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WASHINGTON – To sustain the fragile economic rebound, the Federal Reserve is sure to leave interest rates at record lows and is likely to repeat a pledge to keep them there for a while.
The Fed resumed its two-day meeting Wednesday with policymakers having cause for optimism as well as caution. The economy has been growing again for nearly a year. Manufacturing activity is picking up. Businesses are spending more. And Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has expressed confidence that the nation won't fall back into a "double dip" recession.
At the same time, the recovery remains vulnerable to threats: Europe's debt crisis, an edgy Wall Street, cautious consumers, a fragile housing market and high unemployment.
"The effect of European developments on the U.S. economy is likely to be modest, so we expect the tone will be cautious but certainly not dire," said Michael Feroli, economist at JPMorgan Chase Bank.
The Fed is certain to leave its key bank lending rate at between zero and 0.25 percent. An afternoon announcement is expected. The rate has remained at that level since December 2008.
That means rates on certain credit cards, home equity loans, some adjustable-rate mortgages and other consumer loans will remain low. Commercial banks' prime lending rate would stay at about 3.25 percent, the lowest point in decades.
Ultra-low rates serve borrowers who qualify for loans and are willing to take on more debt. But they hurt savers. Low rates are especially hard on people living on fixed incomes who are earning scant returns on their savings.
Still, if rock-bottom rates spur Americans to spend more, they would help energize the economy. That's why the Fed also is expected to maintain its pledge, in place for more than a year, to keep rates at record lows for an "extended period."
Dropping or weakening the extended-period language would spook Wall Street and businesses and could crimp hiring, analysts said. "It is not the right thing to do now," said Kurt Karl, chief U.S. economist at Swiss Re. "You don't want to derail employment growth."
In fact, given the risks to the recovery both at home and overseas, economists increasingly say the Fed probably won't start boosting rates until next year — or possibly into 2012. That's a change from a few months ago, when economists thought the Fed would begin raising rates at the end of this year.
The Fed has leeway to hold rates at record lows because inflation is essentially nonexistent.
Still, some inside the Fed who worry that easy money could spur inflation are already uneasy. One of them, Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, has dissented for three straight meetings from the Fed's decision to retain the "extended period" pledge.
Besides inflation, Hoenig has said he fears keeping rates too low for too long could lead to excessive risk-taking by investors, feeding speculative bubbles in the prices of assets like stocks, bonds and commodities.
After suffering the worst recession since the 1930s, the economy has been growing for about a year. Yet the pace hasn't been robust enough to drive down unemployment, now at 9.7 percent. The rate is expected to stay high through this year and next. As a result, consumers have been cautious about spending. In May, retail spending fell by the largest amount in eight months.
Surveying the situation, Capital Economics in a note to clients concluded: "Interest rate hikes still years away."
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Saturday, July 2, 2011
Bacon and Egg salad
I fried 2 strips of bacon, and then brought 2 cups of water to a gentle simmer, adding about a tablespoon of vinegar and a good pinch of salt. The key is for the simmer to be very very gentle, otherwise you tend to get egg drop soup. I cracked the egg into a bowl first, and then ever so gently slipped the egg into the water, and let it cook 2 minutes.
I made a strong vinegrette with grain mustard, garlic, champagne vinegar and olive oil. Tossed it all together et Voila' a substantial salad in 15 minutes, perfect for a lazy weekend
4 comments:
- AnonymousJuly 2, 2011 at 11:41 PM
Poached Redfire Farm eggs are awesome! Their eggs are so good it more than justifies the cost of them. At $3.50 per half dozen I pretty much limit myself to over-easy or poached - both with a dab of Vermont Creamery cultured butter with sea salt (I refer to it as crack butter - one taste and I was hooked). Allendale Farm's eggs are good, too, but not in the same league as Redfire.
Mark - AnonymousJuly 2, 2011 at 11:49 PM
I forgot to ask - do you know any butchers around Boston that make their own bacon?
We have two independent butchers in Roslindale and neither makes bacon. Tony's Market makes their own Italian sausages that are so good that I can forgive Tony for not making bacon. The other butcher is Halal, so he just can't.
Mark Mark, I haven't tried all the local alternatives, but the redfire ones (our CSA) are amazing. I had another one for breakfast this morning!
In terms of locally made bacon, I did get some once from Stillmans back when I was doing their Meat CSA. It was fantastic. They are at farmer's markets, but you might have to make prior arrangements to make sure they have it. I've tried making it myself but it's been underwhelming, largely because I don't have a proper smoker.

subset: commoncrawl


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She made it clear that she intends to claim the show's mirrorball trophy.
"I haven't worked this hard for this long not to win this thing," she said Monday. "That trophy is mine."
The singer scored 87 out of 90 points for her three dances with professional partner Dmitry Chaplin. The pair was perfect on their paso doble and bested their fellow finalists with a perfect score during the megamix challenge, which saw them dancing side-by-side with Donny Osmond and Kelly Osbourne. Mya's "Hairspray"-themed freestyle dance didn't dazzle the judges, who gave it 27 out of 30 points.
"I was expecting something a little bit more spectacular," judge Bruno Tonioli said.
Osmond finished in second place with 85 out of 90 points. He and professional partner Kym Johnson earned a perfect score of 30 for their Broadway-inspired freestyle routine, which head judge Len Goodman called "an absolute show-stopper." The couple collected 27 points for their cha-cha and 28 during the megamix challenge.
Despite the second-place finish, Osmond said he still wants to become the "Dancing" champ.
"I want to win this mirrorball so badly," he said Monday. "Because if you had a sister named Marie and she was going to rub it in your face your whole life, you'd want to win, too."
A slim and smiling Kelly Osbourne finished third with 76 points out of 90. She and professional partner Louis Van Amstel collected 26 points each for their Argentine tango and megamix performance. The couple's glittery freestyle dance to the '70s classic "I Will Survive" earned 24 points - along with glowing praise from the judges.
"One thing is for sure," Tonioli said. "You never looked more beautiful than tonight."
Osbourne said she exceeded her own expectations on the ABC show.
"I didn't think that I really could do it, but this was my opportunity to show people that I have grown up," the reality star said Monday. "Every single dance we've done so far in this competition has been such a learning process and an adventure for me. I never thought we were going to get this far, but I'm so glad we did."
Each will perform again on Tuesday's episode, when a new "Dancing" champ will be crowned.


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When Google released the first version of its Chrome web browser last year, it was big news. Heck, virtually everything Google does is big news, that's just the state of the industry right now and a measure of the company's influence.
Back then, however, it wasn't clear we needed another web browser. Chrome would be based on WebKit, the web rendering engine previously picked by Apple, but a relatively unknown technology. And Chrome would be stripped of many of the end user niceties that bog down some competing browsers. Instead, it would focus almost exclusively on performance, allowing Google's web-based applications to perform as well as possible.
\[ Read my initial reaction to Google Chrome. \]
What a difference a year makes. Since debuting in beta form in September 2008, Chrome has undergone some amazing transformations. It's still basically the same browser, featuring a stripped-down default user interface and amazing performance. But Chrome is in the midst of its fourth major version update over this time frame, which is partly explained by how many improvements were needed and partly by the fact that Google has branched development so that it can simultaneously work on two versions at once.
\[ Hands on with Google Chrome Beta chronicles the first Chrome release. \]
Chrome 1.0 shipped exactly a year ago today. This was the first stable release of the browser, and it incorporated all the basic features such as the minimalist UI with integral tab support. Google followed that up in rapid succession with Chrome 2, which added a full-screen mode and better performance, among other changes, in May 2009. Version 3 hit just five months later, in October 2009, adding another performance bump, a nice integrated theming system, and support for native HTML 5 video and audio functionality.
Google Chrome 4.
As I write this, Chrome 4 is in beta, but as is so often the case with Google products, what we see today represents the eventual stable version of the browser, so it's fair game to evaluate from a functional standpoint. The big deal this time around is a formal infrastructure for browser extensions, and as we've seen before, Google's approach to what is elsewhere a common browser feature is both unique and well designed.
Chrome extensions are programmed like web pages and accessed via a web page.
Chrome's extension system, in fact, was planned as far back as late 2008, and Google announced its plans for the system at the Google I/O event in May 2009 that spawned Google Wave. (See my first look at Google Wave.) Chrome extensions are designed using web technologies--HTML, CSS, Javascript, and so on--with which developers are already familiar, so they're easy to write, as evidenced by the vast library of useful extensions that's already available.
Many extensions are exposed through the toolbar, like this nifty Twitter front-end.
I've been testing beta versions of Chrome 4 with extensions for over a month now, and for the past few weeks or so, Chrome has been my primary browser. As always, it's proven to be fast and reliable. But with version 4, it's also highly extensible. This functionality puts the browser on par with Firefox in my view, and well ahead of IE in the areas that should matter most to users. Whether this usage continues remains to be seen--after an initial flurry of excitement after the browser's initial release last year, I ended up back with Firefox and IE--but I think Chrome 4 may just have what it takes. Certainly, it's worth a look or, if you dismissed it to readily in the past, another look.


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This one's a quickie, and it comes courtesy of reader/listener Andrew:
In Windows Vista, there's a new Power button in the Start Menu. By default, this button will put your PC into Sleep mode when clicked. But you can change its behavior. The fastest way is to open the Start Menu and type power in Start Menu Search to find the Power Options application. Then, in the left column, select Choose what the power button does. You'll be presented with a UI for choosing between various power management options, including Do Nothing, Sleep, and Shut down.
Thanks Andrew!
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We have two videos for you as well as the press release.
Epic, Sci-Fi Universe Introduces Innovative Persistent, Online World Filled with Sweeping Adventures
Multi-platform Game Takes Console Online Gaming to a New Level
Santa Monica, CA - February 18, 2013 - A new generation of gaming is upon us. Today, Activision Publishing, Inc, a wholly owned subsidiary of Activision Blizzard, Inc. (Nasdaq: ATVI), together with critically-acclaimed developer Bungie, revealed the first sneak peak of their partnership. The game, called Destiny, is an ambitious evolution of the first-person action genre that brings gamers together in a shared, persistent world. The result of a large-scale collaboration between Activision, the publisher of such mega franchises as Call of Duty, Skylanders Spyro's AdventureTM and Skylanders GiantsTM, and Bungie, the creators of Halo®, Destiny is poised to become the next advancement in interactive entertainment by melding first-person action gaming with a persistent, dynamic online world.
Destiny combines Bungie's trademark grand scope, sci-fi storytelling and adventures with visceral first-person action gaming that takes place in an unfolding, cinematic universe. Additionally, Destiny delivers a unique social gaming experience to consoles by offering players a connected, living world that they can explore, combined with vibrant social spaces where they can congregate and celebrate achievements, and share remarkable adventures grouped with friends or solo.
"Bungie defined first-person action games over a decade ago with Halo, and with Destiny they will evolve the genre once again," said Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing. "Destiny is a world that evolves. It is a world with wide boundaries that allows you to roam and explore. It is a world where, even in story mode, you could encounter other players on their own adventures. And of course, it is a world that brings all of this together with the visceral, heart pounding immediacy of an expertly crafted first-person action title. We are very excited to bring this ambitious, innovative and creative game to players around the world."
"Activision focuses on doing a few things, exceptionally well. And Bungie has had the same ethos," Hirshberg continued. "Together we are focusing the considerable resources, creativity and energy of both organizations to do something new, something ambitious, but most importantly, something fun."
Set in the distant future, Destiny casts players as Guardians of the last city on Earth, who will traverse the ancient ruins of our solar system from the red dunes of Mars to the lush jungles of Venus. Able to wield incredible power, players must battle humanity's enemies and reclaim all that was lost during the collapse of mankind's Golden Age. In a story-driven universe, Destiny's saga unfolds through grand talesand sweeping adventures by immersinggamers in a bold new world filled with cooperative, competitive, public, and social activities, all seamlessly connected. Bungie's new next-generation game engine will allowDestiny to come to life on both the Xbox 360® video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and the PlayStation®3 computer entertainment system, as well as other future console platforms.
"Destiny is the game that we've been dreaming of building for years. We couldn't be more pleased about our extraordinary collaboration with Activision. We finally have the right partner, team and technology to bring the experience to millions of players worldwide," said Harold Ryan, Bungie president. "Destiny will draw players into a world filled with mystery, action, and adventure, but most importantly, Destiny is more than a disc in a drive, it is a living social universe filled with other players."
"Not only does Destiny look amazing, but its new living world will change the way players think of co-operative online gaming," said global retailer GameStop president Tony Bartel. "This is just the type of innovation the game industry has been waiting for and I'm anxious for players to experience the vast universe of Destiny."
For more information, visit www.DestinyTheGame.com. For exclusive updates, follow the official Destiny social channels at www.facebook.com/DestinyTheGame and @DestinyTheGame on Twitter, and interact directly with the developers at www.Bungie.net. Pre-order the game now at select retailers around the world. Activision reiterated that although Bungie's amazing new world was revealed today, Activision has not included the launch in its 2013 outlook and there should be no speculation or expectation of a different result.


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Padma Awards
Padma Awards, namely, Padma Vibhushan, Padma Bhushan and Padma Shri are given for exceptional and distinguished service in any field including service rendered by Government servants. The recommendations for Padma Awards are received from the State Governments/Union Territory Administrations, Central Ministries/Departments, Institutions of Excellence, etc. which are considered by an Awards Committee. On the basis of the recommendations of the Awards Committee, and after approval of the Home Minister, Prime Minister and President, the Padma Awards are announced on the eve of the Republic Day.
The initial selection made by a committee, headed by the cabinet Secretary. Also included in the Committee are the secretary to the President, the Union Home Secretary, and a number of "EMINENT" Representatives from various fields such as Science, Medicine, Culture, Media and sports.
The committee examines the recommendations, roughly about 500,from the State Government and the Union Ministries
This list is brought down 150,and out of which about 100 to 130 make the final padma grade in various categories.
The Prime Minister has the final say though Presidents too are known have played activist roles in these stat honours


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Extraordinary Executive
Focused Business Consulting
Focused Business Consulting and Advisory Services for Small to Medium Sized companies. We specialize in family-based businesses and service-based franchises
Grimsby is a town on Lake Ontario in the Niagara Region, Ontario, Canada. Grimsby is at the eastern end of the Hamilton Census Metropolitan Area. It is named after the English fishing town of Grimsby in north-east Lincolnshire. The majority of residents reside in the area bounded by Lake Ontario and the Niagara Escarpment, home to a section of the Bruce Trail.Grimsby has experienced significant growth over the past two decades due to its position between Hamilton and St. Catharines.
Ainslie Wood, Ancaster Heights, Barnstown, Bartonville, Beasley, Berrisfield, Broughton East, Bruleville, Carluke, Centremount, Cherry Heights, Duff's Corners, Fifty Point Conservation Area, Gilbert, Gilkson


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Google today launched Google Maps Street View, a new Google Maps feature that shows a 360-degree view from the streets of select cities.
"With Street View, you can virtually explore city neighborhoods by viewing and navigating within 360-degree scenes of street-level imagery," said Stephen Chau, product manager for Google Maps, in a blog post. "It feels as if you're walking down the street!"
Initially, Street View images are available in Denver, Las Vegas, Miami, New York, and San Francisco. Additional cities will be covered in the future.
At some point, these images may include live video feeds. While Google has other engineering priorities right now, Alan Eustace, senior VP of engineering & research, expressed interest in live video feeds while speaking with reporters at Google's recent Searchology event and noted that company co-founder Larry Page felt similarly.
Amazon's A9.com search engine pioneered the use of street images in its local search service back in January 2005. The company spent eight months compiling a database of 35 million images in 22 cities by sending drivers around the streets of major cities in vehicles equipped with GPS devices, cameras, and computers. Former A9.com CEO Udi Manber now works at Google as a VP of engineering.


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Arabic Bible on Palm
Finally the Arab world can now enjoy The Arabic Bible on Palm featuring advance and partial search of the Arabic Text with dielectrics (Tashkilat). The text is from the Vandyke & Smith Translation which is provided and hosted by the Arabic Bible Outreach Ministry.
Click here to download the Palm Modules - Zipped File
All copyrights for the Smith Vandyke Arabic Bible belongs to Arabic Bible Outreach Ministry. The text is free for download and for personal use. It is prohibited to use the text for the purpose of gain or to post on other internet sites.
- Hits: 26941


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Dec. 9, 2012
AUBURN--Charlie Harbison, an experienced coach and highly regarded recruiter who has spent the last 18 years coaching in the Southeastern and Atlantic Coast Conferences, has been named co-defensive coordinator at Auburn, head coach Gus Malzahn announced Sunday. Harbison, who will coach defensive backs while serving as Ellis Johnson's right-hand man on defense, spent the previous four seasons in a similar capacity at Clemson.
"Charlie is an outstanding coach and recruiter and we're excited to have him join our staff," Malzahn said. "He's very familiar with Coach Ellis Johnson, having coached together on two different staffs, which will be a tremendous asset to our defense. He is a true professional and one of the class guys in college coaching."
Harbison and Auburn defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson worked together at Alabama in 2000 and at Mississippi State in 2007.
Named one of nation's top 25 recruiters by Rivals in 2010, Harbison helped Clemson to back-to-back 10-win seasons, including the 2011 ACC Championship, the program's first in 20 years. This season, Clemson was 10-2 after a 10-4 mark in 2011 and an Orange Bowl appearance.
"I'm looking forward to joining Coach Gus Malzahn's staff at Auburn," Harbison said. "Having coached against Auburn on several occasions, I'm very familiar with the great success and tradition associated with the program. This is a tremendous opportunity for me and my family."
Harbison coached cornerback Coty Sensabaugh, who had 14 passes defended in 2011 and was drafted by the Tennessee Titans.
His secondary was ranked in the top 26 in the nation in pass efficiency defense in 2009 and 2010, while coaching first-team All-American safety DeAndre McDaniel in 2009 and 2010. McDaniel led the ACC and was tied for third in the nation in interceptions (8) in 2009.
He helped Clemson to a top-25 ranking and the ACC Atlantic Division title in 2009. Clemson had 21 interceptions, fifth-most in Tiger history and tied for fifth-most in the nation. Clemson was seventh in the nation in passing defense.
Prior to his tenure at Clemson, Harbison spent two seasons at Mississippi State (2007-08). After just one season, he was elevated to defensive coordinator, while also coaching safeties. The Bulldogs were seventh in the nation in pass defense and 20th in the nation in pass efficiency defense in 2007. Harbison had a pair of coaching stints at the University of Alabama from 1998-2000 and 2003-06. He coached the Crimson Tide wide receivers during second stint, helping UA to a 26-24 overall record, including three bowl berths.
During that four-year stretch, Harbison helped receivers D. J. Hall, Antonio Carter, and Triandos Luke rank among the school's all-time top 10 pass-catchers. Two of Hall's single-season receiving totals were among the best ever at the school. Following the 2005 season, he was honored as one of the nation's top 25 college football recruiters by Rivals.com.
Harbison coached defensive backs in his initial stay from 1998-2000. He helped Alabama to the 1999 Southeastern Conference title and appearances in the 1998 Music City and 2000 Orange Bowls. Two of his pupils, Fernando Bryant in 1999 and Tony Dixon in 2001, were taken in the first and second rounds of the National Football League draft.
Between the Alabama assignments, Harbison coached the defensive backfield at LSU in 2001 and '02. He was a member of the Tiger coaching staff that directed the 2001 LSU team to the SEC title. During his two years, LSU finished 18-8 overall and played in the 2002 Sugar and 2003 Cotton Bowls. Corey Webster, who played under Harbison his first two years in Baton Rouge, finished second on the school's all-time pass interception list.
Prior to his first stint at Alabama, Harbison served as the defensive backs coach at Clemson from 1995-97. The Tigers posted a 22-14 mark during those three years, ending those seasons in the Gator and back-to-back Peach Bowls. One of his pupils was nine-time Pro Bowl selection Brian Dawkins. He was an All-American and led the ACC in interceptions in Harbison's first year at Clemson (1995).
Harbison also coached the secondary at UTEP (1994) and served twice at his alma mater, Gardner-Webb, coaching wide receivers (1992-93) and defensive backs (1984-85). In addition to his collegiate coaching experience, he worked in both the Arena Football League and the World League of American Football. His professional football coaching resume includes serving as defensive coordinator for the Charlotte Rage (1993).
A native of Shelby, N.C., Harbison graduated from Gardner-Webb College in 1995. A two-sport star in football and track on the college level, he was a free-agent signee of the Buffalo Bills following his senior season.
He is married to the former Tammy McCluney; they have four children, Charlie, Stedman, Masai, and Msiba.
Coaching Career 1984-85: Assistant Coach, Gardner-Webb College 1988: East Lincoln Senior High School 1990: Charlotte Barons 1991: Lincolnton Senior High School 1992-93: Assistant Coach, Gardner-Webb College 1993: Assistant Coach, Charlotte Rage (AFL) 1994: Assistant Coach, University of Texas-El Paso 1995-97: Assistant Coach, Clemson University 1998-00: Assistant Coach, University of Alabama 2001-02: Assistant Coach, Louisiana State University 2003-06: Assistant Coach, University of Alabama 2007-08: Assistant Coach, Mississippi State University 2009-12: Co-Defensive Coordinator, Clemson University
Filed under:
Charlie Harbison officially named co-defensive coordinator
The following is the official release from Auburn introducing Charlie Harbison as a member of the Tigers' coaching staff.


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Maybe it is fitting that such a big word would have a big task.
Intercession. To stand in the gap. To fight for somebody when they can't fight.
We can interceed or intervene on behalf of a person with our words and our actions. Some of us have been in an "intervention" and it saved our lives.
In this instance I am speaking about the action of intercession or intervention through prayer. This is not to bend the will of God, but instead to join in with the army of heaven in a spiritual battle over the minds, hearts, and lives of others.
For two days God put on my heart a list of people to pray for.
Some He called me to pray for them so that they might find healing in their life. Intercession is powerful.
A few He called me to pray for them so that I might find healing in my life.
Forgiveness is powerful.
I found the peace of the Lord by going to battle.
I would encourage anyone who has been reading this reflection series to take a step back, get out of your own head and intervene in another persons life THROUGH pray. Pray blessings over your enemies. Pray for peace over your loved ones.
My prayers were ones out of Ephesians.
Ephesians 1:18-20
18 I pray that your hearts will be flooded with light so that you can understand the confident hope he has given to those he called—his holy people who are his rich and glorious inheritance.[a]
19 I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God's power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power 20 that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God's right hand in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians 3:16-19
16 I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. 17 Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. 18 And may you have the power to understand, as all God's people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. 19 May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God.
There is power in the one we PRAY TO. There is healing in the name of Jesus. There is freedom in our God and there is peace in His spirit. Take some time to delve into that.


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ABC News correspondent Amy Robach is seen at Advertising Week in New York. (Photo by Brian Ach/Invision for Advertising Week/AP Images, File)
by David Bauder
AP Television Writer
NEW YORK (AP) — A month after undergoing a mammogram on "Good Morning America," ABC's Amy Robach said Monday she has breast cancer and will have a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery this week.
The 40-year-old correspondent admitted she had been reluctant to have the public mammogram but went ahead after "GMA" anchor Robin Roberts told her that if the story saved one life, it would be worth it.
"It never occurred to me that life would be mine," she said.
Robach joined ABC in 2012 from NBC, where she was a "Weekend Today" host. She logged considerable time with the cast of ABC's top-rated morning show, filling in for Roberts, who has fought back from a serious blood and bone marrow disease.
Producers chose her for the mammogram story because, at 40, she's at the age when it's recommended that women regularly check for breast cancer. Married with two children and a full-time job, Robach said she had found plenty of reasons to put it off.
In her original story, she emerged from her mammogram telling Roberts and her "GMA" colleagues that it hurt much less than she thought it would.
A few weeks later, she returned for what she thought would be some follow-up images only to learn she had cancer. Her husband, who had been away on business, and her parents flew in that night "and we started gearing up for a fight."
She said she will learn after Thursday's surgery what her treatment will entail going forward.
Robach said she was told that when someone gets cancer, many lives around them are saved because people are vigilant and get check-ups.
"I can only hope my story will do the same and inspire every woman who hears it to get a mammogram, to take a self-exam," she said. "No excuses. It is the difference between life and death."


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This article is more than 1 year old
UK picks Open Document Format for all government files
Minister Francis Maude wants to break 'oligopoly' of software suppliers
The UK Government has decided that Open Document Format, the OpenOffice-derived file format, is the best choice for all government documents.
The Cabinet Office's Standards Hub explained its thinking on the matter and published the recommendation this week, using the following language:
"When dealing with citizens, information should be digital by default and therefore should be published online. Browser-based editing is the preferred option for collaborating on published government information. HTML (4.01 or higher e.g. HTML5) is therefore the default format for browser-based editable text. Other document formats specified in this proposal - ODF 1.1 (or higher e.g. ODF 1.2), plain text (TXT) or comma separated values (CSV) - should be provided in addition. ODF includes filename extensions such as .odt for text, .ods for spreadsheets and .odp for presentations."
CSV files are preferred for "statistical or numerical information … preferably with a preview provided in HTML."
"For information being collaborated on between departments" it is suggested that "browser-based editing is preferable but often not currently available. Therefore, information should be shared in ODF (version 1.1 or higher e.g. ODF 1.2)."
In-browser editing is preferred across the board, and "To avoid lock-in to a particular provider, it must be possible for documents being created or worked on in a cloud environment to be exported in at least one of the editable document formats proposed."
A second recommendation on the best file format for viewing government docments suggests "PDF/A should be used as the default for non-editable documents. PDF 1.7 should be used where more rich functionality is needed."
Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude mentioned the release of standards proposals in a speech delivered yesterday.
That oration, published here, offers the following observations about the decision to chose ODF:
"Technical standards for document formats may not set the pulse racing – it may not sound like the first shot in a revolution. But be in no doubt: the adoption of open standards in government threatens the power of lock-in to propriety vendors yet it will give departments the power to choose what is right for them and the citizens who use their services."
Elsewhere in the speech Maude hints strongly at a desire to spend less money on software.
"Over the past few years we've moved away from a small oligopoly of IT suppliers to create a more open market," he said yesterday. "And yet the software we use in government is still supplied by just a few large companies."
"I want to see a greater range of software used, so people have access to the information they need and can get their work done without having to buy a particular propriety [sic] brand."
Which brand might that be, Minister? Office 365 and Google Docs both allow saving files to ODF, so in-browser editing has at least two choices for government users to consider. On the desktop, Microsoft Office can do the business, too. So can free-to-acquire productivity suites.
Maude says broader software choice "should help departments to do something as simple as sharing documents with each other more easily" and will contribute to "making government more efficient and delivering simpler, clearer, faster services". ®


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There is something bizarre about the debate over how the United States should respond to the Syrian regime's use of chemical weapons against its own people.
President Barack Obama has said that use of chemical weapons by the regime would cross a "red line" and be a "game-changer." There are bipartisan calls in Congress for a response; the Pentagon is preparing options that include commando raids to secure chemical stockpiles and strikes on Syrian airplanes.
But as evidence mounts of toxic attacks, Obama is waffling, demanding detailed proof of the attacks that is almost impossible to come by. The president clearly wants to avoid getting more involved in the Syrian maelstrom.
He's right to be cautious, but not for the reasons the White House is putting forward. He should be doing more to help CIA-vetted Syrian rebels, but as part of a broad (and still missing) strategy for the region — not just as a reaction to any chemical-weapons attacks.
Don't get me wrong. I don't mean to diminish the horror evoked by the image of chemical attacks against civilians. I have visited Halabja in northern Iraq, where, 25 years ago, thousands of Kurds were murdered when Saddam Hussein's helicopters blanketed the town with poison gas.
But more than 70,000 Syrians have been killed in the past two years by conventional weapons, compared with a few in these suspected chemical attacks. Bashar al-Assad's war crimes include bombing and indiscriminate shelling of cities, along with Scud missile attacks on defenseless civilians. Yet this slaughter has not been perceived as crossing any red line.
The Syrian conflict is spilling across borders, threatening Iraq, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey and Israel. Still no administration red lines.
Until now, the White House has refused to provide even CIA-vetted opposition leaders with weapons that could repel Assad's bombs, Scuds and heavy artillery. Nor has it given more than a very limited green light for its allies to provide heavy weapons. Meantime, jihadi groups have had little trouble getting weapons and cash from rich Gulf Arabs, which enables them to attract more fighters to their cause.
Many Syrian opposition fighters have told me bitterly that the chemical-weapons red line was only Obama's excuse for doing nothing so long as Syrian civilians were killed by conventional bombs instead of gas.
So the issue of chemical-weapons use must be handled carefully.
Before this past week, there were three episodes in which chemical weapons were believed to have killed dozens in Syria. On Thursday, the U.S.-based Syrian Support Group reported two more attacks with chemical-filled rockets on the town of Daraya, eight miles southwest of Damascus, sending 130 people to hospitals with muscle spasms, bronchial spasms, headaches, dizziness and vomiting.
Clearly, Assad is using these attacks to terrify Syrian civilians. And no doubt, he is also probing to see if Obama will abandon his red line. Iran, too, is watching, since Obama famously warned that any development of nuclear weapons in that country also would cross an American red line.
If Obama confines his response to legalistic demands, this would signal to both Damascus and Tehran that Assad has a strong chance of surviving. It would indicate to the region that Assad can probably wait out the Americans and their allies, even as his country disintegrates, jihadis gain strength and Syria's sectarian war spreads around the region. It also would prove to Russia's Vladimir Putin that he was correct to back Assad despite the risks.
But a military response that is limited to the chemical-weapons issue also would be greatly mistaken. The options are dicey, and there is no way to secure Assad's chemical stockpiles in the midst of a civil war.
Far better to recognize these attacks for what they are — a glaring signal that the United States must recalculate its entire strategy in the very near term. The best remaining chance of removing Assad is to convince the military commanders around him that the United States is finally serious about wanting him gone. Only then might some turn against their leader.
At a meeting last weekend, Washington pledged to pressure its allies — meaning Qatar and Saudi Arabia — to channel all military assistance through the umbrella Supreme Military Council, headed by Gen. Salim Idriss. This offers a last chance to strengthen moderate fighting groups against the jihadis. It might even grab Moscow's attention and persuade some elements of the Syrian government to start negotiations.
The best way for Obama to react to Assad's vicious chemical-weapons feint would be to show the world that he has finally decided to take the lead in pushing for a resolution to the Syrian disaster. But other countries won't pay attention to U.S. entreaties unless the White House puts money, muscle and weapons into the game.
Originally published in the Philadelphia Inquirer


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Just yesterday I heard of the notion of a fundamental group of a topos, so I looked it up on the nLab, where the following nice definition is given:
If $T$ is a Grothendieck topos arising as category of sheaves on a site $X$, then there is the notion of locally constant, locally finite objects in $T$ (which I presume just means that there is a cover $(U_i)$ in $X$ such that each restriction to $U_i$ is constant and finite). If $C$ is the subcategory of $T$ consisting of all the locally constant, locally finite objects of $T$, and if $F:C\rightarrow FinSets$ is a functor ("fiber functor"), satisfying certain unnamed properties which should imply prorepresentability, then one defines $\pi_1(T,F)=Aut(F)$.
Now, if $X_{et}$ is the small étale site of a connected scheme $X$, then it is well known the category of locally constant, locally finite sheaves on $X$ is equivalent to the category of finite étale coverings of $X$, and with the appropriate notion of fiber functor it surely follows that the étale fundamental group and the fundamental group of the topos on $X_{et}$ coincide.
Similarly, as the nlab entry mentions, if $X$ is a nice topological space, locally finite, locally constant sheaves correspond to finite covering spaces (via the "éspace étalé"), and we should recover the profinite completion of the usual topological fundamental group.
Before I come to my main question: Did I manage to summarize this correctly, or is there something wrong with the above?
My question:
Has the fundamental group of other topoi been studied, and in what context or disguise might we already know them? For example, what is known about the fundamental group of the category of fppf sheaves over a scheme $X$?


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Laws, Regulations and Annotations
Business Taxes Law Guide – Revision 2024
Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law
Revenue and Taxation Code
Division 2. Other Taxes
Part 2. Motor Vehicle Fuel Tax Law
Chapter 5. Determinations and Payments.1
Article 3. Determination If No Return Made
Section 7675
7675. Deficiency determination statute of limitation. Except in the case of fraud, intent to evade this part or authorized rules and regulations, or failure to make a return, every notice of a deficiency determination shall be given to the supplier within three years after the last day of the month following the monthly period for which the amount is proposed to be determined or within three years after the return is filed, whichever period expires the later. In the case of a failure to make a return the notice of determination shall be mailed within eight years after the date the return was due.
1Added by Stats. 2000, Ch. 1053 (AB 2114), operative January 1, 2002.


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Move over Siri, Sherpa's in town
This digital assistant app, popular in Spain and Latin America, is rolling out in the U.S. today. Will it give Siri a run for its money?
The march toward a better, voice-controlled future continues, even with Siri, Google Voice Search and newer digital assistants, such as Donna, already on the scene.
The latest entrant is Sherpa, a natural language Android app that's a top app in Spain and Latin America and today is rolling out in the U.S. -- first for Android, eventually for iOS.
Like Siri, Sherpa attempts to help organize your life and perform tasks when you ask the app questions or give it commands. It's the brainchild of Xabier Uribe-Etxebarria, who's based in Bilbao, Spain, and has been working on natural language and semantic technology for more than a decade.
"My vision was to build interface to our digital life," Uribe-Etxebarria told me. "For everything to be done through Sherpa. We haven't done that yet. But compared with other, we're way better. We're beyond Siri."
That will be up to users to decide. Sherpa, which also has offices in Redwood City, Calif., has partnered with a number of companies and draws on a number of sources, such as PayPal, Themoviedb.org, Lastminute.com, Wikipedia, and LinkedIn. The idea is to limit the dependency on search engines so Sherpa can deliver up specific answers instead of a list of links.
Sherpa works in both English and Spanish, and the technology learns over time, says Uribe-Etxebarria, so it should get better at interpreting what you're asking for.
It does some nifty things. You can ask it to show your mentions on Twitter, and it does. You can post directly to Facebook by talking. You can tell it to pay someone $10 through PayPal and complete the transaction. You can ask to hear a Rihanna song, and Sherpa begins to stream the music via a partnership with a European company that has the rights to 4 million tracks.
Mobile Guides
Foldable Phones
Mobile Accessories
Wireless Plans


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In my last post, I discussed why the odds of a rookie entrepreneur getting seed financing from a VC are very slim. The reality is that less than 5% of venture money goes to seed-stage startups; VCs typically invest when a company has a working product, a tested business model, and a strong management team. It's the entrepreneurs who take the risk; not the VCs. They beg and borrow money from friends and family, max out their credit cards, and sometimes make do by living at home with their parents. Yet, very often, it's the VCs who get the glory. I don't think that's fair. So in this post, I'm going to highlight three bootstrapped companies, and share the advice of their founders. In my books, entrepreneurs are the real heroes—those who make the innovation happen. They are the ones you should be following on Twitter and learning from, not boastful VCs.
Take Chicago-based Threadless. Its founder, Jake Nickell, built a very profitable $40 million business by bringing crowdsourcing to the mundane world of t-shirt design. Threadless sells millions of tees every year and has been growing annually at double-digit percentage rates. It was founded in 2000, after Nickell, then a 20-year-old web developer, won a t-shirt-design contest. With an investment of $1000, he built a website to which people submitted t-shirt designs, and the favorites were printed in limited-edition runs. In 2006, the company had gained traction, was generating nearly $10 million in revenue, and took a small investment from Insight Venture Partners.
My Q&A with Jake:
Would you have taken a VC investment if you could have, when you started?
Definitely not, as I was starting a hobby and not a business. It's kind of like asking if I would consider a VC investment to help me start learning to skateboard. Sure, I'd spend a couple hundred bucks on a board, some pads and maybe some materials to build a ramp, but I'm not looking for millions or even hundreds or tens of thousands to just create something for fun. Even if I was starting a business, I don't think I was raised that way or have that type of personality. I didn't even have my first credit card until I was maybe 23, so I really just don't do well with spending money I don't have.
Why did you take investment and how has that experience been? What changed after taking VC?
We were having major operations trouble and weren't incredibly excited about fixing it ourselves. I never finished college and my background is more in art/programming. In '05 if you ordered a tee during our holiday sale, you'd probably get it three weeks after Christmas. We had a few choices… outsource all that stuff (but still have to manage it), work with consultants to help us figure out what to do, or to get someone who knew what they were doing to invest in the company and help us. We felt that last option was best.
The experience has been great. There was no shortage of interest from VC firms in investing in us, so we got to be pretty choosy about whom we worked with. We got really comfortable with Insight as they had some programs in place for helping us, and we got along really well with them. A lot has changed after taking the VC—we are now operationally sound and actually ship orders out in a decent timeframe!
What advice would you give fellow entrepreneurs?
If you want your life to be fun as an entrepreneur, I suggest going into it with realistic expectations and to measure your success in different ways than financially. I've done well financially with Threadless, but if I had to give up one thing, the money would be the first thing to go. The happiness, relationships, enrichment in others' lives, the community that now exists; the opportunities brought to artists—that's the success that really matters for Threadless. Build your business in a way that lets you say that, and mean it too.
Pointabout is a Washington D.C. based startup that markets a mobile-application builder, AppMakr.com. Founded in 2008, by Scott Suhy, Daniel R. Odio, Sean Shadmad, and Isaac Mosquera, the company started building custom apps for companies like Disney, The Washington Post, Newsweek, and Politico. They used this revenue to fund the development of their flagship product. Two years later, the Pointabout is profitable, with revenues approaching $2 million annually. It's not that the founders didn't try raising VC; things are even tougher in D.C. than in Silicon Valley, so they decided to bootstrap.
My Q&A with the team:
Would you have been better off if you could have raised VC when you started?
We're really glad we didn't. It's easy to burn through a lot of cash trying to figure your business out. Bootstrapping (especially in a recession) has forced us to focus on what works, and on gaining traction. The right time to take money is when you have something that works and you want to blow it out of the water with explosive growth. Taking money too early often hurts more than it helps, and looking back on our growth, we believe that would have likely been the case with us.
Did you have to make major tradeoffs by going down the custom development/consulting route?
Sure, we made plenty of trade-offs. Many tough round-table meetings. We funded our growth by developing our AppMakr.com product based on custom app consulting revenue. This month we've been successful enough to break out our P&Ls so we can draw a line in the sand between the consulting and product divisions. We'll continue to separate these two as we grow. The product drives consulting revenue when clients want features that it can't provide. And since the consulting side is close to the customer, it helps drive our product roadmap.
What advice would you give entrepreneurs?
Focus hard and focus on your core. Almost anyone can make any one thing great if they focus on it and dedicate their life to it. If all you did was think about how to make one specific thing awesome every day, you would succeed.
Entrepreneurism is glamorized and romanticized, but at the end of the day, it's really, really hard work, and it requires a lot of sacrifice—not just from you, but from the people around you. Make sure your friends and family are ready to support you, and then jump in. Don't let the fear keep you from doing it. You only live once, so if this is what you're passionate about, don't have any regrets looking back on your life. Just do it.
I've written about the dearth of women and minorities in tech entrepreneurship. Timothy Bernard Jones, an African-American entrepreneur, is one of the rare success stories. He founded Buzzient in 2007, to market a SaaS application that enables users to integrate social media into business applications. It allows Oracle CRM to integrate data from Twitter, Facebook, and YouTube, for example. Having been an associate at a VC firm in his past, Jones decided to forsake VC and to bootstrap instead. He wants to build considerable value before seriously considering venture capital. With revenues in the "low millions of dollars" and having achieved profitability, Buzzient certainly seems on track.
I asked Tim how much of a factor his skin color was in his decision not to raise VC.
I wouldn't say being black put either me or Buzzient at a disadvantage, but bootstrapping has been a big advantage. I have had absolutely no illusion about being able to walk into a VC pitch wearing a t-shirt and flip-flops and walk out with a term sheet. I know that if I had dropped out of college, there is no way I would be considered "entrepreneurial" or "visionary"; I'd just be "a college dropout". So, in my case, and for the company I lead, we've created a culture of self-sufficiency that is very different from the mentality I see with so many venture-funded companies. Look, we've already outlasted tons of venture-funded companies, and I think that's a direct result of the survival mentality we created early on.
What were the keys to your success?
The first rule is to relentlessly focus on your customers. We have Global 5000 clients, such as Xerox, Credit Suisse, and Perkin Elmer, who rely on Buzzient for social-media insights on their existing and prospective customers. VC-backed companies often go off on tangents based on business-school strategy sessions and the like; as a bootstrapped company you live and die by how happy and successful your customers are, and in keeping them so. Everything revolves around customer focus; what people you bring into the company and when, what technology you build and what features you add to the specification; everything. If we'd not focused as much on customers, Buzzient would not have made it through the recession.
What advice would you give entrepreneurs?
Don't believe the hype and noise about how "easy" it is to do a startup and how money is literally falling from heaven into startups. Every time I drive by Sand Hill Road, I see clumps of "fresh fish", shuffling from pitch to pitch, who equate raising VC with having a successful company. Look, this is hard; if you're really building something of value, it's going to be hard, and you have to be prepared to endure a lot. The finish line is liquidity for your shareholders, investors, and employees, not a VC raise.
I'd also advise entrepreneurs to not follow VC insights on what sectors to build companies in. VCs for the most part are following trends, not looking ahead of the curve. So, as an entrepreneur you fundamentally have to do something outside the scope of what VCs are currently investing in; if not you'll end up doing yet another me-too company that doesn't stand out. That means you have to consciously ignore a lot of the noise about trends, who got funded, the "blah blah blah" of the tech world. That's the only way you'll be able to focus on creating your own unique value proposition.
All these entrepreneurs have great advice to offer, don't they? There are thousands like these who have paved the entrepreneurial trails—thousands whom you should listen to and learn from.
Editor's note: Guest writer Vivek Wadhwa is an entrepreneur turned academic. He is a Visiting Scholar at UC-Berkeley, Senior Research Associate at Harvard Law School and Director of Research at the Center for Entrepreneurship and Research Commercialization at Duke University. Follow him on Twitter at @vwadhwa


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"The Wright Brothers' Aeroplane" by Wilbur and Orville Wright, in The Century Magazine, September 1908
The first flights with the power-machine were made on the 17th of December, 1903. Only five persons besides ourselves were present. These were Messrs. John T. Daniels, W.S. Dough, and A.D. Etheridge of the Kill Devil Life Saving Station; Mr. W.C. Brinkley of Manteo, and Mr. John Ward of Naghead. Although a general invitation had been extended to people living within five or six miles, not many were willing to face the rigors of a cold December wind in order to see, as they no doubt thought, another flying-machine not fly. The first flight lasted only twelve seconds, a flight very modest compared with that of birds, but it was, nevertheless, the first in the history of world in which a machine carrying a man had raised itself by its own power into the air in free flight, had sailed forward on a level course without reduction of speed, and had finally landed without being wrecked. The second and third flights were a little longer, and the fourth lasted fifty-nine seconds, covering a distance of 852 feet over the ground against a twenty-mile wind.
After the last flight, the machine was carried back to camp and set down in what was thought to be a safe place. But a few minutes later, while we were engaged in conversation about the flights, a sudden gust of wind struck the machine, and started to turn it over. All made a rush to stop it, but we were too late. Mr. Daniels, a giant in stature and strength, was lifted off his feet, and falling inside, between the surfaces, was shaken about like a rattle in a box as the machine rolled over and over. He finally fell out upon the sand with nothing worse than painful bruises, but the damage to the machine caused a discontinuance of experiments.


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If you're a fan of Homestar Runner and you downloaded the first episode of Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People, Homestar Ruiner, you probably enjoyed it. It was hard not to notice a few minor flaws though; some solutions were a bit strange (you had to use certain items on stuff you'd never think to use them on), the game was quite short, and there wasn't much replay value when you were done. This second episode has fixed some of the flaws, but ultimately, it's more of the same.
As in Sam & Max, each episode in the series has no relation to the others aside from some minor references. This means that if, for some reason, this second episode sounds more intriguing to you, can you pick it up before the first and not have to worry about spoiling the plot of the previous game.
The storyline is typically zany. The King of Town has had it with Strong Bad, and has instituted a tax of one creamy ding cake per email answered. He has sent Strong Bad a reminder of this email. Unfortunately for Strong Bad, his Idiot Filter considered the message to be spam, leaving him blissfully unaware of this new ruling. The King of Town and the Poopsmith later pay Strong Bad a visit, putting a collar around his neck that will make his head explode if he leaves the house. If you're a fan of the series then this ridiculous plot will no doubt sound perfectly sane!
After finding a way to remove the collar in a short introductory segment, Strong Bad wants to get revenge on the King of Town (who Strong Bad, from then on, only refers to as "The of Town", as he plans to take over the throne himself). However, everybody else in Free Country USA also wants revenge – they've all started their own countries with their own politics. Strong Bad must find a way to please each leader, coercing them to ally with his own country: Strong Badia. They won't allow Strong Bad passage through their lands in order to reach the King of Town's Castle until he does! The game map has fittingly changed – it is now the map of a board game, with the names of each fictional country scribbled on it.
From here on the game is rather simple: each leader can generally be pleased with a single move, so it's just a matter of figuring out which item to use where. Unlike some instances in the first episode, the items you use and the things you use them on generally make a lot of sense, meaning there's no cursing and raging involved when you finally find that the one correct solution is the one you thought wouldn't work.
Although the length of the game (About 2-3 hours) is the same as the first episode, there's more to explore this time. While the Field, Strong Bad's house and Marzipan's house return, there are a number of additions and changes (such as being able to enter Strong Bad's bedroom and bathroom) and a few completely new locales.
Certain other things from the first game return in some way or the other as well: there's a new episode of do-it-yourself Teen Girl Squad to fiddle around with, a new "retro" game in the shape of Math Kickers: Featuring the Algebros (a Double Dragon homage, you can even find the missing manual pages to unlock combo moves), a photo booth (which has all clothes from episode 1, whether you collected them or not, plus more to find) to take pictures in, and a third mini-game, one that's actually part of the story. You won't find it until near the end, but you'll be pleasantly surprised when you find out what it is, even if it is relatively simple.
Finally, the humour in this episode is once again top-notch. If you want to finally decipher Homsar's strange language, or visit Bubs' secret black market, then you will definitely enjoy what happens here.
All in all, Strong Badia the Free is more of the same. If you're familiar with Telltale's other episodic series, then you should have known that that was going to happen though! The game doesn't substantially improve on the first so we can't give it a higher rating, but if you enjoyed Homestar Ruiner then it's safe to say that you will probably like this one just as much, if not slightly more. Those you left scratching yours heads in puzzlement first time around won't be converted, however.


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Genome will benefit farmers and medical researchers.
T. J. Tabasco is something of a porcine goddess at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, where her ruddy, taxidermied head looks down from the office wall of geneticist Lawrence Schook. Now she has been immortalized in this week's Nature — not by name, but by the letters of her DNA.
Scientists are salivating. For the past couple of decades they have been slowly teasing information from the pig genome, applying it to breed healthier and meatier pigs, and to try to create more faithful models of human disease. This week's draft sequence of T. J.'s genome, with its detailed annotation — a 'reference genome' — will speed progress on both fronts, and perhaps even allow pigs to be engineered to provide organs for transplant into human patients. "Agriculture in particular will benefit fast," says Alan Archibald of the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, UK, one of the paper's lead authors. "The pig industry has an excellent track record for rapid adoption of new technologies and knowledge."
T. J., a domestic Duroc pig (Sus scrofa domesticus), was born in Illinois in 2001. The next year, Schook and his colleagues generated a fibroblast cell line from a small piece of skin from her ear and commissioned clones to be created from it, so that they could work on animals all with the same genome. One set of clones was created at the National Swine Resource and Research Center (NSRRC) in Columbia, Missouri, along with genetically engineered pigs with genes added or deleted to mimic human diseases."Making such pigs has got increasingly easier as knowledge of the genome increases," says physiologist Randall Prather, a co-director of the NSRRC, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The NIH launched the NSRRC in 2003 to encourage research in pig disease models. Pigs are more expensive to keep than rodents, and they reproduce more slowly. But the similarities between pig and human anatomy and physiology can trump the drawbacks. For example, their eyes are a similar size, with photoreceptors similarly distributed in the retina. So the pig became the first model for retinitis pigmentosa, a cause of blindness. And four years ago, researchers created a pig model of cystic fibrosis that, unlike mouse models, developed symptoms resembling those in humans.
Geneticist and veterinarian Eckhard Wolf at the Ludwig-Maximilian University in Munich, Germany, has exploited the similarity between the human and pig gastrointestinal system and metabolism — like us, pigs will eat almost anything and then suffer for it — to develop models of diabetes. One pig model carries a mutant transgene that limits the effectiveness of incretin, a hormone required for normal insulin secretion. Mice with the transgene developed unexpectedly severe diabetes, but the pigs have a more subtle pre-diabetic condition that better models the human disease. "This shows the importance of using an animal with a relevant physiology," says Wolf.
Pig models are now being developed for other common conditions, including Alzheimer's disease, cancer and muscular dystrophy. This work will be enriched by the discovery, reported in the genome paper, of 112 gene variants that might be involved in human diseases. Knowledge of the genome is also allowing scientists to try to engineer pigs that could be the source of organs, including heart and liver, for human patients. Pig organs are roughly the right size, and researchers hope to create transgenic pigs carrying genes that deceive the immune system of recipients into not rejecting the transplants.
Back on the farm, early knowledge about the pig genome led to the discovery in 1991 of a gene involved in porcine stress syndrome, in which the stress of overheating, being moved or even having sex causes the animals to die suddenly4. It then became possible to test for the gene and select pig stocks free of it.
Having the full genome should also help investigators to breed out susceptibility to porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS), a viral disease costing the US pig industry US$600 million per year. The PRRS Host Genetics Consortium, a network of US research groups, has identified a region on one chromosome that affects levels of virus in the blood during infection. Archibald, who works on PRRS, says that the high-quality genome sequence should help investigators zero in on the genes responsible.
But the pig genome is not just about applications. Lead co-author Martien Groenen, a genome researcher from Wageningen University in the Netherlands, has resequenced the genomes of scores of different strains of wild and domestic pigs, and used the information to show that the pig was domesticated independently in Asia and Europe. He has also started to work out which genes were involved in the selection of desired traits — such as a longer spine to give more bacon — on different continents. "It's curiosity-driven research, but it may also help animal breeders in the future," he says.
Nature 491, 315–316 (15 November 2012) | doi:10.1038/491315a
Read the original article here.


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Another new discovery in China.
Your family tree just got wider. Scientists have analyzed fossils found in China, and deemed them to be from a new human species unlike any ever identified before; say hello to your long-lost cousin.
The skull, originally unearthed in 1979 in the Guangxi Province of China, has only now been fully analyzed (talk about procrastination, right?). It turns out that it has thick bones, extremely prominent brow ridges, a very short, flat face, and also lacks our typically human chin. "In short, it is anatomically unique among all members of the human evolutionary tree," explains researcher Darren Curnoe to New Scientist…
What's more, despite its huge differences, in many ways the new species acted like other humans. There's evidence they cooked large deer in caves, for instance, which clearly separates them from apes, a finding reported in the research which appears in PLoS One.
The finer details of how the new species fits in to our family tree are a little fuzzy. One theory is that they were a new evolutionary line that evolved concurrently with our species, just like Neanderthals did. Another suggests that they could have been descendants of the Denisovan people who inhabbited Siberia. DNA testing might help solve the problem—and help work out just how closely related we really are.
[PLoS One and New Scientist; Image: Darren Curnoe]


text:
Dedicated Shuttle truck driver
Russells Point, OH | $4,000 sign-on bonus
- Average pay:
- $1,360 - $1,450 weekly
- Home time:
- Daily
- Experience:
- 3 months or greater CDL experience
- Job ID:
- 232303
- Predictable daily home time work schedule: Monday-Friday work, with occasional Saturdays.
- Out-and-back dedicated routes.
- Haul automotive parts in dry van trailers with a day cab.
- Shuttle loads from cross docks to other cross docks, MLS domiciles or plants. Occasional delivery to auto manufacturers.
Pay and bonus potential
- Route and detention pay.
- $4,000 sign-on bonus for experienced drivers.
- Quarterly safety and performance bonuses of up to $2,400 per year.
- Annual longevity bonuses.
- Valid Class A Commercial Driver's License (CDL).
- Live within 30 miles of Russells Point, OH.
- Minimum 3 months of Class A driving experience.
Additional benefits
- Medical, dental and vision insurance.
- Disability and life insurance.
- 401(k) savings plan with company match.
- Ten paid holidays and paid time off.
- Company-provided uniforms.
- Operate well-maintained Volvo trucks.
A wholly owned subsidiary of Schneider, Midwest Logistics Systems, Ltd. (MLS) is operated separately from Schneider with its own operating procedures, qualification requirements, training program, pay packages and benefits. If you have any questions about becoming an MLS driver, please contact an MLS recruiter at 800-636-3143.


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Madelynn Cassin Designs
Purple Amethyst Cushion Cut Ring in Sterling Silver
Purple Amethyst Cushion Cut Ring in Sterling Silver
February Birthstone Ring
Eco friendly recycled metals and conflict free gemstones 8mm cushion cut Natural grape Amethyst Handcrafted split shank rope band hand carved cushion cut bezel your choice of gemstone, shown in purple Amethyst, also available in garnet, topaz, blue topaz, citrine, etc. Convo me for price
What makes my jewelry special
Madelynn Cassin Designs has been selling on ETSY since 2008 under the shop name Onegarnetgirl. This small, independently owned business grew from a love of gemstones and a passion for making. Madelynn's designs are inspired by large, naturally occurring colored gemstones and the way they sparkle in the sun. These mini works of art start from a block of wax that she then carefully carves into the bold yet delicate and feminine creations that bare her name. This labor of love has grown from a small workspace on a three-season porch to a bustling workshop in an old mill building, where Madelynn continues to handmake objects that help people feel beautiful, loved and express their personalities.
Sustainability is super important, as the effects of mining for precious materials can devastate communities unnecessarily. Because of this, we use only alloys that are 100% recycled, ethically sourced gemstones, and utilize compostable, plant based packaging.
Why is a Madelynn Cassin Piece so Special?
Each setting is hand carved in wax, cast in metal, and hand polished, prepped, soldered and set in our workshop in Keene, NH. From concept to completion all settings are handcrafted and never utilize purchased mass-produced components. If you treasure jewelry that is made by hand, in a careful, thoughtful manner, you have come to the right place.
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text:
Almost spring time.
Unlike the drawing I did today, which i did because it's very cold today, I'm happy. I feel like I'm moving forward, even if only slowly, and that I am, indeed, telling stories.
I did a wonderful page today.
My book is almost ready.
This just in:
I didn't want to create a post just for this, but it's well worth the read: Erik Larsen urging creators to create.
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
Posted by Fábio Moon at 6:50 PM 0 comments
Tuesday, September 27, 2005
Monday, September 26, 2005
other view of the same work.
Funny stuff I saw on the net. I feel like that sometimes, and I'm sure a lot of you also feel the same, so I thought I'd share.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 10:13 AM 0 comments
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Do you want to see the first scripted pages of Casanova? It sure shows how Matt Fraction writes his comics. If you're interesting, click here.
I can't wait to see Ba drawing this thing.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 6:20 PM 1 comments
Thursday, September 15, 2005
Practice 6.
For a moment, I thought I was doing this little exercises for others to see what you have to attend to when doing a comic book. After I had fun with the first two ones, I realized that I was doing it for myself.
I'm the one practicing.
I'm the one learning.
You're just watching along the way as I go.
You should always practice. Even if you already have published work somewhere else, if you're not working on something that will make you use a specific kind of artistic muscle, this muscle will lose it's strength.
And the practice I'm doing is the only one we should never stop doing.
That's where the story is really told.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 2:31 PM 2 comments
Tuesday, September 13, 2005
Practice 5.
I'm curious.
When and how did you decide to become what you are now?
When did you decide to become a doctor? A lawyer? A publisher?
Where were you, and what were you doing, when you realized that was the path you should follow?
Posted by Fábio Moon at 4:38 PM 2 comments
Monday, September 12, 2005
Practice 4.
There's no easy way to comics. No matter how you get into comics, you'll always have to work hard. Even if you suck at it, you'll have to do it day in, day out, more days than you would want, more hours than you'd like.
Only working hard you'll get anywhere.
You'll fuck up a lot.
That's the only way you'll learn.
artwork by Fabio Moon.
One day late. Remember the mistakes of the past so you don't repeat them in the future.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 5:32 PM 1 comments
Thursday, September 08, 2005
Practice 3.
I wonder if this could be a trend and if it could spread. A also wonder if, this way, some artists who have no idea of what storytelling means will finally see the light.
I wonder if most people who dream of becoming comic book artists realize it's not a day in the park, it's a life sentence of never ending hard work.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 11:49 AM 0 comments
Monday, September 05, 2005
artwork by Fabio Moon and Gabriel Ba.
Fight the laziness. You might get a little bruised along the way, but it's worth it.
You'll see. With your good eye, at least.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 5:26 PM 0 comments
Practice 2.
I should play more often with letters and sound effects. They can also be very graphic if used right.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 12:20 PM 1 comments
Friday, September 02, 2005
I've been thinking of doing something like this for a long time, and every time someone starting out complains to me that they only "write" comics and so they can't really show their work, I remember this idea.
Expect more of this soon.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 3:23 PM 0 comments
Thursday, September 01, 2005
The new wave.
sketchy artwork by Fabio Moon.
I'm doing this illustration about surf. I tried the "comic book approach", but it did not work. They want a single image with all the moves. You know, from the distance. Front view. Tiny little surfers on a big chunk of blue.
Not so boring is the super hero script I just finished reading. Quite the opposite. Expect more on that soon, as I start working on these characters.
And, to continue our regular broadcast of reviews, click here for the latest one about Smoke and Guns.
Posted by Fábio Moon at 6:50 PM 0 comments


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Chris Hedges writes:
The blacklisted mathematics instructor Chandler Davis, after serving six months in the Danbury federal penitentiary for refusing to cooperate with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), warned the universities that ousted him and thousands of other professors that the purges would decimate the country's intellectual life.
"You must welcome dissent; you must welcome serious, systematic, proselytizing dissent—not only the playful, the fitful, or the eclectic; you must value it enough, not merely to refrain from expelling it yourselves, but to refuse to have it torn from you by outsiders," he wrote in his 1959 essay "…From an Exile." "You must welcome dissent not in a whisper when alone, but publicly so potential dissenters can hear you. What potential dissenters see now is that you accept an academic world from which we are excluded for our thoughts. This is a manifest signpost over all your arches, telling them: Think at your peril. You must not let it stand. You must (defying outside power; gritting your teeth as we grit ours) take us back."
But they did not take Davis back. Davis, whom I met a few days ago in Toronto, could not find a job after his prison sentence and left for Canada. He has spent his career teaching mathematics at the University of Toronto. He was one of the lucky ones. Most of the professors ousted from universities never taught again. Radical and left-wing ideas were effectively stamped out. The purges, most carried out internally and away from public view, announced to everyone inside the universities that dissent was not protected. The confrontation of ideas was killed.
"Political discourse has been impoverished since then," Davis said. "In the 1930s it was understood by anyone who thought about it that sales taxes were regressive. They collected more proportionately from the poor than from the rich. Regressive taxation was bad for the economy. If only the rich had money, that decreased economic activity. The poor had to spend what they had and the rich could sit on it. Justice demands that we take more from the rich so as to reduce inequality. This philosophy was not refuted in the 1950s and it was not the target of the purge of the 1950s. But this idea, along with most ideas concerning economic justice and people's control over the economy, was cleansed from the debate. Certain ideas have since become unthinkable, which is in the interest of corporations such as Goldman Sachs. The power to exclude certain ideas serves the power of corporations. It is unfortunate that there is no political party in the United States to run against Goldman Sachs. I am in favor of elections, but there is no way I can vote against Goldman Sachs."
The silencing of radicals such as Davis, who had been a member of the Communist Party, although he had left it by the time he was investigated by HUAC, has left academics and intellectuals without the language, vocabulary of class war and analysis to critique the ideology of globalism, the savagery of unfettered capitalism and the ascendancy of the corporate state. And while the turmoil of the 1960s saw discontent sweep through student bodies with some occasional support from faculty, the focus was largely limited to issues of identity politics—feminism, anti-racism—and the anti-war movements. The broader calls for socialism, the detailed Marxist critique of capitalism, the open rejection of the sanctity of markets, remained muted or unheard. Davis argues that not only did socialism and communism become outlaw terms, but once these were tagged as heresies, the right wing tried to make liberal, secular and pluralist outlaw terms as well. The result is an impoverishment of ideas and analysis at a moment when we desperately need radical voices to make sense of the corporate destruction of the global economy and the ecosystem. The "centrist" liberals manage to retain a voice in mainstream society because they pay homage to the marvels of corporate capitalism even as it disembowels the nation and the planet.


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The Farm Bill's "Government Handouts": Who Really Benefits?
I was invited recently to sit in on animal science class at a college that has a strong agriculture program, about 10 miles away from my house. This week, the class was discussing the farm bill, and the students were supposed to be exploring what it meant to them.
Anyone who shops at a conventional grocery store for factory farmed meat or processed foods is taking a government handout.
The discussion was led by my friend Paula, who recently made the choice to return to school and get an agricultural degree. She talked about some of the major points of the farm bill, about how the direct commodity subsidies feed agribusiness, but how small farms such as Sap Bush Hollow derive very little (if any) direct benefit from them. She talked about how, because the Farm Bill didn't pass in 2012, there was a temporary extension on it as part of the fiscal cliff package. The subsidies that aid corn syrup processors and ethanol blenders stayed in place. The programs that benefited small producers—such as new farmers, minority farmers, healthy food markets, renewable energy, and sustainable farming efforts—were suspended. The classroom remained quiet. Passive. Disinterested.
Paula attempted to shake them up. "Guys! This is about you! About us! About what we're here for!" The room stayed quiet.
She moved on to the next controversial part of the Farm Bill—Food and Nutrition Assistance, which encompasses the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, formerly known as Food Stamps. Several students began to shift in their seats. Paula put forward some numbers about the amount of money allocated to SNAP. The classroom began to writhe. Tongues clucked. I heard hissing. Paula then mentioned how many people were dependent on SNAP (in 2011, one out of every seven people in this country was getting some form of food and nutrition assistance). And with that, save for a few quiet exceptions, the classroom sprung to life:
"Welfare mothers!"
"They're using food stamps to buy cigarettes!"
"I'm not paying for lazy people!"
"They just waste that money!"
Wow. So many golden educational opportunities….where to begin?
Let's start with …
1. The meaning of hypocrisy: From the dictionary: The semblance of having desirable or publicly approved attitudes, beliefs, principles, etc., that one does not actually possess. It seems increasingly popular, in these hard economic times, to toss around accusations about who is draining the public resources. And the people who get public funds most directly under the umbrella term of "welfare" are the first ones to get pelted with stones.
Yet anyone who has driven by the farmers market on their way to buy pork chops for $1.99 a pound at the grocery store, when the local farmer can't produce them for less than $11.00, is dipping from the same pot that holds the food stamps. The farm bill encourages factory farming by making sure feed can be purchased for less than the price of growing it, giving factory farms billions of dollars in cost discounts every year.
A portion of this savings gets passed along to the American grocery-shopping public in the form of artificially cheap food that real farmers (those of us who have to pay for the true costs of production) simply cannot compete with. Anyone who shops at a conventional grocery store for factory farmed meat or processed foods is taking a government handout, not just the "welfare mothers."
2. The meaning of irony: From the dictionary: A figure of speech in which the words express a meaning that is often the direct opposite of the intended meaning. The first farm bill was enacted on the heels of the Great Depression, with the goal of supporting America's farmers and ranchers. That's still the intent. Yet today, farm bill commodity subsidy payments have contributed to such an unequal distribution of market share between corporate and family-scale agriculture, that the only way many small farmers could benefit from the farm bill is through the very nutritional assistance programs that these young agriculturists were spurning. There's no shortage of small farmers who qualify for "welfare" programs.
3. The meaning of self-defeating behavior: From the dictionary: behavior serving to frustrate, thwart, etc., one's own intention. Here was a group of students training to be farmers and food processors. Many of them will likely want to open their own farming-related businesses some day; or they will return to family farms to pick up where their parents and grandparents left off. Some of them, unable to sustain themselves financially among the land and livestock that nourish their spirits, will have to go and work for agribusiness. If the current economy is any indication, many of them will find themselves with college debt, low wage jobs, and in need of food.
Any way you slice the pie, the Farm Bill affects these students, either because:
- it sponsors (or fails to sponsor) programs that might help them get started on the land or in a food-related enterprise;
- or because the policies of the bill greatly benefit agribusiness, thus making it tougher and tougher for family-scale farms to compete;
- or because it results in a proliferation of processed, crappy foods that pollute our bodies as well as our soil and water;
- or because it provides a food benefit that a number of them will likely need in the near future.
These kids need to understand the Farm Bill. It can help them and it can hurt them. But the only reaction they could muster was venom toward any human being who might have need of food assistance, thus the only action many of them might take would be to cheer if the food and nutrition assistance programs were cut. They're hurting themselves with their apathy and venom.
As we seek to create a workable Farm Bill, we cannot forget that the uncertainty of our neighbors will affect our own well-being.
For that matter, apathy and venom hurt all of us. The food problems, the farm problems, and the poverty issues, effect all of us. Propaganda infuses our daily lives, encouraging us to hate those in need, to judge them as irresponsible leeches on society. This hatred has become a cancer in our culture, poisoning us from the inside, making students like the ones in this classroom, who should be concerned about our nation's food policy, content to see it fail rather than reformed, and to see more people go hungry.
By fixating on the notion that a fellow human in need is threatening to their well-being, these students are playing an active role in promoting the very social inequality that impairs their own futures. As social epidemiologists Kate Pickett and Richard Wilkinson have shown, no matter whether we are rich or poor, the more inequality there is in our culture, the greater our rates of anxiety, depression, and countless other social problems from crime to illness—for everyone.
(For those of you interested in learning more about how inequality contributes to widespread social problems across the classes, I recommend Kate Pickett and Richard G. Wilkinson's book, The Spirit Level: Why Greater Equality Makes Societies Stronger.)
…Which leads me to the final, and most important, educational opportunity…
4. The meaning of compassion: From the dictionary: A feeling of deep sympathy and sorrow for another's suffering or misfortune, accompanied by a desire to alleviate the pain or remove its cause. In truth, I suspect that the venom that came forth from these young people's mouths wasn't truly their own. They probably learned it from someone else. Most of them were too young to have come by such opinions honestly. And I can only assume that it came from people in their lives who are truly fearful, who worry that the resources they need will be commandeered for someone else's benefit.
A Farm Bill Only Monsanto Could Love
Three provisions in the bill would make it more difficult to regulate the safety of genetically modified crops. Consumers fight back with a flurry of organizing.
We are living in times when the worry about resources, financial or ecological, is very real. And the Farm Bill, for all its inconsistencies and controversies, represents our nation's policy on these fears. As we seek to create a workable Farm Bill and a workable life, we cannot forget that the uncertainty of our neighbors will affect our own well-being. If we are going to be truly resilient, then we must be compassionate about the suffering of those around us, and we must seek ways, both through policy and through our daily individual actions, that will help to rectify this suffering.
That is simply part of being a community. And if we lose that, then we agree to a life of depredation for all and happiness for none, where only a few will survive, and no one truly thrives.
But if we can embrace compassion, then it becomes the foundation for true community resilience; where being a caring citizen and neighbor fuel a way of life where everyone has good, clean healthy food; where they come by it honestly; and where young agricultural students are able to plan a future where they can produce it freely and joyfully.
- "We have a lovely home, we eat well, we have lots of fun, we're warm, and we don't worry about how we'll keep the lights on." Shannon Hayes on how she has managed to live a fulfilled and happy life without going broke.
- Sometimes Shannon Hayes finds herself missing the days before she was a mother. But the circle of familial give-and-take love makes the trade-off worth it.
- Breaking our families into nuclear units has an ecological and emotional cost. Could the multigenerational farm remind us where to turn for a viable future?
Shannon Hayes writes, home-schools, and farms with her family from Sap Bush Hollow Farm in upstate New York. Her books include The Grassfed Gourment, Radical Homemakers, and Homespun Mom Comes Unraveled.


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Just because your child's classroom lesson on safety is over doesn't mean learning more about propane safety is too. Kids are curious by nature and will most likely want to learn more about propane (what it is, how it's used, where it comes from) and good safety habits, as well as share what they've learned with other family members and friends.
Please use the links below to download various materials that will aid in reinforcing good propane safety habits at home.
For any questions or comments, please contact PropaneKids support at 202-452-8975 or support[at]propanekids[dot]com.


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Finding Your Roots builds on the success of African American Lives 1 and 2 and Faces of America, journeying deep into the ancestry of remarkable individuals
Harry Connick, Jr., Robert Downey, Jr., Samuel L. Jackson, John Legend, Branford Marsalis, Condoleezza Rice, Michelle Rodriguez, Barbara Walters, and many other well-known names learn long-lost secrets from their family histories.
NEW YORK, March 23, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — The basic drive to discover who we are and where we come from is at the core of the new 10-part PBS series Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr., the 12th series from Professor Gates, the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor at Harvard University and director of the W.E.B. Du Bois Institute for African and African American Research. Filmed on location across the United States, the series premieres nationally Sundays, March 25 – May 20 at 8 pm ET on PBS(check local listings). (Note: program one and two are scheduled on Sunday, March 25 from 8-9 pm and 9-10 pm respectively.
Continuing on the quest begun in his previous projects, African American Lives (2006), African American Lives 2 (2008) and Faces of America (2010), Gates finds new ways to, as he says, "get into the DNA of American culture." In each hour-long episode, he takes viewers along for the journey with one celebrity group bound together by an intimate, sometimes hidden link, treks through layers of ancestral history, uncovers secrets and surprises of their family trees and shares life-altering discoveries.
"Finding Your Roots will be a moving, uplifting, entertaining and enlightening experience for viewers," says Gates. "Genealogy is more popular than ever, but it's far more than a solitary pastime. It's a fascinating endeavor that can drastically alter both history and the way we think of ourselves."
Guest groupings include: award-winning husband-and-wife actors Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick, who both descend from prominent American families that have been in this country since inception; New Orleans jazz masters and close friends Harry Connick, Jr. and Branford Marsalis, whose European immigrant ancestors made very different choices in the slave-era South; spiritual leaders Angela Buchdahl, Yasir Qadhi and Rick Warren, whose ancestors' paths to America were shaped by religious convictions; and education superstar Geoffrey Canada and media legend Barbara Walters, who both rediscover family histories long obscured by forgotten name changes.
In other episodes, public servants Condoleezza Rice and Congressman John Lewis, featured in different hours, trace their contemporary-day strength to enslaved ancestors, actor Robert Downey, Jr. marvels at the vastness of his family tree dating back to the 13th century, and Michelle Rodriguez discovers family secrets and heroes that her parents left behind when they came to the United States as immigrants. Gates travels with his guests throughout the series, sharing the details of ancestral stories and helping process what they've learned. He accompanies musician John Legend to a rock concert, goes backstage on Broadway with Samuel L. Jackson, joins Newark, N.J. Mayor Cory Booker as he reveals the root-seeking results to his parents, and trails CNN chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta and Geoffrey Canada to memorable family reunions.
The 25 guests featured in the series are: Kevin Bacon, Cory Booker, Angela Buchdahl, Geoffrey Canada, Linda Chavez, Margaret Cho, Harry Connick, Jr., Margarett Cooper, Robert Downey, Jr., Adrian Grenier, Sanjay Gupta, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Samuel L. Jackson, John Legend, John Lewis, Branford Marsalis, Yasir Qadhi, Condoleezza Rice, Michelle Rodriguez, Kyra Sedgwick, Ruth Simmons, Martha Stewart, Wanda Sykes, Barbara Walters and Rick Warren.
Working closely with leading U.S. genealogists (including staff of the New England Genealogical Historical Society and Johni Cerny, co-author of the acclaimed The Source: Guidebook for American Genealogy) and ancestry experts from around the world, Gates and his production team comb through family stories to discover unknown histories and relatives the guests never knew existed. When paper trails end for each story, the team turns to top geneticists and DNA diagnosticians (such as the genetic testing services 23andMe, African Ancestry and Family Tree DNA) to analyze each participant's genetic code, tracing their bloodlines and occasionally debunking their long-held notions and beliefs.
Reaching beyond celebrity stories, Gates also seeks out everyday individuals (on-air and online) who are wrestling with questions of identity. He visits with employees at his favorite barber shop, and engages Harlem students who are curious about their genetics.
A far-reaching educational and community outreach initiative will accompany the broadcast, including: locally produced short excerpts to be shown on partner stations in conjunction with Finding Your Roots; a set of standards-based lesson plans for upper elementary and middle school classrooms that use segments from the series; live webinars; and a multi-media guide for educators to encourage use of the series and its additional resources with students.
A Finding Your Roots companion website (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/finding-your-roots), will present video from the series, profiles of featured guests and an ongoing blog from executive producer, writer and presenter Henry Louis Gates, Jr. In addition to his blog, the website will include material from the production team and the scientists who conducted research for the series. With a heavy focus on online engagement, the website will allow fans to submit stories about their own family histories, and browse those others have uploaded. The website also will offer a comprehensive list of resources that viewers can use to learn more about their own genealogy.
A Finding Your Roots Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/FindingYourRootsPBS) will foster conversation among users fascinated by genealogy, as well as showcase user-submitted photos, videos and stories related to their genetic lineages and family histories.
Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. is a production of Kunhardt McGee Productions, Inkwell Films and WNET in association with Ark Media. WNET is the parent company of THIRTEEN and WLIW21, New York's public television stations and operator of NJTV. For nearly 50 years, WNET has been producing and broadcasting national and local documentaries and other programs for the New York community.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., Stephen Segaller, Peter Kunhardt, and Dyllan McGee are executive producers of Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Rachel Dretzin is senior producer. Leslie Asako Gladsjo is senior story editor.
Corporate funding is provided by The Coca-Cola Company, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald's and American Express. Additional funding is provided by the Carnegie Corporation of New York, The Atlantic Philanthropies, Ford Foundation and the Pew Charitable Trusts. Support is also provided by The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB) and PBS.


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Apr.8 (GMM) Kimi Raikkonen filled in the time between the recent Malaysian grand prix and round three in China this weekend with a spot of motocross.
Founded alongside his rallying team during his two-year F1 sabbatical, Raikkonen's 'IceOne' squad also includes a motocross arm.
So the Finn pulled on his leathers and goggles last week – during the three-week break between Malaysia and China – and headed to Belgium, according to the Finnish broadcaster MTV3.
There, the 2007 world champion participated in the gravel practice session, with images depicting him in full airborne tilt.
See the photos here: http://ice1racing.tumblr.com/day/2013/04/07
Motocross riding would ordinarily be deemed too dangerous for F1 teams to allow, but Lotus team boss Eric Boullier admitted last week that "One of our drivers is famous for doing pretty much what he wants".


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Medical emergency closes three lanes of M6
Long queues were building up on both the M6 and M61 near Preston this morning following a medical emergency.
Three lanes of the M6 northbound carriageway had to be shut while police and paramedics dealt with the incident.
Only the outside lane remained open, causing congestion backing up on the motorway and having a knock-on effect to traffic heading towards Preston on the M61.
There are currently no further details about the emergency, with police describing it as "medical."


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The heroes and villains of 2015
Capturing the nation's hearts and minds of the nation with his televised trip to the International Space Station earlier this month, astronaut Tim Peake tops the list as this year's hero for almost a quarter (23%) of the nation.
Coming second with 19% is BBC Sports Personality of the Year Andy Murray following his outstanding performance in the Davis Cup tournament.
The Queen takes third place with 14%.
Athlete Mo Farah is fourth (11%) with Jessica Ennis-Hill and Jeremy Corbyn tieing for fifth on 9%.
The others who make up the top ten were: Lewis Hamilton, Kate, Duchesss of Cambridge, Adele, Jamie Vardy and Edward Snowden.
Leading the field in the top ten most disliked is South African disgraced athlete Oscar Pistorious (38%) with controversial and outspoken US presidential candidate Donald Trump close behind on 36%.
Nation leaders David Cameron and Vladimir Putin along with TV personality Katie Hopkins were joint third on 23%, followed by Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad, George Osborne, Jeremy Corbyn, Lady C, Nigel Farage, Russell Brand and Kanye West.
When it comes to predictions for 2016, it is political and economic issues which dominate the nation's thoughts.
Worryingly, but unsurprisingly, over half (52%) of the population believes there will be another terrorist attack in the West next year.
Just over a third (35%) think interest rates will rise at some point next year while one in five (20%) believe Hillary Clinton will win the presidential election in the United States.
Closer to home, Jeremy Corbyn's future is uncertain with almost a quarter (23%) of the view there will be a new leader of the Labour party announced next year.
The remaining top top predictions include an EU referendum being held; the introduction of a tax on high-sugar products; X Factor to get cancelled; Cheryl Fernandez-Versini to get divorced; a new James Bond announced; Prince Harry will get engaged; the housing bubble to burst; and ISIS to be defeated.