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The Commissioners of the Department of Game, Fisheries and Parks have voted to increase the cougar hunting quota in the Black Hills of South Dakota to 70, including 40 females, in the upcoming hunt that begins on January 1, 2012. In large part, this decision was based on preliminary findings that cougars killed 14 out of 30 radiocollared elk calves. But is cougar predation what is limiting elk numbers?
Rapid City Journal
Mountain lions ravage young calves in elk study
Kevin Woster Journal staff | Posted: Saturday, October 29, 2011 4:03 pm
It's a tough year for elk calves in Custer State Park.
John Laundre says: So? That is how ecosystems work, prey give birth so predators can eat. If predators were taking more than was sustainable, the relationship would have gone extinct 1,000s of years ago! The fact that cougars have been feeding on elk for millennial indicates that elk can stand the pressure. A 50% predation rate is NOT that difficult to overcome IF pregnancy rates were normal, which it seems they weren't. This is especially true if adult predation rates by lions was only 1/40 or 2%. Those 39 females that survived would produce more then twice the number of calves killed by cougars IF pregnancy rates were normal! After slamming the cougars for the problems of a dwindling elk herd, they go on to list various factors that in themselves would explain the decline. Mainly recent heavy winters. How many adult elk were ravaged by elk hunters? What effect does that carnage have on the elk population? When will people begin to realize that predation is neither additive or compensatory but BASIC to the functioning of a healthy ecosystem. ALL the rest is additive and can cause declines, including human hunting (which is no longer essential so by default is additive). The elk do not exist to feed us, they exist to feed the predators that still need them.
John Wrede, a retired wildlife biologist who worked for 35 years in the Black Hills of South Dakota, submitted these observations on the elk herds of Wind Cave National Park and Custer State Park:
The perception of "too many elk" in Wind Cave National Park is based on political factors and social tolerance, not biological or ecological carrying capacities. Wind Cave was moved politically to conduct a 3 year telemetry study and develop an EIS and management alternatives for a herd of animals that has remained, largely stable inside the park at approximately 600-800 animals for at least 15 years. This is not a herd of animals that spends 24/7/365 in the Park and they never have. Studies since the 80's have shown unmistakably that approximately 30% or more of the breeding population in Wind Cave leave the park in spring and any number of them can be available for harvest in the fall since bulls, in particular, will regularly move out of the park in search of a harem of cows. Cows are most often forced back into the park due to heavy, unevenly and randomly applied hunting pressure around the park. Nonetheless, hunter harvest has helped maintain that herd of elk at an acceptable level for a great many years.
What motivated the reduction in elk was a handful of landowners who discovered they could goad Game, Fish and Parks into receipt of depredation and hunter access payments. Some of those ne'er do wells like Leonard Wood received as much as $10,000 a year in compensation for alleged damage to his fences and providing hunting access to his private land to reduce damage that was never documented. Only alleged. In a Game, Fish and Parks Commission Meeting in April of 2003,( a meeting in which the Black Hills Elk hunting season and hunting license quotas were proposed by the Game, Fish and Parks) Mr. Wood remarked to one of his fellow complainants, quote: "I don't care how many elk they have, I just want to be paid." Interesting that Mr. Tim Kessler was a highly influential, politically connected, GFP Commissioner seated on the Commission at that time and actually admonished GFP staff to seriously consider increasing cow elk permits even more than what were proposed at the time. Mr. Kessler testified in front of the Commission in October of this year stating it was his opinion that more cougars needed to be killed in the Black Hills due to the alleged heavy predation on elk calves and their impacts on the deer population in the Black Hills.
SD Department of Game, Fish and Parks does not monetarily compensate private landowners for purported damage caused by wildlife but, in response to the complaining by fewer than 10 landowners, GFP formulated a new, elk management area plan wherein private landowners could sign up their property for controlled hunting access and be paid a substantial sum of money for each elk removed from their property by hunters. In effect, there was also a per acre leasing arrangement made with them that invited public hunting for elk. Combined, some of these payments approached $10,000 per year. There was a very loose system of checks put in place to verify the number of animals taken from a specific piece of property but after the third year of the program, there was ample evidence to suggest fraud and exaggerated harvest of elk on some properties for profit motives. It was this complaining that moved Wind Cave to begin considering alternatives to lower it's elk herd even though there was no ecological or biological indication that the elk were causing damage to their habitat or doing anything differently than they had for the past 25 years. It should be pointed out that Wind Cave elk are likely and historically have been the primary source population of animals exchanging with the Black Hills Elk Herd. The early 2000 years were drought years in the Black Hills and private land intolerance of any animal that competed with cows was extremely high. The SD Department of Game, Fish and Parks elk management strategy between 2003 and 2009 was best described and articulated by the Regional Supervisor in Rapid City when he said quote; " We're going to kill as many elk as we can, in the shortest amount of time possible, until the complaining stops." Historically, what happens when these property rights, anti-government extremists start whining that the public wildlife is encroaching on their property and unduly hampering their god given right to enterprise, if Game, Fish and Parks doesn't take some measures to address their grievances, they turn to sympathetic political pundits in the legislature who are more that willing and quick to propose things like changes to the Open Fields Doctrine, or worse yet, to take away the Game, Fish and Parks Commissions budgetary authority or some other irrational proposal against GFP to vindicate their constituents.
Cougars have been documented in Wind Cave as in Custer State Park and so have their kills, but no one has been asserting that they are limiting an elk population in that area. To be absolutely clear, the elk population in Wind Cave is stable and greater in number than Custer State Park, where cougars have been blamed for excessive predation and unquestionable management overexploitation of the antlerless component of the elk herd was ongoing from 2003 to 2009.
The 30 radio collared calves were captured and collared mostly outside of Custer State Park. The cows were initially captured and fitted with intra-uterine radio tracking devices that would begin transmitting a signal at parturition that then allowed researchers to locate and collar the calves. All those cows were captured inside Custer State Park but most moved out of the Park to calving grounds outside the park. This movement has been something that has been ongoing for years but management refuses to acknowledge the condition or its obvious effects on management. The majority of calves allegedly taken by predators (I hesitate to accept that assessment from the primary researcher) a fairly large number were killed (likely by one cougar) on calving grounds south and west of Hill City in a bug killed area with newly opened canopy and regenerating understory. I'm not aware of any collared calves in the National Park. The mortalities were mostly north west, east and due west of Custer State Park. I do know for a fact that the researcher discussed the mortality findings with GFP Staff in Pierre immediately after the data was collated, and the Division Directors response to that discussion was "that is too high a mortality."
Clearly, that mortality, even though it is not conclusive and is short term data that will definitely change annually, influenced the decision to raise the staff recommended cougar harvest quota. Notice please that elk elicit a greater emotion than do deer, the cougar's primary food source. Deer in both Custer State Park and Wind Cave national park are doing just fine……….. Nobody said anything about those critters! Custer State Park has been more careful with its antlerless deer harvest than its elk harvest. They don't have archery antlerless deer seasons, or youth deer seasons and they are very restrictive and precise with their rifle deer season. It's short, limited permits, no vehicle travel…………. The same can not be said for Black Hills Deer and Elk that have been over exploited for not less than 7 years by the overissuance of antlerless elk licenses, antlerless youth deer licenses, antlerless archery deer licenses, antlerless muzzleloader deer licenses and regular rifle season antlerless licenses. Here is some data calculated from Game, Fish and Parks Annual Deer and Elk Harvest Data published annually to satisfy Pittman Robertson Federal Aid in Wildlife Conservation requirements.
From 2002 through the 2010 regular Black Hills rifle deer hunting season we shot 10, 907 antlerless deer. During that same time period, muzzleloader hunters conservatively shot 2,837 more antlerless deer. From 2002 through the 2010 hunting season in the Black Hills, youth deer hunters killed 3,412 antlerless deer and archery hunters killed 8,723 antlerless deer. From 2008 through the 2010 season, mentored youth deer hunters conservatively killed an additional 366 deer within the Black Hills Fire Protection District. All that adds up to nearly 26,000 deer killed in the Black Hills in 9 hideously long hunting seasons that last from early September through the middle of January…… (Turkey season runs till the end of January) Now, in consideration of just this antlerless harvest,( I haven't calculated the antlered harvest yet, which includes a huge number of buck fawns, spikes etc,) try again to convince me that the Mt Lion is the reason why we have so few deer in the Black Hills……… Now lets add another conservative estimate of known mortality that occurs from crippling losses. For many years prior to contemporary Black Hills Deer seasons, deer crippling losses were estimated at 10% of the cumulative reported harvest by hunters. That figure is likely more now simply due to the new seasons such as youth deer, muzzleloader antlerless deer, archery antlerless deer. Even so, if the 10% crippling loss figure is used, total deer hunting mortality in the Black Hills from 2002 through 2010 would approximate 28,600 antlerless animals. If all those animals were breeding age class deer, the net effect of that mortality on the population dynamic would approximate an initial additional loss of 22,880 without factoring in the extended reproduction of the fawns reaching maturity and breeding age within that time frame. The total now reaches 51,480 antlerless animals. Then, for good measure, we should factor in some road kill effects. Not knowing precisely what the road kill numbers were for those years, I think we can estimate about 1000 antlerless deer a year for 9 years in the Black Hills. That brings our mortality from anthropogenic activities up to at least 60,000 antlerless animals without properly addressing the effects on the population dynamic created by substantially reduced natality and recruitment of unborn fawns………..
During that same time frame, 586 cow elk were killed in Custer State Park, and 5,225 cows were killed in the Black Hills. Add an average (archery crippling loss is higher than rifle) 10% crippling loss to the total figure (crippling loss established in the Schmitz study) and we find that hunters were conservatively responsible for nearly 5,800 anterless elk killed in the huntable areas in the Black Hills from 2002 through 2010. That is fully 25% more cows killed than estimated in the entire 2006 Black Hills elk population. And we're still issuing antlerless licenses by the dozens for both of these species in the Black Hills. The net effect on the population of killing that many cow elk extends to at least 7,830 animals lost because calves were not born or unborn calves did not reach breeding age and did not reproduce themselves.
It is highly irregular for wildlife managers and biologists to "react" to one seasons worth of mortality data, particularly with such a small sample size as 30 calves, but to "assume" that a portion of the calves whose trackability was lost due to the loss of their radio-telemetry collars in fences, were killed by cougars is an insult to the wildlife profession and scientific endeavor. To also engage the assumption that an estimated 60% plus mortality is unusually high; fails miserably to consider documented historical trends in elk reproduction and recruitment across the Western US. The nationwide average recruitment of elk calves into a population ranges between 25-35 calves/100 head of cows so the loss of 50% of the radio collared calves to alleged Mt. Lion mortality isn't inconsistent with total annual calf mortality from all causes on a range wide scale. What is also not understandable is Game Fish and Parks concern and bewildered approach to recent findings that pregnancy and birthing rates are purportedly well below acceptable and normal levels. There has been volumes of research done on elk reproduction across their range in North America over the past 40 years or more and it has been unmistakably shown that a young, unstable, and stress affected elk populations have substantially less reproductive potential and do not reproduce themselves at all well when compared to an older, more stable and well distributed population of animals with a normal age class distribution of breeding age cows. We can not expect normal pregnancy, and recruitment from a substantially reduced population of elk that has a female age structure that is heavily weighted toward the first two year classes of animals due, in large measure, to excessive hunting mortality and stress induced mortality of the older year classes.


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For maximum impact, Hormel Foods focuses on two areas for our philanthropy efforts – education and hunger. We support scholarships, hunger initiatives and community activities that advance these two important areas of focus. We have found these are the areas that most directly align with our business initiatives and are two areas our employees support with passion.
Contributing to CommunitiesIn fiscal year 2010, we gave $5.7 million in cash and in-kind donations toward efforts in communities where our employees live and efforts that help alleviate hunger.
Click here to show related graph.
Community Involvement Examples:
- In 2010, Jennie-O Turkey Store raised more than $137,000 in company and employee contributions for the United Way of Greater Minnesota, which is headquartered in Willmar, MN.
- Hormel Foods contributed 18,000 cans of SPAM® classic and 18,000 cans of Hormel® chili to the Minnesota Zoo display celebrating its 10-year anniversary of the Wells Fargo Family Farm. At the end of the display in October 2010, the cans of food were donated to Second Harvest Heartland, a member of Feeding America and the Upper Midwest's largest hunger-relief organization.
- Hormel Foods donated 50 cases of Hormel® Petite Turkey Breasts to the Paul Hall Chicago Boy and Girls Club to feed families during the holidays in December 2010.
- Jennie-O Turkey Store donated $15,000 to the Willmar Grow Mobile, a program of the local United Way, which takes a renovated camper out into the low-income neighborhoods and to day care centers to provide early childhood programming in locations where needed.
- Jennie-O Turkey Store contributed nearly $25,000 to local schools and libraries to support reading programs and to buy books and computers.
Disaster ReliefIn 2010, some of our communities were hit with tornadoes and flooding that destroyed homes and caused people in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Iowa to evacuate. In one such community, the small town of Wadena in west central Minnesota, the tornado ripped through town on June 17th, destroying 234 homes and the high school and heavily damaging other homes, the county fairgrounds and the community center. Close to 4,000 volunteers converged between June 25th and 28th to help Wadena residents. To assist in feeding the volunteers, Jennie-O Turkey Store donated nearly 500 pounds of sliced turkey and turkey roasts. The product was shipped to Mason Brothers, a local wholesale grocery company in Wadena, for storage and preparation. Due to a strong team effort and commitment to communities, the product was in Wadena within six hours from when Jennie-O Turkey Store started coordinating the donation on June 24th.
Community InfrastructureHigh speed networks and economic development are intrinsically connected. The Google Fiber network is a project that aims to build and test ultra-high speed broadband networks in one or more trial locations across the country. As a result, Hormel Foods joined a community group effort to encourage Google to test its Google Fiber ultra-high-speed broadband network in Austin, MN. Hormel Foods understands the value of technology in connecting it to the rest of the world. While Austin ranked sixth in this race for securing the town as a site for the Google Fiber project, we will continue to support innovative projects that will benefit our communities. For more information, please click here for the Austin, MN We Gig It site.
Fighting Hunger Domestically and Internationally
We formalized our efforts to fight hunger in fiscal year 2010 through a multi-pronged approach called On Our Way to Ending Hunger.
We are a company with expertise in food manufacturing, distribution and protein, which are important components to feeding the hungry around the world. Our goal is to produce high-quality, differentiated products for our consumers and throughout our 120-year history we have shared these items to support hunger relief. For these reasons, we titled our program "On Our Way to Ending Hunger," and it includes hunger relief efforts in the United States and abroad founded on three pillars:
- Collaborate
- Nourish
- Motivate
We are working with other retailers and partners to research, raise awareness and support hunger relief programs.
- To nourish, we developed Spammy™, a shelf-stable turkey protein product fortified with vitamins and minerals, which was created to address the global malnutrition crisis.
- Hormel Foods has donated the product to children and families in Guatemala through our partnership with Food for the Poor and Caritas Arquidiocesana, and the company donated 168,000 cans as part of disaster relief efforts after the earthquake in Haiti in January 2010.
- We also contributed 18,000 cans of SPAM® classic and 15,000 cans of Hormel® chili to the Minnesota Zoo's display celebrating its 10-year anniversary of the Wells Fargo Family Farm. At the end of the display in October 2010, the cans of food were donated to Second Harvest Heartland, a member of Feeding America and the Upper Midwest's largest hunger-relief organization. See the video of the can construction here.
- As part of a promotion to make Farmer John the official hot dog of Los Angeles, Farmer John donated one pound to various Los Angeles-based food banks, including Union Rescue Mission, in an effort to give back to those in need. At the end of the campaign in November 2010, Farmer John donated more than 50,000 pounds of product.
- Jennie-O Turkey Store contributed nearly 33,000 pounds of products to secondary food banks, local food shelves and feeding programs.
We conducted our fifth annual Hormel Hunger Survey and found Americans believe the problem of hunger is getting worse and that one in four Americans, either themselves or someone they knew, had to choose between paying bills or feeding their family in the past year. See the full findings from this year and past surveys.
The Hormel Hunger Surveys provide a comprehensive profile of the perception of hunger in America. Hormel Foods has commissioned this study for the past five years. The purpose was to better understand the attitudes and behaviors of the American general public relative to the key domestic issues of poverty and hunger. The 2010 survey results include several new revelations about how hunger issues have been compounded by the economic recession.
Key Findings from 2010 include:
More than one in four (28 percent) Americans say in the past year they or someone they know have had to make a choice between providing food for their family or paying their bills;
Six out of 10 Americans do not believe we will solve the hunger problem in the United States in the next 20 years, while about one-third (35 percent) think we will solve this problem. The rest are unsure;
About two-thirds (65 percent) of Americans have donated food to a food bank or other food collection group in the past year, and smaller majority (57 percent) have donated money to these organizations. Slightly less than one in four (23 percent) say they have volunteered time with such a group;
One in 10 (10 percent) Americans say they personally have gone to bed hungry at least once in the past year because they could not afford enough food. Seven percent (one in 14 people) say their household has received food from a food bank or other charity in the past year because they did not have enough money for food; and
A majority (57 percent) of Americans said if they thought they would qualify for food aid, they would apply to receive it. More than one-third (38 percent), however, said they would not apply.
Download the PDF for all 2010 survey findings
Past research findings:
Supporting Education in our Community
For the 44th consecutive year, we awarded scholarships to 19 students entering undergraduate colleges in the fall of 2010 through the Hormel Foods Charitable Trust fund. These students showed exemplary scholastic abilities, standardized test scores, involvement in school and the community, and leadership qualities.
- Jennie-O Turkey Store also awarded more than 58 education scholarships in excess of $50,000 total to employees, their dependents and graduating seniors who plan to attend an accredited two-year technical/vocational college or a four-year college or university to obtain a bachelor's degree.
Ellis Middle School Science Labs Finished
In 2010, Ellis Middle School in Austin, MN, opened the doors of its four newly upgraded science labs and three computer labs. In 2009, we reported our donation of $150,000.
The Hormel Institute
2010 marked the final year of the company's $5 million contribution to The Hormel Institute's expansion project, which was completed in September 2008. In 2010, The Hormel Institute received more than $1 million in grants for five cancer research projects being conducted at The Hormel Institute and published a study on the cover of the nation's leading cancer journal, "Cancer Research," which links capsaicin, a component of chili peppers, to skin cancer.
"Through the outstanding success and unwavering financial support from Hormel Foods, The Hormel Institute has grown to be an emerging world leader in cancer research. The Hormel Institute - featured twice in the past 13 months on the cover of Cancer Research, the number one cancer journal in the United States - remains focused on one mission and that is research into what can prevent and control cancer through natural and non-toxic means. The legacy of The Hormel Institute belongs to every generation of Hormel Foods employees. Their support paves the way for our research to flourish," said Zigang Dong, M.D., Dr. P.H., executive director of The Hormel Institute University of Minnesota-Mayo Clinic.
For more information, visit The Hormel Institute's website.


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DreamWorks has released a new featurette for director Shawn Levy's (Date Night) robot-boxing, action/drama Real Steel. Starring Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand, Hope Davis, and Dakota Goyo, the film is set in the year 2020 when robot-boxing has inevitably become the most popular sport in the world. The pic centers on Charlie (Jackman) a former boxer who is now attempting to mentor/program a robot to the top of the android-boxing ranks. Essentially, it's Rocky V with robots (and hopefully a climactic back-alley brawl between Jackman and his electronic protege).
Check out the new featurette, which assures potential moviegoers that boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard was in fact involved in the making of the film, after the jump and click here to watch the latest trailer. Real Steel opens on October 7th.
Here's the featurette:
Here's the official synopsis for Real Steel:
A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, "Real Steel" stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.
"Real Steel" is directed by Shawn Levy ("Night at the Museum" franchise and "Date Night").


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Energy Department Releases Draft Updated Best Practices for Residential PACE Financing Programs
As part of the Obama Administration's Clean Energy Savings for All Initiative, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) today released best practice guidelines for Residential Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) programs. PACE is an innovative mechanism for financing energy efficiency, solar, and related improvements. DOE's updated best practices guidelines will enable more states and communities to adopt and implement residential PACE programs, unlocking access to affordable financing to reduce homeowners' energy bills, achieve more resilient homes and communities, and create jobs. DOE will also provide technical assistance to make it easier for states and communities to stand up effective PACE programs.
The updated guidelines also incorporate advancements in DOE residential energy efficiency analytical tools and resources, such as the DOE Home Energy Score and Standard Work Specifications, and step-by-step program guidance available through the Better Buildings Residential Program Solution Center. These tools and resources can be used by PACE program administrators and participants to plan, develop and implement programs that effectively deliver home energy upgrades to participating households in their jurisdictions.
- U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Progress Alert
- Best Practice Guidelines for Residential PACE Financing Programs
- FACT SHEET: Obama Administration Announces Clean Energy Savings for All Americans Initiative
Sample coverage:
- ABA Banking Journal: Agencies Issue New Guidance on PACE Loans
- Builder Online: FHA Will Soon Insure Mortgages with PACE Loans
- Home Performance Coalition: Home Performance Coalition (HPC) Applauds White House Move to Advance Access to Residential PACE for All American Homeowners
- Imperial Valley News: Energy Department Releases Draft Updated Best Practices for Residential PACE Financing Programs


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Recommended for Seniors
CPR/AED classes teach you how to help someone choking or suffering a heart attack. You can learn CPR in as little as half a day.
Courses are scheduled regularly in our training centres, however, if you would like to organize private group training at your location, please contact your local St John office.
Recommended for Teachers
check out the free We Can Help Too First Aid and Safety course for Grade three students!
Seconds count. First Aid and CPR training helps save lives. Learn what to do.


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Tuesday, June 18, 2013
Pharrell Talks BBC Turning 10
Not that BBC, the other BBC (Billionaire Boys Club).
Pharrell talks about how the likes of Ralph Lauren and Chanel have inspired his own fashion leanings ("You know Commme De Garcons when you see it. It's based on greatness and I respect that) and also compares the similatities between creating music and clothing. He also shouts out not only the designers and collaborators but the shop workers who do the day to day of keeping the line running.
Happy 10th Birthday BBC.
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Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Interested in presenting at the WIDA conference?
The word is out!
WIDA announced last week that they will be holding a national conference from October 17 to October 19, 2013. I am so excited about so many aspects of this conference. It will be in Milwaukee, my second favorite city on Lake Michigan. The conference will be open to all educators, regardless of their membership in the WIDA Consortium. The conference theme is Language Learner Success: Building on Strengths. I can't wait to see what the sessions will be about! Speaking of which, guess who might be presenting at the conference?
Saturday, December 1, 2012
First Look at the Early Language Development Standards
Have you heard? WIDA is creating Early Language Development Standards for children who are 2.5 - 5.5 years old. On November 29, 2012, practitioners from several states gathered in a Chicago suburb to preview these new standards. Similar to the K-12 English Language Development Standards, the Early Language Standards will contain the following components:
• Six Early Language Development Standards
• Two language domains (receptive and productive)
• Three early language development levels in English
• Three age groups
• Two features of developmentally appropriate academic language
• Performance definitions that define each level in each age group
• Model Performance Indicators (MPIs)
Early in the day each table was asked to create a visual that would represent the relationship between the various components. Here are two examples:
The Puma table visualized a tree with two trunks. One trunk represents the receptive language
• Six Early Language Development Standards
• Two language domains (receptive and productive)
• Three early language development levels in English
• Three age groups
• Two features of developmentally appropriate academic language
• Performance definitions that define each level in each age group
• Model Performance Indicators (MPIs)
Early in the day each table was asked to create a visual that would represent the relationship between the various components. Here are two examples:
Friday, November 16, 2012
Tips for Doing Transformations with the 2012 Amplification
Earlier this year I wrote about some of the new features in the 2012 Amplification of the ELD Standards. I highlighted the new components, including the example context for language use, cognitive function and topic-related language sections.
Since then I have conducted several workshops on transformations. (For those of you new to the ELD Standards, check out these posts: Transformations – Part 1, Transformation s – Part 2, Q&A on Transformations.) I have been delighted to see that these same new features actually make it easier for my participants to do transformations. So today I will be sharing some transformation tips. Some are my tips; some came from my workshop participants.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
It's Our First Blog Birthday!
It's hard to believe that it has been one year since we launched this blog! Thanks to you, it has been a resounding success. Over 38,000 people have visited the WIDA blog since November 7, 2011. Just last month, we had over 8,000 page views.
Join us as we celebrate!
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
Using the ACCESS for ELLs Score Reports
Last week an administrator told me that he was surprised to learn that there were several different types of score reports available for the ACCESS for ELLs assessment. He only knew about the data that was uploaded annually to his district's online data management system. Reflecting on that conversation led me to today's post.
Friday, October 19, 2012
Understanding Proficiency Levels Using an Ice Cream Cone Analogy
I suspect that proficiency levels are the "most talked about" of the scores provided by the ACCESS for ELLs score reports. However, many of us have a hard time explaining the levels to people outside our field. In today's post, I will share with you my favorite analogy – the ice cream cone.
During workshops, I have been known to actually draw this image free hand. It isn't very pretty! The "homemade" image of the ice cream cone diagram below is much nicer.
Monday, October 15, 2012
Welcome, Colorado and Nevada!
Have you heard the news? On October 1, 2012, Colorado became the 30th member of the WIDA Consortium. On October 11th, Nevada joined and became the 31st member.
Both states previously adopted the WIDA ELD Standards for use in their schools. Now that they are official Consortium members, Colorado and Nevada educators are preparing to administer the ACCESS for ELLs assessment.
Here are a few blog posts that you might find useful if you are preparing to give the ACCESS for ELLs for the first time this year:
Thursday, September 27, 2012
Tips for Using the CAN DO Name Charts
Looking for a way to organize and share your students' English language proficiency data? For years I have suggested to my workshop participants that they use the CAN DO Descriptors to contextualize their students' ACCESS for ELLs® data. That is, I have suggested that they write their students' names or initials on the appropriate grade level cluster CAN DO charts. But now we have an even better option!
Friday, September 7, 2012
Four New Features in the Strands of MPIs
Recently I pointed out some of the similarities and differences present in the 2012 amplification of the ELD Standards. Today I would like to share a little more with you about some of the new features in the Model Performance Indicator strands. For additional background information on MPIs, click here.
Tuesday, August 28, 2012
What's New in the 2012 Amplification of the ELD Standards?
In my last post, I pointed out the elements of the 2012 Amplification that are remaining the same. If you haven't done so already, check out that post and label the pages I mentioned. It will make it easier to find what I am mentioning in this post. Speaking of which, let's take a look at some of what has changed or been made explicit in the 2012 amplification of the ELD Standards.
Friday, August 3, 2012
What's the Same in the 2012 Amplification of the ELD Standards?
Have you heard? The 2012 amplification of the English language development standards is now available. I downloaded a copy for myself and took some time to compare and contrast the 2007 edition and the new 2012 amplification of the ELD Standards. But first things first, find some small sticky notes or tabs and flag the following pages. These are the ones you'll be referencing the most as you begin to use this document.
Posted by WIDA at 1:47 PM 3 comments
Labels: 2012 Amplification, ELD Standards, ELP Standards
Friday, July 27, 2012
Quick Summer Read on Young ELLs
If you are looking for a quick and easy summer read about young English language learners (ELLs), then you may want to take a look at this book. Like many of you, summer is my chance to catch up on personal and professional reading. Earlier this week, the book Basics of Supporting Dual Language Learners: An Introduction for Educators of Children from Birth through Age 8 found its way onto my desk. It is written by Karen N. Nemeth and published by the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
First let me briefly clarify that the term dual language learners (DLL) is used by some preschool and early childhood programs instead of ELL. In fact, DLL is the official term used by NAEYC, the Office of Head Start and the Council for Exceptional Children Divison for Early Childhood. In a nutshell, DLL is used to describe a young child who is growing up with exposure to, and simultaneously learning,
Wednesday, July 18, 2012
Welcome, Northern Mariana Islands!
Earlier this week, WIDA welcomed its 29th Consortium member, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Similar to Massachusetts, which joined in June, the Northern Mariana Islands educators will be using the WIDA ELD Standards and will be administering the ACCESS for ELLs assessment.
The Northern Mariana Islands are a chain of islands west of Hawaii and north of Australia. Their public school system consists of twelve elementary schools, four junior high schools and five high schools. During the 2011-2012 school year, a total of 11,011 students were enrolled in these schools. Chamorro, English, Chinese and Philippine languages are commonly spoken among the residents of these beautiful islands.
Tuesday, July 10, 2012
Where Do Those ACCESS for ELLs Tests Go?
Have you ever wondered what happens to the ACCESS for ELLs boxes that you carefully pack up and ship back each year? How do they score them? Does some machine have to turn each page in those booklets? If a picture is worth a thousand words, then you will love this!
Friday, June 29, 2012
Welcome, Massachusetts!
|Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Earlier this month, Massachusetts announced that it had joined the WIDA Consortium. This means that beginning in 2012-2013, Massachusetts educators will use the WIDA ELD Standards and administer the ACCESS for ELLs assessment. For those of you keeping count, that brings the total to 28 states. Here is the full map.
Here is a snippet of what Mitchell D. Chester, Ed.D. the Massachusetts Commissioner of Elementary and Secondary Education had to say about the WIDA Consortium.
Saturday, June 23, 2012
Check Out the 2012 WIDA Video Contest Winners
Several months ago I told you about the WIDA video contest and encouraged you to submit a video. Over sixty of you grabbed your video cameras and answered the call.
Everyone who entered will be receiving a copy of the 2012 edition of the English language development standards. The top four entries (which included a tie) will receive cash prizes and a scholarship for the awardee and a colleague to attend a 2012 WIDA Professional Development Academy.
Watch all of the winning videos here.
This year's winners are:
Thursday, June 14, 2012
CoCoMo Institute
A few months ago, I told you about the Common Core and More (CoCoMo) Institute. Thank you for your overwhelming response from across the Consortium!
I am happy to report that the institute is taking place from June 11-15, 2012 in Santa Fe, New Mexico. More than 85 educators from 14 Consortium states are hard at work learning about the Common Core State Standards and WIDA's English Language Development (ELD) Standards.
Thursday, June 7, 2012
Tips on Creating Content Area Word Walls
Do you have a word wall in your classroom? Is it dedicated to high frequency words? What about content area words and phrases? What challenges have you had with supporting your students' language growth visually in your room?
When I was teaching, I struggled with the best way to use the wall space in my classroom. I had a "traditional" word wall on the back wall which held many of the high frequency words in English in alphabetical order. Other walls were dedicated to various content areas or particular projects we were working on in class. My bulletin boards held student work samples and information about upcoming events. While the various content area posters and visual aids were helpful for students, I always felt like I was missing something. It wasn't until I started providing professional development full time that I stumbled across the idea of a content area word wall. Today I'll share with you some of my favorite tips, tricks and links for word walls dedicated to learning the language of the content areas.
Wednesday, May 30, 2012
Using the CAN DO Descriptors in Grades 3-5
|Image: FreeDigitalPhotos.net
This month, teachers have been sharing ways that they differentiate classroom instruction and assessments for their ELLs. In each post, they have highlighted the levels of a particular student and listed a corresponding CAN DO Descriptor before sharing their instructional and assessment ideas. So far we have heard from preschool and high school teachers who work in ESL, bilingual and mainstream content area settings. As the school year winds down, consider how you can use these blog posts as a way to start conversations among teachers who teach the same group of ELLs. How do we pass on what we know about our students' strengths to next year's teachers? How can the CAN DO Descriptors help us contextualize our students' ACCESS for ELLs scores?
For more information on the CAN DO Descriptors for PreK-12th grade, click here.
This week we wrap up our series with some ideas from Soledad Rios. Sol is a dual language teacher who works with students at various grade levels. Here are some of her ideas for providing instruction in English that are matched to what each student can do at their level in each language domain.
Friday, May 25, 2012
Using the CAN DO Descriptors in PreK Classrooms
The WIDA CAN DO Descriptors are a wonderful tool for understanding what our students can do and express in English. This week Martha Weisman and Hertha Ramirez share their ideas on how to use the PreK-K CAN DO Descriptors to plan instruction for two of their preschoolers.
Friday, May 18, 2012
Using the CAN DOs in a High School American History Class
As a continuation in our series, Melinda shares her ideas on how to use the CAN DO Descriptors for grades 9-12. Typically it makes sense to start the year by matching instruction and assessment to the students' current ELP levels. Then, as the year progresses, teachers can challenge students to work towards descriptors at the next level of language proficiency.
Melinda Perkins, High School Social Studies Teacher
Monday, May 7, 2012
Our Top Six Posts So Far
Thank you for making this blog such a success! Today, May 7, 2012 is our six month anniversary. So far we have had over 8,900 people come to the blog and read a post. In order to celebrate, let me share the top six blog posts:
What's new with ACCESS for ELLS this year? - Over 1,100 pageviews
Transformations – Part 1 - Over 600 pageviews
Decisions, decisions…about tier placement - Over 400 pageviews
Me Washa la Mano - Over 400 pageviews
Tips for Reaching Out to Parents of ELLs - Over 300 pageviews
I've got a question about ACCESS for ELLs… - Almost 300 pageviews
Written by: Tammy King
Written by: Tammy King
Thursday, May 3, 2012
Using the CAN DO Descriptors in a High School Math Class
WIDA's CAN DO Descriptors are one of my all-time favorite documents to share – especially with mainstream teachers. They are a wonderful resource for understanding the language acquisition process and brainstorming ideas for differentiating classroom instruction and assessment. Some of you know that I teach a graduate course on assessment of ELLs. Recently I asked my students (in-service teachers pursuing their ESL or bilingual endorsements in Illinois) to choose one ELL that they currently teach. Then I asked them to list the CAN DO Descriptors that correlate to that student's current English language proficiency (ELP) level. Lastly, I asked them to list ways they could differentiate their instruction and classroom assessments to better align with that student's level of ELP.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Help Desk Helpers - Part Two
post, you met Michelle. This week, meet the rest of the WIDA Help Desk staff. You'll learn about some of the common questions that the Help Desk receives and the WIDA states they would most like to visit. Enjoy!
Posted by WIDA at 10:07 AM 2 comments
Labels: ACCESS for ELLs, Assessments, ELP Standards, Help Desk, Online training, School District, Spanish Standards, Speaking Module, State Departments of Education, T2 Start, Tier placement, Training Toolkit
Wednesday, April 18, 2012
Introducing the Help Desk Staff
Hi, dear readers! Thanks for stopping by the WIDA Blog. I'm Michelle and what's on tap for this and some future blog entries is an introduction to the Help Desk at WIDA. The Help Desk addresses your concerns and questions, provides you with log in information, and talks you through testing procedures. If you've never contacted us, you're missing out—we're awesome! A common misconception we hear is that we're housed in a giant corporate office full of cubicles with dozens of people (picture the AT&T call center), but we're really just six people who
Wednesday, April 11, 2012
Using Rubrics and Checklists for Language Proficiency Assessments
Teachers often tell me that one of the trickiest aspects of designing classroom-based assessments is to identify what we want to assess and then how to document it.
Recently I blogged about common assessments and ELLs. In that post, I mentioned that there are two main types of assessments for ELLs –assessments that measure academic content knowledge and assessments that document language proficiency. So as we design our assessments we need to ask ourselves "Am I assessing my students' knowledge of the content or their ability to speak/read/write about this topic?"
Most school districts have multiple assessments for academic content knowledge. Typically there is a district assessment plan or schedule that details when and how often to give various content assessments. End of the unit assessments, quarterly or semester assessments and yearly assessments of content knowledge are set.
But what about assessing our students' language proficiency?
Monday, April 2, 2012
Spanish teachers – check out the new Continuos del Desarrollo Lingüístico (SLD Standards)
Two years of hard work are paying off and everyone (consortium and non-consortium members) will be able to reap the benefits soon.
So what is SALSA? It is a collaborative project between the Illinois State Board of Education, WIDA and the Center for Applied Linguistics. It stands for Spanish Academic Language Standards and Assessment. As the name implies, there are two parts to the project. The first part has
Tuesday, March 27, 2012
Common Assessments and ELLs
|T. King, 2012
Last week I had the chance to work with a small group of local high school teachers. Their district has been doing some extensive curriculum work, and they have now reached the assessment stage. They wanted to know what they needed to do to appropriately assess their ELLs across several classrooms. They hoped to learn about different types of assessment tasks that are appropriate for students at different levels of English language proficiency. Some even wondered if it was enough to just assess content area knowledge. (Hint: we also need to assess student's academic language proficiency). Ultimately the teachers will be working to create a balanced system of assessments that allows students to show what they know about content area knowledge and academic language over time. With this information, the teachers can make decisions about future instruction, student placement and
Friday, March 23, 2012
Get those videos in by April 15, 2012!
|Image: Ambro / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
What would you do with $1,000 or $500 or even $250 in prize money? Which WIDA Professional Development Academy would you go to -if it were free? If you win, you could be faced with those very questions. All you have to do is submit your entry for the WIDA video contest.
WIDA is looking for short videos (5-10 minutes) of instruction or assessment of ELLs. I wrote about a possible approach to this contest in a recent post. The best news is that the deadline has been extended to April 15, 2012. Now you can wait until your spring break to put the finishing touches on that video before you mail it. Click here for more details.
If you have additional questions about the video contest, please e-mail Connie North (email@example.com).
Happy filming!
Written by: Tammy King
Written by: Tammy King
Posted by WIDA at 9:41 AM 0 comments
Labels: Creativity, ELP Standards, Lessons, Math, Newcomers, School District, Science, Teaching
Friday, March 16, 2012
The Language of Math... and National π Day
For those of us that teach elementary school, we might have missed the celebration this week. No, I'm not talking about the NCAA play –in games in Dayton Tuesday night. I'm talking about the festivities on March 14th – otherwise known as National π (Pi) Day. You may remember from algebra that pi is the ratio between a circle's circumference and its diameter. It is also a crucial part of many math equations. For example, the area of a
Posted by WIDA at 9:55 AM 7 comments
Labels: Lessons, Math, State Content Standards, Teaching
We want to hear from you!
Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Update to email address on 11/22/13
Written by: Tammy King
Due to feedback from our readers, I have recently adjusted the settings on the comments section on this blog. It should be easier now because you don't need to log in to leave a comment. Please give it a try.
If you run into a problem, email the Help Desk at email@example.com so we can resolve the issue. Thanks!
Friday, March 9, 2012
"Off To Class" Book Review
Recently a colleague introduced me to a beautiful book called Off to Class: Incredible and Unusual Schools Around the World written by Susan Hughes. The book was written for children between the ages of 9-13. But because of the splendid layout, the intriguing scenarios and gorgeous photographs, this book would be interesting to much older students (and adults). It certainly kept my attention!
The content of the book is not light and fluffy. The author, Susan Hughes, begins by stating that the United Nations considers education to be a basic human right.
Posted by WIDA at 7:48 AM 0 comments
Labels: Creativity, Early childhood, Lessons, Math, Native Language, Newcomers, Science, Teaching
Friday, March 2, 2012
Tips for Reaching Out to Parents of ELLs
Many of you are struggling with how to best reach out to the parents of your ELLs. You pick the date, book a fabulous speaker, set up interpreters and send home flyers announcing the event. But when the time rolls around for the meeting, it looks a lot like the photo above. So what can you do differently? Today I'll share six tips that I have learned over the years.
Thursday, February 23, 2012
Native Language Resources for Parents
I was recently asked by a district administrator for resources to share with parents of English language learners. In his email, he stated that some parents of ELLs in his district need reassurance that it is ok to use their native language with their children. In very practical terms, it is critical that parents and children share a common language that they can use to discuss everyday occurrences and key family topics and issues. Pedagogically, we know that children do better in school when they are immersed in a language-rich environment in the home. During workshops I explain it like this: parents should
Friday, February 17, 2012
What Do We Do With All of These Standards?
Judy Sauri, principal of Edwards School in Chicago, recently expressed
Thursday, February 9, 2012
Favorite Lessons
Since so many of the WIDA states are in the midst of testing right now, I wanted to provide you with a little break and share a lesson I was reminded of recently.
As you know, last week was Groundhog Day. Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow, so six more weeks of winter are on their way. What a strange and uniquely American day! As I heard the reports of our favorite national rodent seeing his shadow, I was reminded of my days as an ESL/ bilingual teacher. I was teaching in a suburban district in a building where the overwhelming majority of the students spoke a language other than English at home. Collectively, our students spoke over fifty different primary languages. Most of our students were born and raised in the United States. But every year we had some students in fourth, fifth and sixth grade who were new to the country. Every
Posted by WIDA at 11:08 AM 0 comments
Labels: Confidence, Creativity, Lessons, Newcomers, School District, Teaching
Friday, February 3, 2012
Become a Certified WIDA trainer
2011 Certification Institute Participants and WIDA Staff
It's hard to believe that it has been almost two years since I became a certified trainer for WIDA. (Though, my family would be happy to tell you that I am also certifiable nuts!) For me, the journey
Friday, January 27, 2012
Tips for Scheduling the ACCESS
Preparing to administer the ACCESS for ELLs can be a time-consuming process for test administrators and district level test coordinators alike. Recently I had the chance to interview Rosemarie Meyer, Assistant Superintendent for Bilingual/ESL Programs in Community Consolidated School District 21 in Wheeling, Illinois. Just over 37% of CCSD 21 students are English language learners. She shared some tips that have helped
Thursday, January 19, 2012
Video Contest for Educators of ELLs
I am excited to let you know about a video contest that WIDA is sponsoring for teachers of ELLs. Not only are there some great prizes for participants, but you also have the chance to showcase the wonderful activities and assessments that you use with your ELLs. The contest is open to all
Posted by WIDA at 3:33 PM 0 comments
Labels: Creativity, ELP Standards, School District
Monday, January 9, 2012
Wanted: Local ELL-related blogs
Maybe it is a blog run by a teacher (ESL, bilingual or mainstream), a district administrator or someone at your state department of education.
If it deals with ELLs, let me know about it by posting a link to the blog in a comment below. Thanks!
Written by: Tammy King
Written by: Tammy King
Friday, January 6, 2012
I've got a question about ACCESS for ELLs…
Over the years, I have turned to the WIDA Help Desk with various questions. Often they are able to give me an answer, and I am on my merry way. Once I even called them on the lunch break during a workshop to get an answer to one of my attendee's questions. Every now and again, I have found out that my question would be answered better
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Internet GIFs are all the rage these days, regardless of how you properly pronounce them. Audi has jumped on board..
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Spy shots have recently surfaced of a camouflaged Audi Q1 in the wild. Audi's upcoming micro-SUV will be developed to..
The upcoming 2016 Audi Q1 has been speculatively rendered ahead of next year's official market introduction. The smallest crossover from..
British media has managed to acquire new details about the Audi S Q1 and RS Q1 models. The base model..
British media is reporting that BMW is cooking up a 1-Series Sport Cross model which will go head to head..
New details are starting to emerge about the already announced Audi Q1 scheduled to go on sale next year. It..


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Increasing productivity is a common concern for work and business. Whenever there's an opportunity to cut the time to perform specific tasks, we grab it. Like when working on spreadsheets, you can speed up the process by clicking the Microsoft Excel shortcut keys. And here are some that are useful for entrepreneurs and employees alike:
If you need to enter a new Excel worksheet, simply hold the SHIFT key + F11. You will notice that a new worksheet has been added to the left. You can then start working on the new sheet you created.
CTRL + Grave accent key (`)
To show all the formulas you used to automatically perform computation on selected cells, hold down CTRL and click the grave accent key (`), which you can find on the left of the number 1 key and over the TAB key. You'll notice that it changes the display of the spreadsheet but don't worry because the content is still untouched.
CTRL + 0 and CTRL 9
In business, there will be cases when you will need to put certain column(s) out of the sight of your associates. Instead of going to "Format" then "Hide Columns," just press down the CTRL key and strike 0 (zero). To hide rows, hold the CTRL key and hit 9.
To add up cells automatically, you do not have to go to where the "AutoSum" key is located. Select the cells that you need to compute then press ALT followed by the equal sign (=) and the next cell will show the total.
Most of the time, you are working on two or more workbooks to compare or check on some data. Rather than wasting your time clicking from one workbook to another, simply hold down the CTRL key and then TAB. Continue hitting TAB until you get to your desired workbook.
Microsoft Excel is included in all Microsoft Office versions. At DownloadMSOffice.com, we offer Microsoft Office 2010, 2011, 2013, 365, and 2016 versions for both Mac and PC in Home & Student or Home & Business variants.
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This sliding shower door has a width of 1200mm and a height of 1850mm, but can also be bought in a 1000mm wide version as well as a 1700mm wide version, so to help you find a door with the right dimensions for your bathroom. This shower door also has the ability to be adjusted laterally by 40mm so it can fit into irregular sized shower spaces.
Why choose a Sliding Door?Sliding shower doors are the perfect option when you have that extra bit of space in your bathroom and want to create an amazing impact. Sliding shower doors does exactly as the name suggests, the opening door slides onto the fixed panel creating a generous entry space and ease of access to all users. This sliding door uses twin rollers which glide effortless. Sliding shower doors do not project into the room and therefore are an excellent choice when space is a premium. Perfect for fitting in to an alcove or adding a side panel to create a shower enclosure.
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Screening dates and times for THE FITS, a film by Anna Rose Holmer. The Fits Cast: Royalty Hightower, Alexis Neblett, Da'Sean Minor, Lauren Gibson, Makyla Burnam, Inayah Rodgers, Q-Kidz Dance Team. World Premiere Venice International Film Festival. North American Premiere Sundance Film Festival.
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Earlier Event: September 22ARTPRIZE ON SCREEN | GRAND RAPIDS, MI
Later Event: September 23UCR ARTSblock | RIVERSIDE, CA


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"Where do I start....Dr. Rajagopal did an absolutely amazing job on my breast augmentation. I used to be a 34DD, I lost weight and with the weight went my boobs. I went to Dr. Rajagopal for help to make me feel as beautiful on the outside as I felt on the inside. She did just that and so much more.
She is so caring and her staff is absolutely amazing as well. I highly recommend her for your breast aug. I've also gotten Botox and love my results! Thank you and your staff, I feel like part of the family not just a patient."
– Kelly S. (Yelp Review)


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Josh Tolentino
Sports Reporter
The Illinois State soccer team dominated NIU, 4-1 in their
season opener on a hot and muggy Friday afternoon at
Adelaide Street Field.
Coming into the first game of the season, the Redbirds were looking for some much-needed offense and found just that. Going scoreless in preseason play, the Redbirds came out firing on all cylinders Friday.
Sophomore midfielder Dagny Olson broke the scoreless drought early in the sixth minute when she found the back of the net, beating Husky keeper Amy Annala. Just ten minutes afterwards in the 16th minute, Olson assisted fellow striker Rachel Tejada to increase their lead 2-0.
It wasnt long before the Redbirds struck again. In the 26th minute, Paige Jarsombeck, a sophomore transfer from Creighton fired towards the goal. Annala blocked the forwards first attempt, but a second effort from Jarsombeck gave the Redbirds a rebound goal and a 3-0 lead.
Not even a minute later, the Redbird attack was on the move again. Junior midfielder Ali Farkos beat Annala with a goal to the upper left handed corner to give the Redbirds a commanding 4-0 lead going into halftime.
Head coach Drew Roff was impressed with his teams performance, referencing their patience on the offensive side of the ball.
Our movement was very good we really worked on that final pass. It takes a lot of time to get the chemistry down. Roff said. Our forwards were very active.
The powerful first half performance carried into the second half where the Redbirds maintained the lead throughout the match. The Huskies lone goal came from Ashley Neubeck in the 47th minute when she found her way past Redbird goalkeeper Aryn Newsom. Newsom tallied four saves in 82 minutes of play.
The Redbirds firing offense showed up on the stat sheet as the team outshot NIU, 25-9 in total shots.
Despite the impressive showing from the Redbirds, Roff believes there is a still lot of room for improvement.
The main focus is to learn from this game. The first half was tremendous for us, Roff said. Were going to put together the best 90 minute effort we can.
The Redbirds will hit the road en route to College Station, Texas to take on Sam Houston State on Aug. 29 and Texas A&M on Aug. 31 before returning to Illinois to challenge DePaul on Sept. 3.
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Consumers Feel Better About Economy
Paul Vigna and Eric Morath gauge consumer sentiment in November, and Michael Casey looks at bitcoin and proposed consumer protection rules.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
... morning welcome to Monday the U S stocks this morning ... vacillating really ... and Alan were there when I really but ... are down thirty Dow Jones Industrial Average spin off has been downhill very tight range right around the flatline agency Nasdaq ... also down Essen P five hundred down less than a point ... to almost really virtually flat ... very and take a duet clutching data this morning which provided some fresh insight into the state of the U S consumer pretty good numbers really including the latest sentiment numbers that came out at the top the hour he's a November's preliminary consumer sentiment index ... Annie came in above consensus ... or morale is here police in DC joins us with the details are hell are you ... dear Merrall ARIA ... the sentiment numbers with a show ... well we saw the highest consumer sentiment reading since July two thousand saddens that's very important match ... of the highest since we were in a recession so ... it shows that consumers are feeling a lot better than they were ... even a year ago ... that was not really expected right the numbers roll higher than expected ... I do this you know how much we actually produce consumer sentiment numbers ... but is usually a little bit of difference between what consumers say in what consumers do but ... time being numbers seem to AKP dig into him at the time nor gas prices and improving labor market is in full unseen beings better expectations so that should give retailers hope I had in the holiday season ... these consumers who say they're feeling better will show that by opening their wallets ... Google was selling the October retail sales numbers out this morning to ... go gangbusters numbers there again ... little bit better than expected moving a positive direction doesn't come with that ... G drop me a full picture here ... yes being knocked over and over basically reverse this September decline I think that uses locked up and says say there's not going to be a real slowdown in consumer spending towards the end of the year some here ... but the numbers were as strong as you might expect that that falling gas prices ... he thought you'd see a bigger boost in spending elsewhere we saw some was not a half percentage point gain ... of the best moral us in line were with what we seen in the summer so ... they were seen some evidence that people are spending that money ... the state of the gas pump especially in restaurants ... but we're not seeing it throughout the entire economy but economists say that it often takes a month or two of gas prices being more before people say hey buddy gone by that TV outlet spend a little bit more on our house to ... buy excellent think you're a much ... you're welcome ... when we come back when they face special challenges when they're preparing for retirement will talk about that next ... welcome back now when they when they know that there was a tough time with her to retirement planning ... for winning our special challenges and to talk about that ... we had Kelly O'Donnell is an executive vice president at the largest independent advisor Financial engines Kelly hell are you ... acting for having me ... The Solano Coldwell full swing here to show some numbers ... this is from a survey that you guys today he was inducted ... asking women on about their futures about their retirement begin CEO Paul Kelly and some of the concerns of mom when in ... those numbers that a lot more than a hundred percent folks because they were about to take off more than one box ... obviously ... low ... and rising healthcare costs running out of money social Security bankruptcy ... I carry all of those are concerned that we all have ... how do they affect winning differently though ... had a great question and ... as the largest independent investment advisory help millions of when and ... how I prepare for retirement ... and what we know from our experience in what we know from that day that is that one women live longer ... that they need to find a longer period in retirement ... and number two they start out with glass ... to give you a frame of reference an arm of the business ... I the median for one k balance for males ... the eighty four thousand dollars ... well for winning its forty three thousand dollars ... to win in basically start out with class that need to find a longer retirement ... here ... social Security for a second it's very ... one thing that you may use or is it was a key factor is when you start taking those benefits think I'll walk me through that the XLP cartoon women live longer they stand to benefit more from really good Social Security claiming decision ... aam for every year they delay their Social Security ... and in receiving six eight percent increase in their benefits ... aam also because they're likely to be that survivor and a spousal relationships ... on ... ensuring that there is a strong survivor benefit fourteen wanting ... is the key factor in looking at your Social Security claiming ... that Kelly was below the one thing that I know there was ... I was the one big surprise that jumped out at you in this survey ... yet mean I think ... that defy all the challenges women are more optimistic about retiring at ... fifty one percent compared to forty one percent of men where looking for a typical yes and I think ... I aam you know there's less concern than men about getting older ... I and they're looking forward to traveling spending time with their family ... on that and what I think is very interesting sleeping and ... a ... high of in to Des Kelly thank you very much concerned that thinking of ... when we come back bitcoin might get some consumer protections mainly ... itself is being talked about Washington where going to talk about an ex with Michael Casey ... welcome back buried deep within the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's proposed rules ... for prepaid debit card to talk about this yesterday ... there's one small suggestion that could have a big impact on the digital currency that calling Michael Casey to discuss that Mr Casey hell are you are very robust Opinion eyed soul what to ... do with Alan Alan Zibel on the show yesterday talking about this he he and Robin wrote the story ... here's something though that was in the report I wanna talk about this little ... they say that these the protections of opposing ... may have potential application to virtual currency and related products and services ... I how serious about this we think they are what I think that probably going to pop that inevitably leads them there because they're exploring the idea of digital wallets ... in industries that isn't a traditional won't be covered by the Senate protections for prepaid cards not so little ... to stop discussing that will in was a digital wallets are out there well one of them will ... probably be there to pick on what sex the ... city in a way I think again is is a proposal they get twenty VimpelCom and see what comes back ... but the notion I think is that that that the services that ... are provided ... for the purpose of ... transferring bitcoin value wallets will be covered by this which by default means effectively ... covering bitcoin is constant ... what is interesting about this is sort of its on ... broad broad perspective one other things that people think one of the biggest pitfalls of bitcoin is that ... you lose it it's gone there's no protection ... is no FDIC insurance is no backing it ... ah ... but what other take orders yet not as the problem but as of feature right right it's it's it's really very good point on the the the the ... one would think that this kind of protection is actually good ... the recall and if you are trying to advance to the mainstream adoption for me this is the kind of thing that gives it legitimacy in one hand ... but also reduces this little protection for those who might be wired about it ... and say you know I think this is the doesn't want to see a broader mainstream adoption of discussing the rock to point out that some in the in in that community because it needed a little milk or radical in their approach to things ... the the the the first when will people be happy about this is is not bad regulation would I would say ... right and any other concerns have been ... raised about excessive regulation ... where is the sort of fit in with the whole regulatory framework that is still being built obvious right so the other part of it is that what's the big going service providers to take the lead us to provide extensive this isn't ... an also will provide this ... had ... having the required to to to to get money transmitter licenses ... and is a big debate going on around I was one of the BitLicenses than your ... financial services ... has been developing a specialized Acorn focused licensing process ... and the initial response to the community is painted as being too draconian to excessive ... and ultimately what they'll say ... killing innovation ... this season he's in some consumers need a much coming from the defense on that to to to make a will but more a ... more amenable to tune in intervention but it's a hot hot topic right ... right time is not going to go away when ... he was playing soccer and you ... might think you're a bull ... moving right along in investing size does matter when it comes to your own portfolio what does not matter though is the size of other people's portfolios ... MarketWatch's Chuck Jaffe is here to to read keeper focus on the right target a joins now my out might look in my case you know that ... Chuck how are you ... going on ... I'm very inching column column you working on here ... this is all about investing is another things ... keeping up with the Joneses ... yes and the answer is ... in modern society it is so breezy freedom ... be hearing what other people are doing and ... Lord knows the go to MarketWatch or ... WSJ dot com go to the bottom of almost any story it'll find somebody who in the Commons is bragging about their performance ... and ... when you wonder what people are not the guy he wrote me an email that basically said hey you you warn about red flags on Alibaba nineteen by because of what I ... read and I wish I had guys I was going to do and I would've made a lot of money well that's great but if you didn't say hey next time there's an IPO on buying regardless ... because look at these other guys who've made money ... doing due diligence that ... played catch up ... and making ... a bad mistake and make it works ... right ... the lowest do you think you know what we see I know the answer to this is ... how much do you think this sort of peer pressure market dynamic ... really ends up affecting investors' upon with a start making the ... decisions that ... are good or bad they could be good that the random that they may not be the best decision for those people who don't know what's gonna work out or not ... well the answer is that it has a tremendous impact mean ... to be on my on my radio show where I was trying to say you can't just pick somebody buy recommendation because we literally had days on the show where one guy comes on and I would sell the stock and another guy comes on because got a different methodology ... and says ... I this is my favorite body and it could be the exact same thing and you have to recognize that ... it's not that this guy is wrong or right with these guys run to right it's that ... this guy doesn't value style or whatever and he's sticking with his guns and this guy gets a growth stock only sticking with it and you have to decide what your body uses your weaponry and stick with it and not be talked out of something ... and drop your guard because somebody else is talking a great day ... I know it ... is another question that that ... is a great answers to leave it there thank each out ... Xstrata ...


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WASHINGTON (CBSDC) – James Brown, host of "NFL Today on CBS" and fifty percent of the billing for Thursday's 11th Annual Michael Wilbon and James Brown Celebrity Roast & Golf Classic, thinks RGIII needs to "tone it down a bit" and the Redskins should hold him back from continuing to be overexposed, because players around the league are starting to take notice.
Brown, a D.C. native, undoubtedly knew what he was getting himself into by addressing Griffin, and was both reserved in his judgment and also willing to offer criticism, in a joint-interview he and Wilbon did with the Junkies on 106.7 The Fan on Friday.
"Speaking for my guys collectively [Dan Marino, Boomer Esiason, Bill Cowher and Shannon Sharpe], the one big concern they they have, and look, we understand that RGIII is a prodigious talent," Brown prefaced to the Junkies. "We understand that what he shows has got this town, I mean geeked beyond belief. However, tone it down just a bit because everything is so RGIII-focused, and it's more than just him."
Brown, known for being deliberate with his words, proceeded with caution as he went on about Griffin.
"Personally – and I like the guy, I like his family – I just wish he'd be a bit more …" Brown searched for the right words. "That the organization may hold him back just a little bit."
"It's too late, JB," Wilbon prodded. "It's too late now."
"Because there are so many players around the league right now, who ain't very happy about all that," Brown said.
Earlier in the interview, Brown made some comments that could serve to retroactively disarm Redskins fans, by warning not to put too much stock in Griffin's shaky first-half performances in weeks one and two of the 2013 NFL season.
"Everybody's got an opinion, but from afar, I don't know that it's as much him because this is effectively his preseason," Brown said of Griffin. "The bit of hope that I had was that he went from a first half that was exceedingly poor against the Philadelphia Eagles to much better in the second half. If the trajectory continues, then it'll be fine, but this is the worst time to be doing it because it's in-season. Every game is so important."
Wilbon also said the Redskins' problems are worse than just RGIII, that the organization is experience system-wide problems.


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If my understanding is correct, the binding energy determines a nucleus' stability and the greater the binding energy, the more stable the nucleus (e.g iron-56). The mass of the sum of nucleons that make up a nucleus is greater than the mass of the nucleus that they come from.
What I would like to know is where the energy comes from to initiate the decay process? Presumably energy is required (similar to a chemical reaction where energy is required to break bonds)? I could be on the wrong track here but if someone would be so kind as to answer this for me, it would be greatly appreciated.


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FILE - This Friday, Jan. 11, 2013 file citizen journalism image provided by Edlib News Network, ENN, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, shows rebels from al-Qaida affiliated Jabhat al-Nusra waving their brigade flag as they step on the top of a Syrian air force helicopter, at Taftanaz air base that was captured by the rebels, in Idlib province, northern Syria. It is announced Wednesday April 23, 2014, that French authorities are taking steps to crack down
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Iraqi al Qaeda's entry into Syria's civil war caused "a political disaster" for Islamist militants there, the movement's global leader Ayman al-Zawahri said in a video message, urging the faction to redouble its efforts in Iraq instead.Zawahri, who has run al Qaeda since Osama bin Laden was killed in April 2011, accused ISIL's leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, of "sedition" and said rebel disunity had been handed "on a plate of gold" to Assad, the ultimate target of all Sunni Islamist groups in Syria.


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Emis to provide EPR to Gibraltar
23rd September 2014
Emis Group has won a 10 year contract to deliver EPR to a health service in Gibraltar.
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Ascribe PAS at Mid Yorks
21st November 2013
CaMIS patient administration system from Ascribe has gone live at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust.
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EMIS buys Ascribe
16th September 2013
Ascribe has been purchased by EMIS for £57.5m.
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Ascribe eHandover presented at global Microsoft SharePoint Conference
5th December 2012
Dr Aklak Choudhury presented the latest achievements of the Trust using Ascribe eHandover at Microsoft Sharepoint global Conference in Las Vegas.
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Microsoft award for Ascribe
10th July 2012
Ascribe's Connected Health Application Platform wins the 2012 Microsoft Public Sector Health Partner of the Year Award.
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GP appraisal system launched by Ascribe
29th September 2011
GP appraisal system is based on Microsoft SharePoint cloud technology.
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Luton and Dunstable Hospital NHS Foundation Trust Go Live with Ascribe's Emergency Department Clinical solution
7th September 2011
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NHS news 3/12/10
2nd December 2010
A round up of NHS news over past week.
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Ascribe go live at Southampton
29th November 2010
Ascribe's PAS solution has gone live at Southampton University Hospital Trust NHS Trust.
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Mid Yorks hospitals install self service kiosks
12th August 2010
The self service kiosks intergrate with their Ascribe patient administration system.
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Lords of Waterdeep: D&D Board Game
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Product Description
Waterdeep, the City of Splendors—the most resplendent jewel in the Forgotten Realms, and a den of political intrigue and shady back-alley dealings. In this game, the players are powerful lords vying for control of this great city. Its treasures and resources are ripe for the taking, and that which cannot be gained through trickery and negotiation must be taken by force!
Lords of Waterdeep is a strategy board game for 2-5 players. You take on the role of one of the masked Lords of Waterdeep, secret rulers of the city. Through your agents, you recruit adventurers to go on quests on your behalf, earning rewards and increasing your influence over the city. Expand the city by purchasing new buildings that open up new actions on the board, and hinder—or help—the other lords by playing Intrigue cards to enact your carefully laid plans.
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Product Information
Hasbro, Wizards of the Coast
Year: 2012
Players: 2 - 5
Time: 60 or more minutes
Ages: 12 and up
Weight: 1,705 grams
- Game board
- Rulebook
- 5 card stock player mats
- 121 Intrigue, Quest, and Role cards
- 130 wooden cubes, pawns, and score pieces
- Wooden player markers
- Card stock tiles and tokens representing buildings, gold coins, and victory points
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Product Reviews
Average Rating: 5 in 1 review
Lords of Waterdeep (LoW) is a great game for 2-5 players. The game is set in the Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) universe, the port city of Waterdeep. The game is played in eight rounds plays in about an hour and there's absolutely a lot to like in this worker placement game.
First off, the components are wonderful. The agents (meeples), scoring pieces and Adventurer cubes (representing the standard D&D classes of fighter/cleric/wizard/rogue) are all wooden. The building tiles are nice and thick and contain a little cut out area in the bottom corner that allows the player that built the building to place an token to denote ownership. Even the money is cool... the one gold coin pieces are square with a hole in the center, while the five gold pieces are moon-shaped also with a hole in the center. The box comes with a nice insert to hold everything in place. Good stuff all the way around.
My only complaint with the components is with the Adventurer cubes. New players or those not familiar with D&D will typically say, "I'll take two orange and a black" instead of "two fighters and a rogue." While everyone will certainly understand what the player means by that, it just detracts from the theme of the game.
Fortunately, a couple of aftermarket options have shown up to help with this problem. One vendor sells small chips with an icon and the appropriate adventurer name (fighter, rogue, etc.) stamped on one side. An enterprising Canadian gamer is selling laser-cut wooden meeples which look very cool.
The rulebook is well written with lots of helpful illustrations, including an overview of each building. No complaints here.
The game board is nice and colorful. It looks great and features a very nice layout. The board has labeled spaces for where components are placed during setup. Everything is labeled clearly which makes it very easy to teach the game. A scoring track runs around the outside of the board. +1 for the game board.
LoW's gameplay doesn't really break any new ground. However, the gameplay is so tight and interesting that the game just flows. It's not uncommon to hear, "Oh, it's my turn?" as turns play out very quickly.
At the start of the game each player receives a card representing a Lord of Waterdeep. This card is kept hidden from other players and provides a scoring bonus at the end of the game. For example, one Lord provides six victory points (VPs) for each building the player owns at the end of the game. Another may provide four VPs for every type of a specific quest type the player has completed.
This Lord provides casual gamers with a much needed goal. Instead of having to fully develop a strategy to win, the strategy is provided. The player then can focus on executing against that strategy.
LoW is a worker placement game where the players take turns placing an Agent on the board and immediately take the action provided by that location. Some locations allow the player to recruit Adventurers (receive cubes of the corresponding color), while others may provide gold, allow the player to draw or play an Intrigue card, build a building or take a quest.
As with most worker-placement games, players contend when placing an Agent. Most locations will only allow one Agent to be present, so the first player to place an Agent there gets that action that round. Note that there is not a blocking mechanism in the game. The player who places the Agent has to be able to take the corresponding action or he can't place his Agent in that location. One of the locations (Castle Waterdeep), allows a player to draw an Intrigue card and become the first player in the following round.
After placing an Agent, the player has the option of completing a quest. Each player starts the game with two quests and completing quests will generally be one of the primary goals for players during the game. Quests are completed by discarding the appropriate types of the Adventurer cubes that the player has recruited (collected) on previous turns. Sometimes you have to cough up a few gold to complete a quest too. In return, the player will gain some combination of VPs, gold, Adventurer cubes and/or an ongoing effect (called a Plot Quest).
Plot Quests provide depth to the game as some of their effects align nicely with a Lord card bonus. For example, your Lord card may give you an end game scoring bonus for completing Commerce quests. One of the Plot Quests provides a two point bonus every time you complete a Commerce quest. Make sure to point these types of synergies out to new players.
Intrigue cards allow the player to receive some benefit or cause a negative effect on another player. Some cards "break the rules" of the game in a benign manner. Each player starts the game with two Intrigue cards. Additional cards are received as a result of Agent placement or completing a quest.
Buildings provide a new location on which players may place their Agent. The player who builds the building marks it as such, and this player receives a bonus any time another player places her Agent on that building. The bonuses are small but add up over the course of the game.
Quests are at the heart of the game. The quest cards all contain a name ("Deliver an Ultimatum"), an illustration (some cool, some meh), some flavor text, the quest type (Commerce, Warfare, etc.), the cost to complete the quest and the quest reward.
Quests are left face up so other players can see what you're working on and what resources (Adventurers or gold) you need. Once completed, quests are placed faced down on the player board. Plot Quests remain face up to help remind the player of the ongoing bonus that they provide.
After all Agents have been placed, that round ends. Play continues in this manner until the end of the eighth round. Players will get another Agent at the end of round five.
LoW is tremendous fun to play. There's enough player interaction with the Agent placement contention, Intrigue cards and the building bonuses to keep the game from feeling like he's playing a giant game of solitaire. There are no wonky rules and the game feels and plays very intuitively.
Complexity-wise, it's a step up from Ticket to Ride but a notch below Stone Age or Ninjato. LoW would be a great choice to introduce the worker placement mechanic to casual game players.
We love LoW at our house and it receives my highest recommendation for players looking for a fun board game to play with two to five players.


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