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22350 Quarry RoadWellington, OH 44090(440)328-9140
CELEBRATING OUR 50th ANNIVERSARY!!
Welcome to Kurtz Christmas Trees! We are a family owned and operated Christmas tree farm just outside of Wellington, and have been in business for 50 years. We offer a variety of both freshly cut trees and cut your own trees. We are open 7 days a week, from 10 am to 7 pm, starting on November 17th. Please visit our Facebook page for more pictures, and please feel free to add pictures of your decorated tree or pictures of your trip to our farm! KurtzChristmasTrees
We have a variety of both fresh pre-cut trees and cut your own trees up to 12' tall. For you adventurous types, we have over 5 acres of trees that you and your family can wander around. We have saws available, so all you have to do is go find the perfect tree, and cut it down. We do recommend that you dress for the weather – it's cold out there, and it can be a little muddy or snowy, depending on the weather. We raise White Pines, Blue Spruce, and Canaan Firs (a sister tree to the fraser fir) on our farm.
We also have a large selection of fresh cut trees available, including Fraser firs, Douglas Firs, Concolor Firs, and White Pine. All of these trees are freshly cut and will hold their needles extremely well.
Our price list is below. We have a minimum price on cut your own trees, regardless of height. These prices are $50 for a White Pine and $54 for a Blue Spruce or any kind of Fir tree.
2019 Price Chart - includes sales tax
Tree Type
6 Foot
7 Foot
8 Foot
9 Foot
10 Foot
Blue Spruce
Fraser Fir
Douglas Fir
White Pine
Canaan Fir
Whether you buy a pre-cut or a cut your own tree, we will take care of the packaging. We have a net style baler that we will run your tree through, and then we will put it in or on top of your vehicle and secure it so you won't lose it on the way home!
We make our wreaths right in our barn from fresh cut Fraser Fir boughs. You can pick one of the several that we have already made, or if you want a larger one, we can custom make it for you. We have wreaths in a variety of sizes, from the small, 10" diameter cemetery wreaths, all the way up to custom made 48" diameter wreaths. The prices range from $10 up to $75. A typical wreath for a door or window would cost between $17 and $30.
We make White Pine roping by hand here, and it is 60 cents per foot. We keep as much of it available as we can, but it is a very slow process to make it. We apologize if we don't have any when you come to the farm, but if you request it early enough, we can make some for you and hold it until you come and pick it up.
We also sell tree stands, tree skirts, cemetery wreath stands and tree bags (for easier removal of your tree after Christmas).
How to find us:
We are located on Quarry Road, ½ mile south of State Rt. 18, approximately 3 miles west of Wellington. Wellington is the crossroads of State Rt. 18 and State Rt. 58, and is approximately 10 miles south of Oberlin. Below are directions from some local cities:
Cleveland – Take route 90/2 west to State Rt. 58 and turn south. Take Rt. 58 south to Rt 18 in the middle of Wellington and turn west. Take Rt. 18 west for approximately 3 miles to Quarry Road and turn South. Go over the railroad tracks, and we are the first farm on the west side of the road.
North Olmsted – Take route 480 west until Rt. 10 splits off – take 10 west (this is where 480 goes to the right to the Ohio Turnpike and Rt. 10 goes to the left). Stay on Rt. 10 until it goes from a divided highway down to 2 lanes. The first stoplight you come to is Rt. 58. (From this intersection, you will see the new Walmart about half of a mile from the intersection.) Take Rt 58 south to Rt. 18 (middle of Wellington) and turn west on Rt. 18. Take 18 west approximately 3 miles to Quarry Rd and turn south. We are the first house after the rail road tracks.
Norwalk and points west – Take State Route 18 east. You will go through the small town of Clarksfield and pass State Route 511. Quarry Road is approximately 3 miles east of the State Route 511 intersection. You will see our signs on the corner of State Route 18 and Quarry road, and we are approximately one quarter of a mile south.
This is a link to Googlemaps.com – our address is 22350 Quarry Rd, Wellington, OH.
Which trees hold their needles the longest? Fir trees, in general, hold their needles the best. We sell Fraser Firs, Concolor Firs, and Douglas Firs. However, if you take care of your tree you shouldn't have any problems with any of our trees. We typically put our personal Christmas tree up in our house a few weeks before Christmas, and we don't usually take it down until after New Year's Day, and we have never had any problems, regardless of what kind of tree we put up.
What is the best way to take care of the tree while I have it up? For starters, right before you put the tree in the stand and take it inside, you should make a fresh cut across the base of the tree. Shortly after a tree is cut down, the pine sap will harden and prevent the tree from being able to absorb water. Cutting about an inch off of the bottom of the trunk will allow the tree to draw water, which keeps the needles from drying out. Next, make sure you keep plenty of water in the tree stand. If the bottom of the tree dries out, then the sap will harden again. Don't place your tree near a heater, wood stove, or a heating vent, as this will dry out the needles more quickly.
Should I put anything in the water? This is one of our favorite conversations with customers. We have heard just about everything – aspirin, sugar, vodka, and 7-Up, just to name a few. Our recommendation has always been to just use plain old tap water – it's the way we've been doing it for the last 40 years, and we've never had a problem with needles dropping. But we're always happy to hear any other suggestions!
Do you accept credit cards? No, we apologize for the inconvenience, but we do not have a credit card machine. Our business is just too seasonal, and it's not worth it to have a machine for just the short period of time that we are open.
Why don't you have Fraser Fir or Douglas Fir on your farm to cut? Fraser Firs simply will not grow well on our farm. They tend to grow best where it is a little hilly and there isn't any clay in the ground. Our farm is very flat and there is a lot of clay in the ground. We have tried growing them for several years, but we just haven't had much success. We have found, however, that Canaan Fir, which is a sister to the Fraser, seems to grow fairly well on the farm, and we have started growing them over the last several years. We don't grow Douglas Firs because there are problems growing Douglas Fir and Blue Spruce on the same farm, and of course we have been growing Blue Spruce for 50 years now.
Thank you for visiting our site, and we hope to see you on the farm soon! If you have any questions at all, please feel free to send us an e-mail, or call us. We'd be happy to answer any of your questions. Merry Christmas everybody!
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Today's top ten memes will surely get a chuckle out of you! Enjoy and check out the previous list for more.
The Russians secretly detected sounds out of deep space on May 15, 2015 at the Russian Academy of Science-operated RATAN-600 radio telescope in Zelenchukskaya, Russia and ONLY NOW told the world about it.
The sounds--signal spikes--emitted from a 6.3-billion-year-old star in the constellation Hercules that is 95 light years away from Earth.
The Constellation Hercules
According to all the scientists, what's most notable about the sounds were how they fit the profile for being a PURPOSEFUL event sent by an extraterrestrial life in a civilization far more advanced than our own; like someone was specifically trying to reach out and talk to us.
The signal is so provocative that the Russian and at least two international teams of scientists at the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) are calling for permanent monitoring to be put on this target. The SETI Institute is using the Allen Telescope Array in northern California, while METI International is looking to the Boquete Optical SETI Observatory in Panama.
Space people, nerd out here.
The signal could also be radio interference or a gravitational event, but we're gonna be watching and hoping it's these little guys...
...and not THESE guys:

subset: commoncrawl


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inclusive growth
Inclusive prosperity: What next? By David Coats
The Chifley Research Centre were kind enough to organise a programme of meetings for me in Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne to coincide with the publication of my paper Building a Read More
14 Apr 2015 in inclusive growth
Andrew Giles & Ryan Batchelor
Andrew Giles is the Federal Labor Member for Scullin in Victoria. Ryan Batchelor is a director of the Chifley Research
Ben Hugosson
Benedict Hugosson is an Organisational Ombudsman for the Swedish Social Democrats, focusing on training and membership development. Benedict has experience
Cameron Clyne
Cameron Clyne is the former CEO of National Australia Bank and now chairman of advisory firm Camel Partners and a
Carol Johnson
Professor Carol Johnson - Carol is an Adjunct Professor of Politics at the University of Adelaide and has written extensively
Catherine King
Catherine King is the Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development.
David Coats
David Coats is in Australia as a Visitor at the Chifley Research Centre. He is a research fellow at the
Gabrielle Kuiper
Dr Gabrielle Kuiper has a background in science, sustainability and urban planning. She was previously Senior Adviser, Climate Change, Energy
Emma Maiden
Emma Maiden is the former Assistant Secretary of Unions NSW. She is currently Head of Advocacy for Uniting, leading their
Erin Watt
Erin Watt is the National Secretary of the Labor Environment Action Network. Erin is a National Political Coordinator for United
Jim Chalmers
Jim Chalmers MP is Shadow Treasurer, and the federal Labor Member for Rankin. Prior to his election he was
Linda Tirado
Linda Tirado is a completely average American. She also has good rants about how much it sucks to be poor
Lindy Edwards
Dr Lindy Edwards is the Associate Head of School in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University
Terri Butler
Terri Butler is the Shadow Minister for the Environment and Water, and the federal Labor Member for Griffith, Queensland.
Tim Kennedy
Tim Kennedy is national secretary of the United Workers Union, organising for secure jobs and a fair Australia.


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Official warnings and news reports often paint a nerve-wracking picture of Mexico, but just how dangerous is the country? Stephen Keeling, co-author of the Rough Guide to Mexico, offers his first hand thoughts on some of the most supposedly dicey areas.
Sipping margaritas on Puerto Vallarta's languid beach, pelicans gliding off shore and kids playing in the sand, it's hard to imagine Mexico at war. But I'm here updating the latest Rough Guide to Mexico, and it's my job to get to the truth. Reluctantly, I ask my companion – who works at the Marriott Resort – to talk about the nation's troubles. "Ah", she says, "you mean the media war on Mexico? Yes, that has been very tough."
As one of the world's great civilizations and most beautiful nations, Mexico has always attracted hordes of tourists, from backpackers to cruise ship passengers. Yet since 2008 the tourist industry has been hammered, with Brits and Americans especially put off by a series of government travel warnings and the gruesome crimes committed by Mexican drug gangs.
Terrifying as cartels like Los Zetas and their turf wars are, how much of this crime really affects tourists? The short answer is: very little. News reports often confuse things further by blaming a small number of muggings and robberies (which can happen anywhere) with gang warfare. I've spent the last two months travelling in Mexico, and here's a brief report of some of the most 'dangerous' places I visited.
What they say:
The UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office: "Public shootouts during daylight hours in shopping centres...as well as large firefights have occurred in Tijuana."
The US Department of State, Bureau of Consular Affairs: "Shooting incidents, in which innocent bystanders have been injured, have occurred during daylight hours throughout the city."
My experience:
Baghdad on a bad day? Not quite. The two parts of Tijuana where tourists actually spend time – Avenida Revolución and Zona Río – are swarming with police and army patrols, not to mention school groups and Mexican families. I walked between the US border and La Revo several times and saw dozing store owners, boys fishing in the Tijuana River and tourists sipping Tecate, but zero gangsters. La Revo has started to attract American day-trippers and even some Japanese backpackers again. The chances of actually being caught in a firefight are surely very remote.
What they say:
FCO: "There continues to be a high level of drug-related murders and violent acts in Acapulco."
CA: "In Acapulco, defer non-essential travel to areas further than two blocks inland of …the popular beach areas."
My experience:
Acapulco wants your business. Taxi drivers, bus drivers, cocktail makers, boat captains, water taxi pilots, waitresses, raspados sellers and just about every other local I met were friendly, tried to speak English and were exceptionally kind. Acapulco was badly affected by some nasty incidents last year, but when I arrived the streets were literally heaving with troops and federal police, and tourism was booming. I travelled around in local taxis and buses during the day, and I doubt much is going to happen when families with small kids are out in force. The biggest danger I think you'll face on a bus is ear damage – Acapulco drivers seem to believe their buses are mobile nightclubs.
What they say:
FCO: "There were 1,815 drug-related killings in Sinaloa in 2010."
CA: "You should defer non-essential travel to the state of Sinaloa."
My experience:
Los Mochis – terminus of the Copper Canyon railway – has always been a dull city, but I'm not sure it's especially dangerous. I walked all over the centre, ate in local restaurants, and took buses up and down the coastal highway into Sonora. I didn't see any foreign tourists, it's true, and the streets were very quiet after dark, but I didn't feel threatened here. If you visit anywhere in Sinaloa right now you will stand out as a foreigner so if that freaks you out, don't go.
What they say:
CA: "In the last year, the city of Mazatlán has experienced a level of violence not seen before... and incidents are occurring more frequently in tourist areas."
My experience:
If every taxi driver can point out the house 'owned' by Mexico's most wanted drug trafficker (Joaquín Guzmán Loera aka El Chapo), it seems unlikely he'll actually be there. An incident reported by Canadian media was horrific but extremely rare and nothing to do with drug gangs. To be honest, the resort areas in Mazatlán are actually fairly shabby – time spent in the centro histórico is far more rewarding, with new museums, cafes and bars, and streets being given handsome makeovers every year. Locals stroll, jog and doze on the malecón, while surfers dodge little more than fat pelicans offshore.
What they say:
CA: "The level of violence and insecurity in Monterrey has increased, illustrated by an attack on a popular local casino that resulted in 52 deaths."
My experience:
How sad: the once happening Barrio Antiguo area of bars and clubs in Monterrey has virtually closed down, thanks to drug violence. When I visited it was safe during the day, but dead at night. That said, life goes on; Monterrey is a huge city, full of museums, businesses and students – stay in the main areas during the day, and you will be safe.
It's also worth noting that much of Mexico is considered totally safe: Los Cabos and Cancún/the-yucatan for example, or the Bajío cities of Guanajuato and San Miguel Allende. Conversely, cities along the border such as Ciudad Juárez and Nuevo Laredo should be definitely avoided - but who wants to go there anyway?
Views are the author's only and travellers should always check the latest travel advice before heading off. The FCO and CA and other local governments do monitor the situation and offer updated advice.


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They say inspiration comes in all forms, and apparently nowhere is that more true than in Hollywood.
After all, when you run out of books, TV shows, cartoons, video games, amusement park rides and toys to turn into movies, where are you going to turn? An original idea? Perish the thought.
So, as you head out to the theaters this weekend, join us for a look at five of the oddest source materials ever tapped for a movie.
No. 5: "Clue"
OK, so "Battleship" isn't exactly the first movie to spring from a board game.
But at least 1985's "Clue," based off the popular Parker Brothers murder mystery board game, had some sort of back story.
The movie found the six characters well known to anybody who's played the game -- Mrs. Peacock, Miss Scarlet, Mr. Green, Professor Plum, Mrs. White and Colonel Mustard -- invited to a strange house where they must cooperate with the staff to solve a murder mystery.
The cast for this comedic take on the board game included Tim Curry, Martin Mull, Michael McKean, Christopher Lloyd and Madeline Kahn, and, in keeping with the game, had three possible endings, with different theaters receiving each ending.
While the film has found a cult following today, its gimmicky endings couldn't save it in 1985 and it languished at the box office, failing to earn back its $15 million price tag.
No. 4: "Super Mario Bros."
With movies like "Tomb Raider" and the "Resident Evil" franchise having shown life at the box office, movies based on video games may not seem as strange as they once were.
But the very first movie based on a video game, 1993's "Super Mario Bros." is a head-scratcher. Sure, Mario and his brother Luigi were the biggest names in video games, but who thought two plumbers collecting coins while battling turtles and mushroom monsters was ripe for a live-action movie adaptation?
That didn't stop stars like Bob Hoskins, Dennis Hopper and John Leguizamo from joining the production, which saw Mario and Luigi discover a portal to a parallel universe under the streets of Brooklyn, New York.
The movie was rightfully trashed by critics (and Hoskins, who called it "the worst thing I ever did") and proved to be a box office bomb, recouping only $21 million of its $48 million budget.
No. 3: "Transformers"
Some may argue that since Transformers first became a cartoon and a comic book, Michael Bay's 2007 movie adaptation actually sprung from those sources, but we know better.
Whatever the media, the message of Transformers has always been about one thing: selling toys.
And what toys they are. Anybody who grew up in the 1980s likely has fond memories of acting out battles between the Decepticons and Autobots (unless you had well-meaning-but-still-sadly-mistaken parents who instead bought you Gobots).
But is that a good enough reason to invest $150 million in a movie blockbuster?
No. 2: "Pirates of the Caribbean"
Back in 2003, Disney was the source of much ridicule for attempting to turn one of its most popular amusement park rides into a blockbuster movie.
Against all odds, "Pirates of the Caribbean" proved to be a swashbuckling success, earning $654 million worldwide and spawning three sequels, thanks mostly to Johnny Depp's cheeky performance as Capt. Jack Sparrow.
Despite the end results, that pre-release ridicule was richly deserved. After all, Disney had tried three previous times to capitalize off its amusement park rides, although you can't be blamed if you missed the resulting movies.
Blazing the trail were the 1997 made-for-TV Steve Guttenberg/Kirsten Dunst "thriller" "Tower of Terror," the 2000 sci-fi movie "Mission to Mars" and the 2002 flop "The Country Bears," all based in one way or another on Disney theme park attractions.
Disney didn't stop with "Pirates," though. It attempted to again catch lightning in a bottle with the 2003 Eddie Murphy vehicle "The Haunted Mansion," which did OK at the box office but was left for dead by the critics.
No. 1: "Mars Attacks!"
Even the most ardent Tim Burton fan has to admit that 1996's "Mars Attacks!" suffers from far too many stars and too few laughs.
But few realize the movie, whose ensemble cast includes Jack Nicholson, Annette Bening, Pierce Brosnan, Sarah Jessica Parker, Glenn Close, Martin Short, Jack Black, Natalie Portman, Danny DeVito, Jim Brown and Tom Jones, was actually based off a 1960s Topps trading card series.
The film runs with the trading cards' depiction of Earth's attack by violence-loving and sex-crazed Martians while giving a spoofy nod to 1950s sci-fi B-movies.
Even after the script's ambitious first draft was scaled down from its 60 leading characters, worldwide destruction and $256 million price tag to a $100 million film, it still just barely broke even worldwide.
Maybe the "half-developed, pedestrian material," as one reviewer described it, was to blame. Given the film's inspiration, that sentiment doesn't seem so alien.


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J.R. Martinez and his girlfriend Diana Gonzalez-Jones have decided to call it quits, just 18 months after the birth of their daughter, Lauryn Anabelle.
"Diana and I have ended our relationship," he told People. "However, we are committed to working together to raise our daughter in a healthy and happy environment."
The Dancing With The Stars champion and actor posted a Facebook status acknowledging the difficulty of change.
"People change it's a part of life," he wrote. "but sometimes its [sic] easier to hold on to the memories of who they were rather then to realize who they have become..."
The 30-year-old Iraq War veteran met Gonzalez-Jones in 2008 when he joined the cast of All My Children. She was working as an assistant to the show's executive producer. They dated for four years before deciding to end their relationship earlier this year.


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After a 150 years of hiding from the alien's war, the few systems that managed to isolate themselves are coming out to find a galaxy completely changed. They aliens have mysteriously vanished, leaving more than just questions in their wake.
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« FCC Nominee Appears Before Senate Commerce Committee | Main | Miami-Dade Approves $63 Million Plan to Give All Students Digital Devices »
Benefits of Online, Face-to-Face Professional Development Similar, Study Finds
Online teacher professional development has the same effect on student learning and teacher behavior as more traditional face-to-face models, according to a new research study to be published next month by the Journal of Teacher Education.
The study, which controlled for factors such as teacher experience and student demographics, compared the experiences of teachers charged with implementing a new high school environmental science curriculum. One group of teachers in the study participated in 48 hours of face-to-face workshops spread over six days, while their counterparts worked at their own pace through an online workshop covering the same content.
In both groups, the researchers found, "Teachers reported increased confidence with new curriculum materials, enacted those materials consistently with curriculum designers' intent, and their students learned from curriculum successfully and in equal amounts."
Barry Fishman, an Associate Professor of Learning Technologies at the University of Michigan, served as a lead investigator on the study, which was funded primarily by the National Science Foundation.
Fishman said that administrators and policymakers should see the findings as further evidence that online teacher professional development, while no silver bullet, can be a viable alternative to the traditional model.
"There's some hesitation on the part of teachers who think that online [professional development] is somehow less valuable to them because of a lack of personal connection," Fishman said.
"I think this study may make them a little more optimistic."
Rigorous Research Needed
States and school districts are increasingly going online to provide teachers with on-the-job learning opportunities, said René Islas, director of the consulting arm of Learning Forward, a nonprofit that works with several dozen districts and states to implement professional development based on standards developed by the organization.
"They're seeing [online professional development] as more efficient and less costly" than the traditional approach, he said.
But concerns remain.
One reason, said Islas, is that the move online represents a major shift in thinking for many state and local officials. He cited an example of a state administrator who got cold feet about purchasing an online support service for instructional coaches after learning that some of the support would take place after traditional work hours.
"Culturally, it's hard" for administrators and school staff to adjust, said Islas.
There is also wide variation in what online professional development actually looks like.
Good research is key to making smart decisions about when and how to try the new models, Islas said, but rigorous experimental studies that effectively tease out cause-and-effect relationships between different types of professional development, teachers' behavior in the classroom, and student results are "few and far between."
Stephanie Knight, a professor of educational psychology at Penn State University and the lead editor of Journal of Teacher Education, said Fishman's strong methodology makes the study an especially important contribution to the growing push for large-scale professional development aligned with new academic standards.
By measuring student gains on an end-of-unit test, rather than relying on self-reports from teachers, the researchers were able objectively measure and compare the effectiveness of the different types of professional development.
And by reviewing videotaped lessons taught by each teacher in the study, they were also able to gauge how well teachers incorporated both the content of the curriculum and the pedagogical strategies they were supposed to learn.
The result, said Fishman, is compelling evidence in support of the emerging body of research on the effectiveness of online professional development.
"When it's designed properly, there really is no difference," in the outcomes of online and in-person professional development, he said.
Teachers Learning at Their Own Pace
Of course, the devil is in how the teacher training is designed and executed.
"There are no shortcuts in professional development," Fishman stressed.
In the study, teachers who received the online professional development weren't just plopped in front of YouTube.
Instead, the group took a series of self-paced "short courses" via computer. They also interacted online with facilitators who helped them through the units and answered their questions.
Like their counterparts in the face-to-face group, the teachers were expected to become familiar with geographic information system software and how to teach it, as well as how to engage students in a hands-on, iterative learning process.
Teachers in both groups had access to the same print materials and computer simulations.
Fishman and his colleagues found that teachers in the online group spent wildly varying amounts of time learning the new curriculum. One teacher cruised through the material in three hours. Another took 52 hours to digest everything.
But the classroom results were largely the same.
"One of the benefits of online professional development is that it lets teachers move at their own pace," Fishman said.
"The same thing is probably going on in face-to-face [settings]. You just zone out when you're sitting in a 40-hour workshop."
Sage Publications will provide a free downloadable version of the study, titled Comparing the Impact of Online and Face-to-Face Professional Development in the Context of Curriculum Implementation, online beginning July 10.
Follow @BenjaminBHerold and @EdWeekEdTech for the latest news on ed tech policy, practice, and trends.


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This Thursday sees the release of PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe for the PSP, a faithful port of the PSN original with a new island, new enemies, and the ability to be a PixelJunk voyeur.
Q-Games makes the pixels a little smaller on Thursday with the release of PixelJunk Monsters for the PSP and PSPgo. A slightly updated version of the PS3 tower defence game, the download-only title boasts some new features, including the ability to hang out in the lobby and watch a running play-by-play of the round currently underway while you wait your turn. You can check out Q-Games' Dylan Cuthbert discussing all of the new features in a video interview over at the PlayStation blog.
PixelJunk Monsters is a perfect fit for the portable treatment. I might pick it up myself come Thursday, even if my PSP doesn't slide open like the cool kids' do.
TGS 2009: Download PixelJunk Monsters Deluxe this Thursday! [PlayStation Blog]


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Student Loans 101: Why Uncle Sam is your banker
WASHINGTON (AP) — As Congress scrambles to pull back a messy student loan increase, it raises the question: Why did Uncle Sam get into the college loan business, anyway?
The short answer: Because the Russians launched Sputnik.
A look at the 55-year history of federal student loans:
Americans got a shock from the sky in October 1957.
The first artificial satellite was passing overhead. And it wasn't just man-made, it was Soviet-made.
Beach ball-sized Sputnik touched off a space race and stoked big fears that American students might not be up to the challenges of the Cold War.
Calls to improve science and technical education led to creation of a low-interest college loan program in the National Defense Education Act of 1958. The loan dollars came directly from the government.
Then came Lyndon Johnson's ''war on poverty.''
Student loans got a boost in 1965 as part of the president's ''Great Society'' initiatives. The Higher Education Act expanded loans as well as grants to help needy students. It also changed the way the federal loan program was financed. Instead of using government money, the loans would be made by bankers. But the government guaranteed that if students defaulted, the U.S. would cover the tab.
Lawmakers liked that approach because outstanding loans wouldn't show up on the government's books as red ink.
And that led to the birth of Sallie Mae.
In 1972, President Richard Nixon spearheaded creation of the Student Loan Marketing Association — known by the nickname Sallie Mae — to help get more money to college students.
Sallie Mae was a government-sponsored entity that used Treasury funds to buy up banks' student loans, freeing up the private lenders' money and encouraging them to make more loans.
Sallie Mae was fully privatized in 2004 and is now a corporate giant of the private student loan and college savings businesses.
Taxpayers took the risk; bankers got the rewards.
Using private companies to handle government-backed loans proved to be more complicated and expensive for taxpayers than direct federal loans. So President Bill Clinton sought a switch back to a direct loan system more like the Sputnik days.
But many Republicans opposed direct loans as a government takeover. And private lenders didn't want the feds moving in on their lucrative market. Congress compromised by phasing in some direct federal loans while keeping guarantees in place for the bank loans.
For more than a decade, the banks appeared to be winning the battle with direct loans. Colleges largely decided which kinds of loans to offer their students, and the aggressively marketed private loans were more popular than the lesser-known government alternative.
The 2008 financial crisis changed everything.
With chaos on Wall Street and credit markets in a tailspin, private student loan money started drying up. To keep money flowing to college students, Congress gave the Education Department power to step in and buy private loans from lenders.
Meanwhile, with fewer banks offering loans to students, the number of colleges turning to direct federal loans shot up.
The shine was off private lenders.
In 2010, Uncle Sam took over.
Private lenders waged an intense lobbying campaign to hang onto the government-backed student loan market. But in the end, Congress approved President Barack Obama's plan to give commercial banks the boot.
Now, the entire federal student loan program belongs to Washington.
Banks and other private lenders still loan money to students on their own, without a federal guarantee. Some students need the outside help to fill in the gaps as college costs keep climbing.
And many people are still paying off student loans they got through private lenders under the old Federal Family Education Loan program before it ended on July 1, 2010.
Under today's system, direct federal loans are considered the best deal for students.
The government loans generally have lower interest rates than bank loans. And the feds offer flexible payment options for people who have trouble with their bills after graduation.
Also, students who qualify for subsidized Stafford loans, based on financial need, don't rack up interest charges while they're in school. Students who go into public service careers such as teaching can have their loans forgiven or discounted. And graduates who work in exceptionally low-paying professions stand to have their loans completely forgiven after 25 years.
Students with federal loans are at the mercy of Congress and its bickering, however.Continued…
Student Loans 101: Why Uncle Sam is your banker – Education – Boston.com.


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Municipal Bond Yields Rise as Week's Sales Reach 4-Month High
By Jeremy R. Cooke
Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- State and local governments led by California sold $11.8 billion of fixed-rate bonds this week, the most in more than four months, pushing 20-year benchmark tax- exempt yields to their highest level since late August.
The most populous U.S. state refinanced voter-approved debt to patch budget deficits with a $3.5 billion deal. Connecticut, Florida, Kentucky, Missouri and New York City also raised money for infrastructure projects through the Build America Bonds program, which provides 35 percent interest rebates from the federal government for selling taxable debt in lieu of borrowing tax-free.
Municipal issuers sold $7.8 billion in tax-exempt issues and $4 billion in taxable debt, based on revised data compiled by Bloomberg. The Bond Buyer newspaper's weekly yield index of general obligation bonds due in 20 years rose 8 basis points, or 0.08 percentage point, to 4.39 percent, the highest since 4.53 percent at the end of August.
Issuance in October exceeded $40 billion even as investors' appetite for yields below 4 percent waned, forcing borrowers to pay more on new issues. The Merrill Lynch Municipal Master Index, which measures the total-return of state and local debt, fell almost 2.5 percent through yesterday, the biggest monthly decline since a 5.1 percent drop in September 2008.
This week's sales sent the amount of Build America Bonds sold since the Obama administration's economic stimulus created the program this year to $47.4 billion, Bloomberg figures show.
Municipal bonds advanced today, sending yields on 10-year general obligation debt lower by 1 basis point to 3.17 percent, according to a daily survey by Municipal Market Advisors of Concord, Massachusetts. The index is 21 basis points higher than at the end of September.
Weekly issuance was last this high in the period ended June 12, when governments sold $11.9 billion, according to Bloomberg data. The busiest week this year, the one ended April 24, produced $15.4 billion in sales, the figures show.
Note that yields fell yesterday as money moved out of equities, but that in the past 4 months yields (rates) have been rising, thus sending the price lower.
If we're beginning the C wave down in Equities, I think it's likely that bonds will do okay as money flows out of stocks, but I think eventually that tide will turn. It may be 2 years, it may be 6 months, or it may be tomorrow, but at some point interest rates are going to go higher, and again, there is now a serious risk of default as municipalities spend far more than they are taking in. Yes, they do have the power of taxation (blood out of a turnip?) but they do not have the power of the press. That said, I can see the Federal Government stepping in with their printing press to rescue failing municipalities, but now we're getting into playing favorites and politics, the area were revolts are bred.
I'm just saying, don't wait until that market is gone, gone, gone…
Traffic – Rock & Roll Stew (gone, gone, gone):


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ATLANTA - The Atlanta Hawks want to be well-rested for the playoffs.
They certainly didn't use up any energy Tuesday night.
DeMar DeRozan scored 30 points, Rudy Gay added 22 and the Toronto Raptors ran all over the playoff-bound Hawks, 113-96.
The Raptors made two-thirds of their shots in the first half, sprinting to a 68-51 lead as DeRozan scored 19 points and Gay chipped in with 17. Atlanta went mostly with backups, showing no sense of urgency to claim the No. 5 seed in the Eastern Conference.
"I'm going to err on the side of caution," Hawks coach Larry Drew said.
Atlanta fell into a tie with Chicago for the fifth spot. The teams finish the regular season on Wednesday, with the Hawks travelling to New York to face the Knicks, while the Bulls are home against lowly Washington. Chicago holds the tiebreaker.
Kyle Korver led the Hawks with 13 points, extending his 3-point streak to 73 consecutive games.
But he didn't sound too thrilled about the way Atlanta is playing going to the playoffs.
"I just go in the game when they tell me to," Korver said. "For some people, the rest is good. But you also want to be in a rhythm. There's a balance to it. We're kind of walking that right now."
Atlanta centre Al Horford didn't play, sitting out because of soreness in his left chest, and the rest of the Hawks took the night off as well — certainly at the defensive end.
Toronto ran right through the Hawks for too many dunks and layups to count, making 26 of 39 from the field in the opening half. Amazingly, the Raptors put up 68 points before the break while turning it over 11 times. It was like watching the Globetrotters against the Washington Generals, as Toronto set season highs for points in a half as well as a quarter, scoring 38 in the second.
"Too bad it's coming at this time when we're out of the playoffs," Raptors guard Kyle Lowry said.
Atlanta was never up by more than two, and its last lead was 19-18. The Hawks trailed by double digits the rest of the way after DeRozan knocked down a 3-pointer with 4 minutes left in the opening half.
"We're playing freely. We're going out there and not thinking so much, playing with our abilities and instincts," DeRozan said. "We've got a lot of talent on this team. When we play like we played tonight, we're tough to beat."
The Hawks are part of the only race left in the East, but they are playing like a team that wants no part of a position that might mean a possible meeting with the defending champion Miami Heat in the second round.
Then again, it may not matter where the Hawks finish. They are limping to the end of a season that will be surely be followed by major changes, with Drew and much of the roster — including Josh Smith — in the final year of contracts. Atlanta has lost 14 of its last 25 games, hardly a team on a roll heading to the playoffs.
"My focus right now is to try to keep this team competing at a high level, which I didn't think we did in the first half," Drew said. "We came out a little soft, and played as if we were just winding it down."
The Raptors led 96-75 at the end of the third, allowing DeRozan and Gay to spend the entire fourth quarter on the bench. Jonas Valanciunas scored 13 points, Amir Johnson had 11 and Lowry dished out 11 assists.
Toronto is showing some life at the end of another disappointing season, winning its fourth in a row — all over playoff teams.
"Our start put us in this hole," coach Dwane Casey said. "We're going the direction we need to be going in as far as building a program."
Korver hit a couple of 3-pointers in the opening minutes to keep his franchise-record streak alive. Rookie Mike Scott and Ivan Johnson each scored 12 points, with Scott also grabbing a career-high 12 rebounds for his first double-double in the NBA. Shelvin Mack added 11 points.
Toronto's Terrence Ross appeared to reinjure his left ankle late in the game when he landed on an Atlanta's player's foot. He hobbled off the court and didn't return.
NOTES: A moment of silence was held before the game to honour victims of the Boston Marathon bombing. ... The Hawks rested G DeShawn Stevenson. ... Valanciunas returned after missing two games with a whiplash-like condition. ... Toronto closes the season Wednesday at home against Boston. ... The Raptors improved to 16-16 since acquiring Gay from Memphis. ... The only Hawks starter to play more than 20 minutes was centre Johan Petro. Smith played only 12:44 and spent the entire second half watching from the bench, a towel covering his head.
Follow Paul Newberry on Twitter at www.twitter.com/pnewberry1963


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The New Yorker published a must-read expose of Charles and David Koch this week, detailing the major role that these oil billionaire brothers have played in funding organizations that misrepresent the science of climate change like the Cato Institute, front groups like Americans for Prosperity, and others that aim to block progress on climate solutions and keep America addicted to fossil fuels . The article includes information from Greenpeace's report, Koch Industries: Secretly Funding the Climate Denial Machine.
Here's an excerpt:
The Kochs are longtime libertarians who believe in drastically lower personal and corporate taxes, minimal social services for the needy, and much less oversight of industry—especially environmental regulation. These views dovetail with the brothers' corporate interests. In a study released this spring, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst's Political Economy Research Institute named Koch Industries one of the top ten air polluters in the United States. And Greenpeace issued a report identifying the company as a "kingpin of climate science denial." The report showed that, from 2005 to 2008, the Kochs vastly outdid ExxonMobil in giving money to organizations fighting legislation related to climate change, underwriting a huge network of foundations, think tanks, and political front groups. Indeed, the brothers have funded opposition campaigns against so many Obama Administration policies—from health-care reform to the economic-stimulus program—that, in political circles, their ideological network is known as the Kochtopus.
Earlier this month, New York Magazine also published an article about David Koch, and it looks like he's been seeing some of Greenpeace's materials:
"In his office, Koch showed me a photocopied flyer Greenpeace had produced with sketches of him and Charles below the words wanted for climate crimes and shook it in the air."
Greenpeace activists distributed those fliers at the opening of the Smithsonian's Koch-funded "Hall of Human Origins" exhibit. (Check out this post from Climate Progress for more information about how David Koch's oil money may have tainted the exhibit.)
Maybe David Koch can use his copy of the flyer as a bookmark when he reads how his shadowy oil-funded network has been exposed in this week's New Yorker Magazine.
Check out the full article for all the details.


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Their endangered status and distinctive, cuddly appearance has turned them into the poster-child of wildlife conservation, but now there may be a new reason to save the giant panda from extinction.
Scientists have discovered that the animals, of which there are around 1,600 in the wild, produce a powerful antibiotic in their blood stream that kills bacteria and fungi.
They believe the substance could be used to create potent new treatments against drug resistant superbugs and other diseases.
The antibiotic is thought to be released by the bear's immune system to protect them infections when they are living in the wild. Researchers discovered the compound, known as cathelicidin-AM, after analysing the panda's DNA.
Fortunately, scientists will not need to depend upon the animal's notoriously unreliable breeding capacity to harvest the new antibiotic as they have been able to synthesis it artificially in the lab by decoding the genes to produce a small molecule known as a peptide.
Dr Xiuwen Yan, who led the research at the Life Sciences College of Nanjing Agricultural University in China, said: "It showed potential antimicrobial activities against wide spectrum of microorganisms including bacteria and fungi, both standard and drug-resistant strains.
"Under the pressure of increasing microorganisms with drug resistance against conventional antibiotics, there is urgent need to develop new type of antimicrobial agents.
"Gene-encoded antimicrobial peptides play an important role in innate immunity against noxious microorganisms. They cause much less drug resistance of microbes than conventional antibiotics."
Pandas have dwindled considerably as their bamboo forest habitat in China and south east Asia has been destroyed. Attempts increase their numbers have been frustrated the extreme difficulty in getting them to breed in captivity.
They are notoriously poor at breeding, even in the wild, as the females only come into season once a year.
Despite millions of pounds being spent using expensive artificial breeding techniques, their numbers have increased little, leading to arguments about whether the money could be put to better use on other conservation projects.
But many argue that the black and white bears act as a symbol of the need to save wildlife from extinction and help with fund-raising for conservation projects.
The discovery that they produce powerful compounds that can be used to make new drugs will almost certainly strengthen the case to conserve the endangered creatures.
The Chinese researchers found that the cathelicidin-AM, which is produced by immune cells in the animal's blood, was found to kill bacteria in less than an hour while other well known antibiotics took more than six hours.
They hope to develop the substance either as a new drug to tackle superbugs or as an antiseptic for cleaning surfaces and utensils. Dr Yan and his colleagues also believe there may be other potential drugs hidden within the panda genome.
They have also found other powerful antimicrobial compounds in the mucus produced by snails and in some amphibians.
Dr Yan said: Antimicrobial peptides are important components in innate immunity – they can provide an effective and fast acting defence against harmful microorganisms.
"More than 1000 antimicrobial peptides have been found from animals, plants, and microorganisms. Analysis revealed that the panda cathelicidin had the nearest evolution relationship with dog cathelicidin."
Source: The Telegraph


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Mel B Bikini Pictures in Cannes
Mel B Spices Up Cannes During a Bikini Trip With Her Husband
Mel B stripped down to a blue and white bikini when she had a yacht party with a group of friends and her husband, Stephen Belafonte, in Cannes on Wednesday. The couple were in the South of France to attend a charity dinner on Tuesday with model Natalia Vodianova. Mel spoke at the event, which raised money for the Naked Heart Foundation and FilmAid. She will soon be back on a plane yet again to return to the UK where she hinted she may meet up with her former Spice Girls pals. Mel wrote about her trip in a blog entry last week while shooting down news of a reunion. She wrote, "Press as usual writing BS about Spice Girls. As usual, us girls know what's gonna happen, so they just need to shut up. Heading to Cannes Cinemoi and UK to see my Spices, yippee." Maybe Mel will have a chance to meet up with Victoria Beckham, who is settling down after news broke that her husband, David Beckham, is retiring from soccer. Victoria and her family travelled to Paris last weekend to watch David play his final home game with PSG. The team has one more game to play this weekend, but it isn't clear if David will take the field for that match.


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Suddenly it seems as if everyone in the political world is talking about Steven Spielberg's splendid film Lincoln. Instead of the standard Hollywood hagiography, it is an act of civic virtue: a movie about a living, breathing, horse-trading, occasionally mendacious genius of a politician. It resurrects the noble greasiness of politics at a perfect moment: we need some inspired horse-trading in Washington right now, with short-term stimulus, long-term deficit reduction, health care and other issues on the table.
As I watched the film, I couldn't help thinking about Senator John McCain. Not the current embittered McCain but the earlier version--the reformer who tried to clean up the political system. He was right about campaign-finance limitations, though thwarted since by the Supreme Court. But he was profoundly wrong about earmarks, those tiny emoluments doled out to individual members of Congress for works, good and not so good, in their districts, often in return for their votes on larger issues. McCain railed against them, reciting the more ridiculous examples--a study of moose mating habits, the Whac-A-Mole hall of fame, whatever--that made them seem corrupt and ultimately made them toxic.
They shouldn't be. Earmarks are a useful lubricant for the great gears of legislation. Lincoln obviously loved them. In Spielberg's film and Tony Kushner's brilliant script, Lincoln doesn't compromise his principles to win passage of the 13th Amendment. He compromises his morals, a little. He trades jobs for votes. He pulls a Clinton--lawyering the truth--over the question of whether he's about to commence negotiations with a rebel delegation. That was the miracle of Abraham Lincoln, politician. He pursued the high purpose of moving justice forward via the low arts of patronage and patronization. Indeed, in a democracy, it is usually the only way great deeds are done.
If he'd been negotiating Obamacare, Lincoln would have made the infamous "Cornhusker Kickback" deal--$100 million in Medicaid funds for Nebraska to secure a Senator's vote--in a heartbeat, even if the press howled as it did when Barack Obama agreed to it, forcing its cancellation. Which raises another point: if we're going to resume dealmaking in Washington, my colleagues in the media are going to have to get off the high horses we mounted when, in the wake of Watergate, exposing "corruption" became the surest path to journalistic gold and glory. We're going to have to stop the nonstop cynicism about politicians and start celebrating those who have the genius to find consensus, even when it gets messy. We need to be less puritanical about politics.
What would Lincoln do about the fiscal cliff? The answer seems obvious. He would narrow the debate where necessary--on the revenue side--while expanding it to make more-creative long-term judgments about spending. He'd set a revenue figure, let's say $2 trillion, and allow politics to run its course toward a $1.5 trillion-or-so compromise, with the actual menu of rate increases and loophole closings subject to the convenience of the pols. On the spending side, he would probably have to look at health care in a new way.


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(Bulk: 1925-1966)
Richards, Alfred N., (Alfred Newton), 1876-1966,
Extent: 38 cubic feet
Alfred Newton Richards arrived at the University of Pennsylvania Medical School in 1910 to be chair of Pharmacology, a position which he occupied until 1946, when he became Professor Emeritus. The University series consists of Richards' class lectures, notes regarding his courses, and laboratory experiment work. The laboratory experiments include those carried out by colleagues and students and those carried out solely by Richards or in conjunction with colleagues and students. Kidney function is the general subject of most of the experiments, but many specific aspects of this subject are examined.


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[COLOR=#3e3e3e]32kg x 2[/COLOR]
FSquat Doubles, 2 sets, 5mins rest per set[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]
Updated 10-24-2019 at 09:27 AM by Jonathan Boey
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