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A Tennessee Williams classic goes under the microscope during the panel discussion, "A Streetcar Named Desire: The Play vs. the Opera," at Boston Court Performing Arts Center in Pasadena on May 12.
The free event will compare staging the play and the opera, as well as the challenges unique to both, such as character development and set design.
Moderated by LA Stage Alliance CEO Terrence McFarland, the panel will include director Brad Dalton and actor Ryan McKinny of the upcoming LA Opera production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" as well as stage director Apollo Dukakis and actor Joe Holt of The Antaeus Company's recent production. Both actors have taken on the role of Stanley Kowalski.
One of the most apparent differences between the play and opera, is that the story must be trimmed to its most essential elements to accommodate the addition of music.
"It is necessary to take all of the material and streamline it somewhat because you can't sing an entire play," Dalton said.
The actors have their own trials.
"One of the most challenging things is a lot of choices are already made for you. In any opera, you can't decide how fast something is going to happen, the rhythm is already there and the melody of your line dictates how you would say something," McKinny said.
But the actor can stretch themselves by playing the role physically counter to how they are singing, McKinny added.


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"Make it stop," Liz Fossum remembers thinking.
For about an hour early that November morning two years ago, Fossum's implanted defibrillator repeatedly shocked her heart -- 54 times all told. It felt like a horse was kicking her in the chest.
The 68-year-old grandmother from Golden Valley now knows that part of her heart device, an insulated wire made by Medtronic Inc., had been recalled by federal regulators because a small number had malfunctioned, occasionally causing unnecessary shocks.
Months later, physically worn out and emotionally fragile, Fossum decided to sue the Fridley-based medical technology giant in a product liability case.
But a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year -- heralded by the Bush administration and the med-tech industry alike -- would have a crushing effect on hundreds of similar lawsuits. The high court restricted legal options for patients who claimed they've been injured by a defective device. If the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the device following a rigorous review, the court said, then a suit by an aggrieved patient could not be filed under state laws.
Several hundred cases filed by patients who claim they were injured by the Sprint Fidelis lead were consolidated in U.S. District Court in St. Paul. Last month, a federal judge dismissed them as a result of the Supreme Court's decision. Cases filed in state court -- including Fossum's by the Minneapolis law firm Zimmerman Reed -- remain in limbo.
It was a stinging rebuke. "I feel like I've been shocked all over again,'' Fossum said.
The rulings have left hundreds of patients in a legal purgatory -- unable in many cases to get their day in court.
The Supreme Court decision "left consumers without any ability to get compensation for injuries caused by certain defective medical devices,'' said Rep. Henry Waxman, D- Calif., in a statement to the Star Tribune. "The Supreme Court assumed that FDA approval ensures medical devices are safe, but the many recent stories of patients harmed by faulty devices have proven that assumption false."
Waxman and Rep. Frank Pallone Jr., D-N.J., plan to introduce legislation that would circumvent the Supreme Court ruling and "protect Americans from dangerous medical devices."
Interestingly, one of the cosponsors of the Senate bill introduced last year was then-Illinois senator, now president, Barack Obama.
Recall issued
Part of a $4.2 billion industry, implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) have a deep connection to Minnesota. Medtronic is the market leader, followed by Boston Scientific Corp., which employs 3,000 in Arden Hills, and St. Jude Medical Inc. in Little Canada.
ICDs are tiny machines implanted in the chest that shock an errantly beating heart back into rhythm. The device typically is connected to the heart with several insulated wires, or leads. Since the first implant in 1980, the blockbuster devices have saved countless lives.
In October 2007, however, Medtronic stopped selling its popular lead, Sprint Fidelis, because it had fractured in a small number of cases, causing unnecessary shocks or, conversely, failing to work when needed. Medtronic attributed five deaths to the problem, and the FDA issued a recall.
Medtronic advised the approximately 268,000 patients implanted with the lead to contact their doctors. The company said that surgery to remove the leads from the body -- an often-difficult procedure because scar tissue forms around the wire -- may be riskier than leaving them in the body.
The recall left many patients weighing the odds: Leave intact a device that has fractured in less than 1 percent of patients, or remove it in a surgical procedure that has a 2 percent to 7 percent failure rate.
Thirty-year-old Katie Meyer of Zimmerman, Minn., decided to have her Sprint Fidelis lead removed after three inappropriate shocks left her prostrate on the floor of her apartment. Her doctor had recommended the procedure. "I had a bad feeling about [the surgery], but she was so scared of being shocked again,'' said her mother, Michele Meyer.
During the surgery at the Mayo Clinic in April 2008, Meyer's superior vena cava was torn and she went into cardiac arrest. Meyer, who was engaged to be married, spent the remaining eight months of her life hospitalized. She died on Dec. 19.
"I'm furious, disappointed and disgusted,'' said her mother, when asked about the Supreme Court ruling. "I'm a nurse, I have a lot of faith in medical devices, but this was a waste of an incredible life."
Hundreds of cases
The company is unsure how many Sprint Fidelis leads have been removed, but about 205,000 patients still have them. Although Medtronic, the FDA and an independent physician panel review reports of deaths possibly linked to the Fidelis lead, none agree on a number, said company spokesman Christopher Garland.
Once the recall was announced, it wasn't long before Medtronic was sued by patients alleging negligence, fraud, breach of warranties, and other claims. As of November 2008, about 930 Fidelis-related lawsuits had been filed against Medtronic, representing about 1,450 individual personal-injury cases.
In January, U.S. District Judge Richard Kyle granted Medtronic's motion to dismiss cases that had been consolidated in federal court. In a December securities filing, the company counted 255 Fidelis cases that remain in state courts, most of them in Minnesota. Since then, another 30 cases have trickled in. The future of those cases is unclear.
The company won't quantify how much it has spent on legal fees to defend itself against the Fidelis claims. But settlements in similar cases have been quite large. An earlier recall involving another Medtronic defibrillator led to a 2007 settlement of about 2,700 cases for $114 million. Of that amount, the plaintiffs' lawyers got $18.5 million.
"It's a concern to us because dollars spent on litigation are dollars that are diverted from research and innovation,'' said Christopher White, chief counsel of the med-tech industry group, AdvaMed. Sick patients demand the very latest in medical technology to treat their condition, but developing those products is extremely expensive.
Consumer and legal advocates claim that the prospect of costly litigation keeps device companies in check and pressures them to make the safest products possible.
That point is not lost on Mike Van Ort, a 54-year-old channel analyst for 3M whose Fidelis lead failed in October 2007, causing him to be shocked 17 times in a 10-minute period. Van Ort said the force of the shocks threw him across the family room of his Oakdale home.
"It's like being hit by a car,'' he says.
When he returned home from the hospital, Van Ort was so fearful he would be shocked again he was despondent, and couldn't stop crying. He felt paranoid and hid in the bedroom. "My sense of trust in the world was shattered," he says.
Ultimately, Van Ort landed in the mental health unit at Regions Hospital for a week. Counseling has helped him piece together much of his former life as a husband and father of three. But the best tonic, he says, was removal of his device.
Van Ort sued Medtronic, hoping the lawsuit filed by the Minneapolis firm Lockridge Grindal Nauen would result in more awareness about ICDs. People should know the device's failure rate, as well as the seriousness of a shock, he says.
When the Supreme Court ruled, Van Ort says he was "devastated."
Who regulates?
The core issue in the Sprint Fidelis case is how medical devices are regulated in the first place.
"Who do you want regulating medical devices?'' said Mark Herrmann, a partner at the law firm Jones Day in Chicago. "The neutral experts at the FDA or a jury of 12 lay-people sitting in the presence of an injured plaintiff?''
The FDA's scientists and physicians are in a better position to craft medical device policy than a patchwork of laws throughout the United States, he said.
The Supreme Court ruling covers Class III medical devices, such as ICDs, which are subject to the greatest level of scrutiny by the FDA before they are approved. Typically, the manufacturer must prove the device is safe and effective through a series of clinical trials.
But plaintiffs' lawyers claim that the Sprint Fidelis lead was not subjected to the same level of clinical scrutiny as other Class III devices because its application piggybacked an earlier Medtronic lead approved by the agency. Furthermore, they say, FDA oversight of medical devices has been lax in recent years, attracting the attention of Congress and the Government Accountability Office.
Janet Moore • 612-673-7752

subset: commoncrawl


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Sunderland have completed the signing of Egypt international Ahmed Elmohamady on a permanent deal.
The winger, who can also play at right-back, spent last season on loan at the Stadium of Light from ENPPI in a deal which included an option for Sunderland to buy him outright. That clause has now been exercised and the 23-year-old has joined on a pre-arranged undisclosed fee having signed a three-year contract.
Manager Steve Bruce told Sunderland's official website: "Ahmed has done well in his first season with the club and has shown plenty of potential. We look forward to helping him grow as a player and I think there is much more to come from him."
Elmohamady made 38 appearances in all competitions for the club last season, impressing initially before struggling as Sunderland slumped after Christmas.
Source: PA


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A world of possibilities
Can you lose yourself while finding yourself? Do we think too much with our heads? We muse on some of the questions from Lufthansa's successful campaign SayYesToTheWorld
How many colors does it take to be colorful?
Magnificent flowers and garlands are everywhere on the Indian subcontinent, as lavish wedding decorations or tumbling from the roof of a temple. During the Holi festival, people toss handfuls of colored powder called gulal at each other – a custom that is said to have been started by the Hindu god Krishna to conceal his blue skin. Hindus celebrate Holi in the spring, but festivals inspired by Holi make the world a more colorful place all year long.
Were the gaps the best part of your resumé?
If there's one thing that's on every scuba diver's to-do list it's a dive in the Silfra Rift, which runs between the Eurasian and North American tectonic plates, separating the continents. These plates are drifting apart at this point at a speed of up to two centimeters a year. The rift between them runs through Iceland's Thingvellir National Park. It is full of ice-cold, crystal-clear water – meltwater from Langjökull glacier which has filtered through the rocks. It's the perfect place to take the plunge!
Can you lose yourself while finding yourself?
Of course! In fact, it's an essential part of the process, because only what is lost can be found again. The ideal place to get lost is in a labyrinth. The world's biggest one is located near Parma in Italy, the maze is roughly the size of ten soccer pitches and has three kilometers of paths. If you're afraid of getting lost between the 60 000 bamboo plants, make sure your phone is charged before setting off: Lost souls can pick up Ariadne's thread by calling an emergency number.
Have you ever been the first to set foot somewhere?
You haven't? A good place to notch up a first is in the mountains between Brazil, Venezuela and Guiana, where there are many table-top mountains called tepuis, some of which are 2800 meters tall. Most of these mountains have never been climbed, which is little wonder considering their dauntingly steep, mist-covered cliff faces. Too high for you? You could go deep down, instead: There are believed to be vast, unexplored cave systems inside the tepui.
Would mankind be happier barefoot?
We'd certainly be more in tune with the earth. We feel the ground beneath us due to roughly 70 000 nerve endings on the sole of each foot. Imprisoned in shoes, they lose their sensitivity. Studies show that people who regularly go barefoot have a healthier, faster gait. Walking on bare feet is becoming increasingly popular in Germany, as is evidenced by the emergence of special barefoot trails.
What would be the first thing you'd show an alien?
"Kanpai!" The Japanese word for "cheers" was the message sent from earth into space by two tipsy Japanese astronomers in 1983 from a radio telescope, possibly after a touch too much sake. Messages have been transmitted into deep space since the 1970s, often to galaxies even further away, so that the Japanese one may well have arrived first. We're still waiting for a reply, though, and can only assume that the aliens are working on their own toast.
Does the world feel sad when we don't explore it?
Philosophers have filled entire libraries with answers to this question. Ours is: No, because the world is self-contained. It has its own reasons for creating such magnificent creatures as the Buffon's macaw, an exotic bird native to Central and South America. But what about us? We would do well to enjoy all the beauty around us.
Do we think too much with
our heads?
No, that's what our heads are for. But if you stop thinking, you'll notice that your mind isn't full of nothing. Instead, you may discover a vast inner tranquility, so big that it extends beyond the boundaries of the physical body. The key to achieving this state is meditation, something that Buddhist monks have brought to perfection. If you're lucky, you might find your intuition coming to the foreground – which is thinking without your head.
Discover the world!
For more about the campaign and a chance to win your very own SayYesToTheWorld moment (starting October 4), go to lufthansa.com/sayyes_en


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The unique aspect of being a maternity brand is that we know our customer is going to reach us at different times of pregnancy. Winter may be someone's first trimester, but your third… which is why we like to help you navigate the newest arrivals of the best maternity styles in our monthly and seasonal guides. Luckily, our pregnancy pieces are made to be worn from that first trimester through to the fourth. (Yes, new moms count!)
Pregnancy fashion inspiration comes in many forms. Our stylists choose the top trends of the season and pair them with beautiful basics, standout pieces, and everyday outerwear. They work with pregnant women to determine what looks are in, then create a collection that best showcases what to expect in stores and online.
Although all of our styles can be mixed and matched to best fit your own personal taste, we tend to give each style guide a theme, focusing on the hottest detailing or by incorporating the time of year. Sometimes our style guide is dressed up and sometimes it's more casual. That way you can find something for every day, or maybe even find inspiration for occasions like maternity outfit ideas for photoshoots! The aesthetic is meant to help you see yourself in some of these styles and we hope it serves as a jumping off point on where to begin shopping. We know that pregnant women look for maternity style that should just be called style! And, we know that our customers don't want to sacrifice how they look and feel when it comes to clothing. We also know that shopping may be tricky, and determining how pieces look together may take time. We hope our style guide provides a little insight in to what we carry and how we envision it, propelling you to try some looks on and make them your own!


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While providing premier care across the mid-Hudson Valley is all in a day's work for the doctors and staff that make up Westchester Medical Center Health Network, 12 individuals are also lacing up their sneakers and hitting the course at the 2018 TCS New York City Marathon to prove the network's commitment to health goes far beyond any office or operating room.
Ranging in roles from executive vice president to nurses and surgeons, the 12 racers will all represent the medical center's unique specialties as they toe the line this October. In addition to running for their own health and personal goals, each participant will focus fundraising and awareness efforts on a specific cause. For example, nurse Julianne Darcey is running to support the work done by Maria Fareri Children's Hospital, while Bill Leverenz, a patient experience coordinator, is running for the Employee Engagement and Patient Experience Department at HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley.
Darcey, Leverenz, and the 10 other runners are also working to raise funds to support their individual departments and teams, helping turn what is largely a personal challenge into a common group effort.
"All runners persevere from start to finish; that strength and determination are propelling me through training for my first marathon and to the finish line, all while representing Maria Fareri Children's Hospital and Westchester Medical Center," said Darcey.
To view the runner's bios or to donate to their causes, click here.


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Anyway, I agree with everyone on Sakura deserving to have a moment here. We've seen the path taken by both Naruto and Sasuke, so I think it's her chance to chose her path now.
Speaking about the chapter a bit... I read it again and I find myself curious about something...
On the speech made by Hinata, the only pronoun I see is "I (I've... I'm... I'll...) and when I finally see the other pronoun ("you") is when she says that she'll be walking with him (she's still speaking about herself). So in conclusion, this speech only proves that her kind of love is immature (sorry if this sounds like I'm bashing her, but I believe that's the correct term to describe that kind of "love")
Sakura's speech reflects just the opposite (she uses the pronouns "You" and "We") and puts Naruto as priority. So it's a clear example of unselfish love (which is the mature kind of love).
I guess I worried over nothing XD.
Yes I agree I'm not bashing Hinata either because I like her and all. But it has been prove that Kishi is not interested in the least to develop her character further compared to what he has done with the rest of the rookies. At first he was planning in developing it further with her confession on 437 standing off against Pain, that was truly a turning point in her character development that she will change for the better. However I could be wrong but ever since that interview at Jump Festa 2009 when he was telling the voice cast of Shippuden about how much angry NH fan mail he got bashing on Sakura and eventually he got a bit flustered telling them that Sakura is the heroine and not Hinata (especially the part where she can be a better heroine than her). After that he stopped developing Hinata's character and now from out of nowhere with her speech at 573 it's like Kishi went back with her changing her back into part 1 Hinata being a Naruto fan girl and all and just when we thought that she has gotten over him. It feels like Kishi wants to keep her like this and not develop her character due to the fact of that angry fan mail he received years ago (like I said I could be wrong about this).
A member of this forum TwilightLink stated in one of his review video rants on Youtube that Hinata was "pairing fodder" for Naruto and I agree with him since Kishi has kept Naruto in love with Sakura since she made her debut back at ch 3 and Hinata keeps on thinking about him yet she doesn't do a single thing about it while he keeps been in love with Sakura. Everyone from the rookies have mature becoming better people but Hinata is the only one who hasn't change at all, now let's get to another topic which is the fourth ninja war. Everyone else is fighting in the war with the purpose to stop Madara and protect the world, however I ask you what is Hinata's reason for fighting??? we already know the answer she's only fighting for Naruto, she's not fighting for her friends, or her village or even her clan but only for Naruto (that's selfish). With her it's always been about Naruto nothing else, it's the reason why she's fighting in the war and giving it her all. Now if Naruto never existed I believe she would have quit as a ninja a long time ago due that Naruto is her drive, the one person who has inspire her to do better and be more confident about herself. I'm not happy with Kishi in not developing her character so she can mature still making her into a cute Naruto fan girl who is always hero worshiping him.
Edited by Gravenimage, 13 February 2012 - 08:11 PM.


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George Parrish�s Monday afternoon flight on The Liberty Foundation�s B-17 �Movie Memphis Belle� was a lot like he remembered � the thrum of the propellers drowned out all else, the wind whipped through the waist gunner windows and he was at the mercy of the elements.
But Monday�s flight was a joy ride and not a mission over Germany.
Parrish, 91, took to the skies on the B-17 Flying Fortress bomber that starred in the 1990 movie �Memphis Belle,� as part of The Liberty Foundation�s 2013 �Salute to Veterans� tour, which is open to the public at the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport this weekend.
Of the roughly 13,000 built, the B-17 sitting on Burlington�s tarmac is one of only 12 still flying, said Dave Lyon, one of The Liberty Foundation�s pilots.
�The name �Memphis Belle� became synonymous with World War II and war bonds,� he said, explaining that during the war, the B-17 went on a nationwide tour so Americans at home could meet the crew, see inside the bomber, and raise war bonds.
�(That) made it the iconic airplane,� Lyon said, adding that the B-17 is an �incredibly safe� aircraft, built much stronger than today�s commercial airplanes.
�It brought the crews home,� he said.
Parrish is one who made it home on the B-17, after two years of shooting at German forces.
�I started flying November 1943 and flew the balance of �43 and �44,� he said. �I was a flight engineer and � top turret gunner.�
During missions, he said, �(There were) 13 guns in a plane, 60 planes in a group, all of us shooting.�
Parrish, of Burlington, recalled how nerve-wracking it was operating the machine gun in the top turret, since the small space allowed him no extra room to wear a safety parachute.
�I had to lay it in the floor when I was in the turret,� Parrish said.
�These windows were open all the time,� Parrish said, pointing to the waist gunner windows at the sides of the plane. He recalled when it would reach 60 degrees below zero and said, �Your fingers didn�t dare stick to any metal because it would leave part of the skin.�
Parrish said his first mission was on Nov. 26, 1943, and in 1944 he logged 32 actual flights � though he didn�t get credit for all of them.
�I flew a mission on D-Day that I did not get credit for because we didn�t carry any bombs,� Parrish said. �We got down to 800 feet, and all of a sudden we were covered with shells from the sea forces.�
He remembered flying over Normandy, watching the bombs from other aircraft drop, and bodies of fallen soldiers scattered across the beach.
�We could see the soldiers going on shore. It was a horrible scene.�
Monday was the first time Parrish had been up in a B-17 since then and he said it was, �just exactly as I remembered it.�
�Except,� Parrish said, �I didn�t have any fear.�
The Liberty Foundation�s 2013 �Salute to Veterans� tour will be at the Burlington-Alamance Regional Airport this weekend, giving flights and ground tours of the B-17 bomber to families. Flights cost $450, and ground tours are free, though donations are greatly appreciated.
To schedule a flight tour or for more information, call The Liberty Foundation at 918-340-0243.


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Chokwe Lumumba, a longtime civil rights activist and 1975 alumnus of Wayne State University Law School, will be honored Saturday, Jan. 25, by the Detroit and Michigan Chapter of the National Lawyers Guild.
Lumumba, who was sworn in as mayor of Jackson, Miss., in July, will serve as honorary host of the chapter's annual dinner. He won the city's election with a landslide vote on a platform of bringing change and self-determination to the city's residents and the rest of Mississippi.
Lumumba, 66, decided early in his life that he could bring change and best serve the civil rights movement as a lawyer. He earned his law degree at Wayne Law, but he was a political activist by the time he was a teenager.
The early years
He was born in 1947 as Edwin Talliaferro (he later changed his name to embrace his heritage), one of seven siblings in a family living in a public housing project on Detroit's west side. He was a young boy when his mother, always supportive of civil rights activism, showed him a photo of the mutilated, beaten body of 14-year-old Emmett Till published in Jet magazine in 1955. Till was an African-American boy snatched from a relative's home and murdered in Mississippi after allegedly whistling at a white woman. Lumumba clearly remembers the impact of first seeing that photo.
"My mother was courageous in showing it to us and explaining it to us," Lumumba said. "She told us this was a problem that went beyond this incident. She told us there was an epidemic of racism, an American disease. Later on in my life, when (Dr. Martin Luther) King (Jr.) was killed, this came back to me very vividly."
Lumumba attended Detroit's St. Theresa High School, where he began to be active in political protests. He served as student council president and captain of the football team. As a teen, he was deeply inspired by the words of King and by the writings of Malcolm X. When King was killed in 1968, Lumumba was a political science student at Western Michigan University. Lumumba said King's assassination inspired him to take part in a student takeover of the University Center Building – a protest to demand more scholarships for African-American students and the hiring of more African-American teachers.
Law school protest
In 1969, he entered Wayne Law – one of a few dozen new African-American students that year. A majority of them failed by the end of their first year.
"I wasn't terminated, but most of my classmates were," Lumumba said. "That was a shock to us. We demonstrated, seized the building and demanded that they be re-entered. It was an important time when significant numbers of blacks were, for the first time, going to Wayne and other predominantly white law schools in the North. It was the introduction of significant numbers of black students into the school."
The protesters said their work wasn't graded fairly and demanded revised grading practices. The law school denied the accusation but changed to an anonymous grading system as a result.
"And all but one or two turned out to be lawyers – strong legal professionals," Lumumba said.
Republic of New Afrika
The future mayor, however, left law school the next year to move to Jackson, Miss., drawn by the heat of the civil rights movement there. He became active in the controversial Republic of New Afrika, a group he helped form to coordinate the actions of activists and give African-Americans more personal and political control. For a time, the group's stated goal was to create a separate nation for black people in the South.
Lumumba, as a leader in the organization, became a target for the FBI and local law enforcement agencies, which raided the group's meetings and arrested its members on several occasions.
"The U.S. government, through J. Edgar Hoover and others, was trying to destroy black groups or undermine them," Lumumba said. "Much of this was brought to light later. We didn't know exactly what was happening at the time. There was an attack on the RNA in August of 1971 by the FBI and the Jackson Police Department. They literally attacked the house the RNA was staying in – I wasn't there at the time – and tried to kill a number of people inside. None of the RNA people got killed, but they shot back. One police officer was killed, one was wounded and one FBI officer was wounded. That started a long legal battle. It was that legal battle that showed me there was need for the skills a lawyer had."
At about the same time, Lumumba re-read the epilogue in Malcolm X's autobiography and found new inspiration there.
"Malcolm wanted to be a lawyer, and he was told by his teacher that wasn't a realistic profession for him," Lumumba said. "I decided to become the kind of lawyer Malcolm would have been."
Civil rights defender
So, in 1973, Lumumba returned to Wayne Law, graduating cum laude two years later.
"I stayed in Detroit for 10 years, practicing law, mostly with some of my friends who had graduated with me," he said. "The firm grew and had a very successful term of existence."
He continued to be active in the civil rights movement and the community and defended many high-profile, controversial activists in court. In 1988, he moved back to Mississippi, where he continued to be a civil rights leader and to defend other activists.
"I don't want anybody to think for a moment that I didn't love Detroit," Lumumba said. "I still do. The South has always suggested to me some prospects because of our large numbers. It was a place where we could be the majority in the government. The idea was to try to get black majority districts where we could get human rights into government. The South had appeal for that reason."
He also saw Mississippi as a good place to raise his family, he said.
Elected leadership
For a few years, he worked as a public defender in Jackson, representing indigent clients, and he founded community organizations, including the Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition after Hurricane Katrina.
Lumumba, throughout his legal career, often has found himself at odds with judges and state bar associations for his outspoken criticism of the system when he found it to be racist or unfair. But Jackson's mayor believes in perseverance and in accepting challenges, no matter what the odds may be.
"One of the things that was good for me, and that I would encourage in young people, is to take on small challenges first," he said. "Then you can start jumping bigger hurdles as you go along. It gets you stronger. As a student, I would never stoop to cheating or reading somebody else's paper. Sometimes it takes an act of courage to not cheat, to not take the easy way. I think those kinds of challenges are good. Then you have honor, and it becomes a badge of courage. If there are ills you want to solve, overcome small issues in the present so you can confront bigger ones in the future."
He was elected to a Jackson Ward Two council seat in 2009 and as mayor earlier this year with 85 percent of the vote against an opponent who outspent him many times over.
Lumumba continues to work hard to confront the challenges, big and small, in his new position of leadership.
"I am honored that the people of Jackson have decided to allow me to be their voice and to work to achieve the results we so justly deserve," the mayor said.


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David Cameron Plans 'Radical' Child Protection Internet Measures
from the 4chan-the-children deptThe last time we heard from David Cameron, he was wringing his hands over social media in the wake of protests in the UK. One may have thought this was just a blip on the wrong-radar, but he's back and he's apparently decided that the UK government needs to handle that whole parenting kids thing that parents used to do. This go 'round, Cameron plans to install filtering software on every new computer sold through major manufacturers that will issue a quick quiz upon its first boot-up.
If the plan is backed by manufacturers, it would mean that owners of every brand new computer would be asked if there are children in the household when they are first turned on. If the user answers positively, they will be prompted to adjust their internet filters accordingly.Gee, let's see, where to begin. First off, the idea of putting government sponsored filtering and snoop-ware software on every machine in the country may just face a tad bit of backlash from the public. Privacy concerns are the obvious culprit for such software, but so are concerns of parents who may just want to still be...you know...parents, rather than letting the government take this role from them by force. Say you disagree with how the UK government designates a website "harmful" or "pornographic"? Say you want your child to be able to see that site? It would appear that parent would be politley informed to screw themselves, because the government is in charge now.
If parents repeatedly click OK to get through the process more quickly, the computer would automatically block access by any user to sites containing pornography and self-harm. Internet service providers (ISPs) would also be required to verify the age of the person setting the controls, so that a child can't do it.
"Sorry, but if you want to parent your child, you have to wear Sherlock's hat. Dem's the rules."
Image source: CC BY 2.0
Next up, if watching everyone I've ever met handle iTune's EULA process is any indication, you can expect roughly one-billion percent of internet users in the UK to fall into the "clicked like hell through the process" category. This would automatically turn the filters on to whatever David Cameron thinks is the appropriate level. I imagine frustrated adults trying like hell to search the internet for the answer to the age old question "Why the hell is everyone freaking out about Kate Middleton having boobs?" would then try to reset the filters, but would then click through them quickly again, resulting in only more frustration.
"Still not working? I must not be clicking through fast enough!"
Image source: CC BY 2.0
Frankly, it's also fun to imagine how this software would determine exactly what is too "quick" of a click-through, given that different people read at different speeds.
Finally, it would be interesting to hear how exactly his plan to have ISPs verify the age of the people they're likely talking to on the phone would work. We've noted previously how difficult and riddled with potential danger age verification of this nature can be, so how exactly is Cameron going to accomplish this? Unless he plans on forcing ISPs to do site visits or meet with child protection services for every account, they're still going to have to talk to their customers over the phone. Now, this may come as a shock to Cameron, but kids occasionally lie.
"Sir, are you an adult?" "No, I'm a llama. Now let me see 4chan, doo-doo head!"
Image source: CC BY 2.0
In the end, this is yet another move by government to wrestle away a free and open internet. Unlike some other measures, Cameron may actually believe his "for the children" trope, but the best protection of children comes from involved parents. Trying to treat the symptom rather than the problem not only won't work, but it opens the door for some truly bad inadvertent outcomes.
Filed Under: david cameron, filters, porn, uk


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The Wicked Weasel Wallet is where you can convert any un-used Wicked Weasel Gift Certificates to Wallet Credit for use in the currency of your choice!
If you are having trouble using your Gift Certificate in the cart due to it being in the incorrect currency for your order - convert it here!
Your Wicked Weasel Wallet Credits will be stored with your account for safe keeping and ready for use in the cart.. Just select "Pay with Wicked Wallet"


text: Hey all, I finally bought the ISPConfig Manual, and have done an install. I'm really hoping to use the Reseller Login for my 1 reseller... But, I can't seem to make the reseller login work the way I want: - resellers need to be able to see "client" column when viewing SITES - admin needs to be able to add a client, but "assign" them to a reseller Can anyone tell me how to get this? Thx! : ) Jim


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Stanley Securecode 49477 370-3352 Mini Key Chain Remote Control Transmitter
This Stanley 49477 Secure Code Mini 3-Button Keychain Garage Door Opener Remote Control (also known as 370-3352), will work with all Stanley SecureCode Garage Door Openers.
Programming the remote to the garage door opener is as simple as pressing the learn button on the garage door opener and then the button you want on the remote to control the door.
The Stanley 49477 compatible remote is directly compatible with the following models of Stanley remote controls: 1698, 3049, 3353, 4901, 49438, 49439, 24711, 49476, 49541, 49663, 5901-01, 5902, 5908, 5909, 102-899, 370-3352, TR300
Please note this unit will NOT work on Stanley devices that use code switches.
-Controls up to three Secure Code garage doors
-Key ring included
-Power: 12V battery (included)
-Frequency: 310 MHz
-Each button randomly pre-programmed to one of 4.2 billion codes
-Dimensions: 2.375" x 1.5" x 0.5"
- Brand: Stanley
- Product Code: 49477
- Availability: In Stock
US Shipping - FREE
Canada Shipping - US $7.50
(Quantity shipping discount applied at checkout)


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|Biosequences .. Software .. Molbio soft .. Network News .. FTP
After mentioning potential risks associated with iron intake above necessary levels to some friends, some of whom seemed skeptical, I gathered some of the data, which, having collected, I thought I'd share with folks here... This review from "Nutrition Today" (5/6/97) by two leading researchers examines risks associated with iron and concludes that apart from deficiencies, "There is little reason to support a general need for iron supplementation in the diet at any age. [...] don't expose your system to more iron than it needs." While essential at recommended levels, iron generates toxic oxygen radicals. It also notes that iron intake is cumulative, since "iron accumulates in the brain with normal aging." http://web.archive.org/web/20010901081956/http://pspinformation.com/nutrition/minerals/iron.shtml Iron's possible supporting role in neurological degeneration: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (May 28, 2002): "Whereas a decade ago thoughts of metals and Alzheimer's disease (AD) conjured up thoughts of tossing out your aluminum cookware, more recently, zinc, copper, and iron have been implicated in AD pathology." http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/99/11/7317 Cellular and Molecular Biology (June 2000): "In several neurodegenerative diseases, iron accumulates at sites of brain pathology. Since post-mortem examination cannot distinguish whether iron accumulation caused the damage or resulted from damage, it is necessary to manipulate iron in animal and tissue culture models to assess its causal role(s). [...] iron supplementation to ID rats increased damage and microgliosis in the above regions. [...] In addition, iron+zinc supplementation dramatically increased damage to hippocampal CA1 whereas zinc supplementation alone had no effect." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=10875437&dopt=Abstract Journal of Neurochemistry (July 1992): "Iron, a transition metal possibly involved in the pathogenesis of Parkinson's disease, was tested for its toxic effects toward cultures of dissociated rat mesencephalic cells. [...] Altogether, these results suggest (a) that ferrous iron is a potent neurotoxin for dopaminergic neurons as well as for other cell types in dissociated mesencephalic cultures [...]." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=1613493&dopt=Abstract Professor James Connor (author of "Nutrition Today" review quoted at top of post): "Our data had led to the discovery that the brain's ability to mobilize iron is diminished in Alzheimer's Disease and in specific regions of the brain in Parkinson's Disease. This diminished iron mobilization could lead to increased susceptibility to oxidative damage and cell death; both of which are prominent features in Alzheimer's and Parkinson's diseases." http://www.hmc.psu.edu/depts/old%20pages-kms%20save/neuro/faculty/jrconnor.htm Current Opinion in Chemical Biology (April 4, 2000): "Data are now rapidly accumulating to show that metallochemical reactions might be the common denominator underlying Alzheimer's disease, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, prion diseases, cataracts, mitochondrial disorders and Parkinson's disease. In these disorders, an abnormal reaction between a protein and a redox-active metal ion (copper or iron) promotes the formation of reactive oxygen species or radicalization." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=retrieve&db=pubmed&list_uids=10742195&dopt=Abstract Alzheimers disease (AD) appears to be associated with a dysregulation of heavy metals, possibly as a result of impairment of metallothione (the body's natural defense against metal toxicity) that may be associated with the ApoE genetic defect that increases the risk of AD. Aluminum and Alzheimer's disease: http://www.google.com/groups?selm=gq8havshkhetd6s78ctbgvc8iev0gtma1n%404ax.com Mercury and Alzheimer's disease: http://www.google.com/groups?selm=3af37029.2307577%40news.erols.com http://IanGoddard.net/journal.htm "To lengthen thy life, lessen thy meals." Ben Franklin Ongoing CR-monkey-study update: "In the monkeys...those on reduced feeding since the study started are dying at a rate that is about half that of the monkeys receiving a full food ration." Associated Press: Eating less may extend human life. August 1, 2002 : http://www.msnbc.com/news/788746.asp?0si=-


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|John Voight's binocular vision couldn't save him from being eaten—then regurgitated and re-eaten—by a mammoth snakein the 1997 movie Anaconda.
|What can I say? Men in groups like to carry huge anacondas around.
Scientists debate the particulars, but the anaconda that takes the record was about 28 feet long, with a 44-inch circumference. What weight does that translate to? Probably about 500 pounds. Sheesh, that'd gobble up some serious human.
Who better to ask this question to than Dr. Jesus Rivas, who has been studying anacondas in the wild for 20 years?
|Jesus Rivas examines a large female anaconda.
Rivas says that there are no documented cases of anacondas eating humans, but that might be partly because anacondas, especially the big ones, tend to live in remote areas with few humans. However, he describes two cases in which his field assistants have been stalked—unsuccessfully, phew!—by their study animals. It was even caught on camera:
|An anaconda stalks a scientist in the Venezuelan Llanos. www.anacondas.org
One thing is for certain: anacondas eat big stuff. Rivas has witnessed them eating white-tailed deer and crocodilians.
|An anaconda swallows a caiman.
If your interest in anacondas is piqued, Rivas has written a book on them, coming out in 2013. In this book, he shares an account in which he himself was stalked by a 15-foot anaconda affectionately named Lina.
Rivas, J. A. 2013. Natural history of the green anaconda: Two decades disentangling the secrets of the world's largest snake. Oxford University Press.
In the meantime, check out this video of a large female anaconda puking up a cow!
If anacondas are the heaviest snakes, what are the longest? Reticulated pythons from Southeast Asia take that trophy, uncontested. The longest recorded "retic" is about 33 feet—yes, that's five or six people laid end to end. Burmese pythons and African rock pythons can exceed lengths of 20 feet and are also quite formidable predators. These python species along with a few others star in the smorgasbord of online images of snakes eating large prey items.
|A python has eaten a sheep.
|A non-native Burmese python in the Florida Everglades ate an American alligator. The likely story is that the meal was too large and killed the snake, then scavengers noshed open the snake's belly.
|A python kills a cow.
|An olive python fixes to eat a wallaby.
But, do pythons eat humans? Let's start with rock pythons, which—despite their penchant for eating lots of birds and non-human mammals—definitely have been known to occasionally include a human in the picnic basket.
|A rock python has eaten a very large meal (not a human, however) and become stuck in a fence.
|A close-up of the fenced snake, just for the awesomeness of it.
"After tracking pythons for many years and not experiencing anything like a predatory attack, I felt pretty confident that they just didn't do it (and I told many people that pythons don't attack people). However, that all changed towards the end of 2010 when I was tracking both pythons and Puff Adders. I had about 30 telemetered snakes going at one time and tracking took all the day light hours – and I was often pretty rushed trying to get to all the snakes in a day. On three separate occasions in that season I was bitten on the leg by large female pythons that were lying in ambush. In these cases I had been pretty sloppy – moving in on the signal way too fast under time stress and probably with less caution than I should have – and accidently walked past the snake. My interpretation was that the pythons had struck and bitten me because they thought I was a meal. In only one of these cases did the python start trying to constrict, but even this one released me as soon as it realized that I was not an impala – or that's how it seemed. In the other two cases, the python bit and released immediately without initiating constriction. In all three instances I was on my own and got the fright of my life. The bite comes out of nowhere and really does take you by surprise. I can really imagine what it is like for a real prey item. And that probably gives the snake a very large advantage.
I am afraid that those are the only experiences that could possibly be predatory attacks. I still think that we are not really on the menu of Southern African Pythons, though they do get pretty large and do consume meals of up to about 50 kg."
|A rock python has swallowed a prey item much larger than the width of its head.
Reticulated pythons, the longest species of snake alive, have munched on theirshare of people. Wikipedia lists a few instances of people being eaten by retics, some confirmed, some not: several people walking through the Malaysian bush got nabbed by 20+ foot pythons, including a Burmese jeweler in the early 1900's who was eaten feet-first; plus a number of captive retics along with Burmese pythons have decided to eat their owners or their owners' children.
The fact that it is the longest species alive today isn't the only reason the reticulated python has notoriety among man-eating snakes. It holds the distinction of having had its man-eating tendencies studied thoroughly by an interdisciplinary team of scientists. A herpetologist (Harry Greene) got together with an anthropologist (Thomas Headland) and they found stuff out about man-eating snakes, stuff that neither would have been able to totally figure out on their own. Awesome.
and Hunter–gatherers and other primates as prey, predators, and competitors of snakes. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 108:E1470-E1474.
They studied the Agta Negritas, a tribe that was still pre-literate in the Philippines as of the 1970's. The Agta hunted reticulated pythons for their meat, netting 25kg+ of meat per snake.
|Agta Negrita hunters in the Philippines pose with a 20+ foot-long reticulated python in 1970.
So there you have it. Those are the records that we have of man-eating snakes in modern and ancient times. The numbers are small and the photos are few.
This is the point where I should hear some of you calling bullshit. What's that you say? You've seen photos online of giant snakes eating people?
|Take this photo of a large retic with a human-sized bulge captured in southeast Asia. Is this real?
|A reticulated python has noshed a teenage boy… or has it really?
Anyway, the question comes down to this: is this photo real?
|Killer photo opp. You can tell the photo is faked because the boy's body is not covered in digestive goo, but also because of the presence of the large bag or piece of fabric between the boy's head and the snake's guts.
I've saved the best for last. Here is a photo of one of the few allegedly real instances documented by photo in which a snake killed a human.
|This unfortunate soul was killed by a reticulated python, but then the story goes that the meal was too big for the snake to take down—gobs of goo covered the man's head but the snake couldn't make it past his broad shoulders.
So, could it happen to you? I've always thought it would be an interesting way to die. But our chances of being eaten by a giant snake, even when wading through a flooded plain in Venezuela or spelunking in the Philippines, are lower than the chances of being struck by lightning at the exact same time as winning Mega Millions.
Your chances might be a little higher if you encountered one of the beasts below coiled in the crook of an ancient swamp tree. At over 40 feet in length and weighing in at over a ton, Titanoboa—recreated by the awesome people at the Smithsonian—would definitely have noshed a few humans.
|Smithsonian visitors view a scale model of Titanoboa.
Good thing for us that we didn't evolve for another 55 million years.
Author's note: If you can identify the photographer of any of these photos, have information about them, or have a good story or photos of a man-eating snake, please let me know (firstname.lastname@example.com). I will update the blog post with new information.


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Shane Dickey necesitaba un nuevo diseño de logotipo y lanzó un concurso de diseño en 99designs.
Un ganador ha sido elegido entre 107 diseños de 24 diseñadores freelance.
Nashville International Center for Empowerment
The Nashville International Center for Empowerment is a 501(c)3 nonprofit, community-based organization that provides direct social services and educational programs to refugees and immigrants in Middle Tennessee. Its mission is to empower new Americans-- regardless of nationality and station-- to achieve security and stability, and facilitate their successful integration into American society.
The Nashville International Center for Empowerment began (as the Sudanese Community & Women's Service Center) in 2005 with a former Sudanese refugee's mission to educate Sudanese females who had been ignored by their country's educational system. Since then, demand for services has skyrocketed; since its inception, the Nashville International Center for Empowerment has served over 6,000 refugee and immigrant clients from over 40 nations.
The short-term goal of the Nashville International Center for Empowerment is to be a primary support for refugees and immigrants during their first years in the United States while they work to learn the English language and secure stable employment. The long-term goal of the Nashville International Center for Empowerment is to eliminate the root causes of poverty within the refugee and immigrant community and create a new precedent of upward socioeconomic mobility and integration into the greater Nashville community.
Our organization is in the midst of a major maturation process and you could be part of it. Davidson County, Tennessee, ranks 16th among the Nation's 3,000 counties in refugees per capita and a good percentage of those folks come to our doors for assistance. We have just (today!) officially changed our name from the Sudanese Community and Women's Service Center to the Nashville International Center for Empowerment and need a new look that represents the work we're doing and will continue to do. Last year we served over a thousand clients from over 40 nations through programs such as English Language Education, Employment Preparation and Placement, Social Adjustment and Integration, Health Awareness, Youth Development, Food and Clothing Distribution, etc. etc. We are looking for a logo that appeals to our clients as well as to our community and potential funders. The fact that we're on the cheap side of the payment scale does not reflect on our appreciation and respect for the work of a designer, but rather it's a result of our abysmally low budget. If we had a bit more money, we would have gladly and readily invested it in this project. What we can offer is our loyalty: if you do good work with us now, we will strive to keep our relationship with you alive and mutually beneficial.
Read who we're about and go with it. The logo will be the launch-point for the branding of our organization (including all-new letterhead, business cards, promotional materials and web presence.) We want to emphasize our service-oriented nature and multiculturalism and REALLY de-emphasize our name's rather weak and unfortunate acronym (even though we actually are quite NICE). To get your creative juices flowing, check out this promotional video shot at our center late last year: http://www.vimeo.com/6783303 and look at our website, which will soon be revamped: http://www.sudanesecenter.org. The winning logo designer will be the 1st designer considered to continue the branding effort. Attached below is our old letterhead, for starters.
Descubre cómo funciona un concurso de diseño u obtén más información sobre nuestros servicios de diseño de logo.


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Click here for Fulbright Program Information on Coronavirus (COVID-19)
United States citizens who are currently enrolled in undergraduate or graduate degree programs are eligible to apply. All applicants enrolled in U.S institutions must apply through their home campuses. Find the Fulbright Program Adviser on your campus.
If you are an undergraduate student, you are eligible to apply in the fall of your senior year. If you are a graduate student, you are eligible as long as you will not have a PhD degree by the application deadline.
If you are a U.S. citizen, hold a bachelor's degree, and do not have a PhD degree, then you are eligible to apply. Non-enrolled applicants are encouraged to contact the Fulbright Program Adviser at their most recent alma mater to inquire if the institution can support alumni/ae through the application process. If not, non-enrolled applicants are welcome to apply at "at-large" candidates.
Non-enrolled applicant should have relatively limited professional experience in the fields (typically 7 years or less) in which they are applying. Candidates with more experience should consider applying for the Fulbright Scholar Program.
Please visit the Getting Started page for next steps.
The Fulbright U.S. Student Program welcomes applications in the creative and performing arts. Arts candidates for the U.S. Student Program should have relatively limited professional experience in the fields (typically 7-years or less) in which they are applying. Artists with more experience should consider applying for the Fulbright Scholar Program.
Creative & Performing Arts projects fall under the Study/Research grant category and are available in all countries where Study/Research grants are offered.
If you are a U.S. citizen and faculty or staff at a U.S. institution, or professional interested in applying, please visit the Fulbright U.S. Scholar Program.
If you are a non-U.S. citizen interested in applying for a Fulbright Award to come to the United States, you will need to apply through the Fulbright Commission or U.S. Embassy in your home country. Find out more information on the Fulbright Visiting Scholar or Student Program.
Field-specific tips for projects in the Creative & Performing Arts fields are provided here.
Complete all required fields: You should take care to accurately complete all of the required fields in this section.
Use proper capitalization and punctuation: This is a formal grant application and you are advised to follow the English language rules on capitalization and punctuation.
Provide an informative project title and abstract: These sections are a quick reference for screening committees and other reviewers. They should be able to determine the basic who, what, when, where, why and how of your project by reading this abstract. The project title should be informative, as well.
Develop an intellectually-compelling and feasible project: This is the most important factor in presenting a successful application. The first step is to familiarize yourself with the country summary for the program to which you are applying. Program design varies from country to country and while some countries encourage applicants to incorporate coursework into a project, others prefer independent research. You should ensure that your project design fits the program guidelines for the host country.
For applicants proposing independent study/research projects, address the following points::
Design a feasible project: You must demonstrate that your project is viable, including its content and time frame.
Address the following points:
Candidates applying through U.S. institutions are urged to consult professors in their major fields or faculty members with experience in the host country, as well as their Fulbright Program Advisers, about the feasibility of their proposed projects. At-Large applicants should consult qualified persons in their fields.
Adhere to the proper format:
Understand the affiliation requirements for the country to which you are applying: Affiliation arrangements vary by country, so you should carefully review the affiliation information provided in the country summary. All academic grantees must have an affiliation in the host country.
Countries differ in the kinds of host affiliations that are acceptable. Examples of affiliations include universities, laboratories, libraries, non-governmental organizations, and so on. Pay special attention to the requirement in some countries to attend classes and/or affiliate with academic institutions.
Identify an appropriate affiliation for your project: The affiliation is your proposed host in the country to which you are applying. Fulbrighters have used a number of methods to contact potential hosts and solicit support for their projects. One primary method is to use the contacts and advisers that you already have. Ask current or former professors to put you into contact with appropriate people in the host country. If the proposal contains a strong research component, you must have host country contacts that can support the research, provide access to required resources, and/or advise you during the grant period. It is your responsibility to identify, contact, and secure an affiliation from a potential adviser.
Potential avenues to identify an appropriate affiliation/host country adviser include:
Start early: Obtaining an affiliation letter from overseas can be a time-consuming process and sufficient lead time must be given to receive signed affiliation letters before the application deadline.
Request the Affiliation Letter: After identifying the appropriate host institution and the individual at that institution best suited to serve as an adviser for the proposed project, make contact with the potential adviser to determine if he/she is willing to write an affiliation letter. Before requesting the letter, you should provide the author with a copy of the Statement of Grant Purpose. The affiliation letter should indicate the author's willingness to work with you on the intended project and it should speak to the feasibility and validity of what is being proposed. The letter should also indicate any additional resources or contacts that the adviser can provide to support the work.
Adhere to the proper format:
Make it Personal: This statement provides you with an opportunity to introduce yourself to the screening committee members on a personal level. The style is up to you, but the content should convey your background and your motivation for applying to the specific Fulbright Program in question and how this background relates to the proposed project and your future goals.
Do not repeat information from other parts of the application.
Adhere to the proper format:
For Commonly-Taught Languages: The Foreign Language Evaluation should be completed by a professional language teacher, preferably a university professor. The language evaluator cannot be related to the applicant.
For Less-Commonly-Taught Languages: If a professional language teacher is not readily available, a college-educated native-speaker of the language can be used. The language evaluator cannot be related to the applicant.
Provide your language evaluator with the Instructions for Foreign Language Evaluators. You can print these out and discuss them with the person completing the form.
Please note that an email address can only be used for one type of online recommendation, that is, either a recommendation or a Foreign Language Evaluation. If you wish to have the same person complete both a recommendation and a Foreign Language Evaluation, the person must use two different email addresses. You will register the person once for the recommendation and once for the Foreign Language Evaluation.
In order to register your language evaluator and to have access to the Language Self-Evaluation, you must respond appropriately to the Embark Online Application Preliminary Question 5. If you did not initially request these forms, return to the Preliminary Question page to update your answer.
After the recommendation is submitted, it cannot be edited. However, if there is a significant error and the recommendation writer agrees to submit a revised recommendation, the following process must be followed:
Note: Applicants and Fulbright Program Advisers cannot request that a recommendation be un-submitted.
Applicants can follow the status of the recommendation (not initiated, in progress, submitted) from the Recommendations page of the application. Additional details on the online submission of references are available in the Embark application system.
Applicants proposing research involving human beings or animals as research subjects who plan to formally publish the results or to use the results in a graduate program should have their projects vetted by the Institutional Review Board (IRB) at their home institutions. At-large applicants should conduct an individual ethics review ensuring that their proposed projects are consistent with ethical standards for research involving humans as research participants as outlined in the National Guidelines for Human Subjects Research (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Extramural Research, National Institutes of Health), in the National Guidelines for Animal Welfare at the National Institutes of Health's Office of Laboratory Animal Welfare or other applicable internationally recognized ethics guidance documents.
Human subjects research includes: clinical investigations (any experiment or study on one or more persons which involves a test product/article, whether a drug, treatment, procedure or device); social-behavioral studies which entail interaction with or observation of people, especially vulnerable populations (i.e., as minors, pregnant women, inmates, drug-users, the mentally impaired, displaced/refugee populations); and, basic scientific research to study the biology of animals, persons or organs and specimens thereof. The most fundamental issues in studies involving human research subjects include: valid scientific questions and approaches; potential social value; favorable risk-benefit ratio; fair selection of study participants and an adequately administered informed consent process.


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Natalie Portman has signed Freedom to Marry's Say, "I Do" letter to President Barack Obama asking for marriage equality for gay couples.
The Oscar-winning actress and her fiancé Benjamin Millepied - with whom she is expecting her first child - believe all US citizens should have the right to wed and have joined more than 100,000 people in supporting the campaign.
Evan Wolfson, president of campaign group Freedom to Marry, said: "Natalie Portman and her fiancé, Benjamin Millepied, are in love, and believe all loving couples should be able to share in the freedom to marry without discrimination.
"That is why they are joining the more than 100,000 people on Freedom to Marry's Say, "I Do" Open Letter calling on the president to do the right think and become part of America's majority for marriage."
A large number of celebrities have previously signed the letter - which asks President Obama to "clarify" the situation about gay marriage in the US - including openly lesbian Glee star Jane Lynch, actress Anne Hathaway and Martin Sheen.
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have previously indicated they would not get married until gay couples have the right to do so in America.
- BANG! Showbiz
Natalie Portman has signed Freedom to Marry's Say, "I Do" letter to President Barack Obama asking for marriage equality for gay couples.
Trending on NZ Herald
- 3 minutes to read
- 4 minutes to read
- 2 minutes to read


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Workshop Proceeding
Grand Challenges in Earthquake Engineering Research: A Community Workshop Report (2011)Board on Earth Sciences and Resources
In recent years, significant advances have been made in the science and technology of earthquake engineering, but problems, barriers, and bottlenecks still stand in the way of making the nation earthquake resilient. To help plan future research investments in the field, the NRC hosted a workshop to discuss next-generation U.S. needs for basic earthquake engineering research. Workshop participants from a variety of disciplines assembled to identify high-priority grand challenges that define the frontiers in basic earthquake engineering research, and to describe the networks of experimental facilities and cyberinfrastructure tools that could help address these challenges. Over the course of the Grand Challenges in Earthquake Engineering Research workshop, 13 grand challenge problems emerged and were summarized in terms of five overarching themes?Community Resilience Framework, Decision Making, Simulation, Mitigation, and Design Tools. Participants suggested 14 experimental facilities and cyberinfrastructure tools that would be needed to carry out testing, observations, and simulations, and to analyze the results.


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Sold Maverick a RT Stick Grip, paid quickly, will do business with again.
Sold Maverick a RT Stick Grip, paid quickly, will do business with again.
Sold Maverick a Benchmark frame with wood grips and a Dye boomstick. All was shipped to France with no issues. Paid quickly and had thorough communication through the whole process. Great buyer all around. Thanks again!
Bought a Dye Boom Stick barrel for me. Paid super fast. Gave me great instructions to ship to France( which i was a little nervous about). Thanks!
Maverick has bought a few things from me on several different occasions. Stand up guy, really. Pays promptly, and never forgets to let me know that he received the item, even though it can be quite a long time between payment and arrival due to his living in France.
Some people shy away from international deals, but you really don't have to worry about that with Maverick. I wouldn't hesitate to make a deal with him, buy or sell!
Maverick has bought several items from me and is an excellent buyer.
I'll echo what Justus said. He is in France, but is easy to deal with and pays prompt. As soon as I sent him the customs number the money was deposited in my paypal instantly.
Great buyer, I personally won't hesitate dealing with him should the occasion arise in the future.
Mav's a good guy to work with. He bought a TI diamond labs reg from me and went so far as to help me out finding the cheapest best way to get it over to France. Stand up guy and alot of fun to talk with. A+ in my book, hope I can do more business with Him in the future.
I took the road least traveled...now where the hell am I ?


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President re-emerges after seven-week absence
Issued on: Modified:
Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua broke seven weeks of silence on Tuesday, telling the BBC he was recovering from a heart condition, amid growing dissatisfaction among Nigerians over the political uncertainty of the country.
REUTERS - Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua said in his first interview since going into hospital in Saudi Arabia seven weeks ago for a heart condition that he was recovering, the BBC reported on Tuesday.
Speculation over his health and the fact that he had maintained executive powers despite his silence had brought growing unease in the oil-producing country of 140 million.
Nigerian religious leaders, politicians and educators plan a mass rally in Abuja on Tuesday to demand that the government put an end to the uncertainty.
The British Broadcasting Corporation said Yar'Adua had spoken by telephone.
"At the moment I am undergoing treatment, and I'm getting better from the treatment. I hope that very soon there will be tremendous progress, which will allow me to get back home," he was quoted as saying on the BBC website.
"I wish, at this stage, to thank all Nigerians for their prayers for my good health, and for their prayers for the nation."
Yar'Adua's refusal to transfer powers to Vice President Goodluck Jonathan has prompted a lawsuit from the Nigerian Bar Association, slowed government business, and threatens to renew violence in the oil-rich Niger Delta.
Parliament returns from recess on Tuesday and is expected to address the issue of Yar'Adua's prolonged absence.
Daily newsletterReceive essential international news every morningSubscribe


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Spy Shots: 2008 Hyundai Genesis
David AxbergwriterKGPphotographers
Hyundai is finishing development and testing on the rear-wheel drive Genesis sedan, set to be unveiled this fall as a 2008 model. The prototypes in the pictures you see here are the latest models Hyundai has been using for testing, and they more closely match the concept shown at the New York Auto Show earlier this year.
This latest prototype shares many styling cues with the concept: namely, the grille with its horizontal slats, the angular swept-back headlights, and the nine spoke wheels. The show car could turn out to have been a very accurate preview of what will be seen when the Genesis reaches production - and we hope so, because it was handsome and distinctive.


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SCCA - Snake River Region @ Expo Idaho
SCCA - Snake River Region
Saturday, Oct 20 — Sunday, Oct 21, 2018
Expo Idaho, Boise, Idaho
Autocross event 16 & 17
ATTENTION! Your web browser is either very old or portions of MotorsportReg.com are being blocked. As a result, some things on this and other sites may be out of place or look broken. Before you try and register for events, learn how to correct it.


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Lilia Dignan
Joined: 23 Mar 2005
Posts: 159
Location: San Francisco
Posted: Thu Mar 06, 2008 8:41 pm
Post subject: Lilia's Trip - continuation...
Sorry, these reports are long...... I'm on a roll
Day 6, November 4 –
Nice, cool , brisk Sunday morning! On the way to La Messe Gregorienne at Notre Dame, stopped at the Marché Brocante at Place Maubert. Found a pair of long benches to go along a kitchen table for 150 euros (for the bench only) which I thought would be a good buy if I have an apartment on bd. Saint Germain. Didn't I notice one for sale yesterday which is nearby but all I got was a dirty look from you know who.
Mass is at 10:00 am and we walked in through the back gardens along the seine side to go to the front. We sat on the left side to take advantage of being able to gaze at the South Rose Window. It was beginning to clear so we caught the perfect light. Tom got his first wish – the second wish came shortly after – his angel arrived again, the same angel who appeared during our February 2006 trip. He was so engrossed (the first time) looking at the Rose window with the sun shining through that he wasn't paying attention to the mass, then this beautiful blonde in a French blue choir gown appeared and started singing with such heavenly voice. He thought he died and woke up in heaven! She is now the Matrisse of Notre Dame de Paris Choir. After mass, I love walking out through the big open front doors, the only time they are open is after each mass with the light streaming in, it feels like I'm on my way to heaven.
On to Le Comptoir, 9 Carrefour de l'Odeon, 6th arriving just before noon via Place Dauphine. No reservations, one has to stand in line to get a table but it opens at noon , so we're sure to get one right away. We got a nice window table inside – great for people watching.
- Cochonnailles de famillle (assorted Lyonaise charcuterie plate with cracklings & condiments)
- Tripes Bearnaise (for Tom who loves the more unusual offerings)
- Tournedos de confit de canard (the confit was deboned and re-shaped like at tournedo then grilled – served with a glaze and assorted young vegetables)
- Crème de Riz au lait avec peches
- Café avec nougat Richard (What? No caramels from Jacques Genin! I ask the girl serving but she just smiled and said they are serving nougat this time)
- Une bouteille de Crozes-Hermitage Le Printemps (a young, fruity wine from the Cote-du-Rhone area)
- Total 97.80 euros
The rest of the afternoon was spent at La Fontaine de Marie Medici at the Jardin du Luxembourg amidst the ducks swimming in the pond. The sun shines through the trees. Quiet and relaxing! On the way back, checked out Fish at 69, rue de Seine for a light dinner later in the evening.
After a late afternoon siesta, the old, tired bodies gave out – decided to finish reading the English paper and eat from Pierre Hermé macarons box:
- Rose
- Mogador (passion fruit and milk chocolate)
- Marrons et The vert Macha (chestnut and green tea Matcha)
- Plénitude (chocolat and caramel)
- Truffe Blanche et Noisette (Exotic – very unusual – I like the flavor of white truffle – very earthy but I'm not quite sure I care for it with my desserts)
- Huile d'Olive et Vanille
Of course, we have the extra Ispahan (macaron Rose avec crème de Litchi et framboise, garni par framboise et une petale de rose rouge – extraordinaire!)
Bonne Nuit!
Day 7, November 5 - Started out with scattered fog. Bits of sunshine starts peeking out of thje sky – slowly – in time for how slow I was sipping my café crème. The tops of the building began to be bathed in glorious light. By the way, the breakfast in the hotel is very good but I only need a light French breakfast, coffee, croissant, orange juice and sometimes a piece of tartine. They also serve yogurt, toast, chocolate, tea, some cheese and choice of confiture and honey for the tea.
This is shopping day. First stop: Cité Pharmacie, 26, rue du Four. 6eme. I go to Multi Change on rue de Rennes to exchange some dollars. I have befriended some Filipino people working here and it is like saying hello to friends one hasn't seen for sometime. Had to stop at Montparnasse Monoprix (Inno). This is the only place I know that carries the Francois Doucet Noisettes de la Forets that I love. Picked up some tablettes de chocolat (assorted ones) and some fleur de sel de Camargue and d'Ile de Noirmoutier, add a condiment or two and more confiseries and soon, les paquets sont tres lourds. Time to drop them off the hotel. Through the Luxembourg – these errands have to be transported through scenic routes. Are there any other way? These articles are to become special gifts on arrival back to the US, they deserve to be treated royally. Would your chocolates be happy just taking some non-descript streets? Mine would be complaining san cesse and what headache that would make! How can one buy more goodies if you don't take the ones you have back first. The sun was shining – nobody notices the aching feel and shoulders sagging.
What a surprise! Tom was reading the paper at the lobby! Fish on rue de Seine sounded good but today being Monday, it is closed. He wanted to eat at Le Comptoir again. By the way, this is owned and run by Yves Camdeborde, ancien chef at Les Ambassadeurs, Crillon Hotel during the time of Christian Constant. After a few minutes wait, we secured a table.
- Salade de Saint Jacques poelé (sautéed scallop salade)
- Crème de Marron celeri et foie gras (cream of chestnut soup with celery and chunks of foie gras – yummm)
- Cochon de Lait aux Lentille (suckling pig with lentils)
- Café
- Une Bouteille "Bugey Cerdon" Rosé Petillant (Sparkling Rosé)
- 102.50 euros
- Proved to be another excellent meal
Hubby sat at the Luxembourg to enjoy the afternoon sun. I ventured to the grands magazines to look around and to Lafayette Gourmet for more foodie goodies. How can one not be happy as one looks at mounds of spices, herbes and different salts and surrounded by Laduree, Sadaharu Aoki, hundreds of bottles of wines, all those Iberico hams, all kinds of teas and coffees, jams, chocolates all tucked in this not so huge store. Armed with a shopping cart which began to fill up with more specialy salts, confiture de Noel, Thé de Noel, more chocolates, caramels, mustards and my shoulders asking me who are going to carry those things back. They are close to a rioting mood if I didn't stop right then. Luckilly, I found that I had some metro tickets left over from the year before. OK, the autobus it is. Rioting shoulders averted – this time! Now to face hubby's question of how to get these home.
A romantic evening walk "le long de la Seine" is in order. I believe that romance should not be wasted on the young alone. Stopped by Les Bouquinistes to reserve a table to next day's lunch. Continued on the quais and leisurely watched the boats on the Seine and the lit monuments. Turned on rue du Bac and enjoyed the quartier Saint Germain. Walking the streets of Paris seems like a feast each time we do it especially when doing it leisurely without any time constraints – no rush to be somewhere at a certain time. Another good day!
Day 8, November 6 - A little rain in the night just enough to wet the streets – gone by morning. Went to Place Maubert market to buy some grapes and figs for later snacking. They were still setting up so there's not much buying to be done. Then after breakfast, took Bus No. 63 across the street to Place de l'Alma. Stopped by 5, rue Debrousse (this was our first apartment in Paris). It is being remodeled so the whole front is covered. Walked Avenue Montaigne and enjoyed looking at the couture houses. I like Valentino windows the best.
Champs Elysees is being prepared for 11 Novembre. I see lots of security people around. There are fewer tourists around. It is so enjoyable strolling one side and down the other with a little stop at Fouquets for some morning coffee. Reaching the Place de la Concorde, decided to take rue Boissy d'Anglas to Faubourg Saint Honore crossing rue Royale to the other side which becomes rue Saint Honore – turned right on rue Castiglione with a peek at Place Vendome to the Jardin des Tuileries, enjoying this scenic route on the way to lunch at Les Bouquinistes, 53 quai des Grands Augustins for a 1:00 o'clock reservation.
- 2 Coupes de Champagne Guy Savoy
- Salade Mesclun
- Ravioles de Tourteau aux homard (Wow – big chunks of lobsters)
- Bar a la Plancha
- Saumon d'Ecosse
- 1 verre Sancerre blanc
- 2 verres Beaune du Chateau
- Dessert – autour du chocolat (came in three different forms of chocolate desserts surrounded by a light crème anglaise
- 1 verre Grappa Veneta (great tasting grappa – smells heavenly, too)
- 1 café serve avec truffes
- All for 154 euros
It is now 4:30 and the sun still shines. Magnificent Notre Dame beckons. Another perfect time for a South Rose Window watching and enjoy. Satiated, no more dining was done for today!
"A man hath no better thing under the sun than to eat, and to drink, and to be merry."
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Joined: 30 Sep 2004
Posts: 1855
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Posted: Fri Mar 07, 2008 4:50 pm
Post subject:
Ah lilia---here's to romance at any age!!
And I'm just salivating reading your menus.
Vivant Linguae Mortuae!!
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Joined: 10 Mar 2008
Posts: 2
Location: Paris, France
Posted: Mon Mar 10, 2008 11:10 am
Post subject:
I am discovering so many great places in Paris from reading these posts and receiving confirmation that I have already been seeking out some of the best places!
I had the pleasure of lunch at Le Comptoir this weekend and the food was excellent. The bread was sublime, but I forgot to ask what bakery provides it for them. Anyone know?
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At the 2009 Sundance Film Festival, writer-director Cary Fukunaga emerged as the belle of the ball, the kind of promising young talent the festival is meant to catapult, when his first feature, "Sin Nombre," a harrowing, haunting tale of unexpected beauty and unflinching realism, took home both the Directing Award and Excellence in Cinematography Award (it also landed Fukunaga a three-picture deal with Focus Features).
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"Jane Eyre" opens this Friday, March 11.


text:
AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - AutoRAI 2013, the Amsterdam auto show scheduled for next April, has been canceled, organizers said, citing lack of support from importers and suppliers in the face of the economic crisis in Europe.
"The bottom line is we didn't have a majority of brands supporting this," Joost 't Hooft, exhibition manager, told Reuters.
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The organizers have already slashed the costs of exhibiting by roughly half since 2007, he said, but it still costs between 100,000 euros and one million euros.
Organizers had hoped to attract 300,000 visitors between April 2 and April 14, up from about 270,000 in 2012.
Reporting by Sara Webb; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe


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High-Level Programming Languages Should Improve Support for SIMD Instructions
Most modern microprocessors offer the ability to execute the same instruction on multiple data, something classified by Michael J. Flynn in his proposed Flynn's taxonomy back in 1966 as SIMD (short for Single Instruction, Multiple Data). It is possible to utilize these vector processors to reduce the time needed to execute certain algorithms. However, many popular high-level programming languages don't allow developers to take advantage of SIMD instructions.
Modern microprocessors can execute SIMD instructions, but these instructions are part of different extended instruction sets. Because the need for greater computing performance continues to grow across industry segments, most CPU manufacturers have incorporated extended instruction sets in their new CPU models. For example, the most advanced Intel CPUs added two new SIMD instruction sets: AES-NI (short for Advanced Encryption Standard New Instructions) and AVX (short for Advanced Vector eXtensions).
In addition, the execution units for SIMD instructions usually belong to a physical core, and therefore, it is possible to run as many SIMD instructions in parallel as available physical cores. The use of these vector-processing capabilities in parallel can provide impressive speedups.
If you work with C or C++, it is pretty easy to call any SIMD instruction in your code. In fact, many applications written in C and C++ take advantage of these instruction sets to work on vectors and matrices. They are very useful to improve performance in algorithms that need to do multiple calculations on many data blocks. Most modern C and C++ compilers optimize loops to take advantage of SIMD instruction sets. As such, they are able to perform an auto-vectorization when following certain guidelines for writing the loops that perform operations on arrays.
Other modern and popular high-level programming languages such as C#, F#, Ruby, Java, and Scala don't provide direct support for calling SIMD instructions. Two years ago, I wrote an article describing SIMD support for C# via Mono 2.2. Mono has improved the support in its latest release, 2.10, and you can read the release notes describing the Mono.Simd namespace here. Sadly, .NET Framework 4 hasn't added any kind of support for SIMD instructions.
A few months ago, Jonathan Parri, Daniel Shapiro, Miodrag Bolic, and Voicu Groza wrote a very interesting article in Queue, the ACM's magazine for practicing software engineers. In "Returning Control to the Programmer: SIMD Intrinsics for Virtual Machines," the authors state that exposing SIMD units within interpreted languages could simplify programs and unleash floods of untapped processor power. They explain why SIMD instructions are greatly underutilized and list the arguments for supporting the inclusion of pre-mapped SIMD vector intrinsics within interpreted languages, which include:
- Faster application runtime
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- A more transparent programming experience
In addition, the authors address SIMD inclusion concerns and provide a complete example of designing an API, called "jSIMD," for mapping Java code to SIMD instructions. The authors believe it is very important to give more control to the programmer. I agree with them developers should be able to execute SIMD instructions to achieve the best performance in high-level programming languages. We should be able to take full advantage of the processing power offered by modern hardware to create better software and enterprise applications.


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I found this post on Mashable. Before I offer some suggestions to small-businesses, I like to have a reference in case there are any questions that may remain. Therefore please click and see original post on this topic.
I'm a believer that some business owners have bigger fish to fry when it comes to running a business. Hence there is a tendency to rush into social media and get it done when they discover the value it creates (more leads, customers calling for service, etc). Most of the time, small-biz owners start a Twitter & Facebook page to promote a product or a upcoming event and then months later there are no tweets or updates. The excuse is that they don't have time to continue doing social media or they don't think anyone cares what about they had for lunch.
Please follow these four steps to protect your online reputation:
- Research & Planning: what are your goals/objectives, channels (Foursquare, Twitter, FB), time investment?
- Monitoring & Listening: Google Analytics, HootSuite, Tweetdeck, & Mashable
- Joining the Convo: planning (use your calendar), consistency (as in daily/weekly), being honest!
- When the Convo becomes Negative: What to do?


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by JIM HARRIS
I've attended the Mummers Parade many times in my life, but I've never actually marched up the street with a group, so when Rusty Lorenzon, captain of the Venetian Club's comic brigade in Chestnut Hill, asked me if I'd like to accompany them as an observer, I jumped at the chance.
As I boarded the bus at 7:45 a.m. on New Year's Day, everyone in the back was already in high spirits. I plopped myself into a front seat. Richard, another first-timer with the group, got on next, looked in the back and said, "I see no reason to go any farther." He sat next to me. A woman then popped her head into the bus and yelled, "Has anyone seen Rusty's pants? His wallet was in there." Everyone laughed.
Rusty's pants were eventually found, but just as the bus pulled away, Tony Vecchione, "the paper boy," came running out of the building, yelling, "Whoa!" He got on board, and off we went. As this chartered bus full of zany characters chugged its way through Mount Airy, a half-asleep guy walking his dog on Allens Lane looked up at us as if he were seeing a hallucination.
When we got to our destination, Rusty addressed the group, "Rule number one: have fun. Everybody smile out there, and that will put smiles on everyone's faces." To a chant of "We're number one," we walked the two blocks to the marshaling area at Broad and Green.
I can only describe the scene there as one of controlled chaos — without the control. Cartoon characters were busily running in every direction — penguins, gladiators, octopi — yelling stuff like "I need pliers" or "where's my sword?" Local residents sat on their stoops with cups of coffee, taking it all in with obvious delight.
The Venetians sprang into action, setting up their righteous sound system and dancing to a terrific mix of music as they waited for the parade to begin. "This is the best part of the day," Rusty said to me, "The kids are having a great time."
Finally the line started to move; a swirling sea of sparkling sequins and parasols stretching straight up to City Hall. At first, the crowd was thin, but it got thicker as we progressed. This was the Venetian Club's eighth year in the parade, and they are really good at it. They danced, kibitzed, shook hands and gave out candy to the audience the whole way up the street, and the crowd loved it.
One of the lady Venetians said to me, "Are you having fun? It's a different world; isn't it?" As we neared the judging stand, I heard someone behind me say, "NOW I'm nervous." At last it was time for them to do their routine for the TV cameras.
Their theme this year was "Flash Mobsters." Set in the era of the Great Depression, it started with the men in trench coats entering to "Buddy, Can You Spare a Dime?" Next, they threw off the coats and became flappers, dancing the Charleston. The lady mobsters then showed up with machine guns, and finally, the kids, as Keystone Cops, entered with a paddy wagon and arrested the whole bunch for curfew violations. All the while, a band of old-time musicians played off to the side, and a paper boy revealed headlines describing the action.
The group had been rehearsing this act since Labor Day, and aside from one small scenery malfunction, it went off without a hitch. They marched off to a big ovation, and afterwards, Rusty said, "We nailed it."
The production was truly a group effort. Captain Lorenzon worked on the choreography; co-captain Rob Desoo helped build the sets and props; Ann Filippi and Maryann Albertelli made the costumes, and many others contributed their talents as well. According to Desoo, "We looked at what winning groups did in past years and decided that we needed to add dancing to our act."
In the end, they finished fifth out of the 25 comic brigades. Not bad, really, but that doesn't begin to recognize the smiles they put on people's faces all along Broad Street. In my unbiased opinion, they were the best of the bunch. The kids were cute, the women were great dancers, and the men were totally insane. They can be rightfully proud of the work they did, and Chestnut Hill can be proud to have such fine representation in what continues to be the world's greatest parade.