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AMU News
AMU News
Faculty of Social Sciences concludes Orientation Programme
Aligarh, February 9: The Faculty of Social Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University (AMU) today concluded its 14-days Orientation Programme on ?Research Methodology: Islamic Perspective? in collaboration with the Institute of Objective Studies, New Delhi with a Valedictory Function held at the Conference Room, Faculty of Social Sciences.
Discussing the current Western Methodology of research, the chief-guest, Prof Akhtar ul Wasey (President, Maulana Azad University, Jodhpur and Professor Emeritus, Jamia Millia Islamia) said that there are times when unclear notion of reality leads to the deficiency in research methodology. He added that scholars adopted materialism as being the essence of reality while ignoring or rejecting the spiritual factor in studying the social realities.
Prof Jamil Farooqui from ILU Malaysia, who attended the function as a guest-of honour said that the ?Islamic Perspective? emphasizes the need for empirical research in the light of Quran and Sunna while explaining the relevance of traditional sources of research.
Prof Shamim A Ansari (Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences) thanked the guests for their taking time out of their schedule to attend the lecture. He added that the lectures of the guest speakers have been inspiring for the participants.
Prof Akbar Husain proposed the vote of thanks. Dr Nasheed Imtiyaz presented the programme report, while Dr Huma Parveen conducted the valedictory function.
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09-OCT-2018 : No restrictions on entry of vehicles for genuine reason Aligarh, October 9: There have been some re
08-OCT-2018 : AMU Vice Chancellor attends first India-Indonesia Inter Faith Dialogue as part of Indian delegation
08-OCT-2018 : Dr M J Warsi delivers keynote address at Indian Spinal Injuries Centre, New Delhi Aligarh, October
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06-OCT-2018 : Dr Jagdish Chandra delivers lecture on 'Globalisation and Disability Rights Movement' Aligarh, Oct
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06-OCT-2018 : AMU Murshidabad Centre organizes induction programme ALIGARH October 6: The Aligarh Muslim Universi
06-OCT-2018 : Prof Svetlana Ryzhakova, Russian Theatre Scholar, visits AMU Aligarh, October 6, 2018: Professor Sv
05-OCT-2018 : Entrepreneurship Awareness Camp at University Polytechnic Aligarh, October 5: The Training and Pla
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Tim CornettFree Agent
Running Back
Ht: | Wt:
News | Stats | Stat vs. Team | Targets | Injury | Depth Chart | Roster
|Rush Yds
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|NFL | Two RBs clear waivers
Wed, 13 Aug 2014 17:25:43 -0700
Free-agent RBs Tim Cornett (Texans) and Dennis Johnson (Texans) cleared waivers Wednesday, Aug. 13, and are eligible to sign with any team.
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|Texans | Cut two RBs
Mon, 11 Aug 2014 17:34:45 -0700
The Houston Texans cut RB Tim Cornett and RB Dennis Johnson Monday, Aug. 11.
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|| Source: Houston Chronicle - John McClain
|Texans | Two signed, one cut
Tue, 29 Jul 2014 05:37:55 -0700
The Houston Texans signed free-agent RB Tim Cornett (Cardinals) and OT Mike Farrell (Broncos) to undisclosed deals. LB Ricky Sapp was waived.
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|| Source: Houston Chronicle - John McClain
|Cardinals | Roster moves
Tue, 27 May 2014 16:45:18 -0700
The Arizona Cardinals signed free-agent OT Cory Brandon (Bears), CB Jimmy Legree (South Carolina), WR Kevin Ozier (Arizona State) and RB Jalen Parmele (Titans) Tuesday, May 27. In corresponding moves, the club released RB Tim Cornett, CB LeQuan Lewis, WR Corey Washington and OT Kadeem Williams.
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|Cardinals | 11 signed
Mon, 12 May 2014 16:51:23 -0700
The Arizona Cardinals signed undrafted free-agent LB Jonathan Brown (Illinois), PK Chandler Catanzaro (Clemson), RB Tim Cornett (Nevada-Las Vegas), DT Bruce Gaston (Purdue), OT Kevin Palmer (Baylor), WR Kelsey Pope (Samford), CB Brandon Sermons (California-Los Angeles), WR Kevin Smith (Washington), WR Corey Washington (Newberry), CB Todd Washington (Southeast Louisiana) and OT Kadeem Williams (Albany) to undisclosed deals.
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|NFL | Tim Cornett runs the 40
Sun, 23 Feb 2014 13:43:05 -0800
Nevada-Las Vegas RB Tim Cornett ran an official time of 4.48 seconds in the 40-yard dash Sunday, Feb. 23.
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|| Source: NESN.com - Doug Kyed
|NFL | 33 tailbacks invited to Combine
Thu, 06 Feb 2014 20:46:35 -0800
Western Kentucky RB Antonio Andrews, Kent State RB Dri Archer, Notre Dame RB George Atkinson III, Colorado State RB Kapri Bibbs, LSU RB Alfred Blue, Arizona RB Ka'Deem Carey, UNLV RB Tom Cornett, Alabama State RB Isaiah Crowell, Sam Houston State RB Timothy Flanders, Toledo RB David Fluellen, Florida State RB Devonta Freeman, Stanford RB Tyler Gaffney, Arizona State RB Marion Grice, LSU RB Jeremy Hill, Ohio State RB Carlos Hyde, UCF RB Storm Johnson, Missouri RB Henry Josey, Auburn RB Tre Mason, Georgia Southern RB Jerick McKinnon, San Diego State RB Adam Muema, Mississippi State RB LaDarius Perkins, USC RB Silas Redd, Washington RB Bishop Sankey, Baylor RB Lache Seastrunk, West Virginia RB Charles Sims, Syracuse RB Jerome Smith, Coastal Carolina RB Lorenzo Taliaferro, Oregon RB De'Anthony Thomas, Towson RB Terrance West, Wisconsin RB James White, Florida State RB James Wilder Jr., Boston College RB Andre Williams and Oklahoma RB Damien Williams have been invited to the 2014 NFL Scouting Combine.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Joseph F. "Pete" Murphy
"Pete" Murphy, age 88, of Appleton, Wis., passed away at Appleton Medical Center Nov. 19, 2012. Pete was born on June 11, 1924, in Middletown, to the late Joseph F. and Marie (Vanicek) Murphy. He married Katherine "Katy" Smith on Oct. 8, 1949, in Jamestown.
Pete proudly served his country in the United States Navy during World War II, participating in five invasions in the South Pacific. In June of 2011 he was honored for his military service through the Old Glory Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. It was Pete's love of the ocean and beaches that led him to his service in the Navy. He was a member of American Legion Burns Post No. 38.
Pete was employed at Electro- Motive, a division of General Motors, for more than three decades, retiring in 1987. He was a loving husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather.
Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Katy; his children, Nancy (Bill) Guilbeault, Appleton; Joseph Murphy, Amelia Island, Fla.; and Elizabeth (James) Carder, Yorba Linda, Calif.; his grandchildren, Brian (Cassie) Guilbeault, Dan Guilbeault, Beth (Bill) Hanna, Mary Guilbeault, Lauren Murphy (fiancé Lucas), Matthew Murphy, Colette Murphy, Graham Murphy, Margaret Fulghum, Katherine Fulghum (fiancé Travis), Jake Fulghum, Meghan Carder, Jessica Carder and Courtney Carder; and his three great-grandsons, Will, Howie and Gus Guilbeault. Pete is further survived by nieces, nephews, other relatives and friends. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Brigid, and his sisters, Margaret Mattila and Barbara Culley.
A memorial has been established in his name. The family would like to extend a sincere thank you to the staff at the Cardiac Unit of AMC.


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Anthropogenic fire is a form of ecosystem engineering that creates greater landscape patchiness at small spatial scales: such rescaling of patch diversity through mosaic burning has been argued to be a form of niche construction, the loss of which may have precipitated the decline and extinction of many endemic species in the Western Desert of Australia. We find evidence to support this hypothesis relative to one keystone species, the sand monitor lizard (Varanus gouldii). Paradoxically, V. gouldii populations are higher where Aboriginal hunting is most intense. This effect is driven by an increase in V. gouldii densities near successional edges, which is higher in landscapes that experience extensive human burning. Over time, the positive effects of patch mosaic burning while hunting overwhelm the negative effects of predation in recently burned areas to produce overall positive impacts on lizard populations. These results offer critical insights into the maintenance of animal communities in the desert, supporting the hypothesis that the current high rate of endemic species decline among small animals may be linked to the interaction between invasive species and mid-century removal of Aboriginal niche construction through hunting and patch mosaic burning.
1. Introduction
Despite the increasing attention to ecosystem engineering as an important constructive force in the ecology and evolution of biotic communities [1,2], humans are widely perceived primarily through their destructive effects on vulnerable prey communities. While there are many examples of negative effects, such as population depression, extinction and niche destruction [3,4]; positive effects, such as enhancing another species' population growth or constructing new niches to support a wider range of other species, are difficult to find. Yet humans, particularly hunter–gatherers, do have the potential to be significant 'ecosystem engineers [5]': organisms that physically modify the environment in ways that benefit other species as well as themselves [6–8]. When hunter–gatherers employ patch mosaic burning over large spatial extents, landscape heterogeneity is enhanced, which may stabilize species interactions [9–11] and provide rescaling and habitat protection effects for species that require a variety of habitats for both food and shelter [12–14]. When hunter–gatherers have broad-spectrum diets and hunt many different prey species at multiple trophic levels [15], food web stability might increase, allowing more species to persist with more stable populations than in the absence of such generalized predation [16].
Biotic communities characterized by substantial histories of such engineering should eventually become adapted to these niche-constructing activities, even dependent upon them. These kinds of evolutionary feedbacks are commonly observed through removal experiments, either natural or artificial: the removal of a potent ecosystem engineer should have cascading effects on many other species [17]. For example, sea otters prevent urchins from denuding kelp beds and promote the return of sea grasses [18,19], providing habitat for many species of fish and shellfish: in the absence of otters, vegetation disappears as well as the fish that depend on it. Such effects have been demonstrated for a variety of other species, but evidence for human niche construction has been limited primarily to the introduction of novel species, mainly through domestication [7].
Yet, plant domestication is not the only type of niche construction: hunter–gatherers also have the potential to have positive impacts on ecosystems, especially where their life ways have persisted in situ for millennia. Australia is one continent where we are likely to find such evidence. In the arid desert grasslands that cover much of the continent, human foraging has been part of the landscape for at least the last 36 000 years or more [20,21], and in some places, still persists. Desert foraging strategies (at least as documented ethnohistorically) have commonly incorporated the use of fire to increase hunting returns. Hunting effort of both men and women was focused around the acquisition of small-to-medium-sized animals, both mammals and herpetofauna, with the occasional larger prey (kangaroo, Macropus robustus and Macropus rufus and emu, Dromaius novaehollandiae) [22–24]. Throughout the desert, fires were used primarily during the cool-dry season to clear areas of mature spinifex (Triodia spp.) grassland in sandplain and dune country to facilitate search for burrowed prey, especially sand monitor (Varanus gouldii) and other herpetofauna, but also small mammals, such as bilby (Macrotis lagotis, now rare), burrowing bettong (Bettongia lesueur, extinct in the Australian mainland) and rufous hare-wallaby (Lagorchestes hirsutus, highly endangered). Spot fires for flushing prey were used while hunting for larger monitors (Varanus giganteus and Varanus panoptes), brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula, now rare in the desert) and the feral house-cat (Felis domesticus). Plants found at high density only in recently burned areas were dietary staples: Solanum diversiflorum and Solanum centrale, and grass seeds, such as Eragrostis and Panicum. Desert foragers moved across an extensive landscape, concentrating their hunting and burning around reliable water, and moving on to new camps when hunting returns declined.
Entangled within the practice of foraging is a body of knowledge concerning the nature of the relationships between humans and other species, and how those relationships were maintained: the Dreaming, what Aboriginal people in the Western Desert refer to as Jukurr. The Jukurrpa is described by Aboriginal people variously as 'Law', 'Business' or 'University', as cosmology, philosophy and natural history. It explains 'not just what animals do and where plants grow, but why they live the way they do and how they are related to each other and to the ancestral beings' (P. Taylor 2003, personal communication). It contains information about the origins of life and the mechanisms of its maintenance, including detailed information about ecological interactions, down to the minutia of which species of skink returns to the same location to defaecate and which mouse prefers recently burnt spinifex. Critical to the perpetuation of life is the proper adherence to Jukurrpa, which frames the importance of fire within the notion that the country must be used if life is to continue. As one elder puts it, to stop hunting and to stop burning would mean 'the end of the world' (P. Biljabu 2002, personal communication). Many Aboriginal people believe that if they do not continue to re-enact the Jukurrpa through emulating the creative forces of the ancestral beings across the landscape—hunting, collecting, burning and caring for family—those plants and animals that depend on their actions will cease to exist. This belief has important material ecological expression.
Most of the last nomadic groups of desert foragers left the desert regions between the late 1950s and early 1970s, moving towards missions and pastoral stations around the desert's margins. During that time, somewhere between 10 and 20 native species went extinct, 43 more went into sharp decline, and the landscape was dominated by extensive lightening fires [25,26]. Analysis of aerial photography and satellite imagery covering a large tract (241 210 ha) of Western Desert grassland demonstrated significant shifts in mean fire size, from 64 ha in 1953, when Aboriginal foragers were present, to more than 52 000 ha in 1984 [26]. In 1984, a group of Manyjiljarra, Kartujarra and Warnman-speaking desert dwellers (Martu) returned to their traditional country in the Little Sandy Desert after a 20-year absence and immediately lamented the state of the land and especially its perceived scarcity of edible foods (F. Walsh 2008, unpublished data). They began to burn small fires near camps and along tracks, paths and roads leading to hunting locations and water sources. They adopted new technologies (vehicles, rifles, etc.) to increase foraging efficiency in a degraded landscape and imported supplemental food sources (purchased goods). Since the 1980s, Aboriginal fires in localized regions have restored a finer-grained, more diverse successional mosaic, which prevents the spread of large lightening fires and actually protects more mature vegetation from burning. In regions without Aboriginal fires, far from communities and hunting camps and tracks, lightening is still the major source of fire ignition: fires are much larger, farther apart and more habitat is burnt [27,28]. Because Martu burn when they hunt small prey, hunting intensity is correlated with the number and size of fires on the landscape, leading to a finer-grained mosaic of patches in different stages of regrowth (successional patch) compared with lightening-dominated mosaics (see the electronic supplementary material). As use of a region by Martu hunters increases, the mean number of successional patches increases, causing successional patch diversity (Simpson's Diversity Index), edge density (the metres of contrast between two different fire ages per square metre) and the amount of unburned area to increase [27,28].
The solution to the mystery of species extinctions in the Western Desert may lie at least in part, in linking Dreamtime logic to these ecological consequences. The belief that it is not hunting that causes prey decline, but the lack of it, seems paradoxical, and to some, evidence of a religiously mandated mythology that has little to do with ecological reality [29]. Here, we propose one ecological hypothesis that is consistent with (if not part of) Dreamtime logic: that the creation of finer-grained habitat mosaics through the application of fire (patch mosaic burning) in the course of hunting acts as a type of ecosystem engineering that provides net positive effects to some species, including humans themselves. Over time, these ecosystem engineering effects change the availability of habitat niches, supporting a range of species that would not otherwise persist in this desert region: such evolutionary consequences would turn ecosystem engineering into a form of niche construction [17]. These positive effects for some species could come about because finer-grained habitat mosaics increase returns for high-ranked resources through reducing search or pursuit costs, or reduce mortality rates from non-human predators (including invasive cats and foxes, which are now primary sources of mortality) by reducing distance between refuge and foraging locations. The fact that today, the landscape is segregated into areas of intense versus no human influence, provides a natural 'removal' experiment through which we can test for the ecosystem engineering effects on species distributions and human foraging returns.
Here, we investigate the interactive effects of patch mosaic burning and Martu hunting on sand monitor (V. gouldii) population density. The half-kilogram sand monitor is a generalist forager that pursues a wide variety of animal prey, especially smaller lizards, insects and arachnids [30]. Over 50% of contemporary Martu foraging time is devoted to hunting for V. gouldii. Foraging efficiency is constrained by visibility in spinifex-dominated sandplain, so foragers either target recently burned areas, or burn their own patches for immediate search. Herpetofauna enter a period of brumation during the cool-dry season (May to September) and most hunting fires are set during this time in habitat preferred for winter burrows. Hunters (more often women) work alone, or in small cooperative groups to burn an area of oldergrowth spinifex, search for fresh burrows, then probe with a long, narrow digging stick to search for the resting chamber, which usually lies 10–20 cm below the ground surface. Summer season hunts when varanids are more mobile target early successional habitat with good track visibility. While human hunting may provide direct negative effects on V. gouldii populations, it may also provide indirect positive effects either by increasing habitat suitability through patch burning or by removing other predators, such as giant perenties (V. giganteus), argus monitors (V. panoptes) and feral cats [31].
We tease out the linked effects of hunting and patch mosaic burning by examining landscapes at varying travel distances from Martu communities: given that Martu are central-place foragers, as travel distance increases, both use of fire and intensity of hunting on V. gouldii should decrease. However, hunting V. gouldii is linked to the immediate presence of fire: in heavy-use landscapes, burned patches are likely to be where Martu have removed prey. If there is a net positive effect of patch mosaic burning on V. gouldii, we should see an increase in prey density with landscape use (figure 1). Alternatively, if there is a net negative effect of hunting, we would expect to see a net decrease in prey density with use. However, it is likely that there are both positive and negative effects at different spatial scales and that the strength of the negative effect depends on whether a local area has been burnt and prey removed by human hunters. If so, we should see an overall increase in V. gouldii density with use in unburned patches (reflecting the positive effects of ecosystem engineering through patch mosaic burning), but depending on the balance of positive and negative forces, either a decline or an intermediate peak in density in burned patches, reflecting the negative effects of human hunting. Martu landscape use should show positive feedback effects to human hunters: here we measure such effects as % of harvests with no prey captured, harvest size (kcals of V. gouldii), and return rate (kcals V. gouldii per hour spent in search and pursuit). All of these metrics should increase consistently or show an intermediate peak with use if burning is a form of ecosystem engineering.
2. Material and methods
The study region includes more than 46 000 km2 of the Great and Little Sandy Deserts bioregion of Western Australia (see the electronic supplementary material, figure S1). Within this area, there are four primary ecological communities: (i) spinifex (Triodia schinzii and Triodia basedowii) and Acacia (Acacia pachycarpa and Acacia ligulata, among others) dominated sandplains and dunes covering 85.6% of the total land area, (ii) lateric uplands and clay-dominated soils with mulga (Acacia aneura) woodland (2.4%) and Cassia shrubland (1.1%), (iii) Triodia-dominated but poorly vegetated rocky ranges (7.3%) and (iv) Eucalyptus (mainly Eucalyptus victrix and Eucalyptus microtheca)-dominated watercourse margins and floodplains (3.2%). This area includes a large portion of the Martu Aboriginal Native Title and Karlamilyi (Rudall River) National Park in which two Martu communities (Parnngurr and Punmu) are located.
Martu foraging data are available from 347 sample days and 4461 focal person-hours of search and pursuit in hunting and collecting (all seasons, June 2000–September 2010). The hunting returns used in the analysis below come from this dataset, in which on each sample day, we accompanied a foraging group from the community (Parnngurr or Punmu), usually in a vehicle, and recorded the location of the 'dinner camp', a centrally located cooking hearth which served as the temporary base for the foraging group and followed at least one hunter as they walked on foot from the dinner camp, which marked the beginning and end of each individual foraging bout. There were a total of 266 separate dinner camps for which spatial information and foraging data are complete. Each foraging bout (n = 1811 adult bouts, 104 different foragers) includes the number, type and weight of all resources acquired by each participant in the foraging party, total time each spent in search, pursuit and processing of each resource type, as well as time spent in burning and the location of ignition points. In our sample, Martu harvested 0.83 V. gouldii per adult forager per day hunting occurred. This sums to 1754 V. gouldii over 315 foraging days (1882 person-days), captured in 705 hunts. Energetic returns are calculated as net energy gained per forager per hour in search and pursuit. Net energy calculations are estimated based on a standard value of 3 kcal min–1, the cost of walking by a 60 kg individual at 3.2 km h–1.
Martu are central-place foragers, and as such, the intensity with which any region is searched (forager-hours per square kilometre) should be, all else being equal, a function of travel costs from the central place. Prey depletion is thus more likely in regions that have lower (time) costs of travel. To determine how human activity and predation rates vary across the landscape, we mapped vehicle tracks used during foraging trips with a hand-held GPS and used them to construct 12 separate buffer regions at varying distances from roads and communities. We then analysed the spatial distribution of the 266 foraging camps across each of the 12 buffers. Out of all foraging camps 50.2% were established within 20 km of the community (about 10–20 min one-way travel time) and less than 500 m from an established vehicle track: buffers within this distance were classified rank 4. A total of 38.4% of camps (rank 3) were located close to tracks between 20 and 50 km from a community, or close to the community but between 500 and 1500 m from a track. A total of 10.4% of all camps (rank 2) were within 20–50 km from a community and between 500 and 1500 m from a track, and more than 50 km and between 1500 and 5000 m from a track. The regions with the lowest human impact (rank 1, less than 1% of all camps) were those at all distances from communities that were more than 5000 m from a track. The intensity of use of each ranked region is calculated as forager-days per square kilometre observed in our sample (see electronic supplementary material, figure S1).
To survey V. gouldii populations, we conducted a series of ten 10 × 10 m linear pedestrian transects roughly perpendicular to vehicle tracks at varying distances from Parnngurr and Punmu communities during June and July of 2003. Each transect was subdivided into plots of 100 m2 in which we enumerated all visible new burrows of V. gouldii and estimated the proportion of spinifex cover and successional stage. There were 368 plots in use-rank 4, 2921 in rank 3, 4282 in rank 2, and 607 in rank 1. Adjacent plots across transects exhibited no significant autocorrelation. Only fresh, likely burrow sites were counted (e.g. those with a loose mound of soil at the entrance): feeding holes (e.g. no or minimal soil mound at the entrance) were not enumerated. The criterion for burrow identification was developed by one of us, N.T., who is a Martu hunter herself. As this survey was conducted in the Austral winter, V. gouldii were brumating in their winter burrows. In this analysis, we use only plots falling entirely in spinifex sandplain and dunefield. Each plot fell entirely within a single successional stage: for this analysis, we collapse patch time since fire into two stages, approximately less than 5 years since fire (burned) and approximately more than 5 years since fire (unburned). This successional stage classification corresponds to the Martu distinction between 'regrowing' (waru-waru and nyukura) and 'burnable' (manguu and kunarka) vegetation. Analysis was conducted in JMP, v. 10, SAS Institute Inc.
3. Results
(a) Effects of use on lizard density
Paradoxically, lizards are denser where they are hunted most often. The mean percentage of plots with lizards present increases from 7.6 ± 1.8% (95% CI) in lowest use landscapes (use rank 1), to 9.9 ± 0.9 in rank 2, to 11.9 ± 1.1 in rank 3, to 13.0 ± 3.1% in landscapes under highest human hunting pressure (rank 4) (logistic regression, n = 8178, χ2 = 16.10, p = 0.0011). Successional stage does not have a significant effect independently of use rank (χ2 = 2.33, p = 0.1302). When we consider burned and unburned plots separately, use rank is a highly significant predictor of burrow presence in both (GLM binomial logit, maximum-likelihood estimation, burned: n = 6429, χ2 = 14.22, p = 0.0026; unburned: –n = 1748, χ2 = 22.86, p < 0.0001). However, burned and unburned plots exhibit different responses to use rank (figure 2). Lizard densities peak under intermediate use in burned plots, with densities under high and low use not significantly different. However, there is no intermediate optimum for unburned plots: densities increase to a peak under highest use of a region. Differences between burned and unburned plots are significant only for the highest use rank. If V. gouldii are indeed at higher density in more diverse habitat, we should expect to see more burrows at the edges of patches, where lizards have easy access both to mature and early or mid-successional habitat. In the transect survey, there were 1748 late successional plots: 294 of these were within 20 m of an earlier burn. Controlling for the covarying effects of use rank, edge plots in late successional habitat were 1.51 times more likely to have burrows present compared with non-edge late successional plots (likelihood ratio test, χ2 = 4.74, p = 0.0294). Use rank significantly predicts measures of fire patch size and landscape diversity (see electronic supplementary material, figure S2).
(b) Effects on Martu hunting returns
Landscape-level effects on lizard density have measurable impacts on Martu hunting return rates. Lizard hunting returns are poorer and more uncertain in landscapes unmodified by human activity. In comparison to use rank 1, a lizard hunter's odds of harvest failure are 6.04p<0.0001, 6.23p=0.0001 and 5.42p=0.0003 times lower in use ranks 2, 3 and 4, respectively (logistic regression, controlling for sex, season, cooperation and precipitation, model χ2 = 54.63, p < 0.0001). Harvest sizes (per forager-day) in regions experiencing the lowest human predation intensity are halved compared with intermediate use ranks (table 1). This effect is driven by the rate at which foragers encounter successional patch diversity while hunting: an increase in diversity from 1 to 2 successional stages encountered per hour raises net foraging returns from 541 ± 827 to 1256 ± 675 kcals h−1 (least-square (LS) mixed model (forager ID as random effect), model r2 = 0.279, β = 727, model F ratio = 7.55, p = 0.0104, n = 31). The impetus to burn is owing to the impact of fire on foraging returns at the patch scale. Foragers gain their highest returns in the winter, when pursuits involve mainly burrow-spotting, by burning late successional vegetation: fire increases net foraging returns from 25 kcal h−1 to 1552 (table 2). In the summer, when lizards are pursued by tracking, access to ground burned earlier in the season is critical: returns are lower with more plant cover as tracks become more difficult to see.
4. Discussion
Martu patch mosaic burning while hunting V. gouldii and other prey creates habitat patchiness that provides net positive benefits to lizard populations, feeding back to increase human hunting returns in regions of intermediate hunting intensity. Plots in unburned patches show an increase in V. gouldii density with use, whereas plots in burned patches show an intermediate optima. The difference between burned and unburned plots under heaviest human use reflects the extent to which hunting reduces local populations; the lack of a significant difference between burned plots under heavy use and burned plots under no human use suggest that the negative effects of hunting at the patch scale are balanced by the positive effects of human ecosystem engineering at the landscape scale. That this effect is owing to the rescaling of patch size through patch mosaic burning is indicated by the significant effect of edge contrasts on burrow presence. Burrows are more concentrated in patches of mature vegetation within a short distance of a previous burn. However, Martu patch mosaic burning is not designed to create more ideal habitat for V. gouldii per se: hunters burn primarily in the winter months when search and pursuit involves burrow-spotting because their net foraging returns increase more than 62 times. Sand monitor probably benefit because burning creates more diverse plant and animal communities across smaller scales on the landscape, increasing V. gouldii access to high-ranked prey [32,33].
Here, we have shown that at least one species is more abundant in anthropogenically modified environments, but there is at least circumstantial evidence to support the hypothesis that human ecosystem engineering has evolutionary consequences for a broader range of species. The fact that native mammal decline and extinction corresponded with an increase in invasive mesopredator populations and the departure of Martu and other linguistic groups from the desert between the 1930s and 1970s [25] suggests an even stronger argument for the niche construction aspects of Martu patch mosaic burning. The ecosystem engineering effects of burning that positively impact V. gouldii may also have supported a wide range of small mammals that also benefit from smaller fire mosaics. Rufous hare-wallabies (Lagorchestes hirsutus, now highly endangered) are browsers that feed on plants in many different successional stages and require mature spinifex hummocks for nesting and predator protection. Prior to the 1950s, they were abundant and hunted frequently by Martu throughout the spinifex sandplains, but their continued persistence may be dependent on patch mosaic burning to maintain access to early successional habitat adjacent to mature spinifex which provides refuge from predators [34–36]. Likewise, the brushtail possum (T. vulpecula) seems to have been able to persist in regions only where its habitat, riparian eucalyptus woodlands, is still protected from devastating fire through Aboriginal patch mosaic burning [37]. It was not human hunting of these small mammals that led to their extinction but the loss of human hunting. The loss of human hunting and burning may have led to an increase in predation (especially from invasive cats and foxes) and a reduction in the food supply that caused many of these animals adapted to smaller scale fire mosaics to go extinct or abandon the desert for more favourable regions.
The loss of Martu ecosystem engineering has had a negative impact on people as well. Facing an environment in which prey density is much lower than that in the past, foragers have adopted vehicles to reduce the costs of travelling between patches, and rely in part on imported foods. However, in doing so, Martu face new trade-offs. Using vehicles means that most hunting and burning is constrained to regions near tracks and roads, limiting the spatial extent that Martu can affect through fire, and creating vast landscapes interior to tracks where lightening fires burn unimpeded. The increased reliance on imported foods, which are expensive and of low quality has had damaging effects on indigenous health and well-being [38]. The logic of the Dreaming—that a healthy people and a healthy country are linked through fire and the use of resources—reflects a sophisticated ecological and evolutionary understanding of the ways that human activity functions as a keystone process in this desert climate. An environment that can support both healthy people and a wide range of now critically endangered species may now be linked to the continued presence and traditional hunting activities of Aboriginal people. Such effects are likely to be found in other environments in which indigenous patch mosaic burning and hunting provides a significant engineering effect.
Finding such effects requires recognizing the complexity of human–environment interactions: that there are both positive and negative feedbacks to humans and to other species, which are felt both directly, and indirectly via their effects on some other organism (e.g. removing a competitor), and which are characterized by spatially varying degrees of intensity. This complexity is further enhanced by heterogeneity in species responses to human predation and landscape modification: some species, like the sand monitor lizard described here, with fast life histories and a generalized diet, may respond positively to anthropogenic landscapes; others, such as more specialized, slowly reproducing species, may not.
The extent to which humans do end up embedded within ecosystems as a keystone species is likely to be a function of a long history of coevolutionary interaction between cultural practice and particular ecological communities, where ecoevolutionary feedbacks to human decision-making processes are the main force of cultural evolutionary change. This would be more likely where cultural evolutionary change is not complicated by the flow of practices and technologies between individuals living in widely varying environments, where individuals cannot simply move away to a new region or new environment when things get bad locally, and where populations can make it through the initial instability caused by practices that are not sustainable. There are certainly many examples of populations moving into new environments (for example, small oceanic islands) and importing practices that cause ecosystems to collapse, with subsequent negative effects on the human populations themselves. However, given enough time and given that human effects are spatially variable, we should see a cultural practice which is highly fine-tuned to local environments, where activities that produce net negative feedbacks to humans result in a decline in population, whereas those that produce net positive feedbacks increase populations. Beliefs such as the Jukurr are the institutionalization of such histories of ecological practice.
Data accessibility
All data referenced here are in the possession of the primary author and can be obtained upon request.
Funding statement
The research we report here was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation, the Leakey Foundation and the Woods Institute for the Environment, Stanford University.
The authors are grateful to the Martu communities of Parnngurr and Punmu for hosting, supporting and carrying out this research project, to Christopher Parker and Brooke Scelza for assisting in data collection, and to Eric Pianka, Lisa Curran, Neil Burrows, Don Hankins, and two anonymous reviewers for comments on earlier versions of this paper.
- Received September 3, 2013.
- Accepted October 2, 2013.
- © 2013 The Author(s) Published by the Royal Society. All rights reserved.


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posted by Thom Holwerda on Fri 7th Jun 2013 12:03 UTC
"If you've been watching the webOS Nation Forums or the webOS community on Twitter, you may have seen the troubling reports that a vital 'root certificate' on webOS devices is due to expire on July 23, 2013. This certificate is responsible for ensuring secure access to HP's webOS cloud services, including backup and the App Catalog, and once it expires, there's no accessing those services. It's a problem, a ticking time bomb, if you will. We've been wondering if or when HP was going to fix the issue, and indeed had heard rumblings that a fix was in the works and due - wait for it - in the coming weeks. Today we got word from HP that the fix is indeed coming. In fact, it's due today, and it's coming in the form of an update to the the webOS App Catalog."


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NetWellness is a global, community service providing quality, unbiased health information from our partners. NetWellness is commercial-free and does not accept advertising.
Thursday, September 24, 2015
Lung diseases
Can Vaccinations Causes Complications?
I just had a pneumonia vaccine today, thinking that I had never had it before. When I checked my shot record when I got home, I found that it was listed (but there was no date). It must be from several years ago. Do you think there will be any problems from being vaccinated twice? I am 49 years old and I have type 2 diabetes. Thank you.
There is no problem with receiving the vaccine too frequently and most authorities believe it is better to receive it too often rather than not often enough. The Centers for Disease Control recommends that persons with diabetes receive the pneumococcal vaccine once or twice (if twice, then the second vaccine ideally should be 5 years after the first). The CDC vaccine recommendations are updated annually and the most recent recommendations can be found at the website listed below.
James N Allen, Jr, MD
Clinical Professor of Pulmonary, Allergy, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine
College of Medicine
The Ohio State University


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SAN JOSE, Calif. – The San Jose Earthquakes announced today that the club has waived midfielder Ellis McLoughlin and defender Josh Suggs.
McLoughlin scored one goal and made 10 appearances as a substitute in his two years with the club. Suggs started four games in Reserve League play this season, his first with San Jose.
Transaction: San Jose Earthquakes (MLS) – Earthquakes waive D Josh Suggs and M Ellis McLoughlin.


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The Three Lions' 2-1 win over Brazil at Wembley earlier in February showcased some of the nation's bright young talent with the likes of Jack Wilshere, Tom Cleverley and Danny Welbeck further establishing themselves in the squad.
And Hodgson was pleased to see his youngsters benefiting from time spent with veterans like Wayne Rooney, Frank Lampard and Steven Gerrard.
|England are 1/3 with Paddy Power to finish top of their World Cup qualifying group
"Surely [Daniel] Sturridge, [Chris] Smalling, Cleverley, Welbeck, [Theo] Walcott ... in order to grow, however, they will need to have near them the personality of people like Rooney, Lampard and Gerrard. We are building our future seriously."
The 65-year-old believes that a feel-good factor has returned to the English game, which he puts down to a number of reasons, from the national team once again showing promise to the new training centre at St George's Park.
"In the air there is optimism that is good for our growth, especially for young players," Hodgson added.
"We have made a big step with St George's Park, the center where we train now. England did not have a center associated with the national team. It's like Coverciano in Italy.
"Since I became coach last year, people seem happy and I believe it is also because England now has an English coach."


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CARSON, Calif. – Jose Erik Correa scored the lone goal as Chivas USA snapped a six-game losing streak against their across-the-hall rivals the LA Galaxy. It was their first SuperClásico victory in five years and their first home win in 2012.
The Rojiblancos struck in the 71st minute of play when Correa scored his second goal in two matches from the penalty spot after David Junior Lopes saw red for using his hand to block a shot on the line.
Chivas began the match with both of their midweek acquisitions, Danny Califf and Juan Agudelo in the starting lineup. Meanwhile, the Galaxy started the match without the services of David Beckham, Edson Buddle and Robbie Keane. Beckham and Buddle were placed on the bench by head coach Bruce Arena while Keane was absent due to right hamstring tightness.
Both sides had chances early in the half, but no one came as close as Miller Bolaños in the 34th minute, when he beat a Galaxy defender and fired a rocket from 25 yards out that rattled the right post.
Bolaños continued to cause trouble and felt he was unlucky not to earn a penalty in the 40th minute after he was clipped in the box by David Junior Lopes, only to see his shout waved off by referee Mark Geiger.
After struggling in the first half, the Galaxy flew out of the gate and in the 51st minute, the Galaxy had a pair of opportunities, the first a Pat Noonan shot that was pushed away by Dan Kennedy and then moments later, a near-post effort from Nakazawa that Kennedy did very well to get his body behind.
In hopes of livening up the action, both coaches made substitutions in the 60th minute as Arena injected Buddle into the lineup for Pat Noonan while Chivas boss Robin Fraser brought on Jorge Villafaña to replace Bolaños.
The move almost paid immediate dividends for the Galaxy as Donovan launched a pass from beyond midfield to Magee, who was alone on Califf, but lost possession before getting off a shot.
Postgame Interview: Sean Franklin
Although the Galaxy had looked to be gaining control, in the 70th minute, the pendulum swung Chivas' way when Oswaldo Minda fired a looping cross into the box that caused a collision between Agudelo and Perk as both attempted to gain control. The miscommunication caused the ball to fall for Correa, who fired a shot into the outstretched arm of Lopes, resulting in a penalty for Chivas and a straight red card for the defender for denying a goalscoring opportunity.
Correa's first attempt was called back for encroachment, but the Colombian buried his second attempt for his second goal in two matches.
OPTA Chalkboard: Chivas USA resolute in defense
After the goal, the Galaxy immediately brought Beckham into the match with Chad Barrett following several moments later. With the Englishman on the field, the Galaxy began to control possession, but were unable to find the equalizer.
The victory was Chivas' fourth in the SuperClásico, but the Galaxy hold a healthy 16-5-5 lead in the series.
Both clubs face a short turnaround and will be in action on Wednesday as the Galaxy host the San Jose Earthquakes while Chivas travel to Red Bull Arena to take on the New York Red Bulls.


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This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2012, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Provo • BYU's Jamaal Williams didn't act his age Friday night.
A 17-year-old freshman from Fontana, Calif., Williams rushed 15 times for 155 yards and two touchdowns to help carry the Cougars to a lopsided 47-0 victory over Hawaii at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
In BYU's first four games, Williams carried the ball 18 times. He gained 83 yards.
Against Hawaii, however, Williams averaged 10.3 yards per carry after starter Michael Alisa was injured in the first quarter.
"It felt pretty good having [the coaches] trust me," Williams said. "It seems like they believe in me."
No doubt.
Coach Bronco Mendenhall called Williams "a really good athlete" with "great vision" who "made the most of his opportunity" against Hawaii. Of course, the Warriors' defense is one of the worst in the country.
BYU gained 540 yards of total offense and piled up 30 first downs.
In losses to USC, Nevada and the Cougars, Hawaii has allowed 1,590 yards and 165 points.
"We couldn't get it going defensively," said Warrior coach Norm Chow.
For good reason, Mendenhall warned everyone not to go "too far on the Jamaal bandwagon," until he consistently produces against defenses like Utah State, Notre Dame, Oregon State and Georgia Tech.
"But we're encouraged tonight," Mendenhall said.
Williams got his big chance when Alisa, the junior starter, broke his right forearm.
On BYU's opening 77-yard drive for a touchdown, Alisa carried the ball twice.
He gained five yards to push BYU across midfield. Then, on second down from the Hawaii 9-yard line, he gained seven yards on a sweep.
Alisa was injured in the pileup, however, and Williams scored from the one with 10:43 left in the first quarter.
"When they told me he was hurt," Williams said, "I knew I had to step up and play my role running or blocking protection."
Williams ran. And ran. And ran.
He helped BYU's offense hold the ball for almost 36 minutes and demonstrated the kind of ability he has flashed.
"We've seen it with the touches he has gotten," Mendenhall said. "But Mike Alisa has been our featured back."
No longer, perhaps.


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High-Impact Set Design19 May, 2011 By: Meleah Maynard
Innovative Show Design gives Versus's Hockey Central a whole new look using CINEMA 4D and Vectorworks.
Having worked with NBC on Super Bowl XLIII and two long-running poker shows, Innovative Show Design (ISD) already had a solid relationship with NBC Sports when executive producer Sam Flood called with a request. He wanted a new look for the set of Hockey Central, which airs on the Versus channel. "Watch the show tonight and see what you can come up with," Flood told Justin Garrone, ISD's associate artistic director.
"We presented two desk designs and the next day, received a call from NBC requesting a meeting at the Versus studio," Garrone recalls. The following Monday, Chris Runnells, ISD's owner and creative director, flew to Connecticut to discuss the project further. Suddenly, what began as a request for a desk design became an opportunity to create an entirely new set. With a time frame of just three weeks, Runnells, Garrone, and the other members of the ISD management team, Nate Mitchell and Mark Dowling, used Nemetschek's Vectorworks and MAXON's CINEMA 4D (C4D) to create the new look.
One of the main goals of the set redesign was to create a more intimate space, with a desk that the show's hosts could gather around.
Combining Vectorworks and C4D is not unique to this project. ISD designers started using C4D four years ago, when they needed a better way to render from their CAD-based engineering program. "Nate [Mitchell] introduced CINEMA 4D as a more sophisticated way to render the companies' designs and give them a more realistic look," Runnells explains. And the ISD team plans to keep using C4D as part of their pipeline.
"We work so fast in CINEMA now because we've built a lot of tools, including a library of objects we use, so we don't have to redraw every single item every time," says Mitchell. Some of the most useful tools the group has made include an extensive texture library and an array of photometrically correct lights and cameras. "Justin [Garrone] and I have built lights and cameras [in the software] that perform exactly as they would in the real world, so clients can preview what their set is going to look like," Mitchell continues.
It's All About the Hockey
ISD created the new Hockey Central set from scratch. The existing set had been used for several seasons and multiple programs, so NBC executives decided they wanted to start over with a set specifically designed for the hockey program. The first goal was to design a new, much more intimate desk for the hosts to gather around. The concept that NBC presented to ISD was inspired by a Nok tabletop hockey game.
Designed to look like a hockey rink, the hosts' desktop incorporates a touchscreen that they use when discussing strategies and illustrating plays.
ISD developed two different takes on the desk design. The first, which had a more traditional and architectural feel, was based on the iconic Stanley Cup trophy. The second design was more technologically advanced, with monitors, moving media, and a desktop incorporating a touchscreen that looked like a miniature hockey rink. This technology would make it possible for the hosts to interact with the desk when illustrating plays and discussing strategies. NBC Versus opted for a combination of both styles, and decided to include a backdrop as well. ISD added dasher boards and Plexiglas acrylic sheets behind the hosts, onto which media could be projected to enhance the design.
ISD designed the set so that media could be projected onto dasher boards and sheets of Plexiglas positioned behind the hosts.
Because each of ISD's custom sets is uniquely designed to fit a particular location, measurements must be precise. Runnells and Garrone draw everything in real-world scale using Vectorworks before bringing designs back into C4D. Next, Mitchell and Dowling, the team's graphic artists, begin lighting and texturing the set to give it a photorealistic look. The team then uses its expertise to place cameras in the same way production staff would use them to shoot the show. As a result, clients are able to see precisely how their set will look and function prior to installation. This in-depth process means ISD sees projects all the way through from concept to design to the final build. "You don't get that with every design firm," says Mitchell.
Digitizing Dreams
Changes are an inherent part of any project. One of the things the ISD team likes most about using Vectorworks with C4D is how easy it is to clearly communicate designs to stakeholders, and to make changes before the team actually starts to cut wood and build. Even the smallest details of a design — such as the metallic texture on this set's columns — can be rendered and discussed with clients. "We did research to find different metallic laminates we could use for the columns and found one that really looks like glazed-over ice that's been scraped up by [skate] blades," Mitchell says.
CINEMA 4D enables ISD designers to render a variety of surface textures and materials in a realistic fashion.
Once Mitchell and Dowling bring the design into C4D, the scene is lit as it would be in real life, ensuring that the set looks as true to the final product as possible. For this project, the team used a new feature in C4D that allowed them to match the lights' color temperature to the actual fixtures that would be used.
"It's almost as if people have lost their ability to envision what things could be in our digital world," says Runnells. "So a lot of our design process comes from listening to our clients and creating their vision," he explains. "We take what they're saying and translate that into their vision even though a lot of the time they aren't able to say exactly what they want, so we listen and then digitize their dreams."
About the Author: Meleah Maynard
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Featured News - Current News - Archived News - News Categories
Legislation would allow taxpayers opportunity to vote on school system's annual spending plan
State Sen. Mark Grisanti, R-I-60, has announced the Senate passed bill S.1044 requiring the City of Buffalo's board of education to submit its annual school district budget to voters for approval prior to final adoption of the spending plan.
Grisanti's introduction of this bill, combined with his recent introduction of legislation that calls for the annual election of school board members in Buffalo to be moved from May to November, signifies his efforts try and increase the community's participation and involvement with the Buffalo School District. Grisanti said he believes encouraging more people to vote will allow special interest groups to have less influence over the day-to-day business of the city's school system.
"I am continuing my effort towards improving a school district that is failing, and it is my hope that allowing citizens to have a say in how the city is spending nearly $1 billion of their money annually on education will contribute to greater voter interaction and community involvement," Grisanti said. "The struggles of our school district is not something that is going to be solved overnight, but I believe allowing city residents to have a voice each year on the proposed budget is another step in the right direction. We need greater accountability from the elected members of Buffalo's board of education as well as the appointed employees who work for the city."
Though the majority of revenue for New York state's largest public school districts comes from state aid, local property tax levies make up a significant portion of school spending. In the City of Buffalo, nearly one-half of the property tax levy is allocated to the school district, but local residents have no direct input on the annual budget, unlike suburban districts. Buffalo is one of five school districts in the state that does not hold an annual vote on a proposed budget.
This marks the second consecutive year Grisanti has sponsored and passed this legislation. He said he is hopeful his colleagues in the state Assembly will support his efforts and pass a similar bill so that the legislation can be introduced into law.
"As educated citizens, we are used to being asked to make important decisions when it comes to electing people to public office," Grisanti said. "Other school districts throughout Western New York and across the state allow taxpayers to vote either in favor or against the proposed spending plan. I want Buffalo residents to have the same opportunity. The Assembly needs to join with me to change and help improve the process so we can move forward on reaching our shared goal of improving the educational opportunities provided to our children."


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Invasion of the Body Snatchers (78) (US - BD RA)
Gabe was sent a few must see horror comedies MGM, here's the first...
San Francisco health inspectors Matthew Bennell (Donald Sutherland) and Elizabeth Driscoll (Brooke Adams) discover a major health crisis in the form of alien spores. It turns out that the spores become pods, and grab onto people when they are sleeping to create a perfect physical clone. The clone's host is then exterminated. The process is changing the entire cities population into emotionless army of Pod People. Of course, none of the people around them believe the tall tale.
This new viewing of the 1978 version of Invasion of the Body Snatchers brings up two very important questions – 1. What is the greatest remake of all time, and 2. Who is America's must underrated directorial talent of the late '70-'80s era? What wars rage over such subjects, but I'd like to humbly toss both Body Snatchers and director Philip Kaufman to the top of these piles. The case for remake value is the easiest to argue against. The film itself starts a mini-tidal wave of classic horror remakes – The Thing, The Fly and The Blob – all of which must top someone's best remake list. Then there's all the old stuff you didn't even know were remakes, like The Maltese Falcon, House of Wax, or Mutiny on the Bounty. There are also those who'd lea towards a more modern pick like Dawn of the Dead, Ring or The Departed, but I like to think Body Snatchers comes in a close third behind The Fly and The Thing (too many memories). It isn't a sequel to the original film, but it doesn't play out as a clone either, bringing something new to the plot and all important subtext (it's not Communists we have to fear, it's the 'Me Generation', making the film a perfect double feature with the original Dawn of the Dead). And is one of the only horror films of the 1970s that still genuinely frightens me to this day.
This leads me to question number 2 and Philip Kaufman. The guy hasn't made very many movies, but most of his quests have turned dramatic gold. Other directors may have made dozens of movies, but how many of them can lay claim to The Right Stuff and The Unbearable Lightness of Being. And yet Kaufman is still a relative unknown to no-obsessive fan types, even after a tasty comeback flick like Quills (OK, I surely Twisted didn't do him any favours). Body Snatchers isn't his masterwork ( The Right Stuff is about a fly's tongue from a perfect film), but it's a damn fine earlier effort. Kaufman of course owes a load of the film success to the divinely touched, diverse, and unexpected cast featuring top performances from Donald Sutherland, Brooke Adams, Jeff Goldblum, Veronica Cartwright, and a cheeky Leonard Nimoy. The actors play what could be seen as some of the goofiest sci-fi schlock strait as an arrow, and as human as possible. For his part, Kaufman sets the so tightly certain scenes are almost unbearable.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers is a really dark film, dark enough that even 1080p video can't make it any easier to tell what's going on sometimes. There are times when this new transfer becomes sharper than the old DVD release, but in all I'd say the transfers are pretty comparable. Grain is lessened and certainly finer than the DVD, but there's still plenty of it to go around. I didn't catch any major compression artefacts, there's no edge enhancement. Colours are natural and clean, but thanks to the dependence on minimal light nothing ever really pops. I'd say that video-wise it'd take a pretty sharp eye and huge set to dive in for the double dip, assuming you own the anamorphic release.
Sound is a very import piece to the Invasion of the Body Snatchers, and sounds great in DTS-HD Master Audio, thanks to an already special Dolby Surround. Star Wars sound-star Ben Burtt really embraces the abstract for the film, which makes it all the more frightening. Heart beats are an integral part of the mix, and the LFE bump allows these scenes to throb. Besides the overwhelming nature of the abstract effects and music, there aren't a lot of directional effects, but the pod people shriek definitely surrounds the viewer. The dynamic nature of the noise
'Revisitors from Outer Space, or How I Stopped Worrying and Loved the Pod' (16:30, SD) is a solid retrospective featured, Discussion includes working with original director Don Siegel, the psychological aspects, metaphors, casting, location choices, cameos, and the final shot. 'Practical Magic' (4:40.SD) covers the film's budget special effects, from top to bottom. 'The Man Behind the Screams' (12:50, SD) is, like most Ben Burtt features, a pleasant discussion with the sound designer. 'The Invasion will be Televised' (5:20, SD) covers Taxi Driver and Raging Bull cinematographer Michael Chapman's contributions to the film, and his inspirations. Things end with the original theatrical trailer.
Apparently out of laziness the collection's producer's had some problem moving over all the extras from the special edition, so you get that with the included DVD. The track features Kaufman whose soothing voice softly rolling out basic behind the scenes information (covered mostly in the featurettes). There are nice anecdotes, funny stories, and few blank spaces.
Having been remade four times already, this is the best version of the story, followed very closely by the 1956 original. Abel Ferrara's 1993 version has a clever premise (co-written by Larry Cohen), and is truly frightening at some points, but is, like Ferrara's other films a bit 'challenging' in terms of pace. I've not seen the Oliver Hirschbiegel flop The Invasion but haven't heard anything good. I'm gonna call this release only if you don't have the DVD, otherwise there basically the same thing.
Note: The images on this page are not representative of the Blu-ray release.
Review by Gabriel Powers
Some material may not be suitable for children
Disc Details
Release Date: 13th September 2010
Discs: 2
Disc Type: Blu-ray Disc
RCE: No
Video: 1080p
Aspect: 1.85:1
Anamorphic: No
Colour: Yes
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English, Dolby 2.0 English
Subtitles: English SDH, French, Spanish
Extras: Re-Visitors from Outer Space, Practical Magic, The Man Behind the Screams, The Invasion will be Televised, Trailer, DVD Copy with Director's commentary
Easter Egg: No
Feature Details
Director: Philip Kaufman
Cast: Donald Sutherland, Jeff Goldblum, Brooke Adams, Leonard Nimoy
Genre: Drama, Horror, Sci-Fi and Thriller
Length: 115 minutes
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LAS VEGAS (AP) — Shania Twain has announced 22 new show dates this fall to round out the first year of her two-year Las Vegas Strip residency.
Twain told The Associated Press Monday that the show at Caesars Palace is "a dream performance scenario" that allows her to balance her roles as a mother and as a country superstar.
The 47-year-old Canadian singer known for "Any Man of Mine" and "That Don't Impress Me" made a grand entrance into Sin City on horseback and returned to the stage in December after nearly a decade in hiatus.
She sold out her first 24 performances of "Shania: Still the One" at the casino's Colosseum. Twain begins another set of 12 shows on May 14.
Tickets for shows between mid-October and mid-December go on sale Friday.


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Please note, for pick up we are using our 7-10 car hauler. So the driver will set up pick up location with you in advance-probably a big parking lot or a dealership.
Auto Transport Marshall and Car Shipping Services in Marshall, TX (75670)
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I am looking for writers to write an article forecasting each teams draft for NFLDraftSpot. In order to maintain a consistent look, they will need to be done in the following format. These dont need to be overly long or drawn out. But they do need to be well written and provide solid information. If I get multiple articles for any one team, I will use the article I feel is best. Please email to firstname.lastname@example.com. Note, I will need your full name for the Written By: John Doe part. Thank you.
One The Clock: Your Team
-Introduction paragraph that summarizes their 2009 season.
-Paragraph summarizing their 2009 draft
-Paragraph summarizing their 2010 needs, and why they are needs. Touch on potential free agents who may or could be leaving
-Paragraph forecasting what direction they could take in the 2010 draft. More so talk positions instead of actual prospects
-Paragraph talking about potential prospects the Your Team may or should have their eye on.
-Closing paragraph that summarizes what to expect next season. Example; If my Team is able to sure up their holes in the offensive line, blah, blah, blah. They will hope to continue to develop John Doe, etc, etc, etc.
2009 Draft Picks
List them
2010 Draft Picks
List the picks they have in the 2010 draft
1 (32)
2 (64)
We will start with the 32nd pick (SB winner), and work backwards. I will take care of formatting and adding pictures, etc.
The plan is to start with the Super Bowl winning team and the article will appear in the slider. It will be up for 2 days, then be placed into an "On The Clock" section, then go to the next team. So this will take take 64 days, and there are about 76 days remaining until the draft. I'm not even going to start this unless it can be finished, so I need enough articles in within the next 10 days to convince me to start it. Obviously there will be a priority to get the playoff teams done first, because they are up first. Feel free to do as many articles for as many teams as you want, just as long as you have a good beat on all of thier information.
In addition, the articles will appear on NFLSpot.com, and articles about the 49ers, Buccaneers, Colts, Panthers, Ravens, Steelers, Titans, and Vikings will appear on www.49ersSpot.com, www.BuccaneersSpot.com, www.ColtsSpot.com, etc...


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CARSON, Calif. – LA Galaxy Insider Adam Serrano provides his "Three Points" to the LA Galaxy's frustrating 1-1 draw to Chivas USA in the SuperClasico.
WATCH: Jack McBean's goal
Jack McBean has been knocking on the door of the LA Galaxy first team and on Sunday, he showed why he should be considered a major part of Bruce Arena's rotation with a goal in the SuperClasico.
McBean entered the game in the 64th minute, replacing Jose Villarreal, and was immediately active as the Galaxy looked to break the deadlock. In the 83rd minute, McBean and the Galaxy finally broke through. A.J. DeLaGarza made a run down the right side of the Chivas midfield and played a quick one-two with Sean Franklin inside the penalty area before playing a short pass to Mike Magee. Magee's clipped ball deflected off a Chivas USA defender, but McBean was able to react to the deflection and loop a header into the net despite a touch from Dan Kennedy.
With the Galaxy entering into a period of heavy match congestion with MLS and CONCACAF Champions League commitments, as well as the loss of Robbie Keane to international duty, expect McBean to see more playing time against the Colorado Rapids.
WATCH: Carlos Alavrez's goal
McBean put the Galaxy ahead, but a goal in the 89th minute for Los Angeles-native Carlos Alavrez allowed 10-man Chivas USA to steal a point in the SuperClasico first SuperClasico of 2013.
Alvarez, who made his MLS debut coming on as a halftime substitute for the Rojiblancos broke through with just a minute remaining in regulation. The play began as Eric Avila bypassed the Galaxy defense and found Carlos Borja, who fired a low cross through the box and across the face of goal for Alvarez to tap over the line.
The draw was the first in the SuperClasico since April 2009 and while the Galaxy are now 6-1-1 in the SuperClasico dating back to the start of the 2010 season.
The SuperClasico is always a spirited and physical affair and Sunday's edition was no different.
Scoring may have been a premium, but there was no shortage of fouls and crunching tackles. From the outset, there were hard challenges galore as both teams looked to set the tempo and dominate the run of play. This led to 30 fouls – 22 on Chivas USA and eight on the Galaxy –and four yellow cards –three for LA and one for the visitors – for a variety of challenges including elbows and in one case, a boot to the face.
In the 40th minute, the color of the cards turned from yellow to red as referee Ricardo Salazar sent off Chivas USA center back Joaquin Velazquez for a challenge on Colin Clark. The sequence was a curious one as Salzaar mistakenly awarded the 37-year-old defender a yellow card and then issued a straight red.
Adam Serrano is the LA Galaxy Insider. Read his blog at LAGalaxy.com/Insider and contact him at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Couple with cute dog
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
Japanese fashion and Tokyo street style – Tokyofaces.com
Japanese Fashion and tokyo street style photos
Tuesday, 13 December 2011
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Chicago has been called a "city of neighborhoods" made up of homes, condos, lofts, flats and apartments. Each area has its own distinctive atmosphere,
which sometimes makes the city feel more like a long string of small towns. We'll set you up in the neighborhood that best suits your personality,
whether it's the quiet luxury of the Gold Coast, the hard-partying hijinks of Lakeview, the intellectual mindset of Hyde Park or somewhere in between.
Scroll through our roster of maps and descriptions and find out which 'hood you want to call home.
The city of Chicago can be divided up into five sections: downtown, north side, northwest side, west side and south side. Below are links to some of the more popular neighborhoods in each part of the city:


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Amnesty: pregnant child must be allowed abortion
SANTIAGO, Chile (AP) — Amnesty International says an 11-year-old girl who was raped by her mother's partner in Chile should be allowed all medical options, including an abortion.
Abortions, even for medical reasons and in the case of rape, have been illegal since Gen. Augusto Pinochet's dictatorship. President Sebastian Pinera's government opposes any easing of the ban.
The human rights group said Thursday that "the Chilean State must provide" her with "all the psychological and medical support she needs," and make all options available, "including safe abortion services."
The girl who is 14 weeks pregnant was repeatedly raped over the course of two years by her mother's partner. He has been arrested and has confessed to abusing the fifth grader.
The case has ignited a heated national debate over abortion in socially-conservative Chile.


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February 28. 2013 11:20PM
Police seek man in shooting
MANCHESTER - Manchester police are looking for a city man in connection with a shooting incident earlier this week.
Manchester Police Sgt. Craig Rousseau said the incident occurred just after midnight on Feb. 26, when several shots were reportedly fired in the vicinity of a home at 45 Myrtle Street. No injuries were reported.
Police believe the person responsible for firing those shots is Dominic Stanin, with a last known address of 558 Amory Street in Manchester.
As a result of an ongoing investigation into the incident, warrants have been issued for Stanin's arrest for reckless conduct, being a felon in possession of a deadly weapon, and violation of probation. Stanin, 45, was convicted of robbery in 1999 in New York.
"Stanin is believed to be still here in the Manchester area, and should be considered armed and dangerous," said Sgt. Rousseau. "We wanted to get the word out there about him, and hopefully get him off the streets as quick as we can."
Police ask that anyone who sees Stanin, or may have information on his whereabouts, contact them at 868-8711, or by calling the Crimeline at 624-4040.


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NEW YORK (AP) — The New York Police Department disbanded a unit that tracked the everyday lives of Muslims, but it has taken a tough stance in a heated legal battle over its continuing use of Muslim informants in terror threat investigations.
Muslim groups filed a civil rights lawsuit last year asking a federal judge to declare the surveillance unconstitutional and halt it.
City lawyers struck back by suggesting the plaintiffs brought the attention on themselves with "rhetoric or their known, suspected or rumored associations with people or organizations of ill repute." The city then demanded any communications by the plaintiffs — including two Brooklyn mosques, an imam and a Muslim charity — that mention terrorism, jihad or the war in Afghanistan as well as financial records from the mosques and the charity, including names of donors.
The plaintiffs say the city is unjustly seeking private information. Disclosure of records from the mosque and the charity "would further alienate and chill congregants, members, donors and donees ... and thereby infringe on plaintiffs' right to free exercise, free speech and associational privacy," their lawyers wrote in court papers in late March.
The court fight is reinforcing skepticism about pledges by Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD officials to be more sensitive than the previous administration to concerns about surveillance.
Last month, the nation's largest police department announced it had disbanded the Demographics Unit, a team of detectives assigned to create databases on where Muslims lived, shopped, worked and prayed. Civil rights advocates, however, noted that the department wasn't committing to abandoning a practice adopted after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks of using Muslim informants to try to detect and thwart terror threats.
The New York Times, citing internal NYPD documents, reported this week that the police department's Intelligence Division is continuing to debrief Muslims arrested for petty offenses to see what they know about other crimes and if some could be persuaded to volunteer as informants.
Police Commissioner William Bratton defended the debriefings Tuesday on a visit to Israel, telling the Jerusalem Post that they are "an essential element of policing" that doesn't single out Muslims. City lawyers also say the NYPD puts people under surveillance for legitimate investigative reasons, not because of their ethnicity or religion.
But Muslim advocates say the program sends the wrong message.
"Those who had looked to Mayor de Blasio for real meaningful changes in policing and relationships with Muslims are disappointed," Hina Shamsi, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer on the case, said Monday.
Linda Sarsour, the executive director of the Arab American Association of New York, says critics of the program don't object to police recruiting informants who have a meaningful connection to suspected crimes, as in drug or mob cases. But most of the Muslim men who have been approached "have zero information that's helpful. ... This is straight-up racial and religious profiling," she said.
A Muslim New Yorker, Hesham El-Meligy, recalled his dismay when he learned that a man he encountered at an Islamic bookstore in the early 2000s was an informant who police say uncovered a plot to blow up a Manhattan subway station. He claimed he overheard the informant trying to "incite" a dim-witted store worker to turn against the United States.
Reminders that informants are still in circulation "add to the distrust of government and law enforcement that's already there," said the Egypt-born El-Meligy, who works in a college admissions office.
"Unfortunately, we started suspecting each other as well," he said. "It creates an atmosphere of hysteria."


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sellmodern needed a new web page design and created a contest on 99designs.
A winner was selected from 23 designs submitted by 9 freelance designers.
We are looking for a fresh version of our home page, search results page, and sign up page. We want to maintain the modern, clean look, and the architectural background that can be changed out monthly.
Please work up a comp for the home page, and if it looks good we can continue on to the search results and sign up.
We want to move away from the left nav, and go towards a centered page, with a top nav.
on the search results page, we'll have filters on the left side and a map as specified on the wireframes....
Hint: We love the design at snow.com.
Hint: We love the usability at trulia.com
Hint: We love the simple checkout process at 99designs and Mosso.com
Logo Font: Futura
Wireframes can be seen here: http://www.sellmodern.com/wireframes
- 2.0, fresh, clean, simple, white
- hope you know


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Packers LB Matthews back at practice
Green Bay, WI – Green Bay Packers All-Pro linebacker Clay Matthews returned to practice for the first time in more than a month on Wednesday.
Matthews left in the third quarter of a Nov. 4 win over the Arizona Cardinals with a hamstring injury and hasn't played since, absent for the last four contests.
In addition, offensive lineman T.J. Lang (ankle) and defensive lineman Mike Neal (shoulder) were both able to take reps in practice despite sitting out last week.
However, wideout Jordy Nelson, who missed last Sunday's game with a hamstring injury, did not practice, nor did cornerback Charles Woodson, who is still on his way back from a broken collarbone suffered in Week 7.


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posted by Thom Holwerda on Mon 23rd Jul 2007 21:20 UTC, submitted by Innova
"Over the past few days, I discovered that the Gentoo Foundation's charter is in the process of being revoked by the state of New Mexico, apparently due to regular paperwork not being filed by the trustees. What this means is that the Gentoo Foundation is currently hanging for its life by a string, and at any day could cease to exist as an entity. That is the very bad news. The good news is that I was able to talk to Grant Goodyear (trustee) this morning on the phone, and I have confirmed that Grant had received my email about the revocation issue that I sent 2 days ago and that he will be resolving this critical issue in the next couple of days by filing the appropriate paperwork with the state of New Mexico, and this paperwork will also remove me as President of the Foundation."


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Global deal trends
Over the last decade, state-owned national oil companies (NOCs) have become increasingly important in the global oil and gas sectors. Their rise is also a key part of the trend toward state capitalism in many emerging markets.
While NOCs generally lack capacity in some of the industry's cutting-edge technologies, in many cases they have the advantages of low-cost capital from state-controlled banks and strong backing from their home governments. This environment challenges the dominance of privately held Western international oil companies, but presents opportunities for these firms to partner with NOCs on projects of mutual interest.
In this report, produced jointly by PwC Canada and Eurasia Group, we take an in-depth look at some of these issues.
Free Markets Versus State Capitalism in Oil and Gas
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.


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Fusilli Takes Flight
|Pasta, Vegetables, Dairy
|Day Part
|Cuisine Type
All you need to go with this creamy pasta dish is some bread and a salad for a complete, tasty meal. Cooked sweet vegetables in cream sauce are poured over fusilli pasta and tossed together with Parmesan cheese.
2 cups chicken broth
3 oz. baby carrots
3 oz. sugar snap or snow peas
12 oz. fusilli pasta
2 tbsp. butter
1 zucchini, sliced
6 oz. cherry tomatoes, halved
1⁄4 cup heavy cream
Salt and pepper, to taste
1 1⁄2 cups grated Parmesan cheese
- Bring broth to a simmer in heavy saucepan. Add carrots and cook 3 min. Add sugar snap or snow peas; cook 2 min. longer. Using slotted spoon, transfer vegetables to a bowl. Boil broth remaining in saucepan until reduced to 1⁄3 cup.
- Cook fusilli in boiling, salted water until al dente. Keep warm in large bowl.
- Meanwhile, melt butter in large skillet over med-high heat. Add zucchini; saute 3 min. until tender-crisp. Stir in tomatoes, carrots, and sugar snap peas; saute l min. Stir in reduced broth and cream and bring to boil. Season with salt and pepper.
- To serve, pour vegetable mixture over pasta in bowl; sprinkle with 1 cup Parmesan and toss to coat evenly. Portion into small dishes and top with remaining grated Parmesan.


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Although it is the most basic form of health care, horse owners should be aware that horses need first aid care just as much as people do, if not more. There are many situations that a horse owner might run into, such as soft tissue injuries like lacerations and puncture wounds, ophthalmic injuries, strains, sprains, other acute lameness issues, colic, fever, depression, and dystocia or foaling difficulties.
Horse owners should be able to have the basic skills required to take care of a horse during an emergency situation until a veterinarian is available.
"Probably the minimum competency skill level is comfort with applying a bandage in case of a hemorrhaging lower extremity," said Glennon Mays, DVM, clinical associate professor at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, "or understanding how to encourage a painful, recumbent horse to stop rolling and get up off the ground and walk around in a circle while waiting for the veterinarian's arrival in the case of colic."
Cooperativeness on the part of the animal to accomplish routine acts can actually be practiced under non-emergency situations in order to succeed in time of crisis.
"This cooperativeness is remindful of school children practicing a fire drill," said Mays. "If something is familiar, it is more easily performed in a crisis situation. If a horse is accustomed to having bandages applied to legs or being loaded in a trailer for no obvious reason, then it won't seem quite so unusual a request during times of stress or pain."
In case of emergency, there are a few things that horse owners should have on-hand, especially emergency phone numbers readily accessible.
"In a tense moment, the pre-determined numbers can be dialed in order of preference," said Mays. "In case the first choice is unavailable, secondary or tertiary selections have already been made. I also suggest having some bandage materials on hand. Beyond basic leg wrapping techniques, other first aid supplies can vary according to the qualifications of the owner of the horse and the client-patient relationship with the veterinarian."
Of course, there will be times when it is absolutely necessary that the horse owner call a veterinarian for assistance. A professional caregiver should be summoned when the horse's caretaker feels uncomfortable or inadequate providing the type of care that is necessary, or whenever an animal insurance company is involved.
"Often professional care is provided more quickly when the patient is transported rather than waiting for a busy veterinarian to break away from a practice or hospital environment," said Mays. "However, many vets solely provide ambulatory service and don't operate from a clinic or hospital facility. Some patients requiring emergency care cannot initially be transported, depending on the experience level of the owner and one's ability to accurately interpret the situation of the animal in danger. Another factor to consider is the comparison of the facility where the horse is located and the facility a veterinarian may provide."
General anesthesia may be avoided by transporting a young horse with a laceration to a veterinarian's facility, for example, when the owner's facility is not equipped with an area for safe restraint. Safety for the animal as well as the people providing the care of the animal is of highest importance.
There are several emergencies that tend to happen frequently to horses. One of the most common involves soft tissue injuries. Since horses are "flight" rather than "fight" responders, punctured, lacerated, or avulsed soft tissues are ordinary reasons for seeking emergency assistance.
"Another common emergency need is in response to engorgement due to inadvertent duplication at feeding time or inconsistency in feeding time," said Mays. "Introduction of new feed, hay, or grazing sources can create a need for emergency help at times.
"Because horses are naturally inquisitive, eye injuries are another common need for immediate assistance. Tearing excessively, squinting the eyelids, unnatural desire to stay inside a shaded area when pasture mates are out grazing are all indications of a possible eye problem. When owners are examining their horse, it's often a good practice to take a look at both sides of the animal no matter how normal one side appears."
The inquisitive nature of horses can also create other emergency care opportunities. Horses become entrapped in cattle guards, tree forks, narrow chute spaces, and even empty trailers where the wind has assisted in closing the gates of the trailer.
"From a veterinarian's point of view, it's very frustrating to be invited to attend an animal situation that has already progressed several days because the owner's decision to provide therapy has proven a mistake," said Mays. "Please don't wait too long, and always listen to your conscience."
Source: www.thehorse.com
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