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Allergy to Natural Rubber (Latex)
Topic Overview
What is latex allergy?
Latex is natural rubber, a product made primarily from the rubber tree, Hevea brasiliensis. Some people develop allergic reactions after repeated contact with latex, especially latex gloves. Allergy to latex is an increasing health problem.
What are the symptoms?
Latex reactions can vary from minor to life-threatening, or they may progress from a less serious reaction to a more serious one. Examples include:
- Skin reactions such as contact dermatitis, hives, or generalized itching.
- Respiratory reactions. A person who is having a mild respiratory reaction may sneeze, cough, or have a runny nose. A person who is having a severe respiratory reaction may develop shortness of breath from swelling of the throat (angioedema) or severe wheezing (allergic asthma).
- Life-threatening allergic reactions (anaphylaxis). For more information, see the Check Your Symptoms section of the topic Allergic Reaction.
Who is affected by latex allergy?
Latex allergy usually affects people who are routinely exposed to rubber products, such as health care workers and rubber industry workers, and people who have had multiple surgeries or multiple medical procedures in which latex equipment and supplies were used.
What increases the risk of latex allergy?
People who have allergies to foods, such as bananas, chestnuts, kiwifruit, avocados, and tomatoes, have an increased risk of developing latex allergy. People with latex allergies may develop allergies to these foods because the protein in these foods is similar to the protein in rubber. Latex allergies are also more common in people who have a history of atopic dermatitis, a skin condition that causes intense itching and a red, raised rash.
Where is latex likely to be encountered?
Medical products that may contain latex include:
- Gloves.
- Drains, tourniquets, urinary catheters, and wraps.
- Adhesives used for dressings and tapes.
Personal or household products that may contain latex include:
- Contraceptives, such as condoms or diaphragms.
- Diapers and sanitary pads.
- Pacifiers and baby bottle nipples.
- Balloons and rubber toys.
- Rubber bands.
- Computer mouse pads.
How is latex allergy diagnosed?
Latex allergy is diagnosed with a thorough medical history, physical exam, and tests. Tests may include a blood test to detect latex antibodies and glove-use tests and skin tests to detect an adverse reaction to latex exposure. Glove-use tests and skin tests should always be done by doctors who are experienced and equipped to respond to a serious reaction.
How is it treated?
Some medicines may help reduce the allergy symptoms, but complete latex avoidance, though difficult, is the most effective treatment. Serious reactions may need to be treated in a hospital emergency department.
If you have had a previous serious reaction to latex, you should carry and know how to give yourself a shot of epinephrine.
How can I avoid using products containing latex if I have a known latex allergy?
- Avoid any skin contact with latex products. Health care workers should use hypoallergenic nonlatex gloves.
- Avoid breathing the air where powdered latex gloves are being used. The latex particles in the gloves stick to the cornstarch used to powder the gloves. When the cornstarch flies through the air, it can be inhaled, causing a lung reaction.
Current as of: April 7, 2019
Author: Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:William H. Blahd Jr. MD, FACEP – Emergency Medicine & Adam Husney MD – Family Medicine & Martin J. Gabica MD – Family Medicine
Topic Contents
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated, disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. Learn how we develop our content.


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- Departments
- Trial Court
- Trial Court Judges
- Hon. Charles T. LaSata
Hon. Charles T. LaSata
Judge Charles LaSata is a life-long resident of Berrien County. He received his Bachelor's degree from Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan and his Juris Doctor degree from The Catholic University of America in Washington D.C.
Judge LaSata was elected to the Circuit Court Bench in 2004. He currently serves in the Criminal Division of the Berrien County Trial Court. He is a former partner / shareholder in LaSata Law Office in Niles, and Bittner, Hyrns, LaSata, Reimland & Daly P.C. of Saint Joseph.
Prior to his judicial election, he served Berrien County in a number of roles. Judge LaSata was the Michigan State Representative for the 79th District in northern Berrien County for six years 1999 to 2004. While in the state legislature he served as vice-chair of the House Appropriations Committee, chair of the Corrections Subcommittee, vice-chair of the Judiciary Committee, and chair of the bi-partisan lawyer's caucus.
He also represented the state of Michigan on several boards; served on the Civil Justice Task Force with the National Conference of State Legislators, and the Civil Justice Task Force for the American Legislative Exchange Council. Judge LaSata also served as a Saint Joseph City Commissioner for four years and Mayor of the City of Saint Joseph for four years prior to entering the legislature.
Memberships or Awards
Judge LaSata has been active in numerous professional and community organizations which include the following memberships or awards (past / present):
- State Bar of Michigan
- State Bar of Indiana
- Berrien County Bar Association
- Michigan Judge's Association
- Officer, Saint Joseph / Benton Harbor Knights of Columbus
- Insurance Law Committee, State Bar of Michigan
- Cornerstone Alliance Board Member
- 4H Foundation Director
- Berrien County Guardianship services, board member
- Saint Joseph Jaycees, past president
- Farm Bureau
- Ducks Unlimited and Pheasants Forever
- Saint Joseph / Benton Harbor Rotary Club
- Legislator of the Year Michigan Sheriff's Association 2000
- Legislator of the Year Michigan Environmental Council 2004
- Legislator of the Year Michigan Assoc. of Independent Colleges and Univ. 2002
- Champion for Children Award recipient 2002
- Leadership Award from Highland Avenue SDA Church 2003
Judge LaSata and his wife Kim reside in Saint Joseph with their four children.

subset: commoncrawl


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I'll give one hint: The movie came out not long before 1997, making the bleak view of Los Angeles all the more brilliant. The winner gets a prize of very little cash - but very high emotional - value.
Speaking of movies formulating 98 percent of my fears about Los Angeles... even after living here for 12 Years...I'm still nervous any time I leave a Lakers game thanks to Grand Canyon.
(And yes, I realize Kevin Kline was actually driving from The Forum)


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If you've been following the Christie-versus-Paul "battle for the soul of the GOP" meme since Friday, don't miss this important gloss from Pew. How major has the "major swing" among tea partiers been? Feast your eyes:
Three years ago, at least a plurality of every ideological segment except moderate Democrats thought the feds didn't go far enough to protect the country. Three years later, nearly every segment has swung the other way. The only holdouts are moderate Democrats (oddly) and moderate Republicans. More specifically, non-tea-party Republicans tilt 41/43 towards thinking the feds haven't done enough to protect the country; among tea partiers, the tilt is … 55/31 towards thinking they've gone too far in restricting civil liberties, a 35-point(!) swing since 2010. That's what a battle for the soul of the party looks like — a double-digit spread among the centrist and conservative wings on a key point of national security.
Normally I'd dismiss a turnaround as sharp as that as driven by partisan reaction to the White House. Elect a Democratic president and you'll see Dems warm to his counterterror program and Republicans sour on it, no matter how much it resembles the last GOP administration's program. But Pew's reference point here isn't an earlier poll taken during the Bush era; it's 2010, nearly two years into Hopenchange. This shift has happened entirely on Obama's watch. And it's not just Republicans who've decided that the feds have gone too far. A narrow plurality of Democrats now agree. It's bipartisan and it's recent — although it's most pronounced on the right:
On the specific question of NSA surveillance, the tea party is net -28 and the rest of the GOP is +6, which raises two questions. One: How does Chris Christie or Rand Paul bridge that gap as nominee in 2016? I'm tempted to say that it won't matter much, that government spying is, for better or worse, a marginal issue in a primary vis-a-vis cutting spending, immigration reform, etc, but it won't be marginal next time thanks to Paul's presence in the race and prominent hawks' insistence on attacking him early. Gonna be a lot of hard feelings when the dust settles; who knows what that means for the general election. Two, more importantly: Why such a shift against surveillance since 2010? Much of it, I assume, is recent, a reaction to Snowden's revelations about the extent of the spying. But I think Paul's ascendance is another factor, at least on the right — not because the NSA was a major talking point for him until this year but because his prominence as a defender of the tea party is bound to make tea partiers more sympathetic to his overall agenda on civil liberties. That's been his plan all along, to turn the TP from a movement focused narrowly on spending and taxes into a broader libertarian movement. He's made major inroads on that if Pew's data is right. How durable that influence will be if/when America elects another Republican president and the White House insists on maintaining robust surveillance, I don't know. Some of this is being driven by antipathy to, and distrust of, Obama specifically. The question is how much.
Having said all that, I want you to click and eyeball the first graph on Pew's page. Skepticism among the general public abounds about whether court oversight of the NSA program is adequate, whether the data collected is being used properly, whether the government's collecting only metadata or something more — and yet, when push comes to shove, 50 percent approve of the program versus 44 percent who disapprove. Among people who think the government has read their own personal communications, 40 percent nonetheless support surveillance. That's right in line with last week's WaPo poll which found 51 percent think the NSA program is justified versus 40 percent who think it isn't, even though a chunk of that 51 percent also think the program is too intrusive. That is to say, there's some segment of the public that supports the surveillance state despite being under no illusions about its perils. They know they're being spied on, they don't like it, but they're willing to tolerate it in the name of catching bad guys. The only way to move the needle on that, I think, is if a Republican is elected in 2016 and the tea party maintains its robust opposition to surveillance. In that case, a bunch of Democrats will swing from support to opposition on partisan grounds and that, along with the tea party's opposition, will make a new majority. Is the tea party likely to be that steadfast, even with a GOPer in the White House? You tell me.


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In the end, Reps. Gwen Moore (D-WI) and Jackie Speier (D-CA) probably didn't sway any votes by sharing their personal stories on the House floor on Thursday night. On Friday, 240 of 241 House Republicans voted to strip Planned Parenthood, the nation's leading provider of reproductive health care, of government funding.
Nevertheless, when Moore stood up to talk about being an 18-year-old with an unplanned pregnancy, and Speier described having a second-trimester abortion after a wanted pregnancy went wrong, the effect was electrifying. With their candor, the two congresswomen inspired women all over the country and pierced through the sanctimonious abstractions dominating the debate. At least half of women have an unintended pregnancy at some point in their lives, and nearly a third have an abortion. Yet even as politicians argue about these women's lives and choices and futures, the women themselves remain faceless and voiceless. Moore and Speier changed that.
Neither had planned to put their personal lives on the line. Moore wasn't intending to speak at all, but as she listened to Republican congressman line up to denounce Planned Parenthood, "I just couldn't resist letting them know that they didn't know what the hell they were talking about," she said in an interview.
Speier said her office has been flooded with supportive emails and phone calls, "people crying on the phone, probably with their own experience playing out in their minds."
None of Planned Parenthood's $363 million in federal funding pays for abortion; it goes toward family planning, cancer screening, and other reproductive health care. Yet abortion dominated the debate. "I don't believe that God can continue to bless America while we're killing 4,000 babies every day," said Georgia Republican Paul Broun.
Several Republicans attacked Planned Parenthood as racist, a common antiabortion canard. "My wife and I have four adopted children, and they're watching tonight," said Kansas Republican Tim Huelskamp, adding that his children "come from a group of children the history of Planned Parenthood has targeted: minorities."
Hearing the Republicans pontificate, Moore said, "I was filled with rage. These same people who accuse Planned Parenthood of 'targeting' African-American children, they care about you only while you're in the womb. The minute you crown, you're on your own."
Taking the floor, she began in a wry voice, "I am really touched by the passion of the [opposition] to want to save black babies. I can tell you, I know a lot about having black babies. I've had three of them. And I had my first one when I was 18 years old… An unplanned pregnancy." She described going into labor on New Year's Eve in the first hours of 1970, and lacking even a dime to call an ambulance from a pay phone. She talked about cuts to welfare programs and education, "a public policy that has treated poor women and children who have not had the benefit of Planned Parenthood with utter contempt."
Though she didn't say so on Thursday, Moore had been bound for Radcliffe, then the women's counterpart to Harvard, when she found herself pregnant. Instead, she ended up on welfare. She was eventually able to go to college and build a life for herself, but as she points out, even the meager programs that helped her have since been gutted or eliminated. "It is important for women to have a choice, to have an opportunity to plan their families," she said. "Because if they don't, the Republicans have said this is an ownership society. You are on your own, and they're going to begrudge that child everything, from WIC"—the Women, Infants and Children nutrition program—"to a Pell Grant to health insurance."
Rep. Jackie Speier found Moore's story powerful, but she had no intention of putting herself out there in the same way. Then, as the evening went on, she listened to New Jersey Republican Chris Smith as he read a long description of a second-trimester termination. The excerpt came from a book by Abby Johnson, a former Planned Parenthood employee who, after being disciplined for her job performance, turned against the organization and became a heroine of the antiabortion movement, and it was deliberately grisly.
Suddenly, Speier was overwhelmed. And so, when it was her turn on the floor, she said, "Mr. Chairman, I had really planned to speak about something else, but the gentleman from New Jersey has just put my stomach in knots, because I'm one of these women he spoke about just now." She described how her own pregnancy had gone wrong at 17 weeks, when the fetus moved into her cervix. "[T]hat procedure that you just talked about was a procedure that I endured… But for you to stand on this floor and to suggest as you have that somehow this is a procedure that is either welcome or done cavalierly or done without any thought is preposterous," she said.
Speier has only been in Congress for three years, but she said in an interview that after the speeches were over, "one member said to me that we really haven't had a debate like this for a long time on the House floor." Personal stories, she said, "are compelling, and get through the noise of just reading grotesque, inflammatory prose from a book." Her office has been flooded with supportive emails and phone calls, "people crying on the phone, probably with their own experience playing out in their minds."
She said she hopes that women will be motivated to make sure that the attack on Planned Parenthood is stopped in the Senate. "I think what has happened is there's been an awakening in America of women who have thought for the longest time that their reproductive health experiences are private and they would have access to resources, and now are questioning that," she said.
At the end of the debate on Thursday night, the two women embraced. "I just held on to her and gave her a big hug," said Moore. "I'm so proud of her for just sharing, and giving her heart and soul. That's what people need to see and hear. This is not just us droning on from talking points. These are people's real lives."
Michelle Goldberg is a journalist based in New York. She is the author of The New York Times bestseller Kingdom Coming: The Rise of Christian Nationalism and The Means of Reproduction: Sex, Power and the Future of the World, winner of the 2008 J. Anthony Lukas Work-in-Progress Award and the Ernesta Drinker Ballard Book Prize. Goldberg's work has appeared in Glamour, Rolling Stone, The Nation, New York magazine, The Guardian (UK) and The New Republic. Her third book, about the world-traveling adventuress, actress and yoga evangelist Indra Devi, will be published by Knopf in 2012.


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A Century of Damned Cinema
By Gavin Baddeley
When Silent Hill: Revelation opens the Gates to Hell on DVD this month, it'll be far from the first flick to frighten audiences with visions of the horrors of Hades. Strange as it may sound, punters have been queuing up to endure the ultimate in torment and suffering for well over a hundred years. Along the way, as well as horrific Hells, Hollywood has given us comic versions, philosophical, political and even erotic Hells, alongside – inevitably – some old-time religion spins on the Lake of Fire. A survey of some of the more memorable examples provides not just an insight into a century of popular attitudes to the Afterlife, but also offers a snapshot of some of the most infernally good, hellishly bad, and devilishly weird films ever made.
In recent Hollywood, the big game-changer in the horror genre was Rosemary's Baby, Roman Polanski's hit 1968 chiller which triggered a vogue for Devil movies, climaxing with The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen (1976). While all three took Satan as their subject, none of them attempted to depict Hell, conscious perhaps that even with the sizeable budgets available courtesy of big studio backing, traditional images of Hades would almost invariably look camp or kitsch to modern audiences. Most of the legion of imitators that followed in the wake of their success followed suit, limiting visions of the Pit to dream sequences or confining themselves to just filming the Gates of Hell. One example worth giving, if only in tribute to the recent demise of its director Michael Winner, is The Sentinel (1977), wherein a Brooklyn brownstone has been built over the Gates of Hell. It's actually quite good, though typically for Winner attracted controversy and accusations of tasteless exploitation, as the director employed physically handicapped actors to portray demons.
In many respects the Seventies represented the point where the cultural conflicts of the Sixties came to a head, as the free love, LSD and idealism of the hippie era gave way to the swinging, cocaine and decadence of the disco decade. Some cinematic portrayals of Hell reflected the struggle for America's soul. One of the era's few attempts at a literal depiction of the Lake of Eternal Fire came in the shape of The Burning Hell, a 1974 collaboration between the incompetent B-movie director Ron Ormond and the fire and brimstone preacher Estus Pirkle. Bizarrely billed as a documentary, and featuring a cast of hundreds in cheap fake beards with thick Southern drawls ineptly portraying the likes of Moses and the King Of Babylon, The Burning Hell's designed to frighten folk into Pirkle's church, though it's more likely to leave sinners rolling in the aisles.
There are few phenomena more representative of the sort of shenanigans that Estus and his ilk believed was luring the unwary to Hell than the advent of 'porno chic'. The term was coined in a 1973 article in The New York Times to describe the vogue for hip couples to show how sexually liberated they were by watching high budget, high concept hard core porn films at mainstream cinemas. The flick regarded by many as the Citizen Cane of porno chic is The Devil in Miss Jones (1973), a surprisingly dark, morally ambivalent sex film in which Georgina Spelvin plays a depressed spinster who commits suicide. After being refused entrance to Heaven for killing herself, she attempts to earn a place in Hell by returning to earth to engage in vigorous, promiscuous sex. Having developed an appetite for the pleasures of the flesh, her punishment is to be imprisoned in a chamber with a man who has no interest in sex, forever forbidden fulfilment.
Back in the realms of horror, a trend developed towards oblique, even existential versions of Hell. The 'Gates of Hell Trilogy' by Italy's master of surreal gore, director Lucio Fulci, offers a number of bizarre visions of Hell, most notably in the finale of the second film in the triptych, The Beyond (1981), which finishes on a nightmarishly strange note some fans interpret as an atheist vision of the Afterlife. Fulci borrowed elements from the fiction of cult horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, which also informed many of the best films by the American auteur Stuart Gordon. Gordon's 1986 film From Beyond employs the typically Lovecraftian notion that we are already in a Hell of sorts, surrounded by malevolent inter-dimensional entities we are mercifully incapable of sensing. On a more whimsical note, The Gate (1987) exploits the, then current, Fundamentalist Christian myth that the grooves on heavy metal records literally contained messages from Hell, and had two kids inadvertently open an entrance to demonic realms by playing the wrong album.
The definitive Eighties 'Hell' franchise, however, was surely Hellraiser, as created by the multi-talented Englishman Clive Barker, who conjured a post-Christian mythology, centred on fearsome S&M demons of ultimate pleasure and pain known as Cenobites. It wasn't until the second Hellraiser film, Hellbound (1988) that we get a glimpse of the Hell the Cenobites hail from (by which point Barker's involvement was much reduced). It's a very Eighties Hades somehow, an angular, minimalist labyrinth, and while the special effects haven't dated too well, it's an ambitious and interesting effort. Jacob's Ladder (1990) took the Netherworld into even more abstract territory with its tale of a damaged Vietnam veteran who is disintegrating psychologically, or might just be being sucked into Hell itself. (The creators of the original, 1999 Silent Hill game have confessed to being heavily influenced by the nightmarish blend of metaphysics and psychological horror in Jacob's Ladder, interpreted in turn in Christophe Gans' 2006 Silent Hill film, while Michael J. Bassett, director of Silent Hill: Revelation 3D has observed that Clive Barker's world is deep in his creative DNA.)
Highway to Hell (1991) offered a far more playful journey to the Netherworld, though one which flopped upon initial release due to its incongruous blend of madcap comedy and infernal action, proof perhaps that serious depictions of Hell are difficult to pull off with modern audiences. And the film spends almost its entire running time in Hades, as a young man trying to free his abducted fiancé from Satan's clutches. Yet Highway to Hell went on to become a cult film, dedicated fans warming to its kinetic cocktail of bizarre thrills, black humour and visual invention. The Frighteners (1996), Kiwi director Peter ('Lord of the Rings') Jackson's first Hollywood picture, was another horror-comedy crossbreed with a highly unorthodox take on the Hereafter. Disappointing box office appeared to confirm conventional Hollywood wisdom that difficult-to-categorise films often struggle. Another movie which initially bewildered critics and audiences with its genre-bending – this time between science fiction and horror – was Event Horizon (1997), which also later achieved cult status for its original tale of a doomed journey into space that ends, quite possibly literally, in Hell.
A number of invocations of the Infernal in Nineties cinema courted a more mainstream or self-consciously highbrow audience. Woody Allen went to Hell in the 1998 comedy Deconstructing Harry a typically self-indulgent affair that briefly features Billy Crystal as the Devil. The following year saw Robin Williams make a similar trip in What Dreams May Come, an attempt by the comedian to establish himself as a serious actor in a cinematic meditation on the Afterlife. Its somewhat sentimental Hades is rather like being trapped returning to the site of your own sin, and while it won over many critics, wasn't a commercial success. Perhaps the most memorable Hollywood Hell of the decade featured in the South Park movie Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999). A characteristically provocative and irreverent animated take on the subject, much of the plot hinges on an abusive gay relationship between Satan and Saddam Hussein, where the dead Iraqi dictator is taking advantage of the Prince of Darkness's affections.
It's become a cliché to suggest that the September 11 attacks of 2001 changed everything in American culture and politics. Certainly it gives food for thought on the subject of the Afterlife, when you ponder the way that sincerely religious fanatics killed so many innocents, largely in the hope of securing a place in Heaven. Considering that, might traditional ideas of the Hereafter be not just outmoded or comical, but potentially dangerous? Wristcutters: A Love Story (2006) offers a hip, blackly comedic take on the question, suggesting that suicides end up in a world similar to the one they left, only slightly more depressing. More conventional cinematic visions of Hell largely came from adaptations of new media, like graphic novels and – of course – computer games like Silent Hill. Comic book flicks threw up a notable number of anti-heroes who were quite literally Hell-spawned – from Spawn (1997) and Hellboy (2004), to The Ghost Rider (2007) – suggestive of a new generation, mistrustful of Heaven's champions, ready to take a chance on the opposition…
The Silent Hill universe borrows something from many of these sources. It has echoes of the Netherworlds that terrified our ancestors. Yet it also echoes the more personal, psychological Hells that have become increasingly predominant. In cinematic terms, when I first began researching this piece, I compiled a to-watch list of films I hadn't seen yet. It included no less than three Keanu Reeves films (Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey, Devil's Advocate and Constantine) and a movie that's been described as Adam Sandler's worst (Little Nicky). Wading through those would be a good description of Hell in this film fan's view. In many eyes, the definitive modern statement on the subject is the existentialist French philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre's observation that 'Hell is other people' (No Exit, the 1944 play that contains the line, has been filmed in 1954, 1962 and 2006). Anyone who's been condemned to try and enjoy a film in a cinema surrounded by giggling teenagers and texting idiots can only concur. Happily, with the release of Silent Hill: Revelation on DVD and Blu-Ray, it is now possible to once more enter the Gates of Hell in the comfort of your own front room…
SILENT HILL: REVELATION is available on DVD, Blu-ray, 3D Blu-ray, Steelbook and download on 18th March 2013


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The Remote Auxiliary Cache is an optional plug in for JCS. It is intended for use in multi-tiered systems to maintain cache consistency. It uses a highly reliable RMI client server framework that currently allows for any number of clients. Using a listener id allows multiple clients running on the same machine to connect to the remote cache server. All cache regions on one client share a listener per auxiliary, but register separately. This minimizes the number of connections necessary and still avoids unnecessary updates for regions that are not configured to use the remote cache.
Local remote cache clients connect to the remote cache on a configurable port and register a listener to receive cache update callbacks at a configurable port.
If there is an error connecting to the remote server or if an error occurs in transmission, the client will retry for a configurable number of tries before moving into a failover-recovery mode. If failover servers are configured the remote cache clients will try to register with other failover servers in a sequential order. If a connection is made, the client will broadcast all relevant cache updates to the failover server while trying periodically to reconnect with the primary server. If there are no failovers configured the client will move into a zombie mode while it tries to re-establish the connection. By default, the cache clients run in an optimistic mode and the failure of the communication channel is detected by an attempted update to the server. A pessimistic mode is configurable so that the clients will engage in active status checks.
The remote cache server broadcasts updates to listeners other than the originating source. If the remote cache fails to propagate an update to a client, it will retry for a configurable number of tries before de-registering the client.
The cache hub communicates with a facade that implements a zombie pattern (balking facade) to prevent blocking. Puts and removals are queued and occur asynchronously in the background. Get requests are synchronous and can potentially block if there is a communication problem.
By default client updates are light weight. The client listeners are configured to remove elements form the local cache when there is a put order from the remote. This allows the client memory store to control the memory size algorithm from local usage, rather than having the usage patterns dictated by the usage patterns in the system at large.
When using a remote cache the local cache hub will propagate elements in regions configured for the remote cache if the element attributes specify that the item to be cached can be sent remotely. By default there are no remote restrictions on elements and the region will dictate the behavior. The order of auxiliary requests is dictated by the order in the configuration file. The examples are configured to look in memory, then disk, then remote caches. Most elements will only be retrieved from the remote cache once, when they are not in memory or disk and are first requested, or after they have been invalidated.
The configuration is fairly straightforward and is done in the auxiliary cache section of the cache.ccf configuration file. In the example below, I created a Remote Auxiliary Cache Client referenced by RFailover .
This auxiliary cache will use localhost:1102 as its primary remote cache server and will attempt to failover to localhost:1103 if the primary is down.
Setting RemoveUponRemotePut to false would cause remote puts to be translated into put requests to the client region. By default it is true , causing remote put requests to be issued as removes at the client level. For groups the put request functions slightly differently: the item will be removed, since it is no longer valid in its current form, but the list of group elements will be updated. This way the client can maintain the complete list of group elements without the burden of storing all of the referenced elements. Session distribution works in this half-lazy replication mode.
Setting GetOnly to true would cause the remote cache client to stop propagating updates to the remote server, while continuing to get items from the remote store.
# Remote RMI Cache set up to failover jcs.auxiliary.RFailover= org.apache.commons.jcs3.auxiliary.remote.RemoteCacheFactory jcs.auxiliary.RFailover.attributes= org.apache.commons.jcs3.auxiliary.remote.RemoteCacheAttributes jcs.auxiliary.RFailover.attributes.FailoverServers= localhost:1102,localhost:1103 jcs.auxiliary.RFailover.attributes.RemoveUponRemotePut=true jcs.auxiliary.RFailover.attributes.GetOnly=false
This cache region is setup to use a disk cache and the remote cache configured above:
#Regions preconfigured for caching jcs.region.testCache1=DC,RFailover jcs.region.testCache1.cacheattributes= org.apache.commons.jcs3.engine.CompositeCacheAttributes jcs.region.testCache1.cacheattributes.MaxObjects=1000 jcs.region.testCache1.cacheattributes.MemoryCacheName= org.apache.commons.jcs3.engine.memory.lru.LRUMemoryCache
The remote cache configuration is growing. For now, the configuration is done at the top of the remote.cache.ccf file. The startRemoteCache script passes the configuration file name to the server when it starts up. The configuration parameters below will create a remote cache server that listens to port 1102 and performs call backs on the jcs.remotecache.serverattributes.servicePort , also specified as port 1102 .
# Registry used to register and provide the # IRemoteCacheService service. registry.host=localhost registry.port=1102 # call back port to local caches. jcs.remotecache.serverattributes.servicePort=1102 # rmi socket factory timeout jcs.remotecache.serverattributes.rmiSocketFactoryTimeoutMillis=5000 # cluster setting jcs.remotecache.serverattributes.LocalClusterConsistency=true jcs.remotecache.serverattributes.AllowClusterGet=true
Remote servers can be chained (or clustered). This allows gets from local caches to be distributed between multiple remote servers. Since gets are the most common operation for caches, remote server chaining can help scale a caching solution.
The LocalClusterConsistency setting tells the remote cache server if it should broadcast updates received from other cluster servers to registered local caches.
The AllowClusterGet setting tells the remote cache server whether it should allow the cache to look in non-local auxiliaries for items if they are not present. Basically, if the get request is not from a cluster server, the cache will treat it as if it originated locally. If the get request originated from a cluster client, then the get will be restricted to local (i.e. memory and disk) auxiliaries. Hence, cluster gets can only go one server deep. They cannot be chained. By default this setting is true.
To use remote server clustering, the remote cache will have to be told what regions to cluster. The configuration below will cluster all non-preconfigured regions with RCluster1 .
# sets the default aux value for any non configured caches jcs.default=DC,RCluster1 jcs.default.cacheattributes= org.apache.commons.jcs3.engine.CompositeCacheAttributes jcs.default.cacheattributes.MaxObjects=1000 jcs.auxiliary.RCluster1= org.apache.commons.jcs3.auxiliary.remote.RemoteCacheFactory jcs.auxiliary.RCluster1.attributes= org.apache.commons.jcs3.auxiliary.remote.RemoteCacheAttributes jcs.auxiliary.RCluster1.attributes.RemoteTypeName=CLUSTER jcs.auxiliary.RCluster1.attributes.RemoveUponRemotePut=false jcs.auxiliary.RCluster1.attributes.ClusterServers=localhost:1103 jcs.auxiliary.RCluster1.attributes.GetOnly=false
RCluster1 is configured to talk to a remote server at localhost:1103 . Additional servers can be added in a comma separated list.
If we startup another remote server listening to port 1103, (ServerB) then we can have that server talk to the server we have been configuring, listening at 1102 (ServerA). This would allow us to set some local caches to talk to ServerA and some to talk to ServerB. The two remote servers will broadcast all puts and removes between themselves, and the get requests from local caches could be divided. The local caches do not need to know anything about the server chaining configuration, unless you want to use a standby, or failover server.
We could also use ServerB as a hot standby. This can be done in two ways. You could have all local caches point to ServerA as a primary and ServerB as a secondary. Alternatively, you can set ServerA as the primary for some local caches and ServerB for the primary for some others.
The local cache configuration below uses ServerA as a primary and ServerB as a backup. More than one backup can be defined, but only one will be used at a time. If the cache is connected to any server except the primary, it will try to restore the primary connection indefinitely, at 20 second intervals.
# Remote RMI Cache set up to failover jcs.auxiliary.RFailover= org.apache.commons.jcs3.auxiliary.remote.RemoteCacheFactory jcs.auxiliary.RFailover.attributes= org.apache.commons.jcs3.auxiliary.remote.RemoteCacheAttributes jcs.auxiliary.RFailover.attributes.FailoverServers= localhost:1102,localhost:1103 jcs.auxiliary.RC.attributes.RemoveUponRemotePut=true jcs.auxiliary.RFailover.attributes.GetOnly=false
It is highly recommended that you embed the Remote Cache Server in a Servlet container such as Tomcat. Running inside Tomcat allows you to use the JCSAdmin.jsp page. It also takes care of the complexity of creating working startup and shutdown scripts.
JCS provides a convenient startup servlet for this purpose. It will start the registry and bind the JCS server to the registry. To use the startup servlet, add the following to the web.xml file and make sure you have the cache.ccf file in the WEB-INF/classes directly of your war file.
<servlet> <servlet-name>JCSRemoteCacheStartupServlet</servlet-name> <servlet-class> org.apache.commons.jcs3.auxiliary.remote.server.RemoteCacheStartupServlet </servlet-class> <load-on-startup>1</load-on-startup> </servlet> <servlet-mapping> <servlet-name>JCSRemoteCacheStartupServlet</servlet-name> <url-pattern>/jcs</url-pattern> </servlet-mapping>


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Loving the BITE: My KIND of Bar
Ever need an on-the-go quick snack or mini-meal? Something you can feel good about eating? Me too. A month or so ago, Jenn Sutherland posted an awesome recipe for a homemade LARA bar over at Loving the Run (it's great, make sure to check it out if you haven't already).
While I believe many bars and meal replacements to be little more than expensive and glorified candy bars, there are two I routinely recommend to clients for daily nutrition, and eat myself when I need to have a snack that packs. For whole food-type-nutrition, I recommend the LARA bar and the KIND bar. But, both of these bars come at a price. $1.20 -$1.80 depending on where you shop. Ouch.
But never fear, Loving the BITE will help you make your own with great results. You don't even have to open your oven door for either recipe. Follow Jenn's recipe and experiment with different nuts and dried fruit combinations for a LARA-type bar. And, here's my KIND of bar:
Recipe of the week – My KIND of Bar:
- 1 tsp organic extra virgin coconut oil
- 1 Cup raw chopped nuts, any type
- ¼ Cup ground flaxseeds (either buy ground or grind at home)
- 4Tbsp maple syrup, agave, honey, of a combo of these
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup raw unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup dried fruit (non-sweetened)
- ½ ounce dark chocolate (really dark, 70% or more cocoa)
Place coconut oil in medium saucepan – melt on medium heat. Once melted, add nuts to "roast" them, stirring watching them carefully as they can burn quickly. Once they have a golden-brown color and nutty aroma, add all other ingredients except optional dark chocolate. Stir well until you have a gooey warmed mixture. Press into bread pan or 8×8 baking pan, depending on how thick you want your bars. Place in the refrigerator to cool slightly. Take out after 30 minutes or so. If you'd like to add dark chocolate, melt it on stovetop or microwave. Then, drizzle it over bars. Cut into 8 bars and refrigerate individually for a few hours. Wrap individually, store in refrigerator or pantry, and enjoy!
Whole-food Bars vs. Sports Nutrition Bars: The When & The Why
This week, instead of focusing on the benefits of a specific ingredient, I'm going to explain why I believe these 2 bars, our "LARA" and "KIND" bars, are good for daily nutrition or long-endurance events, and why others are better for more regular training. As a cyclist, it's crucial to understand when to eat what in terms in Daily Nutrition and Training Nutrition (as discussed in the post "Daily vs. Training Nutrition," this matters most if you are really striving to improve your ride). Otherwise, you may mistakenly eat foods that your body quickly turns into sugar and then stores as fat instead of healthy, whole foods in Daily Nutrition (Clif Bar for breakfast). Or, you may eat foods for Training Nutrition that will still be setting in your stomach, providing no energy to your cells, long after you've parked your bike and hit the shower.
To really know what you need to eat for optimal performance and overall wellness, start with knowing a few things about digestion. You see, different foods are digested and metabolized at different rates. The have different journeys and qualities. Let's start with a quick digestion primer:
When you eat, you're ingesting some combo of water, carbs, protein, fats, and fiber. From your mouth on, these nutrients act very differently in your body. They are all broken down mechanically in your mouth by your teeth. But simple carbohydrates are special. They are actually broken down chemically, by one of our enzymes (amylase) as well. From the mouth, the nutrients make their way down the esophagus to the stomach.
It's here that digestion rates begin to differ significantly. All nutrients are churned and mixed with hydrochloric acid and/or enzymes. Once liquefied, they begin to leave the stomach and enter the small intestines for further digestion and absorption.
Simple carbs leave first. We're talking in a matter of minutes, especially if they are in liquid form. Individual amino acids and quick proteins (like isolated whey) leave next. Then, a couple hours later, other proteins. Then, an hour or two later, fats. Most of them set like a rock. Anyone who's ever been on her bike regretting the pizza she ate an hour before the ride knows this. In fact, even fast fats like MCTs can cause stomach issues. Lastly, leaving the stomach, is fiber.
In the intestines, all but the simple sugars, fast proteins and amino acids, and medium chain triglycerides (MCTs, fats from tropical oils such as coconut) have to be further broken down before absorption. Most fats require enzymes and bile salts. We, as humans, are not even capable of breaking down all fiber. Fats and fiber are S-L-O-W.
Almost all of the nutrients make their way from the intestines to the portal vein to the liver. The liver, as the "mail room" of the body, repackages the nutrients and sends them out. Some as blood sugar, which is delivered to our cells for use as energy or storage. Others directly to tissues for storage (some fats). MCTs directly into cells for energy use.
As you can see, some nutrients are quicker than others and are better used suited for energy immediately before, during, and after training. Some are great for events lasting 3+hours, or if eaten 3 hours before training. Others, for exact opposite reasons are healthier day to day for wellness and fat loss.
When fast nutrients are sent out as blood sugar (especially those that are "white carbs" such as refined grains and sugars) our bodies must respond with insulin. Insulin is a hormone that acts as a key – it unlocks our cells' doors and lets blood sugar in. Sugar does harm in our arteries, so it has to be used or stored in our cells (stored as muscle glycogen or fat). When you're sedentary, it's going to be stored as fat. When you're active, insulin works for you to get the sugar in the cells where it can be turned into energy.
Then again, when slow nutrients are taking their time through our digestive tracts, they are promoting health in our guts, stimulating our immune systems, and minimizing blood sugar peaks and valleys. This is ideal for Daily Nutrition, but will cause cramps and leave you low on energy during Training.
Back to the bars. Take another look at our recipes, these bars are made up of whole foods that have not been refined in anyway. Sure, they still have somewhat quick carbs from honey and dried fruit, but even the digestion of these will be inhibited due to the fats, proteins, and fiber in the bars (contrary to the marketing of trail mix, nuts are not a good source of quick energy). These bars are perfect for daily nutrition, as a snacks hours before riding or during a long ride, or even Recovery if you're not planning another activity with 12-18 hours. The LARA bars will likely have slightly faster digestion since they are mechanically broken down in a food processor and if used on a long ride, would be much easier to eat on the bike than the KIND bars. And, of course, all of this is also subject to individual digestion, finickiness (is that a word?) or your gut, and taste preference.
On the other hand, there are sports nutrition bars. Take a look at a Powerbar. You will not see "whole" foods in it. No visible nuts. No chunks of fruit. The ingredients have been refined, disassembled, and otherwise broken down for fast digestion. Exactly what you need when you're riding, exactly what you don't need when you're sitting at your desk. Same with Clif Bars. They use decent ingredients, but again, broken down for fast digestion.
To fuel your ride, and nourish your body, choose quick foods for Training, and slow ones for Living. You'll get the energy you need without the cramps you don't. Perfect.
Fuel your Ride. Nourish your Body.


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by: lisa fabrizio | published: 11 28, 2012
In the thousands of years before the inventions of the telegraph, television and the internet, continents and even countries were isolated from each other for most intents and purposes. Other than trade and conquest, there were really no reasons or means for one culture to be influenced by another.
And for most of her history, the United States of America was a nation of immigrants who arrived with some vestiges of their former ethnicities that did not separate, but only served to forge what became known as the American culture: founded on Judeo-Christian values but with an abiding tolerance for all faiths; grounded in the rule of law yet tempered with a love for justice. She was an odd but lovely combination of an overwhelming spirit of Yankee individualism that expressed itself in a deep concern for the rights and freedoms of all.
But with the advance of technology, the world became a ësmallerí place as they say, bringing with it many benefits to our shores. But coupled with the great moral upheavals of the 1960s, this greater access to the world also saw a dimming of the light of our culture; the diminution of what was once known as the American Way, our unique identity.
In the Catholic Church too, technology and cultural upheaval brought a desireóan inordinately misguided one according to manyóto open her windows to ìlet in some fresh air.î And this was nowhere more true than in the United States, where the interpretations of the ëspirití of the Second Vatican Council by American bishops wreaked havoc upon the faithful in this country. As reported by an eager media teeming with young anti-establishment types for whom the Church represented perhaps the ultimate evil, Vatican II was portrayed as a get-out-of-jail card for millions of Catholic Americans imprisoned by the cruel and outdated dictates of Rome.
But these changes were met with dismay and confusion by most of the faithful. How well I remember my grandmother bewailing that St. Christopher had been ìdone away with!î when in fact, he was very much still a saint, whose feast day was merely removed from the General Roman Calendar due to difficulties with his historical identification. It was the relatively minor actions of Vatican II like this which received much gleeful attention from the media.
But there were other, more significant changes which, whether or not officially sanctioned by Rome, led to much more confusion and disillusionment. Perhaps willfully misjudging the intent of the Council, the majority of American bishops followed the lead of the press and ignored what was contained in most of the actual documents, in favor of the broadest interpretations of a few, and even expanding beyond them. Gone in just a few years were many of the traditional treasures of Catholic worship; the worst of these being the virtual abandonment of the Tridentine, or Latin, Mass in America.
Today, many folks I know are Catholics in name only: those who treat their faith as some sort of inherited, ethnic embarrassment. They readily abstain from meat on Fridays during Lent and indeed, resolve to ëgive upí something during it. They are thrilled to parade around with black smudges on their foreheads on Ash Wednesday but otherwise rarely see the inside of their local parish. But regrettably, it is probably mostly due to the abuses of Vatican II that they have no clue as to why they are doing these things: a truly sad state of affairs.
But as has happened throughout her history, whether through heresies or the personal sins of her members, the Church has grown stronger through adversity. There are millions of American Catholics who faithfully soldiered through the past few tumultuous decades, only to see young people and new converts embrace the faith in recent years. Encouraged by Pope Benedict XVIís call for the return of the Latin Mass and the new English translation of the Roman Missal, those who long for a more traditional form of worship may soon have more reason to celebrate.
In his address to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops last week, Timothy Cardinal Dolan called for a restoration of Friday abstinence, commonly referred to as meatless Fridays, as well as a renewed commitment to the frequent practice of the Sacrament of Penance, better known as confession. While many faithful Catholics have never stopped these practices, and indeed find their faith strengthened and even confirmed by them, a whole generation of their brethren have been robbed of this precious heritage by their obsolescence.
A return to these solemn and ancient practices might seem strange at first to a generation of Catholics who have been raised in a culture of relativism and taught that nothing old is worthwhile, and to be suspicious of those who have an abiding faith in God, but even a discussion of the reasons behind them cannot but help strengthen the entire Church and, more importantly, give American Catholics back their identity.
Time will tell if, at this late date, the Church in America can recover her identity. But if she can, might not the rest of America? Stay tuned.
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(1) Opposition to Michael Howard's plan to restore MPs-only control of the leadership election was slow to get going but it now looks likely to succeed. Two-thirds of the Constitutional Convention of 1,000+ MPs, MEPs, Constituency Association Chairmen and peers must authorise the Maude-Monbiot-Howard proposal to scrap the one-member-one-vote (OMOV) election process. The approval hurdle is appropriately high. Two-thirds of those eligible to vote - not just of those who vote – must consent.
(2) Initial opposition came from MPs Iain Duncan Smith and John Hayes. The fact that members elected IDS was often cited as proof that the OMOV system needed to be replaced. But were members really to blame for this? Did MPs really give a Eurosceptic rank-and-file membership a sensible choice in 2001? Three years earlier 84.4% of that membership had voted to reject membership of the euro. Were they about to elect a leader – Ken Clarke – who opposed their position on this great constitutional issue? Francis Maude (M.A.D. - Moderniser Against Democracy), one of the architects of IDS' downfall and of the rollback of party democracy, might also like to reflect on the fact that the average poll rating during Iain Duncan Smith's last few months as leader was higher than the Tories achieved on 5th May.
(3) Opposition to the reforms was soon joined by other leading Tories. David Willetts secured agreement from Michael Howard that shadow cabinet ministers could oppose the changes. Former party chairmen Michael Ancram and Theresa May, in particular, then led the early campaign. They were two of ten signatories to an influential letter to The Telegraph in July which opposed the reforms. Fifty MPs voted against Michael Howard's proposals when they had a pre-summer recess opportunity to do so. Over the summer former Tory MP Barry Legg established a campaign to oppose the reforms. But it was a letter from six senior members of the voluntary party that signalled real trouble for the disenfranchisement exercise. The Telegraph called the letter 'A Peasants' Revolt'. Liam Fox then joined the growing chorus for protection of grassroots members' voting rights. Within the commentariat William Rees-Mogg and Tim Hames were early defenders of democracy. Charles Moore joined the fray in the campaign's final stages. Mr Hames suggested that the reforms were worthy of North Korea. Mr Moore employed parallels with Mugabe's Zimbabwe.
(4) Some arguments against change have emphasised the Conservative Party's historical commitment to extending the franchise and to democraticision of the trade unions movement. "We have a history of extending, not narrowing, the franchise," ten right-of-centre MPs wrote recently: "In the 1980s, we brought about the democratisation of the trade union movement. Today, our party supports the spread of democracy around the world and we advocate decentralisation of power at home."
(5) Other opponents of change have questioned the representative nature of the current parliamentary party. Iain Duncan Smith: "In the days when the party had MPs in every corner of the country, it might have been reasonable to argue that they should elect their leader. It is questionable whether that argument is as appropriate today. Our seats are overwhelmingly in the shires and suburbs of England. If Conservative MPs have the final say, Scotland will have one vote in the election. Wales will have three. England will have 97 per cent of the electorate... None of the electors will represent Newcastle, Leeds, Liverpool, Manchester, or Birmingham. Furthermore, constituencies we must win at the next election will have no voice."
(6) MPs may feel that Tory activists made the wrong choice in electing IDS but they have hardly been loyal to their own choices. Margaret Thatcher, John Major and William Hague - all chosen by MPs - were all undermined by MPs. For John Hayes MP the rank-and-file membership possess a quality that MPs lacked: loyalty. "The voluntary party in the country still knows the value of loyalty," he wrote for the Yorkshire Post: "Unless a leader has acted improperly, they feel an old-fashioned and very proper duty to be loyal." The MPs could learn from the volunteer activists who help put them in parliament, he suggested.
(7) There have been some very strong off-the-record attacks on activists by some MPs. Tim Hames condemned the attacks: "To listen to some Tory MPs one might believe that the party in Parliament consists of an enlightened band of shrewd moderates who are desperate to charge towards the political centre ground but, alas, are constrained by a fanatical cadre of racist, sexist, homophobic, probably mentally unbalanced pensioners in the constituencies who crave ideological purity above power. This is nonsense. Long experience of the company of Conservative MPs has taught me that a disturbingly high proportion are themselves a few votes short of a full ballot box. I refuse to accept that it can be statistically possible for the Conservative Party in the country to contain a higher percentage of headcases." The party membership is in some ways unrepresentative but it is less male and less southern than the parliamentary party. Unlike the parliamentary party - with its skewed hinterland in law, merchant banking and heavily political careers - it also has broader experience of life.
(8) In any case: if the existing electorate is too narrow that is an argument for a broader franchise - not a narrower one. Theresa May has advocated primary elections of the kind that she piloted as Tory chairman (for constituency selections). Opening up the election process could take various forms. Candidates could have to perform in front of diverse audience of floating voters in marginal seats, for example. The final say of who should become Tory leader could be retained by party members but their decision could follow indicative primary elections held amongst carefully balanced groups of target electors. The idea has been backed by Alan Sugar and Stephan Shakespeare (of YouGov) as a way of forcing leadership contenders to appeal to real voters rather than the parliamentary party who often make their decision on the basis of candidates' parliamentary debating performances and offers of jobs.
(9) Mrs May's bold vision is less likely to be adopted than Dr Fox's preferred option of an electoral college. An electoral college would retain rank-and-file participation but still give MPs a bigger say. The key questions would revolve around the relative shares of the college. Would the parliamentary and voluntary parties both get half of the college or would the college be weighted towards MPs? And would individual members directly determine the preference of their side of the college or would association chairmen represent them? An electoral college would be more democratic than that proposed by Mr Monbiot et al but would be a retreat from the current system.
(10) Can we be sure that democracy will triumph? Unfortunately not. If Maude-Monbiot-Howard win it will be because of underhand scare tactics. Some of the 127 MPs who voted for the disenfranchisement did so because they were warned that to do otherwise would elongate an already lengthy leadership election. Francis Maude is warning of "disaster" if his proposals are rejected. The Mirror has speculated that Michael Howard might quit early if he doesn't get his own way with his reforms. Rejection of the disenfranchisement certainly risks waiting until December or January for a new leader but isn't waiting two months a small price for protecting democracy? It's also true that the party could have had a leader already if this whole unnecessary process had been avoided and the party had got on with electing a new leader - under the existing rules - from 6th May 2005. Unfortunately Michael Howard set the Conservative Party on a very different path.


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Dr. Elaine Tseng is a Professor of Surgery in the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at the UCSF Medical Center. She has a special interest in the endovascular treatment of thoracic aortic diseases, including descending thoracic aortic aneurysms, acute and chronic type B aortic dissection. She also has a special interest in aortic valve surgery, ascending aortic and arch surgery, mitral valve repair, reoperative cardiac surgery, off-pump coronary artery bypass, and Maze procedure for atrial fibrillation.
Dr. Tseng grew up in North Carolina where she attended the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics. She was a National Merit Scholar. She completed her undergraduate Bachelor of Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with a GPA 5.0. She earned her medical degree at Harvard Medical School and was one of three recipients per year of the Virginia A. Linnane Scholarship. Dr. Tseng underwent her general surgery training at The Johns Hopkins Hospital, where she received the George D. Zeidema Surgery Award and the Vincent L. Gott Cardiac Surgery Award. She was inducted into the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Society and was awarded the Nina Braunwald Research Fellowship Award from The Thoracic Surgery Foundation for Research and Education. She also received the Hawley H. Seiler MD Award from the Southern Thoracic Surgical Association. Dr. Tseng underwent her clinical and advanced training in cardiothoracic surgery at The Johns Hopkins Hospital.
After completing her education and training, she joined the cardiac surgery staff at the UCSF Medical Center in 2002. She has published scientific papers and book chapters on a wide range of topics, including aortic valve disease, neurologic injury after cardiac surgery, and esophageal cancer. She developed an interest in percutaneous aortic and mitral valves and underwent specialized endovascular training in 2006 for thoracic aortic disease. Dr. Tseng is a member of the American Medical Association, American Heart Association, Association of Women in Thoracic Surgery, and Association of Women Surgeons. She is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and is certified by the American Board of Surgery.


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Resonance speakers can turn any low-density surface (like a hollow box) into a larger speaker. The concept is nothing new, but the Yoruzu audio kit comes with a ready-made Sound Revolution milk carton, which looks effortlessly cool.
Plug your iPod or sound-making device into the provided amplifier and fix that via a stethoscope-like attachment to the carton to create an instant 2W speaker.
You could, in theory, plug in an electric guitar and jam away. Adding a DI box into the mix might even make it sound good. Gizmodo suggests hooking-up to a hollow cavity wall in your house, as a treat for the neighbours…
The Yoruzu audio kit costs 4980YEN ($51), available in Japan from 5 December.


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Gaza War
The Gaza War (or Gaza Massacre; Arabic: مجزرة غزة; Hebrew: עופרת יצוקה, "Our Cake Walk") was a notable advance in the art of urban renewal that replaced some ancient buildings with holes in the ground to create a more Art Deco landscape. The primary demolition workers sent in to create the necessary space to modernise the Gaza Strip were Israeli soldiers.
Formation of Israel-Palestine
Lots of people have owned Israel over the millennia, but at the time of the Gaza War, Israel and Palestine were sharing it, as well as the garden wall that divides it. The area is sometimes known as the "Holly Lands," based on the holly that grows on that wall. The Muslims had their own Holly Lands in and around Mecca (having rejected the nickname Dusty Lands), but one can never have too many, so they gently pressured Israel to share some of its Holly Land.
This was brought to light when US President George W. Bush built his 2004 re-election campaign around the foreign-policy slogan of "Mekker [sic] not good enough for yuh?" This made Christian voters feel put off, as they too claimed Israel as a Holly Land — but not too much, as they also had the Ivy Lands of Scandinavia. And Courtney Love.
The Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip, though distinct from its counterpart in Las Vegas, is largely similar, with multi-storey tourist hotels, glittering casinos, and a space needle with a roller-coaster ride down from its nuclear tip. Israel built the "Strip" so its citizens could relax after a hard day in the kibitz telling other people how to tend crops.
The Strip was named after American actor Ben Gazzara, during a phase in which knock-off programmes flooded Israeli television; not only 77 Gaza Strip, but Run for Your Life, a programme about an ideology with only two years left, seeking to make the most out of the remaining time.
Sadly, the Gaza became overrun with Arabs claiming a flimsy historical birthright to the land going back as many centuries as Israel's own claim. It was a case of anthropological He-Said-She-Said that laid the groundwork for a perfect impasse, employing thousands. Indeed, full-time employees engaged either in defending one side of the border or threatening the other side form the basis for the bustling economy of Gaza.
Harmless little prank
On December 27, 2008, the Palestinians completed a space programme and fired the first test rocket at Israel. Palestinian spokesmen asserted that this was simply a "prank." Israel immediately started their own space programme, hoping thereby to learn the meaning of the strange little word. They reasoned that perhaps the answer was written in large letters on the dark side of the moon. When they found that this was not the case, they turned to a more difficult method of obtaining hidden meanings; namely, Google Translate. Unfortunately, the Hebrew Google censored Arabic, and so a database of Arabic scriptures was needed to add Arabic to the Google Translate settings.
Receiving no reply from the Palestinians, the Israeli military launched a search-and-translate expedition into the Strip to capture the key libraries.
The invasion
On January 3, 2009, the foreplay abruptly ended in favour of actual penetration. In a military operation Israel playfully code-named "Final Solution," the IDF (International De-Islamification Force) entered the Strip, disarmed the citizens of their paint brushes, and took to painting the town red. They then moved to occupy the Palestinian public libraries and photocopy the Arabic texts within them. Hamas, defending its citizens with Polish beer and borrowed Russian weapons, were outnumbered by the IDF and the romp quickly became a rout, as J. R. R. Tolkien wrote something vaguely like. The Red Cross, which was not affiliated with the UN and did not even used to believe in global warming, sent a relief ship with more Polish beer, but it spontaneously sank just off the coast of Gaza without delivering the savoury reinforcements.
The operation dramatically changed the landscape of Gaza, creating the beautiful city seen today. It was not without controversy, however, as criticism arose that the Israelis may have used child labour to renovate the harbour area.
The Israeli soldiers captured enough Arabic scriptures to upload to their own Google Translate database, and the international authorities asked them politely to withdraw. The Israelis requested a twelve-day extension to finish the front escarpment to the Rimal district's secondary school. The extension was granted and the Israeli forces withdrew once it was complete.
Arbitration by the Americans
The United States, conveniently located only one ocean away, stepped in to arbitrate the impasse, reprising its role since the Clinton days of "honest broker," an arbitrator so neutral as not to care to distinguish a provocation from a response. The "honest broker" is modeled on the "honest stockbroker," the guy who told you to buy shares of Enron because you didn't have enough stock that starts with E.
America's best mathematicians were mobilized to devise a way to unify Gaza with the West Bank without simultaneously slicing Israel in half. The only solution these Ph.D.s could devise involved both countries thinning to zero width in the same place — presumably Jerusalem — where Euler's "seven bridges" would be built to allow everything to pass except Weapons of Mass Destruction. Ingeniously, this would replace the Arab/Jew conundrum with an even tougher brain-teaser. But both sides rejected the solution.
The paint dried quickly in the hot Sun, showcasing the new look of Gaza City against the surrounding slums. Despite criticism about leaving the interior ceilings of certain buildings their original brown-yellow — which certainly clashed against the red motif — the Israeli redecoration had been a success. Their "Urban Spacing" scheme, which removed certain buildings in the city to provide more living space for inhabitants and sand pits for kids to play "find the rubble" in, worked well and the citizens of Gaza were enthralled.
The Arabic database for Google Translate was built with great secrecy in the Israeli Intelligence Headquarters, Jerusalem. They spent 40 days and 40 nights typing the Arabic scriptures into software, which then crashed, leaving Dave the IT man to explain, "Well love, wot you got 'ere is what we at Microsoft call an error in the computer. I can 'ave it fixed by Tuesday if you want." After it was fixed, the Israeli Knesset crowded around the Skype link to the secret underground bunker where the translating software was kept and watched as Dave typed the Arabic writing into the translate bar.
It turned out that the word "prank" does not directly translate into Hebrew, as the God of Israel does not have a sense of humour to match Allah (pbuh). Instead, the results were "Did you mean: Circumcision?"
The Arabic database in the Hebrew Google Translate was destroyed, so as to keep the censors employed and to keep Israelis from understanding the Arabic manuals supplied with dodgy flat screen TVs. The Israelis understood that if they did ever need to read Arabic again, they had enough U.S. funding to launch an expedition back to the same Palestinian reading rooms.
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On the 19th of January 2013, we flood the streets of Athens from every city and neighborhood of the country, workers and youth from every workplace, place of education and art. We occupy the city with music, chants and speeches, to shout that the Nazis are not welcome, that the coalition government's racist policies of concentration camps, FRONTEX and of the denial of citizenship to the children of immigrants, enrage us as much as the barbaric measures that send hundreds of thousands to unemployment.
We cannot tolerate the rich and the government that sows poverty and deprivation, leads to suicides, sends homeless to queue at soup kitchens putting the blame for the crisis on immigrants, turning them to scapegoats, just like Hitler blamed the Jews for everything. This policy led to Dachau and Auschwitz camps, to gas chambers and the crematories with millions of dead Jews, Roma, Communists and gays. It led to the massacre of WWII, the Nazi brutalities in the occupied countries like Greece, with the martyr cities that were burnt, the lives lost in the blockades by the assassins of the "Security Squads" in Kalavryta, Kokkinia, Chortiati, Kontomari, Viano, Distomo and other places.
We cannot accept [Minister of Public Order] Dendias' police attacking strikes and demonstrations with tons of chemicals and extending a hand of cooperation to the Neo-nazi assault squads of Golden Dawn, organizing racist pogroms in the neighborhoods with stabbings of immigrants, destruction of shops and house intrusions. It's the same police that jails demonstrators like it did in Thessaloniki, where it reached the point of torturing the antifascist demonstrators of the motorbike demonstration. We are disgusted by the vulgar attack against artists like in the case of "Chitirion" theatre and the censorship of Dendias with journalists' lay-offs and criminalization of journalist revelations.
We can not close our eyes to the thousands of dead immigrants and refugees, women and children, being hunted by the guards of FRONTEX. We demand to stop the disgrace of the nazi-type concentration camps and the sweeping operations by the Greek police. The immigrants need legalization and the refugees need asylum, victims as they are of the imperialist wars, the dictatorships and the annihilating measures of austerity by the IMF.
Samaras rushed to proceed with the new law to deny the citizenship to the children of immigrants born in this country, with a decision by the High Court that shared the racist prejudice of New Democracy and the Golden Dawn. Thousands of children that are studying in schools are deemed illegal once they turn 18 and are asked to go back to the country of their parents where they have never been themselves!
This is why the last months an unprecedented antifascist uprising has unfolded. On the 24th of August thousands of immigrants sent their message to Dendias that they are not afraid of the police sweeping operations called "Xenios Zeus". In the neighborhoods the racist pogroms were challenged everywhere. On the 28th of October, the teachers, the students and the antifascists showed who controls the streets sending the neo-Nazi of Golden dawn back to the sewers. "Neither in the parliament not anywhere, Nazis out of our neighborhoods" shouted thousands around Greece.
We call all workers and youth, intellectuals and artists, the immigrants' communities, trade unions, student unions, school students, the local councils, all the committees against racism and fascism, the collectives of resistance, people's assemblies to support the national demonstration in Athens on the 19th of January. In the city which sent the greatest message against the Nazi occupation and today sends a message of resistance to the memorandums and the Troika that Neo-Nazis are not welcome – they are racist killers!
We call for international solidarity with participation in Athens demonstration on 19th of January and antifascist action around the world outside Greek embassies.
Saturday 19/1 Athens, Anti-fascist city
National demonstration, Omonia Square, 2pm
Concert, Syntagma Square, 4pm
Say it with a song…
Nazis out!
No to concentration camps!
Citizenship for all the children of immigrants!
Called by:
Movement United Against Racism and Fascist Threat (KEERFA),
Panhellenic Federation of Artists and Entertaiment (POTHA),
Intellectuals and Artists,
Theatre "EMPROS",
Initiative "MAVILI" (Artists),
Union of Immigrant Workers,
Pakistani Community of Greece,
Afghan Community of Greece,
Open School of Immigrants in Piraeus,
Egyptian Community,
Union of United Afghan Refugees in Greece,
Iranian Political Refugees Union,
Antifascist Group of Albanian Immigrants,
Union of Syrians in Greece,
ASANTE (African immigrants in Greece),
Trade Unions,
Teachers' Local Unions, Hospital Workers unions,
Local and peripheral councilors,
Student associations,
School pupils.
Supported by Kostas Arvanitis, journalist of Public TV.


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Formosa Tea
Superior Bold-Leaf Formosa Keemun
Formosa Keemun has a unique style that has attracted a dedicated following. This selection has the characteristic Oolong notes and gentle smokiness of this tea. It also has the lighter-colored leaf and infusion of our original Formosa Keemun from several years ago. Recommended for those seeking a divergence from traditional China Keemun.
Sun Moon Lake Tea (Ruby 18)
Produced from the unique Ruby #18 cultivar, developed by cross breeding a wild Formosa tea plant varietal with a Burmese/Assam strain, this outstanding black tea hails from the Sun Moon Lake region in Nantou County, Taiwan. The long, dark, wiry leaves yield a complex, hearty liquor with a velvety smooth mouth feel. The fragrant aroma reveals layers of cinnamon, raisin, fig, vanilla, and plum, which harmonize with notes of bread pudding, baked apple, and a subtle malty hint in the full-bodied cup. A lingering caramelized brown sugar note provides a complement to a crisp snap of clove in the finish. Steep longer for deeper flavor and a stronger cup. This delightful Formosa black tea is a staff favorite, and we are honored to offer it to you in celebration of Upton Tea Imports' 35th anniversary.
Oolong Standard Grade
A classic restaurant grade tea, with a smooth character, and classic Formosa Oolong flavors. Priced for everyday use, this selection is an excellent choice for its value and quality.
Four Season Spring Dong Pian Oolong
From the "Four Season Spring" cultivar, this unique Formosa Oolong exhibits premium, loosely rolled leaves that produce a pale gold liquor with the heady scent of lilacs. A smooth, rich buttery mouth feel provides the perfect complement to the pronounced honey notes and intense floral character. The finish lingers with light hints of melon.
Formosa Oolong Super Fancy
This exquisitely crafted Formosa Oolong is very fragrant, with pronounced peach notes in both the aroma and the tawny-gold cup. An abundance of downy, silver tips adorns the large beautiful leaves, yielding a liquor bursting with flavor and a smooth, creamy mouth feel. Notes of dried fruit as well as hints of warm spice and honey lead to a clean finish with a lingering sweetness.
Formosa Oolong Spring Dragon
A lightly oxidized leaf that releases a delicate, flowery liquor. The sweet and refreshing taste is enhanced by the fragrance of lilacs. A truly exquisite tea. This tea is the perfect choice to enjoy with a spoonful of our Wildflower Honey.
Formosa Oolong Choicest
Choicest Oolong (Wu-Long) is a flavorful alternative to the higher priced Fancy grades, with much of the complexity and cup character. The bold leaves, with some silvery tips, produce a liquor with notes of dark grapes and hints of peach.
Formosa Lapsang Souchong
Rich and lusty, this smoky tea has a mellow aftertaste. A bit smokier than the China variety.
Formosa Jade Oolong Supreme
Those who appreciate the finer grades of Tung-Ting style Oolong will find this one an exceptional value. The flavor is surprisingly more refined than item TT86.
Formosa Jade Oolong Imperial
This is the finest Jade Oolong tea we've ever sampled. Orchid, honey, and buttery notes weave together to create a complex aroma and flavor with a creamy smooth mouth feel and long, lingering finish. For those of you looking for the best of what Taiwan can offer, this outstanding Oolong selection is highly recommended.
Formosa Jade Oolong
Extra rich flavor. A Tung-Ting style Oolong, oxidized at approximately 18 percent to retain a greener character. Very sweet and aromatic, this is the style of Oolong that is favored by Taiwan tea connoisseurs.
Formosa GABA Oolong
Japanese researchers created GABA tea serendipitously in the 1980's. Wanting effective methods to preserve tea, not fully oxidized leaf was exposed to nitrogen. The glutamic acid inherent in tea was transformed to Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid, or GABA for short. This selection is notable for its broad and interesting flavor profile, with notes of mango, peach and guava. The cup has a creamy body with a pronounced, lingering sweetness.
Formosa Amber Oolong Select
This grade of Amber Oolong (Wu-Long) has more complex flavor and finer leaf style than our TT55. Highly recommended.
Formosa Amber Oolong
With an oxidation level of approximately 40%, Amber Oolong (Wu-Long) teas produce a liquor that is darker than the Jade Oolongs. The flavor is slightly more earthy and robust.
Tea enthusiasts and novices alike will enjoy sampling the unique Formosa Oolong loose leaf tea that Upton Tea Imports has carefully chosen from the top tea producers in Taiwan. A particular favorite amongst our Valued Customers is our Formosa Oolong Choicest. Notes of dark grape and hints of peach make this a tea you will love, either solo or to share with friends. Looking for a lighter tasting Formosa Oolong tea? Our Formosa Jade Oolong teas are lightly oxidized to retain a greener character that is aromatic with sweet floral notes.


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By: Associated Press//July 15, 2014//
By TODD RICHMOND
Associated Press
MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Wisconsin law requires judges to sentence chronic drunken drivers to at least three years behind bars, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
The case began in 2010 when a Monroe County deputy pulled over Clayton Williams of Warrens. Williams' blood alcohol content was 0.248 percent, more than three times the state's 0.08 percent limit for driving.
Williams pleaded guilty in 2011 to a seventh offense of operating while intoxicated and asked for probation. Judge J. David Rice said the sentencing statutes for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-offense are murky. The statutes say the confinement portion of any bifurcated sentence — a sentence that includes both prison and extended supervision — for those repeat offenses must include at least three years in prison. But they don't expressly state that a judge must impose such a sentence.
Rice told Williams he believed the statutes required him to sentence him to at least three years in prison. The judge gave him that time as well as three years on extended supervision.
Williams turned to the 4th District Court of Appeals, arguing Rice made a mistake. The appellate court sided with Williams, ruling the statutes clearly don't require a judge to impose three years in prison and Williams should be re-sentenced.
The Supreme Court reversed the appellate ruling in a 7-0 decision Tuesday, saying Williams isn't entitled to re-sentencing. Justice David Prosser wrote that the statutes are ambiguous but the history of their development shows they're meant to ensure seven-, eight- and nine-time offenders spend at least three years in prison.
Prosser wrote that a Legislative Reference Bureau analysis of the 2009 bill that created the bifurcated sentence language for seventh-, eighth- and ninth-offenses stated the measure requires any of those offenders to serve at least three years in prison and a 10-time offender and beyond to serve four years. And a report from the Joint Review Committee on Criminal Penalties also supports an interpretation that judges must impose a bifurcated sentence with at least three years in prison, he said.
The mandatory three years also fits with Wisconsin's system of gradually more severe punishment for chronic offenders, he added.
Williams' attorney, public defender Steven Grunder, didn't immediately return a message. A spokeswoman for the state Department of Justice, which brought the case to the high court, said in an email to The Associated Press that agency attorneys were pleased the court provided needed guidance for judges and lawyers.


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Olympic Hurdles Grab for Gold in Pennsylvania Budget
This July signals the beginning and end of two feats requiring amazing determination, stamina and perseverance—the start of the 2012 Summer Olympics and the on-time passage of the Pennsylvania state budget. While crossing the finish line is an admirable feat, viewers and voters are really cheering for athletes and legislators to do one thing: Bring home the gold.
Worthy of a gold medal in legislative gymnastics, the General Assembly and Gov. Corbett teamed up to pass the single largest expansion of school choice in more than a decade. Thousands more children will be vaulting into schools of their choice through a doubling of the Educational Improvement Tax Credit—an immensely successful yet heretofore underfunded program with a 10-year history of serving students and saving taxpayer money. The program now includes targeted scholarships to provide a balance beam of hope for kids currently trapped in violent and failing schools.
On corrections reform, the General Assembly won its semifinal round in archery by unanimously passing on-target legislation in corrections reform that makes communities safer and will save taxpayers millions in coming years. Like any Olympic win, that was a tremendous achievement.
However, corrections reform is a two-part challenge requiring a final shot to win the gold, through a companion bill that reinvests a portion of the savings into effective corrections-related programs and to counties to reduce the state prison population. Without passage of this bill in the fall, legislators will be firing arrows without arrowheads, thus coming up short of the target and the podium.
Next, like a volleyball duo, Gov. Corbett and statewide county commissioners embraced the spirit of teamwork to pass a county block grant pilot, giving 20 counties flexibility from state rules to fund welfare programs according to the unique needs of their residents. Against a barrage of verbal volleys from critics, the block grant was only spiked to a third of the counties, still earning this critical welfare reform a bronze medal.
On business taxes, Gov. Corbett earns another silver medal for continuing to phase-out the Capital Stock and Franchise Tax, saving job creators hundreds of millions of dollars. The complete elimination of this job-destroying tax, or reducing the second highest state corporate income tax rate in the nation, would have earned a gold medal.
When it came to streamlining the process for creating and funding charter schools, a priority for the governor, legislators fumbled the baton handoff between chambers, thus delaying the issue until fall. While some 90,000 students in Pennsylvania attend charter schools, the waiting list is 30,000 strong. By not crossing the finish line and failing to allow the creation of more charters, fewer families will have a chance to provide an education best-suited to how their children learn and function.
To get to the podium on job creation, Gov. Corbett should phase out corporate welfare endeavors that give special favors to politically popular projects. Creating across-the-board tax rate reductions is the best way to spur economic growth and put Pennsylvania on the path to a perfect 10 rather than selective credits and subsidies.
When it comes to the sprint that ended June 30, this budget took home a lot of hardware. It does rein in spending, exercising the kind of discipline every athlete needs—something we haven't seen in Pennsylvania for years, if not decades. For that, Gov. Corbett and the General Assembly deserve significant credit.
Having said that, what's gotten too little attention in Harrisburg—including in the new budget—is the marathon that's coming. Pension costs are skyrocketing. Future costs for welfare and debt continue to grow as well. Meanwhile, those responsible for lighting and feeding these fiscal fires, namely government union bosses, continue to have special political privileges and unparalleled power.
Keeping these issues status quo is like lawmakers bowing out of a boxing match because their foes are in an unreachable weight class. If legislators wish to score a knockout on these issues, they need to hit the political gym this summer, bulk up on bipartisanship and come out swinging with statesmanship in the fall.
Let there be no doubt, this year's state budget was a winner. But there is a lot of race left to run and events to perform. Until lawmakers and Gov. Corbett address future cost drivers like pensions and the special interests fanning the flames, state budgets will continue to take an Olympic effort to avoid tax increases, hold down spending and spur a better economy for all Pennsylvanians.
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Nathan A. Benefield is Director of Policy Analysis with the Commonwealth Foundation (www.CommonwealthFoundation.org), Pennsylvania's free-market think tank.


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From high-flying SoCal makos to the 30-mile push from Key West to the Marquesas, slip on a SolarflexTM Shirt and prepare to coast. High-tech UV-eclipsing performance, with an active fit for unrestricted action on the water.
- UPF 30 sun protection
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- Imported


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Your lips, O my spouse, drip as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under your tongue; and the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. —Song of Solomon 4:11, NKJV
What are the milk, honey, and fragrant garments the beloved mentions? Just as milk and honey help nurture bodies, the lips dripping with milk and honey are the bride's edifying, life-giving words that nurture the faith of the young instead of accusing, slandering, criticizing, and finding fault. Her fragrant garments are her righteous deeds of service. Our intent to lay our lives down for the Lord, crucifying our own self-centeredness, ascends like a pleasing perfume to the Lord.
Lord, let my lips bring Your life and salvation to those I meet. May my acts of spiritual service bring others to You. I lay my life at Your feet and pray that it will be a pleasing perfume to Your heart.
When the intention of our hearts is to be a servant,
our service exudes a beautiful fragrance
in the presence of God (2 Cor. 2:15-16).


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Have you ever seen or heard of someone using it?
Back in the days when Google didn't automatically redirected you to the results page as you typed, I think not a lot of people used the "I'm Feeling Lucky!" button (as backed by this and other references). They would rather click "Search" or "Enter" and be taken to the results page and from there they'd be happy to click on the first result that Google provided (if that's the case) and repeat this over and over for as long as they needed to go back to the page.
What is so appealing about the results page? Why people like to hand-pick the results, even when the Software and the User agree on the best solution? Why would the user like to skim through inaccurate results that rank lower than the actual software's best result before they actually take action?


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Posted on June 12, 2014 at 4:00 PM by Debbie Emge
School's almost out for Summer, which means it's time for picnics, fishing and general kicking up of heels and sandals at the park. Snohomish has a zillion parks to choose from it seems. From "pocket parks" to parks filled with amenities, there will be no shortage of places to take the family for some fun in the sun. Here's a short video of some of the parks we mention below! *Scroll down to see some exciting news about the future of our park projects.
CLICK HERE for a video tour of our parks.
CLAYTOWN KIDS PARK 329 Ave. I
This is a charming park west of Avenue D. It just received new play equipment last year, and is what the city calls a "pocket park." It serves many neighborhoods and is an important part of the community.
CADY LANDING 40 Maple Avenue
If you follow Maple Avenue south, you'll arrive at the boat launch and Cady Landing. This park is suitable for people waiting for fisherman, or accessing the Riverfront Trail which leads to all of Historic Downtown shops and eateries.
FERGUSON PARK 1330 Ferguson Park
With play equipment and access to another boat launch, Ferguson Park is located near Haggen and the Post Office. After running errands you can take the kids to explore and burn off some energy.
FISCHER POCKET PARK 1214 Madrona Dr.
This is another pocket park serving neighborhoods off 13th Street in Snohomish.
HILL PARK 1610 Park
This is a gorgeous park on Blackman's Lake and has all park amenities including bathroom facilities, and covered picnic areas. It's beautiful and peaceful and a great way to spend a sunny day.
KLA HA YA PARK 1117 First
This park can be accessed along the Riverfront Trail or from above on First Street. It has sprawling grass and picnic benches for picnics and watching life go by.
MORGANTOWN PARK 200 Long Street
This is a neat park serving neighborhoods east of Maple and is located between Short and Long Streets. A gravel parking lot outlines the parking areas in this neighborhood. Fields and play equipment make this a great spot for playing.
PILCHUCK PARK 169 Cypress
You've likely been to this park to watch sports, but during the summer it is a fun spot to meet friends and shoot hoops, picnic and enjoy all the beauty surrounding you. This park has full amenities as well.
SKATE PARK 400 Pine
Adjacent to the Boys and Girls Club, this skate park gets used by kids young and old. The things they can do on their skates and bicycles is amazing. Head on down and check out some of the tricks they do!
We spoke with Ann Stanton, project manager for parks and recreation in Snohomish, and the big news is the purchase of the Eastside Rail Corridor by Snohomish County. We wrote about this project in a post here, and are excited at the prospects of an "excursion rail" or Dinner Train, and a commuter rail that will put residents who live in Snohomish at their job site in say, Woodinville.
The city purchased another parcel of land, which you can read more about here, which will include an off-leash dog park and walking trails to serve the planned 200 homes that are projected to be built over the next few years.
This city is also planning to close on a purchase of land from the Stocker family along Lincoln Street, a popular place for drop-in fishing and parking for the many soccer competitions that compete here. Plans for this 20-acre parcel are mostly conservation, with the land being used much the same as it is used now, with hopes to extend the Riverfront Trail to Lincoln Street, and onward toward Monroe.
Ann put it best, Snohomish is developing as a place for an "urban lifestyle in the country." But with all of these recent changes and future developments, the city wonders if there is an area of parks and recreation that we are not meeting. If you have thoughts please send an email to Ann.
Posted on October 22, 2013 at 8:35 AM by Debbie Emge
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Featured Programs
The programs featured in the program database have been carefully selected and represent some of the best opportunities available in off-campus study today. From the broad academic and geographical range of options, students generally identify a program well suited to their academic goals. You can narrow down your search for programs by subject area, language of study, region, country, city, and term.
OCS programs offer you the opportunity to enhance your major, concentration, or other areas of academic interest while broadening your liberal arts education by learning about another part of the world. On some programs, the courses are linked by a common theme, such as women's studies, environmental studies or global development studies. On others, coursework may be closely connected to a particular major such as biology or economics. Some programs, however, are not particularly specialized and offer a range of courses in the liberal arts. OCS programs may be organized by U.S.-based educational institutions, universities in the host country, or a combination of both in a cooperative arrangement. Formats vary from traditional classroom-based instruction to field work, independent research, and internship opportunities.
How do I Choose an Off-Campus Study Program?
Assessing the Value of Off-Campus Study
You may already have a good idea about where and what you would like to study off campus. However, if you are just beginning to explore the possibilities, you should reflect seriously on what you are planning to do. At this point in your life and education, you are likely to be at the optimal point in your capacity to learn by living and studying in a new and challenging environment. Since an optimal point occurs by definition only once in a lifetime, and off-campus study may hold valuable personal, academic, and professional benefits, the careful choice of an appropriate program may well be one of the most important decisions you will make during your college career.
Core Academic Rationale for Off-Campus Study
Grinnell requires that you select a program compatible with your academic goals, as set out in your four-year plan and off-campus study essay. It is largely up to you to define your goals together with your academic adviser. Since your program choice is linked to your objectives, you should begin by thinking about your purpose in studying off campus, i.e., your core academic rationale. Most students choose to link off-campus study to their major or concentration while others choose to enhance their understanding of other subjects studied on campus. The link you choose should provide a sense of academic direction for studying off campus.
Additional Objectives for Off-Campus Study
In addition to the core academic rationale described above, your choice of program may be partly determined by additional objectives, in consultation with your academic adviser, a program adviser, or OCS staff. For example, you may wish to broaden your liberal arts education by studying a language or taking liberal arts courses not offered at Grinnell. You may also have broader educational and future goals connected to the experience of engaging with another culture. The possibility of community service, fieldwork or an internship might be an important consideration. Such additional objectives are important to consider along with your core academic rationale and should be of help in guiding you towards a program that is a good match.
Students who are unsure about whether to study a language while off-campus are strongly encouraged to consider the many and unique benefits of language study.