text: Hey guys welcome to today's. Affiliate Network tutorial. We're gonna go through a company called a win. A win is an affiliate network. It has over thirteen thousand different advertisers on it. There's, a hundred thousand publishers which publishers are basically affiliate partners, and last year they generated one hundred and forty-eight million in sales.

subset: commoncrawl


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In Shirley Halperin's cover story for this week's Hollywood Reporter, rapper Pitbull discusses how Scarface influenced him in his teenage years. The message he took away from the film seems unique in the hip-hop milieu. Here's an excerpt from the article:
The Pitbull epic began when his mother, Alysha Acosta, arrived in Florida from Cuba during the early 1960s as part of Operation Pedro Pan (or Peter Pan), Miami's Catholic Welfare Bureau's two-year effort to get youth out of communist Cuba. His father also came over seeking asylum, settling in Miami's Little Havana neighborhood. Their son Armando was born in 1981, a year in which drug-ravaged Miami recorded 621 homicides and was eulogized in a Time cover story, "Paradise Lost." This was the cocaine cowboy era captured in movies like Scarface.
Pit's father and namesake, known in the neighborhood as a charismatic street hustler, often would take his son to the local bars, where the boy would first perform for an audience, reciting Cuban poetry from a bar stool as his father looked on proudly. Pit's parents divorced in 1985.
Bring up the Brian De Palma classic -- not universally beloved in Miami for the cultural stereotypes it spawned -- and Pitbull takes no umbrage. "We all have Scarfaces in our family," he says matter-of-factly. "[The movie] is the truth. It wasn't exaggerated. Scorsese, Oliver Stone, De Palma -- those guys were right on the money." Pitbull says he's seen it too many times to count and that a serious message sunk in: that he didn't want to end up like the protagonist Tony Montana. Rather, says Pit: "I wanted to be Sosa -- educated, good-looking, a good dresser, and he's the one who was running it. And notice, he never got his hands dirty. He sipped his tea. He was nice, not aggressive. And at the end of it all, he was the one that stayed. So I realized around 18 that Tony's the wrong guy to be looking up to."
What Pitbull learned from his immediate surroundings, besides how to sell drugs, which he did for a while, was the skill of connecting with people. That's his most powerful gift -- winning loyalty of everyone he encounters, from strangers on the street to dealmakers in a boardroom. He does this, in part, with a relentlessly upbeat attitude. Pitbull explains his six-year rise to the top in the exuberant idiom of a motivational speaker: "2009 is freedom; 2010, invasion; 2011, build empire; 2012, grow wealth; 2013, put the puzzle together; 2014, buckle up; 2015, make history." It's a mantra he shares with manager Charles Chavez, who says his goal is for Pitbull to become a billion-dollar enterprise. "We have a plan -- with the music, TV projects [Pit boasts a development deal with Endemol, producer of Big Brother], films [he's teamed up with Ryan Seacrest for a TV miniseries on the Bacardi family], his businesses, the brands that we get involved with," says Chavez. "You never know, but it's the plan."
Pitbull is more confident, even willing to time-stamp the future threshold. "Do I think it's realistic to be a billion-dollar company by [age] 35? Absolutely."
Updated: Sunday, March 30, 2014 6:57 PM CDT
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Ray Lewis' Hall of Fame career will last at least another week. On Sunday, he gave the home crowd in Baltimore one final performance to remember.
Lewis recorded a team-leading 13 tackles in the Ravens' impressive 24-9 wild-card victory over the Indianapolis Colts. The Ravens will face the host Denver Broncos next Saturday in the divisional round.
On NFL Network
NFL Replay will re-air the
Baltimore Ravens' 24-9 victory over the
Indianapolis Colts from Wild Card Weekend on Wednesday, Jan. 9 at 9 p.m. ET.
"There's no great reward than for me to take this last victory lap for me to see my team," Lewis told CBS after the game. "Because we have a vision. We're not trying to end here. This is just my last game at (the) Ravens' stadium, and it's the most awesome thing you could ever ask for in any professional career."
This looked like a team capable of turning it on in the playoffs. Anquan Boldin put up 145 yards and one touchdown on just five catches, repeatedly beating Cassius Vaughn (and later Darius Butler) in single coverage. Quarterback Joe Flacco, always capable of making big throws down the field, gained 282 yards through the air on just 12 completions.
This is not the 2000 Ravens defense. They gave up over 400 yards to the Colts and a number of long drives. But defensive coordinator Dean Pees has become more aggressive late in the season with his blitz packages, and it has worked. The Ravens knocked down Colts rookie quarterback Andrew Luck 10 times in the game, getting pressure from Paul Kruger and Terrell Suggs. The secondary knocked down a lot of Luck passes, especially in the red zone. The defense overcame two Ray Rice fumbles.
The Ravens' season bottomed out with a 34-17 home loss to the Broncos in Week 15. Since then, the Ravens have responded with a 34-0 shellacking of the New York Giants and this performance. (The Ravens lost in Week 17 to the Cincinnati Bengals while playing their backups.) We're not going to say the Ravens are "back," but they have played their brand of football in the two key wins.
Flacco never will be as precise as Peyton Manning, but the Ravens can win when he's hitting big plays. Rice and talented backup Bernard Pierce make a dangerous running back tandem. The defense is healthier and playing better.
Lewis and the organization he has carried for so long aren't done yet.
Follow Gregg Rosenthal on Twitter @greggrosenthal.


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**Note: Map sets are separate inventory and can only be sold and returned as map sets. We are unable to return individual maps if purchased as a set.**
Cities, small towns, farmland, forests, roads and trails – this route has it all! Heading east from Chicago you'll go through Indianapolis, Columbus, and Pittsburgh. From Pittsburgh, the route follows the Great Allegheny Passage and a portion of the C&O Canal Trail in Maryland. After leaving Philadelphia, the route goes east to the New Jersey shore and ends with a ferry ride into New York City from the south.
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Yes, a Part Time option (1-3 days/week) is available. Days must be consistent from week to week.
Show All Answers
JCPRD Out-of-School-Time (OST) Programs are located at the elementary schools. Most of our OST Programs operate out of the school cafeteria/commons daily. There may be changes to this based upon school activities.
Fees are charged weekly, every Friday, in advance of care. Fees must be set up on recurring automatic payments via credit or debit card on your ActiveNet account. If you have questions or concern with payment, call our Registration Office at 913-831-3359.
Fees are determined by the overall cost of the program and are charged at the same weekly rate, regardless of attendance. Fees are not prorated for absences, holidays, or emergency closures.
Enrollment information can be found at https://www.jcprd.com/221/Out-of-School-Time-OST. You must create an ActiveNet account and add the program option you desire. You will set up your reoccurring payment and pay the registration fee at that time. You then will receive an invite from ePACT to complete your required Emergency Forms for your child's file [Health History, Authorization for Emergency Medial Care, and Medication Administration Form (only if your child will take medication during program hours)].
You set up reoccurring payments at the time of registration, when you select your program option on ActiveNet. The Registration Office phone number is 913-831-3359, and they are open 8:30a-5:00p if you have additional questions regarding payment. Payments will then be charged weekly, in advance of care, beginning the Friday prior to your child's start date.
Our Before School Program opens at 7am and our After School Program closes at 6pm. No early drop-offs and there is a $1.00 per minute late fee charged for late pick-ups past 6pm.
To request a change in your current programming options or to drop from the program, please complete the Change/Drop Request Form found at the bottom of your OST district's webpage. We require a one week notice to drop the program, and a $15 change fee for any changes to program options. Changes are subject to program availability.
All-Day Programming (7am-6pm) is available on "No School Days" for Remote Learning Days, Teacher In-Service/Professional Days, and Conference Days at our consolidated locations. These All-Day Programming days are included in the normal fee payment for children enrolled Full Time in our Afterschool Program (no extra charge). There is a $30 fee if the 'no school day' does not fall on a regularly scheduled day for Part Time enrollees. A $25 fee applies to Before School Only participants.
If there is an early dismissal day, our After School Program will begin at that dismissal time. There is no extra charge for early dismissal days if you are enrolled in After School Program on that day already.
Homework time will be provided, with assistance from a staff member if needed, for children who choose to do their homework in JCPRD. Please communicate with staff if your child must complete their homework during the program.
Before School Program includes a healthy breakfast snack and time to get ready for the day. Activity choices include homework time, quiet reading, or games with friends.
After School Program includes a healthy afternoon snack as well. Children choose activities that may include STEAM activities, SEL learning, sports, group games, community services, arts & crafts, cooking projects, environmental awareness, and much more! Always send sensible shoes and weather appropriate clothing for your children, as we will spend a portion of our day outside.
JCPRD does not provide services on major holidays and any custodial holidays throughout the year. See our Parent Handbook for a full list of these dates. Weekly tuition does not change on weeks that have holidays/closures. These have already been factored in the over tuition for the school year.
Yes. Staff receive a thorough background check through JCPRD's hiring protocols, as well as fingerprinting and background checks through KBI as required by KDHE licensing.
Yes, but you would pay weekly regardless of attendance, as we do not prorate for absences. Fees are based upon reservation and not attendance.


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Considering the stiff competition from AsiaAir, I thought MAS has ventured into the food and beverage industry. And it would not come as a surprise because I see tour buses packing the front of Fullwealth on a regular basis. I wished it was true. Hey, we need some creativity in order to survive in this tough business (and every other business too), ok?
Now why on earth would we want to eat in a tourist spot, you ask.
Simply because it is a good restaurant. A long standing one at that. Those who had stayed long enough in Kepong will recognise Fullwealth as one of the hot favourites for weddings and birthdays since the eighties. The last time I was here was when my cousin got married in the early nineties. Her children are now in college, I think.
A little too late (this post) but happiness runs all year round and it should be shared. Another yu sang before the next Chinese New Year. Not extraordinary but for a taste of what yu sang has been like for the past 20 years, this is a good choice. That translates into a no-frills toss of dense sweet/sour plum sauce, crackers, assorted colourful vegetables and carp. Salmon came into the scene much later, I believe.
Here's wishing everyone a stable year ahead.
It was towards the end of the Chinese New Year celebration and they were still eager to boost their specials. You know, dried oysters, black moss, abalone and everything else that rhymes with all things auspicious (literally). We went for the usuals instead. One of them was the Red Wine Pork Ribs which did come with a taste of red wine. If you have been eating dai chow for a long time, you would have realised that all those Guinness/Marmite/red wine/teriyaki ribs taste alike. It's due to the lack of those aforementioned ingredients and the overdose of caramelised sugar, which made the sauce tasting sweet and nothing else. So, this was quite good. Huge pieces of pork as well.
Ok, I could not resist putting up a sexier shot of the pork.
I am still wondering about the Deep-Fried Cod with Sautéed Onions. Cods are cool for its milky taste and when eaten with the slightly charred, crunchy sweet onions, good stuff. However, adding a sauce that came between Worcestershire and oyster was just too confusing. Ok, the others loved it. And I have been labelled as a purist, which is not true.
Oh-oh-oh, the chicken. The crispy, salty Roasted Chicken. Wonderfully aromatic and tenderly roasted, lip-smacking. Perhaps the chicken pieces were rather hugely cut, bite sizes would have been appreciated. Dip it into the condiment that made mostly of salt for a surge in blood pressure (euphoria, in other words).
A lunar birthday celebration is never complete without the order of longevity noodles. To be consumed at the length it was served, the noodle was well cooked. Fulllwealth's version was soupy and came with plenty ingredients like pork. Those who like their noodles dry, oil, aromatic (hokkien mee!) will not like this version but if mild is wild for you, then this will be a good choice. Eat it with lots of pickled green chilies.
Surprise came in form of a cake from Miki Ojisan. Instead of the signature cheese, they went for buttercake. Simplistic and subtle, it was good. I should introduce them to the array of cakes from the incredible FatBoybakes.
At RM187 for 5 pax, it was definitely on the expensive side but then again, it was during the Chinese New Year period. We were lucky to be able to get the only few tables left that night, as the rest were fully booked.
Perhaps we should check out this place again, on a normal, clear sky day.
How about today?
Fullwealth Seafood Restaurant
No. 38/40, Jalan Ambong Kanan 2
Kepong Baru
52100 Kuala Lumpur
Tel: (+603) 62524966/62524977/62524988


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Here are five sex secrets that may help you understand and get even closer to your guy...
Men are full of surprises and bedroom behaviour is no exception. While it's impossible to explain all male behaviours, here are five sex secrets that may help you understand and get even closer to your guy.
He's nurses the fear that he'll let you down
Men feel tremendous pressure to perform sexually. While women aren't waiting for marriage to have sex, and that means they are far more relaxed in the bedroom. Sexually satisfied role models, like Madonna and the 'Sex and the City' sirens, encourage urban women to be open about their sexual desires and complaints. These liberated women to cause some trouble for their male partners. Suddenly, the pressure to perform is on, and he can't help but feel like he has to please you. Even though you may not be so bothered about his performance and you might forgive him for a few poor performances, he has a hard time forgiving himself. It's really tough on him.
If your man has a recurring problem of performance, he may start to blame you to protect his ego. Be prepared to handle this situation.
What you can do:
Don't take it personally or, worse, insult him. And never laugh! Just pretend that it is no great deal for you.
Men need validation to get their groove on
Sex is a source of power from ages, and it gives proof that one is masculine. To a man, having sex means that he can move a woman, that he's energetic, a provider and a lover. Basically, your guy wants to be a superhero, and he certainly wants you to see him in that light. When he satisfies you sexually, he feels like superman. If you're enjoying yourself, let him know that. He'll love you for your compliments.
No encouragement means no fun. Whether you are enjoying yourself or not, just be encouraging.
What you can do
A good rule of thumb: Don't fake it but don't fight it. Just look happy and satisfied and that would make your man feel super.
Men don't like waiting too long
Women should never hold out to have sex simply because of the so called rules of dating. He is more likely to commit if there is a sexual component to the relationship, and it is important for him to know that you find him sexually desirable.
If your guy is offended when you initiate sex, get rid of him.
What you can do
We're all sensual beings; we might as well be who we are. So don't be afraid to make a move.
Men too are conscious about their bodies
Let's face it: Men may not worry about weight nearly as much as women do, but they do have their own image issues.
Most men are quite concerned about their general physical condition, height and baldness. In other words, they are hoping for mood lighting in the bedroom just as much as women are.
What you can do
Help your man by telling him that you find him attractive and showing him affection.
Most men will not forgive a cheating girlfriend
Men who have been betrayed, especially in the bedroom, are far less likely to forgive their partners than women in the same situation.
Men want loyalty at all cost.
What you can do
Show your loyalty not only by remaining faithful when in a committed relationship, but also by supporting your man in front of colleagues and friends and defending him when necessary. This allegiance will make your man more secure and will give him the motivation to let loose in the bedroom with you. Men want commitment just as much as women do; they just want it packaged differently.


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On the Street.....Fay, NYC
I hope you recognize Fay from this London shot I took back in May - because I didn't.
When I took this shot I had no idea that the bowtie-collar-dickie was an accessory.
To me, that is truly inventive and a great, low-cost way to change up lots of different looks.
Now I am curious to see what she has up her sleeve for the rest of the week (no pressure Fay)


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Using social media for marketing can enable small business looking to further their reach to more customers. Your customers are interacting with brands through social media, therefore, having a strong social media marketing plan and presence on the web is the key to tap into their interest. If implemented correctly, marketing with social media can bring remarkable success to your business.
What is Social Media Marketing?
Social media marketing, or SMM, is a form of internet marketing that implements various social media networks in order to achieve marketing communication and branding goals. Social media marketing primarily covers activities involving social sharing of content, videos, and images for marketing purposes, as well as paid social media advertising.
We've created this guide to provide you with the social media marketing tips and training you need to better your business. We want to give small businesses on short budgets an alternative to hiring a social media marketing agency or paying for social media marketing services.
With our Social Media Marketing 101 Guide below, you can begin developing your own social media marketing expert plan.
Social Media Marketing for Small Businesses: Learn Social Media Marketing 101
This guide gives a basic overview on how to use social media for marketing, serving as a social media marketing for dummies manual.
Social Media and Marketing: Start With a Plan
Before you begin creating social media marketing campaigns, consider your business' goals. Starting a social media marketing campaign without a social strategy in mind is like wandering through a forest without a map—you'll only end up lost.
Create a social media marketing plan and brainstorm about your goals: what are you hoping to achieve through social media marketing? Who is your target audience? Where would your target audience hang out and how would they use social media? What message do you want to send to your audience with social media marketing?
Social Media for Marketing: Developing Your Goals
Social media marketing can help with a number of goals, such as:
- Increasing website traffic
- Building conversions
- Raising brand awareness
- Creating a brand identity and positive brand association
- Improving communication and interaction with key audiences
Only by establishing your goals can you measure your social media ROI.
Best Social Media Marketing Tips: Learn Marketing with Social Media
Here are some social media marketing tips to keep you on the right track across all your social media campaigns.
- Planning – As discussed previously, building a social media marketing plan is essential. Consider keyword research and brainstorm content ideas that will interest your target audience.
- Content is King — Consistent with other areas of online marketing, content reigns king when it comes to social media marketing. Make sure you are offering valuable information that your ideal customers will find interesting. Create a variety of content by implementing social media images, videos, and infographics in addition to classic text-based content.
- Consistent Brand Image — Using social media for marketing enables your business to project your brand image across a variety of different social media platforms. While each platform has its own unique environment and voice, your business' core identity should stay consistent.
- Blog — Blogging is a great social media marketing tool that lets you share a wide array of information and content with readers. Your company blog can also serve as your social media marketing blog, in which you blog about your recent social media efforts, contests, and events.
- Links — While using social media for marketing relies primarily on your business sharing its own unique, original content to gain followers, fans, and devotees, it's also great to link to outside articles as well. If other sources provide great, valuable information you think your target audience will enjoy, don't be shy about linking to them. Linking to outside sources improves trust and reliability, and you may even get some links in return.
- Track Competitors — It's always important to keep an eye on competitors—they can provide valuable data for keyword research, where to get industry-related links, and other social media marketing insight. If your competitors are using a certain social media marketing technique that seems to be working for them, do the same thing, but do it better!
- Measure Success with Analytics —You can't determine the success of your social media marketing strategies without tracking data. Google Analytics can be used as a great social media marketing tool that will help you measure your triumphant social media marketing techniques, as well as determine which strategies are better off abandoned. Attach tracking tags to your social media marketing campaigns so that you can properly monitor them.
How to Use Social Media for Marketing: Know Your Platform
We've put together a brief overview on how to use social media for marketing according to each platform's unique environment. Various social media marketing sites will require different techniques, so develop a unique strategy tailored for each platform.
Facebook's casual, friendly environment requires an active social media marketing strategythat begins with creating a Facebook Business Fan Page. You will want to pay careful attention to layout, as the visual component is a key aspect of the Facebook experience. Social media marketing for business pages revolves around furthering your conversation with audiences by posting industry-related articles, images, videos, etc.
Facebook is a place people go to relax and chat with friends, so keep your tone light and friendly.
Google+ is the new Facebook competitor, and it promotes the same fun, casual atmosphere. On Google+ you can upload and share photos, videos, links, and view all your +1s. Also take advantage of Google+ circles, which allow you to segment your followers into smaller groups, enabling you to share information with some followers while barring others. For example, you might try creating a "super-fan" circle, and share special discounts and exclusive offers only with that group.
You can also try hosting video conferences with Hangouts and experiment using the Hangout feature in some fun, creative ways. Some social media marketing ideas: if you're a salon, host a how-to session on how to braid your hair. If you own a local bookstore, try offering author video chats. If you're feeling adventerous, invite your +1s to your Google+ Community. Google+ Communities will allow you to listen into your fan's feedback and input, truly putting the social back into social media.
Pinterest is the latest in social media marketing trends. Pinterest's image-centered platform is ideal for retail, but anyone can benefit from using Pinterest for social media purposes.
Pinterest allows small businesses to showcase their own product offerings while also developing their own brand's personality with some unique pinboards.
Twitter is the social media marketing tool that lets you broadcast your updates across the web. Follow tweeters in your industry or related fields, and you should gain a steady stream of followers in return.
Mix up your official-related tweets about specials, discounts, and news updates with some fun and quirky tweets interspersed. Be sure to retweet when a customer has something nice to say about you, and don't forget answer people's questions when possible. Using Twitter as a social media marketing tool revolves around dialog and communication, so be sure to interact as much as possible
LinkedIn is one of the more professional social media marketing sites. LinkedIn Groups is a great venue for entering into a professional dialog with people in similar industries and provides a place to share content with like-minded individuals.
Encourage customers or clients to give your business a recommendation on your LinkedIn profile. Recommendations makes your business appear more credible and reliable for new customers. Also browse the Questions section of LinkedIn; providing answers helps you get established and earns trust.
YouTube is the number one place for creating video content, with can be an incredibly powerful social media marketing tool. Many businesses try to create video content with the aim of having their video "go viral," but in reality those chances are pretty slim. Instead, focus on creating useful, instructive "how-to" videos. These how-to videos also have the added benefit of ranking on the video search results of Google, so don't under-estimate the power of video content!
Location-Based Social Media Tools
Social media platforms like Yelp, FourSquare, and Level Up are great for brick and mortar businesses looking to implement marketing social media. Register on these sites to claim your location spot, and then consider extra incentives such as check-in rewards or special discounts. Remember, these visitors will have their phones in hand so they will have access to providing reviews which could hurt or significantly aid your users.
Reddit, or similar social media platforms such as Stumble Upon or Digg, are ideal for sharing compelling content. With over 2 billion page views a month, Reddit has incredible social media marketing potential, but marketers should be warned that only truly unique, interesting content will be welcomed. Posting on Reddit is playing with fire—submit spammy or overtly sales-focused content and your business could get berated by this extremely tech-savvy community.
If you have content you believe the Reddit community (majority is young, geeky, liberal, and internet-obsessed) would enjoy, you could reap tremendous benefits and earn valuable traffic.
Using social media in marketing does more than improve site traffic and help businesses reach more customers; it provides a valuable venue for better understanding and learning from your target audiences. Hopefully this guide has helped you better understand how using social media for marketing can improve your business.
Looking for better results? Pay-per-click marketing is a growing form of online advertising that continues to be very successfully for small and medium sized businesses. Learn about PPC and try WordStream's PPC Optimization software for free today!
Paid Social Media Marketing Tips
We love paid social advertising because it's a highly cost-effective way to expand your reach. If you play your cards right, you can get your content and offers in front of a huge audience at a very low cost. Most social media platforms offer incredibly granular targeting capabilities, allowing you to focus your budget on exactly the types of people that are most likely to be interested in your business. Below are some tips and resources for getting started with paid social media marketing:
Social Media Advertising for Small Businesses
Learn the ins and outs of social media advertising on four major networks: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+.


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John Glenn Receives Another 'Go'!
News story originally written on January 19, 1998
In 1959, John Glenn was chosen to be a Mercury Astronaut. He became the first American to orbit the Earth. Some things haven't changed - Glenn still has the right stuff!NASA just announced that Glenn, who is 76 years old, will fly on the shuttle Discovery in October.
This shuttle flight will be much different than his flight 36 years ago in the small Mercury capsule. The Discovery mission will last 10 days, not just five hours like his Mercury trip did. This time Glenn will be part of a seven person team, not flying solo.
In October, Glenn will become the oldest person to fly in space. So this Discovery mission will focus on how people age in space.


text: But there's more to a spider than eight legs and pedipalps. Here's a look at some of their other characteristics. Basic Body Plan Spiders have two main body parts: the prosoma (also called the cephalothorax) and the abdomen (also called the opisthoma). These are joined by a short, narrow stalk called the pedicel. A spider's eyes and chelicerae (its jaws, which are equipped with venom glands and fangs), are on the prosoma – there's no separate head. A spider's silk-releasing organs, called spinnerets, are on the far end of the abdomen. The number of body parts helps to distinguish spiders from other arachnids and arthropods. For example, daddy longlegs, those spindly-legged arachnids often confused with spiders, have only one body part – the abdomen. Insects have three – head, thorax, and abdomen. The Eyes Have It Most spiders have eight eyes, arranged in patterns that vary for particular groups of spiders. An expert can often identify a spider just by looking at its eyes. Interestingly, just because a spider has lots of eyes, that doesn't mean it has good vision. In fact, by human standards, most spiders have lousy eyesight. But great vision isn't particularly important for the spiders that build webs – at least, not when catching a meal is concerned. Their prey, after all, comes to them. However, spiders that actively stalk and hunt down their prey have excellent vision. Silk Spinners Spiders aren't the only arthropods with the ability to produce silk. Certain insects, such as silk moth larvae, do so as well. Spider silk – made up of protein – is produced in glands inside the abdomen. Each silk gland leads to a particular spigot that opens to the outside through one of several paired spinnerets. A spider "reels out" silk by gently pulling it from a spigot with its two hind legs. Silks of Different Ilks Different silk glands produce different kinds of silk for different purposes. For example, female spiders produce a certain kind of silk to create their egg sacs. The webs of many spiders are made from a couple of different kinds of silk – a strong, stretchy silk for the web's basic framework and another, sticky variety that makes getting away that much harder for trapped insects. Although all spiders make silk, not all of them spin webs to catch their dinner. Making Sense of Spider Senses What would life be like if you could taste through your legs and hear with your hair? If you can imagine such a concept, then you might have some inkling of what it must be like to be a spider. Spiders, in fact, do taste, and also smell, through special sensory organs on their legs, as well as on their pedipalps. And they hear – or, more specifically, they sense vibrations – through hairs and tiny slits distributed over much of their body. Picking Up Vibes A spider's sensitivity to vibrations is finely tuned. For example, spiders can distinguish between different types of prey hitting their webs, such as a moth from a fly from a honeybee. This sensitivity to motion "tells" a spider what to expect so it will know how to handle a potentially dangerous meal. The ability to tell one vibe from another also comes in handy during courtship: the males of web-building species often woo females by plucking a species-specific pattern on the females' webs. If a male simply blundered into a female's web without first introducing himself, he would risk becoming her meal instead of her mate.


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After Action Review (AAR)
The Army's After Action Review (AAR) is arguably one of the most successful organizational learning methods yet devised. Yet, most every corporate effort to graft this truly innovative practices into their culture has failed because, again and again, people reduce the living practice of AAR's to a sterile technique. — Peter Senge
Up until the early 1970s, the U.S. Army conducted Performance Critiques after training activities. When they performed a study on the Performance Critique to look for improvements, they discovered a major flaw in it. The training activity was observed by umpires who determined an estimated outcome, then performed a lecture-formatted critique to the participants (Morrison, Meliza, 1999). The lecture was most often a subjective opinion and negative in tone, thus it often fomented disempowerment, frustration, resentment, and resistance in the participants. In turn, lessons were rarely, if ever, learned.
The U.S. Army is probably one of the world's largest hierarchical and bureaucratic organizations, however, when they implemented the After Action Review (AAR) it learned to flatten itself and become a more horizontal or flat organization, which in turn, allows it to become a learning organization.
It does this by involving all the participants, from the lowest-ranking soldiers, to commanders, to interested outsiders and observers. The AAR allows it to focus on the goals and tasks to discover why things happen... rather than to judge success or failure.
An AAR is perhaps one of the ultimate performance improvement tools because it encourages all members, no matter what their title or role is, to share and learn in order to have continuous improvement.
Photo by Fred W. Baker III and courtesy of U.S. Army
An AAR is an assessment conducted after a project or major activity that allows both employees and leaders to discover and learn what happened and why. It may be thought of as a professional discussion of an event that enables employees to understand why things happened during the progression of the process and to learn from that experience. Examples of when to use it are: introduction of a new product line in a production facility, after a busy holiday season in a retail store, introduction of a new computer system upgrade, after a major training activity, a change in procedures, etc.
The key to an AAR is openness and honesty that allows all the participants in the organization to participate, which allows them to capture what really happened so that lessons may be learned (Walden, 2009). It affords leaders and followers the opportunity to gain maximum benefit from every program, activity, or task.
It provides (USAID, 2006):
- Candid insights into specific strengths and weaknesses from various perspectives
- Feedback and insight critical to improved performance
- Details that are often lacking in evaluation reports alone
Also, the AAR does not have to be performed at the end of a project or activity. Rather, it can be performed after each identifiable event within a project or major activity, thus allowing it to becoming a real learning organization.
The AAR is a professional discussion that includes the participants and focuses directly on the tasks and goals. It is not a critique. In fact, it has several advantages over a critique:
Lessons Learned
Characteristics | Performance Critique | AAR |
Participation | Members are Passive | Members are active |
Communication | One-way | Two-way |
Atmosphere | Defensive | Open to suggestion |
Topic | Errors committed | Sequence of Events |
Learning Style | Lecture | Guided Discovery |
Information Source | Subjective judgment of observers | Objective performance indicators |
As a leader, you are responsible for training your workforce. The AAR is a tool that can assist you with developing your employees. It does this by providing feedback. Normally, feedback should be direct and on-the-spot. Each time an incorrect performance is observed, it should be immediately corrected so that it will not interfere with future tasks.
During major projects or activities, it is not always easy to notice incorrect performances. Indeed, in many cases, the correct performances will be unknown because these projects or activities are complex learning activities. That is why the AAR should be planned at the end of each activity or event... so that feedback can be provided, lessons can be learned, and ideas and suggestions can be generated into the next project or activity.
An AAR is both an art and science. The art of an AAR is in the obtainment of mutual trust so that people will speak freely. Innovative behavior should be the norm. Problem solving should be pragmatic and employees should NOT be preoccupied with status, territory, or second-guessing "what the leader will think." There is a fine line between keeping the meeting from falling into chaos where nothing gets accomplished; to people treating each other with dignity and respect so that they can learn from one another.
The After Action Review Cycle
An AAR may be formal or informal. Both follow the same format and involve the exchange of observations and ideas. However, formal ones are normally more structured and require more planning. While informal ones are conducted anywhere, anytime, in order to provide quick learning lessons.
The chart below shows the main parts of the AAR (US Army Combined Arms Center, 2011). In addition, it includes an important final step — turn the lessons learned into learning experiments (Darling, Flanigan, 2008):
Steps and Guidelines for Conducting an AAR
The five main steps shown in the above diagram are performed by asking some major questions:
1. What were our intended results?
This part of the AAR helps to get everyone on the same page by helping them to remember the key goals and objectives:
- Gather all the players.
- Introduction and rules.
- Review events leading to the activity (what was supposed to happen).
- Give a brief statement of the specific activity.
- Summarize the key events. Encourage participation.
- Have the junior leaders state the portions of their part of the activity.
2. What were our actual results?
This part of the AAR allows the participants to explain what actually took place:
- Ask the participants to state what happened from their own point of view.
- Use the following questions to guide the discussion (encourage others to ask questions too):
- Ask why certain actions were taken.
- Ask how they reacted to certain situations.
- Ask when actions were initiated.
- Ask leading questions if needed to ensure all the key results are obtained.
3. What caused our results (lessons learned)?
This part of the AAR helps the participants to identify the performance gap — the difference between the intended goal and its objectives and the results actually obtained.
- Relate events to subsequent results.
- Have the participants exchange stories (see note 1 below).
- Explore alternative courses of actions that might have been more effective.
- Do not turn it into a lecture, but rather allow the participants to learn.
- Points to remember:
- Complaints are handled positively.
- Critiquing an idea is fine, but do not allow attacking people.
- If the discussion turns to errors made (finger pointing), emphasize the positive and point out the difficulties of making tough decisions.
- Summarize.
- Allow junior leaders to discuss the events with their people in private if needed.
Note 1. Tacit knowledge is personal experiences that cannot be articulated very easily as it is too deeply entwined and embedded in the person. One of the best ways to help transfer it to others is through the use of stories (narratives) that have the power to draw others into the personal experiences of the storyteller.
4. What will we sustain or improve?
This part of the AAR is for identifying what is working and what needs improvement. You should strive to allow others to offer solutions, rather than you offering them. This allows all the participants the opportunity to learn and grow.
- Using the notes, go over the main points to ensure each problem is addressed.
- Ensure someone is identified to Follow-up on each needed action.
- Call out what worked well so that good ideas are not lost.
- Ask thought-provoking questions that allow others to add their ideas.
5. What are some upcoming activities that will allow us to use our lessons learned?
This part of the AAR ensures you actually put the lessons learned to good use by identifying opportunities; otherwise, the lessons will soon be forgotten.
Listed below are some general guidelines:
- Have someone write down the main points for each part of the AAR.
- Remain unbiased throughout the review.
- Try to speak to draw out comments from all.
- Do NOT allow personal attacks (critiquing an idea is fine, attacking people is a no-no).
- The focus should be on learning and continuous improvement.
- Strive to allow others to offer solutions, rather than you offering them.
As a last step, ensure the notes that were recorded are posted, such as to a wiki, blog, or web site that will allow people to refer back to them, in addition to allowing others to use the material when searching for information.
A properly conducted AAR can have a powerful influence on the climate of your organization. It is part of the communication process that educates and motivates people on to greatness by sensitizing them to do the right thing. It can prevent future confusion on organizational priorities and philosophies, and drive home the point that we learn from our mistakes.
A Strategy for Implementing AARs
Capturing Lessons Learned with an AAR — this method uses a three-prong process:
- Capture the Lessons Learned
- Store it in a social site for easy retrieval
- Provide a microblogging tool to help others to learn about recent lessons learned
Next Steps
Activity: Questions that Invite Participation
Next chapter: Leadership Philosophies
Darling, M.J., Flanigan, D.C. (2008). What can leaders do? Learning and Performance Matters, Kumar, Ramsey (eds.). Singapore: World Scientific Publishing Company.
Department of the Army (1993). A Leaders Guide To After Action Review. Headquarters Department of the Army Washington, DC. TC 25-20.
USAID (2006). After Action Review Technical Guidance. PN-ADF-360. Washington, DC: U.S. Agency for International Development.
US Army Combined Arms Center (2011). Leader's Guide to After-Action Reviews (AAR). Ft Leavenworth, KS.
Morrison, J.E., Meliza, L.L. (1999). Foundations of the After Action Research Process. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Army Research Institute.
Walden, J.L. (2009). Modeling and Benchmarking Supply Chain Leadership. Boca Raton, FL: Auerbach Publications.


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THURSDAY, Nov. 3, 2011 (HealthDay News) -- The number of people winding up in the emergency room because of the misuse or abuse of the prescription muscle relaxant carisoprodol has more than doubled, a new federal report warns.
Between 2004 and 2009, such visits went from 15,830 to 31,763, investigators from the U.S. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) found.
The sedative effect of carisoprodol (sold as Soma, Soprodal or Vanadom) is useful when taken properly for the short-term relief of acute muscle pain, but it can become dangerous when combined with other prescription drugs, recreational drugs or alcohol. SAMHSA officials noted that the vast majority of carisoprodol-related ER visits during the study period involved at least one other prescription drug.
"We're not talking about an epidemic, but we are talking about a larger number of people ending up in the ER with misuse of this medication," said Peter Delany, director of SAMHSA's Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality.
"Either they're prescribed it, or they get it from other people," Delany noted. "But, either way they think it's a safe drug, in the sense that it's not heroin or something like that. But it is a drug. And if it's misused, it can be a problem."
In the report, the SAMHSA team explained that when carisoprodol is ingested, it is converted by the liver into a chemical with anti-anxiety properties. This means that, even when taken on its own, patients run the risk of developing a physical and/or psychological dependence.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has therefore recommended that patients take the medication only for limited periods of time (two to three weeks). If taken in tandem with narcotic painkillers, other anti-anxiety medications or alcohol, carisoprodol's sedative effect ratchets up markedly, they added.
Despite these dangers, the drug is not currently classified by the federal government as a controlled substance.
Among the report's highlights: ER visits related to carisoprodol misuse were up across all age groups.
The most dramatic bump was seen among patients over the age of 50, whose visits tripled in the study period (from nearly 2,100 to more than 7,100 visits). Visits among those aged 35 to 49 roughly doubled (from more than 6,300 to more than 12,000).
More than three-quarters (77 percent) of carisoprodol-related ER visits due to either abuse or misuse involved at least one other prescription drug. Narcotic painkillers were the most common additional medication, found among 55 percent of visits. Benzodiazepines were the second most common, found among 47 percent of visits.
About 18 percent of visits involved carisoprodol alone, but one-quarter involved a second drug, and one-third involved two additional medications. Roughly 12 percent of ER cases involved three other drugs, while another 12 percent involved another four or more. Alcohol was implicated in 12 percent of carisoprodol-related ER visits.
What's more, over one-third of all the misuse and abuse visits (35 percent) required hospitalization of the incoming patient, the report revealed.
The SAMHSA team concluded that though carisoprodol abuse and misuse in the United States continues to be a relatively small problem, it is one that is notably on the increase.
"But in many ways this is really a provider concern," Delaney added. "So I would say that providers, whether they're prescribing it or seeing patients in the ER, need to be aware of what's going on. And they need to be asking questions, so they're really making sure that a person isn't mixing substances in a way that's going to be causing problems."
Dr. Michael Brodsky, psychiatrist at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, suggested that the SAMHSA report is both sobering and worrisome.
"First of all, doctors are by and large aware that this is a problematic medication," he said. "Short-term use for the relief of an acute muscle injury is a very reasonable thing to do. In fact, it probably speeds up the healing process. But it's relatively addictive. Not as much as cigarettes. But addictive in the way that you might say Michael Jackson was addicted to sleep medicine," explained Brodsky, who is also medical director of the Bridges to Recovery program in Pacific Palisades, Calif.
"Which means that, typically, people start taking it innocently. They have an injury, so they get a 10- or 14-day prescription. And they like the effect. They feel calm. They sleep well. They may even get a subjective sense of emotional well-being," Brodsky added. "And so they continue it inappropriately, and often combine it with other medications, particularly other sedatives. In that way it's very similar to the problem with traditional prescription painkillers like codeine, Vicodin, Percocet, or morphine," he noted.
"So this report is not a good sign, because it suggests that the upswing in the abuse of this drug is part of a tidal wave of change, a shift away from concern over illicit drugs to a major concern over prescription drug uses, misuses and abuses. It's definitely not good news," Brodsky said.
More information
For more on carisoprodol, visit the U.S. National Institutes of Health.


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News 25 Jan. 2024
Counsel Mohannad A. El Murtadi Suleiman Addresses "Africanization" of International Investment Law
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Curtis Team Instrumental in Shareholder Approval of a New Multilateral Treaty to Transform Pan-African Housing Finance Institution Shelter Afrique into a Development Bank
Event 18 Aug. 2023
Partner Borzu Sabahi Speaks at FDI Moot Shenzhen
News 25 Jul. 2023
Partner Eric Gilioli Ranked in Top 10 Influential Energy & Natural Resources Lawyers in Kazakhstan in Business Today
Client Alert 28 Dec. 2023
U.S. to Impose Secondary Sanctions on Non-U.S. Banks For Financing Russia's Defense Industry
Article 22 Aug. 2023
Fuad Zarbiyev Publishes Article in Journal of International Economic Law
Event 22 Aug. 2023
Partner Dr. Claudia Frutos-Peterson to Speak at Arbitration and ADR Commission of the ICC Mexico
Event 11 Jul. 2023
Partner Elisa Botero Speaks on the Role of the ICC in Investment Disputes
News 15 Aug. 2023
Legal Reader Publishes Article on Dr. Majed Alotaibi's Arrival as Senior Counsel in Curtis' Riyadh Office
News 31 Jul. 2023
Curtis Welcomes Senior Saudi Advisor, Dr. Majed Alotaibi, to its Riyadh Office
News 24 Aug. 2023
Curtis Attorneys Quoted in CoinDesk on FTX Founder Sam Bankman-Fried's Strategy Ahead of His Criminal Trial
News 06 Mar. 2023
Russia Sanctions at the First Anniversary: An Overview of Current Sanctions in the US, UK, and EU and How Global Companies Can Navigate Evolving and Conflicting Sanctions Regimes
Client Alert 24 Jun. 2021
Update on Virtual Notarization (Executive Order 202.7) During the COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic (Updated: June 24, 2021) — U.S. Insight
Update on Virtual Witnessing (New York Executive Order 202.14) During The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Pandemic (Updated: June 24, 2021) — U.S. Insight
Publications December 2005
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iPod nano (6th generation and later): How to use VoiceOver
VoiceOver describes aloud what appears onscreen, so that you can use iPod nano (6th generation) without seeing it.
VoiceOver speaks in the language you specify in Accessibility settings on the iPod. VoiceOver is available in many languages, but not all.
VoiceOver tells you about each element on the screen when you select it. When you select an element, it's enclosed by a black rectangle, and VoiceOver speaks the name or describes the item. The enclosing rectangle is called the VoiceOver cursor. If you select text, VoiceOver reads it. If you select a control (such as a button or switch), VoiceOver may tell you the action of the item or provide instructions (for example, "double-tap to open").
To set up VoiceOver
From the Home screen, tap Settings > General.
Tap Accessibility > VoiceOver.
Tap the On/Off switch to turn VoiceOver On.
In the dialog that appears, tap OK to confirm your selection.
If you do nothing for 15 seconds, the dialog disappears, and VoiceOver is turned Off. You hear an announcement that VoiceOver is off.
When you turn on VoiceOver, you use a different set of gestures to control iPod nano. If you change your mind and want to turn off VoiceOver, double-tap with two fingers to move the switch to Off. If you've navigated away from the Settings screen, you'll need to use VoiceOver gestures to return to the setting and turn it off.
To turn off VoiceOver on iPod nano using VoiceOver gestures
From the Home Screen, swipe right or left with two fingers until you see or hear "Page 2 of 2" on iPod nano (7th generation) or "Settings" on iPod (6th generation).
If the icons have been rearranged, or if there are more than four Home screens, you may hear something different.
Slide one finger around the screen until you hear Settings.
Double-tap to open Settings.
Slide your finger up or down the screen until you see or hear General, then double- tap.
Slide your finger up or down the screen until you see or hear Accessibility, then double-tap.
Slide your finger up or down the screen until you see or hear VoiceOver, then double-tap.
Double-tap when you hear "VoiceOver switch button on."
You'll hear "VoiceOver off" to confirm the setting. Now you can use standard gestures to control iPod nano.
Note: You can also turn off VoiceOver by resetting your iPod.
VoiceOver Gestures
When VoiceOver is turned on, you use the following gestures to control iPod nano.
To | Do This |
Read the screen starting at the top | Flick up with two fingers. |
Read the screen from the current selection | Flick down with two fingers. |
Pause or continue speech | Tap the screen with one finger. |
Select the item in the VoiceOver cursor | Tap the screen with one finger. |
Activate the item in the VoiceOver cursor | Double-tap with one finger. |
Scroll left one page | Swipe right with two fingers. |
Scroll right one page | Swipe left with two fingers. |
Scroll up one screen in a list or menu | Flick down with one finger. |
Scroll down one screen in a list or menu | Flick up with one finger. |
Start or stop the current action | Tap with two fingers. |
Increase or decrease the value of a selected control | Flick up or down with one finger. |
Return to Home | Double-tap with one finger and hold. |
Learn more
Find additional VoiceOver information.


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Number of Alzheimer's deaths found to be underreported
May 22, 2014
Official mortality figures may have substantially underreported deaths due to Alzheimer's disease in 2010 show two recent studies supported in part by NIA. Underreporting of Alzheimer's as a cause of death on death certificates is a well-known phenomenon. Some people with the disease never receive a diagnosis. Many others have dementia-related conditions, such as aspiration pneumonia, listed as the primary cause of death while the underlying cause, Alzheimer's, is never reported.
When a person dies, the cause or causes of death are listed on death certificates, typically by a physician, and filed with the state's Bureau of Vital Statistics. This information is then forwarded to the National Center for Health Statistics of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which compiles and reports the totals each year as the official U.S. mortality figures and leading causes of death. The CDC's tally of 83,494 Alzheimer's deaths in 2010, based on death certificates, ranks the disease as the sixth leading cause of death.
Two groups of investigators at Rush University, Chicago, wanted to examine this phenomenon to gain a clearer picture of the full burden of Alzheimer's disease now and in the decades to come. While their estimates of deaths due to Alzheimer's in 2010 vary slightly, both groups determined that Alzheimer's-related mortality rates were several times higher than the official figure.
In one study, the researchers combined data from the Chicago Health and Aging Project (CHAP) with U.S. census data to estimate the number of deaths of older Americans with Alzheimer's (Weuve et al., 2014). In a random sample of 1,913 CHAP participants age 65 and older, 990 people died over the course of 6 years. Data from this sample were used to calculate national Alzheimer's mortality rates.
These findings, reported in the March 2014 issue of Alzheimer's and Dementia, showed that an estimated 600,000 people age 65 and older with Alzheimer's died in 2010. The researchers estimate that this number will rise to 900,000 in 2030 and to 1.6 million by 2050. This is an increase from 32 percent of deaths in people age 65 and older attributed to Alzheimer's in 2010 to an estimated 43 percent in this population in 2050.
The second study, published online on March 5, 2014, in Neurology, found that the number of deaths due to Alzheimer's disease in people 75 and older could be six times higher than the official count (James et al., 2014). Researchers' estimate of 503,400 deaths due to Alzheimer's in 2010 among people in that age group would have made the disease the third leading cause of death in 2010, behind heart disease and cancer.
Researchers followed 2,566 participants in the ongoing Religious Orders Study and the Rush Memory and Aging Study for 8 years. All participants, age 65 and older, were cognitively normal when they entered the studies. Over the course of the research, 22 percent of the volunteers developed Alzheimer's dementia. About 72 percent of the people with Alzheimer's disease died during that timeframe, compared with 34 percent of those who remained symptom-free. Based on autopsy findings, the researchers concluded that death certificates do not reflect the large number of Alzheimer's-related deaths.
Weuve J, et al. Deaths in the United States among persons with Alzheimer's disease (2010–2050).Alzheimer's & Dementia. 2014;10:e40-46.
James BD, et al. Contribution of Alzheimer's disease to mortality in the United States. Neurology. 2014 March; 82(12): 1045-50.


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Story highlights
Study: Nearly one in four patients experience PTSD in the year following their stroke
Previous research shows one in eight patients suffers from PTSD after a heart attack
Symptoms include flashbacks or constantly thinking about it, avoidance behaviors
If Douglas Mogle hadn't collapsed exactly where he did in the Notre Dame parking lot on October 22, 2011, he might not be alive today.
He landed in front of the tailgate party of a pediatrician, who immediately began CPR. A medic in a golf cart driving by rushed over. Then a cardiologist arrived on the scene.
Not that Mogle remembers any of this. He had gone into sudden cardiac arrest. He was down for 52 minutes and shocked nine times on the way to the hospital. After being airlifted to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, he spent two weeks in the cardiac ICU.
"If only I knew that those days in intensive care would prove to be much easier (for me at least) than the days and months ahead," Mogle wrote on iReport.com.
Mogle developed post-traumatic stress disorder, or PTSD, after he was released from the hospital, something new research shows may be common for survivors of a traumatic medical event.
Nearly one in four stroke patients experience PTSD in the year following their stroke, according to a study published Thursday in the scientific journal PLOS ONE. Lead author Dr. Donald Edmondson and his colleagues analyzed nine previous studies with a total of 1,138 participants to arrive at this conclusion. Although the sample size was relatively small for a study of this kind, Edmondson has done previous research on PTSD after traumatic medical events with similar results.
Last year Edmondson published a study looking at PTSD caused by cardiovascular events, similar to Mogle's. Analyzing data from more than 2,300 patients, he found one in every eight heart attack survivors develop PTSD, and that those who do are twice as likely to have another heart attack or die in the three years following their first.
"This is the same disorder most people think about (associated) with combat survivors or sexual assault," says Edmondson, an assistant professor of behavioral medicine at Columbia University Medical Center in New York. "The symptoms are similar. It's diagnosed the same way."
At 31, Mogle was younger than most heart attack patients, although we know they can happen at any age. He was also in good health at the time – he had recently lost some weight; he worked out five to six times a week; he never smoked.
The fact that he had a heart attack anyway frustrated him.
His girlfriend noticed the PTSD symptoms first. Mogle was irritable. Impatient. He got bored quickly and once even slammed a door at work – totally out of character for the usually mild-mannered fourth-grade teacher.
"I would think about it all the time," he said. "I was somewhat embarrassed that it happened because it's related so much to health and eating and exercising. A lot of it for me was genetic."
People asked him about the incident all the time, adding to his embarrassment. He hated scheduling rehab appointments because they had to happen early in the morning. He often ignored his doctors' orders to avoid eating certain foods.
"I guess I was being defiant to a degree," he said. "I was adamant about trying to get back to a normal life."
But when he closed his eyes at night, all he could think about was having another heart attack.
Many doctors aren't familiar with PTSD following a traumatic medical event, Edmondson said. More research is needed to confirm his findings and make clinicians aware of screening and treatment plans.
Scientists aren't sure exactly how traumatic a medical event has to be for patients to develop PTSD. Researchers at Oregon Health & Science University found 20% of people who underwent low-back fusion surgery suffered from the disorder.
We also don't know why one patient is more likely to develop PTSD than another. Age may be a factor, Edmonson said. Younger patients haven't seen peers deal with similar events, and a heart attack or stroke may have more of an impact on their day-to-day life.
One of the things Edmondson hopes to study in the future is the distinction between PTSD caused by external traumatic events – such as combat or sexual assault – and internal medical events. A combat survivor, he says, can usually remove reminders of his or her traumatic event, but for medical patients it's not that simple.
"For someone who has a heart attack or stroke, we actually prescribe that they pay attention to the very reminders of their heart attack or stroke – increased heart rate, blood pressure," he said. "They're constantly having to think about it."
In a previous study Edmondson found that heart attack survivors with PTSD were less likely to take their medication, which is strange considering their fear of having another one. But Edmondson believes the daily pills simply remind survivors of what they experienced.
"What if the immediate psychological need to not feel anxious and in danger or threatened in the moment is more pressing than the long-term future need of not having to have another stroke," he asks.
Mogle went to see a psychiatrist after his girlfriend confronted him about his behavior. He was put on antidepressants, and the therapist helped him work through his anger. In October he went back to Notre Dame and met with some of the EMTs and firefighters who worked on him that day.
In January he joined the CNN Fit Nation team, which has helped him channel his energy into training for a triathlon. He wears a heart-rate monitor during every workout to ensure he doesn't trigger his ICD or implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.
"Life is never going to be like it was when I was 30," he said. "So I just have to get used to that."


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Website | Facebook Page | Email: [email protected]Address: Imus City, Cavite Philippines
Telephone / Landline / Contact Number: -
Office Hours / Open: Monday to Friday 08:00am - 05:00pm / Saturday & Sunday Closed
About Us: Education in the Philippines has undergone several stages of development from the pre-Spanish times to the present. In meeting the needs of the society, education serves as focus of emphases/priorities of the leadership at certain periods/epochs in our national struggle as a race.
As early as in pre-Magellanic times, education was informal, unstructured, and devoid of methods. Children were provided more vocational training and less academics (3 Rs) by their parents and in the houses of tribal tutors.
The pre-Spanish system of education underwent major changes during the Spanish colonization. The tribal tutors were replaced by the Spanish Missionaries. Education was religion-oriented. It was for the elite, especially in the early years of Spanish colonization. Access to education by the Filipinos was later liberalized through the enactment of the Educational Decree of 1863 which provided for the establishment of at least one primary school for boys and girls in each town under the responsibility of the municipal government; and the establishment of a normal school for male teachers under the supervision of the Jesuits. Primary instruction was free and the teaching of Spanish was compulsory. Education during that period was inadequate, suppressed, and controlled. Learn More


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This article is more than 1 year old
French claim fastest train title
TGV hits 574.8km/h
The French today claimed the world's fastest "train on rails" title by accelerating a modified TGV to a white-knuckle 574.8km/h (356mph), the BBC reports.
The previous record of 515km/h (320mph) was set in 1990, although a Japanese Maglev managed to reach a cool 581km/h (361mph) back in 2003.
The high-speed dash was made at 1114 GMT (1314 local) on a section of track between Paris and Strasbourg. The "V150" vehicle boasted "larger wheels than usual and the engine [pulled] three double-decker cars", the BBC notes, and had already hit 559km/h in "unofficial trials", according to state rail outfit SNCF.
SNCF and the train's manufacturer Alstom claim the record attempt represented "a test on the infrastructure in extreme conditions, which is impossible to carry out in the laboratory", although we suspect national pride may have played a part in it.
According to the triumphant Alstom press release, Hubert du Mesnil, President of Réseau Ferré de France, declared: "The speed record that has been set today evidences French excellence and expertise in the domain of very high speed, which enables the quality of the railway system to be improved to the benefit of passenger comfort and safety."
Anne-Marie Idrac, SNCF CEO, chipped in with: "This speed record represents a major technological and human achievement. The results of tests conducted on board the V150 trainset enable us to envisage a highly promising future in the domain of very high-speed rail transport, based around 4 priority areas: life on board, safety & performance, journey and environment." ®
You can find footage of today's record here on YouTube. For the trainspotters among you, the V150 "is made up of 2 TGV™ POS power cars, 3 TGV™ Duplex (double-decker) coaches and 2 latest-generation very high-speed train motorized bogies developed by Alstom: the AGVTM. In total, this system develops an output of 19.6MW (25,000 horsepower)".


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Its Time to Discover a New Path
Posted on 12/28/2017The Globus family of brands has vacations that shine a light on England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. Inside the dimly lit pubs, the sunlit castles and the candlelit cottages that rest along the countryside, travelers can find incredible adventures and great prices. There's no better time to raise a glass, raise your sights and raise the roof – the thatched roof – to Britain and Ireland.
"From the rock stars of Abbey Road to the famous rocks of Stonehenge and the Cliffs of Moher, our tours shed light on all that Great Britain & Ireland offer," said Scott Nisbet, president and chief executive officer for the Globus family of brands. "We hit everything from the storied streets of London and Dublin to the cathedrals, theatres and museums. We even hit a few golf balls at legendary St. Andrew's."
The Globus family of brands invites travelers to heed the call of ancient kings and queens with a robust portfolio of 33 vacation itineraries that range from 4 to 25 days, including...
Globus Essential Britain & Ireland (10 days, priced from $2,409*)
Spectacular scenery combined with fascinating architectural remains and energetic cities—all of this awaits you on this fabulous Britain and Ireland escorted tour. Your guided tour starts and ends in London with overnights in Newport, Wales; Waterford and Dublin, Ireland; Edinburgh, Scotland; and York, England.
Cosmos The Best of Britain & Ireland (15 days, priced from $2,299*)
On this tour, see Britain's and Ireland's highlights—from the bustling cities to the small towns and from the breathtaking scenery to the ancient ruins. Traveling through the lands of queens, kings, and leprechauns, begin and end in London and pass through Scotland, Ireland, and Wales.
Monograms London & Edinburgh (7 days, priced from $1,459*)
Some say the phrase, "The whole nine yards" originates from traditional Scottish kilts, which are nine yards. We don't know if that's true, but we know that when it comes to your vacation to London and Edinburgh—we've taken care of "the whole nine yards." We've handled the details and logistics on this 7-day vacation, we've arranged your hotel reservations, sightseeing, transportation between cities, transfers to/from the train stations, and daily breakfast. Plus, a one-of-a-kind feature: our Local Host®, someone who is there for you to share local insights, answer questions, and help ensure your vacation runs smoothly.
*Per person, based on double occupancy, land only.


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Dead Space Movie in the Pipeline
Marty Bowen and Wyck Godfrey will produce, whose previous work includes Alien vs. Predator, Twilight and I, Robot--and are both producing the Gears of War movie.
Once a screenwriter is found and EA signs off on the creative direction, the property will be auctioned to studios, which Variety says is likely to happen in early September.
Caruso also directed Disturbia--a remake of Hitchcock's thriller Rear Window--and is attached to a movie adaptation of Brian K. Vaughan's comic book Y: The Last Man.
Already a comic itself, the Dead Space franchise spreads to Wii on September 29 in the on-rails shooter prequel Dead Space Extraction, while Dead Space 2 is also underway.


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Paul Moller dreams of people getting around in flying cars.
But it's not easy to pursue a dream that many consider merely the stuff of science fiction — even if you've devoted decades of thought and millions of dollars to the effort, as the 70-year-old Moller has.
Twenty years ago, the former engineering professor from the University of California at Davis created Moller International to make flying cars — but the company has never put a flying vehicle into production. Until now.
Moller International's first product, the two-seat M200G, is a scaled-down version of Moller's dream. The specs: It hovers about 10 feet off the ground, cruises at 50 mph (80 kilometers per hour) — and looks like a flying saucer. The company compares it to the space car in "The Jetsons," a futuristic cartoon from the 1960s. And it carries a price tag of $90,000.
It's not quite what Moller set out to make. His true goal is his four-passenger dreammobile called the Skycar, which could fly hundreds of feet above gridlocked highways and zoom as fast as 375 mph (600 kilometers per hour).
But sky-high challenges keep the Skycar grounded: Technically speaking, its engines just can't provide enough lift for four people. On the regulatory front, the Federal Aviation Administration would have to provide aircraft-safety certification (something that Moller says would not be necessary for the M200G). And the Skycar's price tag, at least at first, would start at around $1 million — which is way steep for the average car shopper.
Over the years, Moller has been selling motorcycle mufflers and real estate to fund his flying-vehicle venture. So far, Moller International has made nada on its flying-car inventions, but Moller is hoping the M200G will change that.
Paul Saffo, a Silicon Valley technology analyst, says selling some of the spendy saucers to passionate hobbyists could keep Moller's Skycar dreams alive.
"If he really worked out the production details, it could keep his company going," he said. "And if he does it right with the profits, he can keep it going with the Skycar."
Moller expects to crank out about 450 of the M200Gs in the next three years. But interest, and investors, mostly comes from outside the United States — namely Dubai, a wealthy Middle Eastern country known for its modern skyline, its extravagant building projects and its allure for the super-rich.
Moller isn't dismayed by the lack of interest at home. After all, he said, the Wright Brothers also struggled to sell their first flying machines in America a century ago.
"They went to Europe to sell it," he said. "We are the most inventive country, but we don't always follow up on our inventions."
Moller's critics, meanwhile, are more than just wary of Moller's works in progress. They say his inventions are unlikely to leave the realm of science fiction.
"The things he makes are generally very pretty," said roboticist Daniel Wilson, author of "Where's My Jetpack? A Guide to the Amazing Science Fiction Future That Never Arrived."
"Sadly, the only way they will fly is in people's imaginations and in the investors' minds that he's duped," Wilson said.
The same charge came from the Securities and Exchange Commission a few years back. The SEC accused the company and Moller of exaggerating the sales projections for the Skycar. He agreed to pay a civil penalty of $50,000 in 2003.
Skeptics have voiced concern that even at $90,000, the M200G is just too expensive for the market. They've also raised questions about fuel efficiency, noise pollution — and where they will put their groceries.
Critics or not, Moller is one of the longest-standing advocates of flying cars — and the industry's best-known public face. Aerospace engineers, though, generally use the term "personal air vehicle" instead of "flying car."
"'Flying car' implies it will replace anybody's car," said Carl Dietrich, chief executive officer of Terrafugia, which is developing the Transition, a personal aircraft designed to travel on skyways and highways. "'Flying car' brings out a lot of connotations and 'The Jetsons.'"
Moller International knows the tribulations of trying to make an innovation mainstream. Its Web site even quotes the oft-cited three stages of gaining public acceptance for new technology. The innovation is first ridiculed by "those ignorant of its potential." Then, it is "subverted by those threatened by its potential." Finally, the technology is considered "self-evident."
The market's wariness of Moller's vision has forced him, like many inventors, to scale back the grand dream, Saffo said.
"There's a reason people didn't invest in the Skycar: It wasn't going to be successful in any economically reasonable time frame," he said.
But Moller's vision remains on the horizon — even though the Skycar may not.
Once flying cars hit the market, Moller said he expects the concept to take "10 to 15 years to get big because of penetration rate. Then we'll sell more than 10 million a year."
"It's going to be a long time for it to change the way we live."


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Essay by Walt Gasson
Livestock – February 2009 – Colorado Central Magazine
SHE WAS TALL and dark and lovely. Athletic, but with curves in all the right places. Solid — not an ounce of extra weight anywhere. Her eyes were a deep brown, and I was infatuated from the first time I saw her.
True, she completely ignored me and her breath smelled like grass hay, not to mention the fact that her ears were bigger than my feet, but I was smitten from the moment Steve Kilpatrick walked her out of the horse trailer. Ah, Silas, mule of my heart, mule of my dreams, why did it have to end so sadly between us?
I first met Silas on a bison hunt in 2006. She was a new hand then, a replacement for a mule that had passed on. She performed like a champion that day. She never blinked an eye when we walked her up to the dead bison. She packed out over 400 pounds of bison meat as if it were the easiest thing in the world. She was a class act from beginning to end.
To be fair, there was that minor rodeo-type incident, when we tried to drag the dead bison and the rope broke and she went berserk and threw Mark Gocke into the sagebrush, breaking his finger. But what is love about, if not forgiveness — and it's always easier to forgive a mule who breaks someone else's finger.
I forgave her.
In 2007, Silas enrolled in the Steve Kilpatrick School of Fence Removal. Steve has been involved in many volunteer service projects with public land-management agencies to remove old, unneeded livestock allotment fences. It's hard work, but some great conservationists in that area have developed a system for getting the job done. Silas was new at the work, but catching on well and showing every sign of learning to pull and drag the old fence posts quickly and efficiently.
That is, until the day she blew up during a training session and broke Steve's pelvis. True, it was the only pelvis he had, but he wasn't far from the house, and it wasn't like she was mean-spirited about it or anything. Again, I forgave her, and my love for her remained unabated.
Last summer, though, there came a change in our relationship. On a perfect evening, with the wild geraniums in bloom and the ridges above Hoback Junction alive with birdsong and the sun just beginning to set over the Tetons, a ruffed grouse flushed noisily from the tall sagebrush and snowberry. Steve was ahead of us on Bugs, and Silas and I stood stock-still to watch the bird as it flew straight — and I do mean straight — towards us.
The last thought I remember thinking was, "Oh my gosh, that bird is going to land on this mule's head!" I remember feeling her gathering herself to pitch a fit as I was having that thought. My memories get real fuzzy after that.
I ended up with seven broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a cracked vertebra and a punctured lung. Without Steve and Luann Kilpatrick, the good folks from the Teton County Search and Rescue (Faith, the emergency medical technician, you're a superstar!), the medical pros at St. John's Hospital in Jackson, Chuck Schneebeck and his amazing dog Buster, my great family and most especially my sweet wife Kim, this could have been double ugly.
But everything seemed to heal well, and I'll be ready to go again by the next antelope season, for sure. But Silas, my darling Silas, I think we need some time apart.
Walt Gasson is a contributor to Writers on the Range, a service of High Country News. He directs the Wyoming Wildlife Federation in Cheyenne.


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Demand response -- turning down big power loads to keep the grid running during peak demand times -- is a big business in the United States, but not as big in Europe. Mainly, that's because Europe doesn't face the same McMansion-air-conditioner-driven peak problems that the U.S. does.
But Europe has a different grid balancing challenge, and that's keeping its massive share of intermittent wind and solar power in balance. That power can ebb and surge with the weather. Europe gets about 10 percent of its overall power from wind and solar, compared to about 2 percent in the U.S., and some European cities or regions are breaking the 50-percent mark.
REstore wants to help solve that problem through technology that can analyze, predict and adjust power-using devices to balance out those minute-by-minute or hour-by-hour fluctuations. The Antwerp, Belgium-based startup is managing a "couple of megawatts" of load right now in Belgium, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and the U.K., Jan-Willem Rombouts, a co-founder of the startup, said in an interview this week.
Most of that is in cold storage facilities in the Benelux area, which serves as Europe's biggest logistics hub. But REstore also controls plug-in vehicles, with about 175 cars in a Belgian pilot that started last summer. This week, it launched a new project with French utility EDF that's going to hook up about 150 plug-in electric vehicles in an automated vehicle-to-grid (V2G) load-balancing system.
Balancing the ups and downs of wind and solar generation requires technology that can turn down power loads at a moment's notice, usually at the order of a technician manning some grid operations command center that needs to keep the power in perfect balance at all times to avoid blackouts.
That's a prerequisite for playing in this market, but REstore isn't the only one doing it -- companies like EnerNOC, Viridity Energy, Honeywell, Siemens, BuildingIQ, Powerit Solutions, Enbala and others are doing fast, automated demand response of this kind in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
What differentiates REstore's technology, called Flexpond, is its attention to the pricing side of the power equation, Rombouts said. As a former trading strategy and risk management software developer for Goldman Sachs, he looked at the energy market and saw a lot of room for improvement.
"Compared to mature markets in finance, like credit markets and interest rate product markets, in the energy market, we see an immaturity," he said. "Demand is not really tuned well to supply in the market, and you see that in the pricing."
For most of their history, electricity utilities have relied on huge central generation plants to provide plenty of stable "baseload" power, but intermittent wind and solar power challenge the system -- particularly when, like rooftop solar panels, the utility can't even see how much power they're producing, let alone control it.
REstore co-founder Pieter-Jan Mermans, who shares "co-CEO" tasks with Rombouts, saw firsthand the problems that Europe's solar and wind power buildout has created for its grid operators in his decade or so as an energy and utilities consultant with Arthur D. Little. It's not just that these weather-driven resources can stop producing all at once, he noted. Sometimes they can produce too much power.
Right now, grid operators use natural gas-fired peaker plants, which can spin up and down in 5 to 10 minutes. But power load can be adjusted in seconds, and perform some of the same grid-balancing functions, at much lower cost. Not only that, but they can reduce emissions while doing so. But they have to be as reliable as a peaker plant, or the grid won't want them, he said.
Plug-in cars are a particularly "stochastically coupled" (i.e., really hard to predict) set of resources, Rombouts said. First of all, you never know how many are plugged in at any time, and secondly, you don't know how many owners might disable their cars from being used as grid resources.
It's important to note that REstore isn't actually tapping the car batteries for power. That could weaken the batteries and mess with warranties. Instead, it adjusts the level of charging, using a technology called pulse width modulation (PWM), which allows power to go up and down gradually, versus all at once, which can harm the battery.
PWM is part of the IEC 61851 set of standards for car charging, and REstore is charging Nissan Leafs, Renault , and the Opal Ampera, Europe's version of the Chevy Volt, in its charging projects, Rombouts said.
It isn't the only one trying V2G. Nuvve, a company licensing technology from the University of Delaware, is testing the project in Denmark, and the same core technology is being used by NRG Energy in the United States. All the automakers with plug-in electrics are testing their V2G capabilities in multiple projects.
But REstore may have one of the first that's actually putting power into the grid. While the new project with EDF is just getting underway, REstore is providing power from its Belgian EV project to grid operators, Rombouts said.
The startup's megawatts of cold storage load add lots of predictable load balancing. At the end of the process, "These traders have a huge wall of computer screens, and one of these screens has the REstore interface to steer power demand, and they use us just like a gas-fired power plant," he said.
REstore intends to become an aggregator of demand response, Rombouts said -- it's not just providing the technology for someone else to use. The company has raised a little less than 1 million euros to date from ArkAngel Fund and angel investors, and is in the midst of raising 3 million to 4 million euros more, Rombouts said.
Of course, demand response providers like EnerNOC, Comverge, Constellation Energy, Hess and others interface with U.S. grid operations systems today in a similar fashion. But the bulk of their power is turned down in day-ahead or hour-ahead chunks, rather than in minutes or seconds -- suitable for North America's predictable hot afternoon peak loads, but not as useful for managing fast response.


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Political fancy talk is always fascinating. By this I mean, the essential lies that government tells by re-naming something to make it sound benign or even beneficial when it is really just another anti-American, liberty-killing government initiative, or giving it a harsh label in order to destroy whatever activity that government wants destroyed. Here I have two recent examples of these.
Now, by "re-naming" things to sound better, I mean things such as the so-called "Employee Free Choice Act." This is a law that actually takes choice away from employees and does not give them any freedom but enslaves them to Obama's pals in the unions. Or take the "Affordable Healthcare Act" (we know it as Obamacare) which will drive costs up through the roof for everyone. "Affordable" my ass. Or, I'm even talking about the ages old term "re-education camp," a term that replaced "death camp" because it sounded better. You know, that sort of stuff.
Anyway, my first example will be from our much beloved Transportation Safety Administration (TSA), that agency that saves us daily from those evil water bottles and shampoo containers that are just to darn big to be "safe" on an airplane.
So, when you go into that security screening line and you are forced to throw away your personal belongings, the TSA calls those items "voluntarily abandoned property."
This is simply government BS. You aren't throwing away your property "voluntarily." You are being told you must do so or you can't get on your flight.
Worse, your "voluntarily abandoned property" (or VAP) suddenly becomes no longer yours once you turn it over to the TSA.
VAP deposited in collection bins shall not be recovered by, and will not be returned to, passengers. Upon voluntary abandonment of the prohibited item, the item immediately becomes the property of the Federal Government.
This is all just government lies and double speak.
As Bob Parks reminds us, this is the same TSA that was caught accidentally "mismanaging" that same property.
Next is a story reported by Fox News' Todd Starnes.
A U.S. Army training instructor listed Evangelical Christianity and Catholicism as examples of religious extremism along with Al Qaeda and Hamas during a briefing with an Army Reserve unit based in Pennsylvania.
You see, Obama and his cohorts want the Christian religion destroyed, so what better way than to train the armed-to-the-teeth military to hate Christians? That way when Obama sends them out to quash internal dissent against his anti-American policies, the military will have been trained to consider their fellow citizens as evil extremists ready to destroy their commander in chief's good works.
Even the Southern Policy Law Center, a widely known left-wing extremist group, has denounced the government on this one! And that is really saying something.
Take these as just two tiny examples of the sort of stiff this out of control government does every day.