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ST. CHARLES – Wherever Dave Rushton might be at 6 and 10 a.m. and 2 and 6 p.m., one thing is certain – he'll stop what he's doing and drink a caffeinated beverage, probably Coke.
And, 30 minutes later, he'll follow the drink with a snack.
Rushton doesn't follow this strict schedule for dietary purposes. Rather, the St. Charles pastor said, it makes the medicine he takes for his Parkinson's disease more effective, although he still experiences peaks and valleys throughout the day.
He carries his pills in a used contact case and keeps Coke and snacks, such as Goldfish crackers, in the car. A music alarm on his cellphone alerts him it's time to take a pill, he said, noting his grandchildren like to dance to the tune.
"It's a family project," Rushton said.
Rushton has spent the past few years learning how to live with Parkinson's disease while preaching at Hope Community Church, which meets at the Baker Community Center in downtown St. Charles.
His parishioners are aware of his diagnosis. Carol Rushton, his wife of more than 40 years, said people often try to hide their situations. Openness about his experience might help others, she said.
Church member Keith Miller agreed. Although the parishioners' struggles aren't identical to Rushton's, they can identify with him and take strength from him.
"I definitely think he's a guy who understands what struggle is," Miller said. "Because of that, he's a pastor who's really able to connect with people going through tough times."
According to the Parkinson's Disease Foundation, the chronic and progressive movement disorder affects nearly 1 million people in the United States. Symptoms include tremor of the hands, arms, legs, jaw and face; slowness of movement; stiffness of the limbs; and impaired balance and coordination. The cause is unknown, and there is no cure.
Neither Rushton nor his wife expected his diagnosis when, during an annual exam, his doctor recommended he visit another doctor.
Rushton assumed he had essential tremor, a neurological condition that causes trembling hands. He was OK with that, he said, because his father lived with it for 50 years. Tests, however, indicated he had Parkinson's.
Any good doctor will tell patients to fight the disease to slow its progression, Rushton said. In addition to taking medication, he does weight training, is learning to dance with his wife and plays basketball twice a week.
"Some days I feel like Michael Jordan," he said. "Others, I feel like Urkel."
Because Parkinson's also affects cognitive skills, Rushton worried he couldn't continue his calling as pastor, a role that requires study and concentration.
He also risks losing his voice – a tool essential in his line of work.
Like others with Parkinson's, Rushton speaks softly without realizing it. His wife said it got to the point that waitresses had trouble hearing him.
"You found yourself compensating for him," Carol Rushton said. Now, she said, "I tell him, 'You're soft.' "
Rushton is undergoing speech therapy – the Lee Silverman Voice Technique – to train him to be louder, he said.
Miller, who is receiving pastoral training from Rushton, said it's incredible what Rushton goes through to deliver a message. During preparation he has to redo his thoughts, and for a while he had to use voice-recognition software because he couldn't write, Miller said.
"You can tell he's dedicated to seeing the people hear the word of God," Miller said.
Rushton said he is less affected by Parkinson's now than at the beginning. For example, he has learned his pills are as useful as a gumball if he doesn't also ingest caffeine and, later, food.
Because Rushton doesn't know how the disease will affect him in the future, he said he has opted for a "reverse retirement:" doing activities now – such as vacations, dancing and zip lining – that he might not be able to do later.
He also worries about what life will be like for his wife.
"I think I have the best woman I could possibly have to be with me," he said.
No matter what comes in life, Carol Rushton said God is there to lead. She and her husband hang on to the verse Jeremiah 29:11: "'For I know the plans I have for you,' declares the Lord, 'plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.' "


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In a new post to his site Tom Butler gives some reasoning as to why he thinks PSR-0 is shortsighted and some examples of a possible better alternative.
A little background for those unaware of what PSR-0 is: There's a self-declared PHP "standards" group called PHP-FIG attempting to push several "standards" throughout the PHP community. [...] I have little interest in debating the politics behind pushing standards or whether small groups of developers trying to make decisions that affect the entire community is good or not, but I do object to the PSR-0 standard itself. My issues are purely practical, PSR-0 reduces flexibility and makes life more difficult for developers
While he likes the idea of a standard way to be able to include third-party libraries that can be reused in multiple systems, he suggests that it answers the wrong question. In his view, it should be up to the library/tool developers to ensure the structure of their code to work with a standard, not the other way around. He points out that a "standard" is something that should apply to all situations and some of the workarounds that are needed for PSR-0 negate this idea.
In his alternative method, he suggests an "Autloadable" interface that can be implemented by the library/tool that includes a "load" method to handle the actual class loading. Then this autoloader would be registered via a json configuration file for the package. This allows the developer to control the loading and place any exceptions they might need into their own logic instead of trying to work around possible issues with the PSR-0 loading scheme.
PSR-0 is a bad solution to a good problem. If you take anything from reading this post, remember this: If the standard defined how autoloaders could be extended, rather than how autoloaders worked, then each library or vendor could provide its own extension to the autoloader and everyone would be happy.

subset: commoncrawl


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Meet the Mayoral Candidates: Should Boston's school day be extended?
Should Boston Public Schools have longer days? The question often comes up in discussions about improving city schools. Some say extended school time -- for instruction or enrichment -- is a key reason Boston's charter schools outperform its traditional schools on test scores. But some advocates warn that longer days are no panacea. And extended days have been notoriously hard to implement: A proposal to stretch the day by 45 minutes was a major sticking point in last year's teacher contract negotiations, and the School Department eventually dropped the demand.
This week, we asked Boston's mayoral candidates if they'd work to extend the school day in Boston -- and if so, how. Here's what they said. Add your thoughts to the comments, or tweet at the hashtag #bosmayor.
Charlotte Golar Richie, @Charlotte4Mayor
Former state representative
Yes. We want a longer school day and a longer school year! Kids in Boston don't have to go home to tend to the crops, as my students did in Kenya! We need our students at school, making sure they understand the lessons of the day, and receiving any help they need w/homework. Longer school days will provide students with opportunities to improve their math and reading comprehension skills, as well as their test-taking skills, so they'll be prepared for the MCAS. Also, we want our students in enrichment programs: art, music and athletics; and we want them to learn a second language. Finally, a longer school day would afford older students with the chance to plan for and apply to college and other post-secondary school programs.
Dan Conley, @DanFConley
Suffolk District Attorney
It should be extended. Obviously, achieving a breakthrough with the Boston Teacher's Union would be desirable and something I will strive for, but short of that there are other ways to extend the school day. Lifting the charter school cap will give parents more options to choose from public charter schools that typically offer longer school days. By extending turnaround powers to level 3 schools, which comprise nearly half the schools in the system, those schools would also have the ability to extend their school days. Partnering with area non-profits that offer important educational enrichment opportunities like arts and music is another way of creatively extending school days for parents and children. Ultimately, we need a system that gives genuine autonomy to schools so that parents, principals and teachers are working together and making meaningful decisions about their children's education.
John Connolly, @JohnRConnolly
Boston City Councilor
Yes. Currently, Boston's school day is one of the shortest in the nation. As a former teacher and current BPS parent, I believe that we must lengthen the school day to guarantee every student regular art, science, music, and physical education. As Chair of the City Council's Education Committee, I held hearings on the Boston Teachers Union contract where families and students called for extending the school day. When the contract did not include a single additional minute of instruction, I was the only Councilor who voted against it. As mayor, I will negotiate a contract that extends the school day and pays our teachers well. During BPS budget reviews, I advocated for creative partnerships to extend learning time. We must use every strategy available to us, including Innovation status and partnerships with organizations like Citizen Schools, City Year, and local universities, to get our kids the education they deserve.
Felix Arroyo, @FelixArroyo
Boston City Councilor
All of our children deserve a first class education because they are first class students. We must invest in our public schools, ensure that our curriculum is reflective of today's world, and provide our teachers with the resources they need so that they can focus on teaching and our students can focus on learning. I believe that school should be extended for all of our students so they have access to arts, theatre, music and dance as well as physical education and sports. Extended learning time will help us make sure every child has access to a quality education.
Mike Ross, @MikeforBoston
Boston City Councilor
Bill Walczak, @BillWalczak
Community leader
The school day must be extended for Boston Public School students, though extended time must be used appropriately to ensure its effectiveness in achieving greater success for students. At Codman Academy, extended school time allows for students to participate in arts, programming, and expeditionary learning activities, leading to stronger performance. Every graduate of Codman Academy has gone on to attend a 4-year college or university. In order to accomplish this, we need a mayor with experience negotiating with unions, which I have. We also need a mayor who can bring people together to accomplish difficult tasks. There is no doubt that the teacher's union, lawmakers, parents, and the school committee all have the best interest of students in mind. Everybody wants to be part of a success story and I'm confident that there is common ground to be found that allows us extended learning time in our public schools.
John Barros, @JohnFBarros
Former school board member
We need a citywide learning system in Boston which extends the school day, but also extends learning opportunities outside of schools that equally focuses on academic proficiency as well as socio-emotional development, arts, music and character building. We extend learning time through greater scheduling flexibility that stagger the work day for teachers and building school-community partnerships with non-profits, businesses, and higher learning institutions to create shared accountability and goals.
Marty Walsh, @Marty_Walsh
State Representative
The claim has been made that Boston has the shortest school day in the country. This is not correct. The day for Boston elementary schools is 6.5 hours, the Massachusetts state average. The national average is 6.7 hours, 12 minutes more than our elementary schools. Our middle and high schools have a 20 minute longer day, above the national average. However, we can all agree that more instruction time is better. And this issue must be addressed right away. As Mayor, I would pledge to immediately work with the superintendent and BTU to revisit the contract that failed to result in a longer day. There needs to be academic and non-academic after-school programs to provide wrap-around services for all our students. There are some solutions like City Year, Bell Foundation and arts programs that are great options. This issue is critical to our children's ability to compete. Therefore, we have an obligation to go back to the table with the union and reach agreement about the length of the day.
The author is solely responsible for the content.
About Boston.comment
Boston.comment is an exchange for ideas about Boston and beyond, brought to you by the Boston Globe editorial page and edited by Globe columnist Joanna Weiss. We're the sponsor of Boston.com's #LabDebates and the creator of the Choose Your Own Adventure mayoral game.
Our producer is Alex Pearlman, with contributions (and sea monsters) from Noah Guiney. To join the conversation, post a comment, tweet with our daily hashtag, or follow us on Twitter @BostonComment.
A note on comments: Be honest, be open, be polite. And be warned: Personal attacks will be removed.
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The Dynamics of Faith and Receiving from God
Jeremiah Burroughs:
All good is in God, true, but how shall we come to partake of that good? There is such a distance between you and God that, were not Christ in the middle, you would never come together.
But Christ has come between and joined you together so that all is yours because you are Christ's and Christ is God's. Think of God as the Fountain of all good, and Christ, as it were, the Cistern, and from Him are pipes converged to every believer. Faith sucks at the mouth of every pipe and draws from God, but it comes from God through Christ.
The Father fills the Son with all good and so it comes from the Father, through the Son, by faith unto the soul of every believer.
Excerpted from Christ Is All In All.
Recent posts from "They Still Speak" —
- Do You Know This Confidence? (John Newton)
- Puritan Advice on Discovering God's Will (John Flavel)
- Three Things Jesus Prays for Us (Thomas Watson)


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Healthcare Practitioners
Brian Johnson, MD
Current Appointments
- Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
- Professor of Anesthesiology
- Director of Addiction Medicine
Hospital Campus
- Downtown
Clinical Section Affiliations
- Anesthesiology: Pain Treatment
Research Programs and Affiliations
- Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences
Featured Video
Education & Fellowships
- Residency: Cambridge Hospital, 1981, Psychiatry
- Residency: Metropolitan Hospital Center, 1977, Medicine
- Internship: Harlem Hospital, 1976
- MD: New York Medical College, 1976
- BS: Columbia University, 1972
Research Interests
The goal of Dr. Johnson's research is to understand how opioids exert their effects by addressing clinical challenges that appear unrelated but are unified by an innovative theory. We propose a theory that unifies the nature of these disorders by assuming that each involves a dysregulation of the opioid system based on data suggesting that opioid dependence and fibromyalgia are associated with low opioid tone whereas autism is associated with high opioid tone. Our first challenge, therefore, is to create and validate a treatment for opioid dependence that corrects persistent hormonal changes after detoxification. Our second challenge is to treat fibromyalgia. Our third challenge is to assess whether autism is a disease of too-high opioid tone by blocking excess opioid stimulation to treat the symptoms. Opioid dependence, fibromyalgia, and autism are three disorders that cause much distress and disability but are difficult to treat. We test our theory by treating opioid dependence and fibromyalgia with low-dose naltrexone and autism with high-dose naltrexone. Our theory suggests a novel approach that could improve the quality of life of patients suffering from these debilitating disorders.
Clinical Trials
- International Naturalistic Cohort Study of ADHD and Substance Use Disorders (INCAS): clinical characteristics, treatment, and outcome
Read more
- Outcomes of Autism Treatment Using Naltrexone
Read more
Specialties & Certification
- Psychiatry
- Addiction Medicine
- Psychiatry and Neurology
- Addiction Psychiatry
Diseases & Conditions Treated
- Alcohol Abuse
- Alcohol Use Disorder
- Fibromyalgia
- Opioid Induced Hyperalgesia
- Opioid Use Disorder
- Opioid Withdrawal
- Prescription Drug Abuse
- Tobacco, Benzodiazepine, Cocaine and Amphetamine Use Disorder
- Adults and Children
- Alcohol Detoxification
- Benzodiazepine Detoxification
- Diagnostic Assessment
- Individual Psychotherapy
- Opioid Detoxification
- Outpatient Detoxification
- Pain Control
- Pain Management for Chronic Illness
- Psychodynamic Psychotherapy
- Psychopharmacology
- Onondaga County Medical Society, President
Current Hospital Privileges
- Upstate University Hospital
HealthLink on Air Radio Interview
- 3/30/18 Outpatient detox helps the addicted to get off opioid drugs
- 7/27/16 Unique approach to opioid addiction treats the whole person
Web Resources
Link to PubMed (Opens new window. Close the PubMed window to return to this page.)
Research Abstract
Ramanathan, S., Panksepp, J., Johnson, B. Is fibromyalgia an endocrine/endorphin deficit disorder? - Is low dose naltrexone a new treatment option? Psychosomatics, April 3, 2012
Johnson, B. Psychoanalytic treatment of psychological addiction to alcohol (alcohol abuse). Frontiers in Psychology 2011;2:article 362
Johnson, B. The Psychoanalysis of a Man With Heroin Dependence; Implications for Neurobiological Theories of Attachment and Drug Craving. Neuropsychoanalysis 2010;12:207-15.
Johnson, B. A 'neuropsychoanalytic' treatment of a patient with cocaine dependence. Neuropsychoanalysis 2009;11:151-67.
Streltzer, J., Zigler, P., Johnson, B. Cautionary guidelines for the use of opioids in chronic pain, American Journal on Addiction 2009;18:1-4.
Johnson, B. Just what lies beyond the pleasure principle? Neuropsychoanalysis 2008;10:201-12.
Johnson, B., Bursztajn, H. J., Paul, R., Coletsos, I. Reducing the risk of addiction to prescribed medications. Psychiatric Times 2007; 24, #5:35-8.
Johnson, B. Commentary on Simon Boag's "Freudian dream theory, dream bizarreness and the disguise-censor controversy." Neuro-Psychoanalysis 2006; 8:33-40
Jones, D.S., Krotick, S., Johnson, B., Morrison, A.P. Clinical challenge: Waiting for rescue, an attorney who will not advocate for himself. Harvard Review of Psychiatry 2005:13;344-56.
Johnson, B. Psychological addiction, physical addiction, addictive character, addictive personality disorder: a new nosology of addiction. Canadian Journal of Psychoanalysis 2003;11:135-160.
Johnson, B. A Neuropsychoanalytic approach to addiction. Neuro-Psychoanalysis 2003;5:29-34.
Johnson, B. Drug dreams: a neuropsychoanalytic hypothesis. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 2001;49:75-96.
Longo, L., Parran, T., Johnson, B., Kinsey, W. Addiction: Part 2. Identification and management of the drug-seeking patient. American Family Physician 2000;61:2401-8.
Longo, L., Johnson, B. Addiction: Part 1. Benzodiazepines - side effects, abuse risks and alternatives. American Family Physician 2000;61:2121-8.
Johnson, B. Three perspectives on addiction. Journal of the American Psychoanalytic Association 1999;47:791-815.
Longo, L., Johnson, B. Treatment of insomnia in substance abusing patients. Psychiatric Annals 1998;28:154-9.
Johnson, B., Longo, L. Considerations in the physician's decision to prescribe benzodiazepines to patients with addiction. Psychiatric Annals 1998;28:154-9.
Johnson, B. The mechanism of codependence in the prescription of benzodiazepines to patients with addiction. Psychiatric Annals 1998;28:166-71.
Book Chapter:
"Drugs of Abuse, Sleep and the Quality of Life," in J.C. Verster, S.R. Pandi-Perumal, D.L. Streiner, eds. Sleep and the Quality of Life, Humana Press 2008
"Depression and Addiction," in T.L. Schwartz, T.J. Petersen, eds. Depression: Treatment Strategies and Management, Second Edition, NY: Taylor & Francis 2009.
"Drug Abuse, Dreams and Nightmares," in J.C. Verster, K. Brady, M. Galanter, P. Conrad, eds. Drug Abuse and Addiction in Medical Illness, New York:Springer 2012.
Widespread Zombification in the 21st Century and the Wars of the Zombie Masters. Syracuse:Gegensatz Press. 2009. (A neuropsychoanalytic textbook on addiction written at a 6th grade reading level.)
Faculty Profile Shortcut: http://www.upstate.edu/faculty/johnsonb


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Legislative leaders have said they hope to wrap up budget and tax talks by the end of this month or in early July.
The state House and Senate have passed a stop-gap budget measure to keep state government afloat while budget negotiations continue. Meanwhile, some male legislators are growing out beards until a deal is reached. It'll be interesting to see how long they get, though legislative leaders have said they hope to wrap up budget and tax talks by the end of this month or in early July.
Other committees handling non-revenue bills are scheduled to shut down next week, so it appears the end of the legislative session is nearing.
Here's a look at some issues of local interest:
With state funding for shallow draft inlet funding drying up, what's in store in the state budget for these projects?
The Senate's budget proposal would divert roughly $2.2 million in the next two fiscal years from the Highway Fund to the Shallow Draft Navigation Channel Dredging Fund. That would reflect a credit of one-sixth of one percent of motor fuel tax revenue going to inlet dredging. Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, also included in the budget his efforts to raise boat registration fees to generate a pot of about $6 million that local governments could pull from with a $1 for $1 match. Neither the House budget nor Gov. Pat McCrory's budget included this program, so it's another sticking point for negotiations this week.
Are ferry tolls set to increase July 1?
Tolls will not increase July 1 as previously scheduled. Some freshman lawmakers from the coast and elsewhere sought alternatives to ferry tolling increases and additions such as advertising on ferries and selling naming rights, but that hasn't moved.
The House and Senate plan keep tolls as they are currently, i.e. those that are being tolled remain at the same price and those without tolls do not see additions. A stop-gap budget measure passed this week extends that plan for one month.
As negotiations on the budget continue between the House and Senate this week, ferry tolls remain a wait-and-see item. Tim Hass, the N.C. Department of Transportation's ferry division information officer, said the agency is "standing by for the legislature to give us its final decision on tolling." He said the soonest tolling increases could go into effect is November 1, "but that, again, is up to lawmakers in Raleigh."
Will local museums be fully funded?
While the governor's budget proposal called for cutting funding to the Grassroots Science Museums, the House and Senate budget proposals keep funding intact.
McCrory's budget would cut funding for the Grassroots Science Museums fund, which supports local museums, by 25 percent in the upcoming fiscal year's budget, which begins July 1, and by 27 percent the following year, said Steve Saucier, executive director of Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative. While the House budget does not propose such a bruising cut, Jordan Shaw, spokesman for House Speaker Thom Tillis, said local museums are encouraged to "seek funding elsewhere for the future."
Will Cape Fear Community College's Marine Technology Program be cut this year?
The Marine Technology Program is often considered for cuts, but things are looking up for Cape Fear Community College's popular program. The governor's budget proposed cutting the program by half, but funding was fully restored in both the House and Senate budget proposals.
"I don't think it's going to be an issue. It's not done until it's over, but we're feeling pretty good right now," said David Hardin, spokesman for Cape Fear Community College.
Community colleges overall fare better in the Senate's proposal. For example, Cape Fear Community College faces a half million-dollar cut under the Senate proposal, compared to $900,000 under the House's. Both the House and Senate budgets propose raising community college tuition by $2.50 a credit hour.
Victims of eugenics:
Both the governor and House leaders propose spending $10 million to pay victims of the state's decades-old involuntary sterilization program. Senate leaders do not agree with spending the money.
Metro desk: 343-2389
On Twitter: @StarNewsMolly


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The Southwest: Zion And Canyon De Chelly
series: Art Wolfe's Travels To The Edge
air date: 6/02/13 8:00 AM
The American Southwest is a geological time machine. Its bizarre and beautiful rock formations are the result of eons of erosion. In Utah's Zion National Park, Art explores surreal slot canyons carved from wind and water and encounters the strange rock spires-hoodoos-that punctuate the landscape like giant exclamation points. In Arizona's Canyon de Chelly, he goes by horseback with a Navajo guide to discover petroglyphs hidden in tribal lands. With its brilliant light, red desert rock, cobalt blue skies, golden cotton woods and white-barked Aspens, the American Southwest is a photographer's playground.
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text: TN East TN Heating Bills Expected To Spike With Cold Temps By Matt Shafer Powell • Jan 29, 2014 dutil.com With January heating bills showing up in mailboxes soon, East Tennesseans may want to prepare themselves for an unpleasant surprise. In Oak Ridge, City Electric Director Jack Suggs says bills for those residents who use electric sources like heat pumps could jump 30 to 40 percent from their December bills. And December bills were substantially higher than November's. "People do need to be bracing themselves a little bit for sticker shock," Suggs tells WUOT News, "and they need to be thinking about putting a little extra aside."


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Henry Louis Gates Jr. is perhaps best known for his research tracing the family and genetic history of famous African Americans. A selection of his writings on race, politics and culture appear in The Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Reader. Originally broadcast May 8, 2012.
Henry Louis Gates Jr.: A Life Spent Tracing Roots
By editor • Jul 3, 2012


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Credit Suisses Raises Cemex TP $15.2, Buy On Sell-Off Weakness?
As growth momentum in the US continues and Mexico has turned the corner, Credit Suisse upgraded its price target for Cemex (CX) from $11.54 to $15.2.
Here are analysts Vanessa Quiroga, Santiago Perez Teuffer, Maria Madrazo and Nicole Hirakawa:
In 2013 Cemex proved that its pricing strategy in the U.S. can be successful; out of the 5% price increase it obtained in ready-mix, one-third came from surcharges. Pricing and volume growth drove Cemex USA's impressive Ebitda margin expansion from 1.4% to 7.6%. Our forecasts for year 2014 onwards part from the operating leverage Cemex USA achieved last year; we don't assume pricing above inflation nor additional cost savings strategies and yet we have Cemex USA's Ebitda almost doubling by year 2016.
Not everybody believes Mexico's construction sector will deliver growth in 2014, but we do: In our view, it is Cemex's new recovery story. We have seen housing starts stabilize, commercial and industrial construction are reacting to manufacturing growth, lodging companies are starting investments in energyrich regions, foreign oil operators are installing new offices, and infrastructure activity apparently grew in December. These are indications that lead us to believe Cemex Mexico's Ebitda can grow 15% p.a. over the next three years.
Indeed, there are macro data showing that Mexico is turning the corner. For example, retail sales is seen to be rising at least 1.7% this year, from barely rising at all in 2013.
But shares of Cemex slumped 3.5% anyhow, because of the emerging markets sell-off today. One may argue this is not fair. Mexican peso was sold off by day traders, not because of weak fundamentals.
Analysts like the Cemex turn-around story. Morgan Stanley, Citi, to name a few, recently upgraded their price targets. If you have the stomach for volatility, perhaps it is time to accrue on weakness?


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I have been doing quite a bit of homeworks on studio light Vs Speedlites. After getting ton of WONDERFULL advices & feedbacks from CR members, I decided to go with Speedlites. I recently got this package for $1650:1. Canon Speedlite 600EX-RT, QTY: 32. Canon ST-E3-RT Transmitter, QTY:13. Some Westcott umbrellas & softboxesI also bought this Westscott combo: Triple Threat Real Deal Review
I didn't see your other post asking about speedlites vs monolights, but to answer your questions on this post see below:1) The Godox monolights you mentioned do seem like affordable studio lights, but from my experience with speedlites and monolights is that you essentially get what you pay for. I recommend doing your research on this brand and see if there are other reviews online. Key things I'd be paying attention to are issues with accurate color temperature, consistency in firing the flash for every shutter release, any issues with overheating, and the quality of the brackets for attaching them to a light stand. If all checks out, then I'd say go for them.2) Another thing to consider with any monolight brand is the cost of their accessories. Some brands require a proprietary speed ring to attach proprietary light modifiers and reflectors. Also check to see their pricing on umbrellas, softboxes, and other modifiers is reasonable. Most of the big brands have speed rings that can fit standard light modifiers from other brands.3) Once you've decided on what monolight you want to purchase, the next thing is to buy some decent light stands. Some brands sell their lights in kits that include them, but the stands are usually low quality and are flimsy. You're probably gonna ask what makes a good light stand? IMO, one that can support 5 times the weight of the monolight and have the ability to be weighed down by sand bags to provided added stability. Look for stands that can extend to at least 7 feet so they give you more flexibility on positioning the light on the subject.Alternatives:1) If you live in the US or Canada, then Paul C Buff's Alienbee monolights are great for beginners. They're reasonably priced and their accessories are more affordable compared to big brands like Profoto, Broncolor and Westscott. Only problem is they do charge a bit much for shipping.2) Elinchrom's D-light Rx system is also relatively affordable. You can find a kit with 2 400w/s monolights, stands and softboxes for around $850 from B&H or Adorama.


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Published: 2014/02/07
Mike Gordon's Tiny Little World
Photo by Rene Huemer
Mike Gordon has always loved lists. From archiving his favorite jams to choosing the names of potential Phish festivals, the bassist has consistently been hyper-organized when it comes to documenting his creative process. So it is no surprise that each of Gordon's solo albums has honed in on a very specific style and technique. His latest effort Overstep centers on Gordon's longtime working relationship with Max Creek guitarist Scott Scott Murawski. The album is the culmination of, in Gordon's words, an over three-decade "bromance."
Max Creek were one of the first bands to expose Gordon to the New England jamband scene and Murawski had a profound influence on the young musician's style and technique. (Gordon famously tricked Phish into playing Max Creek's "Back Porch Boogie Blues" in the 1980s by telling the rest of the band it was his song.) After a series of sit-ins and jam sessions in the '90s and early '00s, Gordon brought Murawski on the road in 2003 in support of Inside In, the companion piece to the film Outside Out. Murawski was Gordon's first call when he put together a solo band in 2008 and has remained a steady member of his group ever since.
For Overstep, Gordon and Murawski spent several years co-writing a new batch of songs and then, laid those tracks down with the help of former Pearl Jam drummer Matthew Chamberlain and noted alt-rock producer Paul Q. Kolderie. A true collaborative effort, all of the songs on Overstep were co-written, and Murawski actually sings lead vocals on a few tunes. Gordon finished work on Overstep in 2013, shortly before Phish returned to the studio in Nashville, TN with producer Bob Erzin to work on the songs they debuted on Halloween as part of Wingsuit (two of those songs stemmed from the same songwriting sessions as Overstep ). Below, Gordon walks us through his creative process and his recent studio sessions.
Each of your solo albums have centered around a very specific and very different creative process. Overstep, in particular, seems based around your writing and working relationship with Max Creek guitarist Scott Murawski, who is also a longtime member of your solo band. Did you originally set out to write a full album of songs with Scott?
It kind of started with the feeling of just enjoying Scott's company. I had this little epiphany when I was having one of my artist's dates for The Artist's Way [art collective] in St. Albans, Vermont where I never go otherwise. It's an interesting town pretty far from here—about 45 minutes outside Burlington, Vt. It's just a little bit north of us, and it's an old military base with statues and this large green space. I was walking around there, and I just pictured Scott and I somewhere in New England in some little, empty cabin with no fridge and just a desk and some guitars. It would be very spare in the middle of nowhere, and we can just concentrate on jamming and coming up with just fun things.
Some people have such a hard time with songwriting, and I've certainly gone through dry phases like anyone else. There's a Jerry Garcia quote where he says he'd rather be reading the VCR manual or feeding the cat than working on a song. And I've felt that before but this ended up being the exact opposite. I had this feeling like, "I don't even care what we end up with, I just like hanging out with this guy," as bromance-y as it sounds. It was more about imagining us hunkering down with no pressure and just having fun and seeing what happens. And the vision was multipart, too. I think I was imagining having a stage filled with mirrors for our band to play in front of [Laughter.] So that was kind of the vision and then, we started having these writing sessions. They were really fun but they were also hard. But whenever I was driving to work with Scott I had this feeling like I'm the king of the world because I'm doing something I want to do.
I remember the first time I drove down to Sunapee, New Hampshire to meet Scott. It was snowing and for the first time in a long time I didn't listen to any music, and I didn't make any phone calls on my drive. I usually listen to my hotline messages but this time I did nothing. I just drove down and kept thinking—it was like a meditation and I was just so excited. It was like taking a jet pack down to Sunapee, which eventually was going to be the album title, Jet Pack.
Do you think you will end up incorporating mirrors in your live show?
That was originally going to be part of the idea when we took it to the road. There would be mirrors everywhere. We have great stuff [for the live show] but I don't think we have mirrors.
How close to your original vision did your songwriting sessions end up being?
When we first got there we didn't know what the hell to do. We didn't know how to put our ideas together, and every time I felt the same thing happening. We would get together, and it would seem so fun and then, we would be there and we would be going a little crazy figuring out how to get our ideas organized. Then, when I left and I had this feeling like we hadn't done too much and when we drove away and listened to the demos we made, and I realized we had done just as much as we set out to do. It's just a funny cycle like that. I would actually say it was kind of an epiphany that I need to get together and write with this guy mainly because it would be fun.
You ended up writing more songs than can fit on a single album but at what point in the writing process over the past few years did you feel like you had enough material for a unified album?
We took our time because we didn't want to rush it and there were different phases. Sometimes we weren't working so much and other times when I was off from Phish tour we were working every afternoon. At a certain point we realized we had eight good songs, and we went in one five day stretch to North Adams, Massachusetts and came up with eight more which we hadn't expected. And of those eight more I only thought there were three good ones but they all ended up being great and pretty much are all on the album. Not all of them but most of them. There's some extra tracks too that we haven't decided what to do with.
Eventually you brought in Paul Q. Kolderie, who has worked with Radiohead, Uncle Tupelo, Pixies and Portugal. The Man, but was something of a wild-card choice for you. How did you land on him as your producer and what were his initial impressions of all these songs you had stockpiled with Scott?
We went through some interesting phases. The first phase was that someone recommended we work with David Fridmann, who does all The Flaming Lips records. It's a very distinctive, peculiar, interesting lo-fi recording style and it was really tweaking my brain. I was driving around listening to everything David Fridmann had done because, in some ways, he was the perfect guy and, in other ways, he was not the perfect guy, and I had no idea whether he would work with us or even had time. But it just didn't fit. The ideas didn't fit regardless of whether he would have done it. Then we met a couple producers, and we talked through some long lists of questions. I tend to generate long lists of ideas and there were a lot of people that didn't quite fit but that were great. I thought about Joe Henry who did Bonnie Raitt's last album and a lot of other albums. He's great, and he's a songwriter but maybe kind of not quirky enough. He might not have understood the humor in it as much. It just might not have been the perfect fit.
Then there were two guys we met and both were great, but with Paul it just kind of felt like he was into what we already had done in terms of some of the things that were making it a little unpredictable sounding. He's a real philosophical guy and we just kind of sat around and had these long conversations and it just felt good. He also does everything himself: he engineers, produces, assists, fixes your guitar amp and etcetera. And he had lived only a few miles from New England so that kind of felt like this was a whole New England conceived project. I really liked that he was able to dart through the hills and meet us here and meet us there. That just felt right, too. I like the idea of making something that is 'of the region,' the hills of New England. Even meeting Scott [years ago], I would sort of drive around and see Max Creek in some old barn in the middle of Western Massachusetts. Our whole friendship has been sort of New England based so to get Paul, who is from the same turf, felt sort of right too.


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SPRINGFIELD, Mo. (AP) — The owners of a southwest Missouri trucking company have been convicted in a conspiracy that defrauded boat maker Tracker Marine of at least $924,000.
A federal judge on Wednesday found James Keith Ivey and his wife, Melinda Kay Ivey, guilty on numerous counts including fraud and money laundering.
The Iveys owned J&M Trucking, in Lebanon, Mo. The company made deliveries for Springfield-based Tracker Marine, which sells boats and trailers throughout North America.
Prosecutors say Tracker employee Paul Ray Hunting worked with the Iveys to submit hundreds of inflated invoices to the company by adding 158 miles to each delivery. The couple and Hunting shared the proceeds of the fraud, with Hunting receiving nearly $266,000 over three years.
Hunting now lives in California. He pleaded guilty to the scheme earlier.
(© Copyright 2012 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)


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c.1200, "piece of statuary; artificial representation that looks like a person or thing," from Old French image "image, likeness; figure, drawing, portrait; reflection; statue," earlier imagene (11c.), from Latin imaginem (nominative imago) "copy, statue, picture," figuratively "idea, appearance," from stem of imitari "to copy, imitate" (see imitation).
Meaning "reflection in a mirror" is early 14c. The mental sense was in Latin, and appears in English late 14c. Sense of "public impression" is attested in isolated cases from 1908 but not in common use until its rise in the jargon of advertising and public relations, c.1958.
late 14c., "to form a mental picture," from Old French imagier, from image (see image (n.)). Related: Imaged; imaging.
image im·age (ĭm'ĭj)
An optically formed duplicate or other representative reproduction of an object, especially an optical reproduction of an object formed by a lens or mirror.
A mental picture of something not real or present.
An exact copy of data in a computer file transferred to another medium.
To make or produce a likeness of.
To picture something mentally; imagine.
To translate photographs or other pictures by computer into numbers that can be transmitted to a remote location and then reconverted into pictures by another computer.
To visualize something, as by magnetic resonance imaging.


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2012 Nissan Leaf SL. Click image to enlarge
|Related Articles:
Test Drive: 2012 Nissan Leaf SL
Test Drive: 2012 Mitsubishi i-MiEV
First Drive: 2012 Ford Focus Electric
Feature: AJAC Eco-Run, Part II: The Vehicles
Manufacturer's website
Originally published on June 27, 2012
Review and photos by Mike Schlee
Photo Gallery:
2012 Nissan Leaf
If you have a passing interest in automobiles, you have probably heard about the all-electric Nissan Leaf by now. We have covered the vehicle a few times ourselves here at Autos.ca. So why are we back in one? Well, I personally haven't had the chance to spend time behind the wheel of a Leaf, but have spent a lot of time behind the wheel of its most direct competitor, the Mitsubishi i-MiEV. Since the Leaf has already been covered on these pages in the past, I am not going to get too deep into the details of how it works and instead focus more on how it is to drive.
2012 Nissan Leaf SL. Click image to enlarge
Still in its inaugural model year, the Nissan Leaf is a zero emissions vehicle that runs purely on electric power. Powering the Leaf is an 80-kW AC synchronous electric motor that may only put out a paltry 107 hp but has a stump pulling 207 lb-ft of torque right from idle. Even at a hefty-for-its-size 1,594 kg curb weight, the Leaf will chirp the front tires from a dead stop thanks to the torquey motor (assuming traction control is disengaged). The engine continues to pull with decent power all the way up to highway speeds.
The throttle response can be manipulated in the Leaf to improve overall efficiency and range. Move the drive selector to the left, then down, and the vehicle enters D for Drive mode. Move it over the left and down once more and the vehicle enters Eco mode. The big difference is in the throttle response between Eco and Drive. In Drive, attaining and sustaining highway speeds is very easy, while in Eco mode, it is not and requires constant throttle input. When accelerating up to speed, a noticeable high-pitch whine starts to emanate from either the electric engine or the transmission around 80 km/h or so. At higher speeds though, tire and wind noise overpower it and the sound fades into the background.
2012 Nissan Leaf SL. Click image to enlarge
Driving the Leaf is like driving any other subcompact car, minus the usual engine noise and added sound effects to warn pedestrians of your approach. This is a good thing as Nissan has succeeded in making something as groundbreaking as an all-electric car while still making it familiar enough for the general public to accept it. In corners, the Leaf even handles alright, but the 205/55R16 tires are quick to give up grip due to their fuel economy–focused compound and tread pattern. With no engine noise to speak of, I could hear exactly how hard I was pushing the tires as they started losing grip with a different faint, high-pitch whine that eventually builds up to full-on wail.
As with most EVs and hybrids, the Leaf features regenerative brakes that generate electricity during off-throttle coasting and braking. To assist in stopping the Leaf, electronic brake force distribution and brake assist are standard. Although usually strong, twice while driving the Leaf I noticed a strange brake hiccup that reduced the amount of braking I had applied for a fraction of a second. It wasn't serious, nor did it put me in danger of hitting anything, but it was a bit unnerving at first.
Since the Leaf is an electric vehicle, the big question is, as always, how far does it go on a single charge? I received the Leaf partially charged Monday afternoon and drove it home to immediately charge it up. When I returned the next morning, the Leaf was fully charged and displayed an unrealistic range of 181 km to empty. After driving 41 km to work, the Leaf now displayed a more accurate range of 91 km to empty. This was how my week with the Leaf went; I averaged 80-85 km of driving a day and would get home with roughly 45 km of range left. My commute consists of equal parts city driving, highway driving, and rush-hour crawling. Charging the Leaf from empty with a 220V charger will take roughly 7 hours, or 16 hours with a standard 110V household outlet charger like I used. I never had the Leaf drained to empty though, and 12-13 hours charging seemed fine to get it back to full from three-quarters empty.


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Down Four Starters, the Phillies Rise Above Both the DBacks & the Rain
The Phillies began the game against the Diamondbacks last night without four of their starting players. After pleading his three game suspension down to two games, Shane Victorino began that suspension last night. And then Ryan Howard sat out with a sore hand and Carlos Ruiz was benched with a sore groin. And of course, Placido Polanco is on the DL.
But the lack of star power in the line-up had little effect on this Phillies team, which is strong from top to bottom. Rookie Vance Worley started the game and pitched three very solid innings before the rain began. He did not allow a run and gave up only one hit.
The offense gave Worley support early, scoring one run on a Wilson Valdez double in the 2nd. Then in the 3rd, John Mayberry Jr. came up big again with a monster 2-run homer. It was Mayberry's 10th homer of the year, which in limited at-bats, is very impressive.
Then suddenly the skies opened up and flooded the stadium as the grounds crew rushed to cover the field. What appeared might be a short, 30 minute rain delay turned into two and a half hours.
By that time, Worley could not go back out and pitch so David Herndon took over. Herndon has been given a lot of grief from the fans this year after he got off to a rocky start. But in his last 22 games going back to May, Herndon is pitching at a 2.00 ERA. He figured out why he was having issues in April and made the adjustment.
In this game against the D-Backs, Herndon pitched three scoreless innings, allowing only one hit. In the 5th inning, he struck out the side. Herndon has really improved his game. Michael Stutes, on the other hand, is watching the scales slowly tip downward and out of his favor.
Stutes gets all the praise because he got off to a very good start, unlike Herndon. Plus it does not hurt that he is adorable, right ladies? So Stutes has gotten a pass in situations that Herndon has not.
But last night Stutes was visibly upset after allowing a home run in the 8th inning to the first batter. Charlie Manuel was seen in the dugout consoling Stutes, patting him on the back as he held his head in his hands in defeat.
Why is Stutes so upset after a solo homer? Because he too recognizes that things are beginning to go downhill for him. In his last 12 games, Stutes is pitching at an ERA of 5.17. His ERA has risen every month since ending May with a 2.38 ERA. His total ERA is now up to 3.40.
Stutes, like a lot of rookies in the same position, is starting to struggle. It could be a combination of many factors like a lack of experience, teams knowing better what to expect from him and being slightly overworked. Stutes has pitched a lot and, especially for a rookie, this can take its toll.
Hopefully for Stutes, he can make an adjustment and work his way back, like Herndon has done. But in the meantime, he may spend a lot of time being frustrated until he figures it out.
The one run Stutes allowed was the only run of the night for the D-Backs and the Phillies went on to win by a 4-1 score. The Phillies, still holding the best record in baseball, became the first team to reach 80 wins on the season.
And the reason why the Phillies continue to have success is simple. Like I mentioned earlier, they are solid in every aspect of the game. More importantly, role players like Mayberry, Valdez and Herndon, continue to come through in big situations. So even with four starters out and a rookie pitcher, they continue to win.
It is a good time to be a Phillies fan.
The Nationals are up next; game time tonight is 7:05pm with Roy Oswalt pitching.
"LIKE" us on Facebook for more updates & photos!
Photo by Jenn Zambri Photography
*Read more about the Phillies at my other home page, Phightin' Phils Phorum in the MTR Media network*


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If you like cats, want to get to know my cats, want some cat tips, find funny cat videos and cat photos hop over to Cats That Blog which is new, and a work in progress!
I've had the domain for a long long time and have only now had the chance to work on it. Kitty demands you to go and take a look!
Looking for contributors for my various blogs – will post on this soon. And excuse the (half) naked man behind kitteh – ahem.
Meow Meow!


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A mistrial has been declared in a Jury trial for a man that has been charged with over fifty different charges.
21 year old Kyle Bang was in court Tuesday
for the beginning of a jury trial that would decide his guilt or innocence.
But problems with jury selection arose,
stopping the trial in its tracks.
What was supposed to be a nine day trial,
came to an abrupt halt Tuesday
during the jury selection process.
There were a couple jurors that did know the defendant Kyle Bang
and during questioning,
they had made comments about Bang and their negative personal experiences with him.
The problem is,
that those comments were made in the presence of the other potential jurors.
This led both Bangs Defense Attorney
and the District Attorney's office to ask for a mistrial.
Kyle Bang is facing an array of charges,
including burglary,
auto theft,
criminal tresspassing,
and reckless endangerment.
Because of the number of charges,
the trial is slated to take over a week to complete.
This time...
the District Attorney's office says,
they will use a questionaire to determine if anyone has personal experience with Bang.
The trial is scheduled to take place in mid August.


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Fall 2014
5355 Oil & Gas - WEAVER- 12418
Jacqueline Weaver (EMERTI)
Credits: 3
Course Areas: Energy, Natural Resources and Environmental Law
Time: 10:30a-12:00p MWLocation: 144 BLB
Course Outline: This course covers the basic property, contract and regulatory framework for oil and gas production in Texas. It explores common law property concepts (such as the rule of capture, trespass, cotenancy, life tenancy); the provisions of an oil and gas lease negotiated between a mineral interest owner and an oil company as lessee; mineral and royalty interest conveyancing; and Railroad Commission regulation of drilling, production, pooling, and unitization for the efficient and fair development of oil and gas.
Course Syllabus: Syllabus updated 8/4/14
Course Notes:
First Day Assignments: Casebook: The casebook for this course is Weaver and Wells, Texas Oil and Gas Law: Cases and Materials (Fall 2014). This casebook is available from Amanda Parker in my faculty office suite (Teaching Unit 2, first floor) at no cost. You will receive only one free copy.
Day 1. August 25 Monday
Preface 1-4 (intro material), and pp. 16-24. Petroleum Geology and conventional versus unconventional oil and gas. I will present a Powerpoint slide show in class on geology, reservoir engineering and maximizing production. The library has the CD on reserve to borrow if you like.
Ch 1, pp 1-2 to 1-8. Rule of Capture and Engineering Background.
Preface pp. 5-8 Oil and Gas Lease Basics. A sample Texas lease is at the end of your CB; a lease used by the state of Alabama in coastal waters also appears at the end to use as a comparison.
Optional: recent news clippings that follow in Preface at pp 8-16. After taking this course, you will not find yourself in the position of the Ely family in the first clipping, should you become a lessor. The International Petroleum Transactions course covers other types of development contracts that are profit-sharing contracts, like the enterprising Tioga Landowners' Association in New York has bargained for in the second clipping. This is very rare in the U.S.
Day 2: Aug. 27
Ch 1 pp 1-9 to 1-31. Limits on the Rule of Capture. What are the limits? When does the rule of capture not apply?
CB 1-25 to 1-26 has Tex. Nat. Res. Code sections 85.045-.046 on the definition of prohibited forms of waste.
Note: If we don't finish the reading listed for a certain day or week, the remaining pages roll over into the next day/week. We don't just forget about them! You will always know where to begin the next class: where the last one ended. If you then read 20 pages ahead, you will always be prepared.
Monday Sept 1. No Class--Labor Day
Final Exam Schedule: 12/12/14 10am-1pm 144 TU2 111 TU2
This course will have:
Satisfies Skills Course Requirement: No
Satisfies Senior Upper Level Writing Requirement: No
Experiential Course Type:
Bar Course:
Course Materials (6/13/2014 1:53:30 PM)
No book required for this course
Course Materials: Texas Oil and Gas Law: Cases and Materials (Available from Amanda in TU2-114)


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OL Orlando Brown Jr. of Suwanee, GA will attend Georgia's junior day this Saturday. Brown was at USC's junior day earlier this month. Brown has a top eight of USC, Alabama, Michigan, Oregon, Ohio State, Florida and Georgia. Brown Jr. is not claiming a favorite.
Choose the plan that's right for you. Digital access or digital and print delivery.


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Tag: public performance funny
"Mimi Teddy Ki Funny Shayari" Episode 01 – Lamba Chauda Sher
1 Views0 Comments40 Likes
After Ghalib, listen to the most entertaining Shayar in Town. Presenting Mimi Teddy ki Funny Shero-Shayari Episode 01 where she recites ek lamba chauda sher. See what happens to her in this live performance in the end...


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Instead of settling on being a one hit wonder though, Cary went on to release two EPs on his own Procrastination label - All the Rage (2004) and Waiting for Your Letter (2005), and then continued to work on the material that would become Who You Are, the album that he's releasing on May 29th via Bluhammock Records.
The record is a blend of songs ranging from piano driven ballads such as All the Rage (supported by Matt Hales from Aqualung) to smooth string arrangements such as Loneliest Girl In the World, to new wave 80's homages like The Last One (inspired by brat-pack flicks like Sixteen Candles according to Cary). "The songs are pop, but not built-for-radio pop songs," Brothers explains. "I like melodies that grow, songs that have more than one meaning. Radio songs have the big hook at the beginning, then they hammer that into your head for the next three minutes, instead of letting the song grow slowly, organically."
Although it's hard to believe, Cary was not always steering his course towards a musical career. His family has a long tradition of working as teachers, and in fact he majored in English at Northwestern University where he played in a cover band playing the Allman Brothers and the Velvet Underground. He then went into film in L.A., starting his own independent movie company, which he eventually closed to pursue his dreams of writing songs that he could share with others.
I was lucky enough to see him live last night opening for Brandi Carlile at the Ironhorse Theatre in Northampton, MA. Unfortunately because they were late arriving due to heavy traffic coming out of NYC (where they played two nights before), Cary played a very short set, only 6 songs. Five were from his upcoming album (including the two below), and the sixth was his well known Blue Eyes. I had the chance to talk to him before Brandi took the stage and he commented on how odd it was playing with just a cellist backing him after just having finished the album in the studio with a full band behind him. He is planning on coming back around in July with a full retinue to support him, and I'll be eagerly awaiting seeing him play again.
Cary Brothers - The Glass Parade : Who You Are
Cary Brothers - If You Were Here : Who You Are
Brandi Carlile - What Can I Say : Brandi Carlile
Brandi Carlile - Hallelujah : KCRW Morning Becomes Eclectic
5/02: Burlington, VT @ Higher Ground
5/04: Portsmouth, NH @ Music Hall
5/05: Boston, MA @ Paradise
5/07: Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe Tavern
5/08: Cleveland, OH @ Cambridge Room – House of Blues
5/09: Ann Arbor, MI @ The Ark
5/11: Chicago, IL @ Schubas
5/12: Chicago, IL @ Schubas
5/15: Indianapolis, IN @ Music Mill


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The group held its first meeting last week at Red Star Bar at 37 Greenpoint Ave., just up the street from the new waterfront parkland.
The meeting quickly became a debate over whether or not there should be a dog run in the park, but Christine Holowacz, co-chairperson for the Greenpoint Waterfront Association for Parks and Planning (GWAPP), said the meeting was essential in tackling similar future issues.
"Dogs are unleashed in the park and there needed to be a solution," she said.
Holowacz was also there to give a presentation on a possible nature walk and lend her "friends group knowledge" to the newly organized assembly. Although her services at the last meeting were focused on dogs, she said the group could not have moved forward without this open forum for debate.
"I think at the end of the meeting, there were people on both sides of the issue, but now there are people looking for a dog run someplace else," she said.
As much of the meeting was spent in debate over whether or not the space should be used as a passive space for parents to bring their children, Barbara Vetell, chairperson for the Friends of Transmitter Park, was happy to see a resolution on the matter, as she has long pushed for a quiet haven in her neighborhood.
"While people have always been fighting against something, now they are fighting for something," Vetell said, reinvigorated after seeing the neighborhood's enthusiasm. "This park is so important to everybody because of the environmental problems we have here."
When she first moved to Greenpoint from SoHo in 1972 with her now late husband, the two immediately became interested in converting the old WNYC Transmitter site into a park.
"My husband wanted this before anybody was talking about this as a park," she said, recalling his efforts to convert the site back in the 70s. "Because the city didn't have the money, it just didn't happen."
When the area was rezoned, delivering the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative, the neighborhood once again became interested in a park on the waterfront.
In addition to their anticipation of utilizing the newly installed fishing pier, the group is now looking ahead to developing more ideas. It was even suggested that the old transmitter building be converted into a science museum.
"We would like to have different things for the children," she said. "The next meeting we have will be all about the park, and we will be choosing our co-chairs."
Kim Gabriel has lived in Greenpoint for the last nine years and is happy to see there is a finally a place in the neighborhood to enjoy the waterfront.
"I really like the view," Gabriel said. "When I first moved here I was like, 'I'm going to go hang out at the river,' and I had to go climb a fence to get down there."
Gabriel now brings her two children to the park and meets with Brooklyn Baby Hui, an internet-based networking group for new mothers.
"I've always wondered why there weren't parks on the river," she said. "It's really great for that little monkey over there," she said pointing to her two-year-old child running to the jungle gym.


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Listerhill Credit Union
Celebrate the International Year of Co-ops
by Mark Wolff
January 16th, 2012
Cooperatively owned businesses, including credit unions, permeate the U.S. economy and play an important economic development role in countries around the world. In your everyday life, you may encounter co-ops, like your credit union, routinely, and not even realize it. In the U.S., Ace and True Value hardware stores are what's called purchasing co-ops, owned by thousands of independent hardware stores. Best Western, the world's largest hotel chain, is owned by independent operators in more than 4,000 hotels in 80 countries. There's more: Land O' Lakes is a producer co-op whose 300,000 members are organized into more than 1,000 co-ops. REI sporting goods is the nation's largest consumer cooperative. These are just a few prominent examples. And, of course, the nation's 7,500 credit unions are member-owned financial cooperatives that today serve nearly 94 million Americansthe largest retail co-op sector in the country. All told, nearly 30,000 U.S. cooperatives with more than $3 trillion in assets operate at 73,000 places of business, generating more than $500 billion in revenue and paying $25 billion in wages to their employees, a recent U.S. Agriculture Department study determined.
People are drawn to businesses that put people first, and that's what co-ops are all about.
Worldwide, the 300 largest cooperatives alone yield revenue of $1.6 trillionequal to the gross domestic product of the world's ninth largest economy, according to the
International Cooperative Alliance's
new Global 300 report. The
World Council of Credit Unions
(WOCCU) estimates nearly 53,000 credit unions in 100 countries are giving more than 100 million people access to affordable, cooperatively owned financial services and a pathway to a better financial future.
Cheers to the co-op
For these reasons and more, the United Nations has declared the year 2012 the
International Year of Cooperatives
. "Cooperatives are a unique and invaluable presence in today's world," explains U.N. Secretary General Bank Ki-moon. "They help to reduce poverty and generate jobs." Credit unions, along with co-ops in the agriculture, housing, dairy, rural electrification, food, and other sectors, are planning celebrations and recognition events throughout the year to highlight the economic and societal benefits of the cooperative business model, where the members are the owners and the premium is on service above profit.
Co-ops help to reduce poverty and generate jobs.
"Most people don't really know the extent that cooperatives touch their lives, or the benefits of belonging," explains Bill Cheney, president and CEO of the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), the largest U.S. credit union trade group. "In late 2011, the phenomenon of
Bank Transfer Day
helped to change that perception for credit unions. We believe the International Year of Cooperatives can continue the momentum for all co-op sectors and raise consumer awareness even higher." Adds Brian Branch, president and CEO of WOCCU: "The recognition of 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives speaks volumes in helping the public understand the value the cooperative model brings to the members it serves. Our theme for 2012, 'Cooperatives Build a Better World,' is an established truth that, by year's end, we hope more people will come to understand."
Nearly 53,000 credit unions in 100 countries give more than 100 million people access to affordable financial services.
Already, the U.S. Senate has adopted a resolution recognizing 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives, declaring that cooperatives are a "major economic force in developed countries and a powerful business model in developing countries."
Get involved
In the year ahead, the cooperative community has a number of recognition events planned, ranging from bicycle tours with stops at co-ops, co-op community walking tours, high-profile Washington, D.C., events, online video contests, youth engagement programs, the creation of co-op teaching modules for schools and colleges, and even new mobile apps to find co-ops near you. Members of thousands of individual co-ops are telling their own stories on
, and consumers can learn more about the International Year at
. "The International Year is a unique opportunity to inform and engage the public and policy makers," says CUNA's Cheney. "Especially today, people are being drawn to businesses that put people first, and that's exactly what co-ops are all about."
Printed Tuesday, May 22, 2018
Home & Family Finance® Resource Center
Copyright © 1997-2018 Credit Union National Association Inc.


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The Institute communicates its scientific and educational information in a number of ways. One major outlet is peer-reviewed publications and reports. Cary Institute staff regularly publish in the best-rated journals in their respective fields.
Export 1 results:Sort by: Author Title [ Type] Year
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Journal Article
Ecosystem structure and function are complementary measures of water quality in a polluted, spring-influenced river", Water Air Soil Pollut., 2011., "


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2006 Upper Deck Hawaii Trade Conference Signature Dual Jumbos #HTC2BC Jason Bay Miguel Cabrera 1/10
Card is 5" x 7"
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For Geneva, it was a matter of restoring order in the Upstate Eight River Division and avenging an earlier loss to St. Charles East.
To do that, the Vikings had to somehow corral Saints' guard Amanda Hilton, who turned Geneva's court into her personal Indy 500 on Friday night in racing to a career-high 33 points.
But Geneva (12-8, 6-2) had five players in double figures to offset Hilton's are-you-kidding-me? performance and nail down a crucial 75-69 overtime victory to tighten the conference race. Geneva moved within a half game of St. Charles East (12-10, 7-2) and Streamwood (15-4, 6-1).
Even though Sidney Santos tallied 22 points and scored four in the critical overtime period to lead Geneva, it was Hilton who was on everyone's post-game mind.
"She's a great player," Geneva coach Sarah Meadows said. "She can handle the ball, she can shoot, and it's just really hard to guard her.
"Our kids were getting tired, but she was still going," Meadows said, adding the sound of a roaring motor for effect.
There wasn't anything magical about Hilton's night, at least not in her eyes.
"They were in foul trouble early and we just kept trying to drive, to get fouls and go to the line," Hilton said. "It was a really good game with some tense moments, but I love those moments and strive for them."
Luckily for Geneva, the Saints didn't have much of an answer for Santos either. Or any of Geneva's taller frontline players, for that matter.
Sami Pawlak had 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, Abby Novak tallied 12 points and seven rebounds, while Morgan Seberger scored 12 points and Kelly Gordon added 10.
Carly Pottle helped the Saints' cause with 14 points, including a 3-point shot with about three seconds left in regulation that sent the game into overtime at 62-62. Laney Deckrow added 10 points.
"We had three players in double figures, and that's pretty good, but Geneva had five and that's better," St. Charles East coach Lori Drumtra said.
"We couldn't stop Santos, but they can't stop Amanda," Drumtra added.
Geneva had to overcome a sluggish first quarter to climb back within 34-30 at the half, partly thanks to a Seberger 3-pointer at the halftime buzzer.
The Vikings were down 34-22 before tallying the final 8 points of the half, and kept that surge going into the second half to eventually compile a 21-3 run that resulted in a 43-37 lead.
Hilton got St. Charles back on track quickly with a spinning bank shot in the lane and a 3-point bomb as the teams entered the final quarter tied at 45-45.
Pawlak scored inside and converted a free throw for a 53-49 Geneva lead after being awarded continuation on a play in which the foul appeared to have occurred on the floor well prior to the shot.
"That was a big play, but the girls didn't let it bother them and I was proud of the way they came back," Drumtra said.
When Santos canned a pair of free throws for a 62-59 lead with 15 seconds left, Pottle answered with her 3-point catapult from the top of the key to send the game into overtime.
When Gordon slashed to the basket for two inside scores, and Seberger sank two free throws, the Vikings enjoyed some breathing room to work with in the overtime.
Again, Hilton would not give up, scoring a driving layup and two free throws to trim Geneva's lead to 68-66, but Santos answered with an inside score and two free tosses of her own to keep the Saints at bay.
"They are a really good team without a doubt," Santos said of the Saints. "I used to play AAU with her (Hilton) and she is such an amazing player.
"She will never give up mentally and she's always encouraging her teammates," Santos added. "We started off so badly in the first half, but mentally we didn't want the same outcome as last time, so we had to pull it together no matter what."
Geneva hit 27 of 56 shots for 48 percent, while St. Charles shot 21-of-47 for 44 percent. Geneva enjoyed a 33-23 rebounding edge.
"St. Charles East came to play tonight and we had to play with some heart to win this game," Meadows said.


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It was bright and warm as we crossed the Signature ramp at Orlando International and boarded the Falcon 900. It had been a good NBAA convention. And now to home.
The invitation to ride aboard Safe Flight Instrument's aircraft was especially welcome. The JetBlue flight scheduled to take my vacationing bride north days earlier had been cancelled and all subsequent flights were overbooked. So, the choices were beginning to look like Hertz or Avis until CEO/Pilot Randy Greene called to say there were seats for both of us.
As the Falcon neared New York, all eyes peered outside for signs of the devastation we'd witnessed on cable news while away. Hurricane Sandy had upended much of the region while we were away and now we were about to bear witness first hand.
What was not apparent at 30,000 ft. became so when we stepped off the plane at Westchester County Airport. The Landmark FBO was dark, its doors blocked open and fat black cables stretched from within to generators on the ramp. We returned home to a house without power, but otherwise in good order. We were very lucky. Some homes in town had been crushed by huge falling trees. As it happened, we had our power restored within 24 hr. For some on the coasts of Long Island, Staten Island and New Jersey, the restoration will never come.
Several weeks later, in speaking with Greene, I learned that while Safe Flight's plant adjacent to HPN suffered no direct damage, it was totally without power and thus unable to function for two weeks. I was shocked.
Greene recounted his frustration in being told by Con Ed, the power company, that electricity would be restored soon, or the next day, then the day after that, but nothing happened. And then when he learned electrification prioritization was a political decision, he called his lawyers and despite their objections directed them to sue Con Ed. Now! Subsequently, probing questions by a judge at an emergency hearing seemed to unnerve the power company lawyers, because there were suddenly teams of emergency power crews all over Safe Flight's building, and the lights, computer screens, drills and coffee makers were back on within hours.
A selfish action by Greene? Hardly. He explained that without power, his 150 employees could not produce any of the electronic products essential to many new aircraft and, "The OEMs can't deliver airplanes with holes in the panel where our equipment should be." An Atlantic hurricane threatened to add to Wichita's woes.
But by acting decisively, independently and then getting his troops to work late into the night and over the weekends, Greene plugged those holes without any schedule disruptions.
That episode served to remind me just how important the Tier 2, 3 and 4 suppliers are to the big guys. Operators (and editors, too) tend to focus their attention on airframe, engine, and avionics makers since their equipment represents the core of business aviation activity. But those products are assemblages of many parts made by others, and without suppliers like Cox Machine, ICE Corp., and hundreds of others, business aviation gets grounded.
Beyond that, it is often the small players who generate the big ideas and, in time, may become big themselves. Examples abound. Gary Burrell and Min Kao left Bendix/King in 1989 to exploit the government's Navstar positioning system. Garmin still does that, and a whole lot more. Not all that long ago, Burt Rutan made funky airplane kits; his latest kit is to take riders into space.
FltPlan.com, Redbird Flight Simulations and ForeFlight are just a few of the many small upstarts that are shaking things up, stimulating the community with new services, new equipment, and a new way of doing things.
The big outfits are essential for doing the big things — no upstart is going to create, certify and produce a Gulfstream 650, a Passport turbofan, or Pro Line Fusion flight deck, but that didn't stop little Aspen Avionics from creating its breakthrough Connected Panel.
Obviously, the importance of the small independent goes well beyond manufacturing. Service providers like Showalter Flying Service, Rudy's InFlight Catering, King Schools, and even Sporty's Pilot Shop, infuse the community with personality, passion, really clever thinking and, well, neat stuff.
James Raisbeck, founder of an eponymous engineering outfit known for its performance mods on King Airs, Learjets and other aircraft, has a special regard for outsized companies, which he likens to whales, namely: "No big corporation I've ever known invented a damn thing worth selling." A bit over the top, but I see as his true point that small outfits are nimble, responsive, innovative and essential. And that is valid, generally.
To that view, Pete Bunce, the president of the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, is in agreement. He regards as "extremely important" business aviation's small suppliers. "A lot of the technology and innovation in the industry is pushed from the bottom," he says.
With the foregoing in mind, industry and government need to concern themselves with the impact the years' long fiscal decline is having on all those small companies. When severe cutbacks come, big outfits tend to cut their small suppliers early. And yet we can't afford to let those small contributors go. The well being of the industry depends on them.
Oh, if you were wondering, Safe Flight paid its idled employees throughout the unexpected shutdown. Like lots of small companies, it seems determined to protect its own.


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one more second, hold on wait..
... and alright, I'm good. Carry on.
At least until Sharkalanche come out.
I don't understand why they didn't lead with the classic "sharks with lasers attached to their heads".
yeah i'd be scared until the shark made landfall then he couldn't zackly run after me
meatcleaver-cane, or bear-nami would be more chilling
gator-aids could kill you more ways 'n one
This looks so craptastic that it might just be a comedy masterpiece.
Hurry...get Mike, Crow and Tom Servo on the phone.
The Sharknadotini
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
The Blue Sharknadotini
Sent from my XT907 using Tapatalk 4 Beta
Paging Dr Octagon......
sadly, this has become pop culture phenomenon and in doing so, has ironically jumped the shark.


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Nostalgia For The Light
series: Pov
air date: 6/04/13 8:59 PM
Patricio Guzma¡n's "Nostalgia for the Light" is a meditation on memory, history and eternity. Chile's remote Atacama Desert, 10,000 feet above sea level, provides clear views of the heavens. But it also holds secrets from the past in its arid soil: human remains, from pre-Columbian mummies to the bones of political prisoners "disappeared" during the Pinochet dictatorship. In this otherworldly place, earthly and celestial quests meld: archaeologists dig for ancient civilizations, women search for their loved ones and astronomers scan the skies for new galaxies.
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Man Files Defamation Lawsuit After Being Accused Of Shoplifting By Home Depot
A man who purchased a lawn tractor at the Edwardsville, IL Home Depot went back inside to buy some more stuff while employees loaded his tractor onto his truck.
After his items were placed in a Home Depot bag, he says he was stopped by the manager and accused of shoplifting the items.
From the Madison County Record:
"The manager alleged that the plaintiff stole the items he purchased for $19.12," the complaint states.
Marshall alleges the Edwardsville Police were called to the scene to investigate the allegations he shoplifted and throughout the investigation he was able to produce the receipt for the items that were alleged to be stolen.
He claims that the false allegations of theft to the Edwardsville Police caused him to suffer mental anguish, emotional distress and a loss of earning.
Represented by Brian Polinske of Edwardsville, Marshall is seeking damages in excess of $50,000, plus costs of the suit.
Why on earth would anyone buy a tractor that costs $3,200 and then shoplift $20 worth of stuff? Even if he did shoplift $20 worth of stuff—he just bought a $3,200 tractor. Who cares? If we owned a store we'd have a policy that anyone who pays over $3k for a glorified lawnmower gets to shoplift at least $30 worth of stuff before we call the cops.
Home Depot customer claims he was falsely accused of shoplifting [Madison County Record]
Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.


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Ohio officials say there are now 79 human cases in the state of a new swine flu strain, more than double the number reported earlier this month.
Health and agriculture officials released a new figure Friday showing 79 cases statewide of the influenza strain, known for spreading from pigs to people. It's a jump from 30 in early August. The cases have been reported in 21 Ohio counties, with Butler County near Cincinnati having the most at 17. Officials say many of the cases are linked to people who have had direct contact with swine, or pigs. There are no reported deaths. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say cases of the new strain have popped up in other states including Indiana, Pennsylvania and Illinois.


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February 11, 2009
Listen to Audio (15 min.)
Please note: These files can be quite large. Allow some time for them to download.
There's nothing like hearing the results of studies directly from those who actually conducted the research. In this interview, you'll meet two of these impressive HIV researchers and read their explanation of studies they presented at CROI 2009. After their explanation, they will answer several questions from the audience. This discussion was moderated by Judith Currier, M.D.
Carl Grunfeld: As death from HIV-related factors has gone down, a series of theses have emerged that are of interest in HIV infection. One is the issue of cardiovascular disease in HIV infection.
Carl Grunfeld, M.D., Ph.D.
If all of the effects of HIV are associated with the traditional risk factors, then that's simple. But if there is an effect of HIV above traditional risk factors, you have to know that to advise patients with HIV infection. And that's true in other diseases -- for instance, rheumatoid arthritis, where the risk is above those of traditional risk factors.
But unfortunately, the previous studies in HIV have been fairly limited. There are database studies where the rate of myocardial infarction is higher, but they can't adjust for traditional risk factors, because they don't have full measurements of: How many people smoke? Who has diabetes? What are the lipids? What's the blood pressure? You can't pull that out of a database.
The best surrogate marker for years has been something called carotid IMT [intima-media thickness]. Those studies were ambiguous in HIV infection for a variety of reasons, one of which is that many of them were small, and another of which is that there's an easy way to do it, and there's a more complicated way to do it. What we did was to do both the easy way and the more complicated way, with a very large set of control subjects, so that we really could adjust for traditional risk factors.1
When we did that, we found that in both ways of measuring the carotid, HIV infection was clearly associated with more atherosclerosis after adjusting for traditional risk factors. So, yes, there is an additive of HIV. It was more obvious in the difficult way than in the easy way, but we're big enough to say it's clear. HIV is an additional risk factor. So that when you advise patients in your office, you can say, "Here's your standard risk. But because you have HIV, you are at higher risk."
Colette Smith
We had 33,000 individuals, and in these 33,000 individuals we saw 2,192 deaths. This gave us a rate of death of 13.8 per 1,000 person-years of follow-up. We found the most common causes of death were AIDS-related deaths -- despite this being a cohort who were attending regularly for care, and despite the fact that they had freely available antiretroviral therapy, 32 percent of the deaths were attributable to AIDS-related causes. The next most common causes of death were liver, non-AIDS malignancies and cardiovascular-related diseases, which were between 14 and 11 percent of all of the deaths for each of cohorts.
When we started to look at the factors that were associated with this, we found that smoking was associated with an increased risk of death from cardiovascular disease and non-AIDS malignancies. We find that lower BMIs [body mass indexes] were associated with all-cause mortality, and with AIDS- and non-AIDS malignancy-related death. We found that those who were hypertensive were at an increased risk of liver-related or cardiovascular-related disease. Those who were hepatitis C or hepatitis B positive had an increased risk of liver disease.
We also generally found that those who had lower CD4 counts were at a higher risk of death from all of the causes, although the effect was marginal when looking at cardiovascular endpoints.
Finally, we found that the effect of the current viral load was such that, as the viral load increased, the risk of death from AIDS-related and liver-related causes also increased.
We found that there were a number of important traditional risk factors that were associated with death in our population, such as smoking and hepatitis. And we also found that some more specific risk factors, such as CD4 and viral load, were associated both with AIDS-related deaths and some of the specific non-AIDS-related causes.
We'd hope for further research looking into whether modifying the CD4 count and the viral load could perhaps lead to reductions in mortality from these causes.
Reporter #1: We've seen some studies that suggest certain drugs -- protease inhibitors and abacavir -- raise the risk of cardiovascular disease, of heart attacks. And it's been suggested that patients who are at risk of heart attacks shouldn't use those drugs. Dr. Grunfeld, do your findings combine with those in any way? In other words, should everybody with HIV avoid those drugs?
Carl Grunfeld: I think we would all hesitate to make a recommendation for everybody with HIV. What's clear, particularly from our study, is that HIV infection itself has bad consequences. The effect of HIV infection on atherosclerosis -- above and beyond the effects of HIV and the drugs' own risk factors -- is the equivalent of being male, smoking, or having diabetes.
I believe that the effect of HIV infection is much larger than the small signals seen with those drugs -- which, by the way, may affect later steps than the atherosclerosis that we measure. So I think one has to be cautious. Given the fact that we know treating HIV works, the decision should be modified a bit by what drug you put someone on, based upon what we know. But it's clear that the major thing to do is to treat the infection effectively.
Judith Currier: I think another clarification with Dr. Grunfeld's presentation is, the analysis didn't look at the role of drugs, or didn't have the ability to look at individual drugs. So, it was a summary effect of HIV and/or its treatment.
Colette Smith: Similarly, with our study, we didn't actually look at specific drugs. We just looked at the modifiable risk factors, rather than specific drugs. So I'm not sure that the data would enable you to answer that question. But there's been a lot on specific drugs and cardiovascular risk at other sessions, as well.
Reporter #2: Dr. Smith, the D:A:D study has had several publications. I'm having difficulty parsing this out. Can you tell us what's new in what you presented today, compared with what has been published, and what's been reported earlier?
Colette Smith: Well, the point of the study really was to look at deaths -- not only cardiovascular deaths, but other specific causes of deaths. The aim of the study also was to look at an important public health message, to look at what factors are associated with death -- potentially modifiable factors that perhaps would lead to interventions, and with other causes other than just cardiovascular disease, so we could look at these further.
Reporter #2: So it's kind of summing up what else happens aside from the CVD [cardiovascular disease] stuff?
Colette Smith: Yes, and looking at what factors might be potentially modifiable.
Reporter #3: Dr. Grunfeld, could you give us a better sense as to the impairment of HIV, how it compares with other risk factors, such as smoking, et cetera? Is it bigger? Smaller? Give us a context of how it stacks up.
Carl Grunfeld: It is virtually the same as being male. It is virtually the same as being a current smoker. It may be slightly higher than diabetes, or the same, depending upon which area of the carotid we are looking at. And it's the equivalent of five to ten years of age. So it is in the same ballpark as the major, traditional, dichotomous risk factors that we worry about: smoking, male gender.
Reporter #3: So in essence, one can construct an algorithm of adding up the risk factors and seeing how things stand?
Carl Grunfeld: I don't think we're at the stage where we can mathematically construct the formula and add it up. But we have a signal that it's very similar to those, and we could say yes; it's the equivalent of getting diabetes.
Reporter #4: From the beginning, there has been -- I don't know how to put it gently -- confusion about how to measure IMT, and arguments about: Was it measured the right way? Was it the best measurement? From your perspective, is there any movement towards standardization of carotid IMT measurements in trials?
Carl Grunfeld: There is movement, in part based upon the FRAM study, in part based upon a recent working group of many of the grants that are studying cardiovascular disease going forward, with the idea of looking more at the [carotid] bulb region, the "more difficult" region, that actually is better at picking up the signals for risk factors. But clearly what we have shown is that, in both regions, you can find the effect if you have got a large enough group of HIV-infected and control subjects to be able to adequately adjust. But there definitely is a movement to begin to look at the other region.
Reporter #4: For us non-experts, can you give us a quick summary of bulb region? What's the other region?
Carl Grunfeld: The common carotid goes up, and it's a straight flow. It's less susceptible to risk factors. At the point that you divide into the internal carotid and the external, the exact point of division is called the bulb, and then there's the internal. That's an area of turbulence. Areas of turbulence are actually the first areas to get atherosclerosis, and they are much more susceptible to things like lipids. It's why early lesions in the heart are proximal; they're near, in the periphery. But that's a more difficult area to measure. Many people have preferred the common, because it's easier to measure.
But issue you raised, which is an important one, the NIH [U.S. National Institutes of Health] already has moved on, in recommending in a conference of the people doing many of the going-forward IMT studies; we've come to an agreement to measure common and bulb.
Reporter #5: Dr. Grunfeld, did you have any data on HIV viral loads? Were you able to see any?
Carl Grunfeld: That analysis is not yet ready. It is being done. The point that we needed to make is the point for clinicians, which is that, in the context of traditional risk factors, HIV is an extra one. My prediction, knowing the data, is that the effect of HIV is not going to be able to be accounted for by things like viral load. But we don't have those analyses finished yet.
Judith Currier: I think, importantly -- being a collaborator on this project -- that we don't have enough untreated patients to be able to contrast the difference between suppressed and unsuppressed [viral load].
Carl Grunfeld: That's for sure.
Judith Currier: So that may be a limitation of what we're going to be able to find.
Carl Grunfeld: The FRAM study is representative statistically of HIV in the United States, compared to the Hicks study, which attempted to be representative. We're very, very similar. But we're talking about 97 percent of patients having been treated, and 94 percent having HAART. So we can't make that comparison.
On the other hand, the reality is that in the United States, and in most developed countries, a very high percentage of patients are treated. And these are the patients that we have to worry about cardiovascular disease in.
Reporter #6: Dr. Grunfeld, as many as 50 to 80 percent of the patients in the study being smokers to start with are people with HIV, smoking. Do you have enough patients left over, once you correct for smokers, to really have high enough numbers to see differences in risk factors?
Carl Grunfeld: Yes. We're below. We're about at 40 percent. And the two are independent. There is a risk with smoking. There is a risk with HIV. Obviously, smoking is a modifiable risk factor, but a very difficult one to modify. And the take-home lesson from patients with diabetes is, you work as hard as you can to modify the modifiable risk factors. And I would urge everyone with HIV infection, and everyone taking care of patients with HIV infection, to do the same thing: modify the modifiable risk factors until we understand what in HIV does this.
Reporter #6: Would smoking and having HIV basically double your risk of IMT growth?
Carl Grunfeld: I can't quote the exact number. But smoking and HIV clearly significantly increase your risk of -- OK, the smoking risk: 36 percent, versus 15 percent in controls. Smoking clearly significantly, maybe in that ballpark, increases your risk of having atherosclerosis. Now, her [Colette Smith's] data show, and our data from FRAM mortality, which was shown in a poster, all showed that smoking increases deaths in HIV. It's a very important risk factor.
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
No comments have been made.
|Please note: Knowledge about HIV changes rapidly. Note the date of this summary's publication, and before treating patients or employing any therapies described in these materials, verify all information independently. If you are a patient, please consult a doctor or other medical professional before acting on any of the information presented in this summary. For a complete listing of our most recent conference coverage, click here.
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COAL CITY — The Coal City man who injured three Coal City public works employees cleaning up at the end of the village's annual Octoberfest has been charged with aggravated DUI for the incident.
Grundy County State's Attorney John Bates said charges were filed Monday against Thomas C. Brown, 42, of Coal City.
According to previous reports, just before 7:30 p.m. Oct. 6, the accident was reported at south Broadway and Oak Streets in Coal City. First responders said one city employee was getting out of a truck with a trailer attached when he was hit by Brown, while two other employees nearby were also injured.
The two were taken to Morris Hospital and released, while public works superintendent Darrell L. Olson, 44, was airlifted to Advocate Good Samaritan Hospital in Downers Grove, Ill.
Brown was arrested on a warrant for the charges and was taken to the Grundy County jail. He posted $5,000 and was released from custody.
Bates said Brown was initially charged with driving under the influence, but more information led to the new charge.
"We were waiting on the lab results on the blood alcohol level," he said.
Bates said Brown's blood alcohol level clocked in at .312, above the legal limit of .08 percent.
In recent weeks, Coal City officials have given updates on Olson's condition. At the Grundy County Chamber of Commerce's State of Coal City event held Oct. 16 at Coal City Middle School, Village Administrator Matt Fritz told area business leaders Olson is recovering from his injuries.
Fritz confirmed to the group that Olson's leg was amputated following the crash.
"He is recovering and expected to recover from everything that happened to him," he said. "It's a long road for him, but he is starting to recover."
Chief Tom Best, who also presented at the event, agreed.
"He's a tough guy," he said. "He's in pretty good spirits considering the circumstances."
New charges filed in Octoberfest DUI crash
Driver's blood alcohol level was nearly four times legal limit
COAL CITY — The Coal City man who injured three Coal City public works employees cleaning up at the end of the village's annual Octoberfest has been charged with aggravated DUI for the incident.