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Since 1969, the REALTORS® Political Action Committee (RPAC) has promoted the election of pro-REALTOR® candidates across the United States. The purpose of RPAC is clear: REALTORS® raise and spend money to elect candidates who understand and support their interests. The money to accomplish this comes from voluntary contributions made by REALTORS®. These are not members' dues; this is money given freely by REALTORS® in recognition of how important campaign fundraising is to the political process. RPAC doesn't buy votes. RPAC enables REALTORS® to support candidates that support the issues that are important to their profession and livelihood.
Several issues that RPAC has assisted Rhode Island REALTORS® with include:
Proposed 2% real estate transfer tax in 2019 defeated
REALTORS® will NOT risk a fine of $5,000 per day for failure to provide a lead disclosure
REALTORS® keep their freedom to work independently
Home sales will not trigger mandatory cesspool replacement
No new climate change restrictions on property owners
Some details you may find helpful:
- Contributions to RPAC are voluntary and used for political purposes. Only members and their family members may contribute.
- The amounts indicated are only suggestions and you may give more or less or refuse to contribute without affecting your membership rights.
- 70% of the contribution is used by the Rhode Island RPAC to support state and local political candidates.
- 30% of each contribution is sent to National RPAC. Of that amount, 90% is used by National RPAC to support federal candidates and is charged against your limits under 2US.C.44a, while the remaining 10% is used for other federal grassroots political activities.
- Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purpose
Corporate donations are prohibited. Under both Federal and State law only personal contributions (checks not drawn from corporate accounts.)


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The Maternal Lifestyle Study (MLS) (MLS)
|The safety and scientific validity of this study is the responsibility of the study sponsor and investigators. Listing a study does not mean it has been evaluated by the U.S. Federal Government. Read our disclaimer for details.
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT00059540
Recruitment Status : Completed
First Posted : April 29, 2003
Last Update Posted : September 21, 2016
- Study Details
- Tabular View
- No Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
|Condition or disease
|Cocaine Substance Abuse Infant, Newborn Pregnancy Pregnant Women Prenatal Care
Interest in and availability of cocaine, marijuana, and opiates have complicated long-term investigations into the effects of the widespread recreational use of easily accessible substances like alcohol and tobacco. It remains impossible to determine in single site, small number studies what effects may be related to the use of a specific drug. By accessing the large multi-site population of newborn infants and their mothers available in the NICHD Neonatal Research Network, this study is evaluating the short- and long-term effects of mothers' cocaine and/or opiate use during pregnancy on their term or preterm infants.
Maternal practices assessed in this study include the use and abuse of opiates, cocaine, alcohol, marijuana, and nicotine. This study will address acute perinatal events and long-term medical, developmental, social, environmental, and neurobehavioral outcomes of infants whose mothers engaged in these maternal practices. The study will determine whether specific acute and long-term effects can be attributed to the use and abuse of specific substances.
Over 2 years, approximately 20,000 infants were screened with a goal of enrolling 16,000 infants. It was estimated that approximately 20% of infants would have been exposed to cocaine or opiates. The determination of exposure was based on self-report by the mother or positive meconium assay.
The first phase of the study evaluated the acute effects of maternal practices on infants. This phase involved all mothers who agreed to respond to the initial questionnaire and who allowed the meconium drug screen to be performed on their infants. Acute outcomes are being compared between infants who were exposed to cocaine and opiates through their mothers' use (the exposed group) and infants who were not exposed (the nonexposed group). Acute outcomes include abruptio placenta, fetal growth retardation, non-life threatening congenital malformations, respiratory distress syndrome, chronic lung disease, periventricular-intraventricular hemorrhage, necrotizing enterocolitis, retinopathy of prematurity, and periventricular leukomalacia.
The second phase of the study compared 1,400 exposed and nonexposed infants with respect to long-term neurodevelopmental outcomes. These infants were among the 16,000 infants enrolled in Phase I. It was estimated that 70% of the screened population would consent to participate in Phase II of the study, and 50% of these participants would complete all visits over the initial 3-year study period (2,000 exposed infants enrolled into Phase II and 1,000 exposed infants would complete all follow-up visits). For each exposed infant, an infant of similar age, race, sex, and either alcohol history or maternal age was selected from the nonexposed, screened population. All infants had physical, neurological, gestational age, and growth assessments at birth. The exposed and nonexposed infants were examined at 1, 4, 7, 9, 12, 18, 24, and 36 months corrected age. Follow-up assessments include medical history, and developmental, behavioral, social, and environmental outcomes.
The third phase of the study compared children at ages 4 to 7. The fourth phase is now comparing outcomes in children ages 8 to 11 years old. Assessments include measures of cognition, school performance, antisocial behavior, onset of substance use, psychopathology, neuroendocrine function, and health disorders. Seventy-one percent of the original sample is still enrolled.
|Study Type :
|Actual Enrollment :
|11811 participants
|Observational Model:
|Time Perspective:
|Official Title:
|The Maternal Lifestyle Study
|Study Start Date :
|May 1993
|Actual Primary Completion Date :
|March 1995
|Actual Study Completion Date :
|March 2011
- Neurodevelopmental impairment [ Time Frame: 1 month of age ]
Choosing to participate in a study is an important personal decision. Talk with your doctor and family members or friends about deciding to join a study. To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contacts provided below. For general information, Learn About Clinical Studies.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|Child, Adult, Older Adult
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
|Sampling Method:
|Non-Probability Sample
Inclusion Criteria for Mothers:
- 18 years or older
- Live near a study site
Exclusion Criteria for Mothers:
- Identified psychosis or history of institutionalization for retardation or emotional problems
- Language barriers that prevented her from giving informed consent or understanding the study
Inclusion Criteria for Infants:
- Inborn infants
- Birthweight >501 grams (1.1 lbs)
Exclusion Criteria for Infants:
- One of a multiple gestation
- Gestational age >42 weeks
- Viability of the infant
To learn more about this study, you or your doctor may contact the study research staff using the contact information provided by the sponsor.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier (NCT number): NCT00059540
|United States, Florida
|University of Miami
|Miami, Florida, United States, 33136
|United States, Michigan
|Wayne State University
|Detroit, Michigan, United States, 48201
|United States, North Carolina
|RTI International
|Durham, North Carolina, United States, 27705
|United States, Rhode Island
|Brown University, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island
|Providence, Rhode Island, United States, 02905
|United States, Tennessee
|University of Tennessee
|Memphis, Tennessee, United States, 38163
|Principal Investigator:
|Barry M. Lester, PhD
|Brown University, Women & Infants Hospital of Rhode Island
|Principal Investigator:
|Abhik Das, PhD
|RTI International
|Principal Investigator:
|Charles R. Bauer, MD
|University of Miami
|Principal Investigator:
|Henrietta S. Bada, MD
|University of Tennessee
|Principal Investigator:
|Seetha Shankaran, MD
|Wayne State University
Other Publications:
|Responsible Party:
|NICHD Neonatal Research Network
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|Other Study ID Numbers:
U10HD021397 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
U10HD021415 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
U10HD027904 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
U10HD021385 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
U10DA024117 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
U10DA024118 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
U10DA024119 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
U10DA024128 ( U.S. NIH Grant/Contract )
|First Posted:
|April 29, 2003 Key Record Dates
|Last Update Posted:
|September 21, 2016
|Last Verified:
|September 2016
NICHD Neonatal Research Network
Maternal Lifestyle Study
Cocaine abuse
Cocaine dependence
Opiate abuse
Opiate dependence
Neurodevelopmental outcome
Substance-related disorders
Substance-Related Disorders
Chemically-Induced Disorders
Mental Disorders

subset: commoncrawl


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I continued on the stream of thought, that there is an "us vs. them" mentality regarding B.A.S.E jumper's and Law Enforcement with a follow up question that lead to Rick debating with me. "I notice a great deal of angry talk and name calling of park rangers and law enforcement in regards to being nabbed.
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Suggested Reading:
Base 66: Jevto Dedijer
Paperback: 146 pages
Publisher: iUniverse.com (2 Nov 2004)
Language English
GroundRush by Simon Jakeman
Hardcover: 128 pages
Publisher: Jonathan Cape Ltd (6 Aug 1992)
Language English
Confessions of An Idiot: Chris 'douggs' McDougall
Softcover: 255 pages
Publisher: BASEDREAMS 2009
Language: English
FreeFall: Tom Read
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Little, Brown & Company (6 Aug 1998)
Language English
The Great Book of BASE: Matt Gerdes
Softcover: 269 pages
Publisher: Birdbrain Publishing
Language: English
High Infatuation: A Climbers Guide to Love and Gravity: Steph Davis
Softcover: 189 pages
Publisher: Mountaineers Books (April 1, 2007)
Language: English
Learning to Fly: An Uncommon Memoir of Human Flight, Unexpected Love, and One Amazing Dog: Steph Davis
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: Touchstone (April 2, 2013)
Language: English


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Crypto-focused institutional asset manager Morgan Creek Digital has issued a $1 million bet against the S&P 500 (SPX) stock market index, a press release shared with Cointelegraph reveals Dec. 6.
The crypto fund has issued a wager that its Digital Asset Index Fund –– a basket of ten major crypto assets –– will outperform the SPX over the next 10 years, starting Jan. 1, 2019.
The S&P 500 is based on market capitalizations of 500 large companies that have common stock listed on major U.S. stock exchanges, the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) or the Nasdaq Stock Market (NASDAQ).
The challenge from Morgan Creek Digital, dubbed "Buffett Bet 2.0," evidently echoes a similar bet made by Wall Street's prominent crypto critic Warren Buffett, who in 2008 bet $1 million that the S&P 500 would outperform a group of hedge funds over a ten year period.
If the bet is taken up, the firm noted the plan would be for the winner to donate the gains to charity, also mimicking Buffett's move upon winning his S&P bet in 2017.
Anthony Pompliano, co-founder and partner at Morgan Creek Digital, told CNBC that the new challenge could illuminate more than just the performance of crypto markets for many people:
"A lot of people might look at this and just think we're bullish on crypto — but you need to look at what asset we're going up against. Public equities aren't exactly at their all time highs either."
In order to justify his firm's bet, the investor has also reportedly pointed to recent losses suffered by FANG –– a group of high-performing tech stocks in the U.S. market, namely Facebook, Amazon, Netflix and Google. Facebook is currently down 24 percent percent loss year over year, as CNBC reports.
Pompliano made a similar observation about the performance of traditional stocks in a tweet last month, stating that FANG stocks were down 20-40 percent from their all-time highs, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DOW) had its "worst Thanksgiving week since 2011."
Buffett himself has come out multiple times to provocatively criticize cryptocurrency, calling it everything from a "mirage" to "rat poison squared."


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What motivated the sophisticated sniper attack on a San Jose power station last April? The Times wonders:
Months Later, Sniper Attack at Power Hub Still a Mystery
SAN FRANCISCO — A mysterious and sophisticated sniper attack last year on a Silicon Valley power substation has underscored concerns about the vulnerability of the country's electrical grid and prompted debate over whether it was an act of terrorism.
The chain of events is not in dispute: Shortly before 1:30 a.m. on April 16, 2013, one or more people methodically cut communication cables near a Pacific Gas & Electric substation in San Jose, sprayed more than 100 rifle bullets and knocked out 17 of the station's 23 transformers before fleeing and avoiding capture. A grainy black-and-white surveillance video released by the Santa Clara County Sheriff's office in a search for leads shows shots being fired for about a minute at the substation.
Though the utility was able to prevent a power failure by diverting electricity from other areas, the damage took 27 days to repair, said Brian Swanson, a spokesman for Pacific Gas & Electric.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has been investigating the attack, but says it has no evidence of terrorism nor any suspects.
"The F.B.I. at this time does not believe it is related to terrorism, based on the initial assessment of the investigation," Peter Lee, an agency spokesman in San Francisco, said, adding that he was unable to disclose further details. The agency also considers the attack an isolated one, Mr. Lee said.
A law enforcement official briefed on the investigation said the situation so far was ambiguous.
"When you don't know who did it and you don't know what their motives were, it is very hard to say whether it was terrorism or not," the official said. "Some people said it looks like they had military training, some people say that you can learn this from a video game. We just don't know."
So who knows? But based on my extensive reading of fictional thrillers, I found this to be thought-provoking:
The attack has renewed anxiety over the potential vulnerability of the power grid to physical attack, adding to worries about cybersecurity and the ordinary adversaries of hurricanes, floods, wild animals and falling trees.
On Wednesday, utility officials tried to tamp down concern. "It's harder to knock out the lights than people think because of redundancy and resilience," said Gerry W. Cauley, president of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation, a nonprofit group that sets standards for the nation's utilities.
The location of substations is public, but it is a closely guarded secret what combination of them would have to be knocked out to cause extensive harm. It could be as few as a handful in each of the three grids, the eastern continent, from Halifax to New Orleans, the western continent, from New Mexico to Vancouver, and Texas.
We are building to the payoff:
In response to the April attack, the nation's electric utilities began a two-and-a-half-year program to identify what substations or combinations of substations were most critical to the operations of the continent's three power grids, how to minimize damage to them once an attack was detected, how to bring in law enforcement personnel before sending in the repair crews, and how to reconfigure the system after an attack to achieve maximum capacity.
I am sure this has crossed the minds of the people involved in this study, but - the playbook for the good guys could easily double as the game plan for the bad guys.
Just imagine that the people who hit the San Jose station are pros with a plan. And suppose they have their own Edward Snowden operating inside a utility somewhere. Within the next few years they may be able to steal away with the detailed assessment of the critical vulnerabilities of our nation's power grids which is currently under development. We might even speculate (wildly!) that a key goal of the San Jose exercise was to try to provoke the creation of such a plan.
Of course, the good guys see through this so they track access to the developing plans very carefully in an attempt to flush out the mole. Or try too - geez, such a page-turner.


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"Who's the most memorable lover you've ever had?" Jen asked, and instantly, every raw instinct urged me to bolt from the restaurant. The honest answer was "Amy, sophomore year of college." So I said, "You."
The right answer is always "you," even if she's as stiff as a statue in bed or falls asleep when I'm having an orgasm. <
Jen was very attractive and also sexually adept, but within weeks of our breakup, I honestly couldn't remember much about what she was like in bed. That's because men's sexual memories are strangely selective. Often, men just remember sex as an exciting blur of beds, birthmarks, pubic-hair patterns and contorted facial expressions -- unless she has a sexual signature.
More From Cosmopolitan
A sexual signature is a woman's personally distinct sex move -- the kind of maneuver that puts a kink in a guy's mental tubing, so he thinks about it hours, days, years later, during office daydreams or in long lines at the market. A signature is the difference between sex that's gold-medal memorable or yellow-light forgettable.
Amy had an incredible signature. After we shyly got naked -- but before we'd consummated our sophomore passion -- Amy would softly slide her breasts over my back and legs, chestnut hair brushing against my skin. Where my angelic 19-year-old girlfriend learned to do this is actually a very good question, to which I don't want to know the answer. The point is, one individual erotic action can permanently sear a sexual encounter into a man's cerebrum.
Of course, some signatures are more like black marks. My college roommate is forever haunted by an ex-girlfriend whose unfortunate autograph was making a terrierlike "Yip! Yip! Yip!" noise whenever Lassie was about to come home.
So what signature moves will make you memorable rather than earning you a dismissive moniker like The Yipper, The Redhead or Number 12?
Guys I talked with recounted sex signatures as wild and animalistic as anything you might see on the Discovery Channel.
"Whenever my ex-girlfriend had an orgasm, she would bite her shoulder," recalls Josh, a 25-year-old grad student. "Not my shoulder, her shoulder. There was something very erotic about a girl so turned on that she would bite herself," he says.
And I'll never forget this waitress I dated a few years back. There was nothing that could keep her from wanting nonstop stimulation. After I came, Maureen kept on going, rubbing herself against one of my limbs like a house pet in heat. If I grew tired, she would just grab a vibrator, TV remote control -- anything to help bring about yet another orgasm.
Primal women are memorable not just because of all the broken headboards and sleep-deprived neighbors they leave behind but because of their displays of raw sexual bravado. A coworker once told me about the Black Widow, a four-night stand who excitedly put the squeeze on him. "She would wrap her legs around my back and her arms around my shoulders," explains Mike, "and as she got more and more excited, her lock on me got tighter and tighter, as if she were devouring her prey."
A primal lover is memorable because she lets herself go. But other women make it into our memories by being so totally in control. My personal trainer, Rob, once raved about a karate brown belt who refused to remain on her back when they made love. She'd flip Rob over to put herself in the driver's seat, sometimes yelling "keey-ya!" for effect. Now he is more turned on by Bruce Lee than Pamela Lee.
Meanwhile, my shy friend Glen tells me in awed tones about how his girlfriend takes control. "Whenever I'm about to come, Tabitha forces me to look into her eyes," explains Glen. Like a lot of guys, he used to close his eyes during climax. "I mean, she literally grabs my face and forces me to look at her. And instead of feeling like my orgasm is my experience, it becomes a shared event -- and more intense."
Missionary, Girl-on-Top, From Behind -- these classic positions are familiar territory for most men, and believe me, we remember the first woman we did them with. But there's still time for you to claim a contortion or two as your very own.
"My last girlfriend introduced me to a position I'd never tried before," says Seth, a sexually experienced 31-year-old who thought he'd done it all. "She lay flat on her stomach with her legs together and told me to straddle her, then enter her between her closed legs. It took me a minute to realize this would work. It was a tight squeeze, but that's what was so cool about it."
David, 33, a lawyer from Albuquerque, says he knows the perfect position for when you're both fully clothed. "I would sit in a chair and she'd come over and sit on my lap. Only she would undo my fly and pull her panties to the side. To anyone who might catch us on the porch, it looked perfectly innocent, but with every little move she made, we both knew better."
Sometimes the best sexual signature is not what a lover does, but what she doesn't do.
"Michele always left one piece of clothing on -- her bra, her skirt, tennis shoes," says Devin, a 29-year-old club owner. "Her having that one piece of clothing on was a turn-on, and it gave her a certain untouchable quality. To this day, I can vividly recall the night we did it after skiing in Aspen and she didn't take off her ski cap."
Matt, 27, remembers Ellen, a coworker with whom he shared a more-than-professional interest. "She would climb on top of me and hardly move at all. Just a little bump one minute and a tiny grind the next. After 20 minutes of this, I would do anything to be put out of my taunted misery."
The trick with these signatures is to tease until he's highly aroused but not to the point where he thinks you're sexually stingy. The best example was told to me by Chris, a 30-year-old marketing director. "Liz's sex signature was that whenever she went down on me, she didn't take off my boxers right away," Chris says. "She performed oral sex through my shorts, getting them kind of wet. It drove me crazy. I became so frustrated," he admits, adding, "but I'll never ever forget it." When a woman has her own move, her place in his sexual memory is signed, sealed, delivered.


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By Corey Williams
Associated Press
DETROIT (AP) - A major Detroit creditor on Tuesday objected to the bankrupt city's plan to wipe out or reduce billions of dollars in debt, saying it should be scrapped before a trial scheduled to start next week.
New York-based Syncora Guarantee said in a court filing that the plan put together by state-appointed emergency manager Kevyn Orr and attorneys hired by the city is unfair, will be too costly to defend, and will ultimately fail.
That would "squander a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to revitalize one of America's most treasured cities," the filing says.
The largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history is set for trial on Aug. 21.
A city spokesman did not respond Tuesday to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
Detroit filed for bankruptcy protection a year ago, saying it had no way to pay off at least $18 billion debt. Syncora's claim is about $400 million, and it's tied to an interest-rate swap deal on pension bond debt.
In 2009, Detroit pledged money from casino revenue taxes as collateral to avoid defaulting on past pension debt payments. The swaps allowed Detroit to get fixed interest rates on pension bonds with two banks.
The swaps are backed by Syncora, which acts as a trustee and makes payments from casino revenue to parties involved in the swaps. Syncora unsuccessfully tried to keep up to $15 million of casino tax revenue each month in a bank-held trust. Orr has said the money is crucial in paying for city services.
A primary point in Syncora's objection is a court-mediated agreement between the state, major corporations and foundations that promises more than $800 million over 20 years to support city retiree pensions. The so-called Grand Bargain would stave off the sale of city-owned pieces in the Detroit Institute of Arts to help pay off the city's debt.
Retirees had to vote to approve the deal to see lower cuts to the pensions during Detroit's bankruptcy.
"While no one questions that the mediators, in their own eyes, pursued what they believed was the best course for the city, the road to an unconfirmable plan is paved with good intentions," Syncora wrote in its objection. "The plain truth is that the mediators in this case acted improperly by orchestrating a settlement that alienates the city's most valuable assets for the sole benefit of one creditor group."
The objection also said the city refused to provide Syncora with timely and complete documents on settlements in Detroit's debt plan
Syncora said that after adjustments for interest rates, it would get about 5 cents on the dollar for its debt under Orr's plan.
Detroit's bankruptcy trial "looks like it will go through late September, if not further," said James Sprayregen, a Syncora lawyer.
Syncora's hope is that it can reach an agreement with the city before the trial starts. If Orr's plan is confirmed at trial, it eventually would be overturned on appeal, Sprayregen said.
"Before more scarce resources are squandered, we'd rather get to a consensual deal," he said.
Published: Thu, Aug 14, 2014


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Cameras show 35 rare rhinos in Indonesia: official
Hidden cameras in the jungles of Indonesia's Java island have captured images of 35 critically endangered Javan rhinos, including five calves, an official said Friday.
The forestry ministry set up 44 infrared cameras from January to October this year in the rugged Ujung Kulon National Park on the western-most tip of Java.
"The cameras captured the images of 22 male and 13 female rhinos. The five calves consisted of one female and four males," director of biodiversity conservation at the forestry ministry Bambang Novianto told AFP.
He said the discovery of the five calves "shows that its population continue to develop", but an imbalanced sex ratio could threatened the rare species.
"There are more male rhinos than females. We are worried that it will create dangerous competitions among the male rhinos in getting a partner. They may end up in a deadly fight," he said.
To boost conservation efforts, Novianto said his ministry was finalising a rhino breeding sanctuary in an area of 38,000 hectares inside the 122,000-hectare (300,000-acre) national park.
"It will be easier for us to monitor its population so that the breeding process would be more effective," he said, adding that such programmes will help the government to reach a target of 70 to 80 Javan rhinos by 2015.
The Javan rhino is distinguished from African rhinos by its small size, single horn and loose skin folds.
Around 44 Javan rhinos are believed to live in Ujung Kulon, a rare patch of wilderness on one of the world's most densely populated islands.
They form the world's only viable population of the critically endangered species capable of reproducing.
Asian rhinos have been driven to the brink of extinction because their horns are highly valued in traditional Chinese and Korean medicine, although most countries in the region have banned the trade.
(c) 2011 AFP


text:
Title: Objects of My Affection
Author: Jill Smolinski
Narrator: Xe Sands
Genre: Fiction
Published: 2012 – Blackstone Audio (9cds – 10.5 hours)
My take: Organizer Lucy Bloom had to sell her house and most of her possessions in order to pay for her son's stay at a drug rehab facility. She also broke up with her boyfriend over her son's behavior. So she's without a home, son and a relationship – pretty much everything is gone. Her new job is a challenge. She is to organize and clean out a famous artist's (Marva Meier Rios) home which is filled to the brim with stuff.
Lucy and Marva begin to see segments of their lives in a different way as they help each other figure out how to let go. I was surprised by how much I liked this novel. At times it was deceptively light – I laughed several times – but if you ever saw one of Oprah's hoarders shows you know there are some deep issues there. Sure the lessons seem obvious but it's much more than that. These characters are complex and maybe a bit like people we all know. I also enjoyed the supporting characters – Marva's son Will and Lucy's ex-boyfriend Daniel to name two.
There are small twists and turns that had me listening way past the point where I'd planned to stop. I kept walking, cleaning, driving… you get the picture. I was pulling for Lucy and Marva right through to the end. I love it when that happens.
There are those things you keep, things you let go of, and it's often not easy to know the difference.
from Objects of My Affection by Jill Smolinski
Xe Sands did a fine job voicing Jill Smolinski's characters – both male and female. It was so easy to listen to her – again with the walking, cleaning, driving 🙂 She conveyed the emotions of the characters perfectly. This is the first time I've listened to Sands read a book and in the future there'll be no hesitation to grab audiobooks with her name listed as narrator.
I recommend this audiobook to fans of Fiction – women's or otherwise, Jill Smolinski, and Xe Sands.
Source: Blackstone Audio; Audio Jukebox
Disclosure: See sidebar. I was not compensated for my review.


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Avtec's Scout Consoles Prove Crucial in Providing Emergency Communications During New York Nor'easter
The West Islip, New York Fire Department put Avtec's Scout consoles to the ultimate test during the recent Nor'easter. Records show the area has not suffered a storm of this historic proportion since 199, and it has been defined as the most damaging event in over 30 years. Scout, "…came through with flying colors."
Gilbert, SC- On March 13, a deadly combination of intense rain and driving winds of hurricane strength pounded West Islip, New York. The Nor'easter produced flooding, fires and falling trees throughout the city, leaving widespread power outages, blocked roadways and damaged homes and property. The West Islip Fire Department relied heavily on Avtec's Scout consoles for their emergency dispatching communications efforts during this disaster.
"During the Nor'easter on March 13, we tested the Scout consoles to the extreme," stated Mike Waser, District Manager of the West Islip Fire Department. "The department answered 86 alarms in 24 hours, with the bulk of those alarms coming through in a six hour period. We had four dispatchers using two console positions and Scout came through with flying colors!"
Scout is a true IP console system with all components distributable over a LAN/WAN infrastructure. It is a fourth generation console product designed for a 10+ year lifecycle in mission critical applications. Scout uses a dedicated media processor and rugged peripherals that delivers functionality without compromise. Analog radio, digital radio, telephony, and Auxiliary I/O integration allow multiple technologies such as MPT1327, MOTOTRBO, P25, iDEN, NXDN, and SIP to interoperate simultaneously.
"Scout is a true IP console suited for a real public safety environment," said Waser. The West Islip Fire Department installed Avtec's Scout solution in June 2009.
About Avtec, Inc.
Avtec consoles are the first choice of industry leading companies and our products are backed with the most reliable service in the industry. Based on open standards, Avtec offers migration paths from legacy platforms to VoIP systems. Since the delivery of our first console in 1981, Avtec has earned a 30-year unblemished record in providing innovative, reliable console solutions for mission critical applications. We invite you to visit our website at www.avtecinc.com to learn more.


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September 11, 2007DOCUMENT: Bizarre
Minnesota Toe Licker Nabbed
After mugging, creep told victim, 'Now I'm going to suck your feet.'
View Document
Minnesota Toe Licker Nabbed
Minnesota Toe Licker Nabbed
SEPTEMBER 11--Meet Carlton Davis. The Minnesota man, 26, is facing felony charges for allegedly stealing a cell phone and purse from a woman he mugged on a St. Paul street early Saturday morning. According to police, after the woman turned over her belongings, Davis announced, 'Now I'm going to suck your feet.' Which he did, after the 24-year-old victim removed her shoes. Davis, who fled when passersby approached, was apprehended by cops a few blocks from the crime scene. He was booked into the Ramsey County lockup, where the below mug shot was snapped. (1 page)
March 20, 2023
Missouri bizman way too old for such St. Petersburg nonsense


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BolboceratidaeD. Jonathan Browne and Clarke H. Scholtz
- Athyreus
- Blackburnium
- Bolbelasmus
- Bolboceras
- Bolbocerasoma
- Elephastomus
- Eucanthus
- Neoathyreus
- Odonteus
Note: this taxon list is still under construction. It does not yet contain all known Bolboceratidae subgroups.
Bolboceratidae consists of about 40 genera and 400 species worldwide. Although the group is virtually cosmopolitan in distribution the largest numbers of taxa occur on the southern continents, with Australia the richest. Bolboceratids provision brood burrows with humus for the larvae.
Adults are characterized by 11-segmented antennae with 3-segmented club; antennal sensilla intermediate; eyes partially or completely divided; ommatidium structure eucone/exocone; epipharynx mesally indented/straight; single/double lateral tormal processes; median tormal process and lateral combs sometimes present; mandibles asymmetrical and sclerotized with concave ginglymus and convex condyle, and prostheca and mesal tuft; molar surfaces are rounded and convex on right and concave on left mandible; molar lobes with a mandible brush; galea boot-shaped bearing a long setal brush; lacinia armed and followed distally by a small boot-shaped lobe with a fine brush; palpi 4-jointed; labial palpi 4-jointed; tentorium single-foramen-type; mesothoracic spiracles generalized, intersegmentalia generalized; 1Ax ventral surface of the head with a prominent ridge, dorsal surface of the head very strongly oriented ventro-distad, neck extremely short, distal embayment is secondarily extremely deep, but very narrow, and posteriorly strengthened by a sclerotized plate; 2Ax anterior margin of the dorso-distal lobe concave) the dorsal surface of this lobe very strongly convex, subalare tendon attachment point very short, very broad, and apically shallowly and narrowly concave; 3Ax posterior section of the head enlarged dorsally to form an arm, which is proximally continuous with the neck; 2BP postero-distal section of BMP continuous with the BMP-CuA brace, the latter is very strongly convex, broad and oriented more strongly distad than posteriad, the base of CuA shifted distad; empodium present; seven abdominal spiracles; male with a well defined tegmen but membranous median lobe; well-developed genital capsule present; female genitalia without styli; 6 ovarioles present per ovary; karyotype 9+Xyp (Browne & Scholtz 1995, Scholtz & Browne 1995).
Larvae are characterized by: 3-segmented antennae; fronto-clypeal suture absent; galea and lacinia separate; 4-segmented maxillary palpi; maxillary and mandibular stridulatory areas present; epipharyngeal tormae fused/not, asymmetrical/symmetrical; legs very variable; stridulatory apparatus present/absent; spiracles biforous (Scholtz & Browne 1995).
Relationships to other Scarabaeoidea
Bolboceratidae has, until recently, been considered a subfamily of Geotrupidae. This family has usually considered to consist of four distinctive subfamilies, Geotrupinae, Bolboceratinae, Taurocerastinae and Lethrinae.
Geotrupidae have traditionally been tenuously united mainly by the fact that most of the taxa have 11-segmented antennae (although Taurocerastinae have them 10-segmented), and this shared character was previously considered important for placing the genus Pleocoma in the Geotrupidae (Paulian, 1941). In a tentative phylogenetic analysis of some major taxa in the Scarabaeoidea, Howden (1982) based the family (he treated it as a subfamily of the Scarabaeidae) on two supposedly synapomorphic [for the Geotrupidae] biological attributes, detritus-feeding and provisioning of larval burrows by the adults (Scholtz & Browne 1995).
Recently several cladistic analyses of wing characters (Browne 1991, 1993, Browne & Scholtz 1995) and all available adult, larval and biological characters have shown that "Bolboceratinae" are most closely related to Pleocomidae and only distantly related to members of the Geotrupidae. This prompted Scholtz & Browne (1995) to elevate Bolboceratidae to family status.
Browne, D.J. 1991. Phylogenetic significance of the hind wing articulation of the Geotrupidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea). Pretoria: M.Sc. Thesis, University of Pretoria.
Browne, D.J. 1993. Phylogenetic significance of the hind wing basal articulation of the Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera). Pretoria: Ph.D. thesis, University of Pretoria.
Browne, D.J. & Scholtz, C.H. 1995. The phylogeny of the families of Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) based on characters of the hind wing articulation, wing base and wing venation. Systematic Entomology 23:
Howden, H.F. 1982. Larval and adult characters of Frickius Germain, its relationship to the Geotrupini, and a phylogeny of some major taxa in the Scarabaeoidea (Insecta: Coleoptera). Canadian Journal of Zoology 60(11): 2713-2724.
Paulian, R. 1941. La position systmatique du genre Pleocoma Le Conte (Col. Scarabaeidae).Revue Francaise de Entomologique 8: 151-155.
Scholtz, C.H. & Browne, D.J. 1995. Polyphyly in the Geotrupidae (Coleoptera: Scarabaeoidea).The Journal of Natural History.
About This Page
D. Jonathan Browne
University of Cape Town, South Africa
Clarke H. Scholtz
University of Pretoria, South Africa
Page copyright © 1995 D. Jonathan Browne and Clarke H. Scholtz
All Rights Reserved.
Citing this page:
Browne, D. Jonathan and Clarke H. Scholtz. 1995. Bolboceratidae. Version 01 January 1995 (under construction). http://tolweb.org/Bolboceratidae/9542/1995.01.01 in The Tree of Life Web Project, http://tolweb.org/


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Republicans discouraged by Obama's healthcare speech
For GOP lawmakers on Capitol Hill, the takeaway is that the president and the Democrats are poised to move without them.
| Washington
What Republican lawmakers heard from President Obama's address to Congress Wednesday night wasn't the invitation to join him on health reforms he sees as central to America's well-being, but rather the message that he is prepared to move without them.
"I will continue to seek common ground in the weeks ahead. If you come to me with a serious set of proposals, I will be there to listen," Mr. Obama said. "But know this: I will not waste time with those who have made the calculation that it's better politics to kill this plan than improve it."
In a silent protest, House Republicans waved copies of their own proposed legislation as the president spoke – proposals they say are serious but have not been taken seriously by House leaders or the Obama administration.
The key demand on the Republican side coming out of the president's speech is more time to work out a bipartisan solution. Congressional leaders and the White House signaled this week that time for that has about run out.
"We're willing to work with anyone who wants to work with us. I still think there are people on both sides who want to work with us," said presidential adviser David Axelrod, speaking to reporters after the president's address. "But at the end of the day, this is not just a matter of process, it's a matter of progress. We'll do what the situation requires," he added, referring to the possibility that the Senate may resort to a tactic that requires a bare majority vote in order to advance the legislation.
Only one of five congressional panels that have taken up health reform included Republicans in the drafting of an initial bill. The one remaining opportunity for Republicans is the Senate Finance Committee, which now says it will begin to mark up a bill next week with or without a bipartisan deal.
Responding to Obama's address, Sen. Michael Enzi (R) of Wyoming – one of the so-called Gang of Six, three Democrats and three Republicans working on a bipartisan draft – called on Democratic leaders not to put an "early end" to negotiations.
"The bipartisan talks we're having in the Finance Committee represent the best chance we have of achieving our shared goals, and I urge Democratic leaders not to close the door on these productive discussions," said Senator Enzi said, in a statement.
One option for moving a reform bill through the Senate is to use a procedure, called reconciliation, that allows legislation to clear with a simple majority, instead of the 60-vote supermajority that is standard for major legislation in the Senate. Leaders on both sides of the aisle have used it, but reluctantly because the procedure is complicated, risky, and typically incites the minority to be more obstructive on other issues.
Obama pointedly backed several GOP themes in his prime-time speech. For Americans who can't get insurance today because they are diagnosed with pre-existing medical conditions, he cited a proposal by presidential rival John McCain, a senator from Arizona, to protect them against financial ruin.
"This was a good idea when Senator John McCain proposed it in the campaign. It's a
good idea now, and we should all embrace it," Obama said.
In a nod to GOP calls for tort reform, Obama backed a Bush administration proposal to authorize demonstration projects to test whether doctors' efforts to avoid malpractice suits are inflating healthcare costs.
"It's a good idea, and I am directing my secretary of Health and Human Services to move forward on this initiative today," he said.
But what GOP lawmakers took away from the speech were the president's references to scare tactics, bogus claims, partisan spectacles, and lies, directed at them. And at least one took umbrage at Obama's statement that the reforms he is seeking would not grant health insurance to illegal immigrants.
"The president obviously said some good things, but this was a more partisan and strident speech than I had hoped for," said Rep. David Dreier of California, the top Republican on the House Rules Committee.
Healthcare's spending spiral
Obama's pursuit of a healthcare overhaul has put a sharper focus on a central and perplexing issue: how to control fast-rising costs. Here's a Q-and-A on the choices ahead.
Follow us on Twitter.


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Until 1:30 this morning, we were without power for 31 hours. Thanks to about six inches of very wet and heavy snow, our neighborhood was again in the dark, and cold. It was a chilly 52 degrees F (11C) in our house last night when we went to bed. Needless to say, we were without the Internet for that same period which eliminated my ability to keep up with VRW online. But it did give me plenty of time to finish a Virago Modern Classic yesterday. All things considered, I would have preferred not to lose power.
The other thing that made it difficult is that we weren't prepared for a storm and so both of our work Blackberries and my personal mobile were almost out of battery charge. And since we have cordless phones that require electricity to operate we felt really cut off. Then about 20 hours into the outage I remembered that we have a hardwired phone in the basement. So at least we had the comfort of being able to communicate with the outside world.
Besides having time to read–at least as long as it was daylight–we also got lots of time to snuggle with Lucy.
Last night to get out of the cold we went to see a movie. When we got to the theater the only thing playing that we thought would be tolerable was a film called No Strings with Ashton Kutcher and Natalie Portman (I think that's who it was.) We were wrong, it wasn't tolerable. It was awful. This is the kind of movie that convinces me that Hollywood should no longer make movies. Full of all kinds of inappropriate messages.
And I am so sick of Hollywood pandering to the straight man's desire to see two women kiss/have sex. Which brings me back to the wonderful world of Virago Modern Classics. A world where if the women are kissing or having sex with each other, it is because they are Lesbians or at least are doing it for their own enjoyment, not for the prurient interests of salivating straight men.
Thankfully I am connected again and can continue reading all the other great VRW posts around the Intertubes.


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49ers cry foul, but it's their offense that's the issue
- A 28th-ranked offense has yet to find its form
- Quarterback Colin Kaepernick has been inconsistent
- Return of Mario Manningham and Michael Crabtree should help
When San Francisco 49ers coaches graded the videotape from their heartbreaking loss on Sunday, they bent their own rules a bit to fit the occasion.
Typically, a player receives a downgrade for penalties.
Yet there was no such adjustment applied to linebacker Ahmad Brooks' final grade for the pivotal penalty he drew in the fourth quarter for his blow to the head of Drew Brees.
"We did not assign a minus on that play," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh told reporters on Monday. "That's our interpretation."
The defending NFC champs left the Superdome fuming about the call, and it still stung the next day.
Their angst is understandable. The game could have been won right there. But rather than a drive-stopping strip-sack, the flag allowed the New Orleans Saints to keep marching for a game-tying field goal. In losing 23-20, the 49ers were done in by the letter of the NFL law as Brooks was penalized for his inability to instantly freeze while his moving target squirmed in the pocket.
Tough break. It didn't appear that Brooks was intentionally trying to maim the quarterback illegally -- just legally maim him on a blitz. He didn't launch himself or lower his head to lead with the crown of the helmet like some of the most egregious violators are prone to attack. It was a frontal clothesline, if not a "bear hug" as Brooks termed it.
In any event, the officials got it right. A rule's a rule, not to be bent due to intent during this age of heightened safety standards
"Football, the way they call stuff these days, it's watered down," Brooks said after the game. "It ain't real no more."
Despite the close call, the penalty didn't cost the 49ers the game. Remember, the defense held New Orleans to a field goal after that.
The 49ers should have more consternation about an unproductive, 28th-ranked offense that has been out of sync all season.
What if they make a first down on either of their fourth-quarter possessions against the Saints?
What if they actually score a touchdown in the 10-9 loss the previous Sunday against the Panthers?
Maybe they'd have a seven-game winning streak.
Instead, at 6-4, a repeat NFC West crown is out of the question. The Seahawks (9-1) have pretty much claimed that. And unless the Greg Roman-coordinated unit has a quick rebound after generating all of 196 yards and 12 first downs, the big-picture idea of getting back to the Super Bowl and taking the next step of winning is a mirage.
That the latest reminder of the offensive struggles came at the Superdome -- where the 49ers couldn't score a game-winning touchdown against the Ravens in the final minutes after advancing to first-and-goal at the 7 -- added insult.
Much has been made of Colin Kaepernick's growing pains, while two other quarterback contemporaries -- Andrew Luck and Russell Wilson -- are flourishing.
He wouldn't be the first to cool off after a hot start, as the videotape library grows.
There were a few ugly throws on Sunday, for sure, that were left open to imagination.
Who was he throwing that to?
But there were some pinpoint completions through tight windows, too. Other times, he went through his progressions and opted for safe checkdown passes. And while you might question the underthrown pass that was intercepted by Corey White, you can't knock his hustle on chasing the would-be pick-six that became a fumbled touchback.
It's not all on Kaepernick. When the 49ers rush for a season-low 81 rushing yards as they did on Sunday, bad things tend to happen.
Like the Saints bum-rushing Kaepernick way too often.
Still, quarterbacks are expected to lift their teams -- even unrealistically.
Robert Griffin III -- who will face off opposite Kaepernick on Monday night at Washington as another quarterback unable to match his rookie-year magic -- has had to regain his rhythm while coming off reconstructive knee surgery.
Kaepernick, passing for 180 yards and 1.1 TDs per game, has been without Michael Crabtree and until recently, Mario Manningham.
Crabtree, the leading receiver in 2012, is close to returning from his torn Achilles. Manningham's back from a torn ACL. Randy Moss wasn't retained, so he retired.
No position group for the 49ers had as much upheaval since last season as the receiving corps, which is tough on a quarterback. Adding Anquan Boldin only helps so much.
The hope is that Crabtree and Manningham can suddenly juice the attack.
"That's the reason for optimism and hope," Harbaugh said.


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Matt Masson is a Principal Program Manager on the Power Query team. Matt has worked with multiple products across SQL Server, including SQL Server Integration Services (SSIS), Data Quality Services (DQS), Master Data Services (MDS), and the Data Management Gateway for the Power BI release. He has authored two books – SSIS Design Patterns (Apress) and SQL Server 2012 Integration Services (MS Press), and is a frequent presenter at SQL conferences. You can find his blog at http://www.mattmasson.com/.
Copyright © 2023 SQLBits Limited. All Rights Reserved.


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Rescuing Birds is Useful
In the Gainesville Sun on June 11, this headline read: Scientists: Rescuing Birds is Useless. As a scientist, bird veterinarian, minister, and a consultant in the human dimensions of conservation and wildlife, I found myself grateful that the ethical issues of bird rescue made the front page. I myself wonder how I might spend my days as I ask every morning, "Is what I do useless?" or framed another way, "How can we as individuals and as a society put our resources to the most use?" This question is often framed as "charity versus justice" or "helping the individual versus changing the system that got the individual into the mess in the first place." In respect to the Deepwater Horizon Disaster and birds, we wonder whether to save the one oiled pelican, or to save our energy, talent, and resources to provide habitat for pelican rookeries or to lobby for stricter protection of the environment. At one level, this is an individual's choice. What do you feel compelled to do - care for suffering individuals or for a suffering society and environment? After 24 years working in avian conservation and medicine, as well as many years counseling humans in vocational discernment, I suggest that we each give of ourselves to causes where our deep joy and gifts intersect with the world's great needs. If you receive joy and satisfaction in washing oiled birds, do so. Mother Teresa often received criticism from her efforts to care for the homeless and poor instead of using her power and charisma to change the economic or political system in India. Yet she did much to raise awareness and compassion through her efforts.
Our human response to the suffering of others is an interrelated whole. It doesn't matter so much the particular of what we do, just as long as we do something, and keep in mind to do no harm. For the individual pelican or tern mired in the oil, it surely matters to them that someone is willing to ease their suffering, either through treatment or compassionate euthanasia. No one trained in avian rescue wants to cause unnecessary suffering, so we have to be ready to make the hard decision whether to put a bird through the stress of medical intervention given the likelihood of recovery and release. For me this means we need to study the issues as completely as possible so that we do the least harm. In the case of oiled birds, there are numerous studies indicating that a high percentage of birds do survive and can return to breeding. The article in the Sun on 6/11 (online version has different title - Is Rescuing Birds Futile?) only referred to one study, which was 15 years old. Since then our techniques for rehabilitation have improved, as has our ability to understand the situation from the bird's point of view. We ask, "If I were this bird, would it be worth it to go through the stress of capture, captivity, and treatment given the percent chance I will lead a satisfactory life in the future?" Although no one can answer this question for another or with any reliability, it doesn't diminish the importance of this question for every bird under our care. I know that I find the pressure of "doing the right thing" nearly overwhelming when it comes to making decisions with wild birds, but I do not want my uncertainty to stop me from doing all I can.
So what is stopping us as group of people from doing all we can? Perhaps we suspect that if we spend time helping birds and not say some other group of suffering beings, such as orphans in Central America of out-of-work fisherpeople in the Gulf, we are somehow fundamentally flawed. We don't want to be people who say that birds matter more than humans, or that one kind of human or bird matters more than others. We need not judge ourselves or others based on how we care for others. When we help one being, we are helping others. If we are called to help humans, we are also helping birds for they need us as individuals and as a species to be as healthy as we can. In turn, we need birds and their environments to be as healthy as they can for our own sake. The fate of one is the fate of all. The important question isn't whether we spend BP's resources on which humans or which bird or animals, but how do we care for the interrelated whole. By asking that question, I believe we move towards a future where we as a society can find a way to use our resources wisely and compassionately. When we seek to help others and keep our hearts open to all beings, we nurture and heal our own lives as we nurture and heal the world. Saving that one oiled bird this week may not mean you can be sure she will pass on her genes or live a long life, but maybe, just maybe, it will help heal the human heart and condition, so that the days of all beings may be long on this earth. And that's a useful thing.
(this article appeared in the Gainesville Sun June 12, 2010)


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Bombs Kill Dozens In Iraq; Mubarak Trial Resumes
Good morning.
Seemingly coordinated bombings in more than a dozen Iraqi cities today have left more than 50 people dead and even more wounded, according to various media reports. The Associated Press reports that "the blasts were coordinated to go off in the morning and included a combination of parked car bombs, roadside bombs and a suicide bomber driving a vehicle that rammed into a police station."
According to the BBC, "the worst attack took place in the south-eastern city of Kut where police said two near-simultaneous bombs killed at least 37 people." BBC diplomatic correspondent Jonathan Marcus writes that "who exactly is behind the current violence remains unclear, but it serves a dual and contradictory purpose, at one and the same time highlighting the declining levels of security whilst warning those willing to countenance a continuing US presence of the trouble that might lie ahead if U.S. forces stay on."
Also today, the trial of former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak resumed in Cairo. He's charged with corruption and with ordering the killing of hundreds of protesters earlier this year. OnMorning Edition, NPR's Mike Shuster said Mubarak — again in a hospital bed, as during an earlier appearance — was there with his two sons, who also face charges. The only word Mubarak uttered, Mike said, was "present" after the judge sought to confirm he was in the courtroom.
There were "dozens and dozens" of lawyers present, Mike added. Many wanted evidence such as hospital and ambulance records to help establish how some of the protesters were killed. The judge, said Mike, struggled to maintain control of the courtroom.
Other stories making headlines include:
-- "U.S. Stock Futures Climb; S&P 500 May Rise": "U.S. stock-index futures gained [early today], indicating the Standard & Poor's 500 Index will climb after three weeks of losses dragged the gauge to the cheapest level in more than two years." ( Bloomberg News)
-- "Could The State Collapse Have Been Prevented?" "It's a troubling question in the midst of tragedy but one that state officials must now try to answer: Was there something that could have been done to avoid the deadly catastrophe that took place Saturday at the Indiana State Fair? On Sunday, various state agencies began the sobering task of trying to explain just how five people were killed and 45 others were injured when an overhead stage rigging came crashing down on people waiting for the start of a Sugarland concert." At issue: whether authorities should have taken "ominous weather warnings more seriously." ( The Indianapolis Star)
-- Perry's Entry May Be More Important To GOP Race Than Straw Poll Results: "With her decisive victory over former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty in the Ames straw poll, Rep. Michelle Bachmann (R-MN) established herself as the woman to beat in the Iowa caucuses next winter -– the event that begins the 2012 nominating process. ... [But] "it is likely the entry into the field of Texas Gov. Rick Perry this weekend, a deed carried out in the rival early-voting state of South Carolina, will look more important in hindsight" as the battle for the Republican presidential nomination shakes out. ( It's All Politics)
Related story onMorning Edition: "Perry, Bachmann Share Billing at Iowa Fundraiser."
Copyright 2020 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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We've always dabbled with herbal medicine: a tin of Baby Balm here, a tincture of echinacea there, some Sambucol every November, chamomile at bedtime. But I've never stopped to take the time for a comprehensive, systematic study of herbs that heal. The herb books were Mom's reading and usually it was reading done under the time constraints of some acute condition. Still, alternative medicine, and particularly herbal healing, is a burning interest of mine--one I want to pursue.
As the days grow shorter and darker this year and as the viruses threaten our home, I've decided that the perfect late fall and winter nature study is one that takes botany and brings it home for our health. And, in the true spirit of "getting things done," I am going to share our plans here for Dawn's late autumn field day, while trying to compensate for the fact that I missed her Loveliness of Homemade Fair.
Our booklist for this rabbit trail is fairly short. For the children, I purchased a Kid's Herb Book for Children of All Ages.
This is a great book! I read it through one evening during a nursing marathon and I learned so much. The author, a dedicated practicing herbalist, familiarizes with sixteen medicinal herbs. It's a children's book, but her respect for the intellect of children is readily apparent. The information in this book is not dumbed down. interspered with the science, there are fictional stories about natural life but even those are well done and my children enjoy them. For each herb, we will learn a new "technique." For instance, comfrey is the knitbone herb. We learned, at long last, how to make an herbal healing salve. I used this kit from learningherbs.com to jumpstart me.
We all enjoyed turning a small crock of simmering herbs
into little tins and pots of healing salve to give as gifts and to tuck into diaper bags and soccer backpacks.
Each child made a notebook page for comfrey which will be added to his or her own personal herbal reference book. I'll scan at least one child's entry each week and post it at Blossoms and Bees so we have an online herbal guide as well. This might be the first (and only) notebook that everyone from 4-18 completes. Katie is too little to make her plants look much like plants and I do want her to have a keepsake so I am using coloring pages from Dover's Medicinal Plants Coloring Book. I got two of these, because I have a little guy who tends to freeze if he can't do something perfectly (where'd he get that trait?) and the coloring pages will get him over the drawing hump.
I'm making notes as we do this over the winter so that when the growing season comes again, our herb garden can reflect what we learned. Hopefully, I can cut down on shipments like these from Mountain Rose Herbs.
Truth be told, much of that is my attempt to make my own postpartum-and-beyond tea. My cuppa now has equal parts Raspberry leaf, Nettle, Lady's Mantle, and Lemon Balm with some Lavender and some Cinnamon chips. Still debating whether or not to add Red Clover...
We will follow the Kids' Herb Book through the rest of the fall and into the winter, learning one a herb a week and making things like elderberry syrup, ginger ale, and slippery elm lozenges.
Before Christmas, I plan to make milk and honey herbal soap and some soy candles scented with essential oil. So far, we haven't a had huge success with honey soaps but we did make nice soap out of a simple combination of melt and pour glycerin, a little beeswax, some lavender from our garden and some lavender essential oil.
After reading about paraffin candles (HT:As Cozy as Spring), I decided there would be no more Yankee Candles here. Did you know:
"the EPA has confirmed that those candles, and the smoke and soot they give off, contain several dangerous chemicals in significant quantities. These chemicals include known or probable carcinogens, neurotoxins and reproductive toxins.
The American Lung Association also warns that burning paraffin candles can emit toxins (in measurable amounts) into your home's air."
Instead, we are making soy candles and scenting them with natural fragrance oil. We made our first batch last week and I'm very pleased with the result. I used a starter kit to get us going, but now we're ready to tinker with combination scents and try some longer burning, larger candles.
Following the natural theme, we are also making beeswax angel ornaments. I think that this combination of natural, yet lovely, items makes a pretty gift package.
In an effort to keep everything from being dried and bound in a book, we're going to grow some herbs indoors as well. This way, the children can gain an intimate knowledge of the plants and further appreciate what a gift they are to us. With this kit, we'll even bag our own tea!
So, there you have it: lots of little goodies for thoughtful (and natural) gift baskets, the beginnings of an herbal medicine chest, some notebook pages, an ongoing nature study, and quite an education for Mom!


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See the rest of Slate's Fitness Issue.
People often comment on my father's physique. Toned doesn't quite capture it: He looks carved. Unusually muscular. He is also, by any measure, ridiculously strong. He has never, to my knowledge, belonged to a gym. He plays tennis a bit. He skis (beautifully), but only once or twice a year. There was a short tenure as a coxswain; it ended when he smashed the boat.
For as long as I can remember, my father has maintained the same workout regimen. Most mornings, as the rest of the house struggles to start the day, he begins a series of exercises—the "Müller technique." Body swings. Stretches. Hopping on one foot. Lunges with arms windmilling, first backwards, then forwards. Sit-ups, push-ups, toe-touches. He does all this clothed in nothing but underwear. He is finished in 25 minutes, or less.
When I was very young, I remember watching my grandfather practice Müller as well, as he had each morning since he learned it at Jewish summer camp on the banks of Austria's Lake Wolfgangsee. After I gave birth and found it harder to get to the gym, my father suggested I try Müller: "You can do it at home!"
Born in Asserballe, Denmark in 1866, J.P. Müller was, for a time, as famous as that other Danish export, Hans Christian Anderson. Maybe more. At the turn of the last century, Müller's wildly popular cult of physical fitness swept Mitteleuropa, turning parlor-sitting dandies from Copenhagen to Berlin to London into ironmen. Müller's My System was published first in 1904 as little more than a long, bound pamphlet graced with an image of the Greek athlete Apoxyomenos naked and toweling himself. The exercise guide, which promised that just "15 minutes a day" of prescribed * exercise would make "weaklings" into strong men (and women), was ultimately translated into 25 languages, reprinted dozens of times, and sold briskly well into the 20th century.
Müller was the Tom Paine of free body movement and fresh air. Like many a radical, he was resisted at first, called pornographic (partly because he often appeared in a loincloth—even while skiing in St. Moritz). His was a call to throw off the restrictive shackles of the Victorian era—a literal stripping away of restrictive layered clothes and corsets, a rejection of the "pallid, sickly looks" once prized as beautiful, and the "false dignity which forbids people, for instance, to indulge in so healthy and beneficial an exercise as running." He admonished: "Do not let a day pass without every muscle and every organ in your body being set in brisk motion." And bathing—the man had a fondness for cleanliness many of his contemporaries did not share: "This does not only refer only to people of the 'working' classes. I have often met 'gentlemen' in frock-coats and top hats and ladies in evening dress of whom you could tell by the smell of them, even at a distance of several feet, that they seldom or never took a bath."
Born sickly himself, so small "I could be placed in an ordinary cigar box," Müller nearly died of dysentery at two and "contracted every childhood complaint." His own strength, in other words, was acquired, not inherited, through physical exercise.
The Müller system is pretty much as I observed each morning growing up; it is something like a precursor to Pilates, it borrows from ballet, and it needs no equipment, other than commitment. It is strict but appealingly accessible. Unlike some of the other popular physical fitness gurus of the time—including the Prussian Eugene Sandow, who is known as the father of bodybuilding—Müller wasn't interested in building muscle mass through dumbbells. And while My System wasn't only aimed at men—in his original pamphlet, he explains that a woman needs to develop a "muscular corset" (that is, core muscles)—Müller, eventually, added to his bookshelf, writing My System for Ladies and My System for Children. There was also the remedial My Breathing System for those for whom, trapped in a Victorian sartorial nightmare, respiration had to be taught.
Aside from being popular, My System was also intuitively, precociously, on the mark. In an age of rampant tuberculosis infection, Müller insisted practitioners must both open windows and allow the sun to touch the skin. (At the time he published My System, Müller was working as an inspector at the Vejlefjord Sanitorium for Consumption.) This advice was, as Dr. Lee B. Reichman wrote in 2003's Timebomb, among the few TB-preventative options available in the preantibiotic era. Müller also recommended common-sense daily living: eating and drinking alcohol "in moderation," getting eight hours of sleep, drinking water, caring for your teeth, giving up the pipe.
Best of all, My System is open to all. Where many of the other gymnastics movements—and there were dozens upon dozens of others born in Europe around the same time—had aggressively nationalist, proto-fascist, and often anti-Semitic overtones, Müller was refreshingly secular and remarkably nonideological. Müller's system could be enthusiastically embraced by Jew and gentile alike. That is probably what appealed to his most famous devotee, Kafka.
Franz Kafka was a fanatical Müller follower. He would do the movements, fully naked, in his window, twice each day, whirling his arms and twisting this way and that, practicing the same hops and isolations advocated with similar vigor by my family. Indeed, My System became an integral piece of Kafka's obsession with the body. When Müller's women's pamphlet was published, in 1913, Kafka sent a copy to his fiancée, Felice Bauer, recommending she pick up a daily practice as well. "If they bore you, it shows you are not doing them properly," he wrote.
Mark Anderson, the author of Kafka's Clothes and a professor of German and comparative literature at Columbia, argues that the author was likely drawn to Müller's unabashed commentaries on the crush of modern life. ("The town office type is often a sad phenomenon … prematurely bent, with shoulders and hips awry from his dislocating position on the office-stool, pale, with pimply face.") The system also promised benefits for artists and writers ("geniuses who have no thoughts for their bodies"), and Kafka appears to have shared Müller's pleasure in the naked body. (Kafka himself did a short stint at a nudist summer colony and often sunbathed nude at home—at least until his tuberculosis caught up with him.)
Most of all "for someone like Kafka who was allergic to nationalist group identity and belonging, the advantage of Müller is that he can do it alone at home—it's his system," Anderson elaborated on the phone recently, noting Kafka had likely been aware of the (not terribly welcoming) Czech Sokol nationalist gymnastics clubs. He continued:
It's divorced from ideological context and that's a great advantage, but, nonetheless, he still feels he is one of these neurotic, overintellectualized, urban Jews that need some beefing up. He feels too tall, too thin, too weak. His nerves are shot. He … very strongly believes that becoming a writer means becoming disciplined and toughening up his physical organism. He does a series of things to create a new identity. The gymnastics is one part of it.
Anderson sees Kafka's body-identity struggle, and embracing of Müller, as loosely connected to the movement to create "muscle Jews." It's a reference to Max Nordau, a contemporary of Theodore Herzl, who prodded Jews at the turn of the last century to toughen up and cast off the pallor of the city, the study room, and the literary salon. At the 1898 World Zionist Congress, Nordau issued a call to arms to his brethren: "Let's go! Pull your courage together! Do something! Work for yourself and make a place for your people under the sun! Don't rest until you have convinced the indifferent and downright hostile world that your people have a right to live and enjoy life just like other peoples."
Jews across Europe began working out. Hundreds of athletic clubs were formed, some of which—like Hakoah Vienna, which developed winning rowers, swimmers, water polo players, and a champion soccer team of the same name—were successful by any measure. It was in this heady context that my grandfather, a lifelong Zionist, learned his Müller as a 12-year-old in the 1920s, alongside other Jewish Austrian kids. Some of these other young athletes were also early Zionists, developing their bodies to work on kibbutzim in Palestine; some were merely seeking access to a burgeoning culture of German and Austrian athleticism. It's not clear that Jews flocked to Müller more than any other gymnastics regime, but being a part of a secular gymnastics movement was a means of conveying one's national as well as ethnic identity; ironically, given how the some gymnastics clubs would feed into Nazism in a few years, in Germany such Jewish athletic clubs were also seen as a means of being "German."
Müller took great pride in his system's popularity. In My System for Ladies, he notes that his first book sold "over a million copies" (later estimates pegged it at 2 million), and devotees included Crown Princess Sophia of Greece. Eventually he settled in London, dropped his umlaut, and opened the Muller Institute at 45 Dover Street, where he welcomed guests like the Prince of Wales. British soldiers were told to practice his exercises in the trenches of World War I. He gave hundreds of lectures on hygiene and exercise throughout the 1910s and early 1920s across Europe. A radio program, helmed by a devotee, broadcast his system from the mid-1920s until the mid-1950s.
By the end of World War I, Müller had begun to think the system was a kind of El Dorado that would keep the devoted alive well past the age of 100.
It was not, as the tubercular Kafka soon discovered. Müller himself died in 1938. In memoriam, the town of Nykobing, Denmark, erected a statue of him, a bronze casting of his body as it was in the height of his physical ability. Nude but for a loincloth, he is towelling himself off briskly—an essential part of the system. (The skin is an organ!)
Müller and his system faded into obscurity, some historians say, because he turned to the occult at the end of his life, alienating would-be followers by drifting a great distance from the corporeal world he'd long cultivated. In truth, Müller the man was less important to my family than the books themselves, which my grandfather, Karl, collected. Karl taught my father "to Müller," as the Germans put it, at age 5. My father, now a physician and in his 60s, believes that Müller's emphasis on developing the core is exactly right; half of his exercises are now part of his standard back-pain recommendations for patients.
For me, seeing my father lace his fingers together and swoop his entire upper body first in one direction, and then the other, is something like a visual madeleine. I can see myself, age 7 or 8, in my parents' old bedroom, watching my father hasten to finish his Müller, pushing his feet under the bed to hold them steady as he does sit-up after sit-up. Not much has changed, really, though the child watching now is my own.
Correction, Jan. 21, 2011:This piece originally indicated that J.P. Müller proscribed 15 minutes of exercise per day. Müller in fact prescribed that amount of exercise. (Return to the corrected sentence.)Like Slate on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter.


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After a disaster, people scatter. Earthquakes, hurricanes, or even droughts are surefire ways to clear out a city. But no matter where displaced people move, their exodus creates a serious issue for aid workers: You can't help anybody unless you know where they are.
"It's almost impossible to study these things," says Linus Bengtsson, of the department of public health sciences at Sweden's Karolinska Institute. "Having people count other people on the sides of the streets is extremely difficult." But thanks to new research out this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences by a team including Bengtsson, figuring out where people go after a natural disaster might get a little bit easier.
Most of the post-disaster people-tracking data that researchers have collected over the years comes from indirect means like school enrollment records and tax forms. While those methods work well when looking back on a disaster, they don't provide any information that could help relief workers find people in need of help in the immediate aftermath.
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To get a more real-time look, Bengtsson and his colleagues convinced Digicel—the biggest cellphone-service provider in Haiti—to supply them with GPS data for every cell sold before the 2010 Haiti earthquake in hard-hit Port-au-Prince. (Admittedly, this brings up some Big Brother concerns. But the researchers and the company assure us that the people behind the cell data remained anonymous. Digicel provided one locating piece of information per phone per day, and the scientists never knew who the people using the cells were.)
By tracking the location of one "chargeable event"—anything your phone does that requires a satellite, including calling, texting, and emailing—the researchers saw where the phone and its owner had moved over 24 hours. The scientists got a large sample of Haitians this way: About 50 percent of the adults in Haiti have cellphones, and Digicel services most of them. All told, the study used cell data from 42 days before the quake to 341 days after it to track 800,000 cell owners in Port-au-Prince the day of the disaster.
The researchers found that after the initial shock of the earthquake passed, people resumed normal movements surprisingly quickly. The Haitians who left Port-au-Prince needed to travel farther distances to find work, food, and shelter, but after they settled somewhere new they fell into a routine almost immediately. "Even though they moved across longer distances and across bigger areas," Bengtsson says, "the regularity [of their movements] didn't change. After the first three months, they got new regular habits. It changed their behavior but not the regularity of it."
While it's nice for relief workers to know that in the immediate aftermath of a disaster people will return to a normal schedule in Haiti, it doesn't mean that this will hold true for every disaster in every country. "My concern is overgeneralizing," Nathan Eagle, a professor at MIT unaffiliated with the PNAS paper, says. "We have a data set of one. This is one example, and it's great. There's something to be said about how people behave in a disaster, but you don't want to overgeneralize it to every disaster."
However, this paper did allow researchers to see exactly where people decided to flee. Because the quake occurred just after New Year's Day, the researchers got GPS data showing where Haitians went to spend the holidays. It just so happens that many of the tracked individuals went back to those same places after the quake. "These results are probably transferable to other disaster contexts," Bengtsson says. "People go where there is close social support."
Bengtsson and Eagle both think cellphone data could be key to keeping track of people affected by natural disasters. If aid workers know where populations are likely to end up when displaced ahead of time, then they will be able to get the right kind of relief to the right areas. Cellphones have become so omnipresent in nearly every part of the world that this tracking could be done after just about any disaster.
"This [cellphone] data is a fact of life," Eagle says. "It's a necessary byproduct of the ubiquity of cellphones. Given the fact that it does exist, we should find ways to use it to benefit the lives of people who are generating it."


text: Back Beyond Cholesterol Cholesterol is a household word, synonymous with coronary artery disease. But a growing body of research shows that this fat-like substance in your blood is just the tip of the iceberg. Scientists have learned that other substances may give you and your doctor new clues about your heart disease risk. And that's good news. Coronary heart disease, in which fatty deposits build up in your arteries, is the nation's top killer. There are more predictors of coronary artery disease and the search continues for knowledge of these risk factors. Your doctor can look at a more complete risk pattern with the new findings in mind. Even if you do not have coronary artery disease, the new predictors can provide a more complete and aggressive plan for reducing your chance of developing it. There is still a lot to be learned about how to use these factors to predict risk. Current predictors of coronary artery disease include too much LDL ("bad") cholesterol and not enough HDL ("good") cholesterol. If your levels are abnormal, data on the new predictors could influence the decision for more intense treatment. If you already have heart disease, discuss appropriate treatment with your health care provider. Potential new predictors Homocysteine Homocysteine is an amino acid, a part of protein which seems to be toxic to the cells that line the arteries. This toxicity seems to influence the disruption of plaque. If plaque ruptures, a clot forms, blocking vital blood flow. If this takes place in an artery that supplies blood to the heart, a heart attack occurs. Scientists are studying whether B vitamins—B12, pyridoxine, and folic acid, all of which appear to lower levels of homocysteine in the blood—may help treat high levels of the amino acid. So far, the American Heart Association (AHA) recommends only that you take in 400 mcg daily of folic acid for its general health benefit. Experts don't recommend routine blood tests for homocysteine unless you have other heart-disease risk factors, or unless you have heart disease but no known risk factors. Occasionally, your healthcare provider may want to check your homocysteine level if your close family members have high homocysteine levels and premature heart disease. Your homocysteine level could provide a clue to your risk of developing heart disease. Triglycerides Triglycerides are no longer the new kid on the block, but many people still don't realize their importance. They are your body's most common form of fat and the main source of stored energy. Your liver makes triglycerides and cholesterol from food. Doctors should view high triglyceride levels as a warning sign. Diet and exercise affect triglycerides, just as they do cholesterol. Obesity, inactivity, and high-sugar foods can cause special trouble. If lifestyle changes, like a low-fat diet and exercise, don't lower triglycerides, drugs, such as statins and fibrates, may help, along with the vitamin nicotinic acid, a specific form of niacin. (Other forms of niacin do not affect triglyceride levels.) Labs check triglycerides as part of a full lipid study that also measures HDL and LDL. Talk with your doctor if your level is high. C-reactive protein Your C-reactive protein (CRP) level rises if there's inflammation in your body. Scientists think chronically high levels might predict inflammation in blood vessels. However, even with a minor cold, CRP levels will rise. Testing is very sensitive but not very specific. The AHA does not recommend checking everyone's CRP level. For people with an intermediate risk for heart disease, however, a CRP level may help a doctor decide whether to be more aggressive with treatment to reduce or eliminate risk factors for heart disease. Levels above 3 are considered high. Studies show statins may lower CRP. Lp(a) Lp(a) is a fat-carrying particle made up of LDL and protein and is a genetic variation of normal LDL. A high level of Lp(a) is a risk factor for developing premature atherosclerosis. Scientists agree that your Lp(a) level is set mainly by genetics, so people with a family history of heart disease may have high levels. Knowing this may help doctors decide how aggressively to treat other risk factors, such as high LDL cholesterol. Like high cholesterol, high Lp(a) levels can also be treated with statin drugs and niacin, but doctors don't yet know if lowering your Lp(a) level cuts your heart-disease risk. Your doctor would likely order an Lp(a) blood test only if you have other serious risk factors for heart disease. Cholesterol: Still the top danger sign A high level of cholesterol in the blood is still the top heart disease predictor. A report from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute urged these changes in cholesterol screening and treatment: If you are 20 or older and of average risk for heart disease, you should have a full lipid profile at least every five years. This test is done after fasting and measures total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, and triglycerides. LDL is the lipoprotein that carries the form of cholesterol that builds up in the arteries. HDL is the lipoprotein that carries cholesterol that is being removed from the body, which keeps it from building up on the walls of arteries Doctors should treat certain people at risk more aggressively with drugs. The LDL level at which treatment with drugs is advised depends on whether you have other risk factors. People with two or more of the following risk factors are considered at higher risk: an HDL below 40 mg/dL; high blood pressure; a family history of early heart disease (a first-degree relative with heart disease before age 55 if a man, or before 65 if a woman); diabetes; smoking; and age (45 or older if a man, or 55 or older if a woman). The metabolic syndrome—a combination of abdominal obesity, high triglycerides, low HDL, high blood pressure, and a high blood sugar level—also puts you at risk. If you're at risk for heart disease, you should make important lifestyle changes. You should cut saturated fats to 7 percent of your total daily calories, lower cholesterol in your diet to less than 200 mg a day, eat more soluble fiber and foods with plant stanols or sterols (found in some margarines and salad dressings), stick to a healthy weight, and make exercise a habit. You should learn your risk level. Experts have set up four risk categories. Your doctor can work out your level with a risk assessment tool based on blood tests, blood pressure, and history of smoking. Risk predictor* Ideal number Total cholesterol Below 200 mg/dL HDL cholesterol Above 60 mg/dL LDL cholesterol Below 100 (depending on other risks) mg/dL Triglycerides Below 150 mg/dL *You should not eat or drink anything but water for nine to 12 hours before these tests.


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A Century-Old Prosthesis So Advanced Even an Expert Thought It Was Fake
Fonte original: http://paleofuture.gizmodo.com/a-century-old-prosthesis-so-advanced-even-an-expert-tho-1520134020
In our quest to rid the world of fun and joy, we've done a number of posts fact-checking viral images. Sometimes we'll come across an image that just doesn't smell right, and enlist the help of experts to determine its authenticity. And sometimes, even the experts aren't quite sure.
That was the case recently with a photo posted by @HistoryInPics purporting to show a girl wearing prosthetic legs in the year 1900. I found out that the description of the photo was accurate, but not before both I and an expert in the history of prosthetics were convinced it wasn't.
Everything about the photo (above left) and its date made me skeptical. I assumed that it might be a photo of a girl wearing braces for something like polio rather than artificial legs. The legs seemed far too technologically advanced for an early date like 1900. So I emailed Dr. David Serlin, a professor at UC-San Diego and co-editor of the 2002 book Artificial Parts, Practical Lives Modern Histories of Prosthetics.
Dr. Serlin's specialty was post-World War II prosthetics, but I thought he still might have an opinion on the circa 1900 image. Turns out, he had just been looking at the photo not two weeks earlier, wondering the same thing I was.
"The image depicts a girl wearing orthopedic braces," Serlin wrote, seemingly confirming my suspicions. "Hinged prosthetic legs would not have been available at this time (ca 1910, IMHO) for little girls. The lace up and harness gives away that she probably suffered a childhood illness or accident."
I was ready to consider the matter closed and declare it an inaccurate description of the photo, but Serlin's lack of certainty made me want to dig around a bit more. The word "probably" makes me nervous.
After some more research I found the image on sites I considered more reliable than @HistoryInPics. These sites claimed that the artificial limbs in the photo were credited to a man named James Gillingham (1839-1924). Gillingham was a well-respected shoemaker in the UK who began making artificial limbs after a local man lost his arm in 1863. I wrote back to Dr. Serlin asking about the new details I'd found.
"Gillingham was an extremely skilled maker of artificial limbs," Serlin said, "so if these are attributed to him I stand corrected (no pun intended). They resemble orthopedics from the same period, which is why I assumed that is what they were."
At the turn of the 20th century, most artificial legs were still incredibly primitive. And it's not clear how well the young girl in the picture would've been able to move, even with these fantastic looking artificial legs.
"They're quite incredible given the balance and strength that would have been required of the little girl to wear them," Serlin wrote, "let alone use them on a regular basis."
They were so far ahead of their time—and as a result, so difficult to use—it seems impossible that they would have worked. And yet, apparently, they did.
As people like Sarah Werner and Slate's Rebecca Onion have pointed out recently, sometimes the worst crime committed by historical picture accounts is that they strip out all context. Want to learn more about the image? Well, good luck. You're given no more information than a short caption and an interesting picture. Few people have the time or energy to do a research project on every image they come across online. Which is why so much bullshit gets passed around as real.
And it's not just history Twitter accounts run by teenagers that strip out identifying information and add to confusion on the web. Too often error-riddled sites like Retronaut do precisely the same thing, posting photos and documents that deliver on the gee whiz nature of online media, without providing crucial links for people who want to find out more — such as who may have created the image or what's actually occurring in it.
When it comes to online media, we're all doing our best. There's a lot of amazing history to wade through in this never-ending sea of ones and zeroes. And this is both the blessing and curse of our primitive, early 21st century experiment with online sharing. It's a big sandbox and there's plenty of room for everyone to play. Just be careful around the kid who hands you an Ewok action figure and tells you it's Chewbacca.
*Images: Artificial legs circa 1890-1910 made by James Gillingham via Getty via Science & Society Picture Library


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Braves 5, Red Sox 2: Minor lapses add up to an eighth loss in nine games – Tim Britton looks at the latest Red Sox loss which included a John Farrell ejection.
John Farrell needs to be tougher on Red Sox players – Peter Abraham says that the manager needs to be more like Bill Belichick when he had Malcolm Butler sit out OTA practices. Wait, no, he doesn't actually say that…
It's a good overall look at the current state of the team, though.
Red Sox general manager Ben Cherington disappointed with his own performance – Jen McCaffrey has the Sox GM trying to get back on track.
James Young working to silence the doubters – Chris Forsberg has an encouraging piece on the 2014 first round pick, who basically went through a redshirt season as a rookie.
The Patriots are officially on summer vacation until training camp starts in about five weeks or so.
What we learned from Bill Belichick's final minicamp news conference – Mike Reiss with a look at what the coach had to say before heading out to his boat.
Five predictions for the 2015 New England Patriots season – Kevin Duffy with a nice look ahead.
Foes will shoot for Patriots more than ever – Karen Guregian says that the team will have an ever-present target on its back in 2015.
Chorus of Deflategate skeptics getting louder – Tom E Curran looks at the noise starting to pick up against Roger Goodell.
The Wells Report In Context website continues to be updated, as two pages on the site are collecting articles critical of TWR:
Wells Report Critical Articles
Wells Report Critical Science Articles
Chris Gasper wants you to thank your local beat writer:
6. Media members are often subject to criticism and derision. Sometimes we deserve it. But I hope Patriots fans appreciate the yeoman work being done by the Patriots beat writers to chronicle practice sessions and provide them with updates during OTAs and minicamp while contending with players who have no identifiable numbers on them. If going sans numerals really does boost team bonding, the Patriots will win the first-ever Nobel Prize for team chemistry.
While the Patriots did this last year as well, it seems like it's been a much bigger deal this year. (I think last year there was still a small number on the helmet.) Some have insinuated that it is done purposely to make the media's job more difficult.
Consider what Ben Volin wrote last year when this was a novelty:
Belichick has the players practicing without numbers on their jerseys, and it's more than a way to build team chemistry or needle reporters trying to watch practice. There's an unspoken message that the players are all parts of one machine, working together to win a Super Bowl trophy.
Since that's exactly what happened, should Belichick be awarded that Nobel Prize for team chemistry, Chris Gasper?


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LONGMONT — Judy Lubow of Longmont has maintained a steady lead over her competitors in the race for Regional Transportation District I director.
As of 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, with 64,988 votes counted, Lubow had 33 percent of the total votes cast.
Longmont's Jeff Ilseman had 27 percent; Broomfield's Seth Patterson was at 21 percent and Erie's Cheryl Hauger was at 19 percent.
RTD I represents Longmont, Erie, Lafayette, Broomfield and part of Louisville. The district covers parts of Boulder, Broomfield, Adams and Weld counties.
The victor will replace Broomfield's Lee Kemp, who was term-limited after serving 8 years on the RTD board, the past five as chairman. Kemp was behind in his race for Colorado Senate District 23 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Tony Kindelspire can be reached at 303-684-5291 or at firstname.lastname@example.com.