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Editor's Note: Professor Eyal Zisser is the head of the Department of Middle Eastern and African History and a senior research fellow at the Moshe Dayan Center, both at Tel Aviv University.
By Eyal Zisser - Special to CNN
In an interview that Bashar al-Assad gave to the Wall Street Journal in January 2011 before the Syrian protests broke out, he assured his interviewers that the Arab Spring would not reach Damascus. Al-Assad was mistaken, of course, for within a month of the interview protests broke out across the country. But al-Assad had a point, Syria is different from the other countries of the Arab Spring such as Egypt and Tunisia. Syria possesses qualities that protect it better from the storm.
Nearly 40% of Syria's population consists of members of minority communities. There are the Alawites (about 12%), from among whom come the ruling al-Assad family. In addition to this community, there are the Christians (12%), the Kurds (10%), and the Druze (5%). Many within minority communities worry that radical Islam will replace al-Assad and have been reluctant to join the protests against Bashar al-Assad.
In addition, the revolution in Syria is not driven by the "Facebook" youth - offspring of the big city middle and upper classes - as they were in Egypt and Tunisia. Syria's revolution is a peasants' revolution. It broke out in the rural periphery, away from Damascus.
The residents of Syria's big cities, including the members of the Sunni community, are still sitting on the fence. They see Iraq - Syria's neighbor to the east - as a possible scenario for post-al-Assad Syria. Iraq was liberated by the Americans from the tyranny of Saddam Hussein but instead of stability and prosperity, the dictator's fall brought on a bloody civil war between Iraq's different religious and ethnic communities. Indiscriminate terror resulted, along with the gradual disintegration of the country into its regional components - Kurds in the north, Sunnis in the center, and Shiites in the south.
What to watch
The Syrian regime is bleeding. Of this there is no doubt. The question is: Will it continue to bleed until it finally falls, or will Bashar al-Assad somehow be able to maintain power. To answer this question, one must look for the "game-changers" - those major developments that could bring about a dramatic and quick collapse of the al-Assad regime.
First, one must pay attention to the cohesion of the Syrian army and government apparatuses. These have so far maintained their cohesion, continuing to support the al-Assad regime. There have not been any major desertions from the army. No army unit or high-ranking general has deserted its ranks for the opposition.
Most of the Syrian Army's high-ranking officers come from the al-Assad family or the Alawite community. They know that - in contrast to their counterparts in Egypt - the end of the al-Assad regime also means their end. Even the Syrian state bureaucracy stands firmly behind Bashar al-Assad. Thus, for example, not one Syrian diplomat has defected even though there are hundreds of diplomats in the Syrian Foreign Service stationed in more than a hundred embassies around the world. This fact stands in complete contrast to Libya where most of the Libyan diplomatic corps defected to the opposition within days of the outbreak of the violence there.
Next, one must pay attention to the communities currently sitting on the fence - the residents of the big cities such as Damascus and Aleppo - along with members of the various minority groups such as the Druze and Christians. As long as the residents of the big cities, mostly Sunnis, refrain from joining the demonstrations against the regime, the opposition, which is in any case divided, will find it even more difficult to garner enough power to bring down the al-Assad regime. On the other hand, if the Druze on Jabal al-Druze (Druze Mountain) decide to join the demonstrations against the regime - something that has not yet happened - this will signal their belief that the Syrian regime has come to the end of the road.
Given this situation, it is no wonder that the world has been careful about intervening militarily in Syria. The Syrian army, which still stands behind al-Assad, could fight back. It is a strong and powerful army. It is most likely that the world will let the Syrian struggle continue until the regime weakens and collapses by itself, or until those who are sitting on the fence in Syria join the protests and thereby signal the nearing end of al-Assad. At most, other states will continue to supply the insurgents in Syria with money and weapons with the aim of bleeding the Syrian regime until it collapses.
The Syrian regime has enough strength to survive for some time absent a game-changing event such as defections of entire army units or high-ranking officers, a sudden change of heart in the international community followed by substantial intervention, or massive demonstrations in Damascus and Aleppo.
Absent these events, the struggle for Syria is likely to be long and bloody, without a decisive outcome on the horizon.
The views expressed in this article are solely those of Eyal Zisser.
Respected, Mr.Al-Assad Garu,you are facing very big problem and suffered lot. In front of U.S insollence you could not do anything. In my verdict you have only one way,that you can make meeting separetely with KURDS and DRUGE and MINORITIES about CRISTIANITY about its stand in SYRIA. In pursuance,you can give additional benefits to above said three groups.Then you can pickup U.S stand.After that you have known conclusion.
That no notable defections among Syrian diplomats and armed forces have taken place yet as it was the case in Libya can be explained that Assad seems to be more popular than the late wayward Gaddafi. Besides the families of the would-be defected will face reprisals from Assad's regime. I do think it's senseless to have a country with a myriad of conflictual ethnies and sects united. There will never be stability. If Iraq's Kurds, Sunnis and Shiites think it better for them to have their own sovreignty, let them. Of course it wouldn't come easy to decide who's going to have what, due to the country's oil.
JVH, you are almost illuminating one of the most basic problems.That religion and state must be separated! I'm not saying that rule by either form is perfect, but Christians have learned the hard way too. Respect the Church and religion, but keep it out of politics. When this is implemented, there is usually a better chance for peace. It may not be instant by any means ( ie. Cathiolics vs Protestanrs), but eventually it usually gets better.
Post Assad Syria - assuming he is thrown out of power, which is a longshot - will look just like it did under Assad, but with a different dictator. Because the Arabs don't understand Jeffersonian democracy. They only understand Saddam, Assad, Saladin, Ghadaffy and the Ayatollahs.
So why are we wasting our time there? For oil, which we can drill for right here, right now, in the good old US of A.
That's why I'm voting a straight Republican ticket in November.
Actually, they do understand Jefferson- he said every generation needs a revolution.
"That's why I'm voting a straight Republican ticket in November" ???????
uhhh, you had better check your favorite candidates...last I looked, the Repubs (sans RP) were getting itchy trigger fingers to more aggressively intervene. Like or Obama or not, if this is your key issue, you are riding the wrong horse.
Obama will attempt intelligence, restraint, common sense, and accept input from from people in positions to offer informed and useful opinions. He will look for the best possible course and outcome for our nation's interest. Will he get it right in the end? Who knows, and who knows how things will still develop. Get back to me on that. People can inteliigently disagree on policy and approach,
But if you think the Repubs displaying instinctive hard-ons for a flex of Americs military might over there in Syria for purposes unknown to most of the rest of us - good luck with your choice.
If that's the only reason you're voting straight republican than you're not thinking about what's right for America itself. Do your neighbors a favor and stay home..
It will look like the cesspool it already is. Hahahahahaha
Will post-Assad Syria look like Iraq? Fareed where do you come up with this non sense?? When this is all said and done and Assad is still in power I will remember to remind you to eat your humble-pie that was made in Bombay! You don't know what you're talking about.
I challenge Eyal Zisser to give us proofs and to state to us his resources regarding the size of minorities is Syria.
To claim that minorities in Syria are substantial, specifically to claim that the Alawite population in Syria is 10% or more is a lie.
The person who began this lie was Bashar's father the criminal Hafez Assad to intimidate the majority Sunni Syrians and to soften the appearance of the fact that an extreme minority is controlling the vast majority.
According to the Central Bureau of Statistics of Syrian Arab Republic and to the UN Demographic Yearbook 1999 at:
Population in Lattakia province where the majority of Alawites are is 991,000.
More than 600,000 of total population are Sunnis in the cities of Lattakia and it's suburbs and Jableh and the other smaller towns.
Population in Tartoos is 785,000 and most of them are NOT Alawites.
Considering the little number of Christians, and presuming that most of the Alawites exist in Lattakia and Tartoos, and presuming that there are 500,000 Alawites outside the above mentioned provinces, and we know that Syria's population is 21 million:
Alawite's population is then 7 to 7.5%
Druze population:
Sweda province is where the Druze are concentrated.
But: Sweda province population is 365,000 ONLY out of 21,000,000 Syrians.
Finally, the uprising is not against minorities.
The uprising is AGAINST CORRUPTION.
As of today, March 9, 2012, Eyal Zisser have not responded to my challenge to show us a proof of what he claims to be the number of minorities in Syria.
Which means: he has no proof.
And it means that whoever exaggerates minorities in Syria DOES NOT want change in Syria.
If America deso not help the Syrian people, then Al-Qaeda will step in.
It is a shame if we fail to help the Syrian people and leave the field open for Al-Qaeda to win the hearts and minds of the freedom fighters.
This will not be in the best interest of United States' security and it's international status.
Is it a coincidence that the writer of this article which exaggerates the size of minorities to scare the world and Syrians of sectarian violence is a citizen of the Religious State of Israel?
Is it possible that Israelis would rather that Assad stays?
Is it possible that the Israeli Lobby in the US is pressuring policy makers NOT to support the Syrian people?
Not our problem, so why is it a story?
Your count of Syrian Kurds is not accurate ; according to 1958 there were 1.5 million out of 4.5 million Syriana that were Kurds.
I am NOT against the Kords!
I am against lies.
The turmoil in Syria is because of CORRUPTION.
Not because of minorities.
And please whoever writes about statistics, show your sources for credibility's sake.


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New turtle tracking technique may aid efforts to save loggerhead
The old adage "you are what you eat" is helping scientists better understand the threatened loggerhead turtle, which is the primary nester on Central Florida's beaches.
A study published today in the journal PLOS ONE describes how scientists at the University of Central Florida used a technique that links chemical signatures of the turtles' diets and their watery environments to their migratory routes. They found the technique just as effective as expensive satellite tracking.
Little is known about the turtles, which spend 99 percent of their time in the water and return to the Archie Carr National Wildlife Refuge's beach to nest once every two to three years. The 13-mile-long beach is home to the second-largest population of loggerheads in the world and to about one of every four nests those turtles lay in the United States.
While other turtles' nests are increasing along the refuge's shores, the loggerheads' have been declining since 2000. The technique validated by the UCF scientists could help managers preserve the turtles' nesting grounds, migration routes and foraging grounds, all of which are critical to their survival.
"We need good information so policy makers can focus the limited conservation funds available where they can make the greatest impact," said Simona Ceriani, the UCF graduate student who led the study. "We all want our children to see these beautiful creatures and not just read about them in a book."
In addition to validating the tracking technique, the study found that the foraging area for the Florida turtles is much broader than previously thought.
"Think of these turtles as Florida tourists and snowbirds," Ceriani said. "They come and nest and then go back to lots of different places. And while we knew some went back north, we had no idea that this was a popular destination."
Based on her tracking, some turtles head for the water off the shores of Virginia and Delaware while others go to the Bahamas and the Gulf of Mexico. Some stay off the coast of Central Florida's beaches. Previously, scientists believed the majority of the loggerheads headed south.
While there are efforts to protect the turtle nests on the beaches, protecting their foraging grounds is equally important, biologists say. Many turtles die because they accidently get caught in fishing nets or encounter other dangers while out at sea.
The technique Ceriani validated should aid those efforts.
She took small blood samples from turtles at the refuge and completed a chemical analysis, which measured distinct markers known as stable isotopes. She also attached transmitters to the turtles so she could follow them using the more expensive but proven satellite tracking technique. The isotope approach proved to be equally useful, and it is much less expensive.
"By combining isotope research with satellite tracking technology, we are learning exciting information about loggerhead sea turtles," said Daniel R. Evans, a research specialist at the Sea Turtle Conservancy and co-author of the research paper. "This research helps scientists and conservation managers identify key feeding areas for loggerhead turtles and helps direct policy and regulations that protect sea turtles in these specific areas."
Ceriani said she will continue to research the migratory routes by adding more loggerheads to the study.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Carla Bruni Steps Out in Maternity Wear
The French first lady sports maternity wear to a G8 luncheon in France
A picture is worth a thousand words as they say – and the French have been waiting for a month.
On Thursday, France's first lady, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, who is four months pregnant, showed off her baby bump in Deauville.
The 43-year old wife of French President Nicolas Sarkozy hosted a luncheon for wives attending the G8 Summit. During a photo session at the historic Villa Strassburger, the former supermodel wore a white maternity shift and a black wool coat by Chanel Haute Couture, and gestured towards her belly for photographers while posing alongside Svetlana Medvedeva, wife of the Russian president.
She also accepted well wishes and flowers before hosting the luncheon, which raised awareness about illiteracy.
Bruni-Sarkozy's pregnancy was confirmed by her father-in-law, Pal Sarkozy, who told the German newspaper Bild, "I'm certain it will be a girl, and beautiful like Carla."


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LG Optimus S / Optimus U / Optimus V
Info Photos News Forum 55 Reviews
Phone Scoop Review
Oct 26, 2010 by Philip Berne
The LG Optimus S offers Sprint ID and Android 2.2 in a compact, inexpensive touchscreen phone. Does a newer Android OS help keep this phone up to speed? read review ›
User Reviews
Average Ratings
The Mighty Optimus V!
My husband bought me this phone as a get well gift after my motorcycle crash. From that moment on, I NEVER put that device down!
The smooth, responsive, touch screen is the best one I've ever used. It never failed to recognize my touch, and the speed at which is navigated the web, or applications was astounding!
I could run multiple apps at once and never experience any lag or loading issues.
Angry birds works great, Spirit, Zombieville USA, and any social media apps are very fun on this phone.
The 3.2" screen is beautiful, and adds to much more to the experience.
The 3MP camera did a lot more for me than i had expected! I am able to take clear, crisp photos and upload them online for people to gawk at.
The video feature is great a well. Voice quality was good, and the focus was also very accurate to make for a clean, clear video.
With Go Launcher you can download multiple themes, as well as keyboards to really customize the phone.
Bakery Story, and any of the other games work great on it as well!
GPS worked flawlessly and I never lost my way, even when traveling down the entire East Coast!
And I use Sports Tracker on a daily basis when I jog/run and it's very accurate with the GPS feature. I get to log all of my work outs and even sync them online for a later view!
Call quality was great, I never had trouble hearing anyone, and they never had trouble hearing me (and I talk pretty quietly)!
All in all, I rate this phone a 10/10, because even after I upgraded, I went right back to it, and I do not plan on leaving again!
Thanks LG! And thanks Virgin Mobile!
If you do not get this phone, you are really missing out!
Should be called LG Work Horse
After 3 years of visiting PhoneScoop, I finally decided it was time to write my first review. Why? Because the LG Optimus V deserves to be praised.
I don't buy high-end cell phones. Any nice cell phones I have bought were outdated by at least 1 year when I purchased them. Previous phones include Nokia bricks, Nokia 6200, Nokia 6230, Pantech Slate, Blackberry 8830. All were solid, dependable phones.
The LG Optimus V is my first smartphone and does just about everything I'd ever want in a phone, and does it well.
-Weight is perfect. Not too light, not too heavy. Solid.
-Reception is perfect. Virgin is strong in South Florida.
-Can withstand falls from 4ft and some water moisture.
-Physical UI buttons are a plus. And are well placed. You get 4 navigation, 1 camera, 1 voice command, 1 power, 1 volume, 1 microSD slot on the side.
-Call volume and quality are great. Speakerphone is great. Even better with Bluetooth.
-Can tether with USB (PDAnet or EasyTether) or Wifi hotspot (Hotspot Widget). Virgin Mobile + LG Optimus V on 3g network served as my home internet connection for months and months before I ordered DSL.
-Themes are plentiful (Go Launcher iPhone theme my fave)
-The UI is ugly compared to iPhone. Luckily easily solved by installing a theme.
-Only 128mb of RAM
-Occasionally freezes
LG OPTIMUS V IS A BEAST. Best 3G Android in its class.
AD reviews continues below...
Awesome phone!
This phone is awesome. I was at first very skeptical coming from Verizon with the HTC thunderbolt, but I was very surprised. For $25 a month this phone does everything you need it to do. Emails, most apps being free, running on a 3g network, and swype.
-battery life is good for android
-fast enough for what im paying
-hardly any glitches (unlike the thunderbolt)
-smoother and easier to use
-interface is smooth
-very share friendly, gallery is fun and easy, take a picture and share it instantly
-swype is sooo cool.
-reboot time is 20 seconds
-cant install adobe flash
-sometimes internet goes out no biggy
Pretty good little phone
I really like this phone. I wasn't sure about getting it because I have never been a fan of lg but my husband got it and liked it so I decided to get it to.
No major issues with the phone. It freezes sometimes and I just pull my battery and put it back in to resolve the issues. The internal intenna isn't the best but I seem to get good service most of the time. I would recommend this phone to anyone. its my first android phone and I'm loving the android marketplace. great apps :)
Great little phone
After using treos fort years I decided to a different direction since Sprint opted out of the pre and Really don't need all, the extras. My daughter recommended the Optimus S and was I ever impressed. Easy to navigate, functionality is amazing and I still have access to most of what I had with palm. The only downside is getting used to the on screen keyboard which is easily corrected by turning phone sideways and I miss having and alarm that sounds when phone is off. Otherwise this is and amazing phone at and even more amazing price.
You can't be serious because I got it for FREE
I have used HTC EVO, Galaxy 4G etc.. but Optimus S is as good as those or even better for price (don't have to pay extra $10 bucks)
1. First I got it FREE
2. NO activation fee
3. Android 2.2 out of box where many top of the line phone waiting for 2.2 upgrade.
4. Fast no lagging at all
5. Pretty good battery life
6. Perfect size & very responsive touch screen.
7. You can do all the thing that HTC EVO can do.
8. Tons of apps for banking to tethering works without single problem
9. Voice quality is good & ringer is loud.
10. you can watch tv & movies as well for FREE
I need to stop & now cons
1. It is not 4G but 3G on Sprint is great
2. For known SD card issue here is the solution. First format the SD card in computer after that insert into the phone.
3. Some phones have rebooting or shutdown problem (mostly with purple ones)
Better than expected
I've had smartphones from the early PPC600 days, with main negative being poor battery life. I finally settled on the Q9 with extended battery, and then the HTC SNAP; both with 2 days usability. I've been shying away from Android because of the poor battery expectations, but when Virgin Mobile went to the $25 300 minute talk plan and offered this phone, I jumped into it.
I was surprised; first, the phone is fantastic - easy to use, fast and responsive (much faster than a Mogul and the SNAP), the Swype keyboard works great, and generally, no complaints.
Yesterday, though, I rode my bike for 4 hours, using 2 cycling GPS programs, streaming Pandora through bluetooth headphones, taking texts and emails and using Google maps from when I got lost, and at the end, I still had 54% battery left!
Absolutely no complaints or compromises with this phone - camera and music player works as good as any other (the PPC6700 had the best camera)and I even have a movie stored on the SD card to watch.
Highly recommended, get this phone
I can't find a reason not to get this phone.
-Android 2.2 "Froyo" out of the box
-Good battery life
-Good reception
-No notification LED
Get this phone!
Excellent first Android.
I am a former cell phone salesman so I know my phones. I upgraded to this phone last week and I love it.
The Android OS is awesome, very customizable, smooth, and responsive. There is a FREE app for just about everything, if not most are $1.99 or less. I have yet to have to buy one.
I live in a Metro suburb with 3G... The Optimus makes calls where my trusty old Palm Centro and my wife's Sanyo Katana LX could not. In-Call volume is loud and clear. The ringer volume is good, but not as loud or clear as my old Palm Centro. The manual touch dialer is good. However, dialing part of a contact's number does not bring up the option to pick that contact as you would expect and since there is no physical key pad, choosing a contact from a long list requires some practice. Also there is no "phone" button so you may have to press a few "buttons" to make a call if you're not on the dialer screen.
The web browser is good. EVDO Rev A is fast and reliable. You can view mobile web pages and full HTML pages, but there is no Flash support, which isn't a big deal for most people.
LG has come a long, long way since just a few years ago when they were limited to bottom of the stack free phones. This phone is solid. No loose buttons, no sharp edges or mold lines, and nice clear, sharp, bright screen.
This is a smart phone. That said, like most all smart phones the battery is the weak spot... but, I charge my Optimus every night and go to work in the morning. I listen to Pandora streaming radio in the car. Then I use the phone some at work to call/text my drivers, research part availability, and entertain myself at lunch. I end up with around 50-60% battery at 6:30pm. Then, more Pandora, and at home I can browse the web via my WiFi connection, make more calls, use more apps, and play some games and I still have about 20% battery left when I plug it back in around 10:30pm.
In conclusion I highly recommend this phone for a first time Android / touch phone user.
Thanks for reading. :-)
Optimus S Unbelievable Free Phone: Best!!
1. lightning fast menu navigation and app loading
2. good quality pictures and camera
3. free hotspot capability (you need to download a hotspot widget from the Market but it works without adding anything to your rateplan)
4. phone has been rooted and there is a custom recovery available now so you can load custom ROMs, just like the Evo and the Epic
5. battery life very good
6. size perfect: fits in front shirt pocket, nice and thin, and you won't notice it is there (unlike the Epic)
7. the price: it is free at the Shack and was free at Best Buy for Black Friday and online at sprint.com
8. Android 2.2 out of the box
Cons: low on board memory for apps: can be ameliorated by moving apps to SD card (android 2.2 out of the box: another PRO!!)
All in all, I can't believe this phone is free. The day to day experience is as fast as my Evo was. The only thing missing is 4G. Grab this phone!!!


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Galveston to show off strange things found on beaches
A Southeast Texas city plans to show the best of the strange stuff that washes up on its beaches.
Galveston is putting together an exhibit called "All Time Finds: The Best of the Beaches."
Beach lovers have until Sunday to offer sea glass, shell clusters and other odd driftwood found on the shore.
The Galveston County Daily News reports the artifacts will be part of the city's driftwood festival the weekend of April 19. The event will include an April 21 session with various beach experts to estimate the value of objects.
Festival coordinator and artist Bill Davenport of Houston says everyone appreciates beach combing and the amazing things you can find.
Items are being collected at the Galveston Artist Residency.


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Nearly a week after the devastating earthquake, victims who sustained crush injuries and broken limbs are now suffering from rampant secondary infections.
Faced with an overflow of patients and an ongoing shortage of antibiotics, medical teams have few options for saving lives. Amputation is increasingly the only resort, says NBC's Dr. Nancy Synderman, who has been helping to treat patients in Port-au-Prince.
She spoke with msnbc.com about the rush to save lives at a small private hospital in Port-au-Prince.
What is the main concern of medical teams treating quake victims now?
Increasingly, it's been amputate or die. Secondary infections are huge. It's the No. 1 cause of death right now. We've not yet seen cholera or dysentery.
We're seeing so many people with crush injuries and open wounds. And because there isn't the time or the antibiotics to save an infected arm like you might have back home, the decision is, if you can amputate an arm, you can save a life.
We've been at Sacré Coeur, a small private hospital that has been turned into a trauma center. On Monday, they estimated they were going to amputate the arms or legs of up to 70 people.
Whether it's babies or the middle-aged, they are tagging people for these operations right and left. Because so many Haitians don't have medical records, a doctor we followed, Dr. Julie Manley from Raleigh, N.C., was walking around with a pad of paper and writing down what patients needed and taping it to their chest.
We watched a young girl, probably about 5, with a severe injury to her right leg. Dr. Manley said to her mother, she needs to have her right leg amputated and the mother said, no, that she would rather that she die. The little girl could hear the interpretation about her leg in French and she started crying with great anguish, "mama, mama, mama." The doctor had to instruct the mom to hold her daughter's hand and not leave her. The little girl is going to die if she doesn't have her leg cut off.
In a country where survival is so tough, for an amputee, it's nearly impossible. Its raises the question of what's going to happen? There are no prosthetics for a country that may soon be a country of orphans and amputees.
I saw babies whose skulls had been cracked open like watermelons. The best doctors could do is put a wrap around their heads and cover them and leave them to die.
The job right now is to treat the minimally wounded and get them on their way so they don't take up valuable space. Doctors have to take the people who are dying and humanely put them on the periphery and cover them to keep the flies off. Then you have to take care of those people where you think you can make a difference.
Are medical supplies arriving?
The good news is, there are jets with medical supplies landing at the airport from countries all over the world. The bad news is, there is a phenomenal breakdown in communication. The Airforce has secured the airport. The marines are here. The 82nd Airborne is providing relief supplies. But the roads are bad. Electricity is out. Phones don't work. Communication is rudimentary. There's a huge distribution bottleneck at the airport. (Watch NBC's Nightly News on Tuesday for Lester Holt's report on this.)
Many non-governmental organizations, including Doctors without Borders, have said they're 24 hours from running out of supplies. The private hospital Sacré Coeur said they're holding on by the skin of their teeth.
What has most surprised you about the medical situation?
I would have thought that a week after the earthquake that the triage part would have been over. If anything, what we're seeing is an escalation of injuries because people who didn't die right away and were in shock for the first days, either didn't or couldn't make it to a hospital. Now they're wandering in.
What are the critical issues over the next few days?
Getting the infection rate down. Its still going to be about amputations for the next two or three days.
They desperately need orthopedic surgeons and nurses. There are not enough doctors to fix bones. There's a real nursing shortage. I'm a surgeon but I don't know how to fix a complicated arm fracture other than put it in cardboard and stabilize it. That's what I've been doing for the past 72 hours.
Doctors and nurses are charging forward with big hearts and very busy hands. They are all worn out. A doctor I spoke to worked 23 hours and then snuck out to the courtyard to sleep with the ill and dying.
I don't think there is a break in sight for the medical volunteers. The doctors are very careful to say that the Haitian physicians who were first on the scene did extraordinary jobs and the best they could. When I first arrived on Saturday I didn't see any Haitian doctors, but that's because they had been working four days with no rest. The other doctors had sent them home so they could get some rest. Video: Up to 70 amputations a day in Haiti
I had asked one of the Haitian physicians, do you feel like foreign doctors have come into your country and pushed you aside? He said, no, not at all, medicine is a universal language.
Then, the challenge will be rebuilding orphanages for all these children left homeless.
One of the saddest images I've seen is a boy, about 14-years-old, leaning against a car with knapsack on his back. He said, "my whole family's dead, I don't know where to go." The sun was setting and he was lost in the world.
© 2013 NBCNews.com Reprints


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Rice University scientists have unveiled a revolutionary new technology that uses nanoparticles to convert solar energy directly into steam. The new "solar steam" method from Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics is so effective it can even produce steam from icy cold water. Details of the solar steam method were published online today in ACS Nano. The technology's inventors said they expect it will first be used in sanitation and water-purification applications in the developing world.
EDITORS ― Links for video and high-resolution images are included at the end of the news release.
Jeff Falk
Mike Williams
Rice unveils super-efficient solar-energy technology
'Solar steam' so effective it can make steam from icy cold water
HOUSTON — (Nov. 19, 2012) — Rice University scientists have unveiled a revolutionary new technology that uses nanoparticles to convert solar energy directly into steam. The new "solar steam" method from Rice's Laboratory for Nanophotonics (LANP) is so effective it can even produce steam from icy cold water.
Details of the solar steam method were published online today in ACS Nano. The technology has an overall energy efficiency of 24 percent. Photovoltaic solar panels, by comparison, typically have an overall energy efficiency around 15 percent. However, the inventors of solar steam said they expect the first uses of the new technology will not be for electricity generation but rather for sanitation and water purification in developing countries.
"This is about a lot more than electricity," said LANP Director Naomi Halas, the lead scientist on the project. "With this technology, we are beginning to think about solar thermal power in a completely different way."
The efficiency of solar steam is due to the light-capturing nanoparticles that convert sunlight into heat. When submerged in water and exposed to sunlight, the particles heat up so quickly they instantly vaporize water and create steam. Halas said the solar steam's overall energy efficiency can probably be increased as the technology is refined.
"We're going from heating water on the macro scale to heating it at the nanoscale," Halas said. "Our particles are very small — even smaller than a wavelength of light — which means they have an extremely small surface area to dissipate heat. This intense heating allows us to generate steam locally, right at the surface of the particle, and the idea of generating steam locally is really counterintuitive."
To show just how counterintuitive, Rice graduate student Oara Neumann videotaped a solar steam demonstration in which a test tube of water containing light-activated nanoparticles was submerged into a bath of ice water. Using a lens to concentrate sunlight onto the near-freezing mixture in the tube, Neumann showed she could create steam from nearly frozen water.
Steam is one of the world's most-used industrial fluids. About 90 percent of electricity is produced from steam, and steam is also used to sterilize medical waste and surgical instruments, to prepare food and to purify water.
Most industrial steam is produced in large boilers, and Halas said solar steam's efficiency could allow steam to become economical on a much smaller scale.
People in developing countries will be among the first to see the benefits of solar steam. Rice engineering undergraduates have already created a solar steam-powered autoclave that's capable of sterilizing medical and dental instruments at clinics that lack electricity. Halas also won a Grand Challenges grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to create an ultra-small-scale system for treating human waste in areas without sewer systems or electricity.
"Solar steam is remarkable because of its efficiency," said Neumann, the lead co-author on the paper. "It does not require acres of mirrors or solar panels. In fact, the footprint can be very small. For example, the light window in our demonstration autoclave was just a few square centimeters."
Another potential use could be in powering hybrid air-conditioning and heating systems that run off of sunlight during the day and electricity at night. Halas, Neumann and colleagues have also conducted distillation experiments and found that solar steam is about two-and-a-half times more efficient than existing distillation columns.
Halas, the Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering, professor of physics, professor of chemistry and professor of biomedical engineering, is one of the world's most-cited chemists. Her lab specializes in creating and studying light-activated particles. One of her creations, gold nanoshells, is the subject of several clinical trials for cancer treatment.
For the cancer treatment technology and many other applications, Halas' team chooses particles that interact with just a few wavelengths of light. For the solar steam project, Halas and Neumann set out to design a particle that would interact with the widest possible spectrum of sunlight energy. Their new nanoparticles are activated by both visible sunlight and shorter wavelengths that humans cannot see.
"We're not changing any of the laws of thermodynamics," Halas said. "We're just boiling water in a radically different way."
Paper co-authors include Jared Day, graduate student; Alexander Urban, postdoctoral researcher; Surbhi Lal, research scientist and LANP executive director; and Peter Nordlander, professor of physics and astronomy and of electrical and computer engineering. The research was supported by the Welch Foundation and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
VIDEO is available at:
A copy of the ACS Nano paper is available at:
High-resolution images are available for download:
New solar steam technology developed at Rice University uses nanoparticles so effective at turning sunlight into heat that it can produce steam from icy-cold water. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
The solar steam device developed at Rice University has an overall energy efficiency of 24 percent, far surpassing that of photovoltaic solar panels. It may first be used in sanitation and water-purification applications in the developing world. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Rice University graduate student Oara Neumann and scientist Naomi Halas are co-authors of new research on a highly efficient method of turning sunlight into heat. They expect their technology to have an initial impact as an ultra-small-scale system to treat human waste in developing nations without sewer systems or electricity. (Credit: Jeff Fitlow/Rice University)
Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews
Located on a 300-acre forested campus in Houston, Rice University is consistently ranked among the nation's top 20 universities by U.S. News & World Report. Rice has highly respected schools of Architecture, Business, Continuing Studies, Engineering, Humanities, Music, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences and is home to the Baker Institute for Public Policy. With 3,708 undergraduates and 2,374 graduate students, Rice's undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio is 6-to-1. Its residential college system builds close-knit communities and lifelong friendships, just one reason why Rice has been ranked No. 1 for best quality of life multiple times by the Princeton Review and No. 2 for "best value" among private universities by Kiplinger's Personal Finance. To read "What they're saying about Rice," go to http://tinyurl.com/AboutRice.


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It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas!...
Merry Christmas (or at least that how it currently feels on our diningroom table!) For the sake of striving to be 'somewhat' organized, I have my Christmas papers/scraps/& misc embellishments organized in 3 baskets, sorted by color, partly by theme, as follows... 1. blues/silver/black/white/pink/purple/winter/New Year's
2. reds/browns/Santa/gingerbreadmen
3. greens/holly/Christmas trees
4. basic supplies (ATG, scissors, gluesticks, writing pens)
Note: *50* is such an intimidating number. This is my 3rd year participating in the 50/50 Christmas Card Challenge (50 cards in 50 days). Tips...
- I think working in groups of 3 is helpful. (3 at a time, apparantly must be my limit!) lol.
- Being organized (optional, but certainly can prove helpful!)
- Setting up a 'Card-Making Workshop' table (if children, pets or space allow!)
- Digging into your stash at hand (time-saver + cost-effective)
- Starting simple, embellishing later!
- Having envelopes onhand.
- Lastly, don't forget to stock up on plently of adhesive! Nothing slows the card-making process down quicker than not having enough (or any) adhesive onhand! Hope This Helps!
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Epidemiological studies demonstrate that diseases of the central nervous system such as Alzheimer, Parkinson and schizophrenia protect against cancer. The most remarkable example is Alzheimer's disease, which can reduce the risk of suffering from cancer by up to 50%. Various theories have been put forward in an attempt to explain this relationship between diseases at a first glance seem to be so different from the pharmacological, genetic and environmental perspectives. However, the available results were not consistent enough to confirm these models.
Alfonso Valencia, researcher and Vicedirector of Basic Research at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre (CNIO), today publishes the first evidence of a molecular relationship between cancer and central nervous system diseases in the journal PLOS Genetics. Specifically, the work identifies almost a hundred genes which could explain this relationship.
"We had previously published that several diseases of the brain and nervous system, particularly those which have a neurodegenerative component, are associated with a lower risk of cancer. We refer to this epidemiological evidence as inverse comorbidity," explained Valencia, and added: "In spite of the evidence, we did not have the molecular details which could explain this protective effect, in other words, which genes could be behind this behaviour."
To look further into this paradoxical relationship, the authors of the study used bioinformatic analysis to compare data on the genetic expression of nearly 1,700 people from over 30 studies on diseases in the central nervous system (Alzheimer, Parkinson and schizophrenia) and cancer (colon, lung and prostate cancer)
The results show that almost a hundred genes could be behind the relationship between these diseases: 74 genes which were less active in nervous system diseases were found to be more active in cancer; on the other hand, 19 genes which were more active in nervous system diseases were found to be less active in cancer
"It is precisely these genes which are inversely activated which could explain the lower risk of cancer in patients with nervous system diseases," said the authors of the study.
César Boullosa and Kristina Ibáñez, predoctoral researchers in Valencia's lab, highlighted that "up to 90% of biological processes which appear a greater presence in cancer have a reduced presence in the nervous system diseases analysed."
This data demonstrates that the "global regulation of cell activity could have a protective effect from diseases with inverse comorbidity," concluded the article.
"At the beginning of the project we did not really expect to get statistically significant results, so it was it came as a great surprise to find a clear genetic correlation between these two types of disease," admitted Valencia, who explains that it is "the first time that a molecular relationship between these diseases has systematically been found."
Among the genes identified in the study is PIN1, previously found to be related to both Alzheimer's disease and cancer, as well as genes involved in p53 and Wnt signalling pathways. The study has also identified genes related to crucial biological processes for life such as cell metabolism and communication between cells and their external environment.
The researchers propose that this genetic association amongst illnesses could open the door to the use of antineoplastic drugs to treat some nervous system diseases, as well as the other way round. One example of this practice is bexarotene, an antineoplastic agent that has already displayed beneficial effects for treating Alzheimer's Disease in mice.
The study represents an example of the new possibilities genomics and bioinformatics can offer in a comprehensive approach to complex diseases such as cancer or nervous system disorders.
The study has been conducted in collaboration with the psychiatrist Rafael Tabarés-Seisdedos, from the University of Valencia and the Center for Biomedical Research in Mental Health (CIBERSAM), and computational biologist Anaïs Baudot, from the CNRS in Marseille, France. It has been funded by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and "La Caixa" Foundation.


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Jessica Biel At Variety Power Of Women Event With Jennifer Garner
Jessica Biel Catches Up With Pal Jennifer Garner at Variety's Bash
Jessica Biel spent her afternoon at the Beverly Wilshire Four Seasons Hotel for Variety's fourth annual Power of Women event. She was one of five movie-industry honourees being acknowledged at the luncheon. Jessica's work advocating for access to clean water earned her the accolades. She's long been active in bringing attention to the plight of people without access to drinkable water. She told Variety, "It's a basic, human need, desire and right to be able to live and grow up and raise your children and your family in a place that provides clean water, and it's astronomical the amount of people who don't have access to that in a convenient way. That's why it's important to me." At the event, Jessica was able to catch up with her Valentine's Day co-star and pal Jennifer Garner. Jessica took a photo of herself with Jen, captioning the image, "I'm the best at taking self pics! But seriously, how beautiful is Jen?"


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FanCave.com & Fan Cave Retail Store offer a no hassle return policy if you are not 100% satisfied with your purchase within 90 days of the sale date.


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Britney ready for Vegas in a show rated 'R' for racy
Britney Spears is ready for Las Vegas.
At least that's where she can go if her current career path fails to take her successfully from teen pop queen to adult star.
Make that a very adult star.
Her current Onyx Hotel Tour, which visited KeyArena last night for a 90-minute screamfest, was a throbbing, special-effects extravaganza loaded with songs from her current, Madonna-inspired dance-pop album, "In the Zone." Skimpy, Victoria's Secret-style outfits and racy choreography ruled the night. The Vampress was in top form.
Spears' new album isn't selling nearly as well as her debut, " ... Baby One More Time," which racked up more than 13 million in sales. But at 2 million, "In the Zone," her fourth album, isn't doing badly at all. None of this seems to bother Spears' fans, who packed KeyArena for her first local concert in two years.
Despite what adults may think of Britney and her vampish new image, concertgoers -- slightly older and more grown-up than at previous Spears concerts -- weren't short of enthusiasm for the star's latest local appearance. This was a colorful and thoroughly entertaining show, though it should have come with an R rating.
Spears huffed and puffed during her dance moves, but never seemed winded when she sang. Only her production team knows how much she really sang. But it really didn't matter to fans, who came for the dancing and the theatrics as much as the music.
The Onyx Hotel theme referred to a whimsical hotel where "dreams are realized and the darkest of secrets are revealed." The master of ceremonies, sporting a purple top hat and purple cape, looked like a character from Cirque du Soleil or "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Bare-chested bellboys pushed brass-plated luggage carts and engaged in quasi-coital poses with female dancers during a flashy rendition of "Boys." Three overhead video screens captured the action.
Spears entered the stage at 9 p.m., first appearing Oz-like on a large video screen, then rolling out in person atop an cartoonish-looking hotel bus for the throbbing opener, "Toxic," from her new album. She was surrounded by dancers in costume as she cavorted through a set of athletic, tightly choreographed dance moves. Towering around her were columns of LED lighting, suggesting the façade of a glitzy hotel on the Vegas Strip.
Remixed versions of "Overprotected" and "Boys" dominated the first 15 minutes of the show. "Showdown," featuring rainbow-colored lighting effects, was the second in a string of songs from the new album, which provided most of the set list.
For her older hits, Spears tried a loungy, cabaret approach. Dancers sipped martinis at a table while Britney strutted in a skimpy lingerie/cocktail outfit for " ... Baby One More Time." In a jazz-remix version of "Oops! ... I Did It Again," she sang into a vintage microphone.
During "(You Drive Me) Crazy," Spears teased the men in the female-dominated audience with a reference to her recent quickie wedding to Jason Allen Alexander, a union that was soon annulled. "If you're really lucky, I might marry you," she said.
Spears slowed things down for the reflective ballad, "Everytime." "Never take one day for granted," she told the crowd, "and be a good person at the end of the day." It was one of the few moments in the show in which Spears made a heartfelt comment, though she is likely repeating it in every other city on the tour. She appeared to play a leaf-covered piano, whose keyboard was obscured from view. When she got up, the piano continued to play.
The 90-minute set continued with two of the sexiest songs from her new album, "Touch of My Hand" (which featured Spears in a see-through bathtub) and "Breathe On Me." The two songs were easily the raciest in the oversexed show.
Spears concluded her set with the rhythmic "(I Got That) Boom Boom" and returned for a single-song encore of "Me Against the Music," the hit song from "In the Zone" that she recorded with mentor Madonna. Spears was dressed entirely in red during the confetti-showered finale.
Opening act was singer Skye Sweetnam, a newcomer who came across as a punkish, upstart Avril Lavigne. Her set featured four songs from her upcoming album, "Noise From the Basement," among them "Number One" and a rough version of Blondie's "Heart of Glass."
Middle act Kelis, backed by a band and DJ, concluded her vigorous, 30-minute set with the sexy R&B hit, "Milkshake."


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The Northern California Coast Region offers spectacular views along rugged shoreline and pounding surf, and through ancient redwood forests and native oak groves. The great Russian River flashes down through the coastal mountains of Mendocino into northern Sonoma County, makes a turn west near the town of Healdsburg and heads for the Pacific Ocean. As if these natural wonders weren't enough, the rolling hills, terraced mountainsides and straw-colored valleys carpeted with verdant grapevines entice the visitor at every turn.
While the vineyards and wines of the North Coast are recognized worldwide for their quality and diversity, the region is also renowned for the rich bounty produced by local farms and ranches, as well as the natural gifts of the ocean. Within each of the individual districts in this fertile region visitors may sample abundant local produce, hand-made cheeses, olive oils, meats and fresh fish.
This majestic region is home to the North Coast American Viticultural Area (AVA), approximately 100 miles long and 50 miles wide, comprising Napa, Sonoma, Mendocino and Lake counties, and portions of Marin and Solano counties. Just a leisurely and scenic day's drive from San Francisco, this winemaking mecca since the mid-19th century is home to about 800 wineries, roughly one-third of the total wineries in the state.
Central California Coast
The Central California Coast Region begins at San Francisco Bay, encompasses Livermore Valley and Contra Costa and Alameda counties to the east, and runs down the California coast via Monterey to Santa Barbara. The six-hour meandering drive down El Camino Real or the "royal road," as early Franciscan monks called California Highway 101, is one of the best ways to experience many of California's most appealing features: rolling golden hills and valleys patchwork-quilted with dark green coastal scrub, native oak groves and stands of madrone, and glimpses of blue water, surging waves and towering cliffs.
The Central Coast American Viticultural Area (AVA) hugs roughly 250 miles of coastline, totaling some 6.8 million acres, of which nearly 100,000 are planted to vines that produce approximately 12 percent of the state's total wine grapes. More than 600 bonded wineries lie tucked away in the numerous and diverse sub-appellations with the region: Livermore Valley, the Santa Cruz Mountains, Monterey County, Santa Clara Valley, Paso Robles, San Luis Obispo County, San Benito County and Santa Barbara County.
In addition to the world-class wineries and vineyards, this region is also home to the Salinas Valley, recognized as one of the most fertile farming areas in the U.S. Attractions include Pebble Beach Golf Course on the Monterey Peninsula, the rugged coastline of Big Sur and Hearst Castle in San Simeon. Click on our event planner for a memorable visit to this storied region!
Sacramento/San Joaquin Valleys
California's great interior valley is actually two, the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, nestled between the coastal mountain range and the Sierra Nevada. When joined, they stretch nearly 400 miles, from Shasta County in the north to Kern County in the south, merging at the Sacramento/San Joaquin River Delta.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys are California's market basket, where agriculture and politics share equally important roles. Sacramento is home to the California State Capital and the California State Fair, and the valley supports a variety of economy-driven crops such as rice, olives, walnuts and almonds. The San Joaquin Valley also grows a host of agricultural products such as cotton, grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts.
The Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys comprise the state's center of agriculture and yield the majority of its winegrapes. While these two regions are not designated American Vineyard Areas (AVAs), they produce more than 71 percent of the state's wine grapes and include 16 AVAs - Alta Mesa, Borden Ranch, Capay Valley, Clarksburg, Clement Hills, Consumnes River, Diablo Grande, Dunnigan Hills, Jahant, Lodi, Madera, Merritt Island, Mokelulmne River, River Junction, Salado Creek and Sloughhouse.
Sierra Nevada
The Sierra Nevada region is known for its rough-and-ready pioneering spirit and winemaking tradition that dates back to the mid-1800s Gold Rush days. Nearly 180 wineries nestle in the nooks and crannies of these foothills, with vineyards that lie between 1,500 to 3,000 feet.
The Sierra Foothills American Viticultural Area was established in 1987. It stretches from Yuba County in the north to Mariposa County in the south, along the western portion of the Sierra Nevada, with Amador, El Dorado and Calaveras in the center. It encompasses five other AVAs: California Shenandoah Valley, El Dorado, Fair Play, Fiddletown and North Yuba. Major wine varieties include: Zinfandel, Cabernet Sauvignon, Syrah, Chardonnay, Merlot and Barbera. The area has decomposed granite soils, formed over centuries by mountain erosion which forces the vines to put down deep roots for nutrients and water. The resulting wines have dense, ripe fruit and plentiful structure.
Southern California
The Southern California Region extends from Ventura County, north of Los Angeles, to the southern border of California below San Diego. While the region may be better known for its beaches, theme parks and the entertainment industry, it's also the birthplace of California winemaking. In 1769, Father Junipero Serra planted wine grapes at Mission San Diego de Alcala. Today, visitors can explore the landmarks of Hollywood, the magic of Disneyland, and the adventure of the San Diego Zoo -- all while enjoying the fruits of the region's vineyards.
Commercial winemaking boomed in Southern California in the early 1900s, until Prohibition and development forced the closure of many wineries and the removal of vines. Yet winemaking still thrives in small pockets of Southern California, in the counties of Ventura, Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino and San Diego.
Generally, breezes from the Pacific Ocean moderate the warmth of sunny Southern California, creating a climate conducive to growing a wide range of grapes, including the classic Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot and Cabernet Sauvignon varieties, and "new-wave" Rhône, Italian and Spanish varieties.
The Southern California region is home to more than 150 wineries, spread throughout the Temecula Valley, Cucamonga Valley, Ramona Valley, San Pasqual Valley, Saddle Rock-Malibu, Malibu-Newton Canyon and Ventura County.
Other California
In the northern reaches of California are three American Viticultural Areas (AVAs)—the Willow Creek AVA in Humboldt County, the Seiad Valley AVA in Siskiyou County and the Trinity Lakes AVA in Trinity County. Wineries in the towering mountains of these AVAs plant many early maturing grape varieties that are ideally suited to the high elevation and cool microclimate of the area. Visitors can find Chardonnay, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Gewurztraminer and more
Easkoot Chileno Valley Vineyard Marin County Pinot Noir 2015
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Easkoot Esther Frances Vin Gris of Carignan 2018
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Easkoot Patience Chardonnay 2017$36.50
Easkoot Scuttlebutt Chardonnay 2015
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Easkoot Scuttlebutt Chardonnay 2016
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Easkoot Suacci Vineyard Pinot Noir 2015$44.50
Out of stock
Easkoot Temperance Rose 2018$22.50
Easkoot Temperance Rose Pinot Noir 2017
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Foggy Bottom Amelia Rose 2017
Regular Price: $17.25
Loose-Ends Sale $7.50
Foggy Bottom Amelia Rose 2018$17.25
Foggy Bottom Pinot Noir 2018$23.50
Foggy Bottom Sonoma Coast Chardonnay 2018$19.50
Foggy Bottom Willow Camp Cabernet Franc 2017
Regular Price: $19.50
Loose-Ends Sale $13.99


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OKLAHOMA CITY — The Amateur Softball Association (ASA) of America and USA Softball announced today the top ten finalists for the 2013 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year, which will be announced at the opening of the 2013 NCAA Women's College World Series (WCWS) in Oklahoma City. This award, which is considered the most prestigious honor in Division I women's softball, is designed to recognize outstanding athletic achievement by female collegiate softball players across the country.
Now in its 12th year , previous recipients of the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award are UCLA catcher Stacey Nuveman (2002), Texas pitcher Cat Osterman (2003, 2005 and 2006), Florida State pitcher Jessica Van der Linden (2004), Tennessee pitcher Monica Abbott (2007), Virginia Tech pitcher Angela Tincher (2008), Washington pitcher Danielle Lawrie (2009 and 2010), Stanford shortstop Ashley Hansen (2011). Oklahoma Pitcher Keilani Ricketts, who took home the award in 2012, is looking to be just the third player to win multiple Player of the Year honors.
This year's finalists are comprised of seven seniors, two sophomores, and one freshman. The student-athletes selected represent seven NCAA Division I universities and five athletic conferences. Oklahoma leads the way among universities with three athlete representatives.
The three finalists selected from this list will be announced May 22, while the winner of the 2013 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Award will be revealed on May 28 prior to the start of the NCAA WCWS in Oklahoma City.
The USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award is voted on by coaching representatives from 11 Division I Conferences in the 15 ASA Regions as well as members of the media who consistently cover Division I Softball across the country, and previous Player of the Year recipients.
Click here to see the 2013 USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year Finalists
In addition to bestowing the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Year award, ASA/USA Softball is now in its 11th season of presenting the ESPN.com/USA Softball Collegiate Top 25 Poll and the USA Softball Collegiate Player of the Week, which are announced Tuesdays during the regular season.
***courtesy of ASA/USA Softball


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Fully 50 percent of the '10 Corvettes purchased were Grand Sports, and the number is likely to be comparable for the '11 model. Most of these new owners pamper their cars with frequent cleaning and do their best to keep the mileage low. That makes sense, since one of the first things a prospective used-Corvette buyer looks at is mileage. The more clicks on the odometer, the lower the value of the car.
Callaway Cars (www.callawaycars.com) decided to test this theory when it purchased a 3LT-equipped '10 Grand Sport on July 9, 2009. The company's specific purpose for buying the car was to perform long-term durability testing on its products. Callaway technicians began by adding the SC606 package ($21,395), which included an Eaton TVS2300 supercharger with a liquid-to-air intercooler, high-flow injectors, and upgrades to the fuel system. A Callaway "Honker" air intake and "Double D" stainless exhaust were also installed. The package was completed with a carbon-fiber hood bulge, embroidered Callaway floor and trunk mats, anodized doorsill panels, an SC606 dash plaque, an underhood plaque with specific VIN, and Callaway emblems for the fenders and rear fascia.
On September 22, 2009, Callaway handed the car over to Corvette Program Manager Chris Chessnoe. The plan was for Chessnoe to drive the GS to dealerships around the country (and beyond) in an effort to expand Callaway's distribution network. It must have worked, because the company now has 29 North American dealers--27 in the U.S. and two in Canada. Customers can order and take delivery of their new Callaway vehicles directly through this dealer network.
During 2010 a short-throw shifter ($490) and a Callaway/Eibach suspension system ($5,790) were added to the test car. Callaway also installed a prototype brake package for durability testing. By the end of 2010, the car had accumulated more than 60,000 miles with no reported problems.
In January, Team VETTE visited with Chessnoe at the NCRS Winter meet in Orlando, where he and Clearwater-based Callaway dealer Dimmitt Chevrolet were doing a sales promotion. We asked if we could borrow the GS, to evaluate how it was standing up to the strain of constant heavy use. He agreed, with one condition: "Rack up the miles." No problem! We arranged to pick up the car at the 2011 National Corvette Museum Birthday Bash.
When Chessnoe handed us the keys in Bowling Green, the car showed 77,500 miles on the clock. Clearly he had been busy since our Orlando meeting. The GS was now equipped with Callaway/OZ Black Chrome wheels with Michelin 19/20 Pilot Sport 2 Zero Pressure tires ($6,150). It also had a prototype carbon-fiber spoiler and rocker moldings, which might become available as a future option. The new additions were a nice touch to the looks of this already striking car.
Before we started our journey, we gave the Callaway a close inspection. It was hard to believe it had accumulated so many miles. The paint showed a few rock nicks on the front, but nothing major, and the rest of the finish looked new. The seats didn't show wear, nor did the steering wheel or cargo compartment.
During our first drive, we found that the car was tight except for some creaks in the removable roof panel. The six-speed manual transmission and short-throw shifter were rattle free and allowed for extremely quick, precise shifting. On a back road with no traffic, we hammered it through the gears. The 606hp engine pulled strongly to the redline, with no lag or flat spots. We drove a similar Callaway on the German Autobahn a few years ago, and it easily hit 200 mph. The handling was precise and capable in any type of corner. In short, the high mileage did not seem to have affected the car's performance in the least. We departed Bowling Green and headed to our first stop in Knoxville, Tennessee, where we had arranged to spend the night with a fellow Corvette enthusiast.
Retired GM Performance Division director John Heinricy hitched a ride with us to the Nashville airport, since it was on our route. Heinricy is an accomplished engineer and a multi-time SCCA National Championship winner, so we traded seats on one leg of the drive to get his opinion of the car. He really liked the prototype binders, calling them "Autobahn Brakes." Heinricy is certainly qualified to apply the moniker, since he has tested plenty of cars on the German high-speed road (not to mention the Nürburgring).
After we dropped Heinricy off, we had a chance to corroborate his brake assessment. The pedal provides instant response when pressure is applied, and stops are quick and smooth, with no drama or fade. This package has since become available as the Le Mans GT Brake System, and we'd consider it a must-have addition to any new Callaway Vette.
After Knoxville we headed to Chattanooga, to visit the owner of our former C5 project car, the Pewter Rocket. The old car still sounded strong and looked good sitting next to the Callaway.
Back on the highway the GS just loafed along in Sixth gear, with the tach hovering around 1,800 rpm. One push on the throttle, however, provided an instant reminder of the monster residing under the hood. After a few stops along the way, we arrived at our headquarters in Tampa, where Editor Heath got his turn behind the wheel. He was similarly impressed with how tight, quick, and pleasant to drive this high-mileage car was.
We then journeyed to Key West, and, 14 days and 3,000 miles later, we handed the key fob back to Chessnoe in Bowling Green. The car used no oil during its stay with us, and no cabin leaks could be discerned during a heavy rainstorm. We think the 606-horse GS still has a lot of good miles left in it.
Callaway's goal was to reach 100,000 miles at the 2011 Corvettes at Carlisle show, and it hit this target easily. As of this writing, the car shows more than 120,000 miles and is still going strong. In conclusion, don't worry about racking up the miles on your Callaway Corvette; it's designed to handle it. What else would you expect from a company that builds "Powerfully Engineered Automobiles"?


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Register now - it's free and private.
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STATE disability ministers have criticised the lack of flexibility in draft federal legislation to establish a National Disability Insurance Scheme ahead of its planned introduction to parliament next week.
Federal Families Minister Jenny Macklin is likely to present the bill, which is yet to be publicly released, in the lower house during the year's final sitting week before the summer break.
NSW Disability Minister Andrew Constance on Wednesday warned the bill reflects Ms Macklin's failure to "consult widely and broadly" and as a result the disability sector may be disappointed.
Mr Constance also said Labor had "put a timeframe on this to suit their election timetable" and described the draft bill as "overly bureaucratic".
"There's been a lack of engagement and consultation by Jenny Macklin with the disability sector," Mr Constance told AAP on Wednesday.
"I haven't seen anything that gives me comfort."
Mr Constance said the bill had been drafted in the "prism of a social security bill", creating a lack of flexibility.
"It will potentially risk some of the fundamental outcomes of having a national scheme in place, such as people's ability to have choice and control when it comes to development of their own plan," he added.
"The sector doesn't want to see a prescriptive bill."
West Australian Disability Minister Helen Morton and South Australia's Ian Hunter echoed Mr Constance's concerns.
"It is clear this legislation is based on a social security model and that if left unchanged will lead this state towards a Centrelink-type approach to disability services," Mrs Morton said.
"This would take WA backwards to a rigid, compliance-based system and undermine the progress we are making to give people choice and control over services."
Mr Hunter said while he was pleased there had been significant changes to the draft laws he had raised concerns with Ms Macklin over its "overly prescriptive nature".
"I will continue to lobby for a greater emphasis on choice and flexibility for people with disability," he said.
A parliamentary committee will examine the draft legislation and feedback will be sought from people with disabilities, their families, carers and disability workers.
The NDIS is expected to cost around $15 billion a year to run when fully implemented in 2018/19.
The Labor government has set aside $1 billion to fund five launch sites around the nation from mid-2013, but future funding commitments fall outside the four-year budget estimates period.
Last month Ms Macklin hinted at extra money in the next year's federal budget for the national roll-out.
Mr Constance also said the states were yet to hear what input they would have on appointments to the board that will govern the NDIS.
"We need to see more details around the planning processes associated with the individual," he said.
A spokeswoman for Ms Macklin maintained the bill had been developed in consultation with people with disabilities, their families and their carers.
"The NDIS will give people with disability, their families and carers more choice and control over their lives, and the legislation reflects this," she said.
Originally published asStates react to federal NDIS draft bill


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124 S Main Street
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The city of Scottville is located in Mason County, Michigan. It has a population of about 1,200 people. The community is in Western Michigan, not far from the Lake Michigan shoreline.Learn More
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In this tutorial we will be creating a simple web-based chat application with PHP and jQuery. This sort of utility would be perfect for a live support system for your website.
If you're looking for a ready-made app, script, or plugin, you can take a look at one of the many Chat Scripts available on CodeCanyon. Or you could hire an experienced app developer to help you.
Otherwise, learn how to build one yourself in this tutorial.
The chat application we will be building today will be quite simple. It will include a login and logout system, AJAX-style features, and will also offer support for multiple users.
Step 1 : HTML Markup
We will start this tutorial by creating our first file called index.php.
<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "https://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">   <title>Chat - Customer Module</title> <link type="text/css" rel="stylesheet" href="style.css" />

Welcome,

Exit Chat

 <form name="message" action=""> <input name="usermsg" type="text" id="usermsg" size="63" /> <input name="submitmsg" type="submit" id="submitmsg" value="Send" /> </form>

- We start our html with the usual DOCTYPE, html, head, and body tags. In the head tag, we add our title, and link to our css stylesheet (style.css).
- Inside the body tag, we structure our layout inside the #wrapper div. We will have three main blocks: a simple Menu, our chatbox, and our message input; each with its respective div and id.
- The #menu div will consist of two paragraph elements. The first will be a welcome to the user and will float left and the second will be an exit link and will float right. We also include a div to clear the elements.
- The #chatbox div will contain our chatlog. We will load our log from an external file using jQuery's ajax request.
- The last item in our #wrapper div will be our form, which will include an text input for the user message and a submit button.
- We add our scripts last to load the page faster. We will first link to the Google jQuery CDN, as we will be using the jQuery library for this tutorial. Our second script tag will be where we will be working on. We will load all of our code after the document is ready.
Step 2 : CSS Styling
We will now add some css to make our chat application look better than with the default browser styling. The code below will be added to our style.css file.
/* CSS Document */ body { font:12px arial; color: #222; text-align:center; padding:35px; } form, p, span { margin:0; padding:0; } input { font:12px arial; } a { color:#0000FF; text-decoration:none; } a:hover { text-decoration:underline; } #wrapper, #loginform { margin:0 auto; padding-bottom:25px; background:#EBF4FB; width:504px; border:1px solid #ACD8F0; } #loginform { padding-top:18px; } #loginform p { margin: 5px; } #chatbox { text-align:left; margin:0 auto; margin-bottom:25px; padding:10px; background:#fff; height:270px; width:430px; border:1px solid #ACD8F0; overflow:auto; } #usermsg { width:395px; border:1px solid #ACD8F0; } #submit { width: 60px; } .error { color: #ff0000; } #menu { padding:12.5px 25px 12.5px 25px; } .welcome { float:left; } .logout { float:right; } .msgln { margin:0 0 2px 0; }
There's nothing special about the above css other than the fact that some id's or classes, which we have set a style for, will be added a bit later.
As you can see above, we are finished building the chat's user interface.
Step 3 : Using PHP to Create a Login Form.
Now we will implement a simple form that will ask the user their name before continuing further on.
<? session_start(); function loginForm(){ echo'
 <form action="index.php" method="post">
Please enter your name to continue:
 Name: <input type="text" name="name" id="name" /> <input type="submit" name="enter" id="enter" value="Enter" /> </form>
 '; } if(isset($_POST['enter'])){ if($_POST['name'] != ""){ $_SESSION['name'] = stripslashes(htmlspecialchars($_POST['name'])); } else{ echo 'Please type in a name'; } } ?>
The loginForm() function we created is composed of a simple login form which asks the user for his/her name. We then use an if and else statement to verify that the person entered a name. If the person entered a name, we set that name as $_SESSION['name']. Since we are using a cookie-based session to store the name, we must call session_start() before anything is outputted to the browser.
One thing that you may want to pay close attention to, is that we have used the htmlspecialchars() function, which converts special characters to HTML entities, therefore protecting the name variable from become victim to Cross-site scripting (XSS). We will later also add this function to the text variable that will be posted to the chat log.
Showing the Login Form
In order to show the login form in case a user has not logged in, and hence has not created a session, we use another if and else statement around the #wrapper div and script tags in our original code. On the opposite case, this will hide the login form, and show the chat box if the user is logged in and has created a session.;
<?php if(!isset($_SESSION['name'])){ loginForm(); } else{ ?>

Welcome, <?php echo $_SESSION['name']; ?>

Exit Chat

 <form name="message" action=""> <input name="usermsg" type="text" id="usermsg" size="63" /> <input name="submitmsg" type="submit" id="submitmsg" value="Send" /> </form>
   <?php } ?>
Welcome and Logout Menu
We are not yet finished creating the login system for this chat application. We still need to allow the user to log out, and end the chat session. If you can remember, our original HTML markup included a simple menu. Let's go back and add some PHP code that will give the menu more functionality.
First of all, let's add the users name to the welcome message. We do this by outputting the session of the user's name.

Welcome, <?php echo $_SESSION['name']; ?>

In order to allow the user to log out and end the session, we will jump ahead of ourselves and briefly use jQuery.

The jquery code above simple shows a confirmation alert if a user clicks the #exit link. If the user confirms the exit, therefore deciding to end the session, then we send them to index.php?logout=true. This simple creates a variable called logout with the value of true. We need to catch this variable with PHP:
if(isset($_GET['logout'])){ //Simple exit message $fp = fopen("log.html", 'a'); fwrite($fp, "
User ". $_SESSION['name'] ." has left the chat session.

"); fclose($fp); session_destroy(); header("Location: index.php"); //Redirect the user }
We now see if a get variable of 'logout' exists using the isset() function. If the variable has been passed via a url, such as the link mentioned above, we proceed to end the session of the user's name.
Before destroying the user's name session with the session_destroy() function, we want to write a simple exit message to the chat log. It will say that the user has left the chat session. We do this by using the fopen(), fwrite(), and fclose() functions to manipulate our log.html file, which as we will see later on, will be created as our chat log. Please note that we have added a class of 'msgln' to the div. We have already defined the css styling for this div.
After doing this, we destroy the session, and redirect the user to the same page where the login form will appear.
Step 4 : Handling User Input
After a user submits our form, we want to grab his input and write it to our chat log. In order to do this, we must use jQuery and PHP to work synchronously on the client and server sides.
Almost everything we are going to do with jQuery in order to handle our data, will revolve around the jQuery post request.
//If user submits the form $("#submitmsg").click(function(){ var clientmsg = $("#usermsg").val(); $.post("post.php", {text: clientmsg}); $("#usermsg").attr("value", ""); return false; });
- Before we do anything, we must grab the user's input, or what he has typed into the #submitmsg input. This can be achieved with the val() function, which gets the value set in a form field. We now store this value into the clientmsg variable.
- Here come's our most important part: the jQuery post request. This sends a POST request to the post.php file that we will create in a moment. It posts the clients input, or what has been saved into the clientmsg variable.
- Lastly, we clear the #usermsg input by setting the value attribute to blank.
Please not that the code above will go into our script tag, where we placed the jQuery logout code.
PHP - post.php
At the moment we have POST data being sent to the post.php file each time the user submits the form, and sends a new message. Our goal now is to grab this data, and write it into our chat log.
<? session_start(); if(isset($_SESSION['name'])){ $text = $_POST['text']; $fp = fopen("log.html", 'a'); fwrite($fp, "
(".date("g:i A").") ".$_SESSION['name'].": ".stripslashes(htmlspecialchars($text))."

"); fclose($fp); } ?>
- Before we do anything, we have to start the post.php file with the session_start() function as we will be using the session of the user's name in this file.
- Using the isset boolean, we check if the session for 'name' exists before doing anything else.
- We now grab the POST data that was being sent to this file by jQuery. We store this data into the $text variable.
- This data, as will all overall user input data, will be stored on the log.html file. To do this we open the file with the mode on the fopen function to 'a', which according to php.net opens the file for writing only; places the file pointer at the end of the file. If the file does not exist, attempt to create it. We then write our message to the file using the fwrite() function.
- The message we will be writing will be enclosed inside the .msgln div. It will contain the date and time generated by the date() function, the session of the user's name, and the text, which is also sorrounded by the htmlspecialchars() function to prevent from XSS.
Lastly, we close our file handle using fclose().
Step 5 : Displaying the Chat Log (log.html) Contents
Everything the user has posted is handled and posted using jQuery; it is written to the chat log with PHP. The only thing left to do is to display the updated chat log to the user.
In order to save ourselves some time, we will preload the chat log into the #chatbox div if it has any content.

<?php if(file_exists("log.html") && filesize("log.html") > 0){ $handle = fopen("log.html", "r"); $contents = fread($handle, filesize("log.html")); fclose($handle); echo $contents; } ?>

We use a similar routine as we used the post.php file, except this time we are only reading and outputting the contents of the file.
The jQuery.ajax request
The ajax request is the core of everything we are doing. This request not only allows us to send and receive data throught the form without refreshing the page, but it also allows us to handle the data requested.
//Load the file containing the chat log function loadLog(){ $.ajax({ url: "log.html", cache: false, success: function(html){ $("#chatbox").html(html); //Insert chat log into the #chatbox div }, }); }
We wrap our ajax request inside a function. You will see why in a second. As you see above we will only use three of the jQuery ajax request objects.
- url: A string of the URL to request. We will use our chat log's filename of log.html.
- cache: This will prevent the our file from being cached. It will ensure that we get an updated chat log everytime we send a request.
- sucess: This will allow us to attach a function that will pass the data we requested.
As you see, we then move the data we requested (html) into the #chatbox div.
As you may have seen in other chat applications, the content automatically scrolls down if the chat log container (#chatbox) overflows. We are going to implement a simple and similar feature, that will compare the container's scroll height before and after we do the ajax request. If the scroll height is greater after the request, we will use jQuery's animate effect to scroll the #chatbox div.
//Load the file containing the chat log function loadLog(){ var oldscrollHeight = $("#chatbox").attr("scrollHeight") - 20; //Scroll height before the request $.ajax({ url: "log.html", cache: false, success: function(html){ $("#chatbox").html(html); //Insert chat log into the #chatbox div //Auto-scroll var newscrollHeight = $("#chatbox").attr("scrollHeight") - 20; //Scroll height after the request if(newscrollHeight > oldscrollHeight){ $("#chatbox").animate({ scrollTop: newscrollHeight }, 'normal'); //Autoscroll to bottom of div } }, }); }
- We first store the #chatbox div's scroll height into the oldscrollHeight variable before we make the request.
- After our request has returned sucessful, we store the #chatbox div's scrolle height into the newscrollHeight variable.
- We then compare both of the scroll height variables using an if statement. If the newscrollHeight is greater than the oldscrollHeight, we use the animate effect to scroll the #chatbox div.
Continuously Updating the Chat Log
Now one question may arise, how will we constantly update the new data being sent back and forth between users? Or to rephrase the question, how will we continuously keep sending requests to update the data?
setInterval (loadLog, 2500); //Reload file every 2500 ms or x ms if you wish to change the second parameter
The answer to our question lies in the setInterval function. This function will run our loadLog() function every 2.5 seconds, and the loadLog function will request the updated file and autoscroll the div.
We are finished! I hope that you learned how a basic chat system works, and if you have any suggestions on anything, I'll happily welcome them. This chat system is a simple as you can get with a chat application. You can work off this and build a multiple chat rooms, add an administrative backend, add emoticons, ect. The sky here is your limit.
Also, if you need a professional app or plugin for your next project, you can take a look at one of the many Chat Scripts we have for sale on CodeCanyon.
Below are a few links you might want to check if you are thinking of expanding this chat application:
- Secure Your Forms With Form Keys - prevent prevent XSS (Cross-site scripting) and Cross-site request forgery
- Submit A Form Without Page Refresh using jQuery - Expand on our ajax request
- How to Make AJAX Requests With Raw Javascript - Learn how requests work behind the scenes with raw javascript.
- Follow us on Twitter, or subscribe to the NETTUTS RSS Feed for more daily web development tuts and articles.
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Once again, thank you. Without you, the readers, we are just yelling into the void. We hope to continue our enjoyable hobby and bring you entertainment, info and opinionated commentary.


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Device Debut Official 'You Think You Know' Video
Device, the industrial fueled project led by Disturbed frontman David Draiman, unveiled a new video for their latest single 'You Think You Know' on Revolver today (Aug. 19). Check it out above.
'You Think You Know' is the second single off of the band's self-titled debut disc, following 'Vilify.' Draiman's vocals lead the charge on this tune, as he belts out the chorus, 'You think you know, but you're horribly blind / You think you know how this story's defined / You think you know that your heart has gone cold inside.'
Lyrically, Draiman has gone on record to say that the song comes from "100 relationships that I've been in in the past." Explaining that sometimes the one you are with has "their own unique perception of reality."
The imagery of the video mixes black and white performance clips with some creative mirror effects and bursts of blue and red throughout, giving it a psychedelic vibe. It proves to be a very artistic approach to the video.
In addition to exploring new musical styles throughout 'Device,' Draiman and Co. also have their fair share of special guests on the disc, including everyone from Black Sabbath's Geezer Butler to Halestorm's Lzzy Hale, who joined the band for an updated version of the Lita Ford and Ozzy Ozbourne collaboration 'Close My Eyes Forever.'


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Angry bank clients push way into Cyprus parliament
Cypriot police say a group of investors and savers protesting outside parliament shoved their way past security and entered the building.
The protesters claim the Cypriot banks sold them investment products under false pretenses to raise desperately-needed cash. Cypriot banks lost billions on their holdings of Greek debt during the financial crisis. They're being bailed out as part of a larger rescue for the country.
Police spokesman Andreas Angelides says the shouting protesters briefly interrupted a meeting Tuesday of a parliamentary committee looking into banking issues.
Angelides says the protesters left the building shortly afterward and no arrests were made.
Cyprus has reached a preliminary deal with the European Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund on a bailout for its banks.


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Harden, newcomers step up on mound
FORT MYERS, Fla. -- The Twins got their first look at a few new additions to their pitching staff, as newcomers Vance Worley, Rich Harden, Kevin Correia and Alex Meyer threw their first official bullpen sessions of the spring on Wednesday.
Pitching coach Rick Anderson supervised the bullpen sessions that were timed at about seven minutes each. Several top prospects also took part, such as Kyle Gibson, B.J. Hermsen and Jose Berrios.
But the bullpen session had a special significance for Harden, who was excited about how he felt considering he had shoulder surgery at this time last year and didn't pitch in '12.
"It felt pretty good," said Harden, who is trying to make the club as a non-roster invite. "It was fun. It was good to get back out there. I'm hoping it'll feel the same when I start facing hitters. I threw mostly fastballs because I'm trying to get that feel back."
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire didn't get a chance to watch the bullpen sessions because he was working with pitchers on another field, but he said the club had to change its usual plans with so many pitchers in camp this year.
"We've altered it because we have 32 healthy pitchers," Gardenhire said. "We have four groups so we added another field, another group and we're doing a few different things on it. We're going to do a few different things during batting practice, live BP and all that. We're changing it up a little bit.''