text:
Top Items:
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat:
Platform leader Benjamin Ling to leave Facebook, as platform continues to evolve — Last fall, Benjaming Ling was recruited out of Google to help lead the Facebook developer platform product marketing team. But he's planning to leave Facebook within the next couple of weeks, I've heard from sources within Facebook.
Discussion: All Facebook, Silicon Alley Insider and Mashable!
Nick O'Neill / All Facebook: Ben Ling to Leave Facebook
Vasanth Sridharan / Silicon Alley Insider: Facebook's App Guy, Ben Ling, To Depart
Adam Ostrow / Mashable!: Platform Evangelist Benjamin Ling to Leave Facebook
Kara Swisher / BoomTown:
Ben Ling to Leave Facebook — Earlier this afternoon, sources told BoomTown that Ben Ling (pictured here) was leaving his job at Facebook, a high-profile departure given that the social-networking company grabbed the well-known techie from Google (GOOG). — Ling and Facebook have since confirmed the departure to me.
Discussion: Valleywag
Paul Boutin / Valleywag: Ben "Bling" Ling to leave Facebook
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land:
Yahoo's Fire Eagle Location Service Comes Out Of Private Beta — I'm at the Brickhouse in San Francisco as Tom Coates, head of the Fire Eagle team, is announcing the release of Fire Eagle, which had been in private beta. The service is intended to be something of a "clearinghouse" or …
Discussion: Search Engine Journal, PC World, Techland, ReadWriteWeb, WebProNews, Mashable!, webmonkey, Lifehacker and Screenwerk
Nancy Gohring / PC World: Yahoo Launches Fire Eagle
Michaelcopeland / Techland: Yahoo knows where you are — By Michael V. Copeland
Frederic Lardinois / ReadWriteWeb: The Fire Eagle Has Landed: Yahoo Opens Its Location Platform to All
David A. Utter / WebProNews: Yahoo Lights Up Location Data With Fire Eagle
Kristen Nicole / Mashable!: Fire Eagle Now Available to All. How Will Yahoo Take Advantage?
Michael Calore / webmonkey: Yahoo's Fire Eagle Goes Public, Location-Aware Web Apps to Follow
Gina Trapani / Lifehacker: Fire Eagle Shares Your Location Across Applications
Greg Sterling / Screenwerk: Yahoo! Fire Eagle Comes out of Beta
Yahoo! Launches Fire Eagle — New Platform Enables Users to Easily Update and Manage Their — Location Information Across the Web — Yahoo! Inc. (Nasdaq:YHOO), a leading global Internet company, today announced the general availability of Fire Eagle (http://fireeagle.yahoo.net) …
Discussion: Bits, Yodel Anecdotal, Tech Beat, InfoWorld, InformationWeek, mocoNews.net and Yahoo! Developer Network blog
Miguel Helft / Bits: Yahoo Unveils Platform for Location-Based Services
Nicki Dugan / Yodel Anecdotal: Location location location
Thomas Claburn / InformationWeek: Yahoo's Fire Eagle Location-Data Platform Has Landed
Tom Hughes-Croucher / Yahoo! Developer Network blog: Fire Eagle: Open to Fly
MG Siegler / VentureBeat:
Yahoo pushes its location platform Fire Eagle out of the nest so it can spread its wings — I've said it before, I'll say it again: Location, location, location. As computing continues to go mobile it's an increasingly important feature for many web services.
Discussion: Search Engine Land, Screenwerk and Laughing Squid
Greg Sterling / Search Engine Land: Yahoo's Fire Eagle Location "Switchboard" Comes Out Of Private Beta
Greg Sterling / Screenwerk: Fire Eagle Redux
Scott Beale / Laughing Squid: Fire Eagle, A Location Based Development Platform
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Yahoo Fire Eagle Launches Geo-Location Platform To The Public
Yahoo Fire Eagle Launches Geo-Location Platform To The Public
Discussion: Webware.com
Rafe Needleman / Webware.com: Yahoo's Fire Eagle geolocation service now open to all
Andrew Chen / Futuristic Play:
Early adopters vs the Mainstream: Google Insights points out websites only used by Silicon Valley nerds — Intro to Google Insights — I have recently been playing around with the insanely useful Google Insights for Search product. You should definitely try it out if you haven't.
Discussion: eWEEK.com, GMSV and Guardian Unlimited
John Murrell / GMSV: Seek and ye shall be found
Jack Schofield / Guardian Unlimited: Web successes by US state, and the states of Twitter
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
If You Are A TechCrunch Reader Outside of California, Raise Your Hand. — Which map above is a better representation of regional interest in TechCrunch? — Before you answer that, first some background. Some blogs are putting up posts today based on maps and data generated by Google Insights for Search …
Discussion: Now I Have a Blog Too
Christopher Finke / Now I Have a Blog Too: Fun facts about Wyoming
Erick Schonfeld / TechCrunch:
Facebook Is Not Only The World's Largest Social Network …
Facebook Is Not Only The World's Largest Social Network …
Discussion: comScore, The Technology Chronicles, PC World, VentureBeat, Quintura blog, Search Engine Watch Blog, WebProNews and The Social
Eric Eldon / VentureBeat: ComScore: Social networks, especially Facebook, still getting big around the world
Nathania Johnson / Search Engine Watch Blog: Facebook and Hi5 Lead Global Growth Among Social Networks
Mike Sachoff / WebProNews: Facebook's Growth More Than Doubles Globally
Caroline McCarthy / The Social: Measuring social networks' popularity by region
Royal Pingdom:
Social network popularity around the world
Social network popularity around the world
Discussion: The Social, Valleywag, WebProNews, Industry Standard, Christopher Null and SearchViews
Caroline McCarthy / The Social: ComScore: Social sites are going global
Owen Thomas / Valleywag: Big in Japan! How Twitter jumped the Pacific
David A. Utter / WebProNews: Social Networking A Global Affair
Sources: Best Buy to sell Apple's iPhone 3G nationwide — Best Buy Co., Inc. is expected to announce as early as Wednesday plans to begin selling the iPhone 3G next month, making it the first independent U.S. reseller to offer the the coveted touchscreen handset outside of Apple and AT&T.
Discussion: Infinite Loop, Technologizer, VentureBeat, MacNN, MacRumors and Gizmodo
Jacqui Cheng / Infinite Loop: iPhone 3G could be coming to Best Buy in September
Harry McCracken / Technologizer: iPhones at Best Buy? Cool! Probably!
MG Siegler / VentureBeat: Have a Best Buy gift card laying around? Wait a few weeks and buy an iPhone
Jason Kincaid / TechCrunch:
Disqus 2.0: New Plugin, New Interface, And Local Comment Backup — Disqus, the enhanced blog commenting system, has launched a 2.0 version of its software that includes a host of new features, including a new plugin for WordPress, an improved developer API, and an overhauled UI for its main site.
Discussion: A VC, ReadWriteWeb, Oliver Thylmann's Thoughts, Rev2.org, CenterNetworks, Webware.com, Mashable! and VentureBeat
Josh Lowensohn / Webware.com: Comment tool Disqus launches v2.0 with automagic backup
Adam Ostrow / Mashable!: Disqus Wants to Own the Commentsphere; It Just Might
Daniel / Disqus:
Introducing the New DISQUS
Introducing the New DISQUS
Discussion: louisgray.com, Sexy Widget, David Risley, Loic Le Meur Blog and Download Squad
Lawrence / Sexy Widget: Disqus Updates — Disqus has a new release out, and it looks like they've been busy.
Loïc Le Meur / Loic Le Meur Blog: Disqus is one of the coolest startup around
Jon Fortt / Big Tech:
Dell's comeback machine — The redesigned Dell Latitude line will offer colors, a Linux mode, and other un-Dell touches. Photo: Dell — I'm at Dell's design headquarters near Round Rock, Texas, getting a first glimpse of the company's colorful new line of business laptops that go on sale Tuesday …
Discussion: PC World, Mashable!, Crave, The Register, eWeek, TG Daily, Electronista, VentureBeat and Between the Lines
Kristen Nicole / Mashable!: Dell Latitude On Bypasses Full Boot Up. Will This Kill Splashtop?
Wolfgang Gruener / TG Daily: Dell pimps its Latitude business notebooks and adds 19 hours of battery time
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: Dell launches series of new business laptops with up to 19 hours of battery life
Larry Dignan / Between the Lines: Dell rolls out new Latitude laptop lineup; Targets longer battery life
New Dell Latitude Notebooks: No More Business as Usual — Today we're officially unveiling our new line of Latitude laptops to the world. Based on the amount of internal buzz and the volume of work it took to get us here, this is about the biggest product rollout I can remember …
Discussion: DailyTech, Gadget Lab, GottaBeMobile, CrunchGear and TechSpot
Shane McGlaun / DailyTech: Dell Announces New Notebooks for Business Users
Rob Bushway / GottaBeMobile: Dell Announces A Whole New Lineup For Mobility
Doug Aamoth / CrunchGear: More info about the new Dell Latitude notebooks
Jose Vilches / TechSpot: Dell launches new business laptops
Shawn / TmoNews:
Android may be here sooner then we think — We're hearing rumor after rumor that Android has been delayed, and pushed back to 2009. Well TmoNews is jumping into the pool or rumors, calling BS on those other rumors, and putting in our vote of confidence on a presale of the Android phone on September 16th, 2008.
Cade Metz / The Register: Google Android just four weeks away?
Jackson West / Valleywag: Will electric sheep have Android Dreams?
Mark Wilson / Gizmodo: HTC Dream Presales Beginning September 17th on T-Mobile?
Teresa von Fuchs / MobileCrunch: Latest Android rumor: presale beginning Sept 17
Sam Mcloughln / PalmAddicts: Excited about things to come
Sam Churchill / dailywireless.org: Android Phone: Next Month?
Nick O'Neill / The Social Times: Is the GPhone About to Take on the iPhone?
Teresa von Fuchs / CrunchGear: Latest Android rumor: presale beginning Sept 17
Marguerite Reardon / CNET News.com:
Google's Android phone to go on sale in September?
Google's Android phone to go on sale in September?
Discussion: localmobilesearch.net
John Markoff / New York Times:
Cyberspace Barrage Preceded Russian Fighting — Weeks before physical bombs started falling on Georgia, a security researcher in suburban Massachusetts was watching an attack against the country in cyberspace. — Jose Nazario of Arbor Networks in Lexington noticed a stream of data directed …
Discussion: Wall Street Journal, CNET News.com, Salon, Bits, CircleID, Danger Room and Todd Watson
Siobhan Gorman / Wall Street Journal: Georgia States Computers Hit By Cyberattack
Robert Vamosi / CNET News.com: Russia and Georgia continue attacks—online
Evan Ratliff / Salon: Cyberwar rages on in Georgia
Miguel Helft / Bits: Google: We Did Not Erase Maps of Georgia
Gadi Evron / CircleID: Updates on the Georgian Cyber Attacks
Noah Shachtman / Danger Room: U.S. Embassy in Russian Hackers' Crosshairs?
PC World:
Microsoft Updates Office 2004 and 2008 — Jim Dalrymple, Macworld.com — Microsoft's Macintosh Business Unit released updates on Tuesday for Office 2004 and Office 2008. — Taking a page from Apple's most recent updates, Microsoft was stingy with details on what exactly the Office 12.1.2 update fixes.
Discussion: AppleInsider and MacUser
Microsoft Help and Support:
Description of the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 Update
Description of the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac 12.1.2 Update
Discussion: Infinite Loop, Microsoft, WebWorkerDaily and TUAW
Chris Foresman / Infinite Loop: Updates for Office 2004 and 2008 improve security
Samuel Dean / WebWorkerDaily: Keep an Eye on Your Software Updates
Michael Rose / TUAW: Microsoft Office 2008 updated to version 12.1.2
Daily Mail:
Parents horrified as most violent video game ever to launch on 'family friendly' Wii — A new computer game tipped to be the most violent ever is being released exclusively on the so-called 'family friendly' Wii console. — Nintendo will dramatically transform Wii's image with the release …
Discussion: Ars Technica, blogs.telegraph.co.uk … and Joystiq
Tom Hoggins / blogs.telegraph.co.uk Blog Listings: Videogame violence: the Wii is under fire. Anyone bored yet?
Alexander Sliwinski / Joystiq: Daily Mail has jolly ol' hysterical freakout over Wii's MadWorld
Erik Huggers / BBC Internet blog:
Open Industry Standards For Audio & Video On The Web — One of the key drivers in making audio and video distribution possible via the internet is the great advances in compression technologies (codecs). Obviously, broadband adoption and ever more capable PCs and mobile devices helped a lot …
Discussion: broadstuff
Alan Patrick / broadstuff: BBC OPTING FOR OPEN SOURCE
Betsy Schiffman / Epicenter:
U.S. Broadband Speeds Too Darn Slow; Adoption Hits 7-Year Low — The bad news: Broadband adoption slipped to a seven-year low last quarter. The worse news: It could take a century for the United States to catch up to broadband speeds in Japan, given the rate at which services are improving here.
Discussion: CrunchGear, Telecompetitor, Speed Matters Blog and WebProNews
Matt Burns / CrunchGear: Broadband adoption slowing down
Bernie / Telecompetitor: Broadband Slowdown Confirmed
Mike Sachoff / WebProNews: U.S. Broadband Speeds Remain Sluggish


text:
Top of the page
Heat RIG® Reflect
- RIG Topaz/Matte Black
- RIG Bixbite/Matte Slate Gray Metallic
- RIG Malaia/Crystal
- RIG Malaia/Crystal Smoke
- RIG Aquamarine/Matte Crystal Black
- RIG Aquamarine/Matte Crystal Aqua
- RIG Obsidian/Matte Crystal Black Camo
- RIG Emerald/Matte Crystal Storm
- RIG Obsidian/Gloss Crystal Malaia
- RIG Emerald/Gloss Crystal Thyme
- RIG Aquamarine/Gloss Crystal Shadow
- RIG Obsidian/Woodland
Product Description
Striking the perfect balance between sport and fashion, the Heat Sunglasses thrives equally well in action as in the best coffee bars in town. A timeless design with a unisex size and sleek temples that fit neatly, these sunglasses can follow you anywhere. A solid high quality frame with subtle detailing and a distinct silhouette creates a modern and sporty look.
RIG® lens technology: developed by Sweet Protection to provide superior contrast, minimum color distortion and reduced eye fatigue
100% UV protection
Follow @Sweetprotection
The latest from our Instagram @sweetprotection
How to take care of your product:
Care instructions
- The outer lens is treated with a super oleophobic and a hydrophobic coating to help clear visibility and to make sure the goggles are easy to clean and maintain. To help preserve the optical quality of Sweet Protection outer lenses, your new eyewear comes with a woven, microfiber cloth bag specially designed for cleaning and storage. Hand wash and air dry the microfiber bag regularly.
- To avoid fogging of the goggles, each inner lens is embedded with a premium anti-fog treatment. Do not touch or rub the inner lens, as you will deteriorate/ damage the anti-fog treatment. To clean the anti-fog inner lens, gently touch the inner lens surface with a clean micro fiber cloth/goggle bag to absorb excess moisture. Do not use the Sweet Protection lens cleaning kit or any other cleaning agent on the inner lens.
- If snow or water should collect inside the goggle, follow these steps:
- - Shake excess snow from the goggle interior. Clear all ventilation ports and lens vents. Use the goggle bag that is included with your goggle to gently blot any remaining moisture.
- - Allow time for moisture to dissipate. Once the goggle is put back on, keep moving as much as possible. Airflow through the vents will help dry the goggle.
- Guidelines to maximize performance and longevity:
- - Avoid resting the goggle on your forehead, hat or helmet. This reduces the efficiency of ventilation ports and exposes the interior to moisture vapor from melting snow, perspiration and body oils. To minimize fogging, always keep your goggles on your face.
- For proper cleaning and storage, remember the following:
- - Do not use paper products, ski gloves or other abrasive materials to clean the goggle. - Allow the goggle to air dry before storing for extended periods.
- - Do not leave the goggle in areas of concentrated heat and sunlight, such as on a car dashboard or hanging from a rearview mirror.
- - Protect the lens and face foam by storing the goggle in its protective bag. The best way of storing your google is in the Sweet Protection goggle case which is sold separately. Please visit your local authorized Sweet Protection dealer or visit: www.sweetprotection.com to purchase this item.
- Sweet Protection lens cleaning kit are specifically formulated and approved to use on Sweet Protection outer lenses. Otherwise, use only mild soap and water to clean your product. Dry after rinsing by gently blotting with the microfiber goggle bag provided.

subset: commoncrawl


text:
PANAJI, India — Rescuers using backhoes and shovels searched for survivors Sunday under a massive pile of broken concrete and dust that was left when a residential building under construction collapsed in southern India, killing at least 15 workers.
Authorities suspected dozens more may be trapped under the rubble, but were still trying to determine how many workers were on site when the five-story structure crumpled Saturday afternoon in the state of Goa. Witnesses reported seeing at least 40 workers.
Soldiers and firefighters listened for movement or cries from the wreckage as they worked overnight to clear the debris, state official Venancio Furtado said.
At least 10 people were pulled out alive overnight, but the chance of finding survivors was dwindling, Furtado said. By Sunday afternoon, the death toll had reached 15, according to the state government.
Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar said he ordered a review of the construction project, after seeing cracks that developed in the adjacent apartment building constructed by the same company, Mumbai-based Bharat Developers and Realtors Pvt. Ltd.
"The design is faulty, which is why the tragedy happened," Parrikar said.
Police began investigating both the building company and city officials who approved the construction on a patch of marshland in Canacona, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) from the state capital of Panaji. But they have been unable to track down the construction manager and building contractor.
"Without the contractor, it is impossible for us to know how many laborers were on the shift," said state official Ajit Panchwadkar, who was supervising the rescue effort Sunday.
Many of the workers had come from other, poorer states, including Jharkhand, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, in search of jobs in India's thriving construction business. One worker who was not at the scene when the building collapsed said he earned about 300 rupees ($4.80) for a day's work, according to Press Trust of India.
Several workers took the day off Saturday to attend a nearby state cultural fair.
"We rushed from the event when we heard that the building had fallen," said Manoj Kumar, a worker originally from the eastern state of Orissa.
Building collapses are common in India, as massive demand for housing and lax regulations often encourage builders to cut corners by using substandard materials or add unauthorized extra floors.


text:
Deloitte's Talent in Banking Survey 2014: Banks as a career choice rank 4th in the UAE has been saved
Press releases
Deloitte's Talent in Banking Survey 2014: Banks as a career choice rank 4th in the UAE
Press release
Deloitte Survey: Airports / airlines, tech and consumer companies lead the way in the UAE talent battle
23 December 2014 - Business students from local UAE universities choose airports and airlines, software companies and the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector as their preferred places to find a career, according to the newly released Deloitte Talent in Banking Survey 2014. The survey is based on Deloitte's analysis of research undertaken by Universum, which has been researching students' career intentions across the world since 1988. Banking ranked fourth most popular industry to work in, falling from second-most popular in the space of one year.
Work-life balance and job security are top career goals
"Banks can still change the perception about career in banking if they give an appropriate degree of attention and consideration to students' goals and expectations, and integrate this into their talent agenda. The top career goals among banking students are work-life balance and job security. Those considering working for a bank also value care and attention to career development and continuous education coupled with friendly working environment, in addition to financial consideration, such as performance-related bonus and pay scheme," says Joe El Fadl, Partner in charge of the Financial Services Industry at Deloitte Middle East.
The good news for banks in the UAE is that banking-inclined students strongly associate them with the attributes that they most value, and expect them to deliver well on work-life balance and job security. However it may be of concern to banks that banking-inclined students do not necessarily value the things that they most expect to find at banks. There is a noticeable lack of interest in "client interaction" and "high level of responsibility", for example. Banks may also be interested to note that a competitive basic salary is of much less interest to banking-inclined students than they may imagine. It ranks just 22nd out of 40 job attributes as an aspiration.
Emphasis on innovation
The relatively small difference in percentages between the top six most popular career sectors for business students means that banks face competition from many quarters when it comes to attracting talent. There are just five percentage points between transport and logistics at number one (which represented 14.1 percent of choices for "ideal employer") and auditing and accounting in sixth place, with 8.9 percent. Banking took 10.2 percent.
Rana Ghandour Salhab, Talent and Communications partner at Deloitte Middle East commented: "Banks need students with information technology skills to meet both regulatory demands and consumer preferences for online and mobile banking. At the same time more than a third of banking-inclined students say they are looking to be innovative in their career. This is very much in line with the results of Deloitte's most recent annual global survey of Millennials - the people who will comprise 75% of the global workforce by 2025 - which showed a strong preference for working for organizations that foster innovative thinking. What banks can take away from this is the need to emphasize the variety of creative digital roles available when seeking to attract new recruits, if they want to snap up the best and brightest students."
Of this year's sample survey of UAE business students, 56% of females and 44% of males are "banking-inclined", meaning they put at least one bank in their top five ideal employers. This significant gender gap is in contrast to most other European, Middle Eastern, and African markets where there is a fairly equal division between men and women among banking-inclined students. In the UAE survey, however, most investment banking-inclined students are men.
To access the Deloitte Talent in Banking Survey 2014, click on the following link: http://deloi.tt/1xdaH5F
About the survey
The Deloitte Talent in Banking Survey 2014 is based on a survey about business students' career intentions in 31 markets around the world. Universum, which conducted the survey, polled 700,000 students and professionals from 2,000 universities and institutions of higher education in 36 markets. Deloitte examined the survey results from 174,000 students in the 31 markets.
Press contact
Nadine El Hassan
Middle East Public Relations
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.)
Tel: +961 (0) 1 748444
Fax: +961 (0) 1 748999
About Deloitte:
Deloitte refers to one or more of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited, a UK private company limited by guarantee, and its network of member firms, each of which is a legally separate and independent entity. Please see www.deloitte.com/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited and its member firms.
Deloitte provides audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services to public and private clients spanning multiple industries. With a globally connected network of member firms in more than 150 countries, Deloitte brings world-class capabilities and high-quality service to clients, delivering the insights they need to address their most complex business challenges. Deloitte has in the region of 200,000 professionals, all committed to becoming the standard of excellence.
Deloitte's professionals are unified by a collaborative culture that fosters integrity, outstanding value to markets and clients, commitment to each other, and strength from cultural diversity. They enjoy an environment of continuous learning, challenging experiences, and enriching career opportunities. Deloitte's professionals are dedicated to strengthening corporate responsibility, building public trust, and making a positive impact in their communities.
About Deloitte & Touche (M.E.):
Deloitte & Touche (M.E.) is a member firm of Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) and is the first Arab professional services firm established in the Middle East region with uninterrupted presence since 1926.
Deloitte is among the region's leading professional services firms, providing audit, tax, consulting, and financial advisory services through 26 offices in 15 countries with around 3,000 partners, directors and staff. It is a Tier 1 Tax advisor in the GCC region since 2010 (according to the International Tax Review World Tax Rankings). It has received numerous awards in the last few years which include Best Employer in the Middle East, best consulting firm, and the Middle East Training & Development Excellence Award by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW).


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Statement by
George J. Marlin
Nassau Interim Finance Authority
March 22, 2012
At NIFA's December 8, 2011 meeting, I agreed to support the County's multi-year plan to achieve a GAAP balanced budget contingent on the County cutting $150 million in spending from its 2012 operating budget. In my statement that day I said:
And let me remind the County that approval of a plan is not approval of all the parts. NIFA will base the approval of each part of the plan that comes before us in the coming months on whether the County carried out its responsibilities.
To date, the County has achieved, at best, only 60 percent of those cuts. And the County is two months past its budget imposed deadline.
Today I voted for 60 percent of the County's Capital spending request. If the County does not quickly meet $150 million in cuts, I expect to vote No on future requests.
Some other comments:
- I am concerned that the Memos of Understanding with the police and detective unions announced this week may wipe out some, most or all of the police precinct closings projected savings. I await back-up documentation from the County.
- As promised at our last meeting, I sent a letter to the New York State Comptroller's office outlining my concerns regarding Nassau County's contracting procedures and its interaction with regulations and state and local laws. In that letter I said:
The County, in 2011, may have violated regulations, procedures and laws related to contracts over $25 thousand on numerous occasions. There appears to be a pattern of vendors being hired to perform non-emergency services without prior legislative or NIFA approval. Time and again the County has submitted contracts to NIFA where work had been already completed or substantially underway. There have also been complaints from charities that provide essential social services for the poor and disabled that the County has delayed, in many cases for months, forwarding their federally- and state-funded contracts to NIFA for approval.
In my judgment, the County's actions make a mockery of the statutory responsibility delegated to NIFA to approve or disapprove contracts and effectively nullifies the clear legislative intent of the NIFA law, one enacted pursuant to a unanimous vote of the County Legislature in a home rule message, a vote that included that of then County Legislator Mangano.
I am pleased to report that I received a reply from the State Comptroller's Examiner-in-Charge of the audit, Mr. Ira McCracken. He has assured me that he will investigate the issues I raised.
3. The County has a habit of announcing deals before it has a deal.
The County announced it had a coliseum deal with Wang before it had a deal and subsequently were taken to the cleaners. Fortunately the voters had the good sense to reject the plan.
Then there was the Mitchell Field borrowing. The County announced it had a deal before it had a deal and the County was taken to the cleaners. I voted against that borrowing.
Then the County announced it had a bus privatization deal before it had one—and the County was once again taken to the cleaners. I reluctantly voted for that contract in late December because County residents needed bus service on January 1, 2012. However, I predicted the bus contract would prove to be a disaster for commuters—and sadly that is coming to pass.
This week the County announced the makings of a new borrowing scheme—without a deal in hand. If it becomes a reality it will be the biggest one-shot revenue fiscal abuse in the County's history. It will replace Governor Mario Cuomo's sale of Attica Prison to the Urban Development Corporation as the poster child of one-shots. (Just in case the County has forgotten, let me remind the County that any net revenue after Nassau sewer bonds are defeased would, under GAPP, have to be amortized over the life of the lease contract.)
As always, the devil will be in the details. But I find it hard to believe that the County will negotiate a deal with a for-profit corporation that will not result in significant increases in sewer charges (a/k/a Toilet Flushing Tax) for Nassau's over-taxed residents.
It appears to me that the sole motivation for leasing the Sewer Systems is to get one-shot revenue that at the end of the day will not fix the County's structural operating deficit. Whether or not it is good public policy does not appear to be part of the equation.
Personally, I agree with Governor Andrew Cuomo's position, that government "has used a variety of financial gimmicks and one-shot revenues that hide the fact that spending is growing at an unsustainable rate."
"One shots" do not eliminate structural deficits and excessive reliance on them is frowned upon by rating agencies and financial analysts.


text:
Sometimes words just can't express what one feels. This is so true when I think about the International Dad. Father to our kiddos. My hubby. The big guy. I fall short, because I am overcome with appreciation and love.
I spent the last years of my childhood and all of my adulthood with him. The majority of my years. And I hope there will be many more years with him because we've got a lot to realize. Tomorrow is our anniversary and, like the majority we've marked through the decades, we will celebrate this one out of town.
So, to my man… You are the love of my life. You help me balance life, and me. You support and encourage me to continue to seek, discover and grow. To be tenacious about accomplishing my goals. To set boundaries and stick to them. To embrace humor as a friend.
You are my "home." I am exceptionally fortunate and grateful that I share my concerns, dreams, love, and life with you. You bathe me in your light. Happy anniversary, baby!


text:
966 P.2d 96
No. 78,990Court of Appeals of Kansas
Opinion filed October 30, 1998. Rev'd and remanded to Workers Compensation Board
1. WORKERS COMPENSATION — Review of Order of Administrative Law Judge — Timeliness of Application for Review. K.S.A. 77-613(e) and K.S.A. 60-205(b), governing service of an order or other matter, do not apply to expand the period of time for filing an application for review under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1).
2. SAME — Review of Order of Administrative Law Judge — Timeliness of Application for Review — Excusable Neglect. Excusable neglect under K.S.A. 60-2103(a) does not justify untimeliness of an application for review under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1).
3. SAME — Review of Order of Administrative Law Judge — Failure to Meet Deadline Date for Filing Application for Review — Dismissal of Review for Lack of Jurisdiction. A party to a workers compensation action must inquire as to the deadline date for filing an application for review under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) or risk having the application for review dismissed for lack of jurisdiction if the deadline date runs in the interim.
4. APPELLATE PROCEDURE — Statutory Method for Seeking Appeal — Non-compliance Results in Dismissal for Lack of Jurisdiction by Reviewing Court or Administrative Board. When a statutory method has been furnished for seeking an appeal, it must be followed or the administrative board or court that is hearing the appeal is without jurisdiction.
Appeal from the Workers Compensation Board. Opinion filed October 30, 1998. Appeal dismissed.
Kendall R. Cunningham, of Gilliland Hayes, P.A., of Wichita, for appellants.
Robert E. Shaver and Gregory G. Lower, of Cassell Lower, L.L.C., of Wichita, for appellee.
Before GREEN, P.J., LEWIS, J., and PETER V. RUDDICK, District Judge, assigned.
This workers compensation case involves an appeal by Bill Morris Construction Co., Inc., (Morris Construction) and Fireman's Fund Insurance Company (Fireman's Fund) from a decision of the Workers Compensation Board (Board) dismissing their application
Page 604
for review as untimely. On appeal, they contend that the 10-day deadline under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) and K.A.R. 51-18-2
should be extended based on K.S.A. 77-613(e) and K.S.A. 60-205(b). In the alternative, they argue that the deadline should be extended based on excusable neglect. We disagree and affirm.
The administrative law judge (ALJ) rendered an order in favor of the injured worker on January 31, 1997, after conducting a preliminary hearing on January 29, 1997. Because of a mistake involving the current address of Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund's attorney, their attorney did not become aware of the order until February 24, 1997. The Board noted that the ALJ's order was issued on January 31, 1997, and that the application for review was not filed until February 24, 1997. Finding that more than 10 days had elapsed between those two dates, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays, the Board determined that the application for review was untimely.
The sole issue in this case is whether the Board correctly determined that Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund's application for review was untimely filed. This issue requires that we construe relevant statutes, which is a question of law upon which our appellate review is unlimited. Jones v. Continental Can Co., 260 Kan. 547, 550, 920 P.2d 939 (1996).
The Board maintained that K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) and K.A.R. 51-18-2 provide a 10-day period for filing an application for review of a workers compensation award. K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) provides for Board review of ALJ decisions as follows: "All acts, findings, awards, decisions, rulings or modifications of findings or awards made by an administrative law judge shall be subject to review by the board upon written request of any interested party within 10 days." K.A.R. 51-18-2
explains that the effective date of the ALJ's actions shall begin the day after the date in the ALJ's order.
In applying this statute and regulation, the Board claimed that the time period began running on February 1, 1997, and ended on February 14, 1997, excluding Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. In addition, the Board applied K.S.A. 60-206(a) an McIntyre
Page 605
v. A.L. Abercrombie, Inc., 23 Kan. App. 2d 204, 929 P.2d 1386
(1996), in arriving at this computation.
On the other hand, Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund argue that because the ALJ's order was not mailed to the last known address of their attorney, the 10-day time limit under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) did not begin to run until their attorney had received actual notice of the order, which was February 24, 1997. They cite K.S.A. 77-613(e), K.S.A. 60-205(b), and K.S.A. 60-2103(a) in support of their argument. These statutes deal with service of pleadings and other papers and excusable neglect.
K.S.A. 77-613(e) states: "Service of an order, pleading or other matter shall be made upon the parties to the agency proceeding and their attorneys of record, if any, by delivering a copy of it to them or by mailing a copy of it to them at their last known addresses." (Emphasis added.) K.S.A. 60-205(b)(2) also states that service may be made by "mailing it to the attorney or a party at the last known address."
Nevertheless, the fact that K.S.A. 77-613(e) and K.S.A. 60-205(b)(2) require service of an order or other papers to be mailed to the last known address of the party or the parties' attorney does not extend the 10-day rule under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) just because the notice was not mailed to the last known address of the parties' attorney. Neither K.S.A. 77-613(e) nor K.S.A. 60-205(b)(2) requires an act to be done within a prescribed period of time after service of an order or other matter. Nevertheless, K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) and K.A.R. 51-18-2 require an application for review to be made "on or before the tenth day after the effective date" of the ALJ's decision. Because the 10-day rule runs from the day after the ALJ's action, rather than from the date service is made, Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund's arguments fail.
Excusable Neglect
Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund contend that the deadline of K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) should be extended on the basis of excusable neglect. In arguing that an excusable neglect
Page 606
standard should be applied, Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund cite K.S.A. 60-2103(a). K.S.A. 60-2103(a) states that "upon a showing of excusable neglect based on a failure of a party to learn of the entry of judgment the district court in any action may extend the time for appeal not exceeding 30 days from the expiration of the original time herein prescribed."
Nevertheless, their reliance on this statute is misplaced. Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund cite no case law, and we were unable to find any, where excusable neglect involving the deadline for filing an application for review under K.S.A. 44-551
(or K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551) has ever been approved by our appellate courts. Although they cite McIntyre in support of their argument, their reliance on this case is flawed. McIntyre
dealt with the applicability of 60-206(a) to 44-551. McIntyre
neither dealt with nor discussed the applicability of 60-2103(a) to 44-551.
Furthermore, the purpose of the 10-day rule under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) is to promote finality of workers compensation claims. The rule prevents an interested party from challenging the ALJ's actions long after the ALJ's decision has been made. As a result, excusable neglect cannot justify the untimeliness of Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund's application for review.
Duty to Inquire
Neither Morris Construction nor Fireman's Fund argues that the ALJ or her staff misled them about the 10-day period under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) or extended the time for filing an application for review upon which either of them relied. To the contrary, the only argument of Morris Construction or Fireman's Fund is the absence of service.
Turning our attention to the record, we note that both Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund were actively involved in this case. Because they participated in the preliminary hearing, they had notice that the ALJ would be making a decision in this matter shortly after the hearing. K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-534a requires ALJs to render a decision within 5 days from the conclusion of the preliminary hearing. In stating that once parties are put on guard, they have knowledge of everything to which an inquiry might have led,
Page 607
the court in D.C. Transit System, Inc. v. United States, 531 F. Supp. 808, 812 (D.D.C. 1982), stated:
"`[W]hatever is notice enough to excite attention and put the party on his guard and call for inquiry is notice of everything to which such inquiry might have led. When a person has sufficient information to lead him to a fact, he shall be deemed to be conversant of it.'"
See Armourdale State Bank v. Homeland Ins. Co., 134 Kan. 245, 249-50, 5 P.2d 786 (1931). Had Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund made a timely inquiry after the preliminary hearing in this matter, they would have discovered that the ALJ had issued her order on January 31, 1997, and that the 10-day period under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) would begin to run on February 1, 1997.
Although Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund argue that imposing a duty upon interested parties to continually inquire about possible court orders is too burdensome, we disagree. As stated earlier, K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-534a requires ALJs to render a decision within 5 days from the conclusion of the preliminary hearing. This statute severely limits the time period and the discretion of ALJs in rendering their decisions. As a result, the responsibility to inquire into the deadline for filing an application for review is not so burdensome as to outweigh the increasing need for the expeditious judicial administration of workers compensation cases.
Finally, parties in litigation are presumed to know the law. See Flott v. Wenger Mixer Manufacturing Co., 189 Kan. 80, 88, 367 P.2d 44 (1961); Knight v. Myers, 12 Kan. App. 2d 469, 475, 748 P.2d 896 (1988) ("Everyone is presumed to know the law . . . including relevant statutes of limitation.").
As a result, Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund are charged with knowledge of the time limitations under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1) and the time period for ALJs to render a decision under K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-534a. Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund knew that the ALJ was required to render a decision by February 3, 1997. Consequently, they constructively knew that a timely application for review would have to be filed on or before February 14, 1997, which is coincidentally the deadline
Page 608
date determined by the Board. Because Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund constructively knew that on or before February 14, 1997, was the deadline to file a timely application for review, the application for review they filed on February 24, 1997, is clearly time barred.
Case Law
Our Supreme Court considered a similar issue in Jones. I Jones, also a workers compensation case, the Commissioner of Insurance filed a notice of appeal just beyond the 30 days allowed by statute. In contending that the notice of appeal was timely, the Commissioner of Insurance argued that the 3-day mailing rule under K.S.A. 60-206(e) satisfied the timeliness of the appeal. Although acknowledging that K.S.A. 60-206(e) applied to workers compensation appeals from 1979 until 1986, and that K.S.A. 77-613(d) permitted an identical 3-day mailing extension from 1986 until 1993, our Supreme Court concluded that no 3-day mailing rule applied after the 1993 amendment to K.S.A. 44-556(a).
In dismissing the appeal as untimely, our Supreme Court stated:
"The Workers Compensation Act provides its own time limit for appeal without reference to Chapter 60 and in preemption of K.S.A. 1995 Supp. 77-613. The statutory basis for applying the provisions of the Code of Civil Procedure to workers compensation appeals was removed by the legislature. This leads us to a strict application of the wording of K.S.A. 1995 Supp. 44-556(a) and the dismissal of this appeal as untimely." Jones, 260 Kan. at 557.
The Jones holding, then, can be applied to the present case. From the above analysis, we conclude that when a statutory method has been furnished for seeking an appeal, it must be followed or the administrative board or court that is hearing the appeal is without jurisdiction. See Resolution Trust Corp. v. Bopp, 251 Kan. 539, 541, 836 P.2d 1142 (1992).
Because Morris Construction and Fireman's Fund failed to file their application for review within the time limitations of K.S.A. 1996 Supp. 44-551(b)(1), the Board had no jurisdiction, and this court has no jurisdiction to consider their appeal.
Appeal dismissed.
Page 609
LEWIS, J., dissenting:
In the interests of justice, I dissent. The concept of justice is abused by the majority decision to affirm the trial court.
Under the Workers Compensation Act, there is a 10-day period within which an application for review must be filed. If an application for review is not filed within 10 days of the date of the decision, no review may be allowed. It is axiomatic that one would be unable to file an application for the review of an order until such time as one had information that the order had been issued.
In the instant matter, the administrative law judge failed and neglected to notify the appellants of her written opinion in this matter. It appears she mailed a copy of that opinion, but mailed it to the wrong address.
As a direct result of the failure of the administrative law judge to do her job, the appellants did not become aware of the decision until more than 10 days after it was handed down.
The parties agree it was the function of the administrative law judge, on whom they all relied, to advise the parties of her decision. She failed to do so in a proper manner. Under the majority opinion, the appellants will be denied a valuable legal right to seek review because they relied upon the administrative law judge to do her job and notify the appellants when the decision was filed.
Even though the appellants' only mistake was in relying on the administrative law judge, the majority refuses to recognize any circumstances under which the deprivation of the appellants' rights to appeal may be remedied.
I consider the decision wrong and not in the interest of justice. I would reverse and reinstate the appeal in the "interest of justice" based on at least three Supreme Court decisions.
In Schroeder v. Urban, 242 Kan. 710, 750 P.2d 405 (1988), the Supreme Court adopted the "unique circumstances" doctrine, which, in my judgment, applies to the instant matter. A reading o Schroeder will show that the attorney for the appellee was, in fact, the writer of this dissent and that I was on the wrong side of the decision. Be that as it may, I believe the rationale of that decision applies to this case and requires that we reinstate the appeal from the administrative law judge's decision.
Page 610
In Schroeder, the trial judge erroneously granted the defendants an additional 30 days to file a notice of appeal from his decision. Within that 30-day extension period, the defendants secured new counsel and filed their notice of appeal. The case went initially to this court, which dismissed the appeal for lack of jurisdiction.
This court, in an unpublished decision, held the trial court had no authority to extend the time in which an appeal must be filed. Accordingly, in relying on the trial court's void order extending time, the 30 days' appeal time came and went. The appellants, the court said, had lost their right to appeal.
The Supreme Court granted review and reversed this court, saying:
"In the interest of justice, an appeal which is otherwise untimely may be maintained in unique circumstances if (1) the appellant reasonably and in good faith relies upon judicial action seemingly extending the appeal period; (2) the court order purporting to extend the appeal time was for no more than 30 days and was made and entered prior to the expiration of the official appeal period; and (3) the appellant files a notice of appeal within the period apparently judicially extended." (Emphasis added.) 242 Kan. 710, Syl.
The court also quoted from 4A Wright and Miller, Federal Practice and Procedure: Civil 2d § 1168 (1987), as follows:
"`When employed in the context of an untimely appeal, the unique circumstances concept is based on a theory similar to estoppel. The Supreme Court seems to have concluded that a party ought not be denied an opportunity to appeal because of his failure to file a timely appeal when that failure resulted from reliance on action taken by the district court that generated a reasonable belief that an appeal could be initiated at a later date.'" (Emphasis added.) 242 Kan. at 713.
In extending the period of time for the appellant i Schroeder, the Supreme Court emphasized the fact that
"[t]he Urbans relied in good faith upon the trial court's action extending the appeal period, and they filed their notice of appeal within the extension of time granted by the trial court. Had the trial court denied the motion, counsel for the Urbans could have filed a timely notice of appeal."242 Kan. at 713-14.
The next case involving the unique circumstances doctrine wa Slayden v. Sixta, 250 Kan. 23, 825 P.2d 119 (1992). In that case, an error by the clerk of the district court when addressing a summons prevented that summons from being served within the statute
Page 611
of limitations. There was apparently no fault on the part of the plaintiff, and the decision that the plaintiff's action was not timely filed rested solely on the failure of the clerk to properly address and see that the summons was served. In applying the unique circumstances doctrine, the Supreme Court stated:
"Our legislature did not intend that an error by a clerk of the district court when addressing a summons should deprive a litigant of the right to an adjudication of the issues on the merits. We find under the unique circumstances of this case that the 40-day delay in serving the summons caused by the clerk of the district court should not be charged to the plaintiff. Service of summons on the defendant was within the 90-day limit of K.S.A. 1990 Supp. 60-203." 250 Kan. at 30-31.
The court also said:
"In the federal courts, `unique circumstances,' although limited to appeals, has proven to be an elastic concept. The doctrine seems to require a demonstration of good faith on the part of the party seeking an enlargement of time to appeal and a reasonable basis for noncompliance within the time specified by the rules. The same concept should guide this court when applying the doctrine." 250 Kan. at 30.
Finally, there is the decision In re Tax Appeal of Sumner County, 261 Kan. 307, 930 P.2d 1385 (1997). That case removes any doubt that the unique circumstances doctrine can be applied when the decision being reviewed is an administrative order. In that case, the Board of Tax Appeals (BOTA) sent an order to the appellant advising the appellant that its regulations provided 30 days in which to petition for rehearing. That advice was wrong; a litigant had only 15 days in which to petition for rehearing. Nevertheless, relying upon the information provided by BOTA, the appellant did not file a motion for rehearing until after 15 days had expired.
In Sumner County, the court applied the unique circumstances doctrine, holding as follows:
"The unique circumstances doctrine is one of specific and limited application and is subject to de novo review by the appellate courts. Our issue is whether the Court of Appeals' application of the unique circumstances doctrine to an administrative agency's action under these circumstances was erroneous. Simply stated, do the facts in this case require application of the unique circumstances doctrine adopted i Schroeder and Slayden. Schroeder involved an extension of the time to appeal granted by a district court, not a nonjudicial administrative agency.
Page 612
Slayden dealt with a district court clerk's error in addressing an alias summons, not a misstatement of the law by an administrative agency.
"Here, there was no request for an extension by a party, but the County relied on a statement in a BOTA order advising the parties they had 30 days to file a petition for reconsideration under BOTA's regulation. In other words, there was neither a request for an extension of time nor judicial action extending the statutory time for filing the appeal. See State v. Ji, 255 Kan. 101, 104, 872 P.2d 748 (1994) (refusing to apply doctrine of unique circumstances where statutory limit to file appeal was not extended by the court within the time to perfect the appeal).
"The parties concede that the confusion in this case was caused by BOTA's order stating that its regulations provided 30 days in which to petition for rehearing. The County perfected its request for a rehearing within the time allowed by the tribunal. Does this establish unique circumstances sufficient for application of the equitable rule allowing review on the merits in the interests of justice, notwithstanding a legal defect in perfecting the appeal? The Court of Appeals' decision to apply the unique circumstances doctrine to an administrative action was based upon these facts: (1) All parties were aware that BOTA's initial order of March 9, 1990, was a `final order,' and (2) the County relied upon BOTA's order stating its regulation allowed 30 days to file a petition for rehearing.
"Unlike many other agencies subject to KAPA, BOTA had well-established procedures before it was subjected to KAPA. These procedures included requiring petitions for rehearing in order to exhaust administrative review to be filed in 30 days. According to the County, after the 15-day period became effective, BOTA erroneously issued approximately 3,400 orders stating the parties had 30 days to petition for reconsideration. In reliance upon that notice, over 100 petitions for reconsideration were filed within the time set by BOTA's notice and its regulation, but outside the statutory limit of 15 days. In each case, all parties were aware that BOTA's initial order was a `final order' and that to preserve the right to judicial review, a motion for rehearing was required. In addition, each party was notified that BOTA's regulation allowed 30 days to file a motion for rehearing and the motion for rehearing was filed within the time specified in the order. If 3,400 erroneous orders by an administrative agency is not a unique circumstance — what is?
"Under the unique circumstances of this case, the administrative agency's erroneous statement that the County had 30 days to file a petition for rehearing under its regulation should not deprive the County of the right to an adjudication of the issues on the merits. We affirm the Court of Appeals' opinion affirming the trial court's order remanding the case to BOTA for a hearing upon the merits of Sumner County's petition for reconsideration." 261 Kan. at 316-17.
I am unable to seriously distinguish this case from any of the three cases cited above. In each of those three cases, the action that led to the appellant losing the right to appeal or the right to
Page 613
file an action was a negligent or wrongful action by a judge or other officer on which the parties had every right to rely. In this case, the appellants have lost their right to the review of a workers compensation decision because they were not notified of that decision by the administrative law judge in a timely manner. The appellants had every right to rely on the administrative law judge to advise the parties of the decision which she had reached. To deprive the appellants of a review of that decision because of a mistake made by the writer of that decision is not my idea of justice. The petition for review in this case was filed within 10 days of the date the appellants learned of the administrative law judge's order. In line with Schroeder Slayden, and Sumner County, I would hold the appeal was timely filed via the application of the unique circumstances doctrine and in the interest of justice.
To suggest that the appellants should have found the decision by their own means begs the question. The parties relied on the administrative law judge to mail them her decision. An effort was made to do so, but the decision was sent to the wrong address. By the time the appellants found out about the order, the time to apply for review had run.
I would reverse the decision of the trial court and remand the matter with instructions to proceed with the appeal from the decision of the administrative law judge.
Page 614


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NEW YORK, N.Y. – The release of a pop star's album usually comes with the typical cross-marketing splash — strategic magazine covers, a few major TV appearances, and perhaps a cosmetics or fashion deal to remind the public a new project awaits.
Yet the social media-powered blitz connected to this week's drop of Lady Gaga's third album, "Born This Way," is bordering on epic, with partnerships ranging from Starbucks to FarmVille, and virtual giveaways of the album's 17 tracks. It also represents the kind of bold, new business model that could help rejuvenate a deflated music industry.
Gaga already had a slew of magazine covers, from Rolling Stone to Vogue, and appeared on every high profile show, from Oprah Winfrey to "American Idol" to "Saturday Night Live," as well as her own HBO concert special.
But she hasn't stopped there. Starbucks — typically home to easy-on-the-ears artists like Emmylou Harris — is selling her album as well as launching a "digital scavenger hunt" for Gaga-inspired goods; Google Chrome debuted a commercial with Gaga with a track from the album; the online fashion outlet Gilt Groupe partnered with Gaga to offer Gaga-inspired clothing and VIP performances; Best Buy is giving away the album to anyone who purchases a mobile phone with a contract; and Zynga, creator of the popular online game "FarmVille," created "GagaVille," which allowed fans access to exclusive Gaga songs.
As if that wasn't enough, on Monday, Amazon.com sold "Born This Way" for just 99 cents as a promotion for their new music cloud service, creating a demand so strong it disrupted the online retailing giant's servers for a time.
And it looks like the campaigns are paying off: Gaga's album is estimated to sell anywhere between a half-million to a million copies when the top album charts are revealed next week.
"It was really about expanding the distribution on this album and going into as many non-traditional retail partnerships and non-traditional marketing partnerships as possible," Gaga's manager, Troy Carter, told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "Just with the diminishing music labels, you want to find quality partners where you know you can reach new audiences and being able to push boundaries as well."
Among the promotions connected with "Born This Way" is the Disney Mobile Tapulous game Tap Tap Revenge, which gives fans access to the entire album and other content if they buy the game,"Born This Way Revenge," for $4.99. It's the first time Tapulous has put out 17 tracks with a game for that price.
Tim O'Brien, vice-president of business development at Disney Mobile, said this was the third deal with Gaga, resulting in the total sale of five million songs so far.
While they've worked with other pop artists with their Tap Tap Revenge app, he said Gaga — who has 10 million followers on Twitter and was recently crowned Forbes' most influential celebrity in part because of her tens of millions of followers online — is an act with unique appeal.
"I've never seen anything as powerful as when Gaga hits her social media channels compared to anyone else that we've worked with," he said. "I've never seen anything like it in terms of how she's utilizing social media."
In pop history, there have been plenty of attention-grabbing publicity campaigns for debuting albums: Who can forget the huge statues Jackson had erected of himself and placed across the world for his "HIStory" album, or when the Backstreet Boys hit six continents in four days to promote "Black and Blue"? Then there was Jay-Z, who performed in seven cities in 17-hours for his comeback album, "Kingdom Come."
But Bill Werde, editorial director of Billboard, calls Gaga's promotional efforts "more of a landmark campaign" for the new music industry.
"There's nothing about Gaga that's subtle, so I don't see why her marketing campaign would be any different," he added.
One of the more unusual promotions was Amazon's decision to sell the MP3 version of Gaga's album for 99 cents on Monday, the day of its release, as part of its Amazon Cloud Drive, which gives consumers personal digital storage space on a remote network or cloud; 20 gigabytes of cloud space came with the album. However, there was such a demand it caused delays for Amazon's customers, a spokeswoman said.
Though some people questioned the decision to basically give the album away, Carter wasn't concerned at all, calling the promotional idea "incredible."
"I am more concerned about piracy and people stealing the music. If you can get somebody to experience the music at that sort of price for one day only, I think it gets a lot of attention for the album," he added.
Werde said that's key in an age where album sales are deflated and serve more as a promotional tool for the artist's other money-making projects, including touring, in an industry more focused on what is called the 360-model of generating revenue.
"It's one of first big superstar releases that really grasps the potential of the new music business that everybody is talking about," he said. "For a superstar artist like a Gaga, the sale of recorded music — not the quality of the music, mind you, but the sale of recorded music— really gets sort of assumed as a marketing cost to drive this 360-engine."
Carter says his data indicates Gaga may sell over 500,000 copies in the first week, and perhaps 700,000; Werde said "Born This Way" could go as high as one million.
But Carter says the unique marketing tools used leading up to and during the album's release wasn't just to achieve monster sales for the album's debut.
"Nobody ever pays attention in the second week," he said. "For us it's about being in this album cycle for the next 18 to 24 months."
It seems Gaga-mania won't be easing anytime soon.
Nekesa Mumbi Moody can be reached at www.twitter.com/nekesamumbi


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"It makes me feel good knowing that we make the residents' lives better. We laugh with them, cry with them, sing and dance with them - we brighten their day. Working here is an unbelievable privilege and it will be something I carry with me for the rest of my life!"
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At Sunrise, our Dining Room Care Manager is responsible for providing dining and table services to residents in the community's dining rooms and designated areas in accordance with Sunrise Senior Living standards.
- Serving as a role model in providing dining service to our residence
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- Responsible for handling all food and beverages in accordance with sanitary procedures and standards
- Ensure compliance with all federal, state and local regulatory procedures regarding food service
- High School diploma preferred / GED accepted
- Minimum of one (1) year experience in fine dining hospitality and/or full service senior living
- Ability to handle multiple priorities
- Possess written and verbal skills for effective communication
- Competent in organizational, time management skills
- Demonstrates good judgment, problem solving and decision making skills
Sunrise considers the health and safety of its residents, family members, and team members as its highest priorities. All offers of employment with Sunrise are conditioned on completing and passing a background and drug test, participating in mandatory vaccine programs (e.g., Covid-19), participating in testing requirements (e.g. Covid-19, TB) and using designated PPE when required.
Sunrise Senior Living offers a comprehensive benefits plan to eligible team members including health, dental, vision, retirement benefits, short-term disability, long-term disability, and paid time off.Team members may also be eligible to receive a bonus based on their position. Some leadership roles are eligible to receive annual bonuses. All team members have the potential to receive spot bonuses and other incentive awards.
Sunrise Senior Living has championed quality of life in senior care for more than 30 years. We believe team members are our greatest resource and are looking for people who share our commitment to provide quality care for seniors and their families. It's no surprise that many of the world's leading experts in Senior Living entrust their career to Sunrise.
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text:
Spectral range
7 - 14 µm (Spectrometer)
7 - 40µm (Radiometer)
Spectral resolution
80 spectral channels, 90 nm (<200nm)
Spatial resolution
> 280 m
Swath width
> 28 km; Field Of View: 4°
3,3 kg
8 - 13 (19) Watt
180 x 180 x 130 mm³ (excl. Baffles)
MERTIS Performance
MERTIS Block Diagramm
MERTIS Optik Breadboard
MERTIS (MErcury Radiometer and Thermal Infrared Spectrometer) is one of the scientific payloads of the ESA deep space mission BepiColombo. BepiColombo will be launched in 2015toward Mercury to observe the Mercury planet from 2022 on.
The MERTIS instrument design is based on a highly integrated and miniaturized concept, featuring low mass of only about 3kg and a sophisticated design developed by the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, Department Optical Informationsystems.
MERTIS is an imaging spectrometer obtaining hyper-spectral data in the thermal IR wavelength range with a medium spatial resolution to determine the mineralogical composition of the Mercury's surface. An un-cooled micro-bolometer array provides spectral separation and spatial resolution according to its 2-dimensional shape and operates close to room temperature. Sharing the same optical path a pushbroom micro-radiometer is integrated allowing measurements of the Mercury surface temperature and obtaining the thermal inertia of the regolith.
The operation concept principle is characterized by intermediate scanning of the planet surface and 3 different calibration targets – deep space and two on-board black body sources.
The general instrument architecture comprises two separate parts - the Sensor Head including optics, detectors, shutter and proximity sensor electronics and the Electronics Unit containing the instrument control unit, power supply as well as calibration sources. This highly integrated measurement system is completed by a pointing/scanning device which orients the optical path to the planet view and the calibration targets.
DLR develops the system design, integrates the instrument sub-units and verifies the overall performance based on laboratory investigations including instrument calibrations. The MERTIS development is done in close cooperation with scientific and industrial institutions, the Principle Investigator of the University - Münster, the DLR Institute of Planetary Research - Berlin, Kayser Threde – Munich, Astrofeinwerktechnik – Berlin, the Polish Space Research Center - Warsaw and the Ingenieurbüro Ulmer – Frankfurt/Oder.


text:
Why Corruption In Spain Is Soaring
Corruption is rising faster in Spain than anywhere except for civil-war-torn Syria, according to Transparency International's 2013 Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI),published on Tuesday.
Spain dropped ten places to 40 out of 177 in the corruption rankings.
Anne Koch, Transparency International's director for Europe and Central Asia,recently explained Spain's harsh ratingto Reuters:
What the economic crisis has done is allow more public debate about corruption … It is being exposed more and that affects perceptions. In Spain every sector – politics, the royal family and companies – was implicated in graft at a time when the country is really suffering.
Spain underwent two high profile scandals this year that contributed to rising corruption.
Widespread graft in the government
Last January, Spain's two main newspapers El Pais and El Mundo, published documents that reportedly showed a series of payments from well known businessmen to the ruling People's Party (PP). The payments took place over more than a decade, with the last payment occurring in 2009.
According to El Pais, Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy received an annual sum of $34,000 between 1997 and 2008 from a slush fund maintained by now-incarcerated former treasurer Luis Bárcenas. Luis Bárcenas, who was a party administrator for two decades before becoming a senator and finally the treasurer, allegedly kept a double accounting system to hide the payments.
What's worse, El Pais reported that the PP's secret fund came from construction magnates who received public contracts and helped cause the real-estate bubble that is largely to blame for Spain's current financial woes.
El Pais ran a poll that included some shocking statistics after the story broke: Four out of five Spaniards believed that the PP's leadership should resign completely and just over half wanted a snap general election.
Rajoy repeatedly asserted his and his party's innocence throughout the ordeal and during a special hearing in front of Parliament in August, but the polls after that hearing were just as negative. El Mundo reported that 72.1 percent of Spaniards thought that Rajoy was lying while the Sigma Dos Institute reported that 60% of people polled thought Rajoy should resign.
Despite the constant calls for his resignation, Rajoy has yet to acquiesce. El Pais ran a scathing opinion piece on why neither Rajoy nor any disgraced Spanish politician will resign:
In Spain, anyone caught red-handed, whether his name is Bárcenas, [Health Minister] Mato or Fernández, will then try to wriggle his way out of the situation in any way he can, doing a balancing act, trying to divert attention from the subject or dragging others into the mess. They protest their innocence (as if it was of a strictly legal nature, devoid of any political implications), deny the veracity of documents or claim to be the victims of a plot. They even go as far as publishing their tax returns to divert attention. But they may just as well publish their prayer books, because neither the former nor the latter contribute anything to clearing up matters.
Scandal in the royal family
In 2011, Iñaki Urdangarin, the Duke of Palma and King Juan Carlos's son-in-law, was accused of embezzling millions of public dollars given to a charity he ran from 2004 to 2006.
The money was allegedly placed in the non-profit Noose Institute, which organizes sports and cultural events. Urdangarin and his former business partner Diego Torres ran the charity at the time, while Princess Cristina de Borbon, Urdangarin's wife, was on the board.
Urdangarin may have been embroiled in the courts for the past two years, but the story took another high profile turn in April when a judge reversed a previous decision and indicted the princess on fraud, embezzlement and tax evasion charges.
Earlier this year, Urdangarin was suspended from official royal engagements and his properties were impounded to cover an $8.2m bond ordered by the Spanish courts to cover Urdangarin's liability in the case.
Many Spaniards believe King Juan Carlos was, if not part of Urdangarin's embezzling scheme, at least intimately aware of it. Earlier this year, leaked emails indicated that the King took a close interest in his son-in-law's business ventures.
These two scandals are just a few of the more than 1,500 corruption cases that have hit Spain since the start of their financial crisis, according to USAToday . The crisis has only magnified the public's interest in the cases and eroded their confidence in a government that has been a circus over the last year.
See Also:
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- 54 Unforgettable Pictures From The Past Year
SEE ALSO: Spain's communist village is making the rest of the world look bad


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Rwandan genocide: Security Council told failure of political will led to 'cascade of human tragedy'
Unanimously adopting a new resolution during a special meeting devoted to commemorating what UN Deputy Secretary-General Jan Eliasson referred to as "one of the darkest chapters in human history," the Council underscored the importance of taking into account the lessons learned from those tragic 100 days in 1994, when genocide was committed against the Tutsi in Rwanda, during which Hutu and others who opposed the genocide were also killed.
"As we mark the passage of 20 years since the genocide, we also pay special tribute to the impressive work of the Rwandan people for their own recovery and reconciliation," said Mr. Eliasson in opening remarks, emphasizing that in the years since the tragedy, "Rwanda has come a long way" and is one of the few countries that have established a national institution dedicated to the prevention of genocide.
Yet, from Syria to South Sudan to the Central African Republic – and beyond, today's conflicts sadly show that efforts to protect populations from atrocities remain elusive. "These and other crises have different roots, yet there is a commonality. Across the landscape of conflict, we see similar fault lines – divisions based on religion, ethnicity, even language," he said.
"And we see the rise of separatism, of extreme nationalism and demonization of 'the Others;' 'Us versus Them;' and 'Our way or no way,'" Mr. Eliasson warned, stressing that no country is immune from the threat and all of humanity is diminished by it. All societies must therefore assess their vulnerability and work at every level to build resilience, tolerance and vigilance in detecting early warning signals of this nature of crises to come.
Calling on all States to live up to their responsibility to prevent genocide and other atrocities, to protect and promote human rights, and to support diversity and civil society, he declared: "Let us, in these days of so many horrible acts of blind and brutalizing violence…be guided and inspired by the Preamble of the UN Charter, which reaffirms 'the dignity and worth of the human person' and [which] urges us to 'live together as good neighbours' in this world."
Also addressing the meeting was the former Permanent Representative of New Zealand, Colin Keating, who, in April 1994, held the presidency of the Security Council, "which refused to recognize that genocide was being perpetrated against the Tutsi in Rwanda and failed in its responsibilities to reinforce the UN peacekeeping mission [there] in order to protect as many innocent civilians as possible."
"My first responsibility today is to remember the victims, the almost 1 million who died, and the survivors…this briefing also provides a fitting opportunity, for me in my capacity as former President of the Council, to apologize for what we failed to do in 1994 and for that to be formally recorded in the official records of the Security Council," he said.
Mr. Keating went on to describe the series of now well-known events of March and April 1994, during which the Council failed to recognize – or acknowledge – the signals that genocide could be sparked in Rwanda. "Even after the genocide had begun, events were being described for several weeks as simply a resurgence of the civil war. The wholesale slaughter of civilians was not being conveyed to the Council."
He said it was only when the Force Commander, General Romeo Dallaire, found ways to bypass the UNAMIR [UN Mission in Rwanda] political staff that Headquarters in New York started briefing the Council properly. "Moreover, the Secretariat had concealed from the Council a critical piece of advice – a cable from the Force Commander in January 1994, which gave graphic early warning of a probable genocide."
Further, another vital piece of evidence also existed in the UN system in Geneva – a report by a Special Rapporteur to the then-Human Rights Commission warning of the likelihood of genocide. "It was never drawn to the Council's attention," said Mr. Keating. In early May 1994, New Zealand and Nigeria each introduced draft resolutions to boost the number of troops and give the UN operation a formal civilian protection mandate. But it took until 8 June before a new resolution was agreed.
"For the first time, the Council specifically used the word 'genocide'," he said.
While noting that important lessons had been learned from the genocide and some Council procedures had been adjusted in its wake, he urged all present to be keenly aware of "the cascade of tragedy that can occur when there is a failure of political will such as in 1994." Indeed, a toxic accumulation of events unfolded and eventually embroiled the whole Great Lakes region, he said.
"Twenty years later, you are still dealing with the consequences in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The failure in Rwanda in 1994 caused not only genocide, but it also led to an appalling humanitarian catastrophe in eastern DRC in 1995. And this led directly to the civil wars in the DRC and to human tragedy on an even more massive scale. Some estimates suggest that up to 5 million died. Major instability afflicted the region."
"If we truly want prevention to work, then we need better political and operational and financial mechanisms for the Council and the wider UN system to achieve better outcomes," declared Mr. Keating, appealing for new mechanisms for improved early warning, better systems for briefing and presenting options to the Council at early stages of potential crises, enhanced preventive diplomacy, quick preventive deployment, and, if all else fails, robust deterrence.
"I suggest that the costs of investing in such mechanisms would be insignificant when set alongside the dreadful human, political and financial costs of inaction that flowed from our collective failure in 1994 to respond to the genocide in Rwanda," he said in closing.
Never Again: An Interview with Adama Dieng, Special Adviser on Prevention of Genocide - Credit: UNTV


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ATHERTON — A passenger train hit and killed a man late Thursday on Watkins Avenue, a Caltrain spokeswoman confirmed.
No one else was injured.
The preliminary investigation indicates the man's death is a suicide, but the official cause of death will be determined by the Santa Clara County Coroner's Office.
The collision was reported around 9:30 p.m. on Watkins Avenue, according to Caltrain's Christine Dunn. The southbound train had just left the Redwood City station and was slated to make a stop in Menlo Park when the person was hit.
Trains do not stop at the Atherton station on weekdays, Dunn added. The final scheduled stop for the train was Tamien station in San Jose.
Delays are expected for commuters, and SamTrans has set up a bus bridge between Menlo Park and Redwood City for riders, the agency confirmed.
Contact Katie Nelson at 408-920-5006 and follow her at Twitter.com/katienelson210.


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Genome-wide, permutation-based rare variant analysis with INTERSNP-RARE
Suche in Medline nach
|13. September 2012
Due to growing accessibility to comprehensive, genome-wide data sets, systematic investigation of disease association with rare variants (MAF<5%) becomes an increasingly appealing strategy. We present INTERSNP-RARE, a software for genome-wide rare-variant testing using different testing procedures: CMAT (cumulative minor allele test [1]), COLL (collapsing test, a version of CMC [2]) and FR (Fisher_rare, based on the Fisher combination test). We offer an implementation of corresponding extensions to variable-threshold (VT) tests using a method based on permutations. Combined with permutation-based determination of p-value, this approach promises maximized power without overcorrection for multiple testing while accounting for LD structure.
All rare-variant tests operate on bins, physically continuous chromosomal segments. Bins can be created algorithmically, based on bp distance or number of (rare) SNPs. Additionally, creating bins based on user-supplied data in various formats (*.bed, *.gff, ...) is supported, facilitating binning strategies based on a priori information like LD block structure, genomic function or conservation status. Various functions for bin modification, e.g. merging, concatenating and flanking are supported.
Results from our power study using simulated data offer insights into strengths and shortcomings of implemented tests under different conditions. Using 20 to 60 causal, protective or neutral rare SNPs per bin, we find that the single-marker analysis outperforms other approaches in some scenarios, in particular for relatively large MAFs and few causal markers (~10%), while CMAT and COLL have excellent power in models with ~30–50% damaging and up to 20–30% protective variants. FR is well-powered even for a low fraction of causal SNPs (upwards from 10%) and highly robust with increasing number of protective markers.


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Residents living in and around the Cedar Springs, Michigan community can be screened to reduce their risk of having a stroke or bone fracture. Solon Center Wesleyan Church will host Life Line Screenings on Ma 10, 2011, at 15671 Algoma Ave., in Cedar Springs.
Four key points everyone needs to know:
1. Stroke is the third leading cause of death and a leading cause of permanent disability
2. 80 percent of stroke victims had no apparent warning signs prior to their stroke
3. Preventive ultrasound screenings can help you avoid a stroke
4. Screenings are fast, noninvasive, painless, affordable and convenient
Screenings identify potential cardiovascular conditions such as blocked arteries and irregular heart rhythm, abdominal aortic aneurysms, high blood pressure and hardening of the arteries in the legs, which is a strong predictor of heart disease. A bone density screening to assess osteoporosis risk is also offered and is appropriate for both men and women. Packages start at $139. Screenings take approximately 60-90 minutes to complete.
For more information regarding the screenings or to schedule an appointment, call 1-877-237-1287 or visit our website at www.lifelinescreening.com. Pre-registration is required.


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PORTLAND — Lawmakers are looking to boost Maine's troubled lobster industry with proposals that would pump more money into marketing the state's signature seafood and offer tax breaks to encourage more lobster processing. The moves follow last year's chaotic fishing season that saw a lobster glut, a crash in wholesale prices and tensions boil over.
One bill calls for sharply increasing surcharges on lobster fishing, wholesale seafood and other lobster-related licenses, with the aim of eventually raising about $3 million a year in promotional funding. This year's marketing budget is about $380,000.
Lobstermen for the most part will probably accept the higher license fees, grudgingly, because they recognize the need to better promote lobster, said David Cousens, a lobsterman from South Thomaston and president of the Maine Lobstermen's Association.
"If we want to put our money where our mouth is and stop whining about low prices, we're going to have to start having a marketing program that has enough money to affect the market and do some positive things," he said.
Last year's upheaval was brought on by a lobster glut that caused prices to plunge. Lobstermen last year caught a record 123 million pounds, but they received only $2.68 a pound on average, the lowest price since 1994.
The proposed law would increase license fees by nearly eight-fold in three steps over three years beginning in 2014. The annual surcharge on the most common lobster fishing license would go from about $63 to $488. Surcharges on wholesale seafood and lobster transportation licenses would rise to $1,950 a year, while processors would pay $2,600.
The fee increases would go toward marketing, which hopefully should increase demand and drive prices up, said Rep. Walter Kumiega, co-chairman of the legislature's Marine Resources Committee. Maine's blueberry, potato and dairy industries spend a far larger percentage of their revenues on marketing than lobster does, he said.
"We aren't putting enough into it to get anything out of it," said Kumiega, a Democrat from Deer Isle, one of the state's most productive lobster-fishing regions.
Another bill would exempt purchases of lobster processing equipment from state sales taxes to help companies that want to start new processing operations or expand existing ones.
Last summer, Canadian lobstermen angrily blocked truckloads of Maine lobsters from being delivered to processing plants in Canada that turn out a variety of lobster products, much of which is sold to U.S. supermarkets and restaurants. The Canadian fishermen blamed Maine's huge lobster harvest for low prices in Canada.
Following the blockades, Gov. Paul LePage and others said Maine could have more jobs and add more value to its lobster industry if it processed more of its catch in-state rather than shipping tens of millions of pounds to Canada each year. Canada has more than two dozen processing plants, while Maine has only a handful.
Maine processing plants need a break because Canadian processors receive government assistance, said Sen. Christopher Johnson, the other co-chairman on the Marine Resources Committee and the sponsor of the bill. Helping Maine processors could boost lobster prices, he said.
Another bill, which will draw strong opposition from lobstermen, would allow net fishermen who catch cod, haddock and other so-called groundfish to bring lobsters they inadvertently catch to shore. The practice is prohibited in Maine but allowed in Massachusetts, so many Maine fishermen bring their catches to Gloucester, Mass., to increase their potential income.
Sen. Anne Haskell, a Portland Democrat who has submitted the bill, said allowing fishermen to keep the lobster by-catch would encourage them to bring their catches to Portland and help maintain that city's fish processors, fuel and ice suppliers and other related businesses. Her bill would place limits on how much lobster could be landed, make sure it came from fishing grounds far away from Maine waters, and require that it be brought to a Portland fish auction, she said.
Similar bills have been proposed over the years, only to be defeated in the face of strong opposition from lobstermen who fear that net fishermen will target lobsters. Still, Haskell's hopeful.
"The basic concept of the bill is to make sure we can maintain our Maine fishing vessels and preserve our infrastructure," she said. "I think we can do it without damaging the lobster industry."
Cousens, of the Maine Lobstermen's Association, said giving net fishermen a few lobsters isn't going to save Maine's fishing fleet.
Haskell's bill, he said, has virtually no chance of passing. At a hearing on a similar bill she proposed six years ago, opponents far outnumbered supporters.
"It's dead on arrival because legislators count," Cousens said. "If they go to a hearing with 1,000 people against it and 15 or 20 for it, guess who's going to win."
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One step closer to a cure for AIDS – that is the implication of results out Wednesday from from several leading research centers.
It should be noted that many people involved in AIDS research, including several who carried out the latest research, avoid the "c" word. Their goal is to allow people infected with HIV to live without daily doses of the medications that usually keep the virus under control– at a large financial cost –and a risk of side effects.
The latest work, published in Science Translational Medicine, details 43 HIV-infected volunteers who had experimental genes inserted into their disease-fighting white blood cells 11 years ago. All patients are doing fine. After more than a decade with this gene therapy, there are no side effects. In almost every one the inserted genes are still working properly.
While these experiments were never intended to treat or cure anything, they lay the groundwork for gene therapy that could have a substantial impact on HIV disease.
A cure for AIDS became an obvious goal as soon as the disease was discovered 30 years ago. But it became "the dirty four letter word," as Jon Cohen of Science magazine put it, after some spectacular failures. Soon after the powerful cocktail of anti-AIDS drugs came on the market in 1996, some scientists speculated they could use the drugs to knock out all the infection in the body. But that idea crashed as repeated experiments showed that pockets of infected cells hid in various parts of the body, emerging quickly as soon as the drugs were withdrawn.
HIV has infected some 50 million people in the world and none has been cured — except perhaps Timothy Ray Brown.
It was the case of Brown, also known as "the Berlin patient," that energized the new search for a cure. Infected with HIV, Brown was dying not of that disease, but of leukemia. His only hope was a bone marrow transplant – first killing, then replacing all the cells in his body that make blood cells with those from a donor. Brown's doctor Gero Hütter was not an AIDS specialist, but he knew that about 1 percent of people of European decent have a mutation in a receptor called CCR5 on certain white blood cells that make HIV infection very difficult. So the doctor sought a donor with that mutation.
The transplant took place in 2007. In 2010 Hütter published his results. Not only had the transplant eliminated Brown's leukemia, he no longer needed to take his HIV medications and the most sophisticated tests find no trace of HIV in his body.


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- This event has passed.
Cultivate Hope Market
October 24, 2019 @ 4:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Stop by the urban farm to buy our fresh produce from 4-7 p.m. every Thursday! We will have fresh produce, vendor items, movement activities and brick oven pizzas. There will be scavenger hunts for the kids as well as the playground and other things to do around the farm.
A walking group will depart the farm at 5:30 p.m. for a one-mile walk. Don't forget your reusable water bottle!
SNAP/EBT accepted. Produce is sold at half price for income qualified individuals through our Farm Fresh Friends program – click here to apply.
The Cultivate Hope Urban Farm is located at 437 G Ave. NW in Cedar Rapids. Parking is available on both F and G Avenues.


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Top Stories: Cyprus Banks Reopen; Pistorius Permitted To Travel
Good morning, here are our early stories:
Banks In Cyprus Reopen As Island's Economy Hits Reboot.
Judge Rules Pistorius Can Leave South Africa.
And here are more early headlines:
U.S. Stealth Bombers Take Practice Run Over South Korea. ()
Nelson Mandela Readmitted To Hospital With Lung Infection. (Mail & Guardian)
Fighting Escalating In Syrian Capital. (Lebanon Daily Star)
Judge In Corruption Case Against Former French President Gets Death Threat. (BBC)
Boston Mayor Menino Not Expected To Seek Re-election, Has Health Problems. (Boston Globe)
Report: Pentagon Civilian Workers May Take Fewer Furlough Days Than First Thought. (Reuters)
N.J. Powerball Winner Owes $29,000 In Child Support. (The Record of New Jersey)
Chicago Bulls End Miami Heat's 27-Game Winning Streak. (Sporting News)
Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.


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1. The human brain is adept at recognizing similar items and placing them into categories — for example, dog versus cat, or chair versus a table. In a new study, MIT neuroscientists have identified the brain activity that appears to control this skill.
2. The findings, published in the July 27 issue of the journal Neuron, suggest a potential explanation for why autistic children focus intently on details, but often seem unable to group things into broad categories, says Earl Miller, the Picower Professor of Neuroscience and senior author of the paper.
3. "We think what may happen in autism is the system may get out of balance … and as a result, the details overwhelm the category. Then you have a brain that's not only too good at memorizing details, it can't help but memorize the details," says Miller, a principal investigator at the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at MIT.
4. Miller and Picower postdoc Evan Antzoulatos focused their study on two brain regions, the prefrontal cortex and the striatum, which is part of a larger structure known as the basal ganglia. Both regions are known to be important for learning.
5. Until a few years ago, it was believed that the prefrontal cortex learns information quickly, then sends what it learns to the basal ganglia, which helps form habits, such as the ability to play a musical instrument. However, in 2005, Miller and colleagues showed that when monkeys learn simple tasks, their basal ganglia are more active early in the process, followed by a slower activation in the prefrontal cortex.
6. In other words, the striatum quickly learns the individual puzzle pieces, and the prefrontal cortex puts them together, Miller says. He and Antzoulatos theorized that the same pattern would be evident during category learning.
7. For the new Neuron study, Antzoulatos trained monkeys to assign patterns of dots into one of two categories. At first, the animals would see only two examples, or "exemplars," from each category — a small enough number that they could memorize the category to which each belonged, without having to learn the general category traits.
8. After the animals learned the first two exemplars, the number would be doubled. Eventually, the number of exemplars became so great that it was impossible to memorize them, and the monkeys' brains would start picking up on general traits that characterize each category.
9. As they did so, brain activity shifted from the striatum, a more primitive brain region, to the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for high-level functions such as planning and decision making.
10. "What happens during category learning is the more primitive, faster basal ganglia can memorize the exemplars, but then it sends what it learns up to the prefrontal cortex. And the prefrontal cortex figures out what's common among all the exemplars, among all the individuals, and extracts the essence," Miller says.
11. Gregory Ashby, a professor of psychology at the University of California at Santa Barbara, says the new study represents the "clearest picture yet" of the striatum's involvement in category learning. "We've known for quite a while that the striatum plays an important role in category learning, but it was not at all clear exactly what that role was," he says.
12. In future studies, the MIT researchers hope to test their theory that autism results from an imbalance between the striatum and prefrontal cortex by interfering with the normal balance between the two brain regions and observing the results.
(Courtesy: Anne Trafton, MIT News Office)