's food trucks or pack a picnic to enjoy on the grounds of the hall.
JoAnn Falletta will lead violinists Augustin Hadelich and Mayuko Kamio at 7 p.m. Friday, July 18,in the "Rising Stars of the Stradivari Society" concert. The Stradivari Society of Chicago connects talented musicians with the owners of top-quality instruments.
Buffalo residents Clement and Karen Arrison are the owners of Hadelich's violin, the 1723 "Ex-Kiesewetter" Stradivarius. The tones of the violin echoed through Kleinhans when Hadelich made his debut with the BPO in April 2013. Kamio plays the 1735 "Sennhauser" Guarneri del Gesu, on loan from an anonymous owner. The concert showcasing these extraordinary instruments will include music by Sarasate, Bach and Vaughan Williams.
Kleinhans will be lit green for the "Garden Walk Celebration" concert at 7 p.m. Saturday, July 26, but the concert will take place at a neighboring building. While the hall's balcony is being recarpeted, the BPO performs at First Presbyterian Church, located at 1 Symphony Circle. At 4 p.m., Buffalo's best folk acts will provide free entertainment on the grounds of Kleinhans. Patrons can get dinner at a food truck rodeo starting at 5 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church. Bradley Thachuk, conductor of Symphony Niagara, leads a concert of music inspired by nature in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the Buffalo Garden Walk.
Legendary saxophonist and Buffalo Music Hall of Fame member Bobby Militello joins the BPO at 7 p.m. Friday, Aug. 1, at First Presbyterian Church for a concert of jazz, featuring many favorites from Militello's days as part of Dave Brubeck's band. Stuart Chafetz, a fixture at the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra who has led orchestras all over the nation, will conduct.
Individual tickets are $49 for gold-level seating, $29 for silver-level seating and $19 for bronze-level seating. The BPO is offering a three-concert gold-level package for $79 - a discount of more than 40 percent.
'Welcoming Doctors of the World'
A collaboration unlike any other will take place during the week of July 19, as 40 doctors from nine countries come to Western New York to perform a side-by-side concert with the BPO. The doctors are talented amateur musicians who enjoy putting their talents to use for a good cause.
This will mark the first time that the Doctors of the World Orchestra will perform side-by-side with a professional orchestra. During the week, they will rehearse with the BPO and receive coaching from the orchestra's section leaders and from Falletta. At 8 p.m. July 19, they will present a concert alongside BPO colleagues to benefit the brand-new John R. Oishei Women and Children's Hospital, uniting two leading community assets.
Falletta leads the orchestra in this program, which will include Holst's "The Planets," Bernstein's Overture to "Candide," and Respighi's "Pines of Rome." Tickets are $25. A VIP package is available for $150 and includes premium seating and a post-concert reception.
Food trucks will also be onsite at Kleinhans prior to this concert.
Traveling through Western New York
A free performance kicks off the summer season at 7 p.m. Tuesday, July 1, at Knox Farm State Park in East Aurora. Associate Conductor Matthew Kraemer will lead the orchestra in a concert featuring light classics by Leroy Anderson, Dvorak, and Strauss. Music by John Williams, Henry Mancini and tributes to Duke Ellington and Irving Berlin will round out the program. The concert also features Friends of the BPO scholarship winner and cellist Alexander Cousins.
Cousins is a member of the Grand Island High School Class of 2014, and a student of BPO principal cellist Roman Mekinulov.
Friends of the Knox Farm will host a garden party at Knox Farm's Main House to benefit its continued restoration. Tickets are $100, and can be obtained by emailing [email protected].
Two nights later, the BPO is downtown for the area's No. 1 Independence Eve celebration at Coca-Cola Field. After the Bisons game, the BPO performs a variety of popular music and patriotic favorites under the direction of Paul Ferington. A fireworks show lights up the night sky at the end of the evening.
On Saturday, July 5, the BPO returns to the Ellicottville Summer Music Festival with a program of Sousa marches, movie music by Williams, Alan Mencken, and Danny Elfman, and patriotic favorites. Kraemer will lead this concert.
Tuesday, July 29, sees the return of the BPO to the M&T Plaza lunch series. This series showcases the best music Western New York has to offer in free noontime concerts on Main Street. Ferington will lead the orchestra, and Teagan Faran, violinist and Friends of the BPO scholarship winner, will perform. Faran is a member of the Williamsville East High School Class of 2014.
Another BPO milestone takes place when they perform for the first time on Buffalo's Thursday concert series. At 6 p.m. Thursday, Aug. 7, the BPO performs on the "Thursdays @ Canalside" series. Ontario-based Jeans n' Classics collaborates with the BPO to present the music of Michael Jackson and Earth Wind and Fire. Kraemer leads the orchestra for the last time as associate conductor in this free, "BPO Rocks"-style concert.
Opening the Erie County Fair
For the first time since the 1950s, the BPO will perform a solo concert at the Erie County Fair. On Wednesday, Aug. 6, Falletta will lead the orchestra in a celebration of great American voices for the opening night concert of the 175th Erie County Fair. Music by Aaron Copland, George Gershwin, Duke Ellington and John Phillip Sousa will set the tone for an extraordinary fair experience. The concert ends with a fireworks show.
Falletta to conduct at Old Fort Niagara
The summer season closes with an outdoor concert at Old Fort Niagara at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Aug. 9. Tickets are $25 for adults and $10 for children, and include admission to both the concert and the fort. Family four-packs are available for $60. A fireworks show at the close of the concert will be the finale to the BPO's summer season.
Performance at Princeton University
On Wednesday, July 23, the Buffalo Philharmonic will perform by special invitation at Princeton University's Richardson Auditorium on the seventh annual "Midsummer Celebration" presented by William and Judith Scheide. The centerpiece of the concert is the world premiere of Mark Laycock's "Flute Concerto for Jasmine Choi (Songbird's Journey)."
Choi has been hailed as "The Goddess of the Flute" by Korea Times, and was the first Korean woodwind player to be hired by a major symphony orchestra in the U.S., and the first Korean featured as a cover story in Flute Talk magazine USA.
"Jasmine's remarkable gifts could not help but inspire works to be written for her, and having known her for nearly 15 years, the time seemed right to collaborate on a concerto that would reflect her personal and musical qualities," Laycock said. "The concerto is therefore beautiful and melodic while displaying her incredible virtuosic technical prowess within different musical fabrics that take the listener on what I hope is a very enjoyable journey with the soloist."
Laycock's friendship with Falletta and his awareness of the BPO's interest in new music led him to extend the invitation to the BPO to premiere his newest work in Princeton. Laycock himself will conduct the concert, which also includes Dvorak's Carnival Overture and Brahms' Symphony No. 2. Tickets, $35, $45 and $55, are available at Princeton University Ticketing by calling 609-258-9220 or emailing[email protected].
Full Summer Season
For more information or tickets, call 716-885-5000 or visit www.bpo.org.


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The "love hormone" oxytocin affects men and women differently in social contexts: in men it improves the ability to identify competitive relationships whereas in women it facilitates the ability to identify kinship. "These findings are in agreement with previous studies on the social differences between the sexes: women tend to be more communal and familial in their behavior, whereas men are more inclined to be competitive and striving to improve their social status," said Prof. Simone Shamay-Tsoory from the Dept. of Psychology at the University of Haifa who led the research.
The hormone oxytocin is released in our bodies in various social situations, and it is better known as the "love hormone" since our bodies release it at high concentrations during positive social interactions such as falling in love, experiencing an orgasm or giving birth and breastfeeding. In her previous researches, Prof. Shamay-Tsoory discovered that the hormone is also released in our body during negative social interactions such as jealousy or gloating.
In the current study, conducted with the help of research students Meytal Fischer-Shofty and Yechiel Levkovitz, researchers tried to find out what effect oxytocin would have on women's and men's accurate perception of social interactions. Sixty-two men and women aged 20-37 years participated in the current research. Half of the participants received an intranasal dose of oxytocin while the other half received a placebo. After a week, the groups switched with participants undergoing the same procedure with the other substance (i.e. placebo or oxytocin). Following treatment, video clips showing various social interactions were screened. Participants were asked to analyze the relationships presented in the clips by answering questions that focused mainly on identifying relationships of kinship, intimacy and competition.
Participants were expected to base their answers, among other things, on gestures, body language and facial expressions expressed by the individuals in the clips. The results showed that oxytocin improved the ability of all the participants to better interpret social interactions in general. When the researchers examined the differences between the sexes they discovered that following treatment with oxytocin, men's ability to correctly interpret competitive relationships improved, whereas in women it was the ability to correctly identify kinship that improved. Surprisingly, researchers discovered that the "love hormone" doesn't help women or men to better identify intimate situations. According to them, since the ability to correctly identify intimate situations was substantially low among all participants in the study, there is evidence to say that correctly identifying an intimate relationship between two people is intricate and complicated.
"Our results coincide with the theory that claims the social-behavioral differences between men and women are caused by a combination of cultural as well as biological factors that are mainly hormonal," concluded Prof. Shamay-Tsoory.
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Metallica, Chickenfoot, Iron Maiden Join Deep Purple Tribute Album
Metallica, Chickenfoot, and Iron Maiden are among the stars joining forces for an upcoming Deep Purple tribute album, 'Re-Machined: A Tribute to 'Machine Head." As you can guess from the title, every song from the band's landmark 1972 album is covered at least once on this record.
In fact, you'll get two takes on both 'Smoke on the Water' and 'Highway Star,' with Carlos Santana and alt-rockers the Flaming Lips both tackling the former, while Chickenfoot and an all-star band led by former Deep Purple singer Glen Hughes both taking on the latter.
The CD will be part of a deluxe Deep Purple "Fan Pack" released by Classic Rock magazine on Sept. 4. The disc will come with a 124-page magazine filled with exclusive interviews with many of the bands featured on the CD. Metallica dive particularly deep into Purple's back catalog for their contribution, covering the 'Machine'-era B-side 'When a Blind Man Cries,' which has steadily become a staple of the band's live concerts.
The album will also be released on Sept. 25 in America through Eagle Records.
'Re-Machined: A Tribute to 'Machine Head" Tracklist:
1. 'Smoke On The Water' – Carlos Santana / Jacoby Shaddix
2. 'Highway Star' – Chickenfoot
3. 'Maybe I'm A Leo' – Glenn Hughes / Chad Smith
4. 'Pictures of Home' – Black Label Society
5. 'Never Before' – Kings of Chaos (Featuring Joe Elliot of Def Leppard, Duff McKagan and Steve Stevens)
6. 'Smoke On The Water' – The Flaming Lips
7. 'Lazy' – Jimmy Barnes with Joe Bonamassa
8. 'Space Truckin'' – Iron Maiden
9. 'When A Blind Man Cries' – Metallica
10. 'Highway Star' – Steve Vai, Glenn Hughes, Chad Smith, Lauchlan Doley
Watch Chickenfoot Perform 'Highway Star'


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With office leasing and investment sales volume reaching new lows across the country, big brokerages are retraining idled dealmakers to become service providers rather than cowboys intent on roping the next mega deal. Brokerages have enormous fixed costs and in this challenging economy they are under pressure to provide tailored client services, such as mortgage workout programs.
Many firms are turning to independent training professionals to retool their ranks. That makes Mike Lipsey, a leading trainer to the brokerage industry for more than three decades and founder of The Lipsey Co., a busy man. Lipsey has contracts with an estimated 70% of the major brokerages; he predicts that 40% to 45% of future brokerage revenues will come from non-transaction activities.
"There are some skill sets within the younger brokers, maybe even some of the more experienced brokers, that now can be repackaged and sold as a service product, not a transaction product," says Lipsey, who began warning clients 12 to 18 months ago that a slowdown was coming and brokers would need to quickly shift to consultation.
That's not exactly a new concept, since Lipsey dusted off a training program from 1990 titled "Consultative Brokerage," revised it and now calls it "Real Estate Recovery Solutions." It became his best-selling course. Other courses address workout finance and lease resolutions, but all are designed to find new ways for brokers to service clients intervening between borrower and lender, and landlord and tenant. Webinars and podcasts are in demand, since they save time and travel costs. "There are days where I'll do three webinars a day for three national clients," says Lipsey.
Betsy Peck, chief administrative officer for brokerage in the Americas with Chicago-based Jones Lang LaSalle, oversees the company's training programs. "Understanding the multiple levels of service that can be provided beyond the transaction is clearly something that clients are looking for as they look into outsourcing and expanding their reliance on some of our professionals," says Peck. "We try to anticipate the next client need. You're not selling a service unless you're listening to the client."
Rather than focus on training individual brokers, Lipsey has identified training that works best in team environments. "Let's say a broker sold a property two years ago and now the mortgage is greater than fair market value. That broker can go back and say, 'We've got some services for a fee that we can provide you until things get better.' The broker brings the work in and the work is performed by the junior broker and the technician [researcher/analyst], and the bill gets submitted."
The new key to success is flexibility and openness to fresh ideas. "Ours is a business of being intermediaries, which is different from being sales people," says Harvey Green, CEO of Marcus & Millichap, a brokerage and investment services firm that closed 7,500 transactions in 2008. Although the industry is driven by transactions, brokers are becoming more aware of clients' needs, Green says.
"It really is a world of singles and doubles, there are no home runs," Lipsey adds. "The number one skill is to listen differently. Listen for the service, don't listen for the transaction."


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Dynamics? I'm Juicing as loud as I can! Drummer friends, great to be back and good of you to check in again with this continued blog series for Rhythm.
Seems musicians consuming fruits and veggies is higher on the set-list than originally thought, and after the success of the recent UK TV debut of Joe Cross's Fat, Sick & Nearly Dead movie, a juicing revolution has been re-inspired!
I have been fortunate so far to have some great health experts and guest drummers contributing to previous blogs and I'm extremely excited to share my next healthy find!
I've known this US drummer's name for a while and been hearing nothing but great things about both his 'stadium filling-big hearted beats' and his HUGE passion for sharing his love of music and life via his 'CRASH Course For Success' courses to inspire success and achievement for people in ALL walks of life.
Based in Nashville, this award-winning/Grammy-nominated drummer has toured/recorded/performed with Ludacris, Kelly Clarkson, Bryan Adams, Joe Perry, Jewel, Miranda Lambert, Kid Rock, The Pointer Sisters, John Eddie, Pam Tillis, Susan Ashton, Deana Carter and many others…
He's currently touring with multi-platinum US country rocker, Jason Aldean having played on 13 of his Number One hits, he plays sold out shows nightly (and to over one million fans and 11 countries per year!).
He's also featured heavily in Rhythm this month, as part of a round-up of Nashville Drumming Stars.
I am very grateful for his contribution here, let the crowd go wild, and please welcome… RICH REDMOND!
"Health is SO important.If you don't have your health, you have nothing!
"It's the basis for everything good in life. Drumming is so physical! Especially the kind of drumming I do with Jason Aldean. The stressful lifestyle associated with running a music career is very draining so you need to give yourself the best fuel possible."
1. Move more, eat less
2. More vegetables
3. Fruits
4. Say NO to sodas and empty calories
5. Limit alcohol
6. Watch sugar intake
7. Limit refined white starches (substitute whole wheat foods)
8. I am lactose intolerant, so I save thousands of calories every year by saying NO to milk, creams and cheeses. I substitute with almond, rice, soy, coconut and hemp milk
9. Smoothies or egg whites in the morning
10. I put Avocado on everything I can
11. Put oil and vinegar on salads or get dressing on the side and the do the 'skinny dip'
12. Healthy snacks on the go… almonds, apples, protein bars and smoothies
13. Take Probiotics for digestive health
"I go for a combination of cardio and light weights every day and I work out so I can play in a physical style. I love playing drums and want to do it until the day I die, so I take care of myself. I have had tons of success with fitness 'boot camps' but they are quite expensive and I'm always from town to do them.
"Yes, 'the road' takes us away… BUT the main idea is to change things up - run stairs, go for speed walks, run on a treadmill, run outside, do machine weights, do free weights, do exercise videos in your dressing room. STRETCH!"
"My wife usually makes me this Miles Davis-inspired protein-Smoothie in the mornings that I am off-tour… an awesome way to start the day!"
BLUE IN GREEN smoothie recipe (serves 2)
Into a high-speed blender:
Lots of spinach
Banana (sometimes)
Peanut Butter (PB2) OR almond butter
2 scoops Super Green Food Powder (available at Whole Foods)
2 scoops Protein Powder (brand is up to you)
Almond milk
Ice (amount optional)
THE HAPPY TRAVELER juice recipe (serves 1)
Push all Ingredients through a juicer:
Mix to taste/experiment with portions of each ingredient
MORE on 'CRASH'
"CRASH Course For Success covers the mental and business skills necessary for success in the game of life, as seen through the eyes of a popular musician. The event flows effortlessly in a talk-play-talk-play format. CRASH is an acronym for:
"My CRASH Course Philosophy is a meticulously crafted concept that anyone, on any career track, can follow to endless success. I used these ideas over several decades to navigate one of the most competitive and difficult industries on the planet; the music business. With a laser focus, determination, persistence and endless positivity, I have risen to the top of my field. I discuss how endless commitment to one's self and customers, honouring and developing relationships, maintaining a positive attitude, honing crucial skill sets,and fanning the flames of success to burn deep in one's belly are concepts that all work together for guaranteed success. I also choose to reiterate basic business concepts like we are always selling: smile, show up on time, be dressed meticulously,andreturning messages promptly.Humorous asides and passionate drumming examples are used to drive home my points. All in all, it makes for a fun, informative, educational, entertaining and life changing event."
Click here for more information on CRASH Course For Success.
You can follow Rich via his website,Facebook,Twitter @richredmond, YouTube,Instagramand Google+


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A high-quality reference monitor is at the heart of the video production and post-production process. Whether you're shooting for film or broadcast, being able to analyse your captured footage and accurately view the final output is vital. With sizes ranging from 17 to 31 inches, and full support for PQ and HLG, Canon's Professional Displays more than meet the requirements of today's diverse HDR workflows.
Canon's 4K reference monitors have been designed to deliver high luminance and faithful colours, with an innovative Matrix Array backlight control system ensuring uniform colour across the full display. "This Matrix Array consists of multiple backlights directly underneath the panel to reproduce the brightness of the entire scene," explains Matthew Koshy, Product Marketing Specialist at Canon Europe. "By using this system, Canon's professional display products are able to display images with a higher contrast ratio than a typical LCD monitor."
Contrast and brightness levels are, of course, critical when it comes to HDR grading, and in addition to the Matrix Array technology, all of Canon's 4K reference displays offer a consistent level of brightness from edge to edge. Rather than specifying the peak luminance in one specific area of the panel, Canon's displays are rated by their total brightness across the screen.
"In order to accurately understand the brightness information of HDR video, it's important to be able to display the maximum luminance across the entire screen," Matthew confirms. "If, for example, only the peak luminance reaches 1,000 or 2,000 nits, but the maximum luminance that can be displayed decreases as the area of high-luminance increases, the image intended by the creator and the image displayed on the monitor will be different."
As with Canon cameras, futureproofing is assured with free firmware updates that add features and productivity enhancements, enabling displays to evolve over time and putting you ahead of the curve.


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Two New "Deathly Hallows: Part 1" TV Spots With a Lot of New Footage
Oct 26, 2010
DH Film
There are two new, if not high quality, "Deathly Hallow: Part 1" TV spots online, the first of them featuring a look at Hermione shooting Harry in the face during the Snatchers scene, and Scabior commenting on it. The second TV spot has much more new footage such as Moody instructing everyone to take off during the Seven Potters scene, the seven Harrys getting dressed during the Seven Potters scene, the Trio in the tent, Hermione hitting Ron after he comes back, Harry (as Runcorn) entering the Ministry via the toilet, Harry and Hermione dancing, and Xenophilius and Luna dancing. You can watch the TV spots below or here and here. Hopefully we will have them in higher quality very soon.
Many thanks to ScarPotter and SnitchSeeker!


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DURBAN, South Africa, Sept. 3 (JTA) On a cool and drizzly night in this Indian Ocean port city, a vast white tent standing in the middle of a cricket field seemed to fit in with the circus atmosphere of the U.N. World Conference Against Racism, one Jewish observer said.
This was no regular circus that had come to town, however, but a viciously anti-Israel, anti-Jewish circus that had carried on all week and was about to reach its apex.
It got so bad on Monday, just halfway through the official governmental conference that began Aug. 31 and ends Sept. 7, that the United States and Israel recalled their delegations.
The U.S. delegation said it would not continue working in such a "racist," anti-Semitic atmosphere.
Speaking in Israel, Foreign Minister Shimon Peres announced that Israel had decided to withdraw following a "unilateral and ugly proposal by the Arab and Muslim leagues that are united against peace and for the intifada against Israel.
"We have instructed our delegation in Durban to come back home. We regret very much the very bizarre show in Durban," Peres said. "An important convention that is supposed to defend human rights became a source of hatred."
On Saturday night, however, thousands of nongovernmental organizations from around the world had gathered in the white tent to hammer out a final declaration after a weeklong preliminary portion of the racism conference. Thanks to Palestinian-led efforts, one issue dominated discussion the Mideast conflict.
After a week spent enduring hate-filled chants, insults, pamphlets, posters, marches and demonstrations, some three dozen Jewish activists huddled in the first rows under the great tent.
To their right sat their nemeses large delegations of Palestinians and other Arabs who waited excitedly, most dressed in secular garb but some in chadors and others with kaffiyeh scarves draped around their necks.
The document to be considered included a litany of alleged sins to be laid at Israel's door including genocide, ethnic cleansing and apartheid and the Jewish contingent was split on strategy.
Some wanted to walk out and register a symbolic protest, while others wanted to give their speech at the allotted time and stay until the end.
The verdict came sooner than expected.
After a chaotic start with procedural disputes that lasted more than an hour, it was the fourth speaker, an African woman from the Ecumenical Caucus, who first broached the Jewish issue.
The speaker wanted to strike from the declaration a passage that the Anti-Semitism Commission had inserted: that anti-Zionist rhetoric over the past year had incited violence against Jews and Jewish institutions around the world and should be considered a new form of anti-Semitism.
"I am against anti-Semitism, but I am also against the genocide of Palestinians," the woman said. And she wanted the declaration to name names that is, to castigate Israel.
The Jewish delegation immediately challenged, but the chairman called for a vote of the 43 caucus representatives.
All in favor? Forty-two hands shot into the air, holding aloft yellow voting cards.
All opposed? The solitary hand of the startled Jewish representative.
With that, the members of the Jewish caucus rose from their seats. As they made for the exit, they chanted "Shame, Shame, Shame!"
The pro-Palestinian group erupted with a rejoinder: "Free, free, Palestine! Free, free, Palestine!"
After a full week of such treatment, they could stomach no more, the Jewish delegates said afterward.
"This is the first time I've ever felt anti-Semitism this personally, at such a level of intensity," said David Matas, the senior counsel for B'nai Brith Canada and holder of the Jewish Caucus' yellow voting card.
"It's a kind of collective guilt," said Matas, a Winnipeg-based refugee lawyer, "but instead of saying that the Jews killed Christ, they're using the modern-day language of human rights to accuse us of some of the worst sins known to humanity."
As the Jews vacated their seats in protest, the Palestinians and their colleagues swooped in to occupy them. There were smiles and hugs and handshakes all around.
For months, Jewish leaders and activists have warned that Palestinian and Arab diplomacy has been aimed at "delegitimization of the State of Israel."
In the weeks leading up to the Durban conference, Jewish activists had pushed frantically to prevent the Arab world from reintroducing a resolution denigrating Zionism as racism; minimizing the uniqueness of the Holocaust; and diluting the definition of "anti-Semitism" by expanding it to include discrimination of other "Semitic" peoples, like the Palestinians.
Those issues, it turns out, were mere "decoys," said Shimon Samuels, the Paris-based director of international liaison for the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the head of the Jewish Caucus in Durban.
With the approval of the NGO declaration, a blueprint for the conference's real agenda has come into focus, Jewish delegates said.
Call it the South Africa strategy.
Durban has given birth to a declaration that denounces Israel as a "racist, apartheid state" and calls for the world to use the same tactics against Israel that ultimately dismantled South Africa's apartheid regime. The declaration calls for "mandatory and comprehensive sanctions and embargoes, the full cessation of all links (diplomatic, economic, social, aid, military cooperation and training) between all states and Israel."
It also demands the "launch of an international anti-Israel Apartheid movement" through "a global solidarity campaign network of international civil society, U.N. bodies and agencies, business communities, and to end the conspiracy of silence among states, particularly the European Union and the United States."
A pro-Palestinian activist at the conference said there is no overarching plan to dismantle Israel itself, only to revamp its political system.
"This is a paranoid kind of thinking," Jamil Dakwar, an Israeli Arab lawyer with Adalah: The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, told JTA. "The people I know who criticize Israel say it can't continue as a religious- and ethnic-based state, simply because it contradicts democracy."
The NGO document also calls for creation of a U.N. war crimes tribunal to prosecute Israeli "war crimes, acts of genocide, ethnic cleansing and the crime of Apartheid"; a U.N.-sponsored education and media campaign to counter those who support Israel and to promote the Palestinian cause; and elimination of the Law of Return which guarantees citizenship for any Jew who wishes to settle in Israel coupled with the Palestinians' own "right of return" for all refugees of Israel's 1948 War of Independence, and their descendants.
As always, Jewish activists said, Israel will count on the United States to defend it through lobbying or, if necessary, by wielding its veto on the U.N. Security Council.
Yet some activists noted that "apartheid" itself is now a recognized legal term that might be prosecuted if as many activists hope the International Criminal Court is established in the near future.
Regardless, the Palestinians already have won a conviction of sorts against Israel in the propaganda war being waged here in Durban. Incessant Palestinian rhetoric and agitprop, dutifully reported by the world media, whipped the crowd here into a virtual frenzy.
"They scream at you and shake their finger in your face; you can feel scared and embattled," said Judy Palkovitz, chairwoman of government relations for Hadassah: The Women's Zionist Organization of America. "Whatever dollar amount they spent to organize this, it was well worth it. They've gotten very good bang for their buck. They may not win the war, but they've won this battle."
Presumably it was no accident that the new mantra "racist, apartheid" was unveiled here in South Africa, where those words are most inflammatory. Such propaganda helped foster what Jewish activists described as a "lynch mob" atmosphere that won "kangaroo court" validation in the NGO declaration.
The most prominent featured speakers at the NGO conference were Palestinian Authority President Yasser Arafat who lashed out at Israel in a vicious speech, even as Peres was courting him for new peace talks and Cuban President Fidel Castro.
The head of the Israeli delegation, Foreign Ministry Director General Mordechai Yedid, read a statement from Deputy Foreign Minister Michael Melchior that described the anti-Israel text as "the most racist declaration in a major international organization since the Second World War."
Yedid had particularly harsh words for Arafat, characterizing Arafat's speech to the conference Friday as a message of hate and incitement.
Nevertheless, as the government conference began last Friday, it remained unclear what impact the NGO declaration would have. The document was to be recommended to the governments for adoption on Monday, but some speculated it might be ignored.
By the beginning of the week, the pro-Palestinian activism had died down somewhat and the official Arab delegations took a more moderate tone, reportedly expressing a willingness to sign off on a final governmental declaration that didn't refer to "Zionism" or "racism."
But Jewish delegates concluded that the stance was a tactic to appease the West while leaving the Arab states leeway to trumpet the NGO document as "the voice of civil society" around the world.


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Hello readers,
I hope you all enjoyed my last blog about experience in Bale. It's always difficult to convey experiences because there are so many subtleties that escape words. All the same, I will do my best to share with you the amazing time I spent with family and friends in the land that carried my ancestors for generations. Situated in the heart of western Wallaga zone of Oromia, Dembi Dollo is a home away from home for me. I few weeks ago my friend and fellow blogger, Nabila Aliyee related her story of traveling "home" to meet family she'd only known by name. Her account reminded me of my first visit to Dembi seven years ago when I met over 130 family members in a big gathering my mother arranged. I was interested to see how this experience would differ or be the same as before. Come with me as I retrace my steps through my "home" turf affectionately known simply as, Dembi.
I was already awake with angst when my alarm went off at 5 a.m. I barely slept the night before, ironically not because of excitement but because I stayed up to watch the Manchester City-Liverpool match which lasted until 1am local time and was a complete disappointment. I arrived at the bus station in Asco an hour later and met my cousin there who was also traveling to Dembi with an entourage. Once we hit the road, my angst quickly faded to tiredness and I fell asleep before we even reached Holota. The next thing I remember was my cousin waking me up in Ambo where we stopped for breakfast. When we came out from the restaurant the mechanics were already changing a tire on the bus which I now recognize in hindsight was an omen for the rest of the trip. One hour later, we set out on the road again.
I was so overcome by sleep in the first leg of the trip that I failed to notice how fast our driver was speeding on open road. I looked around the crowded bus to see if anyone else was bothered by how fast we were going up and down the windy roads but people were just chatting with one another as though we were on a smooth-riding train. I can't say I was all that surprised given this was my second bus trip, but I don't think the feeling of taking a turn in a huge bus at 60kph is something I could ever get used to.
The road was pleasant until close to Gedo, about 175km west of the capital, but after that it was quite possibly the most back-breaking terrain I've ever travelled over. Every so often along the way, we would come upon an active construction site and from far away it looked like a scene from rural China with all the workers wearing Chinese pointed bamboo hats. Up close you could see that the foreman was the only foreigner in the pack but even his skin tone looked like that of an Ethiopian from spending days in the equatorial sun. We stopped two more times before reaching Naqamte, the captial of Wallaga, for tire problems. Changing tires took so much time that we couldn't reach Gimbi on the first day and ended up being one of the last buses to reach Naqamte (which meant almost no hotel rooms left).
As we drove into town, we passed Wallaga University – a large and relatively new establishment, on our left and I could see students hanging around chatting at the end of their school day. It reminded me of my college days of hanging around campus fraternizing with friends. I imagined they were talking about professors or sharing frustrations about assignments or maybe what they were going to do that weekend. I found myself smiling at the idea that the college experience was more universal than I thought; A time when young adults set off into the unknown to learn about the world and themselves. Interestingly enough, in almost the same thought, I felt a sense of hopelessness for these students after having countless conversations with jobless college graduates. Sure anyone can get a college education if they work hard enough through high school but it's certainly no guarantee of a career or financial security for the future. That's a whole other topic in and of itself.
The city proper was quite larger than I expected it to be and there seemed to be about as much construction as there was in Finfinne. The sun was just beginning to set as we walked around town to find rooms for the night. To our disadvantage, not only were we late getting in but there was a championship soccer game for Wallaga zone that day so the streets were busier than usual, or at least that's what the locals told us. After some smooth-talking and extra payment we finally got rooms at Desalegn Hotel, one of the only places that had running water in the city. The city is set up with water and sewage systems, however because of the its overwhelming growth rate, supply can no longer keep up with demand so there is ongoing shortage. Freshly showered but still weary from the treacherous commute, we wandered downstairs to the restaurant for a quick dinner and then settled in for the night. We left early the next morning before the city woke up and thanks to the good asphalt road we reached Gimbi in time for a late breakfast.
Finally we were on the last leg of our trip. I didn't care at this point that the road was terrible again because we were less than half a day away from Dembi. What should've been about a five hour trip took double the time because of tire problems and stops to let people off at their destinations. It seemed like we spent 20 minutes in every town; Alem Teferi, Machara, Canqaa, you name it, we stopped there. We pulled into the Dembi bus station dusty, tired, and just about out of any more patience to be on the road. As I jumped off the bus, I heard somebody shout "Galee!" There were so many people that I couldn't tell who it was but I just walked in the direction the voice came from.
Ah, there they were! My two aunts, uncle, and cousins were waiting with strong hugs and kisses to welcome me back to Dembi Dollo after seven years. I was immediately overcome with emotion and struck with awe that I could feel so attached to people so far away and so removed from my life. When we got to my cousin's house in the 0-4 neighborhood, the electricity was out as I quickly learned was a common trend in Dembi and surrounding towns. After eating dinner using a flickering candlelight, we spent the rest of the night catching up about relatives from both sides of the ocean. While we were talking, family members were calling to welcome me and invite me to their houses.
I know there would be a lot of invitations, but nothing could prepare me for what I was in for over the next two weeks. As I lay in bed before falling asleep that night, I felt a sense of nostalgia not simply because I was returning to a place I'd been seven years ago but because I was in the land of my ancestors. The weekend after I arrived was the Ethiopian Orthodox Christmas but since most people in Dembi are Protestants so celebrations were on the more subtle side. I spent the weekend attending church and going from relative's to relative's house for each meal. We spent the whole weekend without electricity but it didn't matter because everyone was just happy to be in each other's company. We looked at pictures and shared stories together. It was a lesson to me, that I could have so much fun without all the gizmos, gadgets, and distractions we usually employ to entertain us.
Everyone I talked with told me how excited they were that I could communicate with them in Afaan Oromo and couldn't believe I learned as much as I did, being born in the U.S. It felt awesome to be there 'on my own' and build personal relationships with my family. The love and warmth was something so special; Something that was unique to a homecoming experience. I felt so accepted and cherished and like these people had always been a part of my life, whether I realized it or not. Amidst the reunions, I couldn't help but imagine what it would've been like to meet my grandparents.
Sadly, they all passed away either before I was born or before I had a chance to visit and meet them. In a way, being with my aunts and uncles made me feel closer to them. When they talked about 'Babboo', my father's father, and 'Harmee', my mother's mother, it was like they brought them to life for me and I could imagine their personalities and behaviors from the stories I heard. Over and again, as I met more family members, there was a recurring theme of love and acceptance which truly sparked such awe in me that I found myself reflecting on it again and again. My aunts and uncles advised me like parents and I could feel how much they truly cared for me. I, in turn, advised my cousins and encouraged them to stay strong and not lose hope about not finding jobs.
We all talked so openly with each other like people who grew up together. I still think about it now, how awesome the bond of family is and how fortunate I am to have realized this so clearly throughout my stay. Monday morning came sooner than I was ready for and it was time to head to the hospital. I started the day with rounds in the surgery ward to learn about each patient. The surgeon was out for a few days so there were no surgeries scheduled but there were plenty of patients to see in the outpatient department. Being it a Monday after the holiday, the volume of patients was truly nothing like I'd ever seen before. The combination of holiday celebrations plus no one wanting to come to the hospital on the weekend made for one of the busiest days I've experienced in this field altogether. Most people came with simple complaints like stomach upset (which is pretty typical considering a lot of people gorged on holiday food) but then there were some people who showed up with serious problems like seeking care for the first time for advanced breast cancer.
My first thought was "How could somebody live with a deformed breast for 40 years and not think something was wrong?" After the shock of her situation subsided, I realized that a combination of issues were responsible for this lady's and many others' situation. The fact that Dembi Dollo Hospital serves people in extremely remote regions of the country who have no access to regular medical care and don't have the information to understand dangerous diseases played major roles in why this lady waited forty years before seeing a doctor. Of course there are so many other variables specific to her that weighed in but in general, from a public health perspective, those two carry the brunt of the load. On a lighter note, I had a patient come in and complain of an allergic reaction every time he eats lamb. I asked what other foods he had allergies to and he said nothing else just lamb.
I chuckled but then took a moment to consider what he was expecting me to do for him then asked him that exact question. He laughed and said he didn't know. "Well" I said "it would be a good idea to stay away from lamb since you know it doesn't agree with you and you could have a more serious reaction in the future." He laughed again and said "I was afraid you would say that." I think he wanted a magic pill he could take that would allow him to keep eating lamb. I spent the rest of that week in the outpatient and emergency departments seeing routine complaints and the occasional surgical emergency which, because our surgeon was out of town, we had to refer to Iraa Hospital 125km away. I took Thursday morning off from the hospital to visit a farming co-op in Shuffee that family and friends in the U.S. are involved with.
The land was franchised out by the government as part of a nationwide reforestation initiative and has been set up as a self-staining forestry project. The 25km trip was definitely a genuine off-roading experience and at some points I was almost sure that our Land Cruiser was going to tip over. We reached Shuffee in one piece and set out on foot to explore the farm lands but the midday sun was so hot that we only lasted about half an hour before turning back to head for the car. I was able to see the rich harvest stockpiled in storage which contained dried berbere, white beans, and other spices. This harvest The rest of the weekend was filled with invitations to relatives' houses with almost no downtime.
One of the coolest experiences I had was at my uncle's house where he showed me a three-legged chair that has been in my family for generations. It just looked like an ordinary old chair to me but it was definitely smaller than the normal 3-legged chairs I was used to seeing. My uncle explained that the chair belonged to my great-great-great-great-great grandmother and traveled with my ancestors as they migrated through Shawa and Wallaga until they reached Gutee, a sub-village of Dembi. As tradition goes, the chair is passed to a cherished person in the next generation at the time of the chair-owners death. My grandfather gave the chair to my uncle's wife as he lay on his death bed and it will remain with her until she passes it to a family member of her choosing. I would be so incredibly honored to have the chair passed onto me and would cherish having such a priceless family heirloom in my house not to mention the chance to pass it to another family member in the next generation.
A tug-of-war with a monkey
Dembi Dolo from Mohammed Ademo on Vimeo.
Later that evening, just after I returned home, I began to unwind from the long weekend and get ready for another week. My cousin and her husband were still out visiting with friends so only I and the house-workers were at home. I let myself in through the kitchen door and headed for my room. The next thing I heard was a terrifying scream from one of the maids. "Wayyoo, wayyoo, wayyoo hin lixee!!!!," she yelled from outside where she was standing on the veranda. From the sound of her voice I knew it wasn't good. My first thought was some thief or crazy person got in the house so I made a bee-line for the bathroom and locked the door.
From the bathroom window, I yelled outside to ask what was going on and she replied "Wayyoo, weennii mana kessaa lixee!!" which means a monkey got in the house! Weennii is the black-and-white Colubus monkey. Apparently the monkey came in the kitchen door after me and went to the living room. The maid looked into the living room from outside and saw a small figure sitting on the couch, legs stretched out. It was too small to be me so she looked closer and it was the monkey, getting comfortable on the couch! All it needed was a wine-cooler, TV guide and a remote to feel more at home! I remember learning in biology that we share over 99% of the same DNA with monkeys, but this behavior is a little too human-like for my comfort! He started looking for a way out of the house and went into my room.
When he couldn't get out through the window, fear must've kicked in because it went CRAZY and threw my things all over the room.I cracked open the bathroom door to see if I could catch a glimpse of the primate. I could see it in my room sitting in front of my suitcase plotting its next move. The room was an absolute disaster; Jewelry and clothes were scattered on the floor, the mirror torn from the wall and all the while, the naive American-raised part of me still thought it looked cute and cuddly.
Luckily, the few episodes I watched of "When Animals Attack" stuck with me and I didn't dare confront it, since I'd already seen what it did to my things. After making a mess in my room it went to the dining room to try another window but they were all closed. Adrenaline was surely pumping by now and it jumped on the dining room table, got a running start and busted head-first clear through a 5mm thick glass window to freedom. I don't know how the impact didn't injure the poor thing but once free we saw him up in the trees rubbing his head, so I'm pretty sure he had a decent headache…poor thing.
I've always liked watching National Geographic documentaries on Africa's animals but I never imagined I'd find myself in the 3D hi-def version of one! A little too hi-def for me! Well this was just week one of my stay in Dembi Dollo and there is plenty more to share. I'll split the experience into two entries for everyone's sake and I hope you'll tune in for the next blog. As Nabila highlighted in her blog about Bale, there really is nothing like family and I feel blessed to have rekindled ties with my relatives back home. Thank you for reading my blog and see you next time!
Cheers, G


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By Peter Dykstra, The Daily Climate
Clutches are in. Red is the new black. A Korean rapper's cantering dance has been trending since August. Any number of lists promise the hot trends of 2013. But where to get hip to what's in vogue with climate change this year?
The Daily Climate can fill the gap. Using the news website's global archive of 139,000 climate change articles published by "mainstream" media – 18,546 from last year alone – we can look backward to get a glimpse of where we might be going in 2013.
HOT: Science.
Scientists are trending in their own (small) way in The Daily Climate's archives. Michael Mann, the Penn State climatologist who famously likened the sharp rise in the past century's temperatures to the upturned blade of a hockey stick, saw his media profile jump in 2012: 61 mentions, compared to 36 in 2011.
Michael Mann saw his media profile jump in 2012: 61 mentions, compared to 36 in 2011.
Credit: American Association of University Professors.
NASA's James Hansen, the only other published climate scientist with as high a profile, saw a similar rise: 55 mentions in 2012, versus 35 and 36 the previous two years.
Profiles of scientists, advocates, skeptics, organizations and topics can rise and fall fairly dramatically, and not always for the best reasons. We make no claims that TDC's daily haul of stories from the English-language press is all-encompassing – or that we can read the future – but it makes a good measuring stick for what's hot and what's not.
The archives search only the top few paragraphs of news stories, but searches of deeper databases by Radford University journalism professor and Daily Climate contributor Bill Kovarik confirm the trends reported here.
NOT: Skeptics
Sen. James Inhofe, the Oklahoma Republican who says climate science is an immense hoax, peaked in media mentions in 2011 with 60. His 2012 totals dropped back down to 35, despite his releasing a book on the hoax in question.
The economist Bjorn Lomborg has been an oft-cited skeptic who believes that climate change is real, but its future consequences are overstated and its remedies too costly. Lomborg peaked with 35 mentions in both 2009 and 2010, but slipped back to a mere 10 in 2012.
Climate activists confronting Lord Christopher Monckton.
Credit: Mat McDermott/flickr.
It was also a down year for Lord Christopher Monckton, the theatrical British peer and climate denier. His Lordship peaked in 2011, with 25 mentions. That year, he toured Australia to rail against that nation's proposed carbon tax, while fending off demands from the House of Lords that he cease and desist claiming he was a member. The Third Viscount Monckton of Brenchley made the archives only 10 times last year.
But the biggest "hot-then-not" winner is the Heartland Institute.
No one person or group saw its climate profile rise more dramatically – and for the worst possible reasons – than the Chicago-based nonprofit. It's always had a modest presence, largely through its annual global conference for climate skeptics and deniers. From 2008 to 2011, Heartland averaged just over 10 mentions per year in TDC's archives.
In 2012, coverage of Heartland increased tenfold, with 119 mentions – due to two stunning incidents. In February, confidential documents intended for Heartland's board were leaked, showing a network of payments to climate skeptics and funding for a school curriculum designed to cast doubt on climate science. In a Grisham-esque turn, prominent scientist/activist Peter Gleick admitted obtaining the documents by posing as a Heartland board member and apologized for his ethical lapse. Some climate advocates called for revocation of Heartland's tax-exempt status, while Heartland called for criminal charges against Gleick. Neither happened.
Three months later, Heartland's reputation came under attack again. This time, the wounds were self-inflicted: Heartland posted a video billboard on a busy Chicago freeway, likening climate advocates to "murderers, tyrants and madmen" like Ted Kazcynski, the "Unabomber" of the 1990's. Staff, supporters, and funders bailed on Heartland. Then it faded into obscurity faster than Paris Hilton.
Bill McKibben speaking at the University of Michigan's School of Natural Resources.
Credit: Univ. of Michigan.
NOT: News judgment
Buried in all this is a teachable moment for journalism: A group widely recognized as being on the fringe of climate science and politics got twice as many news mentions for its twin fiascoes as the two most prominent climate scientists got for being scientists.
HOT: Bill McKibben
Author/academic Bill McKibben, who has led campaigns against the Keystone XL pipeline, grew steadily from 23 mentions in '08 to 55 last year. His newest push – equating investment in fossil-fuel companies with support for 1980s-era Apartheid South Africa – seems to assure more mentions for '13.
NOT: Al Gore
Al Gore, longtime champion of climate action, slipped from 313 mentions in 2008 to 87 last year. But even with a lower profile, the former Vice President remains one of the most frequently-cited names in climate news stories.
HOT: Sea-level rise
Satellite view of Hurricane Sandy.
Credit: NASA.
Lest we forget some actual issues, there's no surprise here: Superstorm Sandy's inundation of the New York area sent the number of stories mentioning sea-level rise surging one-third over 2011 totals. But the topic still fell short of 2009 mentions, a year that stands as the most prolific for reporting in Daily Climate's five-year history.
HOT: Acidification
Ocean acidification stories tracked similarly, growing in 2012 but still less than in 2009. Stories about geoengineering – the sometimes-exotic schemes to use technology to outwit the impacts of climate change – peaked in 2010, and have taken a 40 percent dive since then.
As for the inevitable, here's your dose of 2013 punditry:
Business Week's stark, post-Sandy cover trumpeting "It's Global Warming, Stupid" will be the herald of a partial media awakening. On Sunday, CNN re-entered the game with an hour-long, prime-time special on climate and severe storms. Newsrooms will follow the leads of the New York Times and the Associated Press and bolster their coverage, and nonprofits like Climate Central, Inside Climate News and TDC will find a wider audience.
Cracks will form in the Republican Party's de facto ban on taking climate change seriously, and the self-imposed climate omerta we saw from both Presidential candidates and debate moderators will erode.
TV meteorologists, one of the last strongholds of any kind of science on television, will feel more empowered to connect the climate dots – partly due to the Forecast the Facts campaign, but also due to how bloody awful the world's weather has become.
Science may not become a media rock star – that's a hope as perennial as spring wishes for a Cubs World Series win. But on-the-ground evidence of climate change will prompt a reduction in the attacks on climate scientists. Climate denial will begin to fade as a rallying point for the likes of the Tea Party and Fox News, just like gay marriage and "partial-birth abortions" have faded. Maybe they can turn their full attention to something meaningful, like the War on Christmas.
Inhofe's daily regimen of exercise, clean living and strict avoidance of science will keep the youthful-looking 78-year-old alive to 100. This will also allow him to see how this climate hoax thing works out.
Don't hold your breath waiting for pop culture to catch fire on climate change. The 12/12/12 benefit for Sandy victims packed high-wattage star power: the Rolling Stones, The Who, Bruce Springsteen, Pink Floyd's Roger Waters, among other AARP members. Too bad none opted to bring something "political" like climate change into the discussion. Maybe soon, we'll realize that storms, heat and sea levels aren't political. Hopefully then, We Won't Get Fooled Again.
We don't represent this survey as exhaustive or analytical, but rather a snapshot of trends. We did not tally which story subjects were portrayed negatively, positively, or neutrally, and we did not separate opinion pieces from ostensibly "straight" news stories. Daily Climate readers can track and replicate these results in our archives.
The Daily Climateis a nonprofit news service covering climate change, and a Climate Central content partner.


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"For his landmark simulations of fracture, 2-d melting and properties of membranes."
Background:Abraham received his B.S. in 1959 and Ph.D. in1962, both in physics, from the University of Arizona. He spent two postdoctoral years at the University of Chicago and two research years at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He joined IBM in 1966. Over four decades he has pursued a wide range of computational physics applications, mainly in condensed matter physics and chemical physics. Research topics include the dynamics of first-order phase transitions, the thermodynamics and structure of surfaces and interfaces, melting in two dimensions, the dynamics of solid, flexible membranes, the nonlinear turbulent dynamics of coupled chaotic oscillators, and the dynamics of brittle and ductile materials failure. Abraham created The MAAD simulation project that achieved the seamless union of the continuum, atomistic and electronic structure descriptions of matter for the study of rapid brittle fracture. At the new millennium, he and his colleagues simulated the dynamics of work hardening using over one billion atoms.
In 1991/2, Abraham created an upper-division undergraduate course in computational physics during a sabbatical at the University of California at Santa Barbara. He held the Sandoval Vallarta Chair at the Universidad Autonoma Metropolitana in Mexico City in 1994. He has been awarded several IBM Outstanding Technical Achievement Awards. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society and was an APS Centennial Speaker. Abraham was the Chair of the APS Division of Computational Physics in 2000-2001. He recently was elected the recipient of the Alexander von Humboldt Research Award for Senior Scientists.
Junko Shigemitsu (Chair), Dave Arnett (12/03), David Landau ( '02 Rcpnt) (12/03), Sid Yip (Vice Chair) (12/04), Robert Peterkin (12/04)


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