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•Ridge is put on the spot.
•Taylor (Hunter Tylo, pictured) makes an unexpected decision.
•Brooke and Stephanie have opposite predictions of the future.
•Katie creates an idea to save Forrester Creations.
•A cougar goes after its prey.
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
B&B: Such a Tease!
•Ridge is put on the spot.
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|Frutos secos are nuts of all kinds, in Spain, as elsewhere, beloved at holiday time.
A bowl of walnuts and a nutcracker. Fruitcake studded with raisins, citron and nuts. Plum pudding with currants. Nuts and dried fruits are cherished for winter holiday treats.
In Spain, too. Frutos secos—all kinds of nuts and seeds—and frutas secas or desecadas—dried fruits add sweetness and cheer to a festive season. Almond confections such as turrón, nougat, and mazapán, marzipan candies, are the most emblematic. And there are many more.
|Walnuts--nueces--are grown in Spain, but most sold here come from California.
|Pecans, known as nueces americanas or pecanas. I buy them from a chica in my aerobics class whose family has a pecan plantation not far from my village in southern Spain.
|Almonds, almendras. I pick these in my garden. The ones on the right have been blanched, skinned and toasted.
|Hazelnuts, avellanas, grown in Catalonia. They are an ingredient in the famous romesco sauce.
|Pine nuts, piñones. Nut-bearing pine cones drop onto my patio from the tree that towers above it. I don't have the patience to crack the tiny nuts and extract the seeds, so I usually buy them. They are expensive.
Apricot-Almond Bars
Pan de Albaricoques con Almendras
Pan de Albaricoques con Almendras
|Dense with fruit and nuts, sweet apricot bars are real energy bites.
This version, with apricots, contains flour, which keeps the mixture crumbly rather than sticky. It's finished in the oven to cook the flour.
|Serve thin wedges of apricot bars with mild fresh goat's cheese.
Serve the fruit loaf like candy, cut into very small pieces. It combines well with mild fresh goat cheese. Serve a sweet wine with it.
Grind the apricots in a food processor or meat grinder. I used a mini-processor, dividing the apricots and flour into three batches.
Plump Málaga muscatel raisins are the sweetest in the world. However, they must be de-stemmed and seeded. Dip fingers and knife tip in flour to prevent seeds from sticking.
|Paste of ground apricots.
¾ cup flour
½ cup Málaga muscatel raisins, seeded
½ cup coarsely chopped walnuts
2 teaspoons sesame seed
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
Dash of ground cloves
2 tablespoons honey
1/3 cup hot water
1 tablespoon anis seco (anisette)
1 cup almonds, skinned and toasted
Oil to grease the mold
Cut the apricots into quarters and sprinkle them with the flour. Grind them in a food processor, dividing into batches, if necessary. Place the apricot pulp in a bowl. Add the raisins, walnuts, sesame, zest and cloves. Dissolve the honey in hot water. Mix it into the fruit mixture with the anis liquor.
Preheat oven to 325ºF. Oil an 8-inch round or square cake pan and line it with baking parchment.
|Press apricots and almonds into mold.
Spread half of the fruit mixture in the pan, pressing it firmly. Place half of the almonds on the fruit layer and press them into the paste. Place remaining paste on top and press it into an even layer. Place remaining almonds on top.
Bake the fruit loaf 30 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan. Loosen the sides with a knife and turn out onto a cutting board or plate. (Baking parchment may be removed or left in place.)
Cut the loaf into thin wedges (round pan) or squares (square pan) and place them on a candy dish.
|Wrap wedges of the apricot bars in plastic film. What a nice hostess gift!
More recipes with nuts and dried fruits:
Squab stuffed with raisins, apricots and walnuts.
Roast stuffed chicken.
Turkey breast with spinach-walnut stuffing.
Walnut torte.
Fig roll (pan de higos).
Layer cake with apricots and marzipan.

subset: commoncrawl


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The last few weeks have been focused on getting our Operating Plan together, for a discussion with senior management. As we have grown in size, one of the prices we have to pay, is a higher standard of reporting and planning. (I welcome all of you with editorial ambitions to suggest how that last sentence could have been better structured). Anyway, Sudipta and Hitesh and all of the finance team slaved away to put the document in order. Thank god for mobile communication. I have had reviews in the office, late evening at my residence, from Bangalore airport and from my hotel room in Frankfurt.
Anyway, it all paid off, as our plans were broadly approved, and that means significant investments in a number of areas that will make us bigger and more profitable, as well as a better company to work for. On a public site I am not going to reveal details, but I hope to hold a series of meetings where I can brief you about our plans, and your role in them.
We have also lost some good people in the last few weeks. Sudipta has elected to leave the company to set up his own practice. Aman and Rajan both left our Production team to head production for other companies. I wish them good luck with their future careers.
I was able to hold an open house in Chennai, and I hope it was of some use to those who attended it. I continue to be surprised at the aspirations that Pearson has to be a great company, and while we may not be there as yet in India, we are working on it, and we will get there in the near future. I find these forums useful to understand how people are feeling, and what we need to do as a company. Unfortunately in Chennai I spoke too much, and there were fewer questions. However, it did become clear that we need to be more responsive as a corporate office, so that people in remote locations are given the support they need. We have made some headway in developing a service mind set to external customers; we need to bring that mindset to internal customers as well.
I am still hoping that more of you will write on this blog site. Again, the method is, if you send a mail to email@example.com it will come straight up on the site. Put your name somewhere in your mail, so that everyone knows who's writing.
I'm writing this in Bombay, grabbing a quick pav bhaji before a meeting, and it has just been placed in front of me, so I'm going to focus on eating...
Sent from my BlackBerry


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By the way, that same poor dude who lowered himself to join the JAG Corps (of any branch) after about 10-12 years or so service:RANK:O-5(Lt. Colonel/Commander) 10-12Base Pay: $81,500BAS/BAH: $30,000 (NON-taxable)tax advantage: $10,000TOTAL COMPENSATION: $122,000/yearjust TERRIBLE!You could then resign your commission, join the Reserve (to keep earning points for retirement), and takethat opportunity to join your hometown firm as a partner.
Hanging your own shingle? Unless you're willing to work harder there than you will in Officer Training School (or Candidate School, depending upon the service), no. If "no" is a bit too brusque (as I've been guilty of), read Lund's first two Jagged Rocks of Wisdom books. Substitute "client" for "partner." If you're still inclined in that direction, that's a good sign.
As to choosing an area of law, not even a 3d-year law student should spend too much time on this. This is hard for pre-law students to fathom, but there are really only two tracks in law school: litigation and transactional . . . and those aren't all that hard-and-fast.I could recommend a book, but that would be a tad self-interested, yes? = : )
So after all this term being a clerk, was it all worth it?I know people gun for those gigs, but I for the life of me can't tell why. Hope you enjoy it and the best, I just wish you better is all.
I'm sorry, I thought you were referring to my "Law Clerk" position at my old job. I didn't mean to belittle my clerkship. Clerkships are among the most competitive jobs in the legal field for a reason. Judicial Clerks have uncanny access to the thought process that judges use. Having that kind of insight is something that can't be taught. This (usually) translates into intreviews and job offers down the road. - LSDSL


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Onyx Graphics Launches PrepEdge Pro Software
Job prep for wide-format workflow.
Onyx Graphics has announced the availability of its PrepEdge Pro software, a professional job-preparation tool designed specifically for large-format workflows.
PrepEdge Pro addresses all job-preparation issues prior to print processing and includes features specific to large-format prep such as: one-click grommet placement; size, crop and positioning tools; bleed and fold tools; complex tiling and template tools; fast contour cut path generation; and a raster image-to-vector tool.
The software also gives users the ability to view color-accurate, on-screen proofs, and quickly check and fix file anomalies. The built-in color-correction and management tools include controls to correct hue, saturation, brightness, contrast and color balance. It includes a simple and accurate spot color-matching function with the ability to create and save spot color libraries in addition to the onboard Pantone, RAL, HKS, and other color libraries.
In addition, PrepEdge Pro includes a professional PDF editor that provides the ability to easily edit any image, text, or graphic element of a PDF file -- shapes, lines, and gradients can be manipulated, and text or fonts can be changed. Users can import files and save the output as a PDF. Job templates, including tiling and placeholder setups, can be saved.
PrepEdge Pro software works with all large-format software RIPs. It can run on Mac OS X 10.4 or higher, Windows XP or Windows Vista platforms
MSRP: Starting at $2995 for a one-client stand-alone license key.


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This is part 2 of User Success in 2015. If you haven't already, read part 1 first!
Mozilla planned things differently this year. All of Mozilla including the Mozilla Corporation and the Mozilla Foundation started back in late October and had the 2015 goals 90% finished in early December. As the humorous but insightful cliché goes, "the last 10% is the hardest 90%" which is why the goals weren't really 100% done until after the Christmas break.
We started with a three year vision and then moved onto the goals.
Behold – here is the User Success three year vision:
We will push the boundaries of what it means to give global community-powered support for a billion users with excellence and personality. We will enable users to help themselves and each other in ways never before seen.
We will surface the issues that product teams need to fix first to stop attrition, because we understand that the best service is no service. As a result, user satisfaction is skyrocketing.
Internally, we will become known as the team that truly understands our growing user base. Externally, we will become seen as thought-leaders in proactive customer care.
Let's get a little more specific and talk about our specific plans for 2015. First, some assumptions we're working under:
- Mozilla's global, cross-product market share will roughly double in size (500M -> 1 Billion)
- The size of the paid staff on my team will remain largely the same (give or take a couple of hundred people – one can always dream)
- Our fantastic volunteer community continues to grow and thrive, aided by our focused community management efforts
With that out of the way, these are the specific things we're doing in 2015:
1. Help make our products better to increase user happiness
- Increase the accuracy of user insights provided to the org so that product and engineering teams can more easily act on them.
- Get instrumentation in place to define and prioritize Top Attrition Risk issues (issues that are most devastating to user happiness and retention, such as data loss).
2. Help more users by moving our efforts up in the product/user lifecycle
- Self-heal: Don't wait for users to come to us with problems – when possible, fix known issues automatically in Desktop Firefox!
3. Provide excellent support to all of our products and services
- Increase user satisfaction across our products and services.
- Create feedback mechanisms and stand up support to serve and gain insights about users of new product and service launches.
On "moving our efforts up" in the product/user lifecycle, one analogy I've been kicking around in the past is the idea of our team on a football field (note that this comes from someone who isn't very interested in football!).
Remember the amazing collection of circles-in-circles in part 1 of this blog post series? Now, consider those circles overlaid on a football field.
Maybe this helps illustrate how we think of the impact we have on both our products and our users. The higher up in the field we're able to deflect issues, the lower the cost and the higher the user satisfaction.
One way of looking at this is to consider the point when a user hits a support website as a point of failure. If the midfield messes up, defense has to deal with it. And if the defense messes up, it's up to the goalie to recover the situation. The closer you get to the goal, the more costly mistakes become and the less proactive you can be on the field.
To football fans out there, on a scale of 1 to 10, how painfully obvious is it that I know more about user happiness than the green field of chess?
Next up: User Success in 2015 – Part 3: How will we know we nailed it in 2015? (Will update this post with a link once that post is published.)


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My wife was hitting the yard sales this morning and called me on the cell phone. She found a Magellan SportTrack Pro and the price was marked $2.00 !!! She couldn't figure out how to get the battery compartment open to see if it had batteries or not, and didn't know how to turn it on to even see if it would get power. Now, here's the kicker...she got the owner to come down to $1.50 !!!
I'm anxious to see if it works, but if not, would this be worth sending off for a refurb?


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Clint Bowyer helps promote ... he can't remember what he's helping promote (VIDEO)
Clint Bowyer often jokes about his bout with ADD, which often leaves him distracted off the track.
And other drivers often poke fun at the carefree and fun-loving Bowyer. "He comes across as the guy that can't make it through a cup of coffee without being distracted," friend Kevin Harvick said recently.
Now Bowyer is using his so-called condition to help sell race tickets in a hilarious video for Phoenix International Raceway.
The video shows Bowyer sitting in front of his team hauler using cards to deliver his message.
"I'm supposed to tell you ... that tickets to the Subway Fresh Fit 500 ... ARE NOW ON SALE!" the cards read. "But I get distracted easily ... so instead of a teleprompter ... (crew chief Brian) Pattie gave me these cards."
Bowyer, of course, then gets distracted by ...
We'll let you watch the video to see what distracts him ... because writing about it is, well, just too distracting.
MORE: Bowyer does yoga with fans | Video: Old man Bowyer in Sprint commercial | Bowyer feels bad about spin | Bowyer photos


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Gloria Velez Rap Performance [2005 Throwback Footage]
Gloria Velez's rap performance live on stage. Off the Detroit Vs. New York Hip Hop Battle
Please click the "Report" button below if the video on this page is not working properly.
Comments will only be displayed by verified emails. No Spamming or Racism.


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It might be interesting and useful if forum members could indicate which Blumentals products they used. It could help with developers engaging one another about Blumentals' products.
I saw a comment from one person that interested me and wanted to get in touch because he is a long time user of Rapid, but that person did not provide any contact information. Then it occurred to me that I might find others who had used Rapid for a long time, but there is no way to do so.


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Dishwasher Job
$91.00 estimated pay
Instructions and details
About Instawork Gigs
Instawork is the best place for hospitality workers to find temporary jobs on-demand. From Michelin-star restaurants to small coffee shops, Instawork makes it easy for bartenders, cooks, servers, dishwashers and other experienced hospitality workers to find work at local businesses and earn up to $30/hr on a flexible schedule. No interviews or paper resumes. Just book the gig in the app and show up to do the work. Se habla español.
A dishwasher refers to a back of house worker whose primary responsibilities are to keep the dishpit clean and functioning.
Dishwasher's responsibilities:
Ensuring the availability of clean dishes by bussing tables, washing dishes, pots, pans, and flatware, and resetting dining areas.
Preparing dining areas and kitchen for next shift by cleaning and restocking dining areas and cook stations.
Cleaning machines and appliances used in the kitchen, such as coffee makers, pots, and pans, mixers, etc.
Unloading and storing deliveries.
Sweeping and mopping floors, especially in the event that items are broken or spilled.
taking out the trash and rinsing garbage cans.
Supporting other restaurant staff members by assisting with other tasks, as needed.
Reporting kitchen accidents or violations of food safety


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Hamburger America: Dyer's Burgers
Burger documentarian George Motz visits Dyer's Burgers in Memphis to investigate the joint's unique deep-fried hamburgers.
"Back then, they didn't have the flat tops and all this, so they cook in a cast-iron skillet," Dyer's owner Tom Robertson says. "As you cook more burgers, the grease grows, and eventually it becomes a deep-fried hamburger. We strain and process our grease daily, but we've never thrown it out and started over, so somewhere in there's molecules from 1912. That's what makes it so good."
Further Reading
Dyer's Burgers [Roadfood.com]
Hamburger America [Director George Motz's website]
This clip is an excerpt from burger documentary Hamburger America by filmmaker and burgermeister George Motz. The complete video is available on DVD at Mr. Motz's website, HamburgerAmerica.com
All products linked here have been independently selected by our editors. We may earn a commission on purchases, as described in our affiliate policy.


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Government Technology's passion is helping spread best practices and spurring innovation in the public sector. The Georgia Digital Government Summit is designed to do just that. The summit has an advisory board that gathers public- and private-sector leaders to create an agenda designed to make that passion relevant and actionable to the state and local government organizations attending the summit. Participants tell us they use the inspirational keynotes, leadership discussions, networking breaks, and the timely topics discussed in the numerous breakout sessions to help advance the goals of their organizations.
If you influence or participate in technology decisions or implementations at any level, you will want to attend. Don't miss this opportunity to see the latest in digital government solutions, keep abreast of current policy issues, and network with key government executives, technologists and industry specialists.
This Year's Topics Include:
- Innovation and Leadership
- Digital Government Trends
- Emerging Technologies
- Mobility and Citizen Engagement
- Data and Analytics
- Cyber Security
- Cloud Services
- Collaboration
If you influence or participate in technology decisions or implementations at any level, you will find benefit in attending.


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When this year began, there were a lot of things I'd never done before. I'd never spent more than two weeks outside the United States. I'd never been left to my own devices with a classroomful of children. I'd never lived in a real city (sorry, Tulsa). I'd never been to Asia. I'd never held a full-time job. I'd never had a boyfriend. I'd never kissed a guy. So, yes, as should be obvious by this point, I've experienced a lot of firsts this year.
I'm not sure how anyone else's 2013 went, but mine was pretty fantastic, if I do say so myself. People seem commonly to arrive at year's end and experience mostly mixed sentiments. To be honest, I don't really understand why. I've long believed that one of the principal keys to, if not happiness, then contentment is the robust management of expectation.


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Since what the world needs is another vampire movie right now, "Clueless" director Amy Heckerling and Alicia Silverstone are teaming up for the blood-sucking chick flick "Vamps". Vampire finding love in New York? As if!
On the remake front, Anchor Bay has reportedly snapped up distribution rights for Steven R. Monroe's remake of Meir Zarchi's 1978 exploitation epic "I Spit on Your Grave", which stars Sarah Butler, Daniel Franzese, Chad Lindberg, Rodney Eastman and Andrew Howard.
A batch of creepy stills have been released for the Filmax's English-language possession flick "Exorcismus". Considering this is from the studio responsible for "[Rec]" and "[Rec] 2", this should be worth a look.
After years of waiting patiently for its arrival on Region 1, Ji-Woon Kim's over-the-top South Korean western "The Good, the Bad, and the Weird" is finally coming to North America courtesy of IFC. Better late than never, I suppose.


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· The market made new highs for the move in corn
· Corn traded near limit up today, beans followed sharply higher
· USDA secretary Tom Vilsack is going to outline this administration's plans for bio-fuels on October 21st. Most people are expecting some sort of extension credit for the blender's credit in 2011.
Grains were sharply higher again for the third day in a row. Today was the first day the banks were back open after Columbus Day and we likely seeing short covering as well as new longs getting into the market. The sharp rally in corn/soybeans today started about mid morning and was as high as 5.84 ¼ before settling at 5.79 (Dec Corn).
We are now 50 cents higher than Friday's close in December corn. Some strength may have been attributed to short covering from margin calls since the banks were closed yesterday. The bulls are still in charge after Friday's bullish USDA report. If this buying spree continues, we could see a shortage of futures similar to the 07 wheat market. As we learned that year many producers had cash sales on at $5 – 6 and basis went from 50 cents under to 3.00 under. We are not predicting this will happen but it is something we can try to avoid by not taking the unnecessary risk of leaving the basis open. This also puts most risk in the elevators hands and leaves the margin up to them. Please call your broker to discuss strategies for your particular operation.
With last week's sharp rally in corn, ethanol margins decreased 20 cents per bushel and are now negative (board margins). Blending margins decreased about 20 cents a gallon. If energy prices stay here, corn would have to rally a $1 while ethanol would have to rally 30 cents to completely shut off the discretionary blender.
It all goes back to the corn bullishness. With a battle for acres corn/beans/wheat/cotton could keep feeding off each other through the March planting intentions report. Having the March corn call spreads in place will give us upside potential up to $6.50 (March). If you need additional protection, please call your broker for current strategies.
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Hey, I know how much you all love netmaps, so I made some just for you! Well, I mostly made them to try out crazy crap with lua and shapes. Anyway, you can download them from simplici7y.
Unofficial Zoomap
Pretty self-explanatory.
Unofficial Takecovermap
You're on a planet with extremely frequent meteor activity. Getting caught outside while meteorites strike the planet is extremely dangerous. Luckily the nearby facility monitors the skies very well, and sirens are in place to warn you about any incoming meteors.
Unofficial Spookymap
You're on a spaceship near Earth that has lost control, and is now spinning wildly in space. Thinking that things can't possibly get worse, you start to get the impression that you're not alone on this ship...


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abandonment(redirected from Abandonment of an easement)
Also found in: Dictionary, Thesaurus, Medical, Legal, Encyclopedia.
Related to Abandonment of an easement: prescriptive easement, implied easement
Controlling party giving up rights to property voluntarily.
1. The act of fully and completely relinquishing ownership of some property or asset. One may abandon both tangible assets, such as tools or real estate, or intangible assets, such as patents or leases. For example, abandonment occurs when someone leaves his/her house empty, never intending to return or otherwise use the property. Legal abandonment sometimes requires filing declaration of intent to do so with the appropriate authorities. Sometimes, a person may obtain abandoned property for free, though this does not apply to real estate. See also: Adverse possession.
2. See: Expiration.
2. See: Expiration.
See expiration.


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The question with �Men in Black 3� was either �Why did it take so long to get made?� or �Why did anyone bother?�
The first �Men in Black,� released in 1997, was a lively adaptation of Lowell Cunningham�s comic books. But by the time �Men in Black II� arrived in 2002, any charm of the first was sucked out and replaced by overblown special effects.
The good news is that �Men in Black 3� has recaptured the fun of the first. There still may be no particular reason for it to get made except the dollar signs in studio executives� eyes, but at least you can have a good time watching it.
Will Smith returns as the wisecracking agent �J,� now a veteran member of the super-secret team that monitors extraterrestrials on the planet. His way more veteran partner �K,� played by Tommy Lee Jones � having a good year with his roles in �Hope Springs� and �Lincoln� � is as grouchy as ever. More so, even, because something in his past is threatening him and in turn, naturally, the entire planet.
The film sort of treads water for a while until the appearance of a supervillain named Boris who had been imprisoned on the dark side of the moon.
With his escape, the movie begins to travel into its own loopy universe, which includes a trip back to the summer of 1969, where J encounters a younger K, played by Josh Brolin doing an almost eerie and very amusing Jones impersonation. And Jemaine Clement (�Flight of the Conchords�) is terrific as the pompous alien bad guy.
�MIB3� even manages at the end to squeeze out a little unexpected emotion about fathers and sons. Not bad for a movie that seemed a dubious project at best.
The latest film from John Hillcoat, whose last two movies � �The Proposition� (2005) and �The Road� (2009) � had a jagged edge to them, is �Lawless,� which is more jagged than edgy.
Set in the Appalachian bootlegging world of 1931, the screenplay is by Nick Cave, adapted from �The Wettest County in the World,� a novel by Matt Bondurant, which he wrote from family tales.
�Lawless� is, itself, a family tale, albeit a violent one.
The Bondurant brothers � Forrest (Tom Hardy), Howard (Jason Clarke) and young Jack (Shia LaBeouf) � have a nice little moonshine business selling to local customers when Special Deputy Charlie Rakes (Guy Pearce) arrives from Chicago. A bit of a psychopath, he wants in on the moonshine action, but the Bondurants would rather deal with a regional mob boss (Gary Oldman). Guns being aplenty, a bloody little war breaks out.
Hillcoat tried to modulate the violence with Forrest�s attraction to Maggie (Jessica Chastain), a redhead who shows up one day as a waitress in the cafe that the Bondurants use as a headquarters. Meanwhile, Jack courts the preacher�s sweet daughter Bertha (Mia Wasikowska).
�Lawless,� ultimately, is a serviceable action film with a good cast, but if the filmmaker had greater ambitions, they were lost amid the flying bullets.
�Sparkle� will be remembered for Whitney Houston�s final role. The film, a remake of the 1970s movie of the same name, is uneven at best, but it�s hard not to be reminded of Houston�s talent and appeal. And young star Jordin Sparks in the title role shows she has a future beyond �American Idol.�
The HBO series �Luck� never quite coalesced, but the plug was pulled before it could in the wake of the deaths of three horses during production. Starring Dustin Hoffman and Nick Nolte, it revolved around a racetrack and the fortunes of horse owners, trainers, jockeys, mobsters and bettors. The first and only season comes out on DVD Tuesday.


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Cakespy: Avatarts Recipe
Quirky, cute, sometimes controversial, always delicious recipes from Jessie Oleson.
The Serious Eats' Movie Awards Season Recipe Series is brought to you by
Regardless of your thoughts about the actual film, one thing's certain about Avatar: it's a long movie, and there's no way you'll survive it without a snack (or four).
But why settle for butter-flavored popcorn or rubbery Velveeta-topped nachos when you could be munching on something far more delicious?
And so I present the Avatart: a sweet treat wherein pop culture and Pop Tart collide sweetly, in a pocket-sized morsel perfect for smuggling into the theater and decked out in full movie regalia.
Read more: Planning Your Oscar Party Menu
- Yield:6 to 8 tarts, depending on size and thickness
- For the crust:
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened and cut into cubes
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 3 tablespoons cold water
- For the filling:
- Jam, about 1 heaping teaspoonful per pastry (your choice of flavor; I used blueberry)
- For the topping:
- Fondant or marzipan (I purchased a 2-pound tub of rolled fondant by Satin Ice; I had quite a bit left over)
- Blue, yellow, and red food coloring
- Black gel writing icing
Preheat oven to 450°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper; set to the side.
Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Add butter and blend with a fork, pastry cutter, or your impeccably clean hands. Blend until the mixture is fairly coarse. Add the water, bit by bit, gently mixing the dough after each addition, until the dough is cohesive enough to form a ball.
Place dough on a lightly floured surface and roll into a rectangle, about 1/8 inch thick. Cut out rectangles approximately the size of index cards (3x5 inches), or smaller if you prefer a more modest portion (I didn't). Make sure you have an even number of cutouts. I think that mine might have been a little thicker than 1/8 an inch, but I ended up with 12 rectangles (for 6 pastries).
On half of the rectangles, place a small spoonful of the jam of your choice in the center. You don't want it to be too thick or the top crust will mound on top of it.
Place the remaining rectangles of dough on top of the ones with jam. Crimp all four edges by hand or with a fork to ensure that your filling won't ooze out. I also poked the top of each with a fork, to vent them.
Place the tarts on your prepared baking sheet, and bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until light golden on the edges. Remove from the oven and let them cool completely.
Meanwhile, prepare your topping. I took out about 1/4 pound of rolled fondant and mixed it with a few drops of blue food coloring until almost completely mixed (I left a few small swirls of blue showing). With smaller quantities of fondant (perhaps the size of a lemon) roll the icing with red and yellow food coloring respectively; these colors will work for the ears and eyes on the characters. Leave a small quantity of your icing white, for the eyes. If you want, you can color some if it brown too, if you want to add those creepy braids to your character.
Roll the blue fondant out with a rolling pin until it is smooth and about 1/8 inch thick. Cut rectangles out in the same size of the top of your pastries.
Roll out small leaf shapes to add to the top of the rectangle for ears, and a small log in the center of the rectangle for the nose. With a knife or with your fingers, smooth these pieces down so that they adhere to the rectangle of fondant and have a seamless appearance. Add small ovals with pointed ends on to either side of the nose for the eyes. Add small pieces of pink icing on top of the ears, and yellow circles on top of the white yes. Finish the eyes with a dot of black gel writing icing.
To finish, use a toothpick to draw on lips and freckles on the cheeks; if desired, add a small amount of yellow sprinkles to the temple area of the character. If you've chosen to add the creepy braid to the side of your Avatart, go ahead and add it last.
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text: It can be a little deceiving to think of Mexico's drug cartels as simply gangsters. Instead, they've blurred boundaries between organized crime and quasi-military insurgents, seized swathes of territory and become some of the world's most dangerous criminal gangs. They've also acquired plenty of firepower to back it up. The Zetas are one of the most disruptive and aggressive of them all. Formed by ex-military men who became armed enforcers for the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas split with their former patrons nearly three years ago and have since become one of Mexico's largest and most dangerous cartels. While most of those ex-military founding fathers of the cartel are now dead or in prison, they've retained a culture of military loyalties, if not so much the discipline and hierarchy. Or much in the way of taste. In September, Mexican police arrested Ramiro Pozos, the alleged leader of drug gang "The Resistance" and Zeta ally -- with his gold- and silver-plated AK-47. Meanwhile, coming up on Saturday, incoming president Enrique Pena Nieto takes office, the first change in the presidency since the drug war exploded across the country more than six years ago. Aside from reducing the level of violence, one of his priorities will be wrenching back control of cartel territory, and putting it back under the control of the state. It won't be easy. To enforce their claims, the Zetas — and other criminal groups like the Sinaloa Cartel and the Gulf Cartel — deploy an extensive amount of hardware, nearly rivaling Mexico's own military. Police forces are often corrupted or threatened into compliance, and almost always outgunned. Here's a look at seven examples why. Photo: APUnder the Gun The Mexican army regularly seizes arsenals of small arms from stockpiles, abandoned after firefights or concealed inside vehicles driven by drug traffickers. In June, a "narco rebellion" in the border city of Piedras Negras resulted sporadic firefights lasting hours. After it was over, the military had turned up 50 AK-47 rifles, along with grenade launchers, various machine guns, shotguns and bolt-action rifles. But the cartels are also getting increasingly more powerful guns. In March, firefights between police and the Zetas netted both M-60 and a .30-caliber Browning machine gun. <ahref target="_blank">Sniper rifles and machine guns up to the .50-caliber size have been discovered. The Mexican military has even turned up a German MG34 machine gun from World War II.</ahref> An open question is where the cartels get their guns. It's generally accepted the bulk come from two places: The United States and Central America. In April, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms found that 68,000 out of 99,000 guns discovered in Mexico and submitted to the ATF since 2007 originated in the United States. That's about 68 percent of the total submitted for tracing. The subject is also fraught with U.S. domestic politics, and was at the heart of the scandal around the ATF's botched Fast and Furious operation, which resulted in an estimated 2,000 straw-purchased firearms being smuggled into Mexico after purchase in Arizona gun stores. Photo: APDrug Gangs ... With Grenades Hand-lobbed grenades are unfortunately quite common, and hundreds of grenades have reportedly been detonated in Mexico in 2012 alone. In 2009, "spillover" violence came to the forefront of concerns over border security after someone threw a South Korean fragmentation grenade into a strip club in Pharr, Texas. The grenade didn't explode, but was later traced to another batch of imported grenades that were lobbed at the U.S. consulate in Monterrey and a TV news studio. Rocket-propelled grenade launchers are some of the heaviest weapons possessed by the cartels, and owe their introduction to the region during the Cold War conflicts in Central America. The launchers have also been reportedly stolen from military stockpiles in countries like El Salvador and Honduras and smuggled across the border into Mexico. They've been used in retaliatory attacks against the police and army following the arrest of cartel bosses, and Heriberto Lazcano — the former Zetas boss killed by Mexican marines in early October — was also reportedly packing one. Later in October, several Mexican cops came close to being on the receiving end. A police SWAT team in the border city of Piedas Negras stopped a stolen van when they were fired on by gunmen. The gunmen fled the van on foot, but left behind a Soviet-made RPG-7 launcher with three rockets. It provoked El Narco author Ioan Grillo to note: "If the criminals had got a rocket off, they could easily have blown the SWAT vehicle to pieces." Photo: APRoad Warriors One of the most overt expressions of cartel power is the convoy. They're how the cartels move when moving in force, like a narco-trafficking blitzkrieg. A single convoy can number into the dozens of SUVs and trucks loaded down with gunmen, and a single grupo de limpieza, or "cleanup squad," can pose a formidable and fast-moving danger. Some vehicles are armored, with steel welded inside interior compartments and paneling. Other than armored plates in the doors and bulletproof glass for windows, cartel vehicles have been seen with armored sunscreens that flip up to act as a shield for a gunman poking out the top. Sniper perches have been spotted fitted to the beds of pickup trucks, and the cartels have even outfitted vehicles with nail- and oil-spraying gadgets like James Bond. A related tactic is to carjack motorists and use their vehicles as roadblocks: a way to slow the authorities down while operating in cities. The cartels have also taken to randomly shooting out car tires to block traffic during firefights.The Monster Because too much is apparently never enough for narcos, the cartels were spotted last year with their own "tanks." That's bit of a misnomer, as the "tanks" are not tracked vehicles, and more like souped-up armored monster trucks à la Mad Max. Mexican authorities have reportedly seized more than 100 of the cartel "monsters," which come in varying DIY designs, include firing ports and turrets, room for up to 12 gangsters at a time plus an armored steel shell. The biggest versions appear to be retrofitted dump trucks and semi-trucks. <object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" height="480" width="640"><param name="src" value="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/tQc61D_nq5k?version=3&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowfullscreen" value="true"></param><embed allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" height="480" src="http://www.youtube-nocookie.com/v/tQc61D_nq5k?version=3&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="640"></embed></object> But there's also a practical reason for having them. With so much firepower being thrown around between rival gangsters, blow-torching steel plates onto a semi-truck seems like the logical thing to do, albeit from the perspective of a drug cartel. Photo: APThe Incredible Flying Drug Mule To move drugs across the border and over border walls, the cartels have taken to using flying clever contraptions like this ultralight, home-brewed flying cocaine mule. Closer to gliders than an actual plane, ultralight planes are small, cost around $3,000 and their engines purr quietly. Some don't even have to land, and can literally release a harness carrying a drug load down to a waiting friend below. The downside is that they move slowly, but can also fly low and hide from the Border Patrol's radars. Their use is also on the upsurge. U.S. Customs and Border Protection spotted 223 flights in 2011, double that of 2009. Few are ever caught. Photo: ChuckHolton/FlickrAttack of the Bombs Car bombs were uncommon among cartels only a few years ago, and are normally associated in the country with Anarchists and left-wing militant groups. Today, the bombs are still relatively rare, but have been showing up more in ambushes on military patrols. Car bombs have been repeatedly blown up outside newspaper offices and police stations, causing relatively few casualties but with the intent to terrorize and intimidate. Sporadic car bombings have also occurred in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, as rival drug gangs fight over control of the lucrative turf. An open question is whether the cartels will take the route of the infamous drug lord Pablo Escobar, who once used car bombs to inflict mass casualties on the Colombian public. But Mexico's gangsters haven't indicated they will so far, perhaps seeing it in their interest to avoid bringing down too much heat from the authorities. An alleged 2009 Iranian-Zetas bomb plot to kill the Saudi ambassador in Washington was met with disbelief — the alleged plotter was never confirmed to have actually met with anyone from the Zetas. There's also a difference between a "car bomb" and a bomb that happens to be placed in a car. Many vehicle-borne bombs used by the cartels have been fairly small — sometimes just a few sticks of dynamite in a trunk — compared to a large and powerful bomb that could potentially level a building. But the cartels also appear to be building more sophisticated bombs, and have been discovered with military-grade mines. In May, Mexican troops fought a group of drug traffickers in the state of Zacatecas, killed three of them, and seized an arsenal of weapons including a M18A1 Claymore anti-personnel mine. The Claymore can blast hundreds of steel balls at a range of more than 300 feet, and is used by the U.S. military, though is also widely copied around the world. Even more worrying was that the mine was seized together with its detonator wire and firing device, meaning it could have been usable.Radio Zeta While the higher-level bosses reportedly rely on the internet to communicate, the cartels' lower-level gangsters and lookouts have taken to building their own radio network deep inside remote areas of Mexico's countryside. The number of cartel radio antennas spread out across Mexico's drug-trafficking routes alone could reach into the hundreds. In September, the Mexican military dismantled 167 antennas in just one operation, including solar panels used for electrical power. One surprising transmission tower discovered recently in Veracruz state — and likely used by the Zetas — reached a height of 295 feet. The cartels have also reportedly jumped onto military radio signals to broadcast taunts and threats, and have even taken to kidnapping and enslaving engineers with the know-how to build and maintain the networks. What's even worse? The cartels never seem to let the engineers go. Mexican troops also seem to keep finding new nodes in the network. In November, the Mexican army discovered cartel radio hubs in two states, including solar panels, generators, computer equipment, RF amplifiers and radio detectors, in addition to 17 radio receivers. It's a reminder that firepower alone isn't make the cartels a formidable foe — it's their ability to plan and coordinate.


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Marc Staal puck-in-the-eye latest sad, angry reminder that visors should be mandatory in NHL
'Guys are wearing shot-blockers for their skates, they are wearing everything but a visor. It's not good,' says Canucks star Henrik Sedin
Marc Staal of the New York Rangers is helped off the ice after he was hit in the face with a puck in the third period of their National Hockey League game against the Philadelphia Flyers on Tuesday, March 5, 2013 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
Photograph by: Elsa , Getty Images
VANCOUVER — Each time another puck or stick strikes another National Hockey League player in or about the eye, and crimson splatters the ice, and teammates and opponents alike wave to the medics to get out there — hurry! — two emotions always shove all others aside.
The first is sadness.
The second is anger.
It was like that the night Marian Hossa's follow-through of a clearing attempt sliced into Bryan Berard's eye, instantly turning the former No. 1 overall draft pick's future into a series of surgeries and finally a career muted by 20/400 vision in one eye.
It was like that the night a routine-looking deflected pass sailed upward into the face of Manny Malhotra, the puck catching him flush on the eyeball, for all intents and purposes reducing a splendid third-line centre, even after several procedures, into a defensive-zone faceoff specialist whose peripheral vision was so limited, eventually he had to be told for his own good that he couldn't play any more.
It was like that the night Mikhail Grabovski's stick, on the follow-through of a shot at net, effectively ended the career of Philly's Chris Pronger, a towering force of nature who always had seemed to play the game at a level, literally, above most of his fellow defencemen.
And it was like that Tuesday night, when Flyers defenceman Kimmo Timonen's point shot deflected off teammate Jakub Voracek's stick and thudded against the right eyebrow of New York Rangers' Marc Staal, sending the young defenceman to the ice clutching his face, screaming in pain, thrashing his legs — images that, when his brother Eric saw them after his own game, made him, in his words "sick to my stomach."
"It's scary to see," said the Carolina forward, whose other NHL-playing brother, Jordan, is his Hurricanes teammate. "It's an awful feeling ... seeing him in that pain with his legs kicking."
And here's where anger comes in. None of the Staal brothers wear visors. They are among the 27 per cent of NHLers (recent data, figures may vary, check dealer for details) who, for reasons of their own, eschew eye protection. Maybe it's a Thunder Bay manly-man thing, or a point of honour among brothers, maybe they just don't like the feel of them, and couldn't wait to be finished with junior hockey so they could take them off.
That's the explanation most often heard, and the one endorsed by the NHL Players' Association: that it's a personal choice, and ought to remain so. You can rip the NHLPA, if you like, for its cavalier attitude toward the health of its own members, but the PA is only the players' mouthpiece. This is the rank-and-file's position. This is what they believe: that no one should be able to tell them they have to wear visors.
Alan Eagleson aside, it almost makes you pine for the old days, when the league established the rules of engagement, when the NHLPA took the orders on safety issues, when the league simply said: "From now on, players must wear helmets." Period. And the PA went along with it. Helmetless players already in the league were grandfathered, but everyone else had no choice.
It took a death, Bill Masterson's, from a massive head injury to get the NHL to act, but when it did, there was no forum for debate. There should be no forum for debate with visors, either. But then, we say that each time another player goes down, and then in a week or so, tops, we move on to other issues and this one slowly dies off.
More than merely the players' own myopia, though, is the really maddening aspect of what ought to be a simple, common-sense decision:
The NHL, which goes to such great lengths to create and propagandize a department of player safety, and professes its deep caring for the welfare of the labour force, somehow never quite gets around to making visors a, um, hill it will die on in collective bargaining.
The league will grind the players mercilessly over maximum contract length and salary cap and escrow and a thousand other points having to do with dollars — has lost a season-and-a-half in the last eight in order to draw its economic lines in the sand — but won't go to the wall on eyes lost, multimillion-dollar assets wasted, lives ruined.
If it simply said, "Visors mandatory, not negotiable. Now let's move on to other points," there would be some give-and-take on money issues, and the players would shrug and say: "Oh, OK. At least we got our dough."
Don't kid yourselves. That's how it would be. If 73 per cent of all NHLers already wear visors, and the number is up from 59 per cent at the time of Malhotra's injury, then the resistance movement is already pretty feeble and growing more so all the time.
So why not just do it?
"They have to," Vancouver Canucks captain Henrik Sedin said Wednesday. "If guys are not doing it someone else has to make the choice for them. Guys are wearing shot-blockers for their skates, they are wearing everything but a visor. It's not good...I feel bad for Staal, and we all saw what happened here to Manny a few years back."
By all means put in a grandfather clause for the die-hards. Just don't make it an option any more for kids coming out of junior and college and the minors, who have had to wear eye protection all their lives, to suddenly go without.
Marc Staal is 26, young enough that he never should have been in this position. The puck's trajectory makes it so obvious that it would have struck a visor and bounced away, maybe leaving a momentary buzzing in the head, like a goalie hit in the mask, and nothing more.
Instead ... well, we don't know yet. The Rangers don't, Staal's parents don't, his brothers don't. His high school sweetheart, Lindsay, who married the big defenceman in 2011, doesn't.
Maybe the eyebrow took the brunt of it, and there's nothing broken that can't heal, nothing lost forever. Maybe.
They're waiting for the swelling to go down.
Sad to say (and angrily), it sounds all too familiar.


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Mr. Friedle,
I know many officers and members of our organization spend countless hours and miles to host an annual rally. My sincere thanks to you and all of them for that. I've become accustomed to the traditional rally format and am so grateful to your predecessors. I'd like to share the conditioned expectation, and my perception of, "Rally":
At a Rally, we ride to the venue, locate the showers, beer garden and vendors, then choose a central location with easy walking access to all, park the bikes and set up a camp. We post our location, and the riders in our group (many who only occasionally see each other) join the campsite.
We camp, arrange our tours, both riding and walking, within and outside the grounds, and plan our dining and beverage opportunities relative to our camp. When we enjoy adult beverages we are within our "secure non-riding" venue. "Camp" in this sense, is a dynamic opportunity for friendship and fellowship unique to the traditional BMW rally. Other marques do the "hotel thing". I have been among them, and now choose the BMW experience.
That said, we visited Charleston early May and will again visit in July with serious reservation. Your ÔÇÿ03 urban scatter of MOA events has taken the highlight of our riding season and made it another challenging metro tour. The dynamic of the "camp" can't happen in various hotel lobbies, multiple urban parking lots, or scattered across the many tent and remote cycle parking areas.
Even worse, when we leave our trusty steeds in lots and garages, we leave them to the vulnerabilities of all the worst of things we ride to avoid. In our secure BMW riding community with perimeter definition, I have few concerns. Outside our perimeter, our toys are attractive and at risk! Your plan is full of security issues and mass transit schedules, and I'm not happy knowing I'll have to deal with those added concerns.
I hope the that members who anticipate the ÔÇÿ03 event, enjoy all you and your staff have worked so hard to achieve. I further hope that future events are more in keeping with the traditional Rally format that many of us plan our summer tours to include.
Bob Foster


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1 Charm Pack
Fusible Fleece
White Ribbon
Wire (20-24 gauge)
E6000 Glue
Fabric Marker
Circle Template (4.5″ – 4.75″ wide)
paper "fortune" strips
color coordinating sequin
Step 1: Choose several squares from your charm pack for your fabric fortune cookies. Using fusible fleece, apply it per package directions to several squares in a grid formation. This helps to save time. We did 4-6 squares at a time.
Step 2: Create a circle template – 4.5″ – 4.75″ inches wide (You can easily create one using a small bowl or mug from your cupboard if necessary). Trace the template in the middle of each square and cut out.
Step 4: Create and print out fortune paper strips. Choose the font, size and number of sayings you like. Place the paper strips in the middle of the fortune cookies.


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Please Call For Ordering Information
Please call for ordering information
The BRS team will respond to your question as soon as possible. The best questions will be shared on this page to help other reefers in the future.
You'll be the first to know about sales, specials, new products, the latest BRSTV episodes and win free prizes!
Have ideas how to improve our process for our customers?
Let us know.
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Vital Waste Graphics 3
The world population is steadily increasing, consumption levels are growing, and as a result the global waste heap is getting bigger and bigger. Despite the economic difficulties faced by several countries, global trends for waste are clearly on the rise; and forecasts for 2050 indicate that these are long-term trends.
With more people living on this planet, more consumption, more waste, more pollution, less land available for landfills, and fewer resources, what will we do with all the waste?
Because these elements are connected, it is our responsibility, as consumers and producers, to rethink our consumption and production patterns and, where appropriate, modify trends and shape the development of our society into more sustainable pathways. Decisions taken today determine the choices and solutions available tomorrow. Within this web of interconnected factors, waste represents a major node, one that cannot be considered separately from other global issues such as resource sustainability. As a by-product of our activities, waste can represent a significant burden for human society and the environment.
Status: Completed
Type: Vital Graphics Series
Year of publication: 2012


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The wonderful 2019 Ford Mustang Exterior High Resolution Photo image below, is section of 2019 Ford Mustang post which is assigned within Ford, Ford Mustang and published at May 2, 2018.
2019 Ford Mustang : 2019 Ford Mustang Exterior High Resolution Photo
In 2015, the Ford Mustang went through a handful of tweaks, consisting of an updated appearance, more effective engines, a new transmission, and the deletion of the V6 engine. With all these changes, it's not a surprise the 2019 Mustang will, for the many part, be a carryover model. The exception is the resurrection of the Mustang Bullitt.
2019 Ford Mustang Design
In terms of appearances, we anticipate the bulk of the Mustang lineup to be mainly unblemished. This shouldn't be a huge deal considering its recent mid-cycle refresh. However the Bullitt variation, that's a completely various story. The Bullitt will not roll in with any insane changes, but it will set itself apart with its Dark Highland Green exterior paint, a smattering of chrome accents, Black NitroPlate exhaust tips, 19-inch torque thrust wheels, a black grille, red-painted Brembo brakes, and the Bullitt logo design on the gas cap.
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Since the VCR first entered people's homes, many consumers have tried to edit Hollywood films. As the technology got more advanced and computer software became more powerful, fan edits have become commonplace with "fan trailers" popping up on YouTube every day. In fact, every week I get at least a dozen emails asking me to watch a fan-trailer. But while fan trailers are commonplace, trying to edit three movies into one eight-five minute film is not. But that's what Topher Grace did with the Star Wars prequels, and shockingly it really worked!
Let me back up a second.
Last night, Topher Grace invited about 50 people to a one-time showing of his version of the prequels. While you may think there is no way to make the three films work as one coherent movie, Grace accomplished it with only a few minor flaws. His combined prequel trilogy moves quickly and omits huge chucks of story in favor of action and streamlining the narrative events of the prequels. Gone are the politics, General Grievous, Jar Jar Binks (except for one shot), the clone army, and about 99% of the first movie. More after the jump.
His version of the film has a new opening crawl asking people to forget about the prequels as you know them. He then offers a new beginning that says politicians are being targeted for assassination and it's up to the Jedi to set things right (or something like that). As the movie begins, we get an establishing shot of a planet and then the city, and almost immediately we are watching Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon fight Darth Maul at the very end of Episode 1. It should be noted we see none of the hangar and Amidala. Instead, the film starts on the high platforms leading into the small hallway and the final battle scene. It's a hell of a way to start with the film.
After the quick start, Grace's version of the prequels focuses on a few things: the Anakin/Padme relationship, Obi-Wan trying to figure out who is trying to kill the politicians, and a ton of the action. But while there are some well-choreographed lightsaber battles in Lucas' version of the prequels, Grace cut them unless they fit into his version of the story. It was an interesting choice, but it worked.
I do have a few complaints about Grace's version. I think the eight-five minute running time moves a bit too fast and an extra five or ten minutes of dialogue might help you care about the characters a bit more. Obviously it's hard for me to judge his version with virgin eyes since I've seen the prequels too many times to count. But the guy sitting next to me at the screening was having a blast and I think he had never seen Lucas' version.
Something else to know about Grace's version is that he used deleted scenes, alternate music and other tricks to help tell the story. One great use of a deleted scene is where Padme takes Anakin to meet her family and you get a real sense of their blossoming love. It definitely adds to the story and I'm left to wonder why Lucas cut it from the original release.
But for me, the highlight of the film is the very end. Instead of having Anakin scream "No!" as he learned that Padme died, Grace's version shows Anakin getting the Vader costume put on and the film ends with Vader in the center of the screen looking evil. It's a perfect way to connect the prequel to the original trilogy and it works perfectly.
I could write more about the experience, but shortly after the film ended I recorded a video blog with Peter from Slashfilm, Alex from First Showing and director Kyle Newman (Fanboys). Over twenty minutes, we discussed what we thought about the movie, and at a certain point, Newman and I had a rather lively debate about the prequels.
While I hope Grace changes his mind and shows his version at Comic-Con or another venue, I do know that for the foreseeable future, he'll be asked about this during interviews. Here's the video blog:


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(L-R): Katie Russo, Jacy Christiansen and Kat Bouton will all race for the Lady Flames at Saturday's ISU Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Ind.
Meet Information Page Men's 8K Course Map Women's 6K Course Map Race Assignments Men's Entry List Women's Entry List Flotrack Live Video Streaming (Subscription Required) Terre Haute Weather The Liberty men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Terre Haute, Ind., for Saturday's ISU Pre-National Invitational to compete against many squads who aspire to return in five weeks for the 2013 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. The Flames will compete in the day's first race at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course, the 11 a.m. men's 8K blue race. Meanwhile, the Lady Flames are entered in the women's 6K white race at 12:55.
How to Follow the Flames and Lady Flames Flotrack will be on hand in Terre Haute, providing live video streaming coverage (paid registration required) of the day's races, as well as post-race interviews.
Weather Report Saturday's weather forecast in Terre Haute calls for a chance of morning rain showers and a high in the upper 50s.
Scouting the Competition The Liberty men's squad will race against nine nationally ranked teams on Saturday, headlined by No. 1 Oklahoma State, No. 2 Colorado, No. 4 Oregon, No. 9 Tulsa and No. 10 Princeton. All 52 teams entered in the men's 8K blue race are regionally ranked, including seven from the Flames' Southeast Region.
The Flames, currently ranked No. 7 in the Southeast Region, will go head to head against regional No. 4 Duke, No. 6 Kentucky, No. 8 Furman, No. 10 Virginia Tech, No. 11 William & Mary and No. 13 Wake Forest.
The Lady Flames will face 10 regionally ranked opponents, including Virginia Tech, which sits No. 14 in the Southeast Region. Liberty will also go head-to-head against Big South foe Campbell for the second time this season. At the VMI Invitational (Sept. 21), the Lady Flames came in second while the Camels took fourth place.
Checking Out the Course The LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course has become the most renowned venue in collegiate cross country in recent years. On Nov. 23, the course will play host to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships for the 10th time in the last 12 seasons.
Liberty has fared quite well in Terre Haute over the years, highlighted by individual national championships by Josh McDougal (2007) and Sam Chelanga (2009 and 2010).
The LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course features some rolling hills, but it has produced fast times. Chelanga set the program cross country 10K record at 28:41.3 while winning the 2009 NCAA title. Meanwhile, Chelanga (22:51.3 in 2008) and McDougal (22:56.4 in 2007) own the two fastest 8K times ever posted at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course.
Take Me Back to Terre Haute Saturday will mark the first time Liberty has competed in Terre Haute since Nov. 22, 2010. That day, Sam Chelanga raced to his second consecutive NCAA Division I men's cross country national championship, covering the 10K course in 29:22.2. Teammate Evans Kigen earned All-America honors for the second year in a row, crossing the finish line in 31st place.
Previous Trip to Pre-Nationals Liberty most recently raced at Pre-Nationals on Oct. 16, 2010 at the LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course. Paced by Sam Chelanga's individual victory, the men's squad finished 10th in the white race for its highest-ever Pre-Nationals placement. In the process, the Flames defeated two nationally ranked opponents (No. 21 Tulsa and No. 25 Minnesota). Senior Caleb Edmonds and redshirt junior Josh MacDonald both competed for Liberty as freshmen in that race.
Senior Katie Russo is the lone returnee from the Lady Flames' appearance at the 2010 Pre-Nationals. Liberty came in 28th out of 38 squads in the blue race.
What's at Stake Saturday's meet will provide the Liberty men's team with a golden opportunity to earn at-large points toward qualification to the NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships. These are earned by defeating strong teams from other regions in head-to-head competition. The Flames will face 45 opponents who are ranked in other regions at the ISU Pre-National Invitational.
Liberty also has a chance to move up from seventh place in the Southeast Region men's rankings with a strong performance. In 2010, the Flames' showing at Pre-Nationals bumped the team from ninth place to seventh in the region.
Welcome Back Redshirt senior Lyndi Fielitz joined the women's cross country roster two weeks ago to utilize her final year of eligibility and will make her season debut on Saturday. It will be her first cross country race since Oct. 27, 2012, when she finished 51st at the Big South Cross Country Championships.
Fielitz enjoyed a strong summer of road racing, as she was the female champion at the Lynchburg Half Marathon on Aug. 10 in a time of 1:33:22. That put her 55 seconds ahead of teammate Chelsea Page.
Fielitz will provide some veteran leadership for a Liberty women's squad which is sending four freshmen (Page, Kat Bouton, Jessie Proehl and Alexis Taylor) to the ISU Pre-National Invitational.
Last Stop Before Buena Vista After Saturday's meet, Liberty will take a weekend off from competition before returning to action on Nov. 2 at the Big South Cross Country Championships. VMI will play host to the meet at the hilly Vista Links Golf Course, with the men's 8K scheduled for 10:30 a.m. and the women's 5K to follow at 11:30. The Flames and Lady Flames will each attempt to defend their conference titles from 2012.
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Regional Report Eastern July 2010
While fishermen in the Gulf of Mexico use their boats to scoop up oil from a rig that exploded off the coast of Louisiana in April, Tar Heel fishermen are gearing up for what could be a big year — thanks indirectly to a spreading slick that has crippled one of the nation's most bountiful sources of seafood. By June, approximately 37% of federal waters in the Gulf of Mexico had been closed to fishing. In 2008, Gulf fishermen harvested more than 1 billion pounds of fish and shellfish. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration says 67% of the oysters and 73% of the shrimp harvested in the U.S. annually come from the Gulf.
As fallout from the disaster continued, prices climbed for shrimp and oysters, two key seafood products in North Carolina. Oysters jumped as much as $10 a bushel within a month. Steve George, a salesman for Willie R. Etheridge Seafood Co. in Dare County, says shrimp prices rose 25-30% because "with the Gulf not fishing, there's a shortage." North Carolina's prime shrimp season doesn't get under way until summer, and oyster season runs from October to March. Prices could come down by the time the largest part of the seafood harvest reaches the docks. But Sean McKeon, president of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, doesn't expect that to happen. "You will probably see a higher price to fishermen on the boats," he says.
There's no guarantee that they'll have a good year, though. Shrimp catches, for example, totaled about 5.4 million pounds last year, a whopping 43% drop from 2008. The state Division of Marine Fisheries blames rainfall that dumped fresh water into saltwater where shrimp thrive. So far, sampling indicates there will be abundant shrimp barring a major storm and assuming the oil doesn't drift around Florida and up the Atlantic coast. North Carolina's harvest produces only a small fraction of the shrimp consumed in the U.S., and about 85% of the nation's fish and shellfish is imported.
Shortages in the U.S. might prompt dealers to import more seafood, and that could provide some brake on price increases. Certain niches, especially shrimp, face fierce competition from overseas. William Small, director of seafood marketing for the state Department of Agriculture, says the industry has made headway in promoting North Carolina shrimp as a fresh, safe alternative to imports. "With increased prices, we're nervous about losing our market share," he says.
CASTLE HAYNE — The opening of Titan America's proposed $450 million cement plant could be delayed two years, until 2014, by a court-ordered environmental review. Superior Court Judge Donald Stephens ruled that the review is necessary because the Norfolk, Va.-based company will receive $4.5 million in state and local incentives.
ROANOKE RAPIDS — City officials terminated their lease-purchase deal with Chicago businessman Lafayette Gatling for the former Randy Parton Theatre. They say Gatling owes $182,000 in back rent, but there is still a chance he could buy the 1,500-seat theater.
KINSTON — Spirit AeroSystems moved into its 500,000-square-foot factory at the N.C. Global TransPark.The Wichita, Kan.-based company planned to begin production of fuselages and other aerospace parts this month with about 250 employees.
RAEFORD — Alpla, which makes bottles for consumer-goods maker Unilever, opened a factory that employs 49. It's based in Austria and has U.S. headquarters in Atlanta.
WINNABOW — Louis Moore Bacon, a London hedge fund manager who is descended from the family that built Orton Plantation, agreed to buy the 5,000-acre Brunswick County landmark from the Sprunt family. Terms weren't disclosed.
ROCKY MOUNT — Industrial contractor Metal Craft began adding 40 jobs, which will give it more than 50. Clients include drug, food-processing and textile companies.
FAYETTEVILLE — US Logistics hired retired Gen. Chuck Swannack, former commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, as chief operating officer. Swannack left the Army in 2005. The company specializes in military logistics.
FAYETTEVILLE — H&H Homes and Caviness & Cates Communities moved up on Builder magazine's list of top U.S. home builders, based on 2009 closings. H&H went from No. 99 to 56; Caviness & Cates, from 89 to 68.


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Hayanga AJ, Mukherjee D, Chang D, et al. Teaching Hospital Status and Operative Mortality in the United States: Tipping Point in the Volume-Outcome Relationship Following Colon Resections? Arch Surg. 2010;145(4):346–350. doi:10.1001/archsurg.2010.24
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To compare risk- and volume-adjusted outcomes of colon resections performed at teaching hospitals (THs) vs non-THs to assess whether benign disease may influence the volume-outcome effect.
Retrospective data analysis examining colon resections determined by International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification classification performed in the United States from 2001 through 2005 using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) and the Area Resource File (2004). Patient covariates used in adjustment included age, sex, race, Charlson Index comorbidity score, and insurance status. Hospital covariates included TH status, presence of a colorectal surgery fellowship approved by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education, geographical region, institutional volume, and urban vs rural location. County-specific surgeon characteristics used in adjustment included average age of surgeons and proportion of colorectal board-certified surgeons within each county. Environmental or county covariates included median income and percentage of county residents living below the federal poverty level.
A total of 1045 hospitals located in 38 states in the United States that were included in the NIS.
All patients older than 18 years who had colon resection and were discharged from a hospital included in the NIS.
Main Outcome Measures
Operative mortality, length of stay (LOS), and total charges.
A total of 115 250 patients were identified, of whom 4371 died (3.8%). The mean LOS was 10 days. Fewer patients underwent surgical resection in THs than in non-THs (46 656 vs 68 589). Teaching hospitals were associated with increased odds of death (odds ratio, 1.14) (P = .03), increased LOS (P = .003), and a nonsignificant trend toward an increase in total charges (P = .36).
With the inclusion of benign disease, colon surgery displays a volume-outcome relationship in favor of non-THs. Inclusion of benign disease may represent a tipping point.
Teaching hospitals (THs) are responsible for training surgical residents and fellows in the United States, which requires a considerable allocation of resources from the federal government and a large capital outlay to offset the costs of training. The involvement of trainees in operative and clinical care has raised concerns about potential contribution to negative outcomes, and studies have endeavored to address these concerns.1,2 The most convincing arguments in favor of outcomes in THs, however, pertain to patients undergoing complex surgical procedures who benefit from the presence of board-certified specialty surgeons, multidisciplinary teams, and intensive care unit staffing. These characteristics improve outcomes and consequently attract patients to teaching institutions and high-volume medical centers. There is a growing interest in the interaction between TH status and volume and the individual and combined effects of these characteristics on outcomes.2 Dimick et al3 demonstrated that teaching status is not a predictor of operative mortality after adjusting for hospital volume. Studies from state and national databases have also been used to demonstrate better outcomes for complex cardiovascular and general surgical oncology procedures performed in high-volume THs.3-6 Meguid et al7 reported improved outcomes when lung resections were performed in THs. These outcomes predominantly pertained to comparatively complex oncological resections of the esophagus, pancreas, liver, and lung and were performed by specialty-trained surgeons with ready accessibility to adjunctive clinical resources.
In contrast to complex procedures performed at THs, colon surgery is more commonly performed by general surgeons in non-THs and comparatively less sophisticated settings.8 There is some evidence within the literature to support improved outcomes in teaching hospitals for patients undergoing resections for colon and rectal cancer on the basis of the volume-outcome ratio.9-11 Few reports, however, describe the inclusion of benign colonic disease in these considerations. Less specialized procedures for benign disease make up the bulk of surgical volume and colon resections performed in non-THs and the United States as a whole.8,12 Khuri et al,13 in an analysis of the Veterans Affairs National Surgical Quality Improvement Program data showed that, following volume adjustment, care at non-THs was associated with lower charges and decreased length of stay (LOS) compared with THs. This may also be true for colon resections performed in non-THs. We sought to compare risk- and volume-adjusted perioperative outcomes as they relate to all colon resections except rectal and emergency resections performed at THs vs non-THs over a 5-year period in the United States, hypothesizing that there would be no significant differences in risk-adjusted in-hospital mortality, LOS, or total charges.
A retrospective linked analysis was performed of data from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) and the Area Resource File (ARF). Patient data were abstracted over a 5-year period (2001-2005) from the 2006 NIS, a nationally representative database of all discharge data from 1045 hospitals located in 38 states in the United States. The NIS is maintained by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality as part of the Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project.3 It is a 20% representative sample of all hospital charges in the Unites States stratified by geographic region, hospital size, urban vs rural location, and teaching vs nonteaching status. The ARF (maintained by the US Department of Health and Human Services, Health Resources and Services Administration, Bureau of Health Professions, Rockville, Maryland) is a nationwide database of health care, economic, and demographic sources including the American Medical Association, American Hospital Association, US Census Bureau, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Veterans Administration, and the National Center for Health Statistics and includes aggregate data collected from all 3219 counties in the United States. The ARF is the largest composite health care data set, including over 6000 variables of socioeconomic, health, and demographic details including those from the last US census conducted in April 2000. The sampling error was minimized because the data from all the counties in the United States were used. The criterion for high-volume status was determined from the literature to be 115 colectomies or more per hospital per year.9
All patients included in the study were older than 18 years and had been discharged from a hospital included in the NIS during the 5-year period between 2001 and 2005. They had each undergone a colon resection at either a TH or a non-TH. We examined all elective colon resections with the exclusion of rectal procedures and those performed on an emergency basis. International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification classification codes pertaining to the colon used for inclusion criteria were the following: 45.71 (multiple segmental resection of large intestine), 45.72 (cecectomy), 45.73 (right hemicolectomy), 45.74 (resection of transverse colon), 45.75 (left hemicolectomy), 45.76 (sigmoidectomy), 45.79 (partial excision of large intestine), and 45.80 (total intra-abdominal colectomy).
The primary outcome variable was in-hospital mortality. The secondary outcome variables were risk-adjusted LOS and total charges incurred during hospitalization. Frequencies and proportions were calculated for patient level, hospital level, and county level statistics in relation to the 3 outcome variables. Unadjusted and adjusted logistic regression analyses were used to estimate in-hospital mortality, while crude and adjusted linear regression analyses were used to estimate both LOS and total charges. We defined a TH in accordance with American Hospital Association and NIS definitions: it was a member of the Council of Teaching Hospitals (COTH) affiliated with a general surgery residency accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) or an ACGME-accredited colorectal fellowship at the institution.14-17 Patient level covariates used in adjustment in both logistic and linear regressions included age, sex, race, Charlson Index comorbidity score,18 indication for surgery, and insurance status. Hospital level covariates used in adjustment included geographical region, institutional volume, and urban vs rural location. County-specific surgeon characteristics used in adjustment were derived from the American Medical Association Masterfile within the ARF and included average age of surgeons and proportion of colorectal board-certified surgeons within a county. Environmental or county-specific covariates used in adjustment included median income and percentage of county residents living below the federal poverty level. All statistical analyses were performed using Stata Intercooled software, version 10 (StataCorp, College Station, Texas). A list of the 48 ACGME-accredited US colorectal training fellowship programs was obtained from the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons residency Web site.19
We identified a total of 115 250 patients between ages 29 and 93 years who had undergone colon resection and were eligible for inclusion in the study. Most were white women. The racial breakdown of the group is as follows: 67 841 whites (80.3%), 8331 blacks (9.9%), 4617 Hispanics (5.5%), 1786 Asians (2.1%), 197 Native Americans (0.2%), and 1731 patients of unknown race (2.1%). The median Charlson Index comorbidity score was 3 (interquartile range [IQR], 2-8) (Table 1).
Fewer patients underwent surgical resection in THs than in non-THs (46 656 vs 68 589) (Table 2). Of those patients included in the study, 4371 died while in the hospital (3.8%). Women had decreased odds of dying (odds ratio [OR], 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71-0.83) (P = .03) and increased odds of shorter LOS (by 0.2 days; 95% CI, 0.1-0.4 days) (P < .001) compared with men. After adjusting for patient, hospital, and county-level variables, we found that THs were associated with increased odds of operative mortality compared with non-THs (OR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.01-1.29) (P = .03). The median LOS for all hospitals was 8 days (IQR, 6-12 days). After adjustment, we found that teaching hospitals were associated with a statistically significant increase in LOS (0.52 days; IQR, 0.18-0.85 days) (P = . P = .003) compared with non-THs.
Median charges for colon resection were $33 611 (IQR, $21 817-$56 575). Teaching hospitals were associated with a trend toward an increase in total charges, though this was not statistically significant after adjustment (P = .36). To test the importance of the definition of a TH, a sensitivity analysis was performed using an alternative definition based on the presence of an ACGME-accredited colorectal fellowship. This involved the creation of a list of hospitals derived from the original list of 48 ACGME-accredited US colorectal training fellowship programs (obtained from the American Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons) cross-referenced against the hospitals within the NIS. This separate analysis arrived at the same conclusions for both mortality and LOS and observed no difference for total charges.
Complex surgical procedures performed at high-volume medical centers have an association with better outcomes,4 which have been attributed to the availability and use of sophisticated clinical amenities and personnel, among other factors. However, most colon resections for both benign and malignant disease in the United States are performed in non-THs by general surgeons rather than board-certified colorectal surgeons.8 This research suggests that patients undergoing oncology resections in THs may benefit from the availability and use of certain resources but that these resources may be of greater utility for higher-mortality resections than for less complex ones. Research conducted by Schrag et al9 reaffirmed this notion. Overall mortality following colon resection in this study was lower (3.8%) than that reported by Dimick et al3 for more complex resections (6.4% for pancreatic procedures, 6.0% for hepatic, and 8.7% for esophageal). These specified procedures benefit most from the adjunctive clinical resources that drive the volume-outcome relationship.3
Outcomes following complex surgery reflect the volume-outcome ratio that favors high-volume centers and in many cases THs.4 Superior outcomes have thus been demonstrated in THs following pancreatic, hepatic, and esophageal cancer resections.3 Ayanian and Weissman20 used the Donabedian conceptual framework of structure, process, and outcome to elaborate on those processes of care within THs that yielded improved outcomes. Billingsley et al21 postulated that the volume-outcome relationship was less a function of volume alone and more the result of the availability and use of the wide spectrum of clinical services that allowed prompt recognition and treatment of complications.21 It is likely that colon surgery generally, without the inclusion of cancer resections, displays a volume-outcome relationship similar to that of other complex surgical oncology procedures such as pancreatic and esophageal resections but does so in favor of non-THs rather than THs. The inclusion of colon resections for benign disease may, in this manner, allow volume to more clearly delineate the demarcation between THs and non-THs.
While the volume-outcome relationship may favor colon cancer resections performed in THs, this advantage might be lost when benign colon disease is factored into the equation. Ayanian and Weissman20 highlighted the possibility that THs may offer a lower quality of care for common conditions. The inclusion of common benign disease might represent the tipping point at which both superior level of care and high volume shift away from TH in favor of non-TH settings. Where THs perform surgery in comparatively lower volume, they may also demonstrate comparatively poorer outcomes.
Laparoscopic cholecystectomies, as an example, are associated with better outcomes in non-THs.22 Further research should concentrate on other surgical procedures used to treat common, benign, low-mortality conditions such as benign gallbladder (cholelithiasis) and esophageal (achalasia, hiatal hernia) disease. Teaching hospitals offer improved outcomes for complex oncologic surgical resections such as esophageal and pancreatic surgery but may offer worse outcomes for less complex surgery such as colon surgery, the bulk of which is performed at non-THs, which are less reliant on complex processes of care. We suspect that the inclusion of benign surgical disease with an attendant decrease in morbidity and mortality may be responsible for creating a tipping point that shifts the volume-outcome ratio in favor of non-THs.
While these findings might appear counterintuitive, they are not unprecedented. Khuri et al13 also reported significantly higher complication rates and increased LOS following colectomy and cholecystectomies performed at THs. Dimick et al3 similarly reported that esophageal resections performed at non-THs were associated with shorter LOS and, by inference, lower hospital charges. Yuan et al15 also reported shorter LOS at non-THs. Ayanian et al23 reported that THs had worse nursing care, and Epstein24 and other investigators,13,25-28 consistent with our findings, suggest that costs at THs are higher than those at non-THs. Teaching hospitals tend to be larger and more sophisticated than non-THs. The complex care processes in THs may serve as a source of complications as well as a remedy for them. The relative value of THs is perhaps best observed in the treatment of complex oncologic conditions with comparatively higher morbidity and mortality rates, tipping the risk-benefit ratio toward greater benefit. In the case of less specialized procedures, this benefit may be diminished. Studies that have reported better outcomes in THs, have also more commonly examined treatment of complex surgical oncologic disease or nonoperative medical conditions such as pneumonia, myocardial infarction,29 and congestive heart failure.17,30 Admittedly, some studies have shown no difference.3,31-34 To the best of our knowledge, however, the present report is the first to explicitly examine the volume-outcome ratio as it pertains to resections for both benign and malignant disease of the colon.
With the potential for regionalization of care, such analyses should be taken into consideration because shifting noncomplex surgical disease treatment away from THs may have a negative impact on the training of surgeons, leaving them ill equipped for practice in non-THs. If an attempt at regionalization of colon surgery is made on the strength of previous reports that have examined outcomes only of resections for complex cancer performed in THs, an inappropriate generalization may be made that these improved outcomes also pertain to less complex resections. This may inadvertently result in the rerouting of most patients from non-THs to THs, overloading THs and subjecting patients to unexpected increases in mortality, LOS, and total charges. Conversely, if regionalization were to be based solely on minimum volume thresholds, the unintended consequence might be a reduction in the caseload of benign disease procedures performed by surgery residents (by moving these procedures away from THs) and the depletion of a valuable source of service, education, and revenue. Attempts at regionalization of colon surgery should thus ideally take both diagnosis and procedure into consideration, and not volume or outcome in isolation.
The present study is limited by its use of data abstracted from large administrative databases that lack clinical detail regarding the patient and disease. This limits the ability to accurately identify residual confounding or selection bias. The use of the ARF results in the inability to make causal inference without risk of ecological fallacy. This study is further limited by the inability to detect any refinements of care or examine the specific diagnoses for which the resections were performed. Therefore, little inference can be made regarding the relative influence of such clinical variables as staging of disease and/or utilization of adjuvant therapy and/or effect of adjuvant therapy on survival. Missing data may be attributed to variation in data collection at different hospitals around the country. Assuming that incomplete data acquisition occurred randomly, we believe that it would not alter overall outcome, but it illustrates yet another limitation of administrative data analysis.
However, the NIS database contains a representative sample of hospitals, allowing extrapolation of the results to the entire country. By using the NIS instead of Medicare claims data sources, the present study was able to capture patients undergoing surgical resection for benign inflammatory conditions such as Crohn disease, ulcerative colitis, and diverticulitis and for malignant disease such as hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer and familial adenomatous polyposis. These conditions typically affect younger patients than those with sporadic colon cancer (age 37 vs 71 years, respectively) predominant in the Medicare population.
Lack of staging for malignant disease, nevertheless, may be of doubtful significance: previous reports have suggested that adjustment for cancer stage does not significantly change in-hospital mortality.4,35 Furthermore, the limitations fail to detract from the likelihood that the inclusion of benign disease may tip the scales in favor of non-THs, which may serve as a volume outcome modifier.
A final limitation is the inability to determine the type of procedure performed, ie, laparoscopic vs open, and so all resections were considered equivalent. We were unable to adjust for individual surgeon volume but adjusted for comorbidity using the Charlson Index score, a validated risk-adjustment tool.5 Future research is required to further elucidate procedure type and surgeon volume in randomized trials comparing THs and non-THs and prospectively examining the processes of care that accompany colon resections and that may account for the differences we observed. As policymakers strive to establish quality measures and rationale for regionalization of surgical care, data gathered in this manner may be of great interest to patients, payers, and health care providers. These data might further allow the identification of a similar tipping point in other gastrointestinal surgical disease that allows a demarcation to guide the venues where individual surgical care may be most appropriately and efficiently rendered. The data may also serve as an impetus for THs to increase the volume of less specialized surgery to increase the caseload available for training purposes and simultaneously lower costs and improve outcomes in an exceedingly competitive medical marketplace.
Correspondence: Awori J. Hayanga, MD, MPH, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, 615 N Wolfe St, Baltimore, MD 21205 (email@example.com).
Accepted for Publication: May 10, 2009.
Author Contributions:Study concept and design: Hayanga, Mukherjee, Chang, Kaiser, Lee, and Ahuja. Acquisition of data: Hayanga, Mukherjee, and Chang. Analysis and interpretation of data: Hayanga, Mukherjee, Chang, Kaiser, Lee, Gearhart, and Freischlag. Drafting of the manuscript: Hayanga, Mukherjee, Kaiser, and Lee. Critical revision of the manuscript for important intellectual content: Hayanga, Mukherjee, Chang, Lee, Gearhart, Ahuja, and Freischlag. Statistical analysis: Hayanga, Mukherjee, Chang, and Kaiser. Administrative, technical, and material support: Mukherjee and Chang. Study supervision: Mukherjee, Chang, Gearhart, Ahuja, and Freischlag.
Financial Disclosure: None reported.
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