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GedVisor 1.2 is the latest entry in the handheld genealogy game—and by far one of my favorites.
Genealogy software for handheld devices (Palms and Visors) is designed to display the names in your family database, along with pertinent dates, events and notes. The advantages of using a handheld compared to a laptop are size and portability (handhelds weigh about 6 ounces). The disadvantage is the inability to edit data in most handheld genealogy programs.
Although GedVisor does not allow editing on the handheld, it does go beyond the simple name, date and event display. It is the first handheld genealogy program that also displays citation and source details. For example, when I tapped on the birth date for Smith Gregory in 1760 Mecklenburg County, Va., a pop-up box displayed the citation detail of an 1785 Fairfax, Va., census record. A second tap told me the name, address and e-mail address of the gentleman who sent me that information.
The GedVisor database is created by importing a GEDCOM (version 5.5) from your desktop software, after a simple conversion to handheld format. The size it takes up on your handheld is dependent on how much information you include in your GEDCOM export. The number of individuals in your database is limited only by the memory of your handheld.
GedVisor runs on any handheld using the Palm operating system 3.0 or higher. System requirements are a PC running Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, NT4 or Windows 2000. The cost is $14.99. Go to the GedVisor Web site at www.gedvisor.com to download a trial version or to order. An excellent and easy-to-follow manual is included.
Hendrickson is a contributing editor for Family Tree Magazine. She also is a family historian, freelance writer and the author of two astronomy books. Her Web site is at www.ancestornews.com. E-mail her at firstname.lastname@example.com


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Not unlike a car wreck on the other side of the highway, I can't stop myself from slowing down just a little and gawking at the latest "better motivations than money for your employees" article. And it's not that I don't believe any of that, but somehow the articles never quite nail the real question in my mind. Here's the latest list of things you can do instead of paying your employees more money:
- Be generous with praise
- Get rid of the managers
- Make your ideas theirs
- Never criticize or correct
- Make everyone a leader
- Take an employee to lunch every week
- Give recognition and small rewards
- Throw company parties
- Share the rewards and the pain
Although it might be great sport, I am not even going to pick at each recommendation. Each could be be useful at times, though I would be reluctant to universally apply any of them. I am also going to restrain from pointing out the obvious conundrum between #2 and #5 (oops, I guess I just did… dang.)
I do want to offer one constructive thought, since we are all banned from criticizing or correcting by #4.
Compensation and motivation/morale are two vastly different things.
If you don't believe me, find a company that has the highest morale and the most motivated employees you've ever seen. Then have the CEO announce that the company is bankrupt and that anyone who wants to stay and work for free can do so starting Monday. I am not saying no one would show up, but I doubt it'd be business as usual.
Most employees need to work to live, sustain their families, and otherwise pursue their personal version of the American Dream. That's why the size of their paycheck matters to them. They also want to feel good about where they work, who they work with, and what they do. Here's a news flash though: the latter is, to a large extent, out of your control as a company leader/exec for two reasons:
1) you can't possibly predict or control the complex interpersonal relationships that develop in the workplace.
2) in many organizations (though I am sure not yours) there is an innate skepticism from employees around all new management initiatives. The "real" reason you're taking me to lunch, throwing a party, or praising me is always lurking in the back of some of your folks' minds.
And if anyone even mildly suspects that any of these parties, praise or changes is intended to be a "replacement" for a raise or bonus, you will be well on your way to the exact opposite outcome of what you set out to do.
Instead, just try being Fair, Honest, Transparent and Unflappable. That's five less things you have to remember to do, and none of them require you to go to the Olive Garden six times a month…

subset: commoncrawl


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Customize your JAMA Network experience by selecting one or more topics from the list below.
Birkmeyer NJO, Finks JF, Carlin AM, et al. Comparative Effectiveness of Unfractionated and Low-Molecular-Weight Heparin for Prevention of Venous Thromboembolism Following Bariatric Surgery. Arch Surg. 2012;147(11):994–998. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2012.2298
© 2019
Author Affiliations: Departments of Surgery, Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (Drs N. J. O. Birkmeyer, Finks, and J. D. Birkmeyer), Henry Ford Health System, Detroit (Drs Carlin and Genaw), William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak (Drs Chengelis and Krause), St John Providence Health System, St Clair Shores (Dr Hawasli), Marquette General Hospital, Marquette (Dr English), and Spectrum Health, Grand Rapids (Dr Schram).
Objective To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of 3 predominant venous thromboembolism (VTE) prophylaxis strategies among patients undergoing bariatric surgery.
Design Cohort study.
Setting The Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative, a statewide clinical registry and quality improvement program.
Patients Twenty-four thousand seven hundred seventy-seven patients undergoing bariatric surgery between 2007 and 2012.
Interventions Unfractionated heparin preoperatively and postoperatively (UF/UF), UF heparin preoperatively and low-molecular-weight heparin postoperatively (UF/LMW), and LMW heparin preoperatively and postoperatively (LMW/LMW).
Main Outcome Measures Rates of VTE, hemorrhage, and serious hemorrhage (requiring >4 U of blood products or reoperation) occurring within 30 days of surgery.
Results Overall, adjusted rates of VTE were significantly lower for the LMW/LMW (0.25%; P < .001) and UF/LMW (0.29%; P = .03) treatment groups compared with the UF/UF group (0.68%). While UF/LMW (0.22%; P = .006) and LMW/LMW (0.21%; P < .001) were similarly effective in patients at low risk of VTE (predicted risk <1%), LMW/LMW (1.46%; P = .10) seemed more effective than UF/LMW (2.36%; P = .90) for high-risk (predicted risk ≥1%) patients. There were no significant differences in rates of hemorrhage or serious hemorrhage among the treatment strategies.
Conclusion Low-molecular-weight heparin is more effective than UF heparin for the prevention of postoperative VTE among patients undergoing bariatric surgery and does not increase rates of bleeding.
Quiz Ref IDAlthough bariatric surgery has become safer over time, venous thromboembolism (VTE) remains a major cause of potentially preventable morbidity and is the leading cause of death after bariatric surgery. A recent study based on the medical claims for more than 17 000 bariatric surgery patients reports the incidence of VTE as 0.9% in the hospital and 2.2% at 1 month and 3.0% at 6 months postdischarge. The bariatric professional organizations recommend that some form of VTE prophylaxis be used in all patients undergoing bariatric surgery but do not provide specific guidance about specific drugs, dosage regimens, or duration of prophylaxis.
Most patients undergoing bariatric surgery receive perioperative anticoagulation with either unfractionated (UF) or low-molecular-weight (LMW) heparin. To our knowledge, only 1 small trial has been performed in the bariatric surgery population and the results of trials in general surgery are conflicting. Unfractionated heparin is much less expensive than LMW heparin. Furthermore, many bariatric surgeons believe that LMW heparin given preoperatively increases the risk of bleeding. The lack of definitive evidence for one treatment over the other in this patient population has led to wide variation in clinical practice.
Quiz Ref IDThe goals of this project were to empirically assess the risks and benefits of LMW and UF heparin for patients undergoing bariatric surgery. The study was based on data from the prospective clinical registry of the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative (MBSC), a statewide consortium involving all hospitals and surgeons performing bariatric surgery in Michigan.
The MBSC is a regional, voluntary consortium of hospitals and surgeons that perform bariatric surgery in Michigan. The goal of the project is to improve the quality of care for patients undergoing bariatric surgery. To do this, the participating hospitals submit data to the MBSC clinical outcomes registry, patient survey, and surgeon survey databases. Three times per year the group meets to examine these data and design and implement changes in care to improve the outcomes of care for bariatric patients. The project is funded by Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan/Blue Care Network and coordinated by faculty and staff members from the Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy at the University of Michigan.
The MBSC held its first collaborative meeting in June 2005 and enrolled its first patient in June 2006. The MBSC now has the participation of all of the 32 bariatric programs in the State of Michigan, enrolling approximately 6000 patients per year in its clinical registry. Participating hospitals submit data from a review of the medical records for all of their bariatric surgery patients. This review is conducted for each patient at 30 days after surgery. The information collected includes preoperative clinical characteristics and conditions as well as perioperative clinical care and outcomes. The medical record reviews are performed by centrally trained nurse data abstractors using a standardized and validated instrument. Each participating hospital is site visited annually to verify the accuracy and completeness of their MBSC clinical registry data.
We restricted our analysis to a comparison of 3 dominant VTE prophylaxis strategies used among bariatric surgeons in Michigan. These include preoperative and postoperative UF heparin (UF/UF), preoperative UF heparin and postoperative LMW heparin (UF/LMW), and preoperative and postoperative LMW heparin (LMW/LMW). One of these 3 primary treatment strategies was used for 79% (24 775 of 31 499) of the patients undergoing bariatric surgery during this period. To guard against selection bias (specifically related to outcomes affecting treatment strategy), we measured VTE prophylaxis strategy at the surgeon and period level for our primary analysis. To do this, we identified each surgeon's primary VTE prophylaxis strategy during each quarter of our study period and linked that to the patient-level data. We also repeated our analysis categorizing VTE prophylaxis strategy at the patient level, which resulted in the exclusion of 3299 patients who did not receive 1 of these 3 strategies, 19 VTE events, and 153 bleeding events. Since the relative differences in the rates of events by treatment group were similar to the primary analysis, they are not presented herein.
Sequential compression devices were used in 98% of the patients in our database and so their usefulness could not be evaluated. Prophylactic inferior vena cava filters were placed in 3.2% of the patients included in this analysis. We have previously reported on the effectiveness of inferior vena cava filters for the prevention of VTE in patients undergoing bariatric surgery,1 and this variable was controlled for in our analysis.
Quiz Ref IDRisk factors for VTE and hemorrhage were empirically derived from our database using multivariate statistical models. Risk factors for VTE included age, body mass index, male sex, current or past smoking, history of VTE, bariatric procedure time more than 3 hours, and procedure type. Risk factors for hemorrhage included age, hypertension, liver disease, and procedure type. A predicted risk for VTE and hemorrhage was calculated for each patient based on these risk factors. For VTE, patients were further divided into low-risk (predicted risk <1%) and high-risk (predicted risk ≥1%) groups.
Our primary outcome measures included rates of VTE (a physician diagnosis of a deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism requiring treatment), hemorrhage (bleeding requiring intraoperative or postoperative transfusion or reoperation), and serious hemorrhage (requiring >4 U of blood products or reoperation) occurring within 30 days of surgery.
The distribution of categorical risk factors for VTE and hemorrhage among the treatment groups was compared using χ2 tests. The predicted risks of VTE and bleeding, based on these risk factors, were calculated using logistic regression and compared using 1-way analysis of variance. We used mixed-effects logistic regression to compare outcomes among the treatment groups while controlling for patient risk factors (fixed effects) and clustering at the hospital and surgeon level (random effects). We used fixed-effects logistic regression to compare outcomes within surgeons who switched from one to another treatment strategy during the period of our study. Since the results were similar to the mixed-effects analysis, they are not shown herein. All statistical analyses were performed using STATA version 11.2 (StataCorp).
The distribution of risk factors for VTE (age, body mass index, male sex, current or past smoking, history of VTE, procedure time >3 hours, and procedure type) and hemorrhage (age, treated hypertension, liver disease, and procedure type) across VTE prophylaxis groups is given in Table 1. There were small but statistically significant differences in age, body mass index, male sex, treated hypertension, and liver disease across VTE prophylaxis groups. There were larger differences in procedure time and procedure type. Specifically, the UF/UF group had more laparoscopic adjustable gastric band and biliopancreatic diversion/duodenal switch procedures and fewer sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass patients than the other VTE prophylaxis groups. The UF/UF and UF/LMW groups had more procedures that exceeded 3 hours. The combined effects of these differences are represented by the predicted risk of VTE (0.34% UF/UF, 0.35% UF/LMW, and 0.35% LMW/LMW) and hemorrhage (1.4% UF/UF, 1.9% UF/LMW, and 1.8% LMW/LMW).
Rates of VTE were significantly lower among the UF/LMW and LMW/LMW groups following adjustment for these differences (Table 2). Quiz Ref IDRates of VTE were 57% lower for the UF/LMW group (0.29%; odds ratio [OR] = 0.43; 95% CI = 0.21-0.91; P = .03) and 66% lower for the LMW/LMW group (0.25%; OR = 0.34; 95% CI = 0.19-0.62; P < .001) than the UF/UF group (0.68%). Unfractionated heparin/LMW (0.22%; OR = 0.31; 95% CI = 0.13-0.72) and LMW/LMW (0.21%; OR = 0.30; 95% CI = 0.16-0.56) were similarly effective compared with UF/UF (0.59%) in patients at low risk of VTE (predicted risk of VTE <1%). However, LMW/LMW (1.46%; OR = 0.37; 95% CI = 0.11-1.22) seemed more effective than UF/LMW (2.36%, OR = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.27-4.32) or UF/UF (2.12%) for high-risk patients (predicted risk of VTE ≥1%), Although the high-risk subgroup composed just 5% of the total study population, so the treatment differences in this group were not statistically significant.
There were no statistically significant differences in rates of hemorrhage or serious hemorrhage among the VTE prophylaxis groups (Table 2). Quiz Ref IDRates of hemorrhage were 1.69%, 1.86%, and 1.65% in the UF/UF, UF/LMW, and LMW/LMW treatment groups, respectively. A similar trend was seen for serious hemorrhage with rates of 0.46% for UF/UF, 0.60% for UF/LMW, and 0.38% for LMW/LMW.
In this observational cohort study, we assessed the comparative effectiveness of the predominant VTE prophylaxis strategies in bariatric surgery. We found that LMW heparin is more effective than UF heparin for the prevention of VTE and that it does not increase risks of bleeding in patients undergoing bariatric surgery.
Our results should be evaluated in the context of the results from other studies. A recent meta-analysis reported on the incidence of VTE and bleeding among laparoscopic bariatric surgery patients.2 Nineteen studies were included with a total of 7590 patients. Unfortunately, this study combined the results for patients receiving "standard prophylactic regimens" of either UF or LMW heparin, reporting a weighted mean incidence of symptomatic pulmonary embolism as 0.5% and major bleeding as 3.6% or 1% depending on the definition used. To our knowledge, only 1 study directly compared UF and LMW heparin. With 238 patients in each group, rates of VTE were 0.4% and 0% and rates of bleeding were 1.3% and 5.9% in the UF and LMW heparin groups, respectively.3
In general surgery, the risks and benefits of UF and LMW heparin have been assessed in 8 meta-analyses and systematic reviews. Some studies have shown greater efficacy for LMW than for UF heparin4-7 while others have shown equivalent efficacy.8-11 Some studies have shown equivalent rates of bleeding with LMW and UF heparin4-6,10 while others have shown lower rates of bleeding with LMW11 or low-dose LMW heparin7-9 compared with UF heparin.
While, to our knowledge, our study is by far the largest study in this patient population, there are nonetheless a number of limitations that should be considered in the interpretation of our findings. First, our study is observational and so there is the potential for unmeasured confounders to have influenced the findings. While our clinical registry contains data for the large majority of known risk factors for both VTE and bleeding, some variables known to have a strong effect on these outcomes were not available for this analysis. Specifically, hypercoagulable states (eg, factor V Leiden, activated protein C resistance, and protein C deficiency) and hemophilia are not variables that are included in our registry. However, there is little evidence that patient risk factors affect the choice of VTE prophylaxis strategy, which is largely determined by the standard practice of the treating bariatric surgeon or hospital.
Since the choice of VTE prophylaxis is so strongly associated with the treating bariatric surgeon and hospital, another consideration is whether it is the treatment that is responsible for the outcomes or other related characteristics of the surgeon or hospital. One example of this type of selection bias would be if surgeons with poorer technical skills tend to favor UF heparin because of a belief that LMW heparin will cause bleeding. Because our study took place in the context of a quality improvement collaborative where we had been repeatedly feeding back data to our participants on the risks and benefits of UF and LMW heparin, we were able to evaluate this possibility using a fixed-effects analysis. Specifically, this analysis assesses rates of VTE and bleeding among the surgeons who switched from one strategy to another during the course of our study period. This did not seem to be the case because our results were very similar to the primary mixed-effects analysis.
Another concern for this study is that patient outcomes have a large effect on the choice of treatment given postoperatively. A patient who has intraoperative or early postoperative bleeding may not receive any postoperative prophylaxis. A patient who has a postoperative VTE, on the other hand, may receive multiple types of postoperative prophylaxis. Therefore, excluding patients who did not receive 1 of 3 standard strategies would have excluded a lot of patients with the outcomes of interest. For this reason, we assessed the VTE prophylaxis strategy at the surgeon and period level for our primary analysis. However, we repeated our analysis with patient-level measures of VTE prophylaxis to assure that our findings did not depend on the choice of analysis performed. Our results were similar whether the intervention was measured at the surgeon or period or patient level.
Our clinical registry lacks data about the doses of heparin used for VTE prophylaxis. For this reason, we were unable to assess how different dosing affects the relative risks and benefits of UF and LMW heparin in our study population. In addition, our clinical registry captures clinically diagnosed cases of VTE requiring treatment but does not require any kind of confirmatory diagnostic testing. However, any resulting misclassification of outcome would be random and therefore would bias our results toward the null (ie, would underestimate treatment effects).
In summary, this large, observational study provides strong evidence that LMW heparin is more effective and as safe as UF heparin for prevention of VTE among bariatric surgery patients. The bariatric surgery professional societies should act to revise their guidelines to minimize the risks of this potentially devastating complication among bariatric surgery patients.
Correspondence: Nancy J. O. Birkmeyer, PhD, Department of Surgery, Center for Healthcare Outcomes and Policy, University of Michigan, North Campus Research Complex, 2800 Plymouth Rd, Bldg 520, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 (firstname.lastname@example.com).
Accepted for Publication: July 11, 2012.
Author Contributions:Study concept and design: N. J. O. Birkmeyer, Genaw, and J. D. Birkmeyer. Acquisition of data: N. J. O. Birkmeyer, Chengelis, and Schram. Analysis and interpretation of data: N. J. O. Birkmeyer, Finks, Carlin, Chengelis, Krause, Hawasli, Genaw, English, Schram, and J. D. Birkmeyer. Drafting of the manuscript: N. J. O. Birkmeyer. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: N. J. O. Birkmeyer, Finks, Carlin, Chengelis, Krause, Hawasli, Genaw, English, Schram, and J. D. Birkmeyer. Statistical analysis: N. J. O. Birkmeyer, Krause, and J. D. Birkmeyer. Obtained funding: N. J. O. Birkmeyer. Administrative, technical, and material support: N. J. O. Birkmeyer, Genaw, and Schram. Study supervision: N. J. O. Birkmeyer, Finks, Carlin, and Schram.
Michigan Bariatric Surgery Collaborative Sites: Kalamazoo, Michigan: Borgess Medical Center and Bronson Methodist Hospital; Saginaw, Michigan: Covenant Healthcare; Troy, Michigan: Crittenton Hospital Medical Center and William Beaumont Hospital, Troy; Pontiac: Doctor's Hospital of Michigan and St Joseph Mercy Oakland; Ypsilanti, Michigan: Forest Health Medical Center; Alma: Mid Michigan Medical Center–Gratiot; Detroit, Michigan: Harper University Hospital, Henry Ford Hospital, and Henry Ford West Bloomfield Hospital; Wyandotte, Michigan: Henry Ford Wyandotte Hospital; Flint, Michigan: Hurley Medical Center and McLaren Regional Medical Center; West Bloomfield, Michigan: Huron Valley–Sinai Hospital; Niles, Michigan: Lakeland Community Hospital; Marquette, Michigan: Marquette General Hospital; Mount Clemens, Michigan: McLaren Macomb Hospital; Muskegon, Michigan: Mercy Health Partners; Wyoming, Michigan: Metro Health (Grand River Surgery); Midland: Mid Michigan Medical Center– Midland; Traverse City, Michigan: Munson Medical Center (Grand Traverse Surgery); Grand Haven, Michigan: North Ottawa Community Health System; Dearborn, Michigan: Oakwood Hospital; Port Huron: Port Huron Hospital (Lap Band Center of Michigan) and St Joseph Mercy–Port Huron; Madison Heights, Michigan: Providence Hospital and Medical Center; East Lansing, Michigan: Sparrow Weight Management Center; Grand Rapids, Michigan: Spectrum Health and St Mary's Health Care–Grand Rapids; Zeeland, Michigan: Spectrum Health Zeeland; St Clair Shores, Michigan: St John Hospital and Medical Center (Eastside Surgical Specialists); Madison Heights, Michigan: St John Weight Loss Center; Livonia, Michigan: St Mary Mercy Hospital; Ann Arbor: University of Michigan; Sault Ste Marie, Michigan: War Memorial Hospital; Grosse Pointe, Michigan: William Beaumont Hospital, Grosse Pointe; and Royal Oak, Michigan: William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak.
Conflict of Interest Disclosures: None reported.
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We are proud to announce that the 15th edition will be from 14th to 17th October 2014.
VIEW Conference 2014 will be focusing on the topic of food and sports in movies and games. But also television productions in 2D and 3D, the role of animation in education and media production for children and young adults.
Games, 2D/3D cinema & VFX, augmented reality, digital media, interactive techniques, medical imaging, automotive and architecture design, simulating and synthesizing reality, robots and robotics, reality capture, creative storytelling and mobile CG will be, as for the past years, the core topics of VIEW Conference.
Please send us your submission for papers, workshops and short movie for VIEW Awards 2014!
Papers and workshops submission deadline: July 31th, 2014
Short film submission deadline: August 31th, 2014
VIEW Conference
VIEW Conference 2014 - Dates, topics, deadlines
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court on Thursday sent two cases concerning voting laws in Texas back to lower courts for reconsideration in light of a major ruling this week that knocked out a key section of the 48-year-old Voting Rights Act that fought discrimination at the polls.
The cases concern proposals on redistricting and voter identification that had been rejected by federal judges under a provision of the law that the Supreme Court ruling effectively nullified.
In Tuesday's ruling, the court struck down a section of the landmark 1965 law that sets the formula under which certain states have to ask the federal government or a judge for approval before making changes to their voting procedures.
The decision neutralized the so-called "preclearance" provision which required Texas and eight other states to submit proposed changes for approval.
The decision indicates that Texas will no longer have to undertake that process, at least until the U.S. Congress comes up with a new formula for areas covered by the law meant to protect blacks and other minorities in places where discrimination persists.
The voter identification law, passed in Texas in 2011, requires all voters to present identification when they vote in person. A federal judge said the law would impose a disproportionate burden on lower income people, many of whom are minorities.
The redistricting plan, approved after the 2010 census, was rejected by a federal court in part because there were not enough districts in which minorities were a majority.
Texas had sought Supreme Court review on both issues. The cases were put on hold while the court decided the challenge to the Voting Rights Act.
Lawyers representing minority voters had pointed out to the court that the 2011 redistricting plan could now be viewed as moot as the Texas legislature has passed a new plan that meets the requirements set by the lower court.
The redistricting case is Texas v. United States, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 12-496 and the voter identification case is Texas v. Holder, U.S. Supreme Court, 12-1028.
Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Howard Goller and Vicki Allen


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Okay. SO.
I get a ton of great art from my readers, and I've been meaning to update my fan art section for a while. So, I'm gonna post one piece of fan art every Saturday, until I've got it all up, right here on the front page so all you immensely talented bastards can get the attention you deserve.
This Reagan portrait was handed to me by Deanna Echanique at a con, and I love it.
You can read Deanna's own equally pretty comic, la Macchina Bellica, right here. Dig it, okay? And stay tuned for more TAZ comics Monday. I'm still currently exhibiting at the Phoenix Comicon, but hopefully, I'm workin' my butt off on the next page.


text: Upgrade your footwear selection with the latest releases at Xile. Whether you are looking for the latest adidas trainers or a pair of premium chelsea boots for tackling the dancefloor you will find the newest styles at Xile. Since 1984 we have been at the forefront of contemporary menswear in Scotland and offer a wide range of footwear from the likes of adidas, Diadora, Saucony and many more. You can shop all the latest trainer arivals Online at Xile now with Free UK Mainland Delivery on orders over £75.


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Norris, Colon lift Athletics over Yankees
Oakland, CA – Derek Norris hit a three-run home run and drove in four as the Oakland Athletics took a 6-4 win over the New York Yankees to open a three-game set.
Coco Crisp added a solo homer while Nate Freiman went 3-for-4 with a run scored for the Athletics, who snapped a two-game skid. Bartolo Colon (8-2) won his fifth straight start as he gave up just three hits and walked a season- high four batters with three strikeouts over six innings.
"At the end of the day he goes six innings and doesn't give up any runs," A's manager Bob Melvin said of Colon. "It's probably not his best stuff of the year, but six innings, no runs is still pretty good."
Mark Teixeira drove in three runs while Vernon Wells also drove in a run for the Yankees, who came into the game having won six of seven. CC Sabathia (6-5) allowed six runs on eight hits over six innings to snap a two-start winning streak.
"I just felt like everything was flat...no really life on the fastball," Sabathia admitted. "It's up to me to go out there and battle and try to keep us in the game and I couldn't do that today."
Oakland got on board in the first as Crisp led off the game with his eighth homer of the year, and Norris doubled home Josh Reddick, who reached base on a fielder's choice, in the second for a 2-0 lead.
In the fourth, Freiman and Chris Young hit consecutive singles and Derek Norris cleared the bags with a shot over the left-center wall to take a 5-0 lead.
A wild pitch from Sabathia in the sixth plated Josh Donaldson for a 6-0 advantage.
New York left the bags loaded in the first, but didn't get a runner past second again until the eighth inning.
With Jerry Blevins on the mound, Brett Gardner and Robinson Cano singled before Mark Teixeira singled for the first run. Later in the frame, Wells singled home Cano to make it a 6-2 game.
Ryan Cook took the mound and got Ichiro Suzuki to groundout and end the frame.
Cook allowed a one-out single to Chris Stewart and a two-out double to Cano in the ninth and that brought out Grant Balfour, who was greeted by a Teixeira single to make it a two-run game.
Travis Hafner then drilled a pitch to deep left-center field, but Seth Smith made the catch at the wall to end the game and give Balfour his 16th save of the season.
Game Notes
Oakland left fielder Yoenis Cespedes left the game after two innings due to tweaking his left hamstring ... Oakland took two of three in New York in early May ... Colon improved to 5-7 over 17 games against the Yankees ... Sabathia fell to 8-10 in 27 starts against the A's.


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We have been working hard behind-the-scenes here at Ryantown HQ building our new website and we are excited to announce that the site is now live!
The website features a full archive of Robs work, studio images, details of forthcoming events and so much more! From now onwards this blog will be relocated to the new website so please read all about the latest Ryantown happenings there.
We now have our own online shop where you can easily buy direct from us! The shop will be selling all of our products, including screenprints, lasercuts, studio ceramics, textiles and books too. You can visit the shop website here.
We worked with the brilliant team at Glock, who have done a great job building the site we wanted. The website is easy to use and is home to all of Robs work, past and present. It has been a lot of work uploading all of the images but it is now finally ready. We are so happy with it and we hope you like it too. You can visit the new website by clicking here.
Louise Renforth
Studio Assistant
Louise Renforth
Studio Assistant


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KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Miguel Cabrera had four hits, including a homer during a five-run sixth inning, and the Detroit Tigers held off the Kansas City Royals 6-3 Monday night to clinch the AL Central title.
Gerald Laird added a bases-loaded double, Rick Porcello (10-12) pitched shutout ball into the sixth inning and Jhonny Peralta went deep off Bruce Chen (11-14) to help Detroit reach the post-season in consecutive years for the first time since 1934-35.
After hanging over the dugout railing the entire ninth inning, the Tigers streamed onto the field and behind the pitchers' mound to celebrate their accomplishment the moment Jose Valverde got Alcides Escobar to ground out to shortstop with a runner on second for his 35th save in 40 chances.
The Tigers (87-73) will have the worst record among AL division champions, which means they'll open the playoffs Saturday at home against the division winner with the second-best mark.
Cabrera, making a run at baseball's first Triple Crown since 1967, broke a tie with Texas slugger Josh Hamilton for the major league lead in homers with his 44th, a solo shot to right.
Prince Fielder also had four hits.
OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Coco Crisp's latest big hit helped put Oakland back in the playoffs for the first time in six years, and the Athletics beat first-place Texas to remain in contention for a division crown.
Crisp had a go-ahead double in the fifth inning as the A's (92-68) pulled within one game of Texas (93-67) in the AL West with two to go and moved into a tie with Baltimore for the American League's top wild card.
Oakland's victory eliminated the Angels and Rays from post-season contention.
Pinch-hitter Brandon Moss delivered a sacrifice fly for insurance and Josh Reddick added an RBI single for the resurgent A's, who must sweep this season-ending series against the two-time reigning AL champions to capture the West title.
Michael Young and Mike Napoli homered against Jarrod Parker (13-8), who is 3-0 against the Rangers this year.
Grant Balfour struck out the side for his 23rd save, giving the young A's their fourth straight victory and sixth in seven games.
Martin Perez (1-4), facing the A's for the third time in his six major league starts, lasted four-plus innings.
NEW YORK (AP) — Robinson Cano, Curtis Granderson, Russell Martin and Mark Teixeira homered in a nine-run second inning, and New York routed Boston to open a one-game lead over Baltimore in the AL East with two games to play.
Baltimore lost at Tampa Bay and dropped into second place, prompting cheers from the Yankee Stadium crowd when the final score was posted before the ninth inning. The Yankees, who clinched their 17th playoff berth in 18 years on Sunday, would ensure their 13th division title in 17 years by sweeping the three-game series against the Red Sox.
New York tied its record for home runs in an inning, achieving the feat for the third time. The offence backed CC Sabathia (15-6), who allowed two runs and four hits in eight innings with seven strikeouts.
Alex Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to end a streak of 11 games without an RBI. He tied Stan Musial for fifth place on the career list at 1,950.
Boston, starting what may be its final series under first-year manager Bobby Valentine, has lost six in a row and 10 of 11, reaching 91 defeats for the first time since dropping 100 games in 1965. The Red Sox started just two regular position players, Cody Ross and Jarrod Saltalamacchia.
Clay Buchholz (11-8) was roughed up for a career-high eight runs and six hits — three of them homers — in 1 2-3 innings.
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (AP) — Alex Cobb allowed two hits over seven innings, helping Tampa Bay keep its slim playoff hopes alive with a victory over Baltimore.
Ben Zobrist hit his 20th homer and Chris Giminez had a two-run double off Wei-Yin Chen (12-11) as the Rays pulled away from a 1-all tie in the seventh. Cobb (11-9) yielded a fourth-inning single to J.J. Hardy and a solo homer to Matt Wieters that tied it in the seventh.
The Rays won for the 11th time in 12 games, a stretch that's kept them in contention for the second AL wild card. They began the night trailing Oakland by three games and must sweep the Orioles and hope the A's drop three straight to Texas.
Baltimore already is assured of being in the playoffs for the first time in 15 years.
Chris Davis homered for the fifth straight game for the Orioles, a two-run shot off Kyle Farnsworth that trimmed Baltimore's deficit to 5-3 in the ninth.
Fernando Rodney worked out of a jam to earn his 47th save in 49 opportunities.
The Orioles arrived in St. Petersburg for the season-ending series later than expected Sunday night after their plane had to divert to Jacksonville because of a fire in the galley.
SEATTLE (AP) — Mike Trout had four hits and drove in three runs against Seattle, but it wasn't enough to keep Los Angeles in the playoff chase.
The Angels, with a high payroll and high expectations when the season started, were eliminated from the wild-card race when Oakland beat Texas.
C.J. Wilson (13-10) went 6 1-3 innings for the victory. He allowed six hits and two runs, striking out seven and walking five.
Felix Hernandez (13-9) gave up a season-high 12 hits and seven runs in 5 1-3 innings. He went 0-4 with a 6.62 ERA after Aug. 27.
Trout was a home run shy of the cycle and raised his batting average to .325, four points behind Detroit slugger Miguel Cabrera for the AL lead.
CLEVELAND (AP) — White Sox rookie Hector Santiago allowed one hit in seven shutout innings to beat Cleveland, but Chicago was eliminated from post-season contention when Detroit defeated Kansas City.
Santiago (4-1), who began the season as the team's closer, struck out a season-high 10. The Indians' only hit off the left-hander was Shin-Soo Choo's two-out single in the third.
The second-place White Sox won for the third time in 13 games. They collapsed down the stretch after leading the AL Central for 63 straight days.
The White Sox scored four runs in the sixth off Corey Kluber (2-5) and added six in the ninth. Dayan Viciedo hit his first grand slam to make it 11-0.
TORONTO (AP) — Anthony Gose singled home the winning run in the 10th inning and Toronto rallied to beat Minnesota.
Adam Lind went 4 for 4 and Brandon Lyon (4-0) worked out of a bases-loaded jam to earn the win in front of a season-low crowd of 12,359.
Adeiny Hechavarria hit a one-out single off Brian Duensing (4-12) and moved to second on a wild pitch.
Toronto tied it in the ninth when Yan Gomes hit a two-out homer, snapping Glen Perkins' streak of 12 straight successful save conversions.
Trevor Plouffe homered and had three RBIs for the Twins.
Three-time AL batting champion Joe Mauer went 1 for 5, dropping his average to .322, seven points behind Miguel Cabrera.


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For anyone who was not aware, there's an interesting debate unfolding about currency manipulation, excess savings (i.e. China hoarding US dollars and American being the 'borrowers of last resort' to keep the global economy afloat) and the whole financial mess we are currently in.
Obama's new Treasury Secretary is very hawkish in this respect - he outright blamed China for currency manipulation.
This is worth a quick read:
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms. ... 646&page=1
Any thoughts?


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Welcome to Charity Navigator's Blog!
The team from Charity Navigator, the nation's largest independent charity evaluator and leading donor advocate, shares their thoughts on emerging nonprofit-sector issues and offers tips to better inform your intelligent giving decisions.
Thursday, August 7, 2008
CEO Compensation - Donor Frustration
"The results of the study are not that different than the year before, however there is something new that is enlightening. 9 months ago we added a new feature to our site, the ability for donors to make comments about charities they are considering donating to. Without question, the most common donor comment we are seeing goes something like this:
I can't believe how much money the CEO of this charity is making! I have been donating to them for years. However, I will NEVER do so again!"
We agree that, in some cases, salaries are way out of line. For example, the CEO of Johns Hopkins University is making over $1.5 million. That is NOT what we would consider to be reasonable for public charities!
However, the fact that the average CEO salary in the US is around $149,000 does not seem unreasonable to us. As we note in this year's study:
"To the skeptics, we ask that you keep in mind that the charities included in this study are multi-million dollar operations. Leading one of them requires an individual that possesses both an understanding of the issues that are unique to the charity's mission as well as business and management expertise similar to that required of for-profit CEOs. Attracting and retaining that type of talent requires a certain level of compensation."
What kind of expertise are we talking about here? The skills needed include financial management, fundraising, public relations, human resources, program operations, strategic planning, board relations and administration, among many other talents.
Nonetheless, many of the donors who make comments on our site do not agree. I believe that the reason in part relates to a very straightforward logic - I am donating to a CHARITY, therefore the leadership should be receiving only a small amount of compensation. In other words, it is assumed by some, that leaders of charities must sacrifice and have a "charity" level income or even take a "vow of poverty" to take the job. In theory, this would be great, but in reality it does not work that way. Furthermore, I believe that most CEOs of charities ARE making a very real sacrifice. We note in our study that CEOs of similar sized for profit operations make an average of $11 million with their stock options, etc.
So what do we think is best practice? Every charity, of the size we evaluate, should have a Board Compensation Committee that reviews the CEO salary on some periodic basis and benchmarks both the initial salary and ongoing raises according to norms within that particular category and cause of charity. Our study is one of the tools that the Board can use in this process. The CEO also has a responsibility to make sure that the Board is aware of the full financial cost of any decision they make. For example, if they give a 5% salary increase to the CEO and the agency also provides contributions to a pension plan or other deferred compensation, they need to know the cost of that as well.
The new IRS 990 has a number of questions about CEO compensation and whether an organization has a Compensation Committee. We will be adding this information to our web site down the road for returns in the future (starting some time in 2009). In the meanwhile, you as a donor are encouraged to contact the charity you are considering donating to and asking them if they have a committee in place and how they go about making these salary decisions.
That reminds me of another point that may further frustrate the donors mentioned above. Be aware that our information only captures certain categories of what the CEO gets; there are other benefits they may receive that are above and beyond what is reported here. For example, a CEO often receives contributions to a benefit plan or deferred compensation that could end up, over the years, totaling millions of dollars. This information is not included in the salary number on the 990 (unless the person is at or near retirement) and therefore it is in large measure not reflected in our study.* So, for some donors, the frustration they have with highly compensated CEOs may only be the tip of the iceberg. Donor beware!
*You can find the information regarding these benefiits in another area of the 990, part V column D, but that is not considered CURRENT compensation by the IRS.
9 comments:
- works in progress said...
I agree wholeheartedly with the pushback on donor frustration at CEO compensation. Nonprofits should require and demand the same level of quality in their leadership as corporations (some would argue more) and in order to attract that level of talent and experience, need to offer reasonable compensation. This obviously should not, could not, and does not equate to a private sector salary, but nor should it be a pittance.
The idealistic view may be that those who work for nonprofits should seek their rewards in the social impact that they are created, and I certainly believe that there are extremely capable leaders who are willing to make that sacrifice - and they should be admired for their humanity. But to demand such sacrifice shrinks the potential talent pool that you might be drawing from. I wonder for instance how many donors have tried to recruit for senior leadership positions within a nonprofit - it's not as easy as it might seem. The cold truth is that there are monetary incentives, even in nonprofit. While the social mission of an organization is critical in attracting the right person, you still get what you pay for.
A larger point though (hopefully to the greater satisfaction of donors) is that the issue of CEO compensation as presented here is starkly absent of any mention of CEO performance. CEO should be compensated reasonably but should also be held accountable for the performance of their organization. Specific milestones, goals, and results need to be tracked, all of which should relate to the organization's strategy, social mission, and measured impact, and this should tie to compensation. At the end of the day, I would prefer to pay a CEO $250,000 a year and see a well-functioning, innovative, and socially impactful organization than pay a CEO $60,000 a year and roll the dice.
- August 7, 2008 at 8:01 PM
- Ken Berger said...
I completely agree with your point that CEO compensation must be linked to outcome based performance evaluations.
- August 8, 2008 at 1:07 PM
- Ken Berger said...
Btw, we recommend the donor consider CEO performance, and state as much in bullet point 3 in the summation of the CEO compensation study.
- August 8, 2008 at 3:30 PM
- John said...
The 2008 Compensation Study that you have posted is interesting and some ways very misleading.
It is interesting because it discussing large non-profit organizations who are categorized under section 501(c)(3) of the internal revenue code. To site the IRS information "Organizations described in section 501(c)(3) are commonly referred to as charitable organizations." Being a charitable organization does not necessary mean they are a public charity. "We agree that, in some cases, salaries are way out of line. For example, the CEO of Johns Hopkins University is making over $1.5 million. That is NOT what we would consider to be reasonable for public charities!"
Your description as noted above of John Hopkins University as a public charity clearly does not fit into any model or concept of a public charity that I might have. Consequently, you cloud the debate on compensation and the nature of the non-profit sector when you lump all organizations into one classification "public charities".
Lost in the headlines of the study is the fact that you only evaluate a select segment (about 0.44%) of the sectors one million plus qualifying organizations. While you acknowledge this reality in your opening sentence, the perspective of the sector is that CEO's and employees in general are overpaid. Your study sans your blog comment does little to dispel that image.
You might do the sector and the debate a greater favor by showing how difficult it is to talk generically about organizations that are classified under the same section of the IRS code. While meeting the same general requirements they are so vastly different that comparing a national organization with the local non-profit one might interact with on a regular basis is extremely difficult if not impossible. Nevertheless, because you call them all charities or worse public charities rather than 'charitable organizations' as classified by the code you contribute to the image problem.
The examples you site highlight the difficulty of comparing organizations but you leave that to the readers' discernment.
Why not use the platform of this study to raise as points of discussion the complexity of the sector. To point how difficult it is to draw simple conclusions about an incredibly diverse segment of the economy. To highlight how compensation, regardless of the industry or sector, needs to be competitive and capable of recruiting talent consistent with skills needed to allow the organization to meet its objectives and grow.
- August 14, 2008 at 2:04 PM
All this justification is fine, but I for one will not contribute to a charity where the CEO is making more than 150K. The same sort of arguments could be applied to charities which spend a lot on fundraising, which expenditure is probably -more- justifiable, and I would have the same reaction.
I strongly doubt that the CEO of the charity I was just considering, who is making over $300K, is worth twice what the CEO making 150K is worth. In any case -I- am not willing to contribute to his salary. If he wants to make that much -let- him go to the private sector. Charities should choose their leaders based on their sharing some sense of common mission with the charity. I would argue that someone who would demand a 300K salary does not. A leader who is making a reasonable salary is going to inspire a lot more dedication from his staff than one who is making $300K, a number far above what the workers on the ground are making. Maybe if enough people refuse to contribute to these overblown CEO's charities, they'll wake up!
- August 19, 2008 at 4:19 PM
- works in progress said...
I understand mtharp100's feelings and they resonate with me - if I'm going to contribute hard-earned money to a nonprofit, then I don't want to feel like it's just going into the CEO's pocket, especially if he's already making a lot more than me!
However, I think that the nonprofit field as a whole is in need of a shift in its perspective. The very term "charity" feels inadequate to me because it implies the traditional approach to solving problems - giving handouts and providing relief.
I believe that the field is moving toward a much more effective attitude that looks at solving persistent problems through prevention, innovative solutions, and applications of technology. Moreover, traditional charity operations have performed very poorly at measuring the longer-term impact of their activities. Nonprofits (a better term I think) need to be able to define the problem they're addressing, the approach they will use, and set realistic goals that they will measure themselves against. At the end of the day, nonprofits need to take a more rigorous business-like approach.
I don't think this means that nonprofits need to lose their core mission and that should remain as a source of passion, enthusiasm, and recruitment, but I think 50 years of charity has shown that more is needed. Businesses have shown that they can deliver results and pay for performance is the very essence of an accountable and forward-looking mindset.
Is a $300K CEO twice as valuable as a $150K CEO? I would say yes if that CEO is running an organization that is twice as large, twice as complicated, and consistently meets its stated goals. If you can find a nonprofit with a much lower cost structure that accomplishes the same social impact, then of course support the more efficient nonprofit, but I would argue that CEO compensation is one piece of a complex picture that must include an assessment of what the objectively measured social impact is compared to other similar organizations.
Now if only all nonprofits rigorously measured their social impact in a standardized way...that would be game-changing!
But I think to argue that CEO's at nonprofits can make no more than $300K, no matter how difficult the job or how good the performance simply ensures that you're going to have a much smaller pool of talented leaders to select from.
- August 20, 2008 at 9:50 AM
- Ken Berger said...
In response to John's comment, the most recent data we have indicates that there are approximately 1.5 million non-profits in the US today and of those, 850,000 are public charities. With rare exception, we only evaluate public charities (as defined by the IRS) that get at least one-third of their support from individual donors like you and I. Of those 850,000 public charities, approximately 1% (8,500 or so) receive 83% of all the revenues that come into charities each year. It is that tier of the industry we focus on. The reasons we evaluate 5,326 charities rather than the full 8,500+ include a variety of factors such as the fact that churches do not file the IRS 990 and most of the remaining large charities get almost all of their funding from government and fees.
Nonetheless I believe your point is well taken that the industry is so vast and complex that a reader can be mislead if they solely rely on our study. We always recommend that donors (and Board compensation committees) get information that is specifically tailored to the unique characteristics of a particular charity.
Having said that, we do believe our Compensation study does provide valuable information as a starting point. We do intend to break the information down further next year to try and provide some additional detail for donors.
- September 2, 2008 at 1:08 PM
- David said...
Great issue--what might be informative would be to chart some comparison based on employees and program outcomes to the corporate world. I suspect the obscene salaries of the for profit world might put the discussion in perspective. Another standard would be the ratio between the highest paid and the lowest paid. Some type of outcomes standard would be wonderful but from my very small operation creating real outcome measures when you are not making widgets or bombs or something physical become much more difficult and has a higher level of subjective interpretation.
Laborers are worth their hire. Paying people adequately is the right thing to do.
- September 5, 2008 at 10:06 AM
- Ken Berger said...
Good suggestion. I hope we can do more of that next time. We just put our toe in the water this year with a brief reference to the S&P.
- September 5, 2008 at 4:32 PM


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Working with young people in Eastern Europe
Who are AEGEE Europe?
Europe's largest interdisciplinary youth organisation, connecting 13,000 students with different cultural backgrounds from 40 European countries.
How can you join?
To join in the Eastern partnership project, you need to become a member of AEGEE via your local group. Members of the Eastern Partnership team are selected according to the project's needs; you don't need to have lots of experience as an AEGEE member. Just keep an eye out for interesting projects and activities.
Eastern Partnership Action Days
If you want to contribute to the Eastern Partnership Project, but there are no positions available, you can organise an action day yourself. The idea is to bring young people from all over Europe into touch with the reality of life in the Eastern Partnership countries – but you can decide yourself how to organise the day – with debates, round table discussions, presentations, meetings with students from target countries, lectures from the universities and more.
The Eastern Partnership project is supported by the EU's Youth in Action programme, Action 3.1, which focuses on cooperating with neighbouring countries and opening new horizons to young Europeans.
As part of the Youth in Action programme the Eastern Partnership Youth Window provides even more opportunities for cooperation among young people, youth workers and youth organisations from the European Union and the Eastern Partnership countries by providing additional funds
Published: Thu, 03/09/2015 - 12:10
Related links
Info for young people in the western balkans


text: With everything moving in to The Cloud, everything can be delivered as a service, as simple as that. You name it and it can be delivered as a service. Application, data, infrastructure, search, platform, payment and what not -all can be delivered through cloud. According to Gartner, during the next few years, market dynamics will determine whether cloud sourcing will be the demise of traditional outsourcing, if it will lead to the convergence of services and products currently marketed "as a service" or if it will result in next-generation outsourcing. Continue reading


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The Wall Street Journal editorial "Taxes upon taxes upon taxes" didn't get anywhere near the attention it deserves. While Obama is out stumping for tax increases, the Journal reminds us of the tax increases that are already baked in the cake thanks to Obamacare:
Keep in mind that Mr. Obama has already signed the largest tax increase since 1993. While everyone focuses on the Bush tax rates that expire after 2012, other tax increases are already set to hit the economy thanks to the 2010 Affordable Care Act. As a refresher, here's a non-exhaustive list of ObamaCare's tax increases:
• Starting in 2013, the bill adds an additional 0.9% to the 2.9% Medicare tax for singles who earn more than $200,000 and couples making more than $250,000.
• For first time, the bill also applies Medicare's 2.9% payroll tax rate to investment income, including dividends, interest income and capital gains. Added to the 0.9% payroll surcharge, that means a 3.8-percentage point tax hike on "the rich." Oh, and these new taxes aren't indexed for inflation, so many middle-class families will soon be considered rich and pay the surcharge as their incomes rise past $250,000 due to tax-bracket creep. Remember how the Alternative Minimum Tax was supposed to apply only to a handful of millionaires?
Taxpayer cost over 10 years: $210 billion.
• Also starting in 2013 is a 2.3% excise tax on medical device manufacturers and importers. That's estimated to raise $20 billion.
• Already underway this year is the new annual fee on "branded" drug makers and importers, which will raise $27 billion.
• Another $15.2 billion will come from raising the floor on allowable medical deductions to 10% of adjusted gross income from 7.5%.
• Starting in 2018, the bill imposes a whopping 40% "excise tax" on high-cost health insurance plans. Though it only applies to two years in the 2010-2019 window of ObamaCare's original budget score, this tax would still raise $32 billion—and much more in future years.
• And don't forget a new annual fee on health insurance providers starting in 2014 and estimated to raise $60 billion. This tax, like many others on this list, will be passed along to consumers in higher health-care costs.
There are numerous other new taxes in the bill, all adding up to some $438 billion in new revenue over 10 years. But even that is understated because by 2019 the annual revenue increase is nearly $90 billion, or $900 billion in the 10 years after that. Yet Mr. Obama wants to add another $1 trillion in new taxes on top of this.
Following the news every day, I am at least moderately well informed, but I had forgotten about the tax increases Obamacare has brought us. For reasons too numerous to mention the repeal of Obamacare remains our highest public policy priority.


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Author Notes: Even though I have been baking professionally for 30+ years, I have never baked anadama bread. The classic recipe combines cornmeal in a loaf sweetened by molasses both of which pair nicely with walnuts and sage. Starting with the recipe from Peter Reinhart's book, The Bread Baker's Apprentice, I gave it a slightly southern twang by substituting sorghum for the molasses, took it a step further by using Brinsers best roasted yellow cornmeal and then loaded the dough with toasted walnuts and freshly picked sage. The resulting loaves were the perfect foundation for sandwiches, particularly BLT's. —janeofmanytrade
Food52 Review: Robust and flavorful, this is the sort of loaf that makes winter slide right by. Serve toasted under a heap of sage-flecked scrambled eggs for a breakfast of champions, or thickly slathered with salted butter alongside your favorite vegetable soup for a simple, rustic dinner. Baby, it's cold outside. —mitschlag
Makes: 2 (9x5x3) loaves
cup cornmeal (I used roasted yellow cornmeal)
cup boiling water
cups unbleached bread flour
cup warm water
teaspoons yeast
cup walnuts, toasted
tablespoons chopped fresh sage, plus more to taste
cup sorghum or molasses
tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2
teaspoons salt
cups unbleached bread flour
- The night before you will bake the bread, combine the cornmeal and the boiling water in a bowl. Mix completely, cover and allow it to sit out at room temperature until you are ready to mix the dough. Peter reinhart calls this a "soaker"
- Add the 2 cups of bread flour, the warm water and the yeast to the soaker and mix completely. Allow this sponge to rise until bubbly, about an hour.
- Add the sage, walnuts, sorghum, olive oil and salt to the sponge and stir it together. Add 1 cup of the bread flour and mix to form a shaggy, sticky dough. Place 1 cup of the flour on a clean work surface and turn the dough out on top of the flour. Begin to knead the dough adding additional flour as needed to make a soft, elastic dough, about 10 minutes.
- Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover it. Allow it to rise until doubled in size, about 1-1/2 hours. Punch the dough down, divide it in half and shape it into two loaves by flattening the dough into a rectangle and rolling it up so that the cylinder is the same length as the pan. Oil the pans, place the loaves into the pans and brush the tops of the dough with a small amount of oil and allow them to rise so that they come just above the top of the pans.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Bake the loaves until brown and sound hollow when you turn the loaf out and tap the bottom, about 45 minutes. Be sure to turn the loaves half way and to ensure doneness, use a thermometer to check the internal temperature; 185-195 is the desired range. Turn out of the pans and allow to cool on a rack completely before slicing.
- This recipe is a Community Pick!
More Great Recipes:
Bread|Cornmeal|Grains|Sage|Walnut|Make Ahead|Vegetarian


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I could not believe that no one has opened a topic about this movie yet !
The movie's director is Martin Scorses, with Leonardo Di Caprio and Marc Ruffalo as the main characters.
It starts with the arrival of two US Marshalls, Teddy Daniels and Chuck Aule on Shutter Island. The Island is home to an asylum (for crazy and violent people) where one of the patients has disappeared. But everything is not what it seems on the Island. Why are some patients out of bounds ? Why do the employees seem to subtly refuse to let the 2 Marshalls leave the Island ? What is happening in the Lighthouse ?
Daniels sets out to find the complete truth about the Island. Of course, Daniels has his own demons to face, and in this claustrophobic environement, he's getting more and more visions from his past, despite the medications given by the asylum's employees ...
I absolutely loved the movie's atmosphere ! So dark and paranoid ! Di Caprio was excellent in his part as a man on edge. The scenario is quite clever, and I didn't see the twist until it was almost upon me (something quite rare these days !) !
The music was also well done, it reinforces this heavy atmosphere of fear, paranoia, mystery ...
There was also a real work on the movie's photography : the weather is alkways bad, stormy and dark and nature is quite hostile. The asylum is really a cliche for all the "bedlam" asylums, but
! It is also quite emblematic of the time : in the 50's asylums were still rather frightening places with awful treatments to the most dangerous patients !
it is completely justified as it is mostly in the main character's mind
All these elements almso made made think about an original French RPG, Patient 13, which takes place entirely in a mysterious mental hospital.
there are clues all along the movies, but I was quite convinced it was a conspiracy with mysterious experiments on the patients as it has often been done before ! Instead, the "heroe" was a crazy murderer who couldn't deal with his actions !
All along, we are looking for the truth with the main character, not quite knowing what's real or not on this mysterious island ! Plus the end was really good and chilling...
For me, it is obvious that he remebers the truth, but prefers not to live "as a monster".
I have not read the novel yet, I have read the ending was left a little more ambiguous than in the movie.
Anyway, I thought it was a gripping and amazing movie, one of the best of this year !
Generally, I'm not a fan of stories with a dark and/or sad atmosphere, a quiet despair and
, but the movie was engaging thanks to its excellent actors, settings, music and scenario !
a sad ending
What about you ? Have you seen it ? Did you like it ? Did you guess the truth and the end ?
Here is the trailer to give you an idea :


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What If I Had Stayed In the Workforce?
I have certain days as a mother — like the one I had a few weeks ago — where the eight-year-old, four-year-old, and one-year-old were all crying at the same time, each for a different reason. It is these kinds of days where I succumb to the "what ifs." What if I had gotten my Ph.D?
I could be in a quiet little office at some university doing theoretical physics. Life would be simple, quiet, and I would see the beauty of God everyday in the macro and the quantum worlds. Or, What if I had finished law school? I would be doing constitutional law working to turn this country and culture around.
But as I write the first draft of this article, I am in the car on our way home to Arizona from California, my one-year-old is literally inconsolable — screaming and screeching right behind me. And I have to practice what I am about to write to you. It used to be a lot worse before the irresistible grace of Jesus flooded my heart and soul with a revivifying love for the Son of God, my Savior, my Redeemer. I love the children the Lord has given me, it is my delight to model for them a love for Jesus and passion for serving him in whatever way he chooses. But the road has been long and hard and full of failures and over-corrections.
The heart issue, or one of them anyway, is my idolatry. My personal idols at one point were education, knowledge, reason, and success in those areas. I think for some of us, we have mythologized the concept of a career working outside the home. And the "what ifs" I have heard so many times in my life is the panting after an idol. Or to borrow from Tim Keller, it has been my looking for something to save me, something to rescue me, something to hope and trust in for success in this world.
Searching for an Identity
In the grace of God I have come to think of a two-pronged answer to the "what if" struggle that I and many modern women experience: (1) understanding our identity in Christ, and (2) internalizing his love and grace for us. In this post I will discuss the first one.
This may sound simplistic and almost a letdown because we usually want something that we can do, but the answer is what the cross gives us. This is where the gospel meets us — it gives us a new identity.
Identity Built on Sand
One of the things that the gospel does and should do for women is to change the way they view their worthiness and their own honor. There is value in motherhood. I think many of us can intellectually assent to the fact that what we are doing has infinite consequence.
And there are many books and blog posts out there telling women every day that being a stay-at-home mom is "a high calling" or "a valuable vocation." But after a while those phrases starts coming across in the tones of Charlie Brown's teacher. What I see behind all this type of attempted encouragement is a premise that motherhood is what gives the mother her worth, value, and importance in the world.
But this "encouragement" falls short and can actually leave mothers even more discouraged and guilty in the end. These types of "exhortations" are based on a sandy premise. While holding up motherhood as a worthy vocation (which it is) it points mothers back to ourselves to get us to feel good about what we are doing. It builds on sand because it tells us to look at ourselves and find worth, honor and value in motherhood. Even saying that motherhood is a high calling because God says so can be unfulfilling.
I know because I used to be like a mouse on a treadmill thinking the next book may just do the trick in releasing me from discouragement, and the guilt and the joyless service of motherhood. I held out hope that the next book was going to set me on fire for my roles as wife and mother. I was looking for something that would put the same kind of zeal in my heart for motherhood as my idolatry did for a would-be career.
I never found it there.
Identity Found
There is no better path to discouragement than to look within ourselves. Instead, we are to look to our Savior (Hebrews 3:1)! We look to Christ because he is infinitely worthy, infinitely valuable, infinitely lovely. A Christian mother is in Christ, and so when God the Father sees me, he sees me through and in him. Follow the logic here. My worth and value is found in Christ.
To all the moms who are busy in the home caring for a family, your worth, value, and honor are all found in Christ, not in the "what ifs" of your academic success or potential in the workplace. My worth is neither in being a theoretical physicist, or a constitutional lawyer, or even being a stay-at-home mom. My worth is in Christ Jesus. And when we grasp that, all our identity problems begin to vanish and all the haunting "what if" questions begin to fade into the background.


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China punts free condoms at iPhone owners
Fondle something other than a mobe
The Chinese are testing an iPhone app for ordering government-funded contraception, but with limited success as the state won't stump up for the quality brands.
The service currently covers Beijing, and will provide three packs of ten every two months, with free delivery if you're central enough. While you're browsing you'll get some health information too, but punters questioned by Global Times remained dubious about the brands being offered:
"These brands are completely new to me, so I don't think it's worth trying, considering the high risks," said one 30-year-old chap when asked about the app, while a similarly aged woman was adamant that nothing unbranded was going near her: "If my boyfriend insists, I'll say the sex is not going to happen."
The Android version will be available soon, presumably once the chap on the left gets out of his condom
China apparently manufacturers about seven billion condoms annually, with two and a half billion being used locally and the rest exported - but the app only provides free protection from lesser-known brands and there's nothing like a BSI Kite Mark to ensure a minimum level of quality.
Android users don't get a free app, so will have to rely on the website. But then, as iPhone users are so much more attractive they'll need a lot more condoms, so perhaps an iTunes version makes more sense. ®


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Trapped Lotus Flower, Echo Park | Jesse Saucedo
- School board votes to close El Sereno charter high school.
- 30,000 L.A. Unified students to get free iPads.
- Captain of LAPD Hollenbeck Division moves on.
- Highland Park's Buchanan Street Elementary celebrates centennial.
- LADWP to hold Silver Lake Reservoirs pipeline meeting tonight.
Today's links gathered from Boyle Heights Beat, Boulevard Sentinel & L.A Times
Read the Full Story at Eastsider LA


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Insurance News
January 07, 2010
State report calls for overhaul of Missouri bail bond industry
Jefferson City, Mo. - A new report from the Missouri Department of Insurance recommends extensive changes in state bail bond laws, including denying licenses to felons. The Missouri legislature in 2009 passed a law ordering the department to review state regulation of the bail bond industry and make recommendations for changes.
Perhaps the biggest change in law would require the Department of Insurance, which regulates the bail bond industry, to deny a license because of a felony on a new applicant's criminal record. Current law says applicants can obtain a license if the felony is at least 15 years old.
"The committee that reviewed Missouri law felt strongly that there is no place for felons in the bail bond industry," said John M. Huff, director of the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration (DIFP). "This and other recommendations will help to ensure the integrity of bail bond agents and bring a new level of professionalism to this important industry."
To review state laws and regulations of the industry, Huff in October appointed a 15-member committee made up of members of the bail bond industry, law enforcement, the Missouri court system and legislators.
The committee report makes 15 recommendations, including:
- Denying new licenses to felons
- For the first time, giving the Department of Insurance financial oversight of bail bond agents obligated to pay bonds to Missouri courts
- Increased fines and stronger penalties for agents who violate Missouri law
- Requiring licensed agents to pay all state income taxes
The department sent surveys to all licensed bail bond agents, general bail bond agents and surety recovery agents in Missouri, as well as all state circuit and associate circuit judges. In all, more than 300 surveys were completed and returned for consideration by the committee.
The committee held public hearings in Chesterfield, Lee's Summit, Springfield and Jefferson City. Members of the public, the bail bond industry and the court system testified at the hearings. After the public hearings, the all-volunteer members of the committee met three times in Jefferson City to discuss proposals for new legislation and prepare its final report.
"I want to thank the 15 members of this committee for contributing their expertise, time and talents to this important study," said Huff. "They brought decades of experience as bail bond agents, judges and other court officials, and took countless hours away from their full-time work to serve our state."
The report was produced in accordance with House Bill 577, passed by the legislature and signed by Gov. Jay Nixon, and was submitted to the insurance oversight committees in the Missouri Senate and House of Representatives.
The full report is available on the department's Web site.
About the Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions & Professional Registration
The Missouri Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration (DIFP) is responsible for consumer protection through the regulation of financial industries and professionals. The department's seven divisions work to enforce state regulations both efficiently and effectively while encouraging a competitive environment for industries and professions to ensure consumers have access to quality products.


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Braille Monitor January 2006
Convention Scholarships Available
by Allen Harris
Allen Harris
From the Editor: Allen Harris chairs the Jernigan Fund Committee. He has an important announcement for those who would like to attend this year's national convention but find themselves short of funds. This is what he says:
The Jernigan Fund Committee has established criteria for the Dr. Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarships for 2006. These factors will be considered when awarding Jernigan Convention Scholarships:
• Attendance at previous national conventions (preference will be given to first-time attendees).
• Activity at the local, state, or national level.
• Recommendation from the state president. (A formal letter is required. The president must provide a letter to the committee on an applicant's behalf. If you do not know who your state president is, contact Allen Harris at (515) 274-2256.)
• Amount of assistance requested.
When applying for a convention scholarship, please write a brief paragraph on why you wish to attend the convention. Submit your application letter and statement to Allen Harris, 524 4th Street, Apartment 502 B, Des Moines, Iowa 50309-2364, phone (515) 274-2256.
Applications are due by Monday, April 3, 2006. Every effort will be made to notify scholarship finalists by Monday, May 15, 2006. The National Federation of the Blind's annual convention is in Dallas, Texas, beginning on July 1, 2006, and adjourning on July 7 at 5:00 p.m. If you have questions or need additional information, contact Allen Harris. His email address is <firstname.lastname@example.com>.


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There are a few, extreme situations like this. By no means does it justify setting up massive hurdles for a large segment of the population. Generalizing from individual anecdotes is akin to mere speculation. I'm sure my Jewish friends, who are still the target of anti-semitic behavior, won't mind the hurdles thrown in their way by affirmative action. I know, I know; they've had it easy... the systematic persecution of Jews this past century must've been a boon to them.
Irish need not apply.Jewish quotasAnti-German league.West coast Asians please sell your business/home/possessions for pennies on the dollar and report to concentration camps.People get over discrimination. Blacks do not.Bedtime reading: http://www.amazon.com/Bell-Curve-Intelligence-Structure-Paperbacks/dp/0684824299


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Do my breast implants last forever?
Dear OncoLink "Ask The Experts,"
Do my breast implants last forever?
Rachel McKenna, MSN, CRNP, Nurse Practitioner in the Division of Plastic Surgery at the University of Pennsylvania Hospital, responds:
Implants are not lifetime devices, and both saline and silicone implants can rupture and leak. If you have saline implants, you will notice a slow deflation of the implant. The body is able to absorb the salt water leaking out of the implant, and over a few days to weeks, you will notice that your implant gets smaller. If you have silicone implants, there may be a change in the shape of the implant; however, often times, there is no change at all. Many times, the only way to detect a leak in a silicone implant is through MRI. If you choose silicone implants, you will be scheduled for periodic MRIs to ensure that your implants are still intact. Implant rupture, regardless of saline or silicone, occurs at a rate of approximately 1% per year; this means that your implant can rupture at anytime after being placed. Most implants will need to be replaced every 15-20 years.