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FULL site
22 Sep 2008
Saving the Seeds of the Next Green Revolution
With food prices skyrocketing and climate change looming, the world needs a green revolution like the one a generation ago. But many valuable seed varieties have been lost – and scientists now are scrambling to protect those that remain before they vanish down the genetic drain.
By fred pearce
Suddenly plant breeding is sexy. In recent months, soaring prices of food, coupled with fears of runaway climate change, have brought calls for a renaissance in agricultural research — to boost crop yields and deliver new varieties that can stand the heat and drought of a greenhouse world.
The world needs a repeat of the advances made during the last green revolution a generation ago, which doubled global food output.
But the truth is that this new revolution is hobbled before it starts. Decades of underinvestment since the last green revolution have left the world's crops in genetic meltdown. In many cases, the feedstocks for a new push for plant breeding simply aren't there.
Enlarge image
Seed at the CIMMYT Seed Health Laboratory in Mexico is cleaned of dust and chaff, then dried to keep it viable.


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Catholic presence need not be showy
To the editor:
In reply to Mr Dulka's letter, May 2, 2014
I think you were doing a fine job of explaining the need for a new Chancery, that is until your attack on Ms. Guggisberg. You stated she should refrain from asking "ignorant" questions.
I grew up in New Ulm at a time when we attended Sunday Mass in the St Marys' building on So. Minnesota St.. The worship area was part of the school building. The priests lived in a modest home on German St., the nuns, who taught us, lived in the convent next to the school/church. Any Catholic Family interested in religious education was served.
I believe religion was a greater part of our lives at that time as well, in spite of it or because of it.
One of the two hospitals in New Ulm at that time, Loretto Hospital was served by nuns as nurses and administration. There was a nursing home attached for the elderly. The presence of the Catholic Church was very obvious, yet not showy.
These are two examples of religion being part of a community, serving those who in need.
I am sure there are many people Catholic and non Catholic alike, who question how this expensive structure will be serving by example, Since you have set yourself up to "educate the ignorant masses" perhaps you will let us know how this wonderful new structure will serve as more than a residence and administrative center.
I too wonder, "what would Pope Francis do?" Would he choose a mansion on the hill or perhaps a more humble abode?
P.S. In a conversation on debates about religion, government etc. back in the early '70s, when many of us openly questioned all things organized, a friend stated to me, in regard to The Vatican, "If the Catholic Church is really there to help the needy, they could sell the paintings in the Vatican, that alone, would solve much of world hunger."
I think we now have a Pope who agrees!
Linda Bolduan
New Ulm

subset: commoncrawl


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Brianna Perry
Watch out Nicki Minaj there is a new female rapper making waves on the scene at the moment and she looks absolutely stunning as well! She brings such an elegance and classiness to the whole rap game which is so refreshing. We love how she side swept her full set of thick beautiful hair to one side really giving her such a cool formal look. On top of sweeping it she added some stunning kinky curls which adds such a nice finishing touch to her hairstyle.


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Insights into Luxury: Ads, Electronic Devices, and Apps Attract Very High-Income Consumers
June 6, 2013
Older high-income consumers (those with household incomes over $250,000) are more likely to see advertising via traditional platforms, according to The Shullman Research Center.
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Penn State Hershey Family and Community Medicine
Welcome to the web site of the Department of Family and Community Medicine of the Penn State College of Medicine/Milton S. Hershey Medical Center. We are located in beautiful Hershey, Pennsylvania. You may be aware of the other fine product made in our community: The Hershey Chocolate Bar. In fact, the Milton S. Hershey trust made the initial donation to Penn State University to allow our College of Medicine and Medical Center to exist.
Our department has a long and proud history in Family Medicine. In fact, we were the first department of Family and Community Medicine in an academic health center in the United States!
Our faculty members are very active clinically, seeing patients at Penn State Hershey sites in Hershey, Harrisburg, Elizabethtown, Camp Hill, Palmyra, Middletown, Mount Joy, and in State College, Pennsylvania, home of our university's main campus. We take care of inpatients in the Penn State Milton S. Hershey Medical Center University Hospital and Children's Hospital, and at Mt. Nittany Medical Center in State College.
We are also responsible for the education of our College's medical students in Family Medicine, including a required 3rd year clerkship, a required underserved medicine clerkship, and many other courses in all 4 years of the curriculum. Our student body has an award-winning Family Medicine Interest Group (FMIG).
Our two residency programs (Hershey and State College) teach leadership and social justice in the setting of a curriculum that develops individual physicians into highly competent family physicians. Our residents work in our own institution and several community settings. We welcome inquiries from potential future residents.
We are home and the flagship institution for the Pennsylvania Area Health Education Center (AHEC) program, which allows health professions students to do rotations in underserved areas around the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Our faculty members provide just fewer than 300,000 primary care visits per year. In addition, we have faculty members with diverse interests, including research, obstetrics, geriatrics, primary care sports medicine, integrative holistic medicine, and global health.
I encourage you to explore our web pages and links, and to contact us if you have any questions.
William Bird, D.O.
Chair, Family and Community Medicine


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Parks Canada
Home > National Parks of Canada > Banff National Park > Park Management > Wildlife > Wild Images > Unrestricted Viewing
Female grizzly bears live and raise their cubs along Lake Minnewanka and depend on the buffaloberries that grow in abundance here in late summer. When these feeding bears are disturbed or surprised by humans, the result is not always positive. Between 2001 and 2010, there were two serious bear attacks and several dangerous close encounters between grizzly bears and park visitors on the Aylmer Pass trail near Lake Minnewanka. Today, recreational activity has been restricted in the Lake Minnewanka/Aylmer area from July 10 to September 15.
It's sometimes difficult for visitors to understand (or picture) why park officials fuss over these restrictions, but the following Wild Images – taken between July 9th and August 15th – illustrate just how critical this area is for Banff bears and outlines the importance of the seasonal restriction. Abiding by these restrictions can ensure that we will all enjoy these fascinating images for years to come.
Grizzly Bear / © Parks Canada Grizzly Bears / © Parks Canada Black Bear / © Parks CanadaGrizzly Bear family / © Parks CanadaGrizzly Bear family / © Parks Canada
Back to Wild Images main page


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|Russell Memorial Library Toddling 2s & 3s Storytime
Event Type: Early Literacy Class
Age Group(s): Pre-School (0 - 5 years)
Date: No Dates Found!
Start Time: 11:00 AM
End Time: 11:30 AM
This storytime is for children ages 2-3 who are ready to attend independently. Your child will enjoy stories, music and rhymes in a literacy based program. Registration is required.Library: Russell Memorial Library
Location: Childrens Activity Room
Contact: Judith Hobbs
Contact Number: 757-410-7024
Presenter: Judith Hobbs


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Smiles Begin with You Personalized Art
- Overview
A cheery message for your child, this plaque brings a smile every single day.
- Made of MDF.
- Mounted with keyhole slots.
- Mounting hardware included.
- 14" wide x 16" high x 0.5" thick
- Dimensions & Care
- Overall: 14" wide x 16" high x 0.5" thick
- Weight: 5 pounds
- Spot clean with a soft, dry cloth.
- To protect the finish, do not apply abrasives or household cleaners.
- Shipping & Return Info
This is a general shipping item.
View Our Shipping Information
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At Pottery Barn Kids, we take great pride in the quality and craftsmanship of our products. Attention to design, materials, safety and construction is our priority. We carefully inspect your order prior to shipment; upon receipt, please inspect your purchase and notify us of any damage. We will arrange for a prompt replacement. If, within 7 days for Quick Ship upholstery and 30 days for all other products, you are dissatisfied for any reason, you may return your purchase for a refund of the merchandise value.
If your return for Merchandise Credit Cards is greater than $10,000, we will issue $10,000 in Merchandise Credit Cards to you that day, and then mail additional Merchandise Credit Card(s) for the amount in excess of $10,000 to you.
We cannot accept returns on monogrammed, personalized, special-order items, or on items damaged through normal wear and tear. We also cannot accept returns of final-sale items, which are identified by a price that ends in $0.99.
For returns of items purchased from your Pottery Barn Kids registry, we will gladly provide a refund or exchange for the merchandise within 90 days of your event or within 90 days of purchase, whichever date is later.
For assistance, please contact Customer Service at 800.993.4923
International Returns: Online returns are available only for items that were shipped to the United States. If you would like to return items that were shipped outside the US, please see International Returns and Exceptions.


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Long, Side-Swept Brown Hairstyle
This stylish hairstyle curtains over one neck displaying off the petite levels cut through the sides to reduce the length. This amazing hairstyle is easy to re-create on most hair types and is great for any occasion. At the2011 people's Choice Awards in Los Angeles, Selena Gomez impressed with her amazing blonde hair-styles. On the blue carpeting, Selena Gomez decided for a amazing side-swept style complete with soft waves.


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No problem, bring fish, I'll make more dough, if not make Zane make some, he is VPN trained....
If we want to fire my oven to NP temps, and take her for a test drive, I'll bring dough. Does anyone have a decent NP dough recipe/workflow that I can follow?
Looks like I will be coming up to Tom's from Rockport on that Saturday. I'll bring some toppings to include VT pepperoni. I'm going to Central Market tomorrow. Anything else you would like me to look for? (that doesn't depend on too much refrigeration)
I'm having a difficult time finding a large bag. I'm looking at having to go to small bags too which scares me because I've had several small bags that were bad.
Guys maybe try a locally owned restaturant that you know the owner or manager.
I'm really looking forward to you guys baking me one pies.
I know y'alls food will trump mine beyond belief though. Take lots of pictures.
Gene, if it is going on a trailer, we are better off loading it after we cook. It is low, but not that low. I'll load it Sun. Morning.
I'm excited.


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We tested power supplies from ASUS as long ago as 2004. ASUS has forgotten this market since then or its PSUs just have not come our way. But today we are going to introduce to you three new PSUs from that brand: two mainstream 550W models and a top-end 750W one. The difference between them goes far beyond the numbers on the labels!
Testing Methodology
Click the following link for a description of our testing methodology and equipment and a brief explanation of what the specified and tested parameters of power supplies mean: X-bit Labs Presents: Power Supply Units Testing Methodology In-Depth. If you feel overwhelmed with the numbers and terms this article abounds in, check out an appropriate section of the mentioned article for explanation.
You can check out other PSU models we have tested in our labs in the Cooling/PSU section of our site.
The 550W A-55GA power supply is a medium-wattage model in ASUS's product range.
It comes in a small blue-painted cardboard box. A brief specification is listed on the back of the box: the allowable loads and currents on every of the power rails. Running a little ahead, I want to note that a splittable 20+4-pin mainboard connector is listed among the PSU's features but my sample had a monolithic 24-pin connector.
The PSU is designed in the standard form-factor with a length of 140 millimeters. There won't be any installation problems even with very cramped system cases. There are no remarkable features in the appearance of the A-55GA except for the orange On/Off switch. Such a switch can be seen with many PSUs manufactured by AcBel Polytech.
One look inside the PSU is enough to identify it as an AcBel. The A-55GA is based on AcBel's popular platform that is used in PSUs selling under AcBel's own brand as well as in PSUs from other brands, e.g. Cooler Master. The platform is not very new but meets the basic requirements of today.
The PSU is based on an ML4800CP chip which is a controller of both active PFC and main regulator. The input circuitry looks odd but does not differ fundamentally from other PSUs. There are just two parallel-connected high-voltage capacitors instead of one, and an E-core choke (it looks like the PSU's power transformer) of active PFC instead of a toroidal choke. The output circuitry follows the classic design with joint voltage regulation.
Capacitors from LTEC Ltd. are installed at the output.
I can find no fault with the assembly quality of this PSU. AcBel has always been good in this respect.


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Mar 15, 2013
Security Implications of Big Data Strategies
Big data architectures and platforms are new, and they are evolving at a fantastic pace. Both commercial and open source development teams are releasing new features for their respective platforms every month. If one thing is for sure, it's that today's big data clusters — the platforms, features and bundles — will look very different from the data clusters we'll see in the not-so-distant future. The security tools that scale to meet this new challenge will be different as well. We are very early in the adoption cycle for big data, but the earlier companies begin to tackle big data security, the easier the task will be. If security is a requirement for cluster development as it moves forward, clusters are less likely to be compromised by hackers. In addition, companies will dodge the painful experience of bolting half-baked security capabilities onto critical production infrastructure.
In this Dark Reading report, we will provide recommendations for how to approach the security of big data clusters. Along the way, we'll address some of the common myths about big data and discuss some of the issues that make big data security more difficult than traditional relational database security projects. (S6680313)
Research Report


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For a brief moment, Catholics on all sides were united in defense of the freedom of the Catholic Church to define for itself what it means to be Catholic in the United States. They came together to defend the church's institutions from morally objectionable, potentially crippling burdens imposed by the Obama administration under the Affordable Care Act. Catholic journalists, like E. J. Dionne and Mark Shields, and politicians, like Tim Kaine and Robert P. Casey Jr., joined the U.S. bishops in demanding that the administration grant a broad exemption for religiously affiliated institutions from paying health care premiums for contraceptive services. Then, on Feb. 10, President Obama announced a compromise solution by which religious institutions would be exempt from paying the objectionable premiums but women would not be denied contraceptive coverage. A confrontation that should never have happened was over. But not for long.
After a nod to the White House's retreat as "a first step in the right direction," the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops rejected the president's "accommodation" as insufficient. Their statement presented a bill of indictments on the fine points of public policy: It opposed any mandate for contraceptive coverage, expanded the list of claimants for exemption to include self-insured employers and for-profit business owners and contested the administration's assertion that under the new exemption religious employers would not pay for contraception. Some of these points, particularly the needs of self-insured institutions like universities, have merit and should find some remedy. Others, with wonkish precision, seem to press the religious liberty campaign too far.
The bishops have been most effective in influencing public policy when they have acted as pastors, trying to build consensus in church and society, as they did in their pastorals on nuclear war and the economy. The American public is uncomfortable with an overt exercise of political muscle by the hierarchy. Catholics, too, have proved more responsive to pastoral approaches. They expect church leaders to appeal to Gospel values, conscience and right reason. They hope bishops will accept honorable accommodations and, even when provoked, not stir up hostility. In the continuing dialogue with government, a conciliatory style that keeps Catholics united and cools the national distemper would benefit the whole church.
The religious liberty campaign seems to have abandoned a moral distinction that undergirded the conference's public advocacy in past decades: the contrast between authoritative teaching on matters of principle and debatable applications of principle to public policy. The natural law tradition assigned application to the prudent judgment of public officials. Writing of policy differences in 1983, the bishops wrote, "The Church expects a certain diversity of views even though all hold the same universal moral principles." Contemporary Catholic social teaching has spoken of policy in terms of "a legitimate variety of possible options" for the faithful and the wider public; it has urged that differences over policy be tempered by charity and civility.
The campaign also risks ignoring two fundamental principles of Catholic political theology. Official Catholic rights theory proposes that people should be willing to adjust their rights claims to one another. It also assigns to government the responsibility to coordinate contending rights and interests for the sake of the common good. The campaign fails to acknowledge that in the present instance, claims of religious liberty may collide with the right to health care, or that the religious rights of other denominations are in tension with those of Catholics. But as Pope Benedict XVI wrote in "Deus Caritas Est," the church does not seek to "impose on those who do not share the faith ways of thinking and modes of conduct proper to the faith." Furthermore, the campaign fails to admit that the administration's Feb. 10 solution, though it can be improved, fundamentally did what Catholic social teaching expects government to do—coordinate contending rights for the good of all.
By stretching the religious liberty strategy to cover the fine points of health care coverage, the campaign devalues the coinage of religious liberty. The fight the bishop's conference won against the initial mandate was indeed a fight for religious liberty and for that reason won widespread support. The latest phase of the campaign, however, seems intended to bar health care funding for contraception. Catholics legitimately oppose such a policy on moral grounds. But that opposition entails a difference over policy, not an infringement of religious liberty. It does a disservice to the victims of religious persecution everywhere to inflate policy differences into a struggle over religious freedom. Such exaggerated protests likewise show disrespect for the freedom Catholics have enjoyed in the United States, which is a model for the world—and for the church.
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Religious liberty is not a strategy but an American tradition that arises from our history and law (biblical, Constitutional and decisional). The "go along and get along" tone of this editorial is repugnant to me as a Catholic.
The article presents a very sophistic argument which caters to the writer's presumption or belief that there is a discontent between the pastoral approach that the Bishops have engaged in concerning this issue and the duty they have to protect the Church and her sons and daughters from being owned, controlled, or coerced by the state. The duty of the Church is to gracefully facilitate that unique union between God and man that makes us saints. That duty is at war with the state which is efforting demonically to facilitate that pitiful union between man and the condition of sin.
It is becoming more and more clear that America magazine, indeed perhaps the entire Jesuit order of North America should be abolished. This magazine and nearly every university they administer is a hindrance to Catholics and the Church. Fiat Lux.
David L. Gray
Mandating that health insurers themselves provide reproductive health services to individuals at no expense to the insured or to the providers of that insurance seems to be the rule that the Obama administration is applying to this question. I fail to see how this position compromises the ability of individuals to exercise their moral judgment regarding contraception and abortion. Whether or not these services are covered by their insurance, they are free to make the right moral choice. I also fail to see how this policy coerces Church-associated insitutions to directly pay for contraception or abortion. Speaking purely from a financial perspective, insurance companies that provide contraceptives actually make money because the costs associated with the avoided births outstrip the costs of the contraceptives themselves. So their incentives are to provide this service even if they do not charge for it. Their insured pool is sufficiently large to be able to do t his even if there is a substantial number of individuals who do not use the contraceptive "benefit". Thus claims that insurance companies will pass on the charges of contraceptives and abortions to the unsuspecting Catholic-affiliated organizations are fiscally unreasonable and unsubstantiated.
Perhaps the Bishops and the Church-affiliated institutions in the US and elsewhere should consider providing morally acceptable health insurance to Catholics. The self-insured Catholic risk pool would certainly be large enough to be financially viable if a substantial number of Catholics joined. And there would be no need for the Catholic insurance company to provide services or ask the participating Catholics to pay for those services deemed morally unacceptable. If you are truly interested in religious liberty in the context of a pluralistic society you have to put your money where your principles are. I maintain this would be a more fruitful exercise than lathering up the electorate in an election year over a diversion from all of the other considerable challenges facing this country (sufficiently discssed above). As for those whose salaries or jobs are at stake because they have refused to provide abortions or contraceptives against their wills, I sincerely say hooray for them. They are a witness to us all becuase they are authentically living within their well formed consciences and suffering a financial martyrdom for Christ.
Finally, couching this argument in terms of "religious liberty" is a diversion from the central issues at play here in my view. I know of no one in this country who is not free to attend mass, to live a good Catholic life, to articulate his/her Catholic-informed points of view in the public arena. This is religious liberty. The Bishops are exerising it in the course of this discussion. If they loose the arguement with the administration, they have to accept that temporarily because we live in a pluralistic society whose principles will necessarily be at odds with the Catholic views at times. I say, be charitable, gracious in defeat, stick to your principles and persistently continue the discussion. However please don't try to make the case that religious liberty is threatened by the current health insurance discussion.
No one is trying to stop rebellious Catholics, non-believers or pagans from using chemical contraception, despite its cancer causing, environmentally damaging properties. We are trying to prevent an administration with a record or unconcern for traditional values from further eroding religious liberty by requiring individuals to offer immoral products and services to their employees. And we should be clear that there is no objection to offering contraceptives to treat disease. The issue is with recreational contraceptive drugs (insofar as many apparently see sex as recreation).
Perhaps more concerning than a loss of religious liberty is the loss of our willingness to tolerate the expression (by person or journal) of an alternate view.While I am against the HHS Mandate, I do not want to be identifed with the the rhetoric of those who are leading the campaign to oppose it.
Mr. Plevak (No. 108):Would appreciate you telling us where you stand on the HHS Mandate, instead of saying, "I may not agreed with all the points."
I can't believe you, or the editors for that matter, actually believe the editors' unsupported assertion that the President made an accomodation with the Church or did anything other than pitch the 1st Amendment into the circular file. We, at least most of us, aren't so stupid to fall for this cheap accounting gimmick.Thus, what is so outrageous about the editorial is that these Jesuits think we are indeed this stupid. I say this as someone who graduated from a Jesuit high school, went to a Jesuit college for two years before joining the Army, and sent my son to another Jesuit high school.
Please tell me where the vast majority of the commenters and I are off-base.
Suoglalana (No. 105):Birth control pills and arbortion-inducing drugs are readily available everywhere. However our freedoms, religious and otherwise, are under fearsome assault by the Leviathan.
It's unfortunate that in the choice between free birth control pills and freedom, you've apparently chosen free pills.
Has it occured to anyone that we, his children, have in fact completed His mandate? Can anyone think of some part of the planet earth that does not contain his children? Inner Greenland, Antartica, the Sahara, etc. cannot support life, and don't count.
In truth, we have fulfilled God's word: we HAVE been fruitful, and we HAVE multiplied, enormously. (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_population_estimates)
Estimates from multiple sources place the planet's population at ~300 million during Christ's life.
Now we have ~7 billion, approximately 23 times as large.
The overriding relationship between a Christian and the Lord is one of personal conscience/personal choice. Otherwise, we are merely robots. God created us so that we could love him of our own free will. God could have simply created automatons that walked around all day long saying "Great is God, how I love thee...". But that didn't happen. Instead, God created a partner, the Bride of Christ. We, the human race, all of us, are that partner.
God's message for us today is, "Go forth, and for each of you, create but one child, for my creation, the Earth, cannot support more than that. Use your own choice to decide when and where the time is right to bring forth the ultimate expression of my love. Do not mindlessly breed until my children are pressed against the "bars" of the "cage", and have crossed the thin red line. Do NOT bear fruit only to see it rot on the ground."
We are not supposed to breed until we break the planet's ability to support us, and we begin dying at our replacement rate. When that happens, the Apocalypse begins, in fact, has already begun.
As an example, I want all of you readers to seriously consider what is going to happen to the middle east after the U.S., Europe, China, and India have pumped the last drop of oil out of the ground. The middle east, being primarily desert, traditionally only supported a population of a few dozen million. With the black gold, their population soared to nearly a billion. When the oil is gone, so is their income, and their food. They will die in the hundreds of millions. There is no other way, no more food.
Somehow, this is a "womens" issue. Women take birth control, not men. I note that a group of old, balding males sit around making rules about what women should do with their bodies, all the while watching as God's children starve to death.
It's time for the women to say: "Men do not tell women what to do with their bodies. Men do not own women's bodies. Men do not make decisions about women's bodies."
Most Catholics in this country rely on contraception. I hear almost nothing from the millions of Catholic women who depend upon contraception. What I hear almost universally is from that segment of the population who have nothing to do with contraception, the MEN!
All these men are soooooo concerned about Obama, and contraception, and state v.s. "religious freedom". I have a good idea for all of you males:
Why don't you put an aspirin between YOUR knees? Then this entire, ridiculous, overblown issue would go away. That is, of course, unless Obama insists upon having your employer pay for your aspirin! In which case, the good Catholic women of the U.S. should rise up in righteous indignation that Catholic males 'religious freedom' is being crushed by a "statist government secular progressive liberal health care decision maker".
This is a non-issue. The will of the 97% that agree that women should have universal access to contraception will prevail.
medications. Most likely it will be the policyholders. There is no change and his administration is having a good laugh.
Last weeks Editorial on poverty failed to point out that after spending trillions of dollars
poverty has gotten worse. So you say spend more? Why not discuss the root causes
such as missed opportunities, lack of responsibility, and the breakdown of family.
Please address individual responsibilities.
I was debating with myself as to why I continue to subscribe to your magazine ,after
50 years and at age 80.
Then I read 3 intelligent and thoughtful articles in this issue on the this subject of church freedom and remembered why:
Staying Civil
First of Freedoms?
A Balancing Act
I will keep reading and hope for a change
God Bless,
Joe Bliss
Taken in context rather than with blinders on, it strikes me that the "compromise" leaves in place most of an Obamacare mandate that remains unconstitutional and immoral policy as well as an affront to religious liberty. Unfortunately, this article is a predictable product of the Society's ongoing zeal to subrogate our Christian duty to a government that does not bother to hide its hostility to the Church - and whose takeover of the healthcare sector will diminish the quality of care for all by continuing to erode the Church's ability to provide affordable, compassionate, Spirit-guided care.I pray that as an American Church we embrace a Constitution that empowers Christians, free of state tyranny, to fulfill our duty to bring Christ to His people. The alternative is to continue to practice a policy of appeasement that sells out the Church and her members.
The editors are on the wrong side of this debate.In fact, everyone who has rationalized this issue and drank Obama's Kool-Aid is gravely short sighted.
HHS is just testing out the climate and it doesn't take too much imagination to forecast where this is all heading. Our government plotted a thinly veiled backdoor scheme (they call it "compromise") in order to secure a woman's right to contraception and have Catholics pay for it (as we all know, the cost will be passed along in higher premiums paid by universities, schools and hospitals). The path is now paved to support their real machinations…mandating Catholic hospitals to perform sterilizations and abortions in order to receive federal Medicaid and Medicare funding.
No help from America magazine for undermining our cause and trivializing this as a mere "policy issue." As a physician that works for a large Catholic health system, I assure you that this will not be the end of government intrusions if we don't hold the line here and fight this incursion. Thankfully, Cardinal Dolan and our bishops are leading the charge. Deus Vult!
So the objections to Bishop Lori's comments seem to fall into two categories: 1. I dislike his "tone"...in other words he speaks the truth in a way that I find annoying. 2. The bishops and USCCB have been inconsistent with their criticism/actions against other intrinsic evils. Which leads me to comment...so what? Neither of these postions is coherent logically or morally; neither are these objections really relevant to the issue.
Obama was elected on the promise that he was going to end the partisan politics (in many ways he has made things worse); and, that fact isn't entirely the fault of his opponents. It takes at least two to fight and Obama has been as partisan as anyone else that has held the Presidency. Secondly, is anyone with any moral concience going to seriously argue that because the bishops have been inconsistent in the past that what we need is MORE inconsistency? Really? Is this really the logical option to curb the encroachment that has already occurred and will continue to occur if we don't stop it? Why not try repentence and a return to the truth? Why don't we try that?
Rather than rolling back the worst abuses of the Bush era Patriot Act, Obama has enshrined these provisions as "normal" and expanded these unconstitutional powers even further. Rather than criticising Obama for continuing Bush policies, Democrats have now done an about face and praise these provisions as "necessary" after all we are in a *global war against terrorists don'cha know.* (Which sounds exactly like the Bushies and Dick *other priorities* Cheney from 2001-2008)... This only serves to demonstrate a distrubing trend in our politics...personal loyalty to a particular President is becoming more important the principle. Now instead of being able to wire tap citizens without a warrant the President claims the right to to detain or even to kill them based upon "secret" information without judicial review or due process. I suppose in the near future we can expect to change the oath taken by service men and women from "Protect and defend the Constituion" to "Protect and defend the person of the President"...which is entirely contrary to the founding of our nation.
This fight over contraception seems silly when so many other larger issues are at stake. But I would commend the USCCB for raising their voices and pushing back against immorality and intrinsic evil that will directly affect Catholic institutions. It's time for the rest of us to step up and support the bishops and then go even further to combat the other encroachments that are being foisted on us by ruling elites of both political parties.
As Cathi D implied in her great post above, it's pure coincidence that the Obama administration is talking at this moment about artificial contraception, to which the America Magazine editors obviously feel every woman has a right. What will you do when they start mandating coverage for assisted suicide, and for parents who want to euthanise their 2-year-olds with downs syndrome? I hope that there will eventually come a time when even you feel compelled to assert that the procedure in question is immoral, and to speak out against a policy that requires you to pay for it.
It's sad that we've lost sight of individual freedom in this whole conversation, which is to speak of the freedom of an individual to start a company which creates jobs and provides a valuable product or service to society. Now we're being told that individuals still have that freedom as long as they're willing to use their company's hard-earned money to pay for barbaric and immoral acts like abortion and sterilization.
And the saddest thing is the Catholics who are allowing themselves to be *used* by the administration because their consiences have been so dulled by decades of rebellion against the Church that they've lost all sense of immorality.
"When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.
When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.
When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.
When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.
When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out."
Friedrich Gustav Emil Martin Niemöller
Are we ready? They're coming....
One thing I've not seen discussed is that no insurance policy commands that it be used to facilitate purchase of anything. One may obtain services and pay for them directly ignoring the insurance, or one may invoke the insurance when obtaining services, or may elect not to receive services. Thus buying the insurance for an employee does not necessarily mean that any provision in it will be used by an employee for something not approved of.
If paying for the employee to have that option is objectionable even if no employee makes use of that option, then we are left with a truly philosophical issue, no matter what adjective is applied to the issue.
Then the President's proposal came along to the effect that the employer would not have to pay for that insurance, rather providing that insurance would be a matter of insurer overhead. The premium would thus be less by some amount, and the employer would not be paying for coverage the employer does not approve of.
Thus the question is not even one of employer directly paying for employee to have an option which employee may never make use of. Rather it is a question whether purchasing a policy that will provide that 'benefit' is objectionable even if employer did not make a decison about coverage in that regard and did not pay for coverage in that regard.
Thus far we have not discussed the fact that female employee benefits in this regard involved ob/gyn physician services that can include prescription of birth control pills for a reason having nothing to do with birth control per se, but rather for regulation of extremely irregular natural menstrual cycles in patients who might be far from home when one suddenly commenced, and other problems with such cycles. Imagine the plight of a teenaged girl in class as school who suddenly is blooding her pants. The disputed provision in the policies would prevent insurers from debating with physician and patient whether the services are covered. And insurers do behave that way on far too many occasions.
Some folks when analyzing this situation seem to analyze it in terms of male provision of birth control, which is relatively inexpensive, when female provision of such care necessarily involves physicians and prescriptions, far more expensive and as just noted very possibly in fact not having birth control as the motive.
And of course we have here the Bishops' well-known non-mastery of public relations, and non-coordination of public relations. The context of pronouncements is rarely explained. The fact that other, potentially equally important issues are also being pursued is taken for granted by the Bishops, but not by the audience. And that the perceived opponent on issue A is the ally on issues B, C, and D is also not clarified, nor that the friend on issue A is the enemy on issues B, C and D.
Instead the Bishops stride onto the public scene in a rather imperial mode guaranteed to delight a minority, alarm a majority, and lend strength to their enemies on the host of other issues.
Diplomacy is an art the Bishops need to master, for domestic application, not just foreign relations. Diplomacy thanks the President for making the accomodation he did, applauds his willingness to compromise, and expresses an interest in dialogue over remaining 'details'. The exact present dispute could be so framed in a way not requiring anyone to 'eat crow' in coming up with a good definition of religious employer that does not permit someone to evade the law by announcing a religious belief that is insincere, hoping to save a nickel, or annoy disrespected female employees.
One possible avenue would permit the insured employee to opt in to such coverage directly with the insurer without notice to, required consent from, or expense to the employer. At that point it would be abundantly clear that the employer had no intent to furnish such coverage and had no expense related to it.
And to think I graduated from Creighton Prep! Back in the 1500's, you guys would have helped behead Bishop Fisher.
My comment above, now #63, lost its final paragraphs which offers a picture of the future and the beginning of the end for government run health care in the UK.
Those who continue to advocate for more and more government spending and borrowing for social engineering programs, government control of health care, and higher taxes obviously have never read or understood Santayana's words "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it".
The European countries that borrowed and spent on social programs are bankrupt and barely surviving. The UK's Prime Minister is calling for the privatization of large parts of their NHS( the Obamacare of the UK and the role model for Liberal pundits at the New York Times and the administration bureaucrats running the HHS ).
The administration's actions meet Einstein's definition of Insanity-" doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results"
Additionally, and this is also about health care, when a woman's ability to bring forth life is no longer something to be cherished, then women are disvalued and they know it deep in their souls whether they are conscious of it or not. They are used as sex objects. The result? Depression, drug use, self mutilation, rampant diseases, selfish marriages that do not last. I have seen it far too often in my medical practice. Satan loves the pill. (Porn? No big deal since sex has no meaning anymore.)
The UCCSB is not just fighting for religious freedom. The bishops ultimately are fighting for a just, HEALTHY and loving society. You should join them, not admonish them. When the state is wrong, and ours is very much so, people of conscience are obligated to speak up or we are lost.
A society that does not value children is doomed to extinction. A society that does not value children also does not really value anyone who is dependent. That may be any of us down the road. But if there are too few descendants to care for us......?
Then will this magazine be justifying assisted suicide as well? How about a ramping up of the use of the death penalty since there won't be enough folks around to work in the prisons? It goes on and on. And it all starts with conception. Too simple to be true? Hardly.
You are Catholics. Stand up for Truth. You are blessed and intelligent. Take off the blinders of relativism and use your gifts in the way in which He intended.
It is a pity and a scandal that some within the Church (like America editorial board) decided to abandon the bishops and create a shameful division within the Church on that important issue. St. Ignatius of Antioch made it clear many centuries ago: "Where the bishop is, there let the people be, as where Jesus is, there is the Catholic Church."
The entire letter of Cardinal Dolan:
The Order urgently needs a period of prayer and reflection on its raisond'etre.
First, the issue has too often been framed as a "contraception" or a "women's health" issue. Whether or not one accepts the teaching by Church officials on artificial contraception or whether or not one accepts that access to contraception should be elevated to the same "rights" status as voting-that's really not the point. The crux of this issue is the extent of government power in our constitutional system-a First Amendment issue. This is not about whether artificial contraception is moral or not (reasonable minds differ) or whether women should have access to artificial contraception (they do). This is about whether our federal government has the power to compel employers to pay for a medication or procedure to which they have conscientious objections. If a Church holds that artificial contraception is immoral, does the government have the power to force that Church or its affiliated institutions (i.e., hospitals, schools, etc.) or its members (i.e., private employers who accept the official teaching) to pay for its employees' access to artificial contraception? The free exercise clause of the First Amendment surely should prohibit the government from doing so. Just substitute "abortion services" or "euthanasia" for "artificial contraception" in this discussion. In our system, if the government has the constitutional power to mandate non-government employers to pay for artifical contraception despite conscientious objections, it also has the power to mandate non-government employers to pay for, say, abortion services despite such objections. (This limitation on government power would not of course limit the right of the government to pay for access to artificial contraception itself, thereby making it available to those women who choose to use it.)
Second, there has been a dearth of commentary about the way the actions of the bishops have been received by Catholics at large, by the public at large. I would argue that the bishops suffer from a severe and tragic "credibility gap" on this and any other issue of morality on account of the stark contrast between their prompt and concerted action in this matter and their dilatory and disorganized responses to continued malfeasance by the bishops in handling continued clerical sexual misconduct. It has been reported that 160 American bishops published letters to their people on the contraception conscience issue to be read publicly at the Masses in their dioceses. When, for example, the bishop in Kansas City violated the bishops' own norms for dealing with a known sexual predator just in the past 2 years on account of which the predator was left free to abuse other innocents, was there even a single bishop who wrote a letter to his people criticizing the crime? Was there even a single bishop who asked that the Kansas City bishop be criticized from the pulpit-or anywhere else in public? Until the bishops make it a priority (at least on a par with this conscience issue) to prevent bishop misconduct in dealing with sexual predators, they will continue to suffer from their squandered credibility when they attempt to speak prophetically about poverty, war and peace, the death penalty, abortion, education and other issues of grave importance.
Of course it is well known the Church objects to abortion and most contraceptives. It is therefore extremely strange that any governemnt of a democracy with a Constitution specifically protecting Religious Liberties would force a religion to act against it own well known moral principles.
Since when is any American government into the business of heavy-handed corecion of a religion to act against its own beliefs on the say-so of the government? Yet yesterday at a Congressional hearing United States Attorney General Eric Holder said he would enforce these regulation on Catholic institutions. This is not a trivail matter as this editorial would have the reader beleive. This is de-facto a fundemental redefinition of the relation of the relationship of the state and church back to the aborant history of the past where the state is supreme and dictates what the Church may or may not do and otherwise endlessly infringe on religion to advance the political inbtrests of the state.
But the Constitution says "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof ..." This is a most profound, sacred and fundemental right that has always strongly enforced and supported by the U.S. Supreme Court. It is wonderful that a Bishop of the Catholic Church can cut through all the theological sophistry of this editorial and say yes Religious Liberties in the Constitution are very important to Catholics and the Catholic Church in America and they are under attack by the federal government.
There is no support for Obamacare mandates or support for negotations with the administration bureaucrats for a compromise in the words of the founder of the Jesuit Order.


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Having four kids can make anything a challenge - something Tori Spelling became well aware of when her family recently ran into some car trouble."4 kids. 1 dog. 1 car leaking gas broken down on the side of the road= not a great road trip," Spelling tweeted Wednesday.Photos: Stars who don't look their ageThe reality star also attached a photo of her stranded with her kids Liam, 5, Stella, 4, Hattie, 1 and Finn, 5 months, and their dog.But look on the bright side: Spelling and husband Dean McDermott have two dogs. Could've been worse!
View original Tori Spelling Stranded with Four Kids After Car Trouble at TVGuide.com
Other Links From TVGuide.com
- Dean McDermott
- Tori Spelling
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Editor for this issue: Karolina Owczarzak <karolinalinguistlist.org>
University of Vermont Faculty Position in Computer Science After a successful search for two faculty members in 2001, the Department of Computer Science at the University of Vermont invites applications for an additional tenure-track faculty (pending final funding approval). This position commences with the 2002-03 academic year. The University of Vermont, one of the top public national universities (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/natudoc/natudoc_pubs.htm), is located in Burlington, Vermont. It offers a supportive research environment in a relatively small city that repeatedly has drawn national attention for offering a high quality of life. The greater Burlington area includes 125,000 people, and is situated on the shores of Lake Champlain between the Green Mountains of Vermont and the Adirondack Mountains of New York. Burlington and the surrounding area provide an environment rich in cultural, family, and sporting activities. The Department of Computer Science offers programs in the College of Engineering and Mathematics and the College of Arts and Sciences, as well as a joint program with the School of Business Administration. Position 1: Associate or Assistant Professor. Candidates in networking and systems, software engineering, programming languages, human-computer interaction or parallel/distributed computing are most sought. Candidates in any area of computer science will be considered seriously. Our faculty are involved in the forefront of research in knowledge and data engineering, software engineering, and computational sciences. We are seeking to complement and further strengthen our existing research and teaching activities in these areas. Candidates for this position should have a strong research record, hold a doctorate in Computer Science or a closely related field, and have broad teaching abilities and interests. Current teaching responsibilities typically consist of three computer science courses per year with average enrollments of 25 students. These responsibilities will be reduced to two courses per year for the first two years for successful position 2 candidates. Please send a letter of interest indicating the position sought, a curriculum vitae, a statement of teaching experience and interests, a statement of research interests and aspirations to, and arrange for at least three letters of reference to be sent to Chair, Faculty Search, Position (1), Department of Computer Science, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT 05405. Complete applications received by January 21, 2002 will be fully considered. For more information about the Department and the University please see http://www.cs.uvm.edu or send email to cssearchcs.uvm.edu. The University of Vermont is an Affirmative Action/Equal Opportunity employer and encourages applications from women and members of minority groups.Mail to author|Respond to list|Read more issues|LINGUIST home page|Top of issue


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The fact that many practices lose about 50% of their patient base every 5 years is a shocking statistic, but what is more surprising is that many practices aren't doing anything to stop it!
Are you?
Retaining current patients is the most effective and the least costly way to keep your practice thriving. The right patient retention solution will address and perfect key contributors for keeping patients loyal and active.
Read the sections below to learn how companies use patient retention programs to keep satisfied, engaged, and loyal patients.
Click on the text to learn more about the featured solution.
Appointment Reminders
Convenience, convenience, convenience: that's what our automated, customizable appointment reminders offer your patients. Missed appointments are frustrating for your patients, too – they don't generally mean to leave you hanging, they just forget!
Our automated appointment boost patient satisfaction and loyalty by providing them with convenient, non-invasive reminders that are tailored to their specific needs and schedule! Using texts, emails or automated phone calls, messages can be set to remind them exactly when and how they need it.
For even more convenience, patients can insert the appointment information into their electronic calendar from within the message with just one-click. Plus, our relationship with Google Now enables them to automatically receive helpful information, like real-time traffic and weather conditions around the time of their appointment.
Patient Surveys
Like most people, your patients appreciate being heard and having their feedback considered. Texts, emails or automated phone calls messages can be set to reach each patient exactly when and how they need to be reminded.
Patient satisfaction is increased when you show them that you value their opinion. Patient loyalty is solidified when you address their feedback. Patient education is more effective when you target your outreach by using the built-in analytics tools to create patient groups based on question-specific responses.
Social Networking
Relationships are easier to establish and maintain when you connect with patients where they already are. Where are they? You guessed it. Social media is where you can reliably reach almost all of your patients, of every demographic.
Solutionreach integrates social media right into your dashboard, making it easy to share valuable information, special promotions, and even the video testimonials you've collected with SR Video!
Your dedicated Solutionreach client success representatives are here to help you create your Facebook page. We'll even add a "Schedule Me" button, so patients can request an appointment without even picking up the phone! Patient engagement has never been easier.
ASAP Messaging
It's frustrating for patients to be told that they can't get into your office as quickly as they prefer. Wait-lists for patients hoping for a last minute cancelation spot are all well and good, but calling all of those patients takes too long to be very effective.
When you have a last minute cancelation, our ASAP messages are immediately sent to every patient on your wait list until the opening is filled.
Patients love it, and so does your schedule. (The office staff loves it, too.)
PatientReach TABLET
There are many things that our digital check-in tool does for your office, but don't overlook the enhanced patient experience that it offers your patients.
Your patients stay engaged and entertained while they are in your waiting room. After verifying their information and preferences, patients can quickly register for your patient portal and look through a selection of educational articles that can be emailed to them upon request.
No more cramped fingers, no more boring waiting room experiences, no more feeling like information is hard to acquire, and no more ineffective communication.
Birthday Wishes
Thoughtful communication is a great way to build relationships with your patients.
With your personal touch, Solutionreach automatically sends personalized birthday wishes from you to your patients via email or text message. Messages are customized for your practice and can include graphics, photos, personalized messages, a special birthday promotion, a link to a video greeting, and custom signature fonts.
Though the process is automated, patients see that you have taken the time to think of them. It might sound simple, but our customers tell us that patients notice. More importantly, patients appreciate them, which means a better patient experience.
Automated Recare and Recall
Even loyal patients often forget to schedule routine or follow-up appointments. Our automated recare and recall system is the perfect solution!
Solutionreach monitors the continuing care dates for your patients. Then, our automated messaging strategically contacts them before (and after, if necessary) they are due, encouraging them to request an appointment with the click of a button.
Requests are immediately sent to your office so that patients are called for scheduling assistance.
Maintaining communication with your patients is critical if you want to ensure that your patients don't feel isolated once they leave your office. Our newsletter feature allows you to engage your patients by connecting with them through personal or educational content.
Our extensive library of pre-written, Informative articles are available for you to simply drag and drop into your outreach – whether it be mass/group newsletters or single patient communication – that can be simply personalized with content that is pertinent to them.
Our templates are completely customizable, and each Solutionreach customer has dedicated support representatives that can help design templates and create newsletters that are a perfect fit for their practice.
SR Portal
The HIPAA secure patient portal from Solutionreach is included with your service, and it is designed with your patients in mind. Instead of playing phone tag, having to come in to your office, or listening to your voicemails, patients can easily log in and handle healthcare related issues 24 hours a day.
With the portal, patients can pay their bills, exchange secure messages, customize their personal preferences, schedule appointments, safely view x-rays and images, access secure documents, read your archived newsletters/blogs/articles, or even use the portal for personal reminders and memos.
With SR Portal, you engage patients, you create an avenue for patient education, and you enhance patient satisfaction by adding convenience, control and personalization.


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The rapper plans to share the house with Kim Kardashian and his daughter
Rapper Kanye West is reportedly planning to make his new house here a replica of the set of hit British period drama Downton Abbey.
West is ready to spend as much as 75 million pounds on the house, which he plans to share with fiancee Kim Kardashian and daughter North. Both Kanye and Kim love the UK. They think it is so quaint and beautiful. Kanye is fascinated by European history, the aristocracy and the British Royals," dailystar.co.uk quoted a source as saying.
"He loves watching 'Downton Abbey' on television and it's exactly the kind of place he would like to live in," the source added.


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Cracking chant sent in from Motherwell fans who have the short trip to Rangers in the Scottish Cup today. Cheers ... 23 hodin ago
Chant for Wednesday manager Carlos Carvalho. Tough game for them tonight as they face the long trip to fellow promotion ... 1 den ago
Today's chant is from Real Sociedad who take on Barcelona tonight and looking good for a European spot this season. 2 dny ago


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ATI, graphics business unit of Advanced Micro Devices, has announced the of the first software driver for desktop computing environments to support the WebGL industry standard, which is designed to bring plugin-free 3D graphics to the Internet. The AMD OpenGL ES 2.0 driver is intended to help developers easily create exciting 3D content for both desktops and ultra-portable devices.
"AMD is a steadfast supporter of industry standards, including those that unlock the power of GPU acceleration. At AMD, we see the future of computing as being intensely visual, requiring a variety of rich media 2D and 3D applications," said Manju Hegde, corporate vice president of AMD Fusion experience program.
In addition to enabling 3D and application-like experiences on the web, AMD's new driver empowers software developers to use desktop PCs and workstations powered by AMD graphics, as opposed to embedded systems, when creating applications based on OpenGL ES 2.0 for smartphones, tablets and other portable devices. And a common OpenGL ES programming environment makes it easier for developers to port software applications between PCs and handhelds, bringing a seamless computing experience, regardless of device, within our grasp.
The OpenGL ES 2.0 driver from AMD is generally available with ATI Catalyst 10.7 beta for OpenGL ES 2.0. The OpenGL ES 2.0 driver will be supported on all currently available AMD graphics products introduced since 2008, including ATI Radeon desktop graphics, ATI Mobility Radeon graphics, and ATI FirePro professional graphics cards.
Tags: ATI, AMD, Catalyst, OpenGL, OpenGL ES, WebGL, Radeon


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All that extra heat being deposited into the atmosphere cannot help but affect the weather.C (3.6 to 9 degrees F) over much of the Arctic Ocean during the past decade. All that extra heat being deposited into the atmosphere cannot help but affect the weather, both locally and on a large scale. And there are growing indications that some weather phenomena in recent years — such as prolonged cold spells in Europe, heavy snows in the northeastern U.S. and Alaska, and heat waves in Russia — may be related to Arctic amplification.
It's increasingly likely that the weather you have today will stick around awhile.same areas were under ridges, or northward bulges of the jet stream, which brought unusually warm and snowless conditions over much of North America. At the same time, however, a deep trough sat over Alaska, dumping record snows. In early February this year, the jet stream plunged unusually far southward over Europe, bringing frigid Arctic air and snow to some areas that hadn't seen those conditions in over half a century. During summer, persistent weather patterns are responsible for droughts and heat. The record heat waves in Europe and Russia in the past several years have been linked to early snowmelt in Siberia, and a sluggish high-pressure area caused last summer's sweltering conditions in the south-central U.S.


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Writing of Ang Lee's "Life of Pi," the French journalist Marjolaine Gout has described it as "a philosophical tale where Noah's Ark metamorphoses into 'The Raft of the Medusa.'" Géricault's allegorical painting is rendered more literally in "The Pirogue," Senegalese director Moussa Touré's alarming depiction of a tragic attempt by 31 West African boat people to voyage to Spain via the Canary Islands in the eponymous uncovered craft.
An end title discloses that of the 30,000 immigrants that made the trip between 2005 and 2010, 5,000 perished. Ten thousand had died between 1989 and 2003. Boats bearing the mummified bodies of some Senegalese have shown up 3,000 miles away in Barbados.
Opening at Film Forum in New York on Wednesday, "The Pirogue" is Touré's third feature. It acknowledges the sociopolitical influence of Senegal's great novelist-director Ousmane Sembène by naming one of the boat people after him. Beginning with a vividly filmed wrestling match, a metaphor for the ethical and moral struggles the Senegalese face in deciding whether to adhere to their roots or attempt to Westernize, the movie is a little flat in the early part of the voyage, but becomes increasingly tense and claustrophobic.
The protagonist, Baye Laye (Souleymane Seye Ndiaye), is a skilled fisherman whose livelihood is imperiled because the Atlantic around Senegal has been overfished. He has repeatedly turned down the offer to helm the flimsy, uncovered boat, but takes the lucrative job to benefit his young family and because a naïve young friend has decided to make the trip. Totems of Western affluence like iPhones and iPods have penetrated the community and hold out the promise of a better life the Senegalese young will never have.
The travelers include the grifter (Laïty Fall) who organized the journey, a gifted soccer player, an aspiring musician, a man with one leg, and a single stowaway woman (Mame Astou Diallo), a mother of two whose husband was lost on a similar voyage. Initially, the trip goes well, though the differences between the ethnically and religiously mixed passengers – who include Toucouleurs, Wolofs, and Guinean Fulas – take their toll.
Having picked up a few desperate men who swam from a doomed boat that had lost its motor power and expended its water, the Pirogue is battered by a nocturnal storm. Of the three men lost, one goes overboard off the stern – a direct homage to the similarly heartrending sequence in Peter Weir's "Master and Commander," cited by Touré as a major influence.
It doesn't give much away to say that the Pirogue eventually makes landfall, but not before dehydration and starvation have turned the gaily painted boat's few survivors into a modern equivalent of Géricault's writhing figures. This is presumably intentional since the Medusa had been carrying French colonial immigrants to Senegal. As that raft of madness symbolized the drifting French state in 1816, so the Pirogue represents Senegal, where 54 percent of the people live below the poverty line.


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Lake Region State program head presents at summit
Paul Gunderson, director of the Dakota Precision Ag Center at Lake Region State College in Devils Lake, will be presenting at the North American Agricultural Safety Summit Wednesday through Friday in Minneapolis.
He will be presenting on innovative ag technologies, including unmanned aerial vehicle applications in agriculture, biomass storage and shipping, and International Labour Organization Code of Conduct with ag safety.
According to a press release issued by the college, Gunderson has been director of the ag center since it was established at Lake Region State College. The Dakota Precision Ag Center emerged through the N.D. Centers of Excellence initiative. The Centers of Excellence initiative fosters high quality research, responds to private-sector need for product-related research and development, and contributes to a quality environment for technological job development with North Dakota. The Dakota Precision Ag Center has spearheaded research projects related to precision agriculture and its benefits for producers in the northern Plains.
Lake Region State College's precision ag program is stationed at the ag center's headquarters a mile north of campus. A full freshmen class of two dozen students is enrolled in the program.
The resurgence of the program was due to a $2.99 million U.S. Department of Labor grant awarded to the college to develop training programs in precision agriculture. Gunderson was a key player in the program returning to the college. Starting this fall, the college now delivers a degree in precision agriculture and training for those already working in the industry. The program also targets training and assistance to Trade Adjustment Assistance-impacted workers, unemployed veterans, and other unemployed and underemployed people seeking to increase their skills for new and higher-paying jobs in the state of North Dakota.
Gunderson also is dedicated to many external projects that benefit agricultural producers. He has chaired the National Academy of Sciences Committee to Review the NIOSH Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing Research Program.
He also has a strong passion for safety in agriculture and has been part of a planning group focused upon bringing post-graduate training in agricultural health and safety issues for physicians, veterinarians and nurses to North Dakota. Gunderson has served on the National Board of the Agricultural Safety and Health Council of America and Farm Safety 4 Just Kids and continues to serve on the External Advisory Committee for the High Plains Center for Agricultural Safety and Health-Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colo., and the Scientific Advisory Committee for the Great Plains Center for Agricultural Health, Iowa City, Iowa.


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Sunriver Resort's 2013 Holiday Gift Guide: Top 10 Unforgettable Gifts for Everyone on Your List
Sunriver Resort in Central Oregon share their top 10 picks for holiday gifts this season. From locally sourced body products to golf memberships and one horse open sleighs - Suriver offers something for everyone on your list!
1. Sage Springs Lavender and Sage Body Butter
Winter can be hard on skin, so treat someone to this signature Oregon body butter. Angelina Organic Skincare in Bend, Oregon source all of their 100% organically grown and distilled ingredients locally. Plus it's only $7.95 for a travel size tub! Or if you want to treat someone to something extra special you can get them a gift certificate for a Lavender and Sage body scrub or massage at Sage Springs Spa at Sunriver Resort.
2. Local Handmade Sunriver Mug
Now you can bring a little piece of Central Oregon mornings home with a Sunriver Mug, hand-made locally by Blue Spruce Pottery. These mugs have been a guest favorite at the Meadows Restaurant for many years, and not everyone knows they're made locally! And at only $25 for such a quality piece of pottery it makes a treasured gift for the coffee or tea drinker in your family.
Treat your family to a time-honored holiday tradition: a one horse open sleigh ride along the Deschutes River! This Victorian sleigh can be a romantic outing for two with mulled wine and mistletoe or a family trip for up to six with snowball fights and wildlife sightings! Just make sure to get your reservation in early as this is a favorite for guests from around the country.
4. Run for Chocolate Registration
Gifting a run is a hot idea this holiday season. For a family member or friend wanting to get in shape, or for a girlfriends weekend away – the Run for Chocolate 5k Run/Walk is THE highlight of the new year. Not only does it benefit a great local cause, it's also part of Sunriver Resort's Month of Chocolate! Do something good for yourself and others by completing the race, then indulge in chocolate tastings, chocolate cocktail pairings, chocolate fountains, chocolate musicals and more! Sunriver Resort is all things Chocolate in the month of February and the Run for Chocolate makes a great gift for any fitness (and chocolate) enthusiast!
5. Golf Membership
Any golfer would be delighted to receive a membership to one of Sunriver Resort's award-winning courses. Plus there's endless perks for members and their loved ones. The Meadows, Woodlands and Crosswater Courses each offer something a little different and allow you to customize just the right gift for that special someone. Find out which golf membership will make the best gift for your loved one by contacting Josh Willis at email@example.com or at 541-593-3456
The gift of a fabulous holiday is sure to create memories to last a lifetime. Give the gift of a New Year's celebration at Sunriver Resort. The best part about this gift is it can be scaled to meet any budget and interest. Customize your stay with accommodation types, a New Year's Eve Dinner Buffet, New Year's Eve Party and a New Year's Day Brunch to start 2014 off right.
Gift the gift of adventure! Sunriver Resort is teaming up with Wanderlust Tours to take guests in to the dark underbelly of Central Oregon. One of the more unique geological features in Central Oregon are the hundreds of caves formed by lava flow thousands of years ago. This makes a great group gift, gift for a whole family, or just an adventure trip for two! Plus you get special lodging and breakfast perks if you opt for the Wanderlust Caving Adventure Package at only $215 a night!
8. Deep Hydration Facial at Sage Springs Spa
The dry winter air does a number on your face. A 50 minute, indulgent, Deep-Hydration Facial at Sage Springs Spa makes the perfect gift for anyone that loves to be outdoors or who craves only the best for their skin. The facial also includes a warm-stone component and locally made, organic products that quench even the thirstiest skin. This gift idea is extra flexible too as you can purchase a gift certificate and the recipient can book their treatment at a time that's best for them!
Help someone meet and beat their new year's resolutions in 2014 with the gift of a personal training session at Sage Springs Club and Spa. Sage Spring's personal trainers will help them design a routine that's right for them. There are also friends and family, outdoors and quality of life options to fit everyone's unique needs. This can also be purchased as a gift certificate so it's most convenient for that lucky someone.
Our favorite holiday gift idea this season is a win-win. When you spend $150 on a gift card, you'll receive a complimentary night stay at Sunriver Resort. You can take the obvious route and enjoy a trip for yourself – or make their gift even more magical for them with both as a treat! The gift card may be used for a luxurious spa treatment, a round of golf, a romantic dinner, Resort recreation, retail merchandise, a stay in the hotel style rooms or vacation rentals and more! Plus we make it ever so easy for you to purchase online and your holiday shopping is complete!
Sunriver Resort offers endless holiday treats for everyone on your list. If you need any more ideas or are looking to create an absolutely magical surprise for someone our staff is always available to customize something special for you. Just pop a note over to Megan Roe at firstname.lastname@example.com or by calling 541-593-1000 and she can share many more customized ideas to make this holiday unforgettable. Sunriver Resort – The Start of Unforgettable!
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Due to the embedded browser component's limitation, nGrinder Recorder has a different feature set depending on OS.
|Embedded Browser
|△ (Crashed Frequently)
|HTTPS support
|Flash support
We're highly recommending you to use Windows when recording the user interaction. If you like to use MAC or Linux, use the separate browser with proxy settings. Refer Recorder-Recording Guide For Non Window User.
# User need to write his own cookie handling code to complement the missing part. threadContext = HTTPPluginControl.getThreadHTTPClientContext() expiryDate = Date() expiryDate.year += 10 cookie = Cookie("key", "value","localhost", "/", expiryDate, 0) CookieModule.addCookie(cookie, threadContext)
Only information which nGrinder Recorder currently takes from the embedded browser is the click events to separate messages into the multiple pages. Following is the code generated by nGrinder Recorder.
class TestRunner: """A TestRunner instance is created for each worker thread.""" def __init__(self) : grinder.statistics.delayReports=True pass def __call__(self) : try : # Following two pages are created because a user click the mouse. self.page1() self.page2() grinder.statistics.forLastTest.success = 1 except Exception, e: err(e.message) grinder.statistics.forLastTest.success = 0 def page1(self) : ########################################################################################## # http://img.naver.net/static/newsstand/up/2012/1119/nsd102245777.gif ########################################################################################## grinder.sleep(54) result = request_img_naver_net.GET( "/static/newsstand/up/2012/1119/nsd102245777.gif", None, headers0 ) self.checkResponse(result, 200, "http://img.naver.net/static/newsstand/up/2012/1119/nsd102245777.gif") ########################################################################################## # http://img.naver.net/thumb.opencast/opencast01/n/a/naver_story/20130411/17442431363707.jpg ########################################################################################## self.token_type = 'f10060' result = request_img_naver_net.GET( "/thumb.opencast/opencast01/n/a/naver_story/20130411/17442431363707.jpg?type=%s" % (self.token_type), None, headers0 ) self.checkResponse(result, 200, "http://img.naver.net/thumb.opencast/opencast01/n/a/naver_story/20130411/17442431363707.jpg")
When users try to record HTTPS messages, The browsers may show the following security alert.
This alert is popped up because the proxy uses a self-signed private certificate between the browser and proxy HTTPS communication to capture HTTPS messages. The certificate issued by the web server is used only in the communication between the proxy and target web server. The proxy decodes the messages from the target server with the valid certificate and records the messages. Then the proxy encodes the message with the The Grinder embedding self-signed certificate and sends it back to the browsers. From the perspective of browsers, browsers don't aware of this proxy behavior. They just show the alert messages because they think the messages are encoded by the wrong certificate. Currently only IE engine among our embedded browser engines allows users to accepts the invalid certificate while browsing HTTPS sites. Which means only windows supports both HTTP and HTTPS recording. In OS X, users should use the separate browsers not embedded browser if they want to record HTTPS as well. The general web browser has a way to accept the self-signed certificate. See Recorder-How to import self signed certificates.
The messages used in the mobile devices can also be captured by setting the mobile device's network configuration. However the most of all mobile browsers may reject the messages encoded with a private certificate. There might be no way to show these HTTPS pages in the mobile devices. If someone knows how to configure it, please let us know.
Only way to browse these is to let the proxy use the valid certificate when it returns back the HTTPS messages to the browsers. See Configuration section in Recorder-Installation.


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Well it's Tuesday again, and you know what that means... IBM Announcements! While most of the attention is going to [IBM's new servers, the zEnterprise 114 and the POWER 775], there were a few [announcements related specifically to storage] that I wanted to discuss.
- New 3592 Model C07 Tape Controller
The new [IBM System Storage Tape Controller 3592 Model C07] is an upgrade to the previous C06 controller. Like the C06, the new 3592-C07 can have up to four FICON (4Gbps) ports, four FC ports, and connect up to 16 drives. The difference is that the C07 supports 8Gbps speed FC ports, and can support the [new TS1140 tape drives that were announced on May 9]. A cool feature of the C07 is that it has a built-in library manager function for the mainframe. On the previous models, you had to have a separate library manager server.
- Crossroads ReadVerify Appliance (3222-RV1)
IBM has entered an agreement to resell [Crossroads ReadVerify Appliance], or "RV1" for short. The RV1 is a 1U-high server with software that gathers information on the utilization, performance and health for a physical tape environment, such as an IBM TS3500 Tape Library. The RV1 also offers a feature called "ArchiveVerify" which validates long-term retention archive tapes, providing an audit trail on the readability of tape media. This can be useful for tape libraries attached behind IBM Information Archive compliance storage solution, or the IBM Scale-Out Network Attached Storage (SONAS).
As an added bonus, Crossroads has great videos! Here's one, titled [Tape Sticks]
- Linear Tape File System (LTFS) Library Edition Version 2.1
You might be scratching your head on this one. Wasn't the LTFS v2.1 announced May 9? Actually, it was for the TS3500, TS3200 and TS3100. On this announcement, the [ IBM System Storage Linear Tape File System Library Edition Version 2.1] was extended to support the rest of our tape library portfolio, specifically the TS3310 and TS2900.
- XIV Storage System - Generation 3
Saving the biggest announcement for last, IBM announces new [XIV Generation 3 hardware] and corresponding [XIV Software Version 11.0.0]. The new hardware is officially the model 114, but since today's new zEnterprise announced today is also "model 114", I will refer unofficially to the current XIV hardware that [IBM launched initially in September 2008] as "Gen2", and the new XIV Gen3 hardware as "Gen3" to avoid confusion.
While the hardware is all refreshed, the overall "scale-out" architecture is unchanged. Kudos to the XIV development team for designing a system that is based entirely on commodity hardware, allowing new hardware generations to be introduced with minimal changes to the vast number of field-proven software features like thin provisioning, space-efficient read-only and writeable snapshots, synchronous and asynchronous mirroring, and Quality of Service (QoS) performance classes.
The new XIV Gen3 features an Infiniband interconnect, faster 8Gbps FC ports, more iSCSI ports, faster motherboard and processors, SAS-NL 2TB drives, 24GB cache memory per XIV module, all in a single frame IBM rack that supports the IBM Rear Door Heat Exchanger. The results are a 2x to 4x boost in performance for various workloads. Here are some example performance comparisons:
Disclaimer: Performance is based on measurements and projections using standard IBM benchmarks in a controlled environment. The actual throughput that any user will experience will vary depending upon considerations such as the amount of multiprogramming in the user's job stream, the I/O configuration, the storage configuration, and the workload processed. Therefore, no assurance can be given that an individual user will achieve throughput improvements equivalent to the performance ratios stated here. Your mileage may vary.
In a Statement of Direction, IBM also has designed the Gen3 modules to be "SSD-ready" which means that you can insert up to 500GB of Solid-State drive capacity per XIV module, up to 7.5TB in a fully-configured 15 module frame. This SSD would act as an extension of DRAM cache, similar to how Performance Accelerator Modules (PAM) on IBM N series.
IBM will continue to sell XIV Gen2 systems for the next 12-18 months, as some clients like the smaller 1TB disk drives. The new Gen3 only comes with 2TB drives. There are some clients that love the XIV so much, that they also use it for less stringent Tier 2 workloads. If you don't need the blazing speed of the new Gen3, perhaps the lower cost XIV Gen2 might be a great fit!
As if I haven't said this enough times already, the IBM XIV is a Tier-1, high-end, enterprise-class disk storage system, optimized for use with mission critical workloads on Linux, UNIX and Windows operating systems, and is the ideal cost-effective replacement for EMC Symmetrix VMAX, HDS USP-V and VSP, and HP P9000 series disk systems, . Like the XIV Gen2, the XIV Gen3 can be used with IBM System i using VIOS, and with IBM System z mainframes running Linux, z/VM or z/VSE. If you run z/OS or z/TPF with Count-Key-Data (CKD) volumes and FICON attachment, go with the IBM System Storage DS8000 instead, IBM's other high-end disk system.
To learn more, read Jim Kelly's [XIV Gen 3: Both Hands Clapping], and Anthony Vandewerdt's [Brief History of XIV], and Elisabeth Stahl's [Big Day, Big Data, Big Announcements] blog posts, or see the resources on the [XIV resources page].
technorati tags: xiv, rv1, Information Archive, Tape Sticks, 3592, emc, symmetrix, hds, c07, usp-v, crossroads, readverify, hewlett-packard, ltfs, sonas, p9500, vmax, ts3310, ts2900, vsp, archiveverify, ibm, ts3500


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Topic: Raising requests / sec
I can't seem to get more than about 8 requests / sec out of Mongrel, which seems really low for a app running in production mode using page caching (which doesn't really seem to make a difference). In the peepcode episode, topfunky is getting hundreds of requests per sec!
I'm testing on a local network with httperf on one machine with my app on another. Running httperf with 1000 connections yields 22 samples and takes like 3 minutes to complete.
Can anyone help me to diagnose out why this is so low?
(I have verified that I am running in production and that the cache file is being generated).


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How does being in ecological deficit affect a country's economic performance? The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) office for Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States invited Global Footprint Network to answer this question for countries in their region.
The report, Resource Constraints and Economic Performance in Eastern Europe and Central Asia was prepared by Mathis Wackernagel, Kyle Gracey, and other Global Footprint Network staff members, examines how being in biocapacity deficit might affect the economic competitiveness of nations. "Biocapacity" is the ability of nature to produce useful materials and absorb waste such as carbon dioxide emissions. The report combined data on Ecological Footprint and biocapacity with information on countries' debt levels, prices for fossil fuels and basic foods, and relative Gross National Income (GNI) compared to the rest of the world. Together, these values help to show whether a country in the region might be at increasing economic risk from rising prices, or declining supplies of natural resources.
Find out if your country is in the green, "creditor" or in the red, "debtor" by weighing the available biocapacity against our Ecological Footprint the amount of biological capacity humans actually use.
Philippines: The University of the Philippines School of Urban and Regional Planning, in conjunction with Kyushu University Faculty of Design, hosted the International Conference on Green Urbanism from Oct. 18-20 in Manila.
It's official: Global Footprint Network, Geneva, has opened its doors at the International Environment House. The opening of the new office was marked by a celebration launch on Oct. 27, and was attended by a significant contingent from the International Environment House community and additional Swiss alliances of Global Footprint Network, including United Nation agencies, non-governmental organizations and local authorities.
Western culture is fixated by the notion that technology alone is the cure-all, freeing us from all of our environmental problems. But authors Michael and Joyce Huesemann have attempted to debunk this myth in their new book, Techno-Fix. Technology, they say, has only limited potential to reduce our Ecological Footprint.
Global Footprint Network is pleased to announce the launch of the new and improved Footprint Forum, a partner-only intranet Web site. Built by our longtime web design team at ISPOT interactive, the new site features an updated, dynamic, and user-friendly social media interface for partner and standards committee communications. The Forum will provide opportunities for collaboration and shared learning, as well as enhance communication and resource sharing amongst partners about shared interests in resource accounting and the Ecological Footprint.
Help support our groundbreaking global initiative - Competitiveness 2.0. With this new initiative we will demonstrate to national governments that they can be more economically competitive in the 21st Century if they function within ecological limits. Click here to make a tax-deductible donation.


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214 ratings
By Event
Wine Riot Boston 2016
Wine Riot Boston 2015
Wine Riot Chicago 2015
Wine Riot Boston 2015 - Spring
Wine Riot NYC 2015 - Spring
Wine Riot Boston
Wine Riot San Francisco 2013
Wine Riot Los Angeles
Office iPhone App Beta Test
Wine Riot Chicago
Wine Riot Boston
VinOlivo Grand Tasting
Rocketspace Rager
Second Glass Crash Course
Wine Riot DC
Living Social Crash Course
Wine Riot New York
Tastings on the Lawn 150th Anniversary Celebration
Newport Wine Festival
Monterey's 19th Annual Winemakers' Celebration
Australian Wines with No BS Presented by WTFLA
Pinot Days
Wine Riot Chicago
Gtrot Awesome Office Tasting
Wine Riot Boston
Pre-Wine Riot Tasting at Vino Divino
Wine Riot LA
Second Glass Staff Crash Course
Chef Louie Night
Kickass Wines from Spain and Portugal
Boston Wine Expo
LA Office Wine Tasting
Second Glass Wine Riot Boston
Mass Innovation Night #19
Tyler Goes to Spain
Boston Wine Week
Pre-Wine Riot Tasting at Boston Wine Exchange
By Style
Morgan F.
After too much wine I talk endlessly about
Trips I want to take! India? Japan? Portugal? Sydney, Australia? Chile?
The wine that got you into wine
Malbec's on a trip to Argentina!
If I could only drink one wine forever
Gruner Veltliner
Current watering hole
Eastern Standard
Drunken munchies
Anything soaked in truffle oil
When not drinking wine you can find me
vintage shopping, e-mailing from my iphone, running events, or hiking!
Showing wines matching:
Style: white
Tasted at event: VinOlivo Grand Tasting
2009 Buena Vista Carneros Chardonnay
USA, California, Napa Valley, Carneros
she loved it!
2009 Roche Carneros Winery Late Harvest Chardonnay
USA, California, Sonoma County
she loved it!
2010 Roche Carneros Winery Chardonnay
USA, California, Sonoma County
she loved it!
2010 Beltane Ranch Sauvignon Blanc
USA, California, Sonoma Valley
she loved it!
2009 Imagery Estate Winery White Burgundy
USA, California, Sonoma Mountain
she loved it!
NV Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards Blanc de Blanc
USA, California, Napa Valley, Carneros
she loved it!


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Composition FOR RANCAFERanitidine(NA)
food interaction for RANCAFE
alcohol interaction for RANCAFE
pregnancy interaction for RANCAFE
lactation interaction for RANCAFE
medicine interaction for RANCAFE
Animal studies have shown low or no adverse effect on the foetus, however, there are limited human studies. Please consult your doctor.
How it works
Common side effects
SUBSTITUTES FOR RANCAFENo substitutes found
Expert advice FOR RANCAFE
- The Ranitidine can be taken with or without food.
- Ranitidine is very effective in controlling stomach acid release in the midnight, so it is better to take Ranitidine before going to bed.
- Take Ranitidine for the entire prescribed duration of the treatment, even if you begin to feel betterIf you are taking an antacid, take it 2 hours before or after the Ranitidine.
- Avoid drinking soft drinks, citrus products like orange and lemon, which irritate the stomach.
- Quit smoking or at least do not smoke after taking the medicine, as it tends to decrease the effect of Ranitidine by increasing the amount of acid produced in the stomach.
- Avoid drinking alcohol while taking the Ranitidine, as it increases the blood alcohol level.
- Some laboratory tests may be affected by Ranitidine. Notify your doctor that you are taking this medicine before you have any tests for skin allergies or tests to determine how much acid your stomach produces.
- Patients with kidney disease may need to take a lower dose.
Frequently asked questions FOR RANCAFE
Q. Is ranitidine safe?
Yes. Ranitidine (also available as rantac/ aciloc 150/ aciloc 300/ zantac) is safe if used at prescribed doses for the prescribed duration as advised by your doctor
Q. Is ranitidine/rantac an antacid?
No. Ranitidine does not neutralize stomach acids
Q. Is ranitidine a PPI?
No. Ranitidine reduces acid production in the stomach and intestine by blocking H2 receptors and has no known inhibitory effect proton pumps. It is a H2 receptor antagonist, and not a proton pump inhibitor (PPI)
Q. Is ranitidine the same as omeprazole?
No. Ranitidine and omeprazole are two different drugs with similar uses but different mechanism of action. Ranitidine reduces acid production in the stomach and intestine by blocking H2 receptors; whereas, omeprazole blocks proton pumps to curb acid production
Q. Is ranitidine better than omeprazole?
Ranitidine and omeprazole are two different drugs with similar uses but different mechanism of action and so cannot be compared
Q. Is ranitidine over the counter?
No. Ranitidine is not an over the counter (OTC) drug. It belongs to a class of prescription drugs
Q. What is Rantac-D plus?
Rantac-D plus is a trade name for combination of active drugs ranitidine, omeprazole and domperidone. It is used to prevent excess acid production in the stomach and small intestine and to treat vomiting or urge to vomit (nausea) caused due to indigestion, diseases or drugs
Q. Is ranitidine gluten free?
Yes. Ranitidine is a synthetic drug and free from any protein source that can contain gluten. Please refer to package insert of the prescribed brand before use.


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Anyone here a plastic instrument player? I confess to having no real musical ability (I've tried guitar, to no avail). So, I get my musical fix with video games.
I really only bring this up because it's right in time with some big releases...Guitar Hero 5 came out yesterday (buy the game in September and get Guitar Hero Van Halen for free by mail) and I just picked it up with Batman: AA at Best Buy because they have a buy 1 get 1 at 50% off deal this week. So, in reality, I'll be adding 3 games for $90 + tax, which is a great deal.
Also, and much more importantly, Rock Band is putting out their Beatles game next Wednesday, which is going to be the biggest music video game release ever (most important, at least), and also hopefully introduce the best band of all time to a new, younger audience. It's got 45 songs, IIRC, on disc, with Abbey Road, Sgt. Pepper, and Rubber Soul being release as downloadable content over the next 3 months. Needless to say, I'm incredibly stoked for this release.
I'm just hoping the real musicians don't flame this thread with the "You can't learn guitar from a plastic guitar controller." We know this, and I don't think that's the intent for most people who play these games. It's just a party game.


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Digital Technology, Big Names Draw Over 900 Attendees to LMT's LAB DAY East
Posted May 06, 2013 in LAB DAY
LMT's LAB DAY EAST—the largest dental laboratory trade show on the East Coast—was the place to be to research digital technology. This year, of the 93 exhibitors, over 40 companies offered the latest scanners, milling and rapid prototyping machines, wax printers, software, materials and services, allowing attendees to see products up close and personal and comparison shop.
"We're looking to invest in a scanner and milling system—we'll be 'newbies'. Since I own a one-person lab and want to expand, I've been doing a lot of reading and research on new systems but it's key to be able to come to LAB DAY East and see them in person," said David Soto, Accurate Dental, Middletown, NY.
The show—held April 6 at the Grand Hyatt in the heart of Manhattan—also attracted seasoned digital labs that are looking to expand their existing digital portfolio. "Over the past two years, we've switched our clients over to full contour zirconia and now it's 95% of our business," said Ron Mottola, RDT, J&B Dental Studio, Danvers, MA. "We have the Origin machine now and are looking to add another scanner and mill."
Another draw of the show: well-known technicians like Peter Pizzi, MDT; Joshua Polansky, MDT; and Richard Pavlak, MDT. All three were on hand at the Harvest table offering hands-on demonstrations, creating a stir on the exhibit hall floor with attendees crowding around the area for a better look. "I'm here to see my mentor, Peter Pizzi," said Heather Pear, CDT, a ceramist at AR Dental Lab in Toms River, NJ. "I try to connect with him whenever I can. I love coming to LAB DAY East because all of my peers here are always so enthusiastic the atmosphere is energizing."
Pear and the 900-plus attendees also had the chance to learn from 27 other educators—including Luke Khang; Bill Mrazek; and Alek Aronin, RDT—at the show's 36 continuing education courses, on topics ranging from dentures and implants to esthetics and full contour zirconia.
Known for its smaller, more personal feel, LAB DAY East also provided attendees with a prime networking opportunity—they reunited with old friends and shared tips and ideas on everything from digital technology to marketing to the future of the industry. "It's great coming to LAB DAY East because all of the lab owners and technicians are from this region, so it's the perfect place to reconnect with people who work right around here," said Jim Redden, Lab Manager at Watchtower in Brooklyn, NY. "I love the local networking part of the show."
Join us for LAB DAY East in 2014. The show will be held April 5, once again at the conveniently located Grand Hyatt, adjacent to Grand Central Station.
LAB DAY East® by the numbers:
Over 900 laboratory owners, managers and technicians from the tri-state area and from as far away as Texas, Virginia and California.
Over 300 manufacturer and supplier representatives from 93 companies.
33 educators at 36 continuing education courses.
© 2017 LMT Communications, Inc. · Articles may not be reprinted without the permission of LMT


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Creator of Hank D and the Bee. Environmental cartoons found in/on: Yes! magazine, PBS's Urban Conversion, Center for Media and Democracy, Greenpeace, Planetsave, NaturalPapa, Elephant Journal and more…
From Eat.Drink.Better.: Mood-Boosting Foods: Healthy Foods That Make You Happier
From LocalHarvest: Braga Organic Nuts
Eat.Drink.Better. again: Good Food: Gravelnuts Delivers Healthy Snacks That Taste Great
Contact info (twitter and email) on my cartoon website's "About Joe" page.
Catch up on the rest of the Hank D and the Bee series at JoeMohrToons.com. For cartoon updates and other green goings-on, follow Joe on Twitter @GreenCartoons.