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Gallbladder Cancer Treatment (PDQ®)NCI PDQ Summaries for Patients
General Information About Gallbladder Cancer
Stages of Gallbladder Cancer
Treatment Option Overview
Treatment Options for Gallbladder Cancer
To Learn More About Gallbladder Cancer
About This PDQ Summary
General Information About Gallbladder Cancer
Gallbladder cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the gallbladder.
Gallbladder cancer is a rare disease in which malignant (cancer) cells are found in the tissues of the gallbladder. The gallbladder is a pear-shaped organ that lies just under the liver in the upper abdomen. The gallbladder stores bile, a fluid made by the liver to digest fat. When food is being broken down in the stomach and intestines, bile is released from the gallbladder through a tube called the common bile duct, which connects the gallbladder and liver to the first part of the small intestine.
The wall of the gallbladder has 3 main layers of tissue.
Between these layers is supporting connective tissue. Primary gallbladder cancer starts in the inner layer and spreads through the outer layers as it grows.
Being female can increase the risk of developing gallbladder cancer.
Anything that increases your chance of getting a disease is called a risk factor. Having a risk factor does not mean that you will get cancer; not having risk factors doesn't mean that you will not get cancer. Talk with your doctor if you think you may be at risk. Risk factors for gallbladder cancer include the following:
- Being female.
- Being Native American.
Signs and symptoms of gallbladder cancer include jaundice, fever, and pain.
These and other signs and symptoms may be caused by gallbladder cancer or by other conditions. Check with your doctor if you have any of the following:
- Jaundice (yellowing of the skin and whites of the eyes).
- Pain above the stomach.
- Fever.
- Nausea and vomiting.
- Bloating.
- Lumps in the abdomen.
Gallbladder cancer is difficult to detect (find) and diagnose early.
Gallbladder cancer is difficult to detect and diagnose for the following reasons:
- There are no signs or symptoms in the early stages of gallbladder cancer.
- The symptoms of gallbladder cancer, when present, are like the symptoms of many other illnesses.
- The gallbladder is hidden behind the liver.
Gallbladder cancer is sometimes found when the gallbladder is removed for other reasons. Patients with gallstones rarely develop gallbladder cancer.
Tests that examine the gallbladder and nearby organs are used to detect (find), diagnose, and stage gallbladder cancer.
Procedures that make pictures of the gallbladder and the area around it help diagnose gallbladder cancer and show how far the cancer has spread. The process used to find out if cancer cells have spread within and around the gallbladder is called staging.
In order to plan treatment, it is important to know if the gallbladder cancer can be removed by surgery. Tests and procedures to detect, diagnose, and stage gallbladder cancer are usually done at the same time. The following tests and procedures may be used:
- Physical exam and history: An exam of the body to check general signs of health, including checking for signs of disease, such as lumps or anything else that seems unusual. A history of the patient's health habits and past illnesses and treatments will also be taken.
- Liver function tests: A procedure in which a blood sample is checked to measure the amounts of certain substances released into the blood by the liver. A higher than normal amount of a substance can be a sign of liver disease that may be caused by gallbladder cancer.
- Carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) assay: A test that measures the level of CEA in the blood. CEA is released into the bloodstream from both cancer cells and normal cells. When found in higher than normal amounts, it can be a sign of gallbladder cancer or other conditions.
- CA 19-9 assay: A test that measures the level of CA 19-9 in the blood. CA 19-9 is released into the bloodstream from both cancer cells and normal cells. When found in higher than normal amounts, it can be a sign of gallbladder cancer or other conditions.
- Blood chemistry studies: A procedure in which a blood sample is checked to measure the amounts of certain substances released into the blood by organs and tissues in the body. An unusual (higher or lower than normal) amount of a substance can be a sign of disease.
- CT scan (CAT scan): A procedure that makes a series of detailed pictures of areas inside the body, such as the chest, abdomen, and pelvis, taken from different angles. The pictures are made by a computer linked to an x-ray machine. A dye may be injected into a vein or swallowed to help the organs or tissues show up more clearly. This procedure is also called computed tomography, computerized tomography, or computerized axial tomography.
- Ultrasound exam: A procedure in which high-energy sound waves (ultrasound) are bounced off internal tissues or organs and make echoes. The echoes form a picture of body tissues called a sonogram. An abdominal ultrasound is done to diagnose gallbladder cancer.
- PTC (percutaneous transhepatic cholangiography): A procedure used to x-ray the liver and bile ducts. A thin needle is inserted through the skin below the ribs and into the liver. Dye is injected into the liver or bile ducts and an x-ray is taken. If a blockage is found, a thin, flexible tube called a stent is sometimes left in the liver to drain bile into the small intestine or a collection bag outside the body.
- Chest x-ray: An x-ray of the organs and bones inside the chest. An x-ray is a type of energy beam that can go through the body and onto film, making a picture of areas inside the body.
- ERCP (endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography): A procedure used to x-ray the ducts (tubes) that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder and from the gallbladder to the small intestine. Sometimes gallbladder cancer causes these ducts to narrow and block or slow the flow of bile, causing jaundice. An endoscope (a thin, lighted tube) is passed through the mouth, esophagus, and stomach into the first part of the small intestine. A catheter (a smaller tube) is then inserted through the endoscope into the bile ducts. A dye is injected through the catheter into the ducts and an x-ray is taken. If the ducts are blocked by a tumor, a fine tube may be inserted into the duct to unblock it. This tube (or stent) may be left in place to keep the duct open. Tissue samples may also be taken.
- Laparoscopy: A surgical procedure to look at the organs inside the abdomen to check for signs of disease. Small incisions (cuts) are made in the wall of the abdomen and a laparoscope (a thin, lighted tube) is inserted into one of the incisions. Other instruments may be inserted through the same or other incisions to perform procedures such as removing organs or taking tissue samples for biopsy. The laparoscopy helps to find out if the cancer is within the gallbladder only or has spread to nearby tissues and if it can be removed by surgery.
- Biopsy: The removal of cells or tissues so they can be viewed under a microscope by a pathologist to check for signs of cancer. The biopsy may be done after surgery to remove the tumor. If the tumor clearly cannot be removed by surgery, the biopsy may be done using a fine needle to remove cells from the tumor.
Certain factors affect the prognosis (chance of recovery) and treatment options.
The prognosis (chance of recovery) and treatment options depend on the following:
- The stage of the cancer (whether the cancer has spread from the gallbladder to other places in the body).
- Whether the cancer can be completely removed by surgery.
- The type of gallbladder cancer (how the cancer cell looks under a microscope).
- Whether the cancer has just been diagnosed or has recurred (come back).
Treatment may also depend on the age and general health of the patient and whether the cancer is causing signs or symptoms.
Gallbladder cancer can be cured only if it is found before it has spread, when it can be removed by surgery. If the cancer has spread, palliative treatment can improve the patient's quality of life by controlling the symptoms and complications of this disease.
Taking part in one of the clinical trials being done to improve treatment should be considered. Information about ongoing clinical trials is available from the NCI website.
Stages of Gallbladder Cancer
Tests and procedures to stage gallbladder cancer are usually done at the same time as diagnosis.
See the General Information section for a description of tests and procedures used to detect, diagnose, and stage gallbladder cancer.
There are three ways that cancer spreads in the body.
Cancer can spread through tissue, the lymph system, and the blood:
- Tissue. The cancer spreads from where it began by growing into nearby areas.
- Lymph system. The cancer spreads from where it began by getting into the lymph system. The cancer travels through the lymph vessels to other parts of the body.
- Blood. The cancer spreads from where it began by getting into the blood. The cancer travels through the blood vessels to other parts of the body.
Cancer may spread from where it began to other parts of the body.
When cancer spreads to another part of the body, it is called metastasis. Cancer cells break away from where they began (the primary tumor) and travel through the lymph system or blood.
- Lymph system. The cancer gets into the lymph system, travels through the lymph vessels, and forms a tumor (metastatic tumor) in another part of the body.
- Blood. The cancer gets into the blood, travels through the blood vessels, and forms a tumor (metastatic tumor) in another part of the body.
The metastatic tumor is the same type of cancer as the primary tumor. For example, if gallbladder cancer spreads to the liver, the cancer cells in the liver are actually gallbladder cancer cells. The disease is metastatic gallbladder cancer, not liver cancer.
The following stages are used for gallbladder cancer:
Stage 0 (Carcinoma in Situ)
In stage 0, abnormal cells are found in the inner (mucosal) layer of the gallbladder. These abnormal cells may become cancer and spread into nearby normal tissue. Stage 0 is also called carcinoma in situ.
Stage I
In stage I, cancer has formed and has spread beyond the inner (mucosal) layer to a layer of tissue with blood vessels or to the muscle layer.
Stage II
In stage II, cancer has spread beyond the muscle layer to the connective tissue around the muscle.
Stage IIIA
In stage IIIA, cancer has spread through the thin layers of tissue that cover the gallbladder and/or to the liver and/or to one nearby organ (such as the stomach, small intestine, colon, pancreas, or bile ducts outside the liver).
Stage IIIB
In stage IIIB, cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes and:
- beyond the inner layer of the gallbladder to a layer of tissue with blood vessels or to the muscle layer; or
- beyond the muscle layer to the connective tissue around the muscle; or
- through the thin layers of tissue that cover the gallbladder and/or to the liver and/or to one nearby organ (such as the stomach, small intestine, colon, pancreas, or bile ducts outside the liver).
Stage IVA
In stage IVA, cancer has spread to a main blood vessel of the liver or to 2 or more nearby organs or areas other than the liver. Cancer may have spread to nearby lymph nodes.
Stage IVB
In stage IVB, cancer has spread to either:
- lymph nodes along large arteries in the abdomen and/or near the lower part of the backbone; or
- to organs or areas far away from the gallbladder.
For gallbladder cancer, stages are also grouped according to how the cancer may be treated. There are two treatment groups:
Localized (Stage I)
Cancer is found in the wall of the gallbladder and can be completely removed by surgery.
Unresectable, recurrent, or metastatic (Stage II, Stage III, and Stage IV)
Unresectable cancer cannot be removed completely by surgery. Most patients with gallbladder cancer have unresectable cancer.
Recurrent cancer is cancer that has recurred (come back) after it has been treated. Gallbladder cancer may come back in the gallbladder or in other parts of the body.
Metastasis is the spread of cancer from the primary site (place where it started) to other places in the body. Metastatic gallbladder cancer may spread to surrounding tissues, organs, throughout the abdominal cavity, or to distant parts of the body.
Treatment Option Overview
There are different types of treatment for patients with gallbladder cancer.
Different types of treatments are available for patients with gallbladder cancer. Some treatments are standard (the currently used treatment), and some are being tested in clinical trials. A treatment clinical trial is a research study meant to help improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments for patients with cancer. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment may become the standard treatment. Patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial. Some clinical trials are open only to patients who have not started treatment.
Three types of standard treatment are used:
Gallbladder cancer may be treated with a cholecystectomy, surgery to remove the gallbladder and some of the tissues around it. Nearby lymph nodes may be removed. A laparoscope is sometimes used to guide gallbladder surgery. The laparoscope is attached to a video camera and inserted through an incision (port) in the abdomen. Surgical instruments are inserted through other ports to perform the surgery. Because there is a risk that gallbladder cancer cells may spread to these ports, tissue surrounding the port sites may also be removed.
If the cancer has spread and cannot be removed, the following types of palliative surgery may relieve symptoms:
- Surgical biliary bypass: If the tumor is blocking the small intestine and bile is building up in the gallbladder, a biliary bypass may be done. During this operation, the gallbladder or bile duct will be cut and sewn to the small intestine to create a new pathway around the blocked area.
- Endoscopic stent placement: If the tumor is blocking the bile duct, surgery may be done to put in a stent (a thin, flexible tube) to drain bile that has built up in the area. The stent may be placed through a catheter that drains to the outside of the body or the stent may go around the blocked area and drain the bile into the small intestine.
- Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage: A procedure done to drain bile when there is a blockage and endoscopic stent placement is not possible. An x-ray of the liver and bile ducts is done to locate the blockage. Images made by ultrasound are used to guide placement of a stent, which is left in the liver to drain bile into the small intestine or a collection bag outside the body. This procedure may be done to relieve jaundice before surgery.
Radiation therapy
Radiation therapy is a cancer treatment that uses high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells or keep them from growing. There are two types of radiation therapy:
- External radiation therapy uses a machine outside the body to send radiation toward the cancer.
- Internal radiation therapy uses a radioactive substance sealed in needles, seeds, wires, or catheters that are placed directly into or near the cancer.
The way the radiation therapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated. External radiation therapy is used to treat gallbladder cancer.
Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping the cells from dividing. When chemotherapy is taken by mouth or injected into a vein or muscle, the drugs enter the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells throughout the body (systemic chemotherapy). When chemotherapy is placed directly into the cerebrospinal fluid, an organ, or a body cavity such as the abdomen, the drugs mainly affect cancer cells in those areas (regional chemotherapy). The way the chemotherapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.
New types of treatment are being tested in clinical trials.
This summary section describes treatments that are being studied in clinical trials. It may not mention every new treatment being studied. Information about clinical trials is available from the NCI website.
Radiation sensitizers
Clinical trials are studying ways to improve the effect of radiation therapy on tumor cells, including the following:
- Hyperthermia therapy: A treatment in which body tissue is exposed to high temperatures to damage and kill cancer cells or to make cancer cells more sensitive to the effects of radiation therapy and certain anticancer drugs.
- Radiosensitizers: Drugs that make tumor cells more sensitive to radiation therapy. Giving radiation therapy together with radiosensitizers may kill more tumor cells.
Patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial.
For some patients, taking part in a clinical trial may be the best treatment choice. Clinical trials are part of the cancer research process. Clinical trials are done to find out if new cancer treatments are safe and effective or better than the standard treatment.
Many of today's standard treatments for cancer are based on earlier clinical trials. Patients who take part in a clinical trial may receive the standard treatment or be among the first to receive a new treatment.
Patients who take part in clinical trials also help improve the way cancer will be treated in the future. Even when clinical trials do not lead to effective new treatments, they often answer important questions and help move research forward.
Patients can enter clinical trials before, during, or after starting their cancer treatment.
Some clinical trials only include patients who have not yet received treatment. Other trials test treatments for patients whose cancer has not gotten better. There are also clinical trials that test new ways to stop cancer from recurring (coming back) or reduce the side effects of cancer treatment.
Clinical trials are taking place in many parts of the country. See the Treatment Options section that follows for links to current treatment clinical trials. These have been retrieved from NCI's listing of clinical trials.
Follow-up tests may be needed.
Some of the tests that were done to diagnose the cancer or to find out the stage of the cancer may be repeated. Some tests will be repeated in order to see how well the treatment is working. Decisions about whether to continue, change, or stop treatment may be based on the results of these tests.
Some of the tests will continue to be done from time to time after treatment has ended. The results of these tests can show if your condition has changed or if the cancer has recurred (come back). These tests are sometimes called follow-up tests or check-ups.
Treatment Options for Gallbladder Cancer
Localized Gallbladder Cancer
Treatment of localized gallbladder cancer may include the following:
- Surgery to remove the gallbladder and some of the tissue around it. Part of the liver and nearby lymph nodes may also be removed. Radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy may follow surgery.
- Radiation therapy with or without chemotherapy.
- A clinical trial of radiation therapy with radiosensitizers.
Check the list of NCI-supported cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with localized gallbladder cancer. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. Talk with your doctor about clinical trials that may be right for you. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI website.
Unresectable, Recurrent, or Metastatic Gallbladder Cancer
Treatment of unresectable, recurrent, or metastatic gallbladder cancer is usually within a clinical trial. Treatment may include the following:
- Percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage or the placement of stents to relieve symptoms caused by blocked bile ducts. This may be followed by radiation therapy as palliative treatment.
- Surgery as palliative treatment to relieve symptoms caused by blocked bile ducts.
- Chemotherapy.
- A clinical trial of new ways to give palliative radiation therapy, such as giving it together with hyperthermia therapy, radiosensitizers, or chemotherapy.
- A clinical trial of new drugs and drug combinations.
Check the list of NCI-supported cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with unresectable gallbladder cancer, recurrent gallbladder cancer and metastatic gallbladder cancer. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. Talk with your doctor about clinical trials that may be right for you. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI website.
To Learn More About Gallbladder Cancer
For more information from the National Cancer Institute about gallbladder cancer, see the Gallbladder Cancer Home Page.
For general cancer information and other resources from the National Cancer Institute, see the following:
- Staging
- Chemotherapy and You: Support for People With Cancer
- Radiation Therapy and You: Support for People With Cancer
- Coping with Cancer
- Questions to Ask Your Doctor about Cancer
- For Survivors and Caregivers
About This PDQ Summary
About PDQ
Physician Data Query (PDQ) is the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) comprehensive cancer information database. The PDQ database contains summaries of the latest published information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries come in two versions. The health professional versions have detailed information written in technical language. The patient versions are written in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language. Both versions have cancer information that is accurate and up to date and most versions are also available in Spanish.
PDQ is a service of the NCI. The NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH). NIH is the federal government's center of biomedical research. The PDQ summaries are based on an independent review of the medical literature. They are not policy statements of the NCI or the NIH.
Purpose of This Summary
This PDQ cancer information summary has current information about the treatment of gallbladder cancer. It is meant to inform and help patients, families, and caregivers. It does not give formal guidelines or recommendations for making decisions about health care.
Reviewers and Updates
Editorial Boards write the PDQ cancer information summaries and keep them up to date. These Boards are made up of experts in cancer treatment and other specialties related to cancer. The summaries are reviewed regularly and changes are made when there is new information. The date on each summary ("Date Last Modified") is the date of the most recent change.
The information in this patient summary was taken from the health professional version, which is reviewed regularly and updated as needed, by the PDQ Adult Treatment Editorial Board.
Clinical Trial Information
A clinical trial is a study to answer a scientific question, such as whether one treatment is better than another. Trials are based on past studies and what has been learned in the laboratory. Each trial answers certain scientific questions in order to find new and better ways to help cancer patients. During treatment clinical trials, information is collected about the effects of a new treatment and how well it works. If a clinical trial shows that a new treatment is better than one currently being used, the new treatment may become "standard." Patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial. Some clinical trials are open only to patients who have not started treatment.
Clinical trials are listed in PDQ and can be found online at NCI's website. Many cancer doctors who take part in clinical trials are also listed in PDQ. For more information, call the Cancer Information Service 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
Permission to Use This Summary
PDQ is a registered trademark. The content of PDQ documents can be used freely as text. It cannot be identified as an NCI PDQ cancer information summary unless the whole summary is shown and it is updated regularly. However, a user would be allowed to write a sentence such as "NCI's PDQ cancer information summary about breast cancer prevention states the risks in the following way: [include excerpt from the summary]."
The best way to cite this PDQ summary is:
PDQ® Adult Treatment Editorial Board. PDQ Gallbladder Cancer Treatment. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute. Updated <MM/DD/YYYY>. Available at: http://www.cancer.gov/types/gallbladder/patient/gallbladder-treatment-pdq. Accessed <MM/DD/YYYY>. [PMID: 26389400]
Images in this summary are used with permission of the author(s), artist, and/or publisher for use in the PDQ summaries only. If you want to use an image from a PDQ summary and you are not using the whole summary, you must get permission from the owner. It cannot be given by the National Cancer Institute. Information about using the images in this summary, along with many other images related to cancer can be found in Visuals Online. Visuals Online is a collection of more than 2,000 scientific images.
The information in these summaries should not be used to make decisions about insurance reimbursement. More information on insurance coverage is available on Cancer.gov on the Managing Cancer Care page.
Contact Us
More information about contacting us or receiving help with the Cancer.gov website can be found on our Contact Us for Help page. Questions can also be submitted to Cancer.gov through the website's E-mail Us.Date last modified: 2016-06-30


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Here's the Fall lineup for the Law and Society Workshop at Indiana University, Bloomington, which is presented by the Center for Law, Society & Culture. All workshops will take place at 4:00pm in the Law School Faculty Conference Room, Room 335, Law School, 211 S. Indiana Avenue. Light snacks and refreshments will be served. For more information, please contact amehrotr@indiana. edu.
Thursday, Sept. 17
Troubled No More by Death: Legal and Moral Hierarchies in a Rwandan Genocide Trial
Tim Waters, Maurer School of Law, IU—Bloomington
Thursday, Oct. 1
The Limits of Liberalism: Reflecting on the Impact of the 1988 Indian Gaming Regulatory Act
Eve Darian-Smith, Law & Society/Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara
Thursday, Oct. 15
An Interpretive History of the Voting Rights Act
Luis Fuentes-Rohwer, Maurer School of Law, IU—Bloomington
Thursday, Oct. 29
The NAACP, Mob Violence, and the Unexpected Breakthrough in Constitutional Law
Megan Francis, Jerome Hall Post-Doctoral Fellow, IU—Bloomington
Thursday, Nov. 5
Emotion in Judging
Terry Maroney, Law School, Vanderbilt University

subset: commoncrawl


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text: Well, now we're all curious about The Forgotten Mopar, the Plymouth Cricket (aka Hillman Avenger), so we're digging a little deeper into its story. Turns out it's a long and complicated one, with plenty of weird twists and turns. For example, how about an Avenger with VW emblems slapped on and sold in Brazil as the Volkswagen Dodge 1500? We heart the Cricket now! [Rootes-Chrysler.co.uk]


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We have so far been very fortunate as to not have the devastation of flood waters invading our home. I couldn't imagine what my friends and family must be coping with at the moment. Most of Central and South East Queensland is on flood alert. Even a cyclone crossed the coast close to where my parents live, on Christmas day. They live inland from Townsville but the rains have still swamped the roads, bridges and low lying grounds.
Fortunately again, my parents are with me and my family at the moment. They travelled south with their caravan to spend Christmas with us before the floodgates were open. They however, must endure more time snuggling, playing with and nurturing their grandkids, as roads are cut off everywhere! LOL!! I don't know how they are going to cope!!
Secretly though, my Dad is going stir-crazy with all the rain. And my voice may be a little hoarse from repeatedly asking the kids to stop climbing the walls, furniture, window sills... (you get the picture)!!! We've a little bit of cabin fever at the moment.
Yesterday the sun came out for just a little bit. Unfortunately it hasn't been out for long enough yet. Muddy feet is a steady accessory here.
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Ironically, we went to another large body of water! LOL!!
So, here's hoping you all have a wonderful and exciting new year. All the best for the future and I'll *see* you on the other side! :D
Happy New Year!!!!


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Lexington group wins LEGO® robotics championship at WKU
- Author: Wednesday, January 29th, 2014
"Automaticus Rex," a homeschool group from Lexington, was named the overall winner in the Kentucky FIRST® LEGO® League State Robotics Championship on Jan. 25.
The competition at WKU's Diddle Arena featured 40 teams with about 290 participants. The theme of this year's event was "Nature's Fury™," which called for teams to research and explore the topic of natural disasters.
Award winners are as follows:
Overall Event Champion's Award
- First Place: "Automaticus Rex," a homeschool group from Lexington. Team members are David Gedney, Joseph Gedney, Philippe Bischel and Damien Lopez. Coached by Stephen Gedney, Carolyn Gedney and Pat Bischel.
- Second Place: "Robocats Red Storm" from Whitefield Academy in Louisville. Team members are Erica Fletcher, Noah Janssen, Olivia Janssen, Reagan Marx, Patrick Marx, Nicholas Recktenwald, Robbie Thomasson, Ryan Thomasson and Cian Toole. Coached by Robert Toole and Brad Janssen.
Robot Mechanical Design
- First Place: "Brainy Bots" from Gray Middle School in Union. Team members are Will Henry Richards, Ken Ryumae, Alex Wilson, Oliver Lawal, Zach St. Hillaire, Tanner Schmidt and Willis Dickman. Coached by Karen Cheser and Masaru Ryumae.
- Second Place: "Pilot Pride" from Fulton County Elementary School in Hickman. Team members are Mia Amberg, Caleb Collins, Hailee Edgin, Anna Grace Johnson, Karlie Smith and Tanner Williams. Coached by Brenda Mahan and Tiffany Ray.
Robot Programming Award
- First Place: "Conner Bot Squad" from Conner Middle School in Hebron. Team members are Camron Kezele, Brewer Vega, Caleb Brown, Morgan Baumann, McKenzie Weber, Emily Patterson, Michael Klein, Bryce Bornhorn, Jackson Stone and Cameron Delph. Coached by Dan Wagner.
- Second Place: "St. Mary Circuit Breakers" from St. Mary School System in Paducah. Team members are Josh King, William Seay, Gabe Russell, Ethan Barnett, Ian Cole-Carlo, Ryan Chua and Robert Bosh. Coached by Jeff Seay and Lynn King.
Strategy and Innovation Award
- First Place: "Potter Gray Panthers" from Potter Gray Elementary School in Bowling Green. Team members are Logan Atkerson, Joseph Coffey, Reed Hensley, Anne Jefferson, Ross Millet, Thomas Tinius, Truman Tinius and Parker Wiggins. Coached by Carrie Koedyker and John Atkerson.
- Second Place: "Robocats Yellow Fire" from Whitefield Academy in Louisville. Team members are Andrew Harrison, Garrett Haseker, Ryan Cipkowski, Jacob Matallana, Tahlon Lambdin and Julia Jones. Coached by Maria Alvarez and Gabriel Frankel.
Robot Performance
- First Place: "Robocats Red Storm" from Whitefield Academy in Louisville. Team members are Erica Fletcher, Noah Janssen, Olivia Janssen, Reagan Marx, Patrick Marx, Nicholas Recktenwald, Robbie Thomasson, Ryan Thomasson and Cian Toole. Coached by Robert Toole and Brad Janssen.
- Second Place: "Automaticus Rex." a homeschool group from Lexington. Team members are David Gedney, Joseph Gedney, Philippe Bischel and Damien Lopez. Coached by Stephen Gedney, Carolyn Gedney and Pat Bischel.
Research Award
- First Place: "Bullitt Blizzards," a homeschool/community group from Mt. Washington. Team members are Eli Dalton, Ryan Dalton, Lilly Mooney, Ethan Pyles, Hannah Pyles, Caryn Thomas and Tyler Thomas. Coached by Sharon Pyles and Terry Thomas.
- Second Place: "Operation Build," a homeschool group from Prospect. Team members are Sierra Kumher, Heather Baltas, Joey Benver, Jillian Moody, Kelan Moody and Sophia Goldberg. Coached by Aly Goldberg and Chris Baltas.
Presentation Award
- First Place: "Glasgow Gladiators – Blue Team" from Glasgow Middle School in Glasgow. Team members are Alyssa Baker, Addie Johnson, Jasmine Smith, Lily Moseley, Caleb Jones, Mason Reid, Payne Flatt, Michael Crimmins and Jansen Dakin. Coached by Michael Hildreth and Brittany Kingrey.
- Second Place: "Jesus Freaks," a homeschool group from Louisville. Team members are Stewart Thompson, Hudson Thompson, Nicholas Page, Gabriel Page, Ethan Aldridge and Garrett LaForest. Coached by Scott Thompson and Chris Page.
Innovative Solution
- First Place: "Jet Team," a neighborhood team from Smithfield. Team members are Noah Anderson, Aiden McCloy, Alexander McFarland, Andrew Nevins and Zachary Wingert. Coached by Ladina Wingert and Nathan Anderson.
- Second Place: "Team Idea Club," a neighborhood team from Louisville. Team members are Lucas Nofsinger, Leah Nofsinger, Sam Wilkerson, Conor Blackburn, Quint Radeker, Henry Conklin, Gwen Reardon, Nathan Stiles and Christopher Keller. Coached by Tammy Nofsinger and Jason Wilkerson.
Inspiration Award
- First Place: "We've Got the Minds" from New Haven Elementary School in Walton. Team members are Kathryn McLagan, Ross Hargett, Matthew Marlette, Lily Stephens, Maddie Johnson, Alex Huff, Bria Patel, Amber White, Will Gooch and Landen Huey. Coached by Amy McLagan and Karen Hargett.
- Second Place: "FSMS Robotcats" from Franklin-Simpson Middle School in Franklin. Team members are Meadow Hall, Lizzy Weems, Natalie Mcabee, Katie Hollingsworth, Christopher Eitel, Hunter Graves, Hunter Mayhew, Jatavian Muirhead, Seyan Perry and Taylor Keith. Coached by Matt Staggs and Pam Rolland.
Teamwork Award
- First Place: "LEGO Legends," a homeschool group from Lawrenceburg. Team members are Brandon Gowan, Andrew Gowan, Emily Adams, Eric Adams, Isaac Adams, Quetzal Velasco, Rio Velasco, Zach Wentz and Owen Wentz. Coached by Kelli Gowan.
- Second Place: "HCPL3," a group sponsored by the Henderson County Public Library in Henderson. Team members are Jacob Goldie, Paxton Pritchett, Thomas Fleming, Ethan Mushrush, Bryce Butler and Cole Fogle. Coached by Michelle Chappell and Essy Day.
Gracious Professionalism
- First Place: "Audubon Elementary" from Audubon Elementary School in Owensboro. Team members are Trey Nally, Gabrielle Parson, Gracie Jennings and Koki Kato. Coached by Allison Plemmons and Andrea Head
- Second Place: "Catlettsburg Creators" from Catlettsburg Elementary School in Catlettsburg. Team members are Gracie Clevenger, Will Prater, Carson Johnson, Hayden Salyers, Jackson Childers, Sawyer Alley and Colby Winters. Coached by Terry Spurlock and Rhonda Salisbury.
Judge's Award
- "Longbranch Wildfires" from Longbranch Elementary School in Florence. Team members are Niko Heister, Will Lortz, Makenna Franks, Benjamin Spicher, Chloe Spitzer, Padraic Day and Jonathan Klayer. Coached by Cathy Stavros and Justin Kilgore.
Some of the links on this page may require additional software to view.


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The mountain beaver, endemic to California and the Pacific Northwest, is considered the most primitive living rodent species. In open forest areas, large holes, often with clipped sword fern or forbs neatly arrayed around them, are indicative that mountain beavers may be present.
Mountain beavers are voracious. When the animals forage on seedlings, the seedlings may show retarded growth or deformities, or may die. Though ferns and salal are preferred foods, bark and twigs of trees are readily taken when other forage is limited. Douglas-fir does not appear to be a highly preferred food, yet establishment of Douglas-fir seedlings is often difficult in areas with mountain beaver. In most areas, damage by mountain beaver is limited to seedlings less than 1.5 inches in diameter. However, larger trees can suffer basal barking and undermining of roots.
For a species that has been around for so long, very little is actually known about the its basic ecology. Thus, the NWRC field station is conducting studies to expand current understanding of this rodent. At the station, researchers have the ability to house mountain beavers in large outdoor habitat pens in which vegetation and populations can be manipulated.
Scientists have conducted a series of trials to determine the influence of available forage and population pressure on seedling damage, in addition to conducting standard cafeteria tests to determine mountain beaver food preference. In the cafeteria trials, ferns, salal, cat's ear, and salmonberry were highly preferred foods over Douglas-fir and western red cedar. Results from the habitat study showed that mountain beaver in pens without preferred forage damaged more seedlings than in pens with preferred forage. Population pressure did not have an effect on damage because mountain beaver moved to areas where there was preferred forage.
Field station scientists are currently conducting several studies to understand mountain beaver movements and dispersal patterns under varying vegetational characteristics (how far they can disperse to reinvade areas, is important for forest managers). Home range size for adult mountain beaver was previously reported as 0.08 to 0.5 acres with an average home range size of 0.03 acres (0.07 ha). Several factors can affect home range size including population density, available forage, available cover, and available water. To understand which of these factors may affect movements, scientists captured and radio collared 41 mountain beavers. Although most previous literature supported a nocturnal activity pattern for the mountain beaver, our data show that mountain beavers are active throughout a 24-hour period. Home range sizes differed between study sites and were substantially larger than previously reported.—from an average of 1.17 ha (± 0.24) to 4.16 ha (± 3.23). Preliminary results suggest that the difference in home range sizes between the two areas is a result of available forage. In the absence of available preferred food, mountain beavers may travel considerable distances, as shown in this study, to forage on available plants (e.g., seedlings).
Predation on the study sites was high (40%). Bobcats, coyotes, and raptors are the main aboveground predators, and an unknown species, likely a mink or spotted skunk, the belowground predator. In addition to the observed home ranges that were larger than previously reported, we have found that mountain beaver can disperse over 0.5 km to establish new territories.
Seedling protection from mountain beaver damage has been limited to barriers, although these have met with limited success. Trapping is the most productive means to reduce mountain beaver populations, and hence, damage to new seedlings. With current information gained from mountain beaver movements and preference for food resources, alternative nonlethal methods to reduce damage may be implemented. For instance, managing for an alternate winter food source may help reduce the amount of damage by mountain beaver to newly planted seedlings.
The legal status of wildlife species and subspecies may vary by state. Some wildlife damage management methods mentioned here may not be legal, permitted, or appropriate in your area. Please check with personnel from your state wildlife agency and local officials to determine if methods are acceptable and allowed.
*the above discussion is summarized from the following article by Wendy M. Arjo. Click on the link to see the full-text of the article.
03-5 ARJO, W. M. 2003. Mountain beaver: the little rodent with a large appetite. Western Forester 48(4):10-11. 156K
Additional NWRC Resources
ARJO, W. M., AND D. L. NOLTE. 2004. Assessing the efficacy of registered underground baiting products for mountain beaver ( Aplodontia rufa) control. Crop Protection 23:425-430. 609K
ARJO, W. M., D. L. NOLTE, J. L. HARPER, AND B. A. KIMBALL. 2004. The effects of lactation on seedling damage by mountain beaver. Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference 21:163-168. 449K
EPPLE, G, J. R. MASON, E. ARONOV, D. L. NOLTE, R. A. HARTZ, R. KALOOSTIAN, D. CAMPBELL, AND A. B. SMITH III. 1995. Feeding responses to predator-based repellents in the mountain beaver ( Aplodontia rufa). Ecological Applications 5(4): 1163-1170.
CAMPBELL, D. L. 1994. Mountain beavers. Pages B53-B60 in S. E. Hygnstrom, R. M. Timm, and G .E. Larson, editors. Prevention and control of wildlife damage. University of Nebraska Cooperative Extension, U.S. Department of Agriculture-Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service-Animal Damage Control, and Great Plains Agricultural Council-Wildlife Committee. Lincoln, Nebraska.
EPPLE, G., J. R. MASON, D. L. NOLTE, AND D. L. CAMPBELL. 1993. Effects of predator odors on feeding in the mountain beaver ( Aplodontia rufa). Journal of Mammalogy 74:715- 722.
CAMPBELL, D. L., J. P. FARLEY, AND R. M. ENGEMAN . 1992. Field efficacy evaluation of pelleted strychnine baits for control of mountain beavers ( Aplodontia rufa). Proceedings of the Vertebrate Pest Conference 15:335-339.
Mammalian Impacts on Forest Resources Research Project


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Sloan was one of the most successful Canadian bands of the '90s, which was both a blessing and a curse. While they were well-known in their homeland, where their Beatlesque power pop became a radio staple, they had a difficult time breaking into the American market, especially after their label, DGC, decided not to market their hooky pop in the wake of grunge. After spending several years fighting the label, and nearly breaking up, Sloan re-emerged in 1996 with One Chord to Another, a record that became an instant success in Canada and a critical sensation in the U.S. upon its American release in 1997, establishing the group as one of the leaders of the new wave of power pop groups in the late '90s.
Andrew Scott (drums), Chris Murphy (bass, vocals), Patrick Pentland (guitar, vocals), and Jay Ferguson (guitar, vocals), formed Sloan in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, in 1991. Ferguson and Murphy had previously played in the local band Kearney Lake Rd., a group inspired by underground American bands like R.E.M. and the Minutemen. Scott and Pentland also played in various local bands, but the group didn't come together until Murphy and Scott met each other while studying at the Nova Scotia School of Art and Design. The group debuted in the spring of 1991, and within a few months, their feedback-laden live shows had gained a sizable audience. By the end of the year, their first recording, "Underwhelmed," appeared on the local Halifax compilation Hear & Now. Early in 1992, they released the Peppermint EP on their own Murderecords, and by the summer, they had signed with DGC. Sloan's debut album, Smeared, a record where Sonic Youth met Beatlesque pop, appeared in October in Canada and in January, 1993, in America, and it was greeted with positive reviews. While the band had a gold album in Canada, the good press didn't translate to sales in the U.S., even as the group supported the Lemonheads and fIREHOSE at several concerts. Nevertheless, the domestic success of Smeared sparked a brief period of interest in "the Halifax scene," with groups like Eric's Trip, Thrush Hermit, the Hardship Post, and Jale all benefiting from the exposure.
For their second album, 1994's Twice Removed, Sloan simplified their sound considerably, concentrating on melodic, hook-laden power pop. DGC wanted the album to be noisier, yet the band won its fight to keep it bright and melodic. Nevertheless, DGC failed to promote the album upon its release, especially in America, even in the wake of good reviews and strong Canadian sales. The band toured relentlessly to support Twice Removed; the record was named "The Best Canadian Album of All Time" in a poll by Chart! magazine and Spin called it one of the "Best Albums You Didn't Hear This Year," but DGC was not giving the band much support. By the end of the year, the group decided to cancel their remaining shows in the new year and decide whether they wanted to pursue a career.
Sloan re-emerged in the summer of 1995, playing a handful of concerts and releasing a single, "Same Old Flame," on Murderecords. During their hiatus, the members pursued various side projects, with Scott forming the Maker's Mark and playing in the Sadies, while Murphy drummed for the Super Friendz; Pentland wrote a handful of songs, and Ferguson worked at Murderecords and managed the Inbreds, as well as co-producing a record by the Local Rabbits. Toward late summer, Sloan decided they wanted to continue as a band, and that winter they recorded One Chord to Another, a record which expanded the power pop approach of Twice Removed on a small budget. Although its origins were modest, the album was a huge Canadian hit upon its June 1996 release. After much negotiation, Sloan signed with the fledgling EMI subsidiary Enclave in early 1997, and One Chord to Another was finally released in the U.S. in the spring of 1997 to overwhelmingly positive reviews. Navy Blues followed a year later. A double-live album, 4 Nights at the Palais Royale was released by Murderecords in 1999, as was a new studio effort, Between the Bridges.


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BitFenix has officially announced its highly-anticipated Colossus full tower E-ATX PC chassis. The Colossus has a whole list of impressive features, including an advanced LED lighting system.
More photos and the full press release to follow.
BitFenix Press Release
(BitFenix Design Lab, August 20, 2010) – Today, the BitFenix Design Lab has officially announced its highly-anticipated PC chassis. Dubbed Colossus, this full tower E-ATX PC chassis is built specifically for gamers and PC enthusiasts from the ground up, making it the ideal enclosure for the most colossal gaming rigs.
"With Colossus, we focused on how gamers and PC enthusiasts were interacting with their computers on a daily basis, and crafted a PC chassis that actually helps to enhance their computing experience," says David Jarlestedt, BitFenix Product Manager. "What we've been able to do is create a case that not only looks striking, but delivers novel features that truly benefit the user in terms of security, control, and performance."
Inspired by one of the wonders of the ancient world, Colossus brings PC chassis design to a new level. Whether in Monolith Black or Glacier White, Colossus combines an aggressive futuristic design with clean modern lines. Its top and front surfaces are coated with proprietary BitFenix SofTouch™ coating, which not only looks great, but protects the surface from stains and lends an amazing feel.
The LED lighting system adorning the front door and side panels provide even lighting for a stunning look, and users can select either red or blue lighting with the touch of a button. The lighting also has three selectable modes, including on, pulse, and off, giving users complete control over the ambience of their computing environment.
But Colossus is about more than just good looks; it packs a bevy of features and innovations that make it the most advanced chassis for the gamers and PC enthusiasts. Located at the very top of the chassis is the BitFenix S3™ – a combination storage and security system in one. With S3, users can place their mobile phone, hard disk, USB drives, or other valuables in S3 and easily lock them away for safe keeping. S3 also deters would-be thieves from stealing your peripherals like mice, keyboards, and headsets while you are away from your desk. Inside S3, users will find two SuperSpeed USB 3.0 ports ready to connect to an ever-growing ecosystem of USB 3.0 devices.
Designed for the PC enthusiast, Colossus keeps you in complete control. Aside from the light controls, Colossus also features a PWM fan controller that grants users more precise control over their fan speeds without the need for proprietary fans. Colossus is the first chassis to feature both internal and external cable management. Users can keep cables from cluttering the inside of the chassis with Colossus' strategically-placed cable holes, and prevent cables from getting caught in ejecting optical drives with the unique cable-routing front bezel. Even Colossus' front door can be easily switched to open to the left or to the right, depending on user preference.
To accommodate the latest gaming hardware, Colossus gives users incredible expandability. Users can install a wealth of hardware with Colossus' 8 PCI slots and enough room to fit up to seven 2.5″ SSDs or seven 3.5″ hard disks. To keep all of this hardware cool, Colossus can be outfitted with up to two 230mm fans, three 140mm fans, or three 120mm fans for huge cooling potential for all system components. Of course, all air intakes are equipped with dust filters to make clean up quick and easy, and with friendly features like a motherboard CPU cooler cutout on the motherboard tray, specially-designed motherboard standoffs, and an almost completely tool-free design, Colossus is a joy to set up.
Bundled with Colossus is the BitFenix Lockdown™, a hardware stabilizer that helps prevent accidental damage to graphics cards due to excessive vibrations during system transport.
BitFenix Colossus will be available on retail shelves mid-September with an estimated retail price of 159 € (incl. 19% VAT) and $169.


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Cloud Computing: Data Services, NoSQL and SQL Databases
The past two months have repeatedly put the cloud and cloud data stores, such as SQL and NoSQL databases, on my radar screen. There have been announcements of new service offerings, new platforms and new concerns about architectural issues that introduce security vulnerabilities.Amazon Web Services (AWS) has the momentum of a snowball rolling downhill. It was no surprise AWS put out a steady stream of announcements of new capabilities, including one about Amazon Simple Email Services (SES). Accounts will be capable of sending 1 email message per second, up to 200 a day with verified addresses. If your application is approved for production mode, you can send up to 1000 e-mails per day.
The Amazon SES announcement was followed by news that Amazon is moving beyond Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS).
With hopes of becoming a major player in the Platform as a Service space, Amazon has announced the Elastic Beanstalk. It's a platform that exploits the power of Amazon services that include Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), Elastic Load Balancing, Amazon CloudWatch, and Auto Scaling. The public beta release of Elastic Beanstalk supports development of cloud applications using Java, but Amazon has promised support for other languages. The Elastic Beanstalk AMI includes the Amazon Linux AMI running Apache Web Server, Tomcat, and Java Platform, Enterprise Edition. "The Many Flavors of Platform Services for Cloud Computing" has more information about the PaaS landscape.
Amazon's move into PaaS isn't the only recent expansion by a major cloud service provider. Salesforce.com previously made its development platform available via Force.com. Now it's also expanding into the Database as a Service (DaaS) market with the introduction of Database.com. The idea is that you can build applications that access the same databases in the infrastructure that supports Salesforce.com and Force.com, without binding to the development platform. This means you could take existing Java applications, for example, that operate with enterprise databases and port them to use databases in the Salesforce cloud. A JDBC driver for Database.com is currently available with an ODBC driver scheduled for future release.
Amazon complements the EC2 service with its Simple Storage Service (S3). It announced that S3 had more than doubled the number of objects it stored in a year's time. S3 services 200,000 storage requests per second. In the fourth quarter of 2009, S3 stored 102 billion objects. By the end of 2010, that number was 262 billion objects.
The recent news on the NoSQL database front is that hackers are now looking into security vulnerabilities due to the architecture of NoSQL solutions. The best approach to security relies on multi-layered or multi-level security, including built-in security in the database layer of applications.
Many web applications today rely on a network and application environment that supports secure networking, federated identity, encryption, authorization and authentication procedures. These are the types of security capabilities available to the developer using one of the NoSQL platforms. But system architects can also leverage the security features that are integral to enterprise SQL platforms. Whether on the web or in the enterprise, a robust SQL database deployment typically runs behind a firewall and uses those same application-level and network-level security capabilities. But to augment network and application security, a system architect can also take advantage of security in the database layer. The best SQL platforms support role-based security, encrypted communications, encrypted databases, stored procedures and in some cases, row-level security.
The message for system architects is take a close look at your use cases and requirements for security. For example, the designer of a massively-scalable web architecture for an open recipe exchange doesn't have the same concerns for privacy and data integrity as the architect of a web site to sell and buy Renewable Energy Credits.
To close out January 2011, Amazon also announced the Amazon Relational Data Service (RDS) will be adding support for Oracle 11g in the second quarter of 2011. That means you can pay on an hourly basis for the use of an Oracle 11g database, something that can be particularly economical for ad hoc projects. If you already have licenses for Oracle 11g, you can transfer them to AWS and your hourly rate will be reduced because you won't be paying for use of the software.The recent news on the NoSQL database front is that hackers are now looking into security vulnerabilities due to the architecture of NoSQL solutions. The best approach to security relies on multi-layered or multi-level security, including built-in security in the database layer of applications.


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I'm feeling distinctly pessimistic today. As I've written in the past, the notion that "The arc of history is long, but it bends toward justice" may be a necessary belief to remain motivated in generations-long battles for justice, but as an "is" statement (as opposed to an "ought" statement), it is naive at best in light of the cyclical nature of civilizations. All civilizations in the history of humankind have, sooner or later, declined and fallen into a "dark age".
And with that cheery introduction, I'll give you the following:
1)Rachel Maddow analyzing the effects of money on US politics. Basically, Republicans and corporations now have enough money at their disposal to win even extremely unlikely electoral races. And the Democrats' plan to survive and counter this? winning, then amending the constitution. except that, as just noted, they can't really win anymore. So basically, unless the Repubicans actually manage to self-destruct, the US government is now wholly theirs, on all levels, for years to come.
2)A graph and summary about oil prices since the economic crisis. oil prices are currently falling because of assorted political clusterfucks, but for the last year, despite fluctuations, they are as high as they were at the beginning of 2008. and anything "good" happening economically will instantly reverse the current downward trend. so, it seems our choices right now are economic collapse somewhere important and the continuation of the Era Of Cheap Oil, or economic stabilization/recovery and the official end of oil below $100/bbl. Peak Oil, anyone?
3)In Europe, xenophobia always lurks just under the surface, threatening to erupt. The EU and its predecessor were created to end a history of conflict that includes the Hundred Year War, the 30 Year War, and that started both world wars. And they were doing a decent job of it, considering, before the global economic meltdown. But because the meltdown happened before the EU figured out how to manage itself in crisis situations, it is now in a political as well as an economic crisis. With predictable results: Fascists are getting elected wherever sufficient distrust of the other EU members has managed to break to the surface
4)And last but not least, speaking of the long arc of history: here's a paper in Nature (I haz pdf) about possible "critical transitions" in the global ecosystem in the next century or so. I've kind of written about these transitions before. They're basically what happens to an ecosystem when it stops being resilient enough to withstand a particular environmental pressure: it undergoes a drastic change until it can regain (relative, temporary) equilibrium as an entirely different ecosystem, one that usually doesn't sustain the same species and communities as before. And this paper basically discusses the possibility that our biosphere is about to undergo a critical transition as a result of human-caused pressures on the system. Some choice quotes:
Here we summarize evidence that such planetary-scale critical transitions have occurred previously in the biosphere, albeit rarely, and that humans are now forcing another such transition, with the potential to transform Earth rapidly and irreversibly into a state unknown in human experience.
This Modelling suggests that for 30% of Earth, the speed at which plant species will have to migrate to keep pace with projected climate change is greater than their dispersal rate when Earth last shifted from a glacial to an interglacial climate, and that dispersal will be thwarted by highly fragmented landscapes.Climates found at present on 10–48% of the planet are projected to disappear within a century, and climates that contemporary organisms have never experienced are likely to cover 12–39% of Earth48. The mean global temperature by 2070 (or possibly a few decades earlier) will be higher than it has been since the human species evolved.
Although the ultimate effects of changing biodiversity and species compositions are still unknown, if critical thresholds of diminishing returns in ecosystem services were reached over large areas and at the same time global demands increased (as will happen if the population increases by
2,000,000,000 within about three decades), widespread social unrest, economic instability and loss of human life could result.


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I came across this item recently and wanted to share it with you. Our army, through its Combined Support Command in Fort Lee, Virginia, is training more than 180,000 students annually with 541 courses.
Students in the U.S. Army Ordinance School's Allied Training Specialist Course are learning machining and welding—skills that will help them bridge the gap between active service and eventual separation from the military. These skills will remain with the students for a lifetime and are credentialed through the National Institute for Metalworking Skills (NIMS), which are credentials recognized nationally.
Please click here for a link to the full story about this program and how your business might be able to tap into this pool for skilled workers as time goes on. The idea is to accredit these soldiers with transferable skill sets, ultimately connecting service veterans with highly skilled civilian careers.


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And one of the most dangerous, say concerned parents and elected officials.
Parents say the recently unmonitored and unmarked crosswalk, has become a severe threat.
Rosemarie Asselta, PTA president at P.S. 232 on 83rd Street, said she and the other parents began advocating for safety measures after the school crossing guard was ordered to move from 153rd Avenue to monitor traffic exiting 83rd Street.
"She had to move because there's no crosswalk there, but it's dangerous," Asselta said.
Although the school recently received cautionary traffic signs from the Department of Transportation (DOT) on 153rd Ave., Asselta said it should have been installed to face the other way toward traffic coming from 79th Street.
"There's no stop sign from 79th Street to the light [at 84th Street]," she said. "You know how many times I almost got hit because they're out there doing 90 miles an hour? We need something."
A mother, father and son were injured after an elderly woman struck them in her car after leaving the nearby hopping center just two weeks after the signs were installed on May 29, according to reports.
All three were taken to the hospital with minor injuries.
Lisa Newman said she walks to pick up her son at the school, as driving can be a tricky task.
"It's a strip here ," Newman said. " And if there are no traffic devices, people try to beat the light or they're just careless."
In addition to the unmarked, speedy thoroughfare that borders the school, Newman said parents who double park along 83rd Street are not helping the problem.
"The school sends out letters about not parking," she said. "Not only are you making it dangerous for the kids, but you're making it dangerous to cross the street. People are not watching, and they try to beat the light and just get where they're going a lot faster."
In response to a recent scare at the intersection last week, State Senator Joseph Addabbo, Councilman Eric Ulrich and Assemblyman Phil Goldfeder sent a letter to the DOT asking for a full traffic study of 153rd Avenue between 84th and 82nd streets.
"The battle has been constant, and led up to the unacceptable accident that affected local parents and their child," Addabbo said. "We need to band together and start preventing accidents, not reacting to them."
If traffic-calming measures aren't swiftly taken by the city, Ulrich suggested closing down the busy street during the early morning and after-school hours to create a safer environment for the kids.
"The community simply cannot wait for any more studies to tell us what we already know," Ulrich said. "It's a dangerous intersection and something must be done before it's too late."


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Forum Post: Ed Snowden, the Spy Industry's Bernie Madoff ~ Class War on the Government Front
Posted 7 years ago on June 17, 2013, 8:36 p.m. EST by WSmith
from Cornelius, OR
This content is user submitted and not an official statement
Ed Snowden, the Spy Industry's Bernie Madoff ~ Class War on the Government Front
Bernie Madoff committed the cardinal sin of stealing from the Private Funds of the Rich ~ Edward Snowden committed the cardinal sin of divulging the Privatization of our Intelligence Agencies. While Public Sector Bank Robbers, Saboteurs and Hostage Takers operate with impunity.
How Spy Agency Contractors Have Already Abused Their Power
Lee Fang on June 11, 2013 - 1:45 AM ET
Read more: How Spy Agency Contractors Have Already Abused Their Power | The Nation http://www.thenation.com/blog/174741/how-spy-agency-contractors-have-already-abused-their-power#ixzz2WW8JD1ef Follow us: @thenation on Twitter | TheNationMagazine on Facebook
War On Government | Randi Rhodes | WWW.RANDIRHODES.COM
Jun 14, 2013
Tea Party senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) says that "restoring faith in government" is "the wrong solution." Well then by all means, keep talking, Senator. Instead, Johnson says "we need to engender that healthy distrust, that healthy distrust that our Founders found with government." Is Ron Johnson aware that our Founders didn't found a corporation? They founded a government. The Founders didn't mistrust government. Most of our Founders gladly took important posts in the government that they created. The difference between the Founders and Ron Johnson is that the Founders weren't working to undermine the government.
Our Founders didn't mistrust government. They realized that government has a function but that it needs to be carefully monitored and regulated… kind of like how they felt about firearms. But then that's lost on these idiots as well. If our Founders hated the idea of government, they had an entire continent full of people living in tribal societies that they could have fled to. But then John Adams never chucked it all to go the Great Plains and hunt buffalo from horseback, did he?
US intelligence agencies routinely swap data ( http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-06-14/u-s-agencies-said-to-swap-data-with-thousands-of-firms.html ) with thousands of private firms. Hardware and software makers, banks, and internet security firms all provide our spy agencies with data and equipment specifications that help them infiltrate foreign computers. The spy agencies are corporate-assisted hackers! It would be like spy agencies trying to gain access to your home… with the help of your home security provider and the company who made the locks on your doors.
Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA) says that the surveillance programs that have been exposed are "just the tip of the iceberg." ( http://thehill.com/video/house/305047-dem-rep-lawmakers-learned-significantly-more-about-surveillance-programs-in-nsa-briefing ). And if you want to see the rest of it, you have to enter some pretty icy waters. House lawmakers were briefed by intelligence officials about the surveillance programs. The good news is that, as far as we know, nobody left the meeting and immediately cancelled their internet and cell phone service.
Congresswoman Sanchez said of the spying "I think it's just broader than most people even realize." Let's just hope that it's not any broader than a lot of people fear. According to Sanchez, the scope of the surveillance "astounded most of us." Yes, unfortunately, the reaction of some of them will be just to hit up Booz Allen for campaign contributions.
Randi Rhodes | Jun 17, 2013
It seems that everybody wants to know what's been going on at the NSA. Everybody, that is, except for 53 US Senators. Last week Senators were given a briefing by high-ranking intelligence officials about the surveillance programs. Only 47 Senators showed up. That's not even half—and as we all know, it actually takes 60 Senators to do anything at all.
Well, Dick Cheney is all for spying—but then that's no surprise, coming from a man who likes to spend "time in the shadows," if you will. Cheney called Edward Snowden a traitor who might be working for China. Under Dick Cheney, we sent countless jobs to China, and our debt to them skyrocketed. If China wants someone who really works for their interests they couldn't do better than Dick Cheney.
Even as the NSA scandal continues to play out, the bogus IRS "scandal" is pretty much already played out. Republicans have been unable to find any evidence to support their allegations that the White House was involved in IRS targeting of conservative groups. So they just decided to pretend that their allegations were facts.
Meanwhile, Glenn Beck is telling his listeners that this time we really are at the end times. The amazing thing is how a person so shallow can still go off the deep end. Beck told his staff and listeners "we are at the end." It's not clear if Glenn has gone completely insane, or if he's just doing a paid tie-in to the new Seth Rogan/James Franco movie "This Is the End." I don't know if the movie is funny, but it can't possibly be as funny as Glenn Beck.
Investigate Booz Allen Hamilton, not Edward Snowden
The firm that formerly employed both the director of national intelligence and the NSA whistleblower merits closer scrutiny
Pratap Chatterjee | guardian.co.uk, Friday 14 June 2013 09.00 EDT
Lawmakers planning bill to limit contractor access to NSA secrets
By Carlo Muñoz - 06/13/13 04:06 PM ET
Read more: http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/policy-and-strategy/305465-feinstein-congress-to-block-contractor-access-to-highly-classified-information-#ixzz2WWEZAoTf Follow us: @thehill on Twitter | TheHill on Facebook
Pentagon bracing for public dissent over climate and energy shocks
NSA Prism is motivated in part by fears that environmentally-linked disasters could spur anti-government activism
By Afeez Ahmed | the guardian
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden was a computer systems administrator for Booz Allen Hamilton, where he directly handled the NSA's IT systems, including the Prism surveillance system. According to Booz Allen's 2011 Annual Report, the corporation has overseen Unified Quest "for more than a decade" to help "military and civilian leaders envision the future."
The latest war games, the report reveals, focused on "detailed, realistic scenarios with hypothetical 'roads to crisis'", including "homeland operations" resulting from "a high-magnitude natural disaster" among other scenarios, in the context of:
"... converging global trends [which] may change the current security landscape and future operating environment... At the end of the two-day event, senior leaders were better prepared to understand new required capabilities and force design requirements to make homeland operations more effective."
It is therefore not surprising that the increasing privatisation of intelligence has coincided with the proliferation of domestic surveillance operations against political activists, particularly those linked to environmental and social justice protest groups.
Department of Homeland Security documents released in April prove a "systematic effort" by the agency "to surveil and disrupt peaceful demonstrations" linked to Occupy Wall Street, according to the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund (PCJF).
A University of Bath study citing the Kennedy case, and based on confidential sources, found that a whole range of corporations - such as McDonald's, Nestle and the oil major Shell, "use covert methods to gather intelligence on activist groups, counter criticism of their strategies and practices, and evade accountability."
After Profits, Defense Contractor Faces the Pitfalls of Cybersecurity
Greenwald On "Smear Campaign" Against Snowden: "Tactic Of The Establishment"
Edward Snowden Q&A: Dick Cheney traitor charge is 'the highest honor'
The whistleblower behind the biggest intelligence leak in NSA history answered your questions about the NSA surveillance revelations


text:
Pucker Up
Lemonade, that quintessential summertime drink, is becoming a drink for all seasons. No longer resigned to backyard barbecues and ball games, the category has seen a surge in year-round consumption. Consumer demand for the beverage drove sales of single serving bottles to $154 million over the last 52 weeks, up 11.3 percent over the same period in 2010, according to Symphony/IRI data. That number is only partially revealing of the pace of lemonade's growth, however, because much of that growth has come in the up and down the street accounts that are the bread and butter for the marketers who have benefitted the most from lemonade's popularity: tea companies.
In fact, lemonade's new cycle of growth is interesting because it is taking place largely as an adjunct product to RTD tea, which has found it to be both a convenient part of the product mix and a highly successful combination product. From AriZona's "Arnold Palmer" to New Leaf's "Tiger" to Honest Tea's "Half & Half", the mix of lemonade and black tea has
been one of two strong forces driving up lemonade sales, and also driving them up on an under-the-radar basis. Another has been the growth of a single brand, Calypso, which developed a tasty, fairly inexpensive, low-barrier to entry lemonade line on the East Coast that many larger companies have attempted to copy.
Here's how quickly it's gone: in the last two years, ready-to-drink tea companies including New Leaf, Honest Tea, Sweet Leaf, and AriZona all launched several different lemonade SKUs. Additionally, the natural products side of Monster Energy, Hansen's, launched Hubert's Lemonade, and also a half-and-half variant of its new Peace Tea line based on the movie Caddyshack.
While it's not a hard move conceptually to combine tea with lemonade, it's the arrival of Calypso as a regional force that seems to have energized the market – in much the same way that Snapple did more than a dozen years ago.
Tim Kezman, the president of King Juice Company, which makes of Calypsos, cited the relatively simple messaging needed to market the lemonade as a key factor.
Simply put, he said, "Everyone knows what lemonade is."
It's simple but hard-won wisdom, Kezman explained. Before Calypso began selling lemonade, the company produced two functional beverages, each of which fared poorly in the market. Kezman said he found that the high cost of educating consumers as to the benefits of the products prompted their failure — and spurred a desire for the company to develop a beverage that appealed to a wide variety of demographics and didn't require a great deal of consumer communication. For Calypso, lemonade was the answer.
Calypso, which has carried a line of lemonades since 2000, has seen double digit sales growth in each of the past eight years. And over the past 12 months, sales of Calypso lemonades were up 51 percent, rising to $14.7 million, according to IRI, far outpacing lemonade sales of brands such as Snapple and Tropicana. And according to some within the beverage industry, it is Calypso's track record of success that drew tea companies into the mix.
"No one paid attention to lemonade until [companies] saw Calypso's strong year after year sales and wanted to get on board," said Tom LeBon, co-founder of New Age Beverage.
LeBon, whose Denver, Colo.-based distribution company carries a number of lemonade brands, also pointed out that as a whole, the ready-to-drink tea category has weakened from its once-scorching pace. Although the category continues to grow, tea companies are not getting the same sales increases that they once did, and, seeing the movement and potential of lemonade as a product on the rise, they imagine that it's not a big lateral step to take.
Take New Leaf, which began producing a line of lemonades in April 2010.
"There was unmet consumer demand for a natural and 'good-for-you' line of lemonades," said Lynne Magner, a marketing manager at New Leaf. "Our teas offer consumers a delicious, healthy and all-natural alternative that we wanted to expand on, and lemonade seemed like the perfect fit."
Magner also pointed out that lemonade was not a saturated market and one poised for greater growth as consumers increasingly turn away from consumption of carbonated soft drinks. The company believes so strongly in the growth of the category that, according to Magner, New Leaf is now leading with lemonade as its featured product line.
While it is somewhat surprising that New Leaf would devote greater energy and resources into its lemonade products, it is not entirely unexpected. The products fit nicely with tea companies' core lines, providing economies of scale for packaging, sweeteners, and the like.
Additionally, in many of the same occasions when consumers purchase tea drinks, they might just as often buy a bottle of lemonade, noted Seth Goldman, the CEO of Honest Tea.
Goldman, whose company introduced a new zero calorie lemonade in May, explained that lemonade is a particularly complimentary beverage for the company in the sense that it is produced and marketed along the same lines as its tea drinks.
Although it's highly unlikely that Honest Tea will ever follow New Leaf's lead and produce lemonade as its primary beverage, "The most important part of our name is the word, 'honest,' not the word, 'tea,'" Goldman said. "[For our lemonade], we use the same brand traditions and taste profile as Honest Tea, starting with organic ingredients."
In the same vein, AriZona Beverages, the country's largest seller of RTD teas, created a lemonade product that became a highly successful line extension for the company. Carrying the same "big can" style, according to communications manager Casey Sullivan, the product does well in the market as the beverage is one that carries appeal across multiple demographics, while AriZona's Arnold Palmer brand, with the classic lemonade/tea mix, has been a runaway hit for the company.
Still, there's something of an overload point for all-natural lemonades, much as there's been a strong burst of overcrowding in the tea space lately. Sanwat Gill, the CEO and founder of San Diego based distributor 5 Star Beverages, for example, believes strongly in the growth of the lemonade category, pointing to solid results in year over year sales. However, while his company currently carries a number of lemonade products, he cautions that 5 Star is unlikely to carry too many competing lemonade brands, particularly until he is convinced that lemonade is truly a year-round product.
"For us, lemonade sells really well in the summer and dies down in the winter, and so for new products on the market, it's really about trial and error once it's on the shelf," Gill said. "Ideally, the maximum we want is six to eight SKUs of any brand. Any more than that and it becomes tough to find shelf space."
But that doesn't mean that there isn't plenty of room to grow, particularly considering the fact that no true national lemonade brand has come to cause the kind of sensation that once accompanies the growth of Snapple of Nantucket Nectars.
And while that might create room for competition, Kezman seems nonplussed.
"Up until a couple years ago, the category was pretty empty," he said. "We've remained true to the quality of the product, and we haven't cut costs just to have a lower price point at retail. We're aware of and respect our competition, but are not scared of our competition."


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Meet the Candidates
Sheriff's candidate: Steven Nichols' position statement and
responses to questions
Send a link to a friend
20, 2014]
From Steven Nichols, candidate for Logan County
Most citizens in the county know me as
Logan County Sheriff Steven Nichols. You have entrusted me with
this position by electing me three times as your Sheriff. I value
your confidence and truly appreciate your support and I am asking
for another term.
35 Year
Investigation &
Law Enforcement Career
Department of Corrections 1978-1979
Illinois State
Police 1979-1986
South Dakota
Highway Patrol 1987-1989
Department of Children &
Family Services
Consultant for first Forensic
Victim Interviewing Unit
Elected to 3 Terms
as Your Logan County
Bachelor of
Science Degree in Law Enforcement
Administration, Western Illinois
University 1980
Special Weapons &
Tactics Training (SWAT)
States Air Force 1983
Brought ADAMAX
(SWAT) Training Facility to
County 2005
Many citizens think in terms of the
Sheriff running the patrol and detective divisions; responding to
calls for service, handling accidents, and conducting criminal
investigations. There is much more to the job. The operation of
the jail including staffing and housing prisoners in an ethical
manner while remaining attentive to their civil rights is a fulltime
job itself. Keeping abreast of the myriad of rules and regulations
mandated by the Illinois Department of Corrections is crucial to the
jail operation. Transporting and guarding prisoners to, during, and
from court expends countless hours by deputies. The third major
operation is the chief of security for the courthouse and all
offices located therein. Working with the other elected officers
and the courts require a great deal of attention. I have a great
working relationship with the Judges, Circuit Clerk, County Clerk,
Probation Office, County Treasurer, County Board, County Waste
Management, and Sojourn Advocacy Office. I also am responsible for
the security of the courthouse and screen every person before
allowing entry. The County Sheriff is much more than the Chief Law
Enforcement Officer of the County. The Sheriff is a police officer,
manager, bookkeeper, mechanic, radio expert, procurement officer,
disciplinarian, security officer, court liaison, and planner. For
the past 11 ½ years, I have been each of these, every year, all of
the time. I have surrounded myself with many fine individuals that
I trust explicitly. Their professionalism makes the Logan County
Sheriff's Office a highly respected agency that runs smoothly and
Law enforcement officers are
absolutely obligated to be respectful, polite, knowledgeable, and
proficient in performing their duties. I believe I have brought
this agency a long way to become the professional and effective
Sheriff's Office that it is today. I have the endorsement of Logan
County States Attorney Jonathon Wright because I have done a good
job keeping this agency and all deputies effective police officers
who prepare excellent reports and are prepared to testify in court.
My opponent says "change is good"
and I would agree if, and when the current Sheriff retires, has
dishonorably performed his mission, and has not kept the public's
trust. I am not ready to retire and I certainly have done nothing
to dishonor this position, or violated the public's trust. Every
time a political office changes the caretaker, there is uncertainty
as to what you may get. Remember, the last guy that promised you
change gave you Obamacare! Stay the course; you know what you've
got! I know and understand what it takes to efficiently run the
office of Sheriff. As a proven leader, manager, and caretaker of
your tax money, I would appreciate your vote on March 18, 2014.
1) What most
qualifies you for the position of sheriff?
2) What personal
or professional financial experience would you bring to the office
of sheriff?
In my private life, I have managed a
successful show pig business selling show stock all over the
country. I have never declared bankruptcy or drawn unemployment in
my private affairs. I keep a sound personal footing and manage my
income and expenses with a fine tooth comb. I live within my means
and carry that into my management of the Sheriff's Office. Every
penny of my budget is taxpayer money and I do my best to ensure that
every purchase is necessary.
3) What
experiences in leadership would you bring to the position?
Leadership can mean a lot of different things to different people.
I believe that a good leader provides direction, guidance, and
stability to an agency. Leading by example is an essential
element. Confidence in yourself conveyed to your personnel is
another. Never asking your personnel to do something that you are
not willing to do is crucial to good leadership. Instilling
confidence in your personnel, allowing them to do their job and
recognizing that mistakes will be made without trampling an
officer's personality is a trait of good leader. I believe I have
these traits and I try to instill them into personnel. It is
significant that Sheriff's Fraternal Order of Police Lodge #78 has
endorsed my reelection.
4) How do you see
the future of law enforcement changing in the next five years?
Technology is rapidly changing the way law enforcement conducts
their business. I recently assisted in a school violence/safety
program at Mt. Pulaski High School and I am looking to bring this
program to other schools in Hartsburg and New Holland/Middletown. I
will also offer this information to all Lincoln schools. I have
been studying recent advancements in school safety and I believe
those advancements could be implemented at our schools in Logan
County. Two separate Smartphone Apps are being rolled out that
would allow every school staff member to immediately notify 911 and
all law enforcement officers in the area and all staff at their
school of an intruder/active shooter incident. A second Smartphone
App installed on all current and qualified retired law enforcement
phones would immediately alert every city, county, state, federal
police officer, and retiree of the active shooter. The Smartphone
App also provides the location of all law enforcement officers as
they respond. There is a minimal charge for both of these Apps, but
I believe it is well worth my time to present this technology to
area schools and police agencies.
top of second column]
I would also like to equip
patrol and detective vehicles with the license plate reader cameras
which will identify stolen vehicles, unregistered vehicles,
suspended or revoked drivers, and wanted persons. This technology
is expensive, prohibiting installation in all vehicles. I would
like to put one unit in vehicles for each shift and in one detective
vehicle. I will first look at grant opportunities to purchase this
technology that will greatly enhance our ability to serve the
citizens of Logan County.
5) Would you do
anything different to meet those changes?
Training is the key to the success of an agency. There are many
training opportunities available through the local Mobile Training
Unit and other venues. I will make a concerted effort to continue
to get officers into these and other courses that will increase our
capabilities and improve their effectiveness.
While I believe our policies are
sound, I will always solicit input from our States Attorney's Office
to ensure our policies mesh with state and federal laws.
6) How would you
work with other law enforcement departments; is there anything you
would do different in the next four years?
ability to work with other law enforcement agencies could not have
been better demonstrated with the successes of the Gee Murder Task
Force. I, along with my officers worked closely with this task of
over 40 sworn and civilian personnel and multiple agencies to bring
the Harris brothers to justice. Additionally, I have the support
and endorsement of the 9 Sheriff's in counties surrounding and in
close proximity of Logan County. I have worked closely with each of
these agencies as Sheriff. I continue to work with the Illinois
State Police on many issues concerning Logan County. Unfortunately
personalities sometimes enter into the equation with other agencies
in the county. However, I and my personnel have and will continue
to respond to any incident within Atlanta and Mt. Pulaski at any
hour of any day, regardless of any personality conflicts.
7) What would be
most challenging for you in the next four years as sheriff?
During my tenure as Sheriff, there has been some turnover in the
agency. I attribute most of the turnover to officers retiring,
transfers to other agencies, and disciplinary issues. Several
officers have retired or transferred to other agencies for monetary
reasons or personal family issues. Yes, I have trained officers
that later transferred, but I believe their service here more than
offset their training costs. I have never stood in the way of any
officer advancing their career. In regards to the disciplinary
problems, I will not permit my officers to act like a bunch of
"cowboys", violating the civil rights of our citizens and
administering justice to suit their needs. I have terminated,
suspended, and reduced in rank some officers that did not follow our
policies and the law. I make no apologies for doing so.
Through negotiations with the FOP, I
changed the 12 hour shifts to 10 hour shifts. I inherited an agency
with thousands of dollars on the books due to mismanagement of
overtime as a result of the 12 hour shifts. Instead of large
payouts, I furloughed officers for lengthy periods of time to save
tax dollars in the budget. It took several years to correct this
problem. I believe police officers are not at their best working so
many consecutive hours. Fatigue can lead to poor decisions, reduced
physical strength, and less effective reporting. I want my officers
to perform at a high level at all times, not having to be concerned
about the obvious effects that fatigue can bring to their
8) What is the
most significant issue facing law enforcement at the county level?
budget is probably the most significant issue facing the Sheriff's
Office. Finding the money to run operations, the jail, and the
courthouse all at the same time is a juggling act. Each require
daily attention and are dependent upon funding. Proper
administration of the taxpayer's money requires planning, innovative
thinking; identifying and securing grants are needed to stay within
the budget supplied by the County Board. I have done so every year
for the past 11 ½ years. I have even returned money to the County
Board each year of my administration.
The Police Operations, Jail, and
Courthouse require a lot of money to administer. It is quite
daunting to handle $1.9 million dollars in taxpayer money. It is
challenging to supervise, guide, and mentor 20 sworn and 12 civilian
9) What would you
most like to see stay the same?
I would hope to maintain the exemplary
reputation that the Sheriff's Office has attained over the past 11 ½
years. The public's trust and cooperation is my highest goal.
10) Is there
anything you would like to see change that would improve the
economy affects every public agency trying to do their mission with
limited resources. The old adage of "doing more with less"
is worn
out. While I have no control over the nation's economy, I firmly
believe that all public agencies are tapped out. I will, however,
continue to do my best to be a good steward of the public's tax
money and live within my budget.
[Text copied from file received]
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text:
InfiniTEXT – An online repository of Accessible instructional Materials for
- Start Date:
- 5/20/11
- End Date:
- None
- Duration:
- 3:30 PM CDT 4:30 PM CDT (Time Zone Sensitive)
- Type:
- Webinars
3:30-4:30 PDT/5:30-6:30 CST Finding sources for accessible instructional materials (AIM) for use by students with print disabilities can be a daunting challenge for educators. The InfiniTEXT repository can help schools meet this challenge. InfiniTEXT contains thousands of scanned textbooks and other classroom reading which have been shared by other schools participating in the program. These digital text files are available in multiple formats and once you have signed up, searching and downloading files is easy. Schools who wish to use this resource are invited to attend this informative webinar to learn more about how to sign up for and use the program. Contact Information: Site URL: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/596755298