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SAN BRUNO, Calif. – For the first time in over thirty years, the West Coast Conference has a new member. Brigham Young University formally joins the WCC on Friday and will field a team in 11 of the Conference's 13 sponsored sports. With the change in membership, the West Coast Conference has launched its new brand identity. The new logo is the WCC's first visual change since 1995.
"The West Coast Conference is excited to officially welcome Brigham Young University as our ninth member institution," University of Portland President and WCC Presidents' Council Chair Rev. E. William Beauchamp said. "In BYU, we have added a private, faith-based institution with a strong academic reputation and tradition of excellence in athletics. They are a good athletic fit with our programs that are annually challenging for post-season appearances and national championships. We are looking forward to a strong relationship with BYU organizationally and athletically."
"We are excited to officially join the West Coast Conference," said BYU President Cecil O. Samuelson. "Jamie Zaninovich and his staff have been excellent to work with as we have prepared to make this transition. We look forward to building a strong relationship with the conference and its membership. This is a wonderful opportunity for our athletic teams to prove themselves in a new conference and to gain more exposure for the university through our affiliations with BYUtv and ESPN."
Brigham Young University brings to the West Coast Conference a track record of success in academics and athletics. BYU has been consistently recognized as one of the top-rated academic institutions in the nation and is home to an athletic program that has enjoyed success at both the conference and national levels. An independent in FBS football, BYU will compete in 11 of the 13 West Coast Conference sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, women's soccer, men's and women's tennis and women's volleyball.
"This is an historic day for the West Coast Conference," WCC Commissioner Jamie Zaninovich said. "The addition of Brigham Young University adds to our membership another private, faith-based institution, which shares the common bond of an aligned emphasis on combining excellence in academics with excellence in athletics. We are excited to have them on board and can't wait for competition to begin."
With the addition of BYU, the West Coast Conference has adjusted its brand for the first time in over 15 years. Designed by SME of New York, the new WCC logo features a bold, symmetrical W over an element that represents the conference's wide range of campus beauty. The strong, bold W symbolizes the continuity and stability of the conference's membership, as well as the WCC institutions' commitment to the student-athlete balance of academics and athletics through a holistic education. Below the W is an element that signifies the beauty found throughout the West Coast Conference. It evokes the coastal waves, rivers, hills, and mountains boasted by each campus. A five-point star sits atop the W, representing the conference's storied history, alignment and tradition – which began with five original members at its founding in 1952 – while also paying homage to the stars highlighting the geographic placement of the membership in the most recent WCC logo, in use since 1995. The new logo will roll out with the bold W accompanied by the words "West Coast Conference."
"This is the dawn of a new era for the West Coast Conference," Zaninovich explained. "We have not added a new member in thirty years, and to add a school the quality of BYU helps us expand upon who we are. This new mark helps us re-define where the West Coast Conference is going."
"Our firm's vision for the logo, held collectively with conference leadership, was to set the WCC apart from the competitive set by presenting a mark that was different from every other college conference," said Ed O'Hara, Senior Partner and Chief Creative Officer, SME. "We wanted to reinterpret the brand's essence in a unique and memorable way, while understanding that it had to work across many applications - web, apparel, print, on playing surfaces, and mobile devices. In doing so, we landed on this simple, bold, iconic W. Thanks to Commissioner Zaninovich's incredible vision, we were pushed to utilize the mark's symbolic elements and explore a revolutionary design - rather than merely evolving the previous logo - taking the key deliverable and reinterpreting it in a way unlike any other in the space."
The West Coast Conference traces its beginnings to 1952, where the California Basketball Association was created to provide a venue for five San Francisco Bay Area schools to compete in basketball – including Saint Mary's College, the University of San Francisco, and Santa Clara University. The conference expanded to include Loyola Marymount University and Pepperdine University in 1955, becoming the West Coast Athletic Conference. In 1977, the University of Portland joined the WCAC (shortened to WCC in 1989). Today, BYU becomes the first full member to join the West Coast Conference since Gonzaga University and the University of San Diego began competing in the WCAC in 1979.
About the West Coast Conference
The West Coast Conference was formed in 1952 and has evolved and grown to become a nationally recognized and competitive force in Division I intercollegiate athletics, with 13 conference-sponsored sports: baseball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, women's rowing, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's tennis and women's volleyball. The WCC is characterized by the stability of its membership and its unique emphasis on combining excellence in athletics with excellence in academics.
WCC Member
Loy. Marymount
Saint Mary's
San Diego
San Francisco
Santa Clara


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2017 Charitable Initiative
Since the beginning of our Charitable Initiative in 2013, Norwex has donated over $550,000 to Consultant-nominated nonprofit organizations through our worldwide giving programs. This year, we hope to create a bigger impact in our communities by donating at least $50,000 to organizations focused on creating brighter futures for our children.
Create a Safe Haven for your children while helping us reach our goal, with your purchase of a Kids EnviroCloth!
The Washed Ashore Project is a non-profit, community-based organization with a mission of educating and creating awareness about marine debris and plastic pollution through art. Washed Ashore is a project of The Artula Institute for Arts & Environmental Education, whose mission is to provide opportunities to express and teach environmental issues through the arts. Earn Eco Points to support our primary partner by participating at: Show PWS Link Here
For millions of people in North America, improving quality of life starts by meeting basic needs like food, education, shelter and support services.Here are just a few of the local organizations awarded support recently based on the enthusiastic nominations of Consultants familiar with their work.
To recommend your favorite charity for support, contact your Norwex Consultant.
"Shiloh Field, at 14.5 acres, is the largest community garden in the USA... The quality of crop that Shiloh Field produces and donates is pure, homegrown, healthful organic food free from chemicals and fresh from the garden... Over 14 local charities, food banks, and non-profits receive crop donations from Shiloh Field. Amazing!"
— Nominating Consultant Ginny Estrada
"KidKnits was founded by a nine-year-old knitter, Ellie Zika... I am awestruck by the great work that the organization does... Through the fair trade import of handspun yarn from women living and working in poverty in developing countries, KidKnits offers a simple craft kit for a student that is integrated with a comprehensive service learning."
— Nominating Consultant Gretchen Heiar
"Seeing [a friend] give her hostess specials to Mt. Hope inspired me… Mt. Hope is a non-profit, faith-based program that assists women and their children who are committed to achieving self-sufficiency... Why shouldn't they live in a safe haven?"
— Nominating Consultant Tina Sawatzky

subset: commoncrawl


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The Great Outdoors Experience!
The Bushmoot is an opportunity for individuals and families with an interest in Bushcraft to gather together and expand their knowledge through mutual skills and knowledge sharing.
It doesn't matter whether you are experienced or new to Bushcraft, everyone is welcome. The days either side of the 'Core' are camping days which give individuals the opportunity to practise their Bushcraft skills, attend courses, socialise, visit the local area or just relax and enjoy the natural setting.


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Asiana Airlines' threat to sue a California TV station over its airing of bogus, racially insensitive names of Asiana's flight crew represents the South Korean airline's latest perplexing response to the crash of Flight 214 at a time when it should be focusing on reassuring a nervous flying public, experts in crisis communications say.
After its Boeing 777 landed short at San Francisco International Airport on July 6, killing three young passengers and injuring 182 others, Asiana has made several communications mis-steps, according to experts.
That makes it difficult to predict how South Korea's second-largest airline will respond going forward as the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) continues to investigate - and what Asiana will say once the NTSB determines the cause of the crash.
"The name Asiana is now etched in everyone's mind as a crash that fell short of the SFO runway," said Glenn F Bunting, who runs GF Bunting, a San Francisco-based strategic communications company that specialises in crisis management.
"There's very little the company can say to change that in the short run. What they can do about it is begin to aggressively attack and repair their reputation problem. The way to do that is not to remain silent."
Asiana officials did not respond to repeated email and telephone requests for comment.
In an era of real-time social media, Asiana's responses have played out on a global stage.
SimpliFlying, an airline consulting firm, praised federal investigators and SFO for quick statements on the crash and constant social media updates - while crash followers grew increasingly frustrated by the muted response from Asiana.
"Unfortunately, Asiana Airlines, with the world's eyes set on it, was slow to respond and was far from satisfying the insatiable need for more information in the hours after the crash," SimpliFlying wrote in its analysis.
Initially, Asiana offered information on its veteran pilot, who was making his first landing in a Boeing 777 at SFO, and his trainer, who also was on his first flight as a trainer. A day after the crash, the company in South Korea apologised to victims and their families.
But three days after the crash, Asiana Chief Executive Yoon Young-doo landed at SFO and could have shown quiet leadership by making a simple statement through a spokesman that he would not speak publicly because he needed to focus on the injured, the survivors, his crew and his customers, said Chuck Byers, who teaches marketing and public relations at Santa Clara University.
Instead, Yoon declined to speak to the South Korean and US reporters who mobbed him at the airport, and no one spoke on his behalf, giving the impressions he had something to hide.
"You put the senior executive in charge in front of the cameras to answer all questions forcibly and candidly," Bunting said.
"That portrays confidence and assures the public this was a freak thing and they should have full confidence to fly that airline. Scurrying from cameras and dodging the media and refusing to answer questions - none of that is a display of confidence or reassures people they're flying a safe airline. It sends a message to the contrary."
Jee-Eun Song studies South Korean culture as a lecturer in Asian studies at the University of California-Berkeley and believes Asiana officials may have thought their initial apology to victims and their families in South Korea would cover them in San Francisco in the days following the crash.
But in a global economy monitored by 24/7 social media, Yoon's behaviour at SFO was a mistake that goes beyond Asian or Western culture, Byers said.
"If I were their public relations director, I would have a Korean consultant and a North American consultant and a European consultant and an African consultant because the world is getting smaller and smaller and every story is global and every story is local," Byers said.
"I'm sure that Asiana has some very good counsel and advice but I've seen this kind of management problem in places other than the East. It's almost like a Western management problem that got translated to the East."
The day after Yoon arrived, six of the flight's 12 flight attendants appeared at a puzzling news conference in which none of them spoke and even their Korean interpreter declined to be identified.
Some hid their faces.
"In Korea," Song said, "to want to remain anonymous is pretty typical".
But why organise a news conference in which the participants appear reluctant to attend?
"It is a head-scratcher," Byers said.
Then this week, Asiana's focus, at least in public, turned to an embarrassing news story on Friday in which television station KTVU reported bogus and culturally insensitive names for the four pilots on board, such as "Sum Ting Wong" and "Wi Tu Lo". The station has apologised.
Asiana said it plans to sue KTVU but not the NTSB, which has acknowledged an intern "acted outside the scope of his authority" when he erroneously confirmed the names of the crew.
If he had been asked whether Asiana should sue anyone over the KTVU report, Bunting would have told them: "It's clear that KTVU was the victim of a prank. (Filing suit) obviously flies in the face of the First Amendment protections we have here. I wonder if this isn't a clash of cultures".


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Shutdown fuels GOP primaries
Political handicappers expect Republicans to keep the House in 2014. But plenty of GOP lawmakers will still be slugging it out in tough races next year — they'll just be hitting one another in a growing number of primaries propelled by the party's nasty split over the federal shutdown and debt crisis.
Nearly a dozen House Republican incumbents already have credible challengers, and conservative groups expect that number to grow in the coming months as races develop and deadlines approach to qualify for the ballot. The coming fiscal battles — there's now a Jan. 15 deadline for funding the government and a Feb. 7 deadline to raise the debt ceiling — could add fuel to the primary fires.
Story Continued Below
Redistricting whittled down the number of competitive House districts and fortified the GOP's majority. That means much of the action next year will be in primaries, where Republicans will fight out their differences in deeply conservative, gerrymandered districts.
( Also on POLITICO: GOP's issues boost Dem recruiting)
While Democratic incumbents will have a few primaries of their own in 2014, so far nearly all of the intraparty fights are on the Republican side. Many of the races pit tea party-style insurgents against establishment-minded members who are close allies of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) or powerful committee chairmen. In other instances, the establishment — furious over the tea party's role in the shutdown and debt fights — is turning the tables, finding business-friendly candidates to try to take out conservative incumbents.
In the Senate, the GOP primary field is beginning to solidify, with veterans like Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham and Tennessee Sen. Lamar Alexander drawing conservative opponents. And last week, state Sen. Chris McDaniel announced he will run against veteran Mississippi Sen. Thad Cochran — and the challenger swiftly won endorsements from several right-leaning groups.
( PHOTOS: Senators up for election in 2014)
"Democrats feel well represented [by their members of Congress]. But there's a huge sense of disquiet among the base with elected Republicans," said Daniel Horowitz, policy director for the Madison Project, a conservative group that is supporting several primary challengers to Republican incumbents, including McDaniel. "Like 2010 was the Republican wave, 2014 will be the primary wave. The threat of a primary challenge is the 800-pound gorilla in the room. … I think you're going to see it everywhere."
The race currently getting the most attention is in Idaho, where GOP Rep. Mike Simpson, an Appropriations Committee cardinal and Boehner friend, faces a primary against attorney Bryan Smith. The challenger is backed by the Club for Growth, the anti-tax group trying to steer congressional Republicans to the right.
Simpson, who was one of 87 Republicans who supported the bill to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling, is casting himself as a responsible conservative with experience and seniority; Smith calls the incumbent a get-along establishment type who has overstayed his time in Washington.
( WATCH: Shutdown winners & losers on "Turn the Table")
In recent weeks, the two have skirmished over the shutdown. Smith hammered Simpson for supporting a "clean" continuing resolution to fund the government. "After 16 long years in Washington, liberal Congressman Mike Simpson has forgotten our conservative Idaho values," Smith's campaign charged in a radio ad.
Simpson shot back in a competing radio ad that highlighted his efforts to defund Obamacare. "Everyone knows that Mike Simpson is a proven conservative Republican," it declared.
Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said the fiscal fights are potent grist for primaries, giving challengers an opening to tap into grass-roots frustration by attacking the party's approach to fiscal issues as overly accommodating.
"Republicans run on a message of limited government, fiscal responsibility, less debt, more growth, and that's what these battles are," he said. "There is a growing sense [among voters] that, 'You haven't done these things.'"
Chocola said his group is in the process of examining whether to get involved in other primary races.
Simpson isn't the only friend of Boehner looking over his shoulder. There is growing talk among conservatives that North Carolina Rep. Renee Ellmers, who was elected in 2010 as an insurgent but who is now seen as a Boehner ally, could be challenged by Chatham County Republican Party Chairman Jim Duncan. Tea party groups have squabbled with Ellmers in recent months after she criticized the conservative group Heritage Action for pressuring House Republicans to take a hard line on Obamacare in the budget fight.
Also in the cross hairs are three committee gavel holders: Pennsylvania Rep. Bill Shuster and Texas Reps. Pete Sessions and Lamar Smith. Shuster, who chairs the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee and is the son of ex-GOP Rep. Bud Shuster, is trying to beat back Art Halvorson, a real estate developer attempting to brand the incumbent as a big-spending liberal. Halvorson has put $100,000 of his own money into the race, and he's become a favorite of conservatives like RedState founder Erick Erickson.


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If you are a current student with questions, please call 855-758-5662. If you are interested in a South University program of study at another location or online, please call 855-758-5666.
To request your official transcript, simply print and complete the transcript request form. We must have your signature, along with the $7.00 fee in order to process your request. Mail your completed form and fee to the address provided on the form.
South University, Cleveland (View Other Campuses)
As a military-inclusive college, we are committed to providing support for your education and career goals. Our degree programs are designed to prepare you for a variety of careers with programs in business, health care, design, and legal and criminal justice operating at several locations and offers distance education. You can earn a certificate, undergraduate, or graduate degree.
At South University, we value skills you have learned in the military, such as leadership, discipline and self-motivation.
We understand that frequent relocations and deployments can make it difficult to pursue your educational goals. That's why South University offers classes at our campuses throughout the United States and online, and even allows you to blend the two for a customized experience that meets your needs. Our fully online degree programs give you the freedom to log in to your classes any time, so that you can interact with your class and your professor from anywhere around the world.
Military and veteran students bring invaluable real-life experience to South University's classrooms. Additionally, most military training courses have been evaluated for academic credit by the American Council on Education (ACE). At South University, we will evaluate your Joint Service Transcript (https://jst.doded.mil/official.html) or corresponding official service transcript to determine if we can award college level credit for your prior learning.
South University has more than 10 locations nationwide and offers a variety of degree programs online. All active military personnel, reservists, veterans,and their spouses will also have a team of dedicated admissions, financial aid and academic advisors, each focused on meeting your unique needs as a military student.


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Localize an AdWords campaign
You can localize AdWords ads in Translator Toolkit.
Keep in mind:
- To connect with foreign language customers, you should localize—not literally translate—your campaigns.
- Your campaign should stay within the ad text length limits.
- To prevent your keywords and ad text from being saved to the global, shared translation memory, you can use a personal, unshared translation memory with your campaign.
Get started
First, export your campaign from AdWords as an AdWords Editor Archive (.aea) file. Note: Your file should be no more than 25KB so that you can upload it into Translator Toolkit.
Then, to upload your AdWords campaign:
- Go to Translator Toolkit.
- At the top left, click Upload.
- Click Add content to translate > Upload file.
- Click Choose File, then select the AdWords Editor Archive file you want to upload.
- Select or type the language(s) you're translating into.
- Click the Tools arrow .
- Select the translation memory you want to use.
- If you want to use a glossary you've uploaded, select one.
- Click Next.
- On the next page, you can select a translation vendor for a cost, or click No thanks to translate the document on your own or with others.
Note: Currently, Translator Toolkit doesn't support the translation of mobile ads.
Localize your ad text & keywords
It's important to localize—not translate—the text and keywords in your AdWords campaign. Localization is the adaptation of text to a local language, not the word-for-word translation.
If you translate your campaign literally, you might produce an awkward message. Expressions, slogans, and puns don't translate well from one language to another. But when you localize your campaign, your message is converted to a local language that connects with customers.
Localize your landing pages
In addition to localizing your ads, it's important to to create localized landing pages. Then, change your ad's destination URL to the localized landing page.
To adapt your campaign to local languages faster and better, you may want to work with professional translators or localization experts. They can ensure foreign language customers understand your campaign.
You can pay for a translation vendor when you upload your AdWords campaign in Translator Toolkit. Or simply share your campaign with a professional translator you know of.
If you're working on a group of ads with duplicate keywords, the duplicates will be marked as errors. This is because ads with identical keywords compete against each other. Google only shows one ad per advertiser for a particular keyword. To find alternative keywords for your campaign, try using the Keyword planner.
To delete a duplicate keyword you can:
- Change the localization of a duplicate keyword.
- Right-click the keyword, then select Delete keyword.
- To delete all duplicate keywords, right-click the keyword and select Delete all duplicate keywords. This keeps the first occurrence of the keyword and deletes duplicates across all ads in your campaign.
You can make your ads even more relevant by using an advanced feature called keyword insertion. When you upload an AdWords campaign with keyword insertion code, Translator Toolkit automatically converts the code into placeholders.
Here's what you'll see:
- Original ad title with keyword insertion code:
Buy {Keyword:Cameras} Today
- Same ad title after placeholders are inserted:
Comprar {0}Camaras{/0} Hoy
- When you export your campaign, the placeholders are converted back into keyword insertion code:
Comprar {Keyword:Camaras} Hoy
Then, you can upload your ad back into AdWords with keyword insertion in its original format.
When you're finished localizing your AdWords campaign in Translator Toolkit, here's how to export it:
- Go to Translator Toolkit.
- Check the box next to the AdWords campaign you want to export.
- At the top of the page, click the download button .
Or from the Translation editor, click File > Download.
Your AdWords campaign will be downloaded as an AdWords Editor Archive (.aea) file.
Import your campaign back into AdWords


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Rory and Lorelai have taught us so much about love, family, and...money? Yep, money, too.
Take the time — and the money — to improve and maintain your own best asset: you! After all, you're the only you you have.
This year is partially gone, but there's still plenty of time to make it rock! What are you waiting for? Do one of these awesome things!
Will it make you happy? Will it bring you the endless hours of joy that you imagine when you look at it? What thing am I talking about? Well, it's different for every person,
Until recently, it had never occurred to me that dreams could offer insights into financial and career dilemmas. Then I had a dream that revealed a financial fear, and finally di
One of my close friends at work can often be heard saying "man, if only I had the F.U. money." By that, of course, he means that if he had enough money to not care about losing his
I remember the first time my sister's Barbie went for a ride in her new pink convertible. The trunk was full of new shoes, the coolest outfits,
Instead of a how-to article, or even a "Top 10" list, I want to tell you part of my own story. I've tried to put this into a list, tried to make it into something else, and I just keep coming back to the story. [more]
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Hunting beer bargains
[media-credit name="Courtesy the brewery" align="alignright" width="270″][/media-credit]
In this economy, we all need a little help.
And drinking good beer is an expensive passion that seems to be just getting more expensive.
Retail pricing for craft beers has climbed for three straight months, according to the most recent data from the Chicago-based market research firm Symphony IRI Group.
As a public service that also happens to benefit us, we at First Drafts would like to keep tabs on great craft beer bargains and incorporate them into a standing feature on the blog.
To get started, here's a Living Social deal for Renegade Brewing, which opened this year in Denver's arts district. The deal: a flight of beer and a growler to take home for $14.
Know of other deals out there, from Groupon and ilk to great happy hours? Leave us a comment here.


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Eleanor Chandler
Eleanor Chandler works at Granta magazine.
Eleanor Chandler works at Granta magazine.
Granta Publications | 12 Addison Avenue | London | W11 4QR | Tel +44(0)20 7605 1360 | Fax +44(0)20 7605 1361
The copyright to all contents of this site is held either by Granta or by the individual authors, and none of the material may be used elsewhere without written permission. For reprint enquiries, contact us.


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We just booked 4 tickets to London and back from Zurich in August using ANA miles on United metal (43k miles each in coach, rather than the 60k required by United, with no additional fuel surcharges).
I'm mentioning this because the availability to London (from New York) isn't bad at all, but a couple of days ago while there were 5 flights available in coach on August 22nd, there were suddenly none. Then the next day there was 1 flight available. When I woke up this morning, there were 5 flights available again.
That's a long way of reiterating my point that if you are stalking a trip, you have to check a couple of times a day. Availability changes constantly, and I was thrilled to see it come back after disappearing. Be patient.
That said, there is so little business class award inventory available to anywhere in Europe, I'm not sure I remember seeing anything like this summer. If you can get over the idea of flying coach to Europe (and let's be honest – it's about 6 hours 15 minutes flying time from NYC to London – pretty close to New York to San Francisco), I'm pretty sure you'll survive. Using miles for coach seats is, for me (and many others who have written me, especially with families), the new normal. Coach availability to London is wiiiiiiide open on United, which means you've got a summer-full of options to fly to Europe for 38k-43k ANA points. That's a steal when coach seats approach $1500.
Anyway – just thought I'd reiterate: keep checking for that award inventory. Don't give up hope…


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Effective Date: June 6, 2019
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text:
Bush Impressed With Iraqi Government Officials During Baghdad Trip
By Gerry J. Gilmore
American Forces Press Service
WASHINGTON, June 13, 2006 - On a surprise visit to Baghdad today, President Bush told Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki he is impressed with Maliki's choices for top Iraqi Cabinet officials.
"It is an impressive group of men and women," Bush said to the prime minister during a press conference after meeting members of Maliki's Cabinet. Maliki was seated to the president's left, with U.S Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad on the right, and Iraqi officials on either side of them.
"If given the right help, I'm convinced you'll succeed -- and so will the world," the president continued.
Maliki had announced his choices for defense and interior ministers and his top national security adviser June 7, a day after al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in Iraq during a U.S. air strike.
The schedule had called for Bush, his national security team and other U.S. officials to meet with Iraqi leaders via videoteleconference today from Camp David, Md. Instead, he made a surprise trip overnight to Iraq to meet today with the country's senior officials and to discuss the way ahead.
Senior U.S. and Iraqi officials discussed governmental, security, economic and reconstruction strategies at the meeting, which included senior U.S. officials back at Camp David via videoteleconference.
Bush told Maliki that he wanted to meet with him personally to underscore America's commitment to the success of a democratic Iraq.
"When America gives its word, it will keep its word," Bush said. He added that Iraq's success is in the interests of "people who love freedom."
Iraq is a central front on the war on terror, the president said.
"When Iraq succeeds in having a government of and by and for the people of Iraq, you will have dealt a serious blow to those who have a vision of darkness, who don't believe in liberty, who are willing to kill the innocent in order to achieve a political objective," he added.
Bush told Maliki that Iraq's future hinges on the capability of its new government.
"The decisions you and your Cabinet make will be determinate as to whether or not a country succeeds that can govern itself, sustain itself, and defend itself. I'm impressed by the Cabinet that you've assembled," Bush said to Maliki.
"You've assembled people from all parts of your country, representing different religions and different histories and traditions, and yet, the Cabinet here represents the entire Iraqi people."
Related Site:
President Bush's Remarks After Meeting With Iraqi Officials [http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2006/06/20060613.html]
Related Article:
Bush Arrives in Iraq on Surprise Visit [http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Jun2006/20060613_5398.html]
NOTE: View the original version of this web page on DefenseLINK,
the official website of the U.S. Department of Defense, at


text:
Outside and Inside the Shrine of the Nativity and the Adjacent Church of St. Catherine of Alexandria
In November 2005 when we travelled to Bethlehem, the town was under Palestinian control. This is probably the place to mention that Israeli tour organizers don't guarantee any spot on a planned itinerary. They have cell phones, and keep in touch with their contacts, and only take tourists to sites if the situation is stable on that day. There was some uncertainty about whether we could go to Bethlehem. On the day we went, the tour guides decided it would be safe. When we got to the border, we left our Israeli-owned buses in a parking garage and walked up a sidewalk and into another building that served as a checkpoint. Soldiers walked above us with rifles on catwalks. We were told to put our belongings on an airport-style conveyor belt for screening. On the other side, we boarded a Palestinian-owned bus and drove to the center of the town. We left the bus in a paved outdoor parking lot and walked up a hill in a drizzle. The tour guides guided us into one of the shops, which was run by Christian Arabs. As usual, we were forced to spend more time in the shop than at the holy site itself.Read More


text:
Sake - A part of Japanese Culture As the days grow longer and our smile a little more relax…
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text:
Carmen Electra and the Naked Women's Wrestling League have finally made their peace.
The 37-year-old actress filed a lawsuit back in November 2007 over money she said she was owed for hosting duties and use of her image on DVDs.
Electra alleged NWWL bosses promised to pay her $400,000 for hosting several events, but she only received 25 percent of that amount and was owed $300,000.
Also, Electra alleged that the league released DVDs featuring her image, including "Twin Peaks," "Operation Naked Storm," "Tag Team Dream" and "Bush vs. Hussein," without payment.
On Thursday, her attorney said the lawsuit has finally been settled.
"I am pleased that we could reach a settlement that was acceptable to all parties," attorney Todd W. Bonder said outside the courtroom without divulging the terms.
Electra -- whose real name is Tara Patrick -- has appeared in such films as "Meet the Spartans" and "Scary Movie." And, of course, the television show "Baywatch."


text:
Nemesis Rail provides maintenance, overhaul, modification and painting to most rail vehicles for train operators and private owners.
Established in 2007, we are based at the purpose-built rail connected facility at Derby Road, Burton upon Trent - the former British Rail wagon works. Our new site boasts nine acres and has a massive amount of sidings and storage space available. Another positive feature is that the depot is connected directly to the Derby - Birmingham line, centrally and conveniently placed on the rail network and open 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
• Our shed comprises two through-pitted roads over 90 metres long.
• Jacks with capability of 120 ton lifting.
• Adjacent is the paint shop area, which can accommodate most vehicles including on track plant, wagons, coaches and locomotives.
• Easy access for delivery of rail vehicles by rail or by road
• Staff that are highly skilled and have experience of most types of railway vehicles
• Fully compliant & auditable management systems
Content on this page requires a newer version of Adobe Flash Player.
Website: Burgess Design and Print


text:
Frequent flier miles: Cult of the obsessed
A few months ago I found myself headed to a Sheraton hotel in East Rutherford, New Jersey, one of the more anonymous towns in the United States.
The purpose of my trip: Frequent Traveler University, a two-day series of seminars on getting the most out of miles and points.
Like the organizers, most of the attendees were made up of groups of friends who had met on web forums like flyertalk.com and milepoint.com (organizer of the Frequent Traveler University).
New glossary
At these events, you tend to get a rapid-fire guided tour of the extremes people go to for miles.
The language might sound unfamiliar to the non-enthusiast, peppered as it is with phrases unique to the flier world.
A "mileage run," for example, is a flight taken for the sole purpose of accumulating miles or attaining elite status.
Most of the time, there's no destination -- you just pack in as many flights as you can (at the lowest possible fare) until you end up back at home.
And what is "elite status" exactly?
Most airline programs offer elite status levels based on the number of miles you fly in a year. A typical U.S. program will have, for example, three elite tiers awarded at 25,000, 50,000, and 100,000 miles respectively.
At each level, the member receives more perks, which can include bonus miles, lounge access and upgrade certificates, among other things.
Each program varies slightly, but that's the general model.
Members will usually have to requalify by flying that same number of miles every year.
Some extreme examples
Early on at the University, I met Jason Rubinstein and Stacey Lehrer, a young couple who recounted how they met on an online dating site while Jason was mileage-running.
"I'm like 'you're doing what? What's a mileage run?'" Stacey said, recalling their first conversation. "Because at that point, I loved to travel, but I'd never been on a mileage run before."
Jason and Stacey later met in person, and now travel together regularly. Earlier this year they flew eight roundtrips between New York and California in order to qualify for elite status.
"Miles brought us together," Jason told me. "And what I tell people when they ask me how we met, I say we met in Arkansas. And they say, 'Arkansas? How'd you meet in Arkansas?' And I say, '35,000 feet over Arkansas in an airplane was where I met her, and she wasn't anywhere near me.'"
For some, it takes a doctor's orders to curtail their flying.
"I just flew for two weeks straight without stopping between New York and Beijing, via Los Angeles and Chicago," said Will Maxwell-Steele, a 23-year old New Zealander. "I thought I could do more, but my doctor said I had to stop at four roundtrips." He earned 365,000 miles for his efforts.
Some get surprisingly inventive in their methods of earning miles.
A number of years ago, Cleveland-based Steve Belkin realized that he could hire people to fly for him, taking control of their frequent flier accounts in return for a wage and free tickets on a given route.
Once, when an US$8 airfare between two cities in northern Thailand popped up, he crunched the numbers and found he could earn millions of miles on the route for very little money.
Belkin hired a team of out-of-work Thai rice farmers and paid them more than the Thai minimum wage just to be on a plane all day long, back and forth between Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, for six weeks straight.
Then, a few weeks in, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration took notice. They'd decided that Belkin must be the "stupidest drug-runner they'd ever seen," and he was called in to explain his actions.
The incredulous agents were eventually convinced as to his true motives, and one of them even asked if he could get in on the deal.
Spend your miles
Accurate estimates are hard to come by, but it's been reported that there are trillions of miles in frequent flier accounts worldwide.
A 2005 Economist study found that the potential value of unredeemed miles in the world was worth more than all the U.S. dollar bills in circulation.
When you consider that I -- one individual -- have earned roughly three million miles and points in 10 years, and have spent probably 2.5 million of them for tickets that, if purchased, would have cost in the low hundreds of thousands of dollars, it's easy to imagine all the miles out there.
Of course valuations of free tickets are tricky, but this begins to give an idea.
As more and more miles are awarded (not only by airlines but by banks, merchants, hotels, the list goes on) it makes sense that more and more people are becoming interested in getting more out of them.
Cue the frequent flier forums
Flyertalk.com, the biggest online forum for the discussion of frequent flier and travel topics, surpassed 400,000 members earlier this year, and the post count is closing in on 19 million.
The subset of people that attends meetings, seminars and get-togethers is smaller, but there's a steady flow of said events around the world, whether impromptu meet-ups or organized multi-day events.
I've been to a few gatherings of miles aficionados, and in each one the common theme has been that attendees are excited -- they can turn to anyone around them and rattle off airport codes, discuss airline routing rules or mull the pros and cons of lesser-known airlines' premium cabins, and whoever they're speaking to gets it.
In normal life, where most friends and family don't share in the interest, this just isn't possible.
The rise of the 'mega-do'
Of course, the frequent flier junkies are nothing if not ambitious, and they don't just mass in hotel conference rooms.
The past few years have seen the rise of the so-called "mega-do," which involves working with one of the major airline alliances to put a couple of hundred enthusiasts on a plane together, with events on the ground as well.
When the first oneworld alliance mega-do was announced for January of this year, I couldn't resist joining.
For US$899, I purchased a seat on a chartered American Airlines (AA) 757 that would take me and around 180 other hard-core frequent fliers from Dallas to Seattle, then to Los Angeles.
There were tours of AA's operations center and Boeing's factory in Seattle, and a oneworld party on the ramp at the Los Angeles airport for which Cathay Pacific and Qantas towed over a wide-body each for us to gawk at and tour.
Onboard, passengers were exuberant. The aisles were packed. Pillows flew around the cabin. It was as if Carnival had come to the skies above the United States.
Happy fliers make happy flight attendants
Even though the flight attendants had to fight through crowds to serve food and drinks, they were smiling as well.
"Isn't this annoying, having to deal with all of us?" I asked one flight attendant.
"Are you kidding?" he said. "This is the most fun I've ever had working a flight."
It's a good point, for surely one reason many a flight attendant is surly and brusque these days is that their passengers are often just as unhappy.
The notion of someone having fun on a flight seems quaint these days. But here were nearly 200 of them, loving every minute of it.
More on CNN: The best ways to earn and burn frequent flier miles


text:
Use our Compact Pink Hair Chalk to create instant vibrant or pastel shades in your hair which can be washed out within minutes. Our Hair Chalks are of the highest quality and quick and easy to use! Our shell applicator allows you to add the Pink Hair Chalk to your hair with as little mess as possible!
- Brush through your hair thoroughly to remove any knots.
- Place an old T-Shirt or an old towel around your neck and shoulders. Hair Chalk can get slightly messy so we always recommend protecting your clothes whilst applying Hair Chalk.
- Using water, slightly dampen the parts of your hair that you will be chalking. We recommend spraying water on to the hair for an even coverage.
- Now it's time to use the Pink Hair Chalk. Open the Hair Chalk Shell applicator, press your hair against the chalk and pull the chalk through your hair in a downwards sweeping motion. By applying the chalk this way, it prevents any knots being created.
- Once you have finished applying your pink hair chalk, use a little hair spray or go over your hair with straighteners or a curling wand to fully seal in the colour.
- Brush the hair as little as possible until you are ready to remove the colour as this will loosen the chalk particles. Once you are ready to remove the pink hair chalk from your hair, apply a generous amount of shampoo to your dry hair and massage and leave it to soak for a few minutes. Wash out the shampoo and apply some conditioner, allow the conditioner to stay in your hair for around 5 minutes, this will allow the hair to become rejuvenated. Once rinsed, the colour should be removed. Some hair types may take a couple of washes to fully remove all of the colour.
Instructions are included.
As with all hair colourant products, we highly recommend doing a small test patch to see how well the colour is removed when washing, occasionally hair chalk can take a couple of washes to fully remove depending on your hair type. In particular, bleached, brittle or dry hair may take a couple of washes to fully remove all of the colour.
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text:
8 Item(s)
List GridAdvanced Search
Making Spaces Safer
A Pocket Guide$6.00
Shawna Potter, lead singer of War On Women, has been a musician for over twenty years—and has been sexually harassed, discriminated against, or made to feel unsafe for just as long. This pamphlet...
Interviews by Cindy Crabb$7.00
Interviews about role models and subtle things about masculinity and exploring what we were taught about it, how that teaching effected us, and how we challenge it. With folks including Shane...
Doris #30$3.00
This issue talks about ways we create lives outside the mainstream structure, how we find and build community, and what that can mean to our ability to survive, heal and thrive. Touring, living...
Strengthening Anarchism's Gender Analysis
Lessons from the Transfeminist Movement$2.00
Classical anarchism and feminism, premised on the assumption of liberation for "all workers" and "all women," frequently denied the diversity of the working class and social divisions between women...
Refusing to Wait
Anarchism & Intersectionality$3.00
"Anarchism can learn a lot from the feminist movement. In many respects it already has. Anarcha-feminists have developed analyses of patriarchy that link it to the state form. We have learned from...
It's Down to This
Reflections, Stories, Experiences, Critiques, and Ideas on Community and Collective Response to Sexual Violence, Abuse, and Accountability$4.00
A tremendous resource for people who are committed to ending sexual violence. This zine collects a mulititude of stories, reflections and articles—from advice on finding a therapist, written by a...
Doris 26$2.00
Doris #26 is R, S and T in the alphabet. Covered within are Robin, shy, social ecology, and truth. "Robin" is about loving someone, even though you may speak different languages, and the...
Men, Sexism, and the Class Struggle$4.00
"The purpose of this booklet is to positively contribute to and stimulate some genuine debate about the role that we (as working class men) perform in the oppression of working class women in this...
8 Item(s)
List GridAdvanced Search


text:
Woolgrowers cap off Baggy Green project for cricketers
Late last year woolgrowers across Australia were invited to donate some of their wool to be made into a special green cloth.
It would eventually become the next batch of cricket's iconic Baggy Green caps worn by Australian Test cricketers.
The authentically Australian project was formed when Australian Wool Innovation (AWI) partnered with Cricket Australia and Kookaburra.
AWI corporate communications manager, Marius Cuming said the response to the project has been tremendous.
"Woolgrowers from across Australia have taken the time and effort to send AWI some of their valuable wool and we thank them. It has given this project a really strong start and shows just how cricket is loved as a game for all Aussies," Mr Cuming said.
In total, just over 400 woolgrowers have donated wool to the project and the total volume has come to about 500 kilograms.
"It includes a few champion fleeces and a lot of people have taken a handful of wool from special sheep at shearing and have included a few words about their connection to their local cricket club which is great," Mr Cuming said.
"We were aiming to produce enough cloth for the next century of Australian cricketers and this will definitely be enough to do so.
All the donated wool is now at Michell Wool in South Australia and will be scoured in coming days before being processed further.
All those that have donated wool will be receiving a sample of the cloth.
"It is fitting the wool is being processed in its early stage in South Australia as we plan to hand the final green fabric over to Cricket Australia during the Adelaide Test in December this year," Mr Cuming said.
"There are a number of initiatives and events in the planning, including a book celebrating the deep connections between wool and cricket, which has been brilliantly written by Australia's foremost cricket writer, Gideon Haigh."
This book outlines many of Australia's past and present players who have direct connections to the wool industry.
In fact, when you look closely at the Australian cricket coast of arms you will see it has a sheep on it, symbolising the importance of the industry to the nation and the game.


text:
From GODORT
Revision as of 06:55, 17 August 2007 by 184.108.40.206 (Talk)
This is an annotated list of databases produced by Massachusetts State Agencies listed by producing agency. To add a database to this list or to fix a broken link, either do it yourself as this is a wiki, editable by anybody, or send an e-mail to len DOT adams at library DOT umass DOT edu, the documents specialist for this page.
Return to State Agency Databases listing.
- 1 Agricultural Resources, Department of
- 2 Board of Library Commissioners
- 3 Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- 4 Education, Department of
- 5 Fisheries and Wildlife, Division of
- 6 General Court (Legislature)
- 7 Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT)
- 8 Public Health, Department of
- 9 Public Safety and Security, Executive Office of
- 10 Secretary of the Commonwealth
- 11 State Library of Massachusetts
- 12 Trial Court
Agricultural Resources, Department of
- A-Z Index of Programs and Services - Portal to all things agricultural in Massachusetts. Agricultural programs, farmers markets, inspections and regulations, statistics, are a few of the many topics available.
Board of Library Commissioners
- Massachusetts Library Directory - Advanced Search - Searchable by Region, Municipality, Organization, Library Name, Library Type, Branch Name, Department Name, Individual First Name, Individual Last Name, and Individual Job Function.
Commonwealth of Massachusetts
- Commonwealth Communities - Find information on population, housing, finance, government, local contacts and more for all cities and towns.
- Online Services - Are you a resident? Find job listings, services for families, elders, veterans, health. Are you a visitor? Find information about tours, activities, history and culture, visitor resources. Are you in business? Find out about starting a business in Massachusetts, licensing and permits, funding sources, and taxes. Also, find information about local and state government, find your representative or senator, and more.
- State Agencies - "This page provides an alphabetical listing by keyword of branches of government, Constitutional offices, and the departments under them, and provides links to those with websites."
Education, Department of
- School/District Profile - Select reports by type of school, school district, or individual school within a district. Contains reports and statistics on enrollment, MCAS results, per pupil expenditure, teacher data, and special education.
Fisheries and Wildlife, Division of
- Massachusetts List of Endangered, Threatened and Special Concern Species - Includes vertebrate and invertebrate animals, and plants. Links to information about each species. Lists species by town.
General Court (Legislature)
- General Court Search - Search Massachusetts General Laws (MGL), text of bills, journals of the House and Senate, and session laws from 1997 to the present.
Massachusetts Office of Travel and Tourism (MOTT)
- Research - Tourism is a very important industry in Massachusetts and good statistics on tourism are hard to find. However, MOTT's Research database provides interesting, important, and up to date statistics and reports on tourism in Massachusetts.
Public Health, Department of
- Health Topics A-Z- Provides links to a categorical index of programs and information on such varying topics as adolescent health, mad cow, obesity, prenatal care, lyme disease, women's health and much, much more.
- Massachusetts Community Health Information Profile (MassCHIP) - Provides community level information on many topics including - The percentage of mothers receiving adequate prenatal care, The number of admissions to substance abuse treatment programs, The birth rate for teenagers, The percentage of current smokers, Public school expenditures per student and much more. Brooke @ Hinsdale describes it this way, "This database is not for the average user or the faint of heart. Oh no, we aren't messing around now boys and girls. When you MUST have health information, and you must be able to do strange things with a whole bunch of funky data, this is the one you go to."
- Publications and Statistics - Excellent database to acquire all sorts of health statistics for Massachusetts, reports on health topics, regulations, and links to resources in state government.
Public Safety and Security, Executive Office of
- Annual Reports - Court commitments by race, sex, age, gender. Also reports on inmate statistics, release statistics, and recidivism statistics
- Crime Statistics - 1960-2002, statistics are state totals. Later years list offenses by county, city, and town. Includes crimes on college and university campuses. Not all communities or colleges reported.
Secretary of the Commonwealth
- Citizen's Guide to State Services - "This guide contains information about state services, agencies, and contact points. You can find services arranged by broad subject headings, or search for specific words, or use the index."
- Elections - Everything you need to know about Massachusetts elections. Includes state and federal election statistics from 2000, registered voters from 1948, statistics on ballot measures from 1919, Congressional district maps, and directories of districts, political parties, cities and towns.
State Library of Massachusetts
- Town Reports Database - Search by town for annual reports dating back to the 1850s. Reports themselves are in paper at the State Library of Massachusetts.
Trial Court
- Code of Massachusetts Regulations (CMR) - Search by CMR citation or by alphabetical index. Includes FAQ section. Includes important regulations such as the State Building Code, Electrical Code, and Septic (Title 5). However, some regulations may not be available electronically.
- Massachusetts City and Town Bylaws - Currency, completeness, and quality dependent upon the community. Some communities have not yet contributed.
- Massachusetts Court System - This site includes the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the courts, judicial profiles, press releases, recent court opinions, juror information, court statistics from 2001, and a variety of other useful information.


text:
Transportation Objects : Bridges, Tunnels, Morales Region, Guatemala, 1988
- Description:
- Transportation objects : bridges, tunnels for the Morales region, Guatemala. This layer was vectorized from original hard copy 1:50,000 topographic maps produced from the early 1970s to the mid 1980s. Hurricane Mitch devastated Central America during the months of October-November of 1998. From 1998 to 2001 the US Geological Survey was involved along with other federal agencies in the reconstruction effort. The source CD consists of a compilation of GIS data layers and computer applications focused on hazard prevention and useful in municipal planning. Each dataset includes layers for a base area of one hundred square kilometers around the urban center of each municipality in the Hurricane Mitch project.
- Place(s):
- Guatemala, Izabal, Departamento de, and Morales
- Subject(s):
- Bridges and Transportation
- Format(s):
- Shapefile
- Year:
- 2002
- Held by:
- Harvard
|Click on map to inspect values


text:
Bill to legalize scalping splits venues, brokers
LANSING, Mich. – Repealing Michigan's rarely enforced ban against scalping tickets is, on its face, an effort to help out the average customer looking to sell a few unused tickets to a game or concert.
But it's also a high-stakes financial tussle — one between venue owners such as pro sports teams and public universities and brokers who buy and resell their tickets, mostly on the Internet.
So far, the brokers are winning in Lansing, where the Republican-led state House on Thursday voted 66-42 to legalize ticket scalping. Entertainment venues are hoping to block the bill in the Senate, despite its GOP supermajority that may be swayed that ticket holders should have no barriers in a free market.
The legislation's sponsor, Republican Rep. Tim Kelly of Saginaw Township, said "Uncle Joe" shouldn't be collared as a criminal while online brokers resell tickets with impunity — even if scalpers are rarely subject to arrest and prosecution.
"It occurs to me you either enforce the law evenly across the board or you decriminalize it across the board," he said. "The law is fuzzy, and I'm just trying to remove the fuzziness."
Scalping, or selling a ticket above face value, is a misdemeanor that can lead to a maximum 90 days in jail or a $500 fine.
Kelly shepherded his bill through the House despite opposition from some big players in Michigan's sports and entertainment industry — Palace Sports & Entertainment, Detroit's four major professional sports teams, Kid Rock, Michigan International Speedway and other venues.
They say the measure would do away with the only legal prohibition that keeps brokers honest and prevents them from gobbling up the bulk of tickets with high-tech online software and gouging customers.
Richard Haddad, vice president and general counsel for Palace Sports & Entertainment and the Detroit Pistons, said proponents of the legislation are misleading legislators to think regular fans who scalp tickets are at risk even though enforcement is uncommon.
"The law currently provides us with very valuable tools we're only going to use under very extenuating circumstances," he said.
The Palace has no interest in suing to shut down online brokers such as StubHub, because it understands there's a resale market for tickets, Haddad said.
"But there certainly isn't any need to drag the Legislature and government into this … to make it easier for StubHub to tilt their profits," he said.
The debate in essence is about control.
Stadium, arena and concert hall officials say the more control they have and the fewer tickets there are in the resale market, the better it is for patrons. Brokers counter that it's often teams or concert promoters themselves ripping people off — withholding good seats until later, artificially creating pent-up demand and reaching their own resale deals with StubHub or Ticketmaster.
"We're not buying up all the tickets," said Joel Schwartz, owner of Big Time Worldwide, a national ticker brokerage based in Southfield.
He said brokers buy 1 to 3 percent of tickets to an event, in some cases 5 to 10 percent. Forty-two percent of the tickets he resells go for less than face value, he said.
"These promoters, teams and everybody — they're just wanting to have control over everything … so they can keep jacking up the price. I'm the last bastion of free capitalism standing between the consumer and the promoter or team," Schwartz said, adding that teams and promoters already are scalping their own tickets. "People will be able to openly and freely sell tickets. That will result in a lower price to the consumer."
Michigan State University is among opponents lining up against the bill.
David Bertram, assistance vice president for state affairs, said the school is concerned about deleting a provision that allows scalping if ticket holders receive written permission from venues such as Spartan Stadium and the Wharton Center. That would discourage brokers from signing deals with the university, he said. The school now can enter into contracts in an attempt to prevent all tickets from being bought within minutes of going on sale and to put terms on how much tickets can be sold above market value.
"We believe the average fan is hurt. It will likely cause prices to go up in the secondary market," Bertram said of the legislation.
Those supporting the bill include the conservative Americans for Prosperity group, police officers, eBay and Michigan Citizen Action, a liberal watchdog organization that points out ticket buyers pay exorbitant processing fees and can only legally recoup the ticket's face value.
Lawmakers aren't splitting solely along partisan lines. Of the 66 House members who voted for the measure, 46 are Republicans, 19 are Democrats and one is an independent. Twenty-nine Democrats and 13 Republicans opposed it.
The Senate is expected to refer the bill to a committee on Tuesday.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


text:
Nasal sprays (topical corticosteroid aerosols)
Pill (oral-systemic) corticosteroids
Injected (systemic) corticosteroids
allergic rhinitis, corticosteroids reduce swelling and
inflammation in the nose, resulting in fewer
When you take pill or injected (systemic) corticosteroids, the
medicine travels throughout your body. This can result in serious side
When you use nasal corticosteroids, most of the medicine stays in
the nose and does not travel throughout the body. This results in fewer and
less serious side effects than pill or injected corticosteroids.
You may use nasal corticosteroid sprays if your allergy symptoms
are mostly in your nose. Your doctor may suggest them:
Pill or injected corticosteroids are not used as often as nasal
corticosteroids because of the possible side effects. Your doctor may suggest
them when:
Corticosteroids are the most effective medicine currently available
for allergic rhinitis.
All medicines have side effects. But many people don't feel the side effects, or they are able to deal with them. Ask your pharmacist about the side effects of each medicine you take. Side effects are also listed in the information that comes with your medicine.
Here are some important things to think about:
Call 911 or other emergency services right away if you have:
Call your doctor if you have:
Common side effects of oral corticosteroids include:
Common side effects of inhaled corticosteroids include:
See Drug Reference for a full list of side effects. (Drug Reference
is not available in all systems.)
Nasal corticosteroid sprays work best when you take them regularly
on a daily basis. They do not cause
rebound congestion.
Health professionals disagree on whether nasal corticosteroids
should be your first or second treatment option. Some doctors use nasal
corticosteroids to treat allergic rhinitis only when other treatment, such as
antihistamines, does not work. Other doctors use nasal corticosteroids right
Medicine is one of the many tools your doctor has to treat a health problem. Taking medicine as your doctor suggests will improve your health and may prevent future problems. If you don't take your medicines properly, you may be putting your health (and perhaps your life) at risk.
There are many reasons why people have trouble taking their medicine. But in most cases, there is something you can do. For suggestions on how to work around common problems, see the topic Taking Medicines as Prescribed.
If you are pregnant, breast-feeding, or planning to get pregnant, do not use any medicines unless your doctor tells you to. Some medicines can harm your baby. This includes prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, herbs, and supplements. And make sure that all your doctors know that you are pregnant, breast-feeding, or planning to get pregnant.
Follow-up care is a key part of your treatment and safety. Be sure to make and go to all appointments, and call your doctor if you are having problems. It's also a good idea to know your test results and keep a list of the medicines you take.
Complete the new medication information form (PDF)(What is a PDF document?) to help you understand this medication.
Last Revised:
May 14, 2012
Healthwise Staff
Medical Review:
E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine & Rohit K Katial, MD - Allergy and Immunology
This information does not replace the advice of a doctor. Healthwise, Incorporated disclaims any warranty or liability for your use of this information. Your use of this information means that you agree to the Terms of Use. How this information was developed to help you make better health decisions.
To learn more visit Healthwise.org
© 1995-2012 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.


text:
Update: Comments enabled now!
Until further notice this is my last post as a blogger at Discover Magazine. This shouldn't impact regular readers. As always you can follow me by going to:
My feed, http://feeds.feedburner.com/RazibKhansTotalFeed
My Twitter, https://twitter.com/razibkhan
And of course, my website, http://www.razib.com
From December 1st, 2013, I will be blogging at Ron Unz's new website, The Unz Review, at a familar subdomain http://www.unz.com/gnxp (feed, http://www.unz.com/gnxp/feed/).
I'm excited to explore this new opportunity. Ron is still nailing down the details of look, style, and functionality, so expect some changes on my Gene Expression sub-site. To make a long story short Ron wanted to beef up his science coverage, and I was amenable. At least when it comes to my particular bailiwick. Ron has merged my archives from the old Gene Expression website with the content generated at ScienceBlogs and Discover, so no matter where I go, or if I stop blogging due to other obligations, those archives will remain as a coherent whole.
I want to emphasize that my time at Discover was incredible. I want to give special thanks to Tasha Eichenseher, Amos Zeeberg, and Sheril Kirshenbaum. As it happens none of these individuals are associated with Discover at this point (Tasha is leaving as well), but they were instrumental in allowing me to either be here (in Sheril's case) or focus on writing (in Tasha and Amos' case). I assume you'll be somewhat surprised that I mention Sheril, but I feel like I have to give special thanks to her because I'm 99% sure that it was her "good word" which allowed me to catch the eye of an outfit as respectable as Discover. Unlike a blogger as writerly as Ed Yong, or Sheril herself, I've always been more data nerd-cum-verbal pugilist. So this leads me to praise the great management skills of the two web editors I've had while being a blogger at Discover. They've let "Razib be Razib," by and large letting me do my thing (though yes, in the interests of professionalism I've moved most of the more "direct" verbal volleys to Twitter). I really can't thank anyone else at Discover because I barely knew they existed, which, in light of recent events, seems like a good thing. Overall I give Discover a good grade in terms of understanding how blogging should be run, with a light hand. This, despite the fact that I often put up posts which rubbed many "right-thinking-people" the wrong way, and scoured the comment threads acidly.
There's really not much else to say. Aside from a new domain, don't expect many changes.
It's been a busy few days in the world of personal genomics. By coincidence I have a coauthored comment in Genome Biology out, Rumors of the death of consumer genomics are greatly exaggerated (it was written and submitted a while back). If you haven't, please read the FDA's letter, and 23andMe's response, as much as there is one right now. Since Slate ran my piece on Monday a lot of people have offered smart, and more well informed, takes. On the one hand you have someone like Alex Tabarrok, with "Our DNA, Our Selves", which is close to a libertarian cri de coeur. Then you have cases like Christine Gorman, "FDA Was Right to Block 23andMe". It will be no surprise that I am much closer to Tabarrok than I am to Gorman (she doesn't even seem to be aware that 23andMe offers a genotyping, not sequencing, service, though fuzziness on the details doesn't discourage strong opinions from her). An interesting aspect is that many who are not deeply in the technical weeds of the issue are exhibiting politicized responses. I've noticed this on Facebook, where some seem to think that 23andMe and the Tea Party have something to do with each other, and the Obama administration and the FDA are basically stand-ins. In other words, some liberals are seeing this dispute as one of those attempts to evade government regulation, something they support on prior grounds. Though Tabarrok is more well informed than the average person (his wife is a biologist), there are others from the right-wing who are taking 23andMe's side on normative grounds as well. Ultimately I'm not interested in this this argument, because it's not going to have any significant lasting power. No one will remember in 20 years. As I implied in my Slate piece 23andMe the company now is less interesting than personal genomics the industry sector in the future. Over the long term I'm optimistic that it will evolve into a field which impacts our lives broadly. Nothing the United States government can do will change that.
Yet tunneling down to the level of 23andMe's specific issues with the regulatory process, there is the reality that it has to deal with the US government and the FDA, no matter what the details of its science are. It's a profit-making firm. Matt Herper has a judicious take on this, 23andStupid: Is 23andMe Self-Destructing? I don't have any "inside" information, so I'm not going to offer the hypothesis that this is part of some grand master plan by Anne Wojcicki. I hope it is, but that's because I want 23andMe to continue to subsidize genotyping services (I've heard that though 23andMe owns the machines, the typing is done by LabCorp. And last I checked the $99 upfront cost is a major loss leader; they're paying you to get typed). I'm afraid that they goofed here, and miscalculated. As I said above, it won't make a major difference in the long run, but I have many friends who were waiting until this Christmas to purchase kits from 23andMe.
First, download your 23andMe raw results now if you have them. If you don't know what's going on, the FDA has finally started to move aggressively against the firm. Unfortunately this is not surprising, as this was foreshadowed years ago. And, 23andMe has been moving aggressively to emphasize its medical, as opposed to genealogical, services over the past year. But this isn't the story of one firm. This is the story of government response to very important structural shifts occurring in the medical delivery system of the United States. The government could potentially bankrupt 23andMe, but taking a step back that would still be like the RIAA managing to take down Napster. The information is coming, and if there's one thing that can overpower state planning it is consumer demand. Unless the US government wants to ban their citizens from receiving their own genetic data they're just putting off the inevitable outsourcing of various interpretation services. Engagement would probably be the better long term bet, but I don't see that happening.
One of the stranger call-ins on my interview with Kathleen Dunn last month was when a woman who proudly declared that she was a math major in college asserted that 23andMe had told her she wasn't at risk for many diseases which now in her 60s she had developed. I didn't want to be too pointed about it, but if you are in your 60s you are at risk for developing many illnesses no matter what your "genetic risk." This is clear from 23andMe's statistics, which display high baseline risks for many common diseases. From reading comments on 23andMe discussion forums it seems that perceived false negatives are going to be a much bigger issue than false positives over the long run. If the tests are "wrong" in a direction which leaves you in a better state than predicted you might feel like you've dodged a bullet. On other hand if the tests are "wrong" in a direction which gave you false comfort, or add insult to injury when you've developed a debilitating disease, then you feel much more burned.
I don't really recommend blogs too much anymore. But please check out The Stage and Social Evolution Forum.
Keeping a close watch on media representations of the new Nature paper on the ancient Siberian genome. Here's The New York Times, 24,000-Year-Old Body Is Kin to Both Europeans and American Indians. I don't have a problem with the title, but the roll-out isn't totally accurate in what it will connote to the audience in my opinion:
"What it begins to suggest is that we're looking at a 'Lord of the Rings'-type world – that there were many hominid populations," says Mark Thomas, an evolutionary geneticist at University College London who was at the meeting but was not involved in the work.
– Mark Thomas, as reported by Nature
This is in reference to the ancient DNA meeting where David Reich reported that the Denisovans, an exotic archaic population which contributed ~5-10 percent of the ancestry of Papuans, was itself a synthesis of Neandertals and a mysterious group currently unknown. This is not surprising, as the broad outlines of these results were presented at ASHG 2012, though no doubt they're moving closer to publication. But for this post I want to shift the focus to a different time and place, after the ancient admixture with archaic lineages, and to the reticulation present within our own.
Finished J. P. Mallory's The Origins of the Irish. Good book, but it was as illuminating as to the origins of the Irish as Danel Dennett's Consciousness Explained was in explaining consciousness.
This was brought back to my mind by a new piece in The Atlantic which had a "Slate-pitch" sort of title: The Republican Party Isn't Really the Anti-Science Party. There was some comment on Creationism in the piece, so I wanted to review the data on this mostly ideologically freighted of the standard science questions asked of the public. To do this I used the General Social Survey. To limit demographic confounds I constrained the samples to non-Hispanic whites who responded 2006-2012 ("Selection Filter(s): Race1(1) Hispanic(1)"). Additionally, I partitioned the data into two classes, non-college and college-educated ("Degree(r:0-2;3-4)"). Then I looked at political party identification and ideology ("Partyid" and "Polviews(r:1-2;3;4;5;6-7)").
For years many in the biological sciences community have been jealous of the exist of arXiv. This preprint server allows researchers to distribute their work widely to all comers. On occasion when when there have been debates about mimicking arXiv for biology there has been skepticism about the nature of the outcomes (my own rejoinder is that fields where a preprint culture is the norm, such as economics and physics, don't seem to be doing badly). Now we'll see if the end is nigh in biological science due to preprints; bioRxiv is live (sponsored by CSHL). The first paper, The Population Genetic Signature of Polygenic Local Adaptation. There's not much up yet, but there will be.
Change is the only constant.
One of the secondary issues which cropped up with Nina Davuluri winning Miss America is that it seems implausible that someone with her complexion would be able to win any Indian beauty contest. A quick skim of Google images "Miss India" will make clear the reality that I'm alluding to. The Indian beauty ideal, especially for females, is skewed to the lighter end of the complexion distribution of native South Asians. Nina Davuluri herself is not particularly dark skinned if you compared her to the average South Asian; in fact she is likely at the median. But it would be surprising to see a woman who looks like her held up as conventionally beautiful in the mainstream Indian media. When I've pointed this peculiar aspect out to Indians* some of them of will submit that there are dark skinned female celebrities, but when I look up the actresses in question they are invariably not very dark skinned, though perhaps by comparison to what is the norm in that industry they may be. But whatever the cultural reality is, the fraught relationship of color variation to aesthetic variation prompts us to ask, why are South Asians so diverse in their complexions in the first place? A new paper in PLoS Genetics, The Light Skin Allele of SLC24A5 in South Asians and Europeans Shares Identity by Descent, explores this genetic question in depth.
Much of the low hanging fruit in this area was picked years ago. A few large effect genetic variants which are known to be polymorphic across many populations in Western Eurasia segregate within South Asian populations. What this means in plainer language is that a few genes which cause major changes in phenotype are floating around in alternative flavors even within families among people of Indian subcontinental origin. Ergo, you can see huge differences between full siblings in complexion (African Americans, as an admixed population, are analogous). While loss of pigmentation in eastern and western Eurasia seems to be a case of convergent evolution (different mutations in overlapping sets of genes), the H. sapiens sapiens ancestral condition of darker skin is well conserved from Melanesia to Africa.
The last week has seen a lot of chatter about the slapping down of the diagnostic patent by Sequenom, Judge Invalidates Patent for a Down Syndrome Test:
A federal judge has invalidated the central patent underlying a noninvasive method of detecting Down syndrome in fetuses without the risk of inducing a miscarriage.
The ruling is a blow to Sequenom, a California company that introduced the first such noninvasive test in 2011 and has been trying to lock out competitors in a fast-growing market by claiming they infringe on the patent.
Sequenom's stock fell 23 percent on Thursday, to $1.92.
The judge, Susan Illston of the United States District Court in Northern California, issued a ruling on Wednesday that the patent was invalid because it covered a natural phenomenon — the presence of DNA from the fetus in the mother's blood.
The existence of intellectual property is a utilitarian one. That is, these are institutions which are meant to further the cause of creativity and innovation. Is there going to be an abandonment in this domain of the push toward technological innovation? Coincidentally in the last week of October Sequenom put out a press release which heralded some advances in its panel:
After reading Ancestral Journeys, I decided to get J. P. Mallory's The Origins of the Irish. A bit on the academic side for some, but definitely a good dive into the literature. Mallory is well aware of the latest genetic research, so this is as up-to-date as it gets. It's a good case study in how multidisciplinary prehistoric studies should be done.
As I've suggested earlier prehistory looks to be a good deal more complex than we had previous thought, so expanding beyond single methodological perspectives is probably essential if we really care about truth.
In other news, a short piece in The New York Times refers to Salafis as 'ultraconservative.' I think this misleads most people about the nature of Salafism: it is a radical utopian system which recently arose out of Islam's confrontation with Western derived modernity. It isn't conserving anything. This aspect of Salafism explains why Saudi Arabia condones the bulldozing of Muhammed's tomb and celebrates modern monumental architecture in Islam's holy city.
I haven't said much about this article in Science, Ancient DNA Links Native Americans With Europe, because it would be an understatement to say I'm digesting it. I would offer up a caution that using terms like "Europeans" and "East Asians" for populations which flourished ~25,000 years ago might be misleading. We are used to thinking of genetic distance in terms of space, but time is also a dimension to consider. Populations even without admixture or gene flow will have drifted in allele frequencies over so many generations.
But I have to admit that it seems more and more likely that most extant modern populations are combinations of lineages which diverged very early after the "Out of Africa" migration. We see this clearly with South Asians, and now Europeans and Native Americans. The Reich lab has also found evidence of admixture in in Australians. The closer we look, the more amalgamation we see between disparate lineages. Using the elements of the present to reconstruct the patterns of the past is going to be a more daunting task than most would have guessed.
I'll be on the Kathleen Dunn Show on Monday, 2 to 3 PM Central Standard Time. You'll be able to listen to the show after it airs on the website. It will be about my piece in Slate.
I recently read Ancestral Journeys: The Peopling of Europe from the First Venturers to the Vikings by Jean Manco. You can find more information at her website, but I pretty much would recommend this book to all my non-scientist readers. I'd recommend it to many of the scientists too, if you are rather weak on archaeology, because that's where Manco's knowledge is really impressive. It's not a perfect book, and I don't agree with all the details, but it's a very detailed, dense, and fast read.
There was a question below in regards to the Fast Company profile of 23andMe and what they're trying to do. A major ethical issue brought up is whether it is acceptable to type children and disclose possible disease risk later on in life. As an extreme case, what if you find out that your child is going to develop a life threatening disease by the time they're 40? My own perspective as a parent is that I'd like to know, and I'd probably want to tell my child as soon as I think they can handle it. The reason is simple: you base your life decisions on various aspects of life expectancy. People put things off, or forgo consumption, all the time.


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We tend to react with feelings first and thoughts a little later.
Many in the last 24 hours have reacted with feeling (and the occasional thoughtfulness) to the visit paid by police to the New Jersey home of Shawn Moore.
Should you have been hospitalized after accidentally impaling yourself on a deer antler at your local gun club recently, here's the back story: Moore posted a picture to Facebook of his 11-year-old son, Josh, clutching (very properly) a .22-caliber rifle that looked like a little more than a .22-caliber rifle.
It was his birthday present.
As is ever more often the case these days, someone saw it, was perturbed by it and contacted the police.
Moore, in an appearance on Fox News, explained that he stood his ground, even though the police allegedly wanted to go into his safe to check all his guns.
The police and the Mayor of Carneys Point, N.J., have now issued a joint statement (PDF) in which they said: "In light of some of the recent school shootings across our nation, the Carneys Point Police Department takes these types of calls seriously."
The police explained that it was their job to visit the house to accompany members of child protection services.
The tip they had received reportedly said that a boy might have had access to guns and ammunition, according to the Associated Press.
It does seem odd, however, that the police allegedly demanded entry into Moore's house without a warrant. This seems especially odd, given that Moore claims that several of the officers actually knew him from his local gun club.
Did they think that because they knew him, he would be more malleable?
The Carneys Point authorities, meanwhile say they behaved correctly -- "At no time did the police attempt to unlawfully search this residence" -- and dressed in appropriate evening attire: "The police officers were not dressed in SWAT gear, they were dressed in their Class B uniforms with their body armor in a outer cover as they do every evening."
And the authorities confirmed that Shawn Moore would face no charges, according to the AP.
However, one thing for him to ponder might be who among his alleged Facebook friends might have made the initial call to police.
There is little point in trusting people. Even if you're the one with the gun.


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Thursday 21 November 2019
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